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In this article, Angie writes about how Trump is deporting illegal immigrants and limiting lawful immigration into the United States.
ice raids in schools
ice raids in schools
By Angie Dixon
By Angie Dixon
Since Trump's presidential inauguration, he and his campaign have been adamant about the deportation of illegal immigrants en masse, under the premise that unlawful immigrants are both damaging to the quality of life in America and also pose a threat to other American civilians. As a result, many immigrant families have become gravely concerned about their– even minimal– risk of being unjustly deported, as Trump has begun to adjust laws surrounding anti-immigration enforcement policies and has been attempting to revoke citizenship from documented immigrants.
For starters, Trump has rescinded a law that prevented two federal agencies— the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies— from enforcing anti-immigration laws in sensitive locations, such as schools, hospitals, and churches. According to The Department of Homeland Security, “This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murderers and rapists — who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest", as reported by Newsweek. Due to the rescinding of those laws, many teachers and students fear that ICE will enter their schools and harass or potentially arrest students who have unlawfully immigrated. CNN reports how a Chicago Elementary School experienced such an encounter with ICE, though the teachers tenaciously denied their entry into the school. “We will not open our doors for ICE, and we are here to protect our children and make sure they have access to an excellent education,” the school's principal, Natasha Ortega said in a news conference about the event. Thus, the concern for undocumented immigrants is exceptionally high at the moment, and there is a great deal of controversy over Trump's referral to immigrants as "aliens" and his practice of categorizing them– even elementary school kids– as criminals. Accordingly, many documented immigrants are increasingly concerned that they are not exempt from deportation by ICE under Trump's campaign.
Photo credit: CNN, Bogdana Chkoumbova, Chicago Public Schools chief education officer, speaks to members of the media in Chicago on Friday.
Along with that, Trump has further ceased several laws allowing refugees from other countries to enter the United States, potentially causing the loss of legal status for immigrants. Under Biden's administration, Biden utilized a system known as parole, which granted entry into the United States under the grounds that their entry was necessary and humanitarian. However, Trump has starkly cracked down on those parole laws within the United States, and his party explains how, “While those paroled into the country are, on paper, in the U.S. legally and with the ability to work lawfully, Trump administration officials have argued the Biden administration improperly used the authority, which they believe should only be used in minimal cases” (CBS News). Thus, the immigration process for Afghans, Ukrainians, and other refugee groups has been halted under his campaign. CBS News also says that “Last week, Trump officials authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to revoke the parole status of those allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration and seek their deportation. That would include more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who flew to the U.S. under the sponsor policy and nearly 1 million migrants allowed into the country through CBP One, government figures show.” Unfortunately, that means that previously legally documented citizens are subject to having their citizenship revoked.
Despite the controversy, Trump has utilized the first few weeks of his presidency to steadily increase border control and limit both illegal and legal immigration into the United States. It is apparent that Trump is firmly anti-immigration and will take any measures necessary to restrict immigration into the country.
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