This family was targeted by Trump's dragnet
Last night, President Donald Trump once again insisted that the immigrants he is targeting for deportation are criminals.
鈥淎s we speak tonight,鈥� he told a joint session of Congress, 鈥渨e are removing gang members, drug dealers and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our very innocent citizens. Bad ones are going out as I speak.鈥�
The speech echoed his earlier calls to rid the country of the 鈥渂ad hombres鈥� from south of the border.聽
But as a civil rights lawyer representing immigrants in the Southeast, I鈥檓 not fooled.
No one, of course, is doubting that some undocumented immigrants have committed crimes. Studies, however, show that immigrants are than native Americans 鈥� not more so. in neighborhoods that experience an influx of first-generation immigrants.
The fact is that the vast majority of immigrants who are being rounded up, taken from their families and thrown into prison-like detention centers are not criminals at all. They鈥檙e simply people trying to make ends meet, like most other Americans. They . They support families. They go to school. They鈥檙e of our communities.
They鈥檙e not 鈥渂ad hombres鈥� 鈥� or 鈥渞apists,鈥� as Trump called them in the speech that kicked off his campaign.
Rather, they鈥檙e people like Walter Cervantes, who has been sitting in the Stewart Detention Facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, for the past two weeks.
Cervantes, 27, is a husband and a father to a baby girl. His parents brought him to the United States from Mexico when he was just 7. Under the Obama administration, he received assurance that he would be allowed to stay through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
But Cervantes has a marijuana charge on his record. On Feb. 13, he went to a monthly meeting with his probation officer. It was part of the conditions, set by a court, that would result in the charge being dismissed later this year.
鈥淎s I was finishing, the probation officer told me, two people want to talk to you,鈥� Cervantes told one of my colleagues who visited him in detention. 聽
The men were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Instead of going home to his wife and baby daughter in Marion, North Carolina, Cervantes was detained. Thanks to his probation, he was a convenient target for federal agents freed by Trump鈥檚 new immigration orders to detain and deport a far wider class of immigrants than before.
Under Trump鈥檚 new mandates, any immigrant in the country without proper documentation who is charged with or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, is now an enforcement priority. It doesn鈥檛 matter how minor the offense. It doesn鈥檛 matter if the person has paid their debt to society. It doesn鈥檛 matter if the offense is a criminal charge stemming from the person鈥檚 immigration status.
Even the Dreamers, the DACA recipients like Cervantes who arrived with their parents as young children, are at risk.
Immigrants who have regular contact with a court, school or government agency should not have to worry that they are particularly vulnerable. Yet, many are. In El Paso, Texas, for example, agents inside a courthouse just after she received a protective order against an abusive boyfriend.
The Los Angeles Times reported that up to for deportation by Trump鈥檚 dragnet.
Even though the Obama administration deported more people than any previous administration, Trump鈥檚 orders are far more aggressive than President Barack Obama鈥檚 directives. Under Obama, immigrants associated with serious crimes were targeted as higher priorities for deportation, while others were allowed some relief.
As the raids continue, in what Trump has called a 鈥渕ilitary operation,鈥� immigrant communities will become less likely to report crimes out of fear of being deported and as a result will be less safe.
The apparatus Trump will need to carry out his new immigration directives is already being built.
Thousands more federal agents . Trump has called for reinstating the which provided immigration agents with fingerprint records collected at local jails, even though, according to , it made immigrants 鈥渁fraid to call 911.鈥�
Trump also has signaled he will bring changes to so-called 287(g) agreements in an effort to enlist more local law enforcement officials to act as federal immigration agents. Under Obama, applications for such authority slowed and some were rescinded. Maricopa County, Arizona, had its 287(g) authority revoked after the Department of Justice found a pattern of racial profiling by officers.
Meanwhile, immigrants like Cervantes will continue to be rounded up and face the often devastating prospect of being sent back to their country of origin. For Cervantes, that is Michoacan, Mexico 鈥� a place he hasn鈥檛 seen in 20 years.
鈥淚 hear stories of cartels,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ast year, my cousin was murdered. People have broken into my family鈥檚 house. I鈥檓 worried because people may think I have money.鈥�
Cervantes doesn鈥檛 want to go there to live. He wants to be in the United States, his home.
鈥淚 want to get out to be with my wife and baby.鈥�
