As of Tuesday night, immigration raids that were supposed to target significant sanctuary communities as soon as President Donald Trump took office have mainly not happened.
However, the administration started laying the foundation for additional immigration measures when Trump issued a number of executive orders pertaining to border security on his first day in office.
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday that it was discontinuing a regulation that limited the authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to make unauthorized arrests at or close to “sensitive locations,” such as hospitals, schools, and places of worship.
The ban, which had existed since the Obama era, was set to be lifted by the Trump administration, according to an NBC News story last month. The Biden administration extended it to cover topics including disaster relief shelters and domestic abuse, and it was carried on into the first Trump administration. In the interest of public safety, the restriction prohibited immigration actions from specified locations without supervisory authority.
America’s churches and schools will no longer be places for criminals to hide in order to evade capture. In a statement announcing the decision on Tuesday, DHS stated that the Trump Administration will not restrain our courageous law enforcement and instead believes in their ability to exercise common sense.
It remains to be seen if and how that will manifest itself in large sanctuary cities such as Chicago.
According to the Rev. Beth Brown of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, there is a lot of rhetoric intended to frighten and intimidate people, particularly immigrants. They still can’t enter church facilities or religious community structures without a signed judicial warrant because they are all houses of worship, not just churches.
Additionally, DHS formally restored the Migrant Protection Protocols, popularly referred to as the Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico until their scheduled appearance before U.S. immigration judges.
According to Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente, the United States unilaterally decided to revive Remain in Mexico and did so outside of a bilateral agreement.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, informed reporters on Tuesday that Mexico has its own immigration laws and will continue to discuss the issue with U.S. officials.
Will there be ICE raids?
On Tuesday, Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Fox News that targeted enforcement action would be taken, much to what ICE currently does every day across the nation. Homan was asked by NBC News how those operations might vary.
He responded, “We have more people assigned to the mission.” He refused to disclose the number of individuals allocated.
Where could they be?
Although the Trump administration has not disclosed the location of the initial raids, officials with knowledge of potential targets have stated that they will initially detain migrants in large cities. The Washington, D.C., area, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York are a few of the places being considered.
What s next for Trump s promises of mass deportation?
To carry out his threats of mass deportations, Trump will probably need to obtain additional financing from Congress. In his inaugural speech, he promised to send millions of immigrants back to their countries of origin. However, ICE currently lacks $230 million to support the present volume of deportations, which last year resulted in the removal of nearly 230,000 migrants.
Trump’s Day One executive orders included a declaration of a national emergency, directing the military to assist in the expansion of detention facilities and the transportation of migrants in order to use Defense Department funds for deportations.