Thread: The Trump Deportation Regime Has Begun

The Trump Deportation Regime Has Begun

A wave of sweeps signals a new era for undocumented immigrants.

Feb. 10, 2017 3:46 PM



Early Thursday, immigration attorneys in Los Angeles started getting calls from clients across the city. Some callers reported being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at their homes. Others were caught at their workplaces, including one man detained at a Target store. The first round of Trump-era deportation sweeps had begun.

The news quickly filtered back to immigrant rights activists, who confirmed the detentions and alerted their networks. According to Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), as many as 134 immigrants were detained in the sweep. Based on her conversations with lawyers, many of those detained had outstanding orders for deportation—and some were sent back to Mexico as early as Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday evening, activists held a vigil at ICE's downtown Los Angeles field office. Later, an estimated 100 to 150 protesters blocked a nearby highway on-ramp:

ABC7 Eyewitness News Verified account ‏@ABC7
#BREAKINGNEWS:
101 onramp in downtown LA blocked by protests against ICE raids
http://abc7.la/2lpUDxk



In a Friday afternoon press release, ICE said 160 immigrants were arrested during what it called a "five-day targeted enforcement operation" in Southern California that was "aimed at at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and immigration fugitives." Of the 160, ICE claimed that 150 had criminal histories, and that 5 of the remaining 10 had final orders of removal or had been previously deported. While the release said "many of the arrestees had prior felony convictions for serious or violent offenses," ICE did not give a full breakdown of those convictions.

Earlier Friday, an ICE spokeswoman told Mother Jonesthat "enforcement surges have been part of our operational play book for many years." The subsequent press release echoed that line: "The focus was no different than the routine, targeted arrests carried out by ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams on a daily basis."

The sweep was the second high-profile ICE action in two days. On Wednesday night, immigration agents in Phoenix found themselves swarmed by protesters when they attempted to deport Guadalupe García de Rayos, a 35-year-old Mexican immigrant with two teenage children who are American citizens. García de Rayos had been caught using a fake Social Security number during an ICE workplace raid in 2008.

García de Rayos' deportation sent shock waves through the immigrant rights community and dominated Spanish-language media on Thursday. Ever since the 2008 raid, she had checked in annually with ICE to review her case—brief meetings that always resulted in her walking free, even though she had been convicted of a felony and later had a deportation order against her. This partly reflected the Obama administration's emphasis on deporting serious criminal offenders. But her deportation to Nogales, Mexico, signals that the Trump administration plans to follow through with its plans to remove all undocumentedimmigrants who've committed "acts that constitute a chargeable offense"—which, as Vox's Dara Lind has pointed out, could include everything from entering the country illegally to driving without a license. (In a statement to reporters Thursday, ICE said it will "focus on identifying and removing individuals with felony convictions who have final orders of removal.")

Indeed, social media was abuzz Friday with rumors of deportation raids throughout the country. On a conference call late in the day, Dave Marin, ICE's LA field office director for enforcement and removal operations, confirmed that there were also operations in Atlanta, Chicago, and New York during the week. And Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) tweeted Friday afternoon about additional ICE activity in South and Central Texas:

Joaquin Castro Verified account ‏@JoaquinCastrotx
I'm concerned about the ICE raids in Texas. My statement:



"A lot of things have changed since January 20," says CHIRLA's Salas. She notes that during the Obama years, ICE would typically give groups like CHIRLA basic information such as names and the number of people detained following any large sweep or workplace raid. But Salas says she finds it troubling that following Thursday's actions, there was little to no communication with the agency. "It's important that we don't get used to the idea that they don't have to give out this information," she says.

CHIRLA is currently focusing on educating immigrant communities on civil and constitutional rights. According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, greater Los Angeles is home to 1 million undocumented immigrants—second only to the New York City area, which is home to 1.15 million. On Friday, the group ran hourly know-your-rights workshops, and it's also holding legal clinics where immigrants can get advice. Similar efforts have been happening nationwide: Earlier this week, for example, public school educators in Austin, Texas, handed out flyers to students in English and Spanish about what to do in an encounter with immigration officials.

Salas says that organizers' next step is to continue to engage elected officials. Notably, Rep. Ruben Gallegos (D-Ariz.) and California State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León have criticized ICE on Twitter over the last day.

