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The president Donald Trump publicly endorsed the proposal to rename the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as NICE, after sharing on his social media the post of a conservative journalist who humorously suggested the change.
The original idea was published on March 25 by Alyssa Marie, a pro-Trump journalist associated with TABSReport. Her proposal garnered over 850,000 views before reaching the president.
"I want Trump to change ICE to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement) so that the media has to say 'NICE agents' every day," wrote Alyssa Marie on X.
Trump responded enthusiastically on Truth Social: "Great idea! Do it." The official rapid response account of the White House on X immediately reposted the screenshot of the presidential message, amplifying the support.
Alyssa herself reacted with surprise to the news: "It's surreal that my favorite president has posted about me," she wrote this Monday on X.
The logic behind the proposal is straightforward: if the agency were named NICE, the media would be obliged to refer to “NICE agents” in every report, which would inadvertently soften the public's perception of the institution.
Critics and media outlets like The Daily Beast have described the idea as "shameful," viewing it as a superficial attempt to gloss over deportation operations without any real changes.
So far, there are no formal actions from the government or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement the name change.
Trump's support comes at a time of intense controversy for ICE. The acting director Todd Lyons announced his resignation on April 17, effective May 31, amid scandals over deaths in custody.
In 2025, at least 31 deaths were recorded in ICE detention centers, the highest number in two decades, and the number of immigrants who died in custody continued to rise with at least 17 additional cases reported by last April.
In January, ICE agents and Border Patrol killed two American citizens during an immigration operation in Minneapolis: a mother of three and a nurse, both 37 years old.
The incident resulted in the dismissal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in March 2026, who was replaced by Markwayne Mullin.
Despite the controversies, the Trump administration has intensified the operations of the agency. Miami leads immigration raids in the United States with an average of 120 arrests daily in 2026.
In 2025, nearly three million undocumented immigrants left the country: 2.2 million through self-deportation and over 675,000 through direct expulsion.
The administration has also hired 12,000 new DHS agents, doubled the number of ICE personnel on the streets, and allocated a budget of $30 billion to the area, offering bonuses of up to $50,000 for recruits, in what Trump has referred to as the largest immigration enforcement operation in the country's history.
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