Immigration and Customs Enforcement (generally known as ICE) have been raiding homes and immigrant communities for a long time, but fear and consciousness about this branch of police has grown drastically in Trump’s time as president. Recently, Trump announced that massive raids would happen all over the country. Cities like Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and dozens more braced for impact when the news came out. Yet, the raids seemed to get off to a weak start as many communities reported little action from authorities. Trump has called these deportation raids successful, but is yet to show the results backing up his claim.

Now, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to amplify a procedure that would hasten deportations to include any undocumented immigrant anywhere in the US that is unable to prove that they have lived in the United States continuously for at least two years. This change in procedure would provide the Trump administration with a larger net off undocumented immigrants that would be subject to the deportation procedure regarded as “expedited removal.” This system will make it possible for immigration authorities to remove an individual without a hearing before an immigration judge.

Before this, any undocumented immigrant who was caught within 100 miles of a land border and that was within 14 days of arrival was subject to the procedure.

This notice changes the designation of expedited removal drastically. In that it would now include undocumented immigrants nationwide who cannot prove that they have been living in the country for two years or more (continuously), this procedure applies to at least millions more people who have arrived in the US and are living anywhere in the country. As of June alone, Border Patrol has arrested about 700,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border.

The ACLU had announced its dedication to challenge this plan in court. Omar Jadwat (the director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project has stated: “Under this unlawful plan, immigrants who have lived here for years would be deported with less due process than people get in traffic court. We will sue top end this policy quickly.”

It is crushing to see an entire nation affected by the xenophobia that lies solely in the mind of the president. His words have spread like wildfire over the country along with his ignorance. People have lost careers and families they have worked hard for. Organizations such as ACLU are few things that shed a light in trying times like these.

Sources:

Alvarez, Priscilla. “Trump Administration Moves to Speed up Deportations.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 July 2019, edition.cnn.com/2019/07/22/politics/trump-admin-expanding-expedited-removal/index.html?no-st=1563893592.

Resto-Montero, Gabriela. “What We Know about ICE’s Planned Major City Deportation Raids.” Vox, Vox, 14 July 2019, http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/14/20693654/ice-raids-deportation-10-cities-donald-trump-immigration-what-we-know.