ICE Raids Begin

By N. S.

It is not strange for American citizens to be exposed to political changes. Be it from other countries and America’s involvement with their politics or the U.S itself.

And alongside U.S politics, the second Trump administration has made an effort to deport immigrants with the use of ICE (U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement), arguably one of his most high-profile and controversial immigration promises.

This leads to ICE raids arresting immigrants without legal status.

If you don’t know what a “mass deportation” would do, it utilizes a “expedited removal” program combined with the raids. Using this program, an immigration officer may quickly deport individuals without due process. 

With these ICE raids, there have been mixed views of this tactic from leftists and rightists.

On the right-wing side, there has been support for this tactic with the official top line of ICE being overwhelmed. The right-wing views these ICE raids as necessary for addressing illegal immigration. Additionally, a right-wing activist, named Spoon, stated that, “Americans across a broad spectrum of politics are really fed up with the illegal immigration issue." Along that, these raids aligned with the Republican support for the strict immigration control.

However, on the left-wing side, there has been opposition to these tactics.

There have been many civil rights organizations with them arguing that these tactics are inhumane and disrupt the communities they raid. Stop AAPI Hate condemned the raids as “proven to be even more cruel, expansive, and predatory than he had promised,” and have taken a toll on immigrant families, destabilization of communities and terrorizing the children, calling these ICE raids as “racist witch hunts.”

Additionally, the American Immigration Council warned that these mass deportation plans can lead to labor shortages and devastate communities in critical industries. Jeremy Robbins, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council says, “It’s critical that policymakers and the American public understand what this would involve: tens of billions of tax-payer dollars, already-strained industries devastated, millions of people locked up in detention, and thousands of families torn apart causing widespread terror and chaos in communities across the country.” 

This won’t affect just immigrants, but also immigrant students. With the Trump Administration removing protections to schools, hospitals and places of worship, this means that ICE can now legally enter these places to conduct a raid. The acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman stated, "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”

With the presence of ICE in educational settings, families have resorted to keeping their children absent to avoid encounters with ICE. Additionally, this means that international students are just at risk as immigrant students. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish-born PHD student at Tufts University was detained by ICE and transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.

Responding to these developments, public schools sought to to prevent ICE operations on their premise. For example, Denver Public Schools had filed a lawsuit aiming to prevent federal immigration agents from entering schools. However, this was ruled against by a federal judge for not being appropriate. 

With the growing amounts of ICE operations on premises as well as their inhumane acts towards the immigrants they handle, it is reasonable for any family today to feel powerless and terrified of letting their children go to schools