What to Know About the ICE Raids Happening Across the U.S
President Donald Trump has made his thoughts on immigration clear throughout his first presidential term and during his campaign in 2024.
At a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Trump said of immigrants, “They let — I think the real number is 15, 16 million people into our country. When they do that, we got a lot of work to do. They’re poisoning the blood of our country,”
Soon after he was inaugurated as the 47th president, Trump signed an executive order for “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” an order that involves hiring increases for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has led to mass detention raids across the U.S.
ICE raids have also begun across Massachusetts, most notably in East Boston, Everett, Chelsea, Dorchestor and Mattapan.
In January, the acting director of ICE, Caleb Vitello, told ICE agents that they have a goal quota of 1200 to 1400 to hit daily for arrests. