Promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, President Trump, in his first days in office, has released a dramatic series of executive orders and other policy changes that will reshape the country’s immigration system — and the experience of what it means to live in the U.S. as an immigrant, particularly an undocumented immigrant, reports the Los Angeles Times in a detailed piece that outlines Trump’s actions to date that affect immigrants, the data about ICE deportations so far, and the legal options that remain.
People who came to the U.S. using legal pathways could now be at risk of deportation, because of actions the Trump administration has taken.
There are an estimated 13 million to 15 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., including more than 2.5 million in California. That includes people who crossed the border illegally, people who overstayed their visas and people who have requested asylum. It does not include people who entered the country under various temporary humanitarian programs, or who have obtained Temporary Protected Status, which gives people the right to live and work in the U.S. temporarily because of disasters or strife in their home countries.
Trump has signed multiple executive orders targeting immigration that, as the Migration Policy Institute noted, do one of three things: sharply limit legal pathways for entering the U.S., bolster enforcement efforts to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border or promote aggressive sweeps to round up and deport people living in the U.S. illegally. Some of the orders have already been challenged in court, and advocates said others could be soon.
Among the most consequential orders are the presidential “national emergency” declaration at the southern border, which will enable him to deploy military troops there; his suspension for at least 90 days of the refugee admissions program that resettled more than 100,000 refugees last fiscal year; and his move to end birthright citizenship, which has long been guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. (The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 20 states, including California, have sued, arguing the order is unconstitutional. In a ruling issued in one of those cases on Jan. 23, a federal judge temporarily halted the order while the legal challenges play out.)
His administration also shut down the CBP One mobile app, which was used by migrants requesting asylum. Once they reached Mexican soil, to schedule appointments with U.S. authorities at legal ports of entry to present their bids for asylum and provide biographical information for screening.
The Los Angeles Time reporters also outline a string of other actions that give ICE agents more access, even in “sanctuary cities,” and immigration-process changes that allow for swifter deportations without judicial hearings.
For instance, ICE has begun conducting publicized immigration raids in many cities, including New York and Chicago. The administration said it was lifting prohibitions that limited ICE agents at "sensitive" places such as schools and churches. Though Trump's administration has said that it is targeting undocumented people with criminal records, in a briefing this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration views all undocumented immigrants as criminals, because they have violated immigration laws.
People who have a close family member who is a U.S. citizen can still apply. But if the Trump administration resurrects travel bans barring people from certain countries from entering the U.S., that could limit applications to certain nationalities. Immigrants with valuable skills can still apply for employment visas, those from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. are eligible for green-card lotteries. Visas are also still available for parents adopting a child from another country.
It isn’t entirely clear how much capacity remains in ICE detention centers, which hold 40,000 people on an average day. On Wednesday, Trump directed his administration to begin using the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has 30,000 beds, for the detention of “high priority” immigrants. The military also is allowing ICE to detain undocumented immigrants at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado, according to multiple news reports. The agency is also looking to increase detention capacity in several states, including Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon.
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