Protest Movement Grows Against Trump’s ICE Raids

True to his promise, weeks into President Donald Trump’s second administration, the Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) has increased raids against immigrant communities across the United States. While Trump has framed his mass deportation efforts as a way to deport “criminal aliens”, i.e. undocumented people accused or convicted of criminal offenses, reports show that many who have been arrested by federal immigration officials are not accused of any crime.

The raids, which have resulted in about 1,000 daily arrests, have been met with strong backlash from people across the country who accuse the Trump administration of criminalizing migrants and violating their fundamental rights.

ICE’s claims do not match up with reality

To support its claims, ICE has been sharing the “results” of its massive operation on social media platforms, claiming that ICE agents have deported “The Worst First” including people accused of being members of gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, or accused of criminal offenses such as firearm possession, drug possession, homicide and sexual abuse.

However, these cases in no way account for the majority of the daily arrests that ICE has been making in the past week. For example, according to an NBC News report, ICE statistics from Jan. 26 show it made 1,179 arrests that day, which is significantly over the agency’s official number of 956 arrests. According to NBC News,613 of the total arrests were considered “criminal arrests.” The remaining 566 people arrested that day, around 47%, were detained due to their undocumented status, according to the report. Detainees are held in ICE detention facilities and could be deported at a later date.

Immigration authorities have said it’s possible that immigrants not accused of any crimes, but with varying forms of immigration status, could be swept up in ICE’s mass arrest and deportation efforts, called “collateral arrests.”

Notably, having undocumented status is a civil offense, not a criminal one. However, it is considered a crime in the United States for an undocumented immigrant who was previously deported to re-enter the U.S. without documentation for a second time. ICE reports on their operations over the past week indicate that many of those detained had re-entered the U.S. without documentation.

Raids stoke fear in communities

High-profile ICE raids continue throughout the country and have included targeted house visits and workplace raids. Some raids may target one individual, but can involve multiple agents from ICE, other federal agencies and local law enforcement.

In the case of a workplace raid on a car wash in Philadelphia, ICE agents had reportedly visited a neighboring car dealership several times in the previous weeks asking probing questions. On the day of the raid, they ordered it to close while the raid was carried out, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. On Jan. 28, more than a dozen ICE agents descended on the car wash and detained seven immigrant workers, including 46-year-old Oscar Guerrero, who had been living in the U.S. since 1998. His 21-year-old son who was born in the U.S., also works at the car wash and witnessed his father being taken away in handcuffs.

The prospect of ICE raids has caused significant fear among immigrant communities. Some public schools in Denver with a large number of students from migrant families have reported a decline in attendance in the past week.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security recently announced that areas previously considered “sensitive” and off-limits to immigration raids, namely schools, churches and hospitals, are now fair game for enforcement. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” said a DHS spokesperson. “The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, who had previously served a similar role under former president Barack Obama for which he was given the “Presidential Rank Award,” argued in favor of immigration authorities accessing formerly “sensitive” sites for enforcement. “It’s not like we’re walking in and arresting everybody in the building, so the institution shouldn’t be afraid. The criminal alien should be afraid,” Homan told the New York Times.

Homan has expressed wishes that immigrants would self-deport, or leave the country out of fear of being detained by ICE. “It’d be wiser for people that are in the country illegally to simply go home and come back the right way. Absolutely,” Homan said.

Immigration is not a crime

As Trump’s administration escalates ICE raids, the movement to defend immigrant communities has grown. In the past few days, mass mobilizations against the draconian immigration measures have sprung up around the country, cities in border states such as California, Arizona, Texas and cities with large immigrant populations such as Atlanta, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina.

In Pflugerville, Texas, a rally took place on Feb. 1 outside of a building that is reported to be an unmarked ICE facility. Demonstrators held signs reading “shame on you ICE” and “ICE is not welcome here.” In Los Angeles, 10,000 people marched against mass deportations, shutting down freeway traffic.

“We’re out here to show that the people aren’t scared,” said Estevan Hernandez, an organizer in Atlanta with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which helped organize a demonstration of thousands in nearby Dekalb County on Saturday against Trump’s mass deportation policies. “We’re going to stand up, build this movement and fight back.”