One year into the Trump administration’s ‘round two’ there’s been alot to unpack. However, taking a look at the administration’s track record from November 2025 to where we are now, January 2026, it’s become more and more clear, it’s Donald Trump’s world – or so he thinks.
ICE, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement was founded in 2003, it is a federal law enforcement agency designed to “conduct criminal investigations, enforce immigration laws, preserve national security, and protect public safety.” So why are U.S. citizens dying at the hands of its agents?
‘Domestic terrorist’, the new title branded to the U.S. citizens standing up to federal agents across America and one that Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were titled with in death, following their murders at the hands of ICE.
In Midwest America, on the Canadian border and to the left hand side of Lake Superior, lies the state of Minnestota. With a population of 5.793 million, its residents are caught in the eye of the strom with Trump’s state by state ICE raids, bringing a path of destruction, devastation, death and protesting. In one of the state’s ‘Twin Cities’, Minneapolis, two of such protesters have already lost their lives.
On the morning of January 7th 2026, at around 10:25am in a neighbourhood street, not far from George Floyd Square, gunshots rang out. Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, was shot dead by a U.S. immigration officer after they had approached her car during a street blockade attempting to stop agents and warn neighbours of action in the area. Federal officials claimed that Good had attempted to run over agents with her car leading to an act of self defence – city officials and their mayor disagree, calling it an act of recklessness.
Less than three weeks later on the 24th of January 2026, another U.S. citizen in the city of Minneapolis, ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal agents, once again claiming domestic terrorism and self defence as the cause of fire.
Immigration officials stated that Alex Pretti was in possession of a weapon, a gun he was legally entitled to possess, at the time of the incident, which they claimed he plotted to use in a massacre of agents and resisted attempts to disarm. Video footage shows Pretti pepper sprayed and hit by an official before being pinned to the street, with around 10 shots fired in less than 5 seconds – according to ABC analysis.
However, there is no such proof or accounts that can be seen in the merging videos, that show Pretti in possession of a gun during this altercation. Family and eywitnesses have claimed this to be a false narrative pushed by the Trump administration.
Further flame was added to the fire on the 24th of January 2026, when news broke that ICE had brought a 5-year-old boy, the fourth in his school district this year, into federal custody alongside his father. The child was taken from his home in Minneapolis where he was pictured with his small spiderman backpack and knitted bunny hat, like any child of that age in America, and flown over 1,000 miles to an ICE detention facility in Texas.
If this is the way immigration agents treat U.S. citizens, one can only catch a glimpse into the treatment of immigrants forced into detention centres. Numbers of those missing from such facilities continue to rise, with no explanation from the administration.
In September 2025, it was reported that as of August that year, 800 detainees at Florida’s ‘Aligator Alcatraz’ no longer appeared in the system and a further 450 requiring you to contact the Immigration enforcement separately for further information. Many other families claim their loved ones dissapeared into the system, not just in Florida but across the country. The Everglades facility was closed just two months after opening.
However, it’s not just American citizens and U.S. polictical figures the Trump administrion has managed to anger. The president continues to stir the pot with international leaders and organisations on an almost daily basis, making NATO and Europe his latest targets.
As part of a series of outbursts following Europe’s refusal to let the president take what he wants, currently Greenland, he used his favourite threat in an attempt to blackmail a content – tariffs.
At the start of January 2026, Trump intensified pressure on international communities, further pushing his desire to acquire Greenland, currently a ‘self- governing’ territory within the kingdom of Denmark, stating it is vital to the U.S. as is positioned between the country and Russia, acting as a base for safety. On numerous occasions he offered to purchase the nation, causing outrage amongst residents, before moving on to say he could not rule out use of force – he later backtracked.
Similarly, Trump has already backtracked on his threat of tarrifs for European countries who did not side with him on the acquiring of Greenland and for sending troops to the nation in preperation for any threats. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the U.S. President said tariffs would no longer be imposed following a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Less than a week later, he went on to further antagonise European NATO countries, claiming that allied troops “stayed a little off the frontlines” while fighting in Afghanistan.
Closer to home, Donald Trump welcomed in the new year in a less traditional manner, opting for air strikes over fireworks as tensions continue to grow with Venezula. Launching a series of air strikes into the capital city of Caracas over the new year, the Trump administration began their so-called oil and drug trafficing crackdown operation, eager to take control of the government and their oil possession and industry.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been heavily critsiced both by the country’s people and the American government. Such criticism stems from a past of disputed elections, accusations of illegitimate prescidency, repression and human rights abuses, to scratch the surface. The 63-year-old, along with his wife, Cilia Flores were captured by U.S. troops in the morning of January 3rd 2026 during strikes on the capital, forcing regime change in the country, much to the delight of the U.S. president – quick to announce himself as acting leader of the South American nation.
After being re-located to the United States, Maduro was placed in federal custody at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Centre where he awaits trial for the ‘2020 narco-terrorism charges’. He and Flores both face charges of conspiring to import cocaine and narco-terrosim conspiracy, confirmed by U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi.
International tensions remain, with leaders around the world on high alert as Trump continues to test the waters between sanctioned oil tankers and continuing to unveil so-called “peace plans” in Gaza and Ukraine. As Keir Starmer and other major UK party’s such as the right-wing Conservatives slowly begin to change their tune towards the actions of the U.S. president, is it time Europe and the world finally take a stand against this rule or continue to let Trump make it his own?
