On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to launch the largest deportation operation the country had ever seen. Yet as the president works to make good on this promise, the administration is sweeping up legal immigrants in its crackdown.
In a documented example, a chilling video by the New York Times recounts the detention of three legal immigrants by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to the European Parliament, detention is defined as the holding of a migrant, asylum seeker, or refugee, depriving the person of their freedom of movement. Watching ICE subject these seemingly normal people to inhumane treatment both confused and scared me. It makes no sense why ICE would detain people who were here legally, subjecting them to such torture and strife, only to release them after all that.
Detention is not the only fate that legal immigrants can suffer. According to the Justice Action Center, the Trump administration released a statement ordering legal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who came under humanitarian parole to self-deport, stripping about 500,000 people of their legal status. In the blink of an eye, people who believed they were “safe” became targets for deportation. To call a country that turns its back on thousands of legal immigrants fleeing for humanitarian reasons the “land of the free” seems incredulous.
In a high-profile case, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador, despite having an order preventing his return to the country. Even when the federal government acknowledged it had made a mistake, it disregarded a judge’s orders to facilitate his return. Garcia was returned in June.
This incident should be especially concerning to legal immigrants. It shows that even if one is mistakenly deported, the current administration may hesitate to bring them back. The department’s tunnel vision on Garcia’s potential criminal record resulted in a catastrophic life event for the Salvadorian man, a frankly irresponsible move from an organization that preaches justice.
In December, an Afghan man shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. The Trump administration halted immigration cases for thousands of Afghans, despite Afghan communities condemning the act. The government also halted green card processing, likely jeopardizing the cases of immigrants who believed they were on the path to becoming American citizens.
In September, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued a ruling that was interpreted by some as opening the doors for ICE to racially profile anyone during immigration raids and stops. This jeopardizes the status of all immigrants, legal or not. ICE agents can stop anyone solely for a racial reason.
When Trump was first elected, I remember reading articles about children being ripped apart from their families. I remember how relieved I felt, knowing that my family would not suffer the same fate. I thought it would only happen at the border, which seemed like a faraway land. I thought it would only happen to people trying to cross the border illegally. I thought we were safe. Now, as a high school sophomore, I realize how naive I was.
I was born here, just like many second-generation individuals. As I saw these events on the news, I began to worry, despite being an American citizen, especially since my parents, despite being here legally, are themselves immigrants. If this unfair deportation continues, and if ICE gets out of control, who is to say that my family will not follow the fates of thousands of other immigrant families, who were separated and still not reunited? I worry for my grandparents, that when they visit from South Korea, they will be detained, despite the fact that they have crossed the border multiple times with no issues. Although healthy, they are also elderly, and who is to say that they will not die in ICE custody, as others have?
Some might say that our legal status protects us. Yet as seen by the examples above, being in the country legally will not save someone from deportation. Just because someone is not an illegal immigrant does not mean they will escape detention or deportation.
America is a country built on immigrants. From the Chinese immigrant railroad workers who were essential to building the Transcontinental Railroad, to the Jewish immigrants who organized unions, such as Clara Lemlich, our history is full of immigrants and their contributions. America would not be America without its immigrants. We must treat them with the dignity they are entitled to under U.S. law.
