Trump rolls back guidelines to protect ‘sensitive areas’ from immigration raids | News about Donald Trump
For more than a decade, US immigration agencies like ICE and CBP have avoided raiding places that provide vital services, such as hospitals.
The administration of the recently inaugurated President of the United States, Donald Trump, revoked long-standing safeguards that prohibited immigration raids on schools, hospitals, churches and other “sensitive areas”.
The announcement on Tuesday arrives as part of Trump’s attempts to fulfill a campaign promise to launch a “mass deportation” campaign.
According to government estimates, as many as 11 million undocumented people live in the United States, many of whom are cornerstones of their families and communities.
For more than a decade, federal agencies have issued guidance against conducting immigration enforcement efforts at places like schools and medical centers, on the grounds that such raids could discourage people from seeking needed services.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) implemented its policy in 2011. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) followed suit in 2013.
But in a statement Tuesday, the Trump administration accused the guidelines of serving to “hinder law enforcement efforts.”
He framed the new directive, which abolishes protections, as a form of strengthening immigration agencies.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the statement said. “The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave police officers and instead believes they will use common sense.”
Trump has long linked irregular migration to crime. In last year’s campaign, he repeatedly brought up examples like that of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old student who was allegedly killed by an undocumented person.
He also used dehumanizing language refer to migrants and asylum seekers.
“Democrats say, ‘Please don’t call them animals. They are people.’ I said, ‘No, they are not human. They are not human. They’re animals,” he said in April, referring to the Riley case.
Studies, however, have shown several times that undocumented immigrants commit far fewer crimes than native US citizens.
Rights groups warned that Tuesday’s decision could leave undocumented people, including children, in a precarious situation, cut off from vital services.
“This action could have devastating consequences for immigrant families and their children, including children of U.S. citizens, deterring them from receiving medical care, seeking disaster relief, attending school, and going about everyday activities,” the Center for Law and Social Policy said. in the statement.
