In the United States, there is widespread discontent in many places regarding the actions of the immigration service ICE. This came to a head last week in Los Angeles, resulting in demonstrations and local riots. Why is ICE’s approach facing resistance?
It has been restless for days in parts of Los Angeles. In ongoing protests, almost four hundred people have already been arrested since Saturday. The anger is directed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
This agency is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE’s main task is to oversee compliance with immigration rules, including through arrests and deportations. The arrest of undocumented immigrants is simply part of the immigration service’s duties. The big problem seems to be the way this is done.
Reducing immigration has been a long-standing hobbyhorse of the Republican Party and of President Donald Trump in particular. During the campaign for his second term, Trump said he would initiate “massive deportations,” starting with “the worst kind” of undocumented immigrants.
According to Trump, there is an emergency. But there are now fewer foreigners without papers in the U.S. than a few years ago.
‘Government will keep its promise’
Under pressure from Trump’s promise, ICE now seems to be going after all undocumented immigrants, even those without a criminal background. Think of agricultural and factory workers, gas station attendants, dishwashers and construction workers.
“The way that happens has caused a lot of bad blood,” says American expert Andrew Gawthorpe. “Ordinary people see how ICE agents suddenly take their colleagues, employees or neighbors away in an aggressive manner. And that while those people have often lived in the U.S. for years, pay taxes and abide by the law.”
The seemingly random arrests of ICE are therefore met with resistance. There is broad support among the American population for the deportation of undocumented immigrants with a criminal record, but it is different for foreigners with a job.
“That doesn’t sit well with the average American, whether they are Republican or Democrat,” says historian Jack Thompson. Foreigners in the U.S. can also obtain a tax number without a Social Security number. In this way they pay taxes.
According to the White House, it’s not that complicated. “If you are illegally in the country, you will be deported,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson tells news agency Reuters. “That is President Trump’s promise to the American people. The government will keep that promise.”
Quotas for ICE, also more frequent inspections at companies
ICE would have been instructed by the White House to arrest at least three thousand foreigners every day, Reuters reports.
The service has not yet achieved that objective, but the number of arrests is increasing. Last Tuesday, the agency arrested 2,300 foreigners. That is the largest number in ICE’s history to date, NBC News reports.
Experts question the feasibility of the White House’s quota, especially in a state like California. There, ICE is bound by more rules than in other states. In California, foreigners have more civil rights.
The number of ICE inspections at companies has also increased significantly, lawyers tell The Washington Post. Often that is a prelude to raids. But sometimes arrests are also made during those inspections. This has caused great unrest among companies. In some cases, employees no longer show up after an inspection.
‘Legal options for foreigner taken away’
The shoe pinches legally too. According to American media, ICE agents are increasingly appearing at so-called immigration courts where deportation cases are being heard. Foreigners whose cases have been rejected are sometimes immediately handcuffed.
But lawyers tell ABC News that a rejection was usually good news for a foreigner. “It meant that the foreigner could seek another legal route to residence in the U.S., for example by applying for asylum,” lawyers tell the channel. But that route is now cut off by direct arrests.
Another concern is that the National Guard is supporting ICE in arresting foreigners, at least in Los Angeles. Gawthorpe expects that the increasing visibility and participation of the military in the arrests will have an escalating effect. “It gives critics of Trump and his immigration policy something to protest against,” he says.
However, the help of the National Guard to ICE would be a conscious choice of the Trump administration, sources tell CNN. That strategy should also be applied in other cities, in order to increase the number of arrests and deportations. “We can use all the help we can get,” acting ICE director Tom Homan tells the channel. “We are facing a huge task.”
Persistent unrest is also politically advantageous to Trump, as you can read in this article. It therefore seems unlikely that the president will adjust his course in the short term. “The hardliners of the Trump administration want to make the U.S. as unattractive as possible for foreigners, including those who want to come legally,” says Thompson. “The aggressive ICE action is part of that.”