Nearly 2,000 undocumented immigrants are being targeted in Trump’s latest series of ICE raids, CNN reports.
The raids will allegedly focus on recent arrivals and criminals. Targeted cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco.
In total, there are about 1 million people with removal orders, including families. US Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli told CNN that the priority of the raids will be to remove violent criminals and felons.
In response to the threat of raids, advocacy groups have offered resources to immigrants who may be vulnerable. A representative for Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights told CNN, “We’ve been dispatching rapid response teams out to meet with people who have reported ICE activity over our hotline. None have been confirmed as of yet.”
In places like New York, local government offices are making an effort to teach immigrants their legal rights and how to protect themselves if they encounter ICE agents.
“In the face of heartless raids that would tear families apart, we remain steadfast in our commitment to support and defend immigrant communities,” the mayor’s office of immigrant affairs commissioner said in a statement.
The statement also provides a fact sheet available in multiple languages that spells out useful laws for immigrants in need.
“This is their job every day. We’ve got compassionate, loyal ICE agents who are just doing their job,” Cuccinelli told CNN. “It shows you how far we’ve fallen in that it’s become news that they would actually go deport people who have removal orders.”
Many, including Cuccinelli, are quick to point out that Trump’s administration has deported fewer immigrants than the Obama administration. For context, the number of deportations per administration have been on a downward trend for the past three administrations.
President Clinton was responsible for 12 million plus deportations, whereas, Bush’s administration deported upwards of 10 million immigrants. Obama has over 5 million deportations on his record, which is significantly less than his predecessors, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
So far, Trump’s statistics show that 256,085 people were deported in fiscal year 2018 alone. Only time will tell how Trump’s record will fare against past presidents.
Just last month, Trump renewed his campaign promise of deporting “millions” of immigrants while in office.
“They will be removed as fast as they come in,” he tweeted.