US Cracks Down On Undocumented Immigrants With Nationwide Raids

As the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) clamps down on undocumented immigrants through nationwide raids, advocacy groups have gone on full alert with rapid response teams on standby.

A senior immigration official said the raids will focus on recent arrivals in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, New York, Miami and San Francisco. The official said that about 2,000 undocumented immigrants have been ordered by the courts to be removed from the United States. These raids follows after the President Donald Trump delayed arrest and deportation of families with court-ordered removals in June. The Acting Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan, had said the raids were postponed because operational details had been leaked.

News of the raids has created fear among the undocumented immigrants. The CNN said they have been stocking up on food supplies with plans to stay indoors with lights off and blinds down. And many are calling the hotline of immigration advocacy groups for help.

Cara Yi, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the organization has been dispatching rapid response teams to meet with the people who reported ICE activity over the hotline. Another activist group, the American Civil Liberties Union of New York, said on Twitter that they have received reports of ICE at subway stations, but none have been substantiated.

The Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli said the immigrants are not "undocumented." Cuccinelli told CNN that they have got a court order on a piece of paper that says that they have gotten due process. However, he did say that there are over a million people, including families, with removal orders. “We have got compassionate, loyal ICE agents who are just doing their jobs,” Cuccinelli explained. “It shows you how far we have fallen in that its become news that they would actually go deport people who have removal orders,” he said.

In light of the raids, the New York City has taken it upon itself to inform the immigrants of their legal rights. The mayor’s office and staff members have been informing them about the city resources they can use when they encounter an immigration official. In an official statement, the office’s commissioner Bitta Mostofi said they remain steadfast in their commitment to support and defend immigrat communities.

In 2017, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics, 226,119 people were deported, and 256,085 were deported in 2018.