Why Don’t ICE Remove European Immigrants? The Question Being Raised Why don’t federal immigration authorities remove European immigrants who are unlawfully present in the United States? The question has become part of a larger debate over immigration enforcement, historical settlement and whether immigration laws are being applied consistently. Under federal law, removability is generally based on an individual’s immigration status and specific grounds established by the Immigration and Nationality Act—not simply on whether someone comes from Europe or another region. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations conducts administrative arrests of noncitizens it determines are removable under federal immigration law. That means a European national who lacks lawful immigration status can, in principle, be subject to immigration enforcement just as a noncitizen from another region can. ICE’s public reporting does not establish a categorical exemption from immigration enforcement for Europeans. The question becomes more complicated when immigration is discussed alongside American history. European colonization and settlement occurred centuries before the creation of modern immigration agencies. The people commonly called the Pilgrims arrived in New England in 1620, while the federal immigration enforcement system operating today developed much later. Consequently, ICE does not have authority to retroactively apply modern immigration laws to colonial-era settlers or their descendants simply because their ancestors arrived from Europe. ICE’s FY2024 annual report states that the agency’s removal operations involve noncitizens subject to removal under current federal immigration law. The agency reported more than 270,000 removals during fiscal year 2024, while its enforcement docket included millions of noncitizens with varying immigration statuses and case circumstances. The ongoing debate therefore involves two separate issues: enforcement of today’s immigration laws a