Ever since Donald Trump became the U.S. President for the second time, he has primarily been focused on getting the country rid of undocumented immigrants with the help of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), something he had promised to do during his campaign.
While the goal was to ensure that America becomes free of illegal immigrants, the crackdown has now allegedly become a nightmare, with ICE officials wreaking havoc in several cities while often targeting people of color and valid U.S. citizens based on various prejudices.
Protests against ICE and their controversial way of dealing with immigrants have been erupting all over America, though the Trump administration has not shown any signs of slowing down.
Earlier this week, on November 4, people in the city of Hillsboro, Oregon, spoke at a council regarding their fears about the way ICE has been operating, and a 16-year-old boy’s words are now going viral, given the emotional speech he made about being worried about his parents getting picked up by ICE.
The boy, named Manny, said, “I just want to tell you guys that I’m scared for my parents to walk out of the house because I might not be able to say goodbye to them if they go to work. I might not ever be able to say bye or see them again if you guys don’t side with us. And I’m scared because of it, because they fought so hard to come here and choose a life for their kids.”
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Addressing the council members, Manny further added, “I hope you guys do side with us because we are fighting for our rights and we are getting treated like animals because people judge us by the color of our skin and the way that we talk.”
According to a report by People, he also mentioned, “I’m scared that all of us are going to have to fend for ourselves. I’m scared that one day at school that I’m going to be held by [officers] I don’t know — people that are covered, people that I can’t identify because they wear masks and they don’t properly ID themselves.”
Continuing to talk about his fears, Manny said, “I’m tired of telling my mom and dad every day after school, ‘Have you seen the new video of ICE pulling someone over because of the color of their skin?’ … I really hope you guys do something about it, because I do want something to change. As a 16-year-old, I shouldn’t be scared. I should be focusing on school.”
ICE Agents in tactical gear pepper sprayed a group of community members after they filmed them abducting a group of people in Hillsboro, OR. Hillsboro PD stands by and does nothing pic.twitter.com/ZTkQpVfE2X
— Devin Nunes’ Cattle Dog 🇺🇦 🇪🇺🇺🇸🇨🇦 (@Kaos_Vs_Control) October 31, 2025
Besides Manny, other citizens of the city of Hillsboro spoke at the meeting for hours, highlighting how they were worried and perplexed about the ongoing ICE operations. The White House has, however, always maintained that its immigration policies and decisions are only based on law enforcement.
Speaking to NPR, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security, had said back in April, “We don’t want to have to be in the position where people are being arrested and detained. But if they’re in this country illegally and they don’t leave now, that’s what we’re forced to do.”
However, despite the administration’s claims of ICE dealing with only illegal immigrants, the reality tells a different story, one where teenagers like Manny live in constant fear of losing their parents simply because of prejudices on the part of the authorities.
