Trump unleashes his deportation force
Emanating from the Trump White House are orders that are passed on to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where Secretary John F. Kelly then writes memos to the largest law enforcement agency in the country, maybe the world, to bust everybody they suspect of being “removable” for illegal entry.
No more “bad hombres” — Trump’s defined targets. Sweep up for parking tickets, for looking Mexican, for looking Hispanic, for looking illegal — even if they are United States citizens… throw them out of the country. No more “bad hombres.” This, of course, is “deranged” speculation… trump isn’t stupid enough to issue such illegal orders, but enforcement officers interpret orders in the field their own way, that is not speculation; that is fact.
Next on the removal agenda — 800,000 “Dreamers,” those kids and former kids that were brought here illegally by their families. Never mind that President Trump says he is looking at the “Dreamers” with his heart. He campaigned that he would cancel Obama’s deferred deportation Executive Order known as “DACA” on his first day in office. “DACA” is “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA applicants are called “Dreamers.”
Six months after his first day in office, he hasn’t canceled it. Several Trump-carried states have filed law suits to have DACA canceled. General Kelly implies that Jeff Session’s Department of Justice (DOJ) might not fight those law suits thus destroying a Presidential order that keeps 800,000 people legal with work permits and temporary protection from deportation.
If armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are unleashed by the DOJ’S refusal to fight the law suits, they will joyfully discover that their job is easier than they can imagine. To become a “Dreamer” one had to file an application that is investigated by investigators of the U.S. government. Now they know where every “Dreamer” is; rounding them up will be easy.
To be approved, the “Dreamers” could have no criminal record, no gang affiliations, no lies that could be refuted and the address of their illegally present parents was on each application.
See how ICE could round-up 800,000 or more people with little effort? They would also use local police agencies that would add experience and professionalism to the raids and detentions. Everyone knows, for example, that Department of Justice (DOJ) law enforcers like the FBI are the best in the country as are their DOJ investigator special agent colleagues. Any guess why? Simple. To be a Doj-affiliated agent or special agent one must have a college degree. A college degree is not required for Department of Homeland Security — DHS — agent or officer slots.
How are these ICE agents doing since Trump was sworn? Statistics published in the Washington Post are clear — arrests are up (32.6 percent) and deportations are down (1.2 percent). Moreover, Trump’s stats don’t even begin to compare to that of the “Deporter-in-chief” Barack Obama. For example, between January and March, Trump arrests totaled 21,362; in the same period of 2014, Obama’s ICE officers arrested 29,238 “removables.” There is one big difference.
Trump’s ICE officers aren’t chasing “bad hombres” only, they doubled the arrests of illegally present men and women with no “bad hombre” criminal activities; broken taillights, parking tickets, looking Mexican and jaywalking motivate ICE agents since Trump became President. Yet, deportations are down.
One reason is that “sweeps” are problematical and in most cases illegal. Imagine ICE officers surrounding a house they think has a “removable” in it. Backed up by a tactical local police SWAT team, front and back doors are smashed as a dozen armed-to-the-teeth men run in screaming federal agents, federal agents. Television or reality?
Garland Creedle is a Honduran-born teenager who was arrested by local Miami cops. Without any warrant or court order ICE put a hold on him as a “removable alien.” He posted bail but was held for two more days by Miami-dade’s subservience to President Trump and ICE.
Problem: Mr. Creedle is a US citizen, making him un-deportable, un-removable. He was held on an ICE immigration detainer without a valid arrest warrant— that is against Florida law and the US Constitution’s 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments.
Between Trump’s inauguration and mid-june, jail records show Miami-dade turned over 124 detainees to ICE. Creedle is a U.S. citizen. The illegal detention of a citizen is more than illegal, it smacks of King George; one wonders how many other citizens or legal residents have been illegally detained by ICE officers.
Raoul Lowery Contreras is a conservative columnist. His column appears on Fridays in The Recorder. He can be contacted at hispaniccommentator@gmail.com.