CA Senate Leader ‏@CAproTem

STATEMENT: California Senate Leader on ICE Raids http://go.usa.gov/x9MJQ #ICERaids

"We have to set the tone," Salas says, "that this is not acceptable."


This story has been updated.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...ngeles-phoenix

Gee, Kevin de Leon is mad. I warned him that if he passed the Sanctuary State bill making it illegal for any law enforcement to co-operate with ICE, that Trump would send Federal Agents in to start massive raids in to their homes and community and now he says they want to work together. What a liar. No longer is he strutting around like a rooster. Not so tough now!

Thank you Trump!!

Guess he's finding out that not everyone thinks Identity Theft is no big deal! Please keep us informed about what is happening out there, I am trying to find stuff happening in NC. They said in one article this is happening all across the US.

This is almost like a holiday for me... LOL! Got off of work early and came to ALIPAC and found all this ! It's put the biggest grin on my face, and I can't help but feel it's OUR turn now.

Remember folks, quickly and quietly.

ICE Says Arrests in Surge Actions Not Linked to Trump Order

By MATTHEW CLAIBORNE
Feb 10, 2017, 10:59 PM ET

This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made a number of arrests in Southern California, New York, Atlanta and Chicago, but an official says the actions are not tied to one of President Donald Trump's executive orders.

ICE confirms more than 160 arrests of foreign nationals in the last five days in the Los Angeles area, sparking concerns that a roundup under Trump's executive order on the interior had begun.

In a press call this evening, ICE Enforcement and Removals (ERO) L.A. Field Office Director David Marin said that there was no connection to the operation conducted in Southern California and Trump’s order, issued just five days after he took the oath of office.

Rather, the agency said, the L.A. action was part of regular surge operations and planning began before the executive order was issued. ICE would not comment on potential future implications of the order.

“This operation that we conducted is on par with similar operations that were done in the past,” Marin said.

During the campaign, Trump's promise to deport undocumented immigrants -- at one point he floated the idea of a deportation force -- shifted to focusing on those with criminal backgrounds.

However, the executive order contains language that may mark all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. for deportation -- prioritizing those who were charged with or could be charged with a criminal offense.

An ICE official tells ABC News that almost all of those arrested in the L.A. area had criminal histories and were targeted based on criminal activity, illegal re-entries after previous deportation or as immigration fugitives.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told ABC News that some of those being picked up and deported from around the country were charged with Social Security fraud because they were seeking work. He said that regardless of the criminal offense, the individuals’ 'luck ran out.'"

“All of these people are being ordered out by an immigration judge and the men and women of ICE are simply executing the law which is what our job is,” said Kelly.

An ICE official says the department conducts operations daily across the country, but does not conduct random sweeps. Rather ICE operations are based on investigative leads, the official said..

Meanwhile, in Texas today, one ICE officer was injured while making an arrest, according to an ICE official. The officer has since been treated and released from the hospital.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ice-a...ry?id=45418127

______________________________

Just doing their jobs! Business as usual! No fuss, no muss, "luck just ran out".

Quickly and quietly.

Get off our roads, freeways and off ramps.

You have no right to be here let alone block drivers from getting home from work.

Exactly. I'd send ICE buses over. That will clear the roads .... FAST!

Some of these illegal alien supporters, including the politicians, seem to think only the so-called criminal illegals can be deported. Well, while they may be the priority, it doesn't mean all the other illegals are protected from deportation. Oops, I take that back. some are, illegals under the DACA program are currently protected from deportation.

Mr. President, in order to make all illegal aliens susceptible to removal, end the DACA program now!!!

How many remember DHS allocating deportation money to other departments in 2015 because they said there wasn't enough illegal immigrants to deport?

https://www.numbersusa.com/news/ice-...ay-113-million

K.de Leon should be remove from his position now. Half of his family are here illegally. He is the leader of Senate,Sanctuary State of CA is his child, even 75% of citizens, oppose his bill.too many .thanks to Joel Anderson.

When I have heard of deported or arrested Mexican woman just now, he should be investigate for lying and protecting illegal aliens against the law and fellow Californians. When you want to clear a mess, you must start from the top.

Welcome Marci, glad you found us.

'Deportation regime,' my doesn't the media have a way with words. All countries have the right to enforce their immigration laws and most do. Ours have gone unenforced so long that became the norm but no more thank goodness.