Massachusetts’s Chelsea. Before dawn, the operation starts.
In a suburban Boston parking lot, over a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents prepare for what the government refers to as targeted enforcement.
One of those activities was made available to NBC News this week. The time and labor-intensive effort required for federal agents to capture people who may be deportable was made evident by the hours that agents waited for their targets to leave their homes and go to work.
Five immigrants who were allegedly undocumented, had criminal history, and had been released on bail by local jurisdictions rather than being turned over to federal authorities were arrested by roughly 16 ICE agents over the course of a morning. Todd Lyons, acting assistant director of field operations for enforcement removal operations at ICE, stated that each of the aliens needed 40 to 80 hours of monitoring prior to the arrests.
Lyons claimed that ICE does not conduct blanket sweeps. We don’t engage in extensive roundups. All of the people present today have come to our notice because they were arrested for a felony or other serious offense by a local government.
However, there are growing concerns about whether agents will continue to target immigrants with criminal histories and how these operations will evolve after President-elect Donald Trump assumes office. These daily enforcement actions highlight the administrative difficulties that already plague a contentious agency that has been criticized by proponents of immigration rights and applauded by Trump supporters, as the incoming administration brags about its intentions for mass deportations.
“We have to go out into the community when jurisdictions don’t cooperate with us, which puts our officers at risk,” Lyons added.
Although the agency’s resources have been overextended for years, the issue is becoming increasingly serious. ICE agents anticipate being busy, but they don’t discuss the specifics of how their procedures might alter under the Trump administration. However, ICE would have a significant challenge in implementing Trump’s mass deportation plans since, according to two U.S. officials aware with the amount, the agency is already facing a $230 million budget shortfall before he even takes office.
A conflict is developing between certain local governments and federal authorities, even though a program that permits local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE is anticipated to be expanded to assist with manpower. Tom Homan, Trump’s new border czar, is stepping up his threats to bring charges against elected officials who oppose his mass deportation plan as he takes office in about a month.
The bottom line is that, as Homan stated on Fox News on Tuesday, “I’m going to pursue prosecution if they go beyond that line and intentionally harbor and conceal an illegal alien.”
As previously reported by NBC News, the new Trump administration intends to repeal a long-standing rule that forbids ICE officers from making unauthorized arrests at or close to alleged sensitive sites, such as hospitals, schools, and places of worship.
Requests for the services of immigrant advocacy organizations like New England Justice for Our Neighbors have skyrocketed since Trump was elected.
The group’s legal director, Valerie Napier, stated that since the election, the number of calls has increased. The last several weeks have been really hectic. Many folks who are concerned about what may occur in January are coming to us.
When Napier was twelve years old, she and her family traveled from Haiti to the United States. She assists immigrants in their pursuit of humanitarian-based visas as an immigration lawyer.
In an interview, she stated that youngsters under the age of eighteen make up the majority of the clients she currently represents. Their parents must be contacted, and many of them are also undocumented, according to the parents we have spoken to thus far.
Napier is worried that such a large-scale operation would result in what are known as collateral arrests.
She acknowledged that they claimed to be searching for those with criminal histories. However, if ICE discovered an undocumented individual with no criminal history, would they simply turn them away? She enquired.
It’s still up for debate and depends on a lot of variables. These include agreements with other nations to receive deportations, congressional funding, and the availability of jail beds.
Lyons, the ICE official whose name had previously been mentioned as a potential ICE head in the Trump administration, stated, “What we are focused on are public safety and national security threats.” (Trump appointed Caleb Vitello, an ICE veteran, as interim director.) However, some people have used up all of their legal options. They have experienced appeals, stays, and the immigration system. Ultimately, they were compelled to leave the United States legally. We will proceed to implement those removal orders.
Boston is one of the cities that has had a significant influx of migrants in recent years. One of them, a Haitian immigrant, told NBC News she was worried about her immigration status under a Trump government and asked not to be named.
Speaking at an immigrant-friendly church, she described how her traumatic journey to the United States took two years.
“My life was in danger due to the security issue, so I left Haiti,” she stated. It seemed impossible for me to remain there any longer.
Before reaching the United States, the journey took her from Haiti to Brazil and over a dozen more nations.
She claimed to have traversed Panama’s infamous Darien Gap, a lawless forest that frequently proved fatal for migrants. Before reaching Texas in 2021, she would sleep in buses and in the wilderness. Boston, one of the nation’s 170 so-called sanctuary cities, is where she currently resides. Two years ago, she gave birth to another child who is a U.S. citizen, and she was able to send for her eight-year-old daughter.
Under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which permits individuals from specific countries deemed hazardous to return due to natural disasters or conflict, the woman is one of 1.2 million immigrants in the United States. One of those nations is Haiti.
Although the Biden administration revoked the executive order in 2021, Trump terminated TPS for more than 300,000 immigrants in 2020. The woman is concerned about her future because Trump has subsequently made removing TPS and mass deportations a key component of his reelection campaign.
Hearing claims that Donald Trump will deport everyone after he takes office in January is the only thing that worries me. She said, “And I can’t stop thinking about that.”
Given that one of her children is a citizen of the United States, she finds it incomprehensible that she could have to be separated from the two-year-old.
I don t know what I would do, she said. I would most likely pass away.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!