In an unforced error that will only burnish ICE’s reputation for being a brawn operation that’s talked itself into believing it’s a brains operation, ICE briefly let the American public know it was no longer willing to let illegal ideas to enter (or even exit) the United States.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s job is to stop illegal ideas from crossing the U.S. border, according to a now-deleted social media post from the agency that drew condemnation on Thursday.

In a promotional graphic on X, ICE said they enforce over 400 federal laws to “ensure public safety and national security,” with the picture showing ICE will stop the crossings of people, money, products — and ideas. The post directs people to visit the ICE website.

Yeah, it actually said that. There are screenshots of it and everything.

Sure enough, the image posted on ICE’s official xTwitter account says:

If it crosses the U.S. border illegally, it’s our job to STOP IT.

The list next to it reads:

PeopleMoneyProductsIdeas

Illegal ideas, eh? That’s a new one. ICE later walked back that post after being mocked and derided by nearly everyone who came across it, claiming its own official post was a mistake.

ICE told POLITICO that the post was put up in error, and that it is drafting a new post that will include “intellectual property” — not ideas.

That only makes it slightly less stupid.

First, it’s not a stretch to assume ICE is in the business of stopping “illegal” ideas at the border. ICE is soliciting offers for a social media dragnet that would, among other things, monitor the “total number of negative references to ICE found in social media.” Also, it would monitor whatever the hell this is:

Information indicating a potential for carrying out a threat (such as postings depicting weapons, acts of violence, refences to acts of violence, to include empathy or affiliation with a group which has violent tendencies; references to violent acts; affections with violent acts; eluding to violent acts, etc.).

Yes, that’s taken verbatim from ICE’s call for bids, one that makes it clear whoever (or whatever) wrote it believes “affection” should be accompanied by “with” and that it’s possible to “elude to” something rather than simply hope to avoid it completely.

On top of the that, Marco Rubio’s State Department is telling diplomats to scour social media posts and other online content created by visa applicants for the sole purpose of denying them entry if they show:

“a hostile attitude toward U.S. citizens or U.S. culture (including government, institutions, or founding principles)”

Given that, it’s not ridiculous to take ICE at its word when it says (via tweet) that it’s going to prevent illegal “ideas” from entering this country.

Even if you take ICE at its post-ratio word, it’s still very stupid. First of all, ideas are not the same thing as intellectual property, as anyone who’s tried to patent or copyright an idea can attest. An idea alone is not protected by IP law.

Then there’s the absurd assertion that intellectual property respects physical borders. Just ask anyone downloading RARs from .tv domains. Just ask anyone who’s ever sent a PDF via email. The market for physical forms of copyright infringement is so small no one is really trying to sneak boxes of burned discs past customs authorities. Stopping “illegal” intellectual property at the border is a futile gesture at best. Anything that needs to get “into” the United States can be virtually tossed over the highest of walls and well over the heads of ICE officers staffing border crossings and international airports.

Whatever ICE actually meant is barely less stupid than what it actually said. And I, for one, am inclined to believe the agency truly thinks part of its job is being the literal thought police. Whatever it takes to deny someone entry and/or eject them from the country. And, for the moment, they’re all working for a man who truly believes any idea he doesn’t agree with is illegal or dangerous or both.

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