CHAOS AND CRUELTY: TWO WEEKS OF THE INDISCRIMINATE TRUMP DEPORTATION MACHINE
Two weeks into the second Trump administration and the chaos and cruelty are already exposed for all to see. The administration’s immigration enforcement machine has been sweeping in its scope, harm and indiscriminate nature, falsely alleging that all immigrants here without legal status are “criminal”. Their overreach is harming long-settled immigrants, U.S. citizens and even Native Americans. Asked by a reporter how many of the 3,500 immigrants arrested since Trump took office have criminal records, White House Press Secretary Leavitt said, “all of them because they illegally broke our nation’s laws.” Keep in mind that this characterization would apply to Dreamers, TPS holders, those who arrived legally, heads of mixed immigration status households, and long-settled and deeply rooted undocumented immigrants who currently have no path to becoming legal residents of the nation they’ve long called home. As our Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas noted, “The cruelty, chaos, and costs of this indiscriminate enforcement agenda – for the nation, not just immigrants – is a feature and not a bug of the Trump team’s approach and will wreak havoc on families, communities, industries, and core American values if unchecked.”
THE FEAR IS THE POINT
In response to the Trump administration’s expanded enforcement, advocates, allies and community leaders have responded to the impact raids are having across the country. Notably, National Education Association (NEA)’s President Becky Pringle stated: “As educators, we are united in supporting every student—no matter the language they speak or their place of birth – and ensuring they have access to safe, welcoming public schools.” Fear is also surging in the food-service industry as it braces itself for a promised crackdown on unauthorized workers. Immigrant labor, both authorized and unauthorized, is integral to the staffing and running of restaurants in the United States. In a 2024 data brief, the National Restaurant Association reported that 21 percent of restaurant workers in the United States were immigrants. That figure does not include unauthorized workers, however; the Center for Migration Studies has estimated the number an additional one million employees. “By eliminating common sense enforcement priorities and ramping up ICE quotas, the Trump team is proving that this was never about targeting “criminals” but rather ugly publicity at the expense of harming deeply rooted families and contributors to this country. “We’re already hearing stories of parents keeping their children home from school and families avoiding church services, and we’re hearing the worries of leaders from essential industries, concerned about what the loss of workers in agriculture, construction, and health care will do to their workforce and our broader economy,” said America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cardenas.
THE LATEST IN CRUELTY – ENDING TPS FOR VENEZUELANS
This week, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump Administration’s decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, a President Biden-era protection program granted to those migrants fleeing the continued political instability in their country. First granted in 2021, TPS for Venezuela currently provides protection from deportation and a work permit to more than 600,000 people and revoking this program will have a devastating impact on communities. As Yanira Arias, Migrant Justice Coordinator at Alianza Americas said, “The Trump administration’s decision to revoke the TPS extension for Venezuela is deeply troubling,”…TPS has provided Venezuelan families with a lifeline, allowing them to work legally, contribute to their communities, and live without fear of deportation.”
TRUMP ORDERS CONSTRUCTION OF MASSIVE DETENTION CAMP IN GUANTANAMO BAY
In other cruel developments from the Trump administration this week, President Trump issued a memo ordering the construction of a migrant detention camp in Guantanamo Bay that would incarcerate more than 30,000 immigrants. Beyond the sheer scale of this prison, it’s important to remember the grievous human rights violations that continue at the prison today, including people being subjected to torture and indefinite imprisonment without due process. “Sending people to Guantánamo Bay for immigration detention, indefinite detention or some purported “immigration enforcement” purpose would be a colossal legal, moral and strategic mistake,” said Eleanor Acer, Senior Director for Refugee Protection at Human Rights First and a member of the Welcome With Dignity campaign.
TRUMP’S IMPACT ON RURAL AMERICA
In her weekly column, America’s Voice en Español consultant Maribel Hastings writes about the reports of Donald Trump’s immigration raids as they spread across the country and highlights their human and economic costs. Hastings uplifts the story of a restaurant owner in Idaho named Marta, who talks about how her business is already being negatively affected by ICE deportation raids, and how they impact the local economy, which is made up primarily of dairy farms. “Lunch is from 11:00 to 1:30 or 2:00, and it’s always full. But at that time, it was mostly white people. In the evening, very few people came in. Not even one Hispanic came. The following day, at night, more or less the same thing happened,” Marta indicated. “We realized that there were many takeout orders and just one person came to pick them up.” Hastings reminds her readers of past anti-immigrant bills in Alabama and Arizona and the devastating impact those show-me-your-papers bills had on not only immigrant communities, but on the states as a whole. Read her column in English here and Spanish here.
REMEMBER: WE HAVE RIGHTS
This can’t be stressed enough: everyone in the U.S., no matter their immigration status or who is president, has basic rights. Know your rights and protect yourself, your family, and your community. Click here to read and share these important Know Your Rights resources.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
In response to President Trump’s cruel immigration policies, advocates and allies organized by the Action Lab, United We Dream, CASA, and Make the Road States have come together to create a pledge encouraging people across the country to stand with immigrant communities and against Trump’s chaos. As the partner organizations state on the website, “While he chooses cruelty and chaos, we choose community. While he chooses hate, we choose love. While he chooses to separate families, remove teachers from their classrooms, and remove workers from their communities, we choose to protect all those people who make up the places we call home.” To sign the pledge, click here.
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