US immigrants on high alert after two days of raids

International Desk: Fear and panic have gripped immigrant communities in the United States as reports circulate that federal agents have become newly aggressive under Donald Trump, who campaigned for the presidency with a vow to create a “deportation force.”

Federal officials insist they have not made fundamental changes in enforcement actions and they deny stopping people randomly at checkpoints or conducting “sweeps” of locations where undocumented immigrants are common.

But anxiety among immigrants spiked this week after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency conducted a series of enforcement actions in large metropolitan areas. On Saturday, the agency announced that more than 200 people had been arrested this week in six states overseen by the Chicago office. That was in addition to more than 160 detained in the Los Angeles area, as well as arrests in New York, Atlanta and other cities.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Congress on Saturday demanded an immediate meeting with Thomas Homan, the acting head of ICE.

“These raids have struck fear in the hearts of the immigrant community as many fear that President Trump’s promised ‘deportation force’ is now in full-swing,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Homan.

What’s certain is that even if ICE and other officials say this is business as usual, many immigrants find more persuasive the words and actions of Trump, whose political rise was propelled by anti-immigrant rhetoric, a vow to build a wall on the Mexican border and the promise to deport 3 million immigrants he deemed criminal.

The president roiled Washington two weeks ago with his surprise executive order banning travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries and a halt in accepting refugees. That order was blocked by federal judges, and while Trump ponders whether to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, he has said he will craft other executive orders to make the U.S. more secure.

On Jan. 25, five days after taking the oath of office, he issued an executive order titled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.” Media attention focused on Trump’s call for an end to federal funds for “sanctuary cities,” which are communities that, to varying degrees, do not automatically hand over illegal immigrants who come to the attention of local law enforcement.

Source: Agencies

 

risingbd/Dhaka/Feb 12, 2017/A K Azad