The Trump administration’s crackdown against immigration and immigrants currently living in the United States has sparked widespread protest. Only hours after the Department of Homeland Security unveiled its deportation plans, activists unfurled a 3-foot-by-20-foot banner at the base of the Statue of Liberty reading “Refugees Welcome.”
The White House is moving to greatly expand the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and to increase the number of immigration and Border Patrol agents by 15,000. Under rules issued on Tuesday, almost any undocumented person in the country could be detained and deported, even if they have never committed a crime. A traffic violation or mere suspicion of committing a crime could now be grounds for deportation. Any immigrant who cannot prove they have been in the United States for over two years could be deported without a hearing.
The memos also call for the prosecution of parents who seek to reunite their family by using smugglers to bring their children into the country. According to the White House, protections will remain in place for now for DREAMers—immigrants who came to the United States as children and have since received permission to live and work in the United States under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.
