The Impact of ICE on Local Communities
“These policies have highlighted debates between constitutional rights and human rights, affecting students, families, and entire communities. It is important to stay well informed, understand your own rights, and help people who might be facing these challenges.”
The world around us is changing as we write this, and you need to know about it. Deportations are happening one after another — unjustifiably, innocent people are being sent away for nothing but accusations. People need to know about this now.
Starting on January 20th, 2025, Donald Trump started his second term of presidency. While making many noticeable changes, one change that stood out from the rest of them was the way that ICE is handling their duties. Donald Trump released some executive orders in the immigration system, which would flip the lives of many immigrants.
Who Governs Immigration
In the constitution the Federal Government controls borders and immigration. The president can’t change the law or constitution, but can decide how to apply or carry it out in practice. For example, let's say there is a law that people must drive safely. The president does not have the power to change the law, but can decide if the police should focus more on speeding or running red lights. If the president issues an executive order that goes above his power, a federal court or congress can get involved and take it down. An executive order is the president saying how he will carry out the law.
Some recent Executive orders regarding immigration consist of:
"Executive Order Protecting the American People Against Invasion"
Tells the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to enforce immigration laws more aggressively.
Led to ICE changing their policy, and may now enter schools and religious buildings to conduct raids.
DHS and ICE are still prioritizing undocumented immigrants with criminal records.
Now, DHS and ICE are also directed to detain and deport undocumented immigrants who have not committed a crime.
"Securing Our Borders and Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States"
Direct use of military, and increased use of walls, drones at the Southern Border.
"Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship"
Excludes temporary visitors and undocumented immigrants from "birthright citizenship" guarantee in the 14th Amendment.
Has already been temporarily blocked by a federal district court (and is considered unconstitutional by most legal scholars).
"Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists"
Directs DHS to review new visa requests much more carefully.
Will likely make it harder to get Visas to visit the US.
"Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program"
Pauses US Refugee programs, stranding refugees from places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Haiti.
These defenses from deportation don’t carry much weight anymore:
Victims of Crimes in the U.S.
Individuals who have been victims of crimes in the U.S., including domestic violence, may be eligible for immigration relief.
Fear of Persecution or Torture
People afraid to return to their home countries due to a well-founded fear of persecution or torture, including those who identify as LGBT or have suffered domestic violence, may qualify for relief.
Abandoned, Abused, or Neglected Minors
Minors who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by one or both of their parents may be eligible for special immigration status.
Brief Explanation of The Executive Orders
Throughout all of these changes and amplifications that these executive orders have offered, Trump has enforced these laws more aggressively, allowing raids in schools and religious buildings and also deporting undocumented immigrants with no criminal records. They also increased the amount of military involvement, walls, and surveillance technology at the southern border. Additionally, there were attempts to change birthright citizenship by excluding undocumented immigrants and temporary visitors from birthright citizenship, but this was temporarily blocked in court since it was considered unconstitutional. Trump also enforced stricter visa and refugee policies, making it more difficult for visa approval and temporarily halting refugee programs.
Additionally immigrants who were victims of crimes, including domestic violence in the U.S., found it harder to receive protection, and they now have a higher risk of getting deported. Immigrants who fled from their country out of fear of persecution, torture , domestic abuse, or gang violence have a harder time getting asylum. Not only that, it is also more difficult for young adults (ages 18-21) to get special immigrant status.
It is essential for people in our community to understand these executive orders because it dramatically expands immigration enforcement, restricts legal protection for undocumented immigrants and refugees, challenges birthright citizenship, and increases border security measures, raising legal concern over potential constitutional rights. If a situation ever happens where you come upon an immigrant officer, you have the right to remain silent and refuse any questions from that immigration officer regardless of your immigration status, and make sure you don’t ever show any identification until you have spoken to a lawyer.
These new changes are going to impact the lives of many people here in the United States. We know that there are some students in the Comp Sci High community who are impacted, or have direct family members who are going to be impacted by these changes. As far as we know, Comp Sci High has launched lessons for advisories. We have asked Mr Noah if there is anything else the school is planning to do to help students who might be affected by these immigration changes. He then responded with: “We prepared a lesson and we sent resources to families. We're considering a parent workshop as well, but haven't planned any concrete next steps.”
Recently, the case of Mahmoud Khalil has sparked an outrage in the local New York City community when he was stripped of his green card for participating in pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia's campus. This goes deeper than just participating in the protests. The US government’s justification for his detainment was that Khalil was supporting a terrorist group named Hamas. The government has no evidence to justify their reasoning. There was a different case of something similar happening when Venezuelan immigrants were accused of being part of a gang, leading to them getting sent to a terrorist-confinement prison in El Salvador. The government admitted that they deported one of the immigrants to the prison by mistake.
As time comes forward, our world progresses, bringing a surge of new and unfolding events. No one can predict what events will shape our future, but we can recognize the impact of the policies being implemented these days. These recent executive orders on immigration have established a wide-range of changes that expanded enforcement, restricted legal protection, reevaluated some aspects of citizenship, and have left many immigrants and their families in a dilemma.
These policies have highlighted debates between constitutional rights and human rights, affecting students, families, and entire communities. It is important to stay well informed, understand your own rights, and help people who might be facing these challenges. As these policies change, it's important to listen to those who may be affected and work together to keep what is right and fair in our community.