The fear of deportation has existed among immigrant communities for years. While they have always been aware of immigration laws and the possibility of deportation, immigrants have been able to live their lives without fear. They have worked, raised their families and contributed to the U.S. economy with little to no fear being deported. That is because immigration laws have rarely threatened or pose as a danger to immigrants in the country.
However, the fear of deportation has grown more intense since the beginning of Trump’s administration. In making true to his campaign promise on immigration, Trump released executive order 13767 in January and 13768 in February. These orders outline plans to tighten and enforce immigration laws. The plans include hiring of 10,000 Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents to search, arrest and deport undocumented immigrants; the treatment of any offense as
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According to ……..10,845 people were arrested between January 22 and April 29. These arrests took place in people’s homes, subways and sensitive locations including churches, schools and courthouses. There are rumors of ICE checkpoints in places such as Brooklyn. In February, ICE agents arrested 40 immigrants in New York some of whom had no criminal convictions. Whereas immigration officials and ICE agents say that they arrest only criminals, reports from the media show that law-abiding families and non-criminal immigrants are also being rounded up and arrested. While most of these are unfounded and unconfirmed rumors, it has succeeded in raising fear among immigrant communities. People do not want to go out because they are afraid. Undocumented immigrants who work manual jobs have stop going to work because they are afraid that ICE agents will track them at their workplace or that their employers will release their status to ICE