RAPID DEPORTATION
Administration ramping up immigration enforcement
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s new rules for deporting unauthorized immigrants are causing fear and confusion in Chattanooga’s Latino community, according to local advocates.
“Our phones have been ringing off the hook,” said Christian Patiño, operations manager for Chattanooga’
La Paz, the largest local Hispanic advocacy organization. “There is a lot of fear in the community, a fear of ‘What should I do?’”
Many more people living illegally in the United States could face rapid deportation — including people simply arrested for traffic violations — under the sweeping rewrite of immigration enforcement policies announced Tuesday.
Any immigrant who is in the country illegally and is charged or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, will now be an enforcement priority, according to Homeland Security Department memos signed by Secretary John Kelly. That could include people arrested for shoplifting or minor offenses.
And that may keep many Hispanics from showing up for work, Patiño said.
“Driving without a license is a crime, so those with no driver’s license who are undocumented, the risk is too high, they are going to stay home now. You are going to see more seclusion in the [Hispanic] community.”
Patiño said there’s also a lot of speculation going around.
“There are rumors that raids are happening, that ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is in Wal-Mart, which is not the case,” he said. “But rumors spread faster than the truth.”
“We are encouraging all of our Latino neighbors to be safe and make sure all information they receive and share is from a valid source,” said La Paz Executive Director Stacy Johnson. “We are posting weekly updates, as well as putting information in the Spanish newspaper and on the Spanish radio.”
The memos replace the Obama administration’s more narrow guidance focusing on immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, are considered threats to national security or are recent border
“Driving without a license is a crime, so those with no driver’s license who are undocumented, the risk is too high, they are going to stay home now. You are going to see more seclusion in the [Hispanic] community.”
— CHRISTIAN PATIÑO, OPERATIONS MANAGER FOR LA PAZ
crossers.
It’s the latest effort by President Donald Trump to follow through on campaign promises to strictly enforce immigration laws. He’s also promised to build a wall at the Mexican border — he insists Mexico eventually will foot the bill — and Secretary Kelly’s memos reiterate calls for Homeland Security to start planning for the costs and construction.
Trump’s earlier immigration orders, which banned all refugees as well as foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries, have faced widespread criticism and legal action. A federal appeals court has upheld a temporary halt.
Kelly’s latest plans call for enforcing a longstanding but obscure provision of immigration law that allows the government to send some people caught illegally crossing the Mexican border back to Mexico, regardless of where they are from. Those actions would wait for U.S. deportation proceedings to be complete. This would be used for people who aren’t considered a threat to cross the border illegally again, the memo says.
That provision is almost certain to face opposition from civil libertarians and Mexican officials, and it’s unclear whether the United States has the authority to force Mexico to accept third-country nationals. But the memo also calls for Homeland Security to provide an account of U.S. aid to Mexico, a possible signal Trump plans to use that funding to get Mexico to accept the foreigners.
La Paz is setting up a series of information meetings across the metro area over the next month to let people hear from the police department and immigration attorneys how the new policies are being carried out. The first is set for Tuesday for parents and students at Howard School.
A similar meeting on March 2 at Eastside Elementary will be open to the public.
Patiño said another meeting is being set up to help prepare for the possibility a family member will be deported suddenly.
“In the worst-case scenario, if somebody gets deported, what plan do you have to take care of your family, children, your property, businesses?” he said. “Do you create a power of attorney, for example, in case something happens?”
Historically, the U.S. has quickly repatriated Mexican nationals caught at the border but has detained immigrants from other countries pending deportation proceedings that could take years.
The memos do not change U.S. immigration laws, but take a far harder line toward enforcement.
One example involves broader use of a program that fast-tracks deportations. It will now be applied to immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the United States longer than two years.
Since at least 2002 that fast deportation effort — which does not require a judge’s order — has been used only for immigrants caught within 100 miles of the border, within two weeks of crossing illegally.
The administration also plans to expand immigration jail capacity. Homeland Security now has money and space to jail 34,000 immigrants at a time. It’s unclear how much an increase would cost, but Congress would have to approve any new spending.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it would challenge the directives.
“These memos confirm that the Trump administration is willing to trample on due process, human decency, the well-being of our communities, and even protections for vulnerable children, in pursuit of a hyper-aggressive mass deportation policy,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.
The directives do not affect President Barack Obama’s program that has protected more than 750,000 young immigrants from deportation. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program remains in place, though participants could be deported if they commit crimes or otherwise are deemed to be threats to public safety or national security, according to the department.
Staff writer Steve Johnson contributed to this story.