Noncriminal ICE arrests double under Trump
ICE arrests of immigrants living in the United States has increased by nearly 33% since Donald Trump took office, and arrests of individuals with no criminal records has doubled, according to a story published this week in the Washington Post.
“Arrests of immigrants with no criminal records more than doubled to 5,441, the clearest sign yet that President Trump has ditched his predecessor’s protective stance toward most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States,” the Post’s Maria Sacchetti wrote on April 16th.
Speaking last week to agents of Customs and Border Patrol in Nogales, Arizona, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former U.S. Senator who has been staunchly anti-immigrant throughout his political career, announced an increased role by the Department of Justice in enforcing the nation’s im- migration laws.
“This is a new era,” Sessions proclaimed at the border. “This is the Trump era. The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over.”
Sessions said he is directing U.S. Attorneys across the nation to seek felony charges against unauthorized residents wherever possible, and promised a crackdown on “the transportation or harboring of aliens.” Although this law has been widely interpreted by courts as well as by the Obama administration to be restricted to human trafficking offenses, immigrant rights advocates are concerned that under Trump the definition of “transporting or harboring” could be broadened the way “removable aliens” has been, potentially placing at risk churches, family members, landlords, or even school districts.
Tempers have been high since Trump assumed the presidency, rising considerably after a wave of immigration raids in February resulted in the detention and deportation of thousands of brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, and parents, leaving U.S. born children with only one parent here or none at all.
“These are the victims of deportation,” said Janet Murguía, head of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). “These children are the consequences of a reckless policy that puts politics over families, common sense and human decency. Their stories will weigh on our national conscience for generations and are an affront to the belief that our nation respects the institution of family.”
“Thirteen-year-old Fatima Avelica, a U.S. citizen, watched from the back seat as her father Romulo was stopped and arrested after dropping her sister off at school,” the NCLR stated in a press release. “Romulo has lived in this country for 25 years. Left in the wake of his detention are four American children between the ages of 12 and 24.”
The internet as well as broadcast and print media have been flooded with similar stories of families torn apart by the deportation of those Trump has called “bad hombres,” many of whom in fact have no criminal record at all or only very minor violations.
And yet Department of Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly, whose department is in charge of ICE, maintains the falsehood that only dangerous criminals are being targeted.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund, noted that Kelly has been disingenuous about the Trump Administration’s goals:
“Donald Trump talks about going after the ‘bad hombres.’ Jeff Sessions pledges that the Administration is taking a stand against ‘filth.’ And Secretary Kelly assures us that immigration status alone won’t lead to targeting. But the evidence and stories from across the country tell a very different story. This Administration is purposefully targeting formerly ‘low priority’ undocumented immigrants who are deeply rooted in American families and American communities.” (La Semana)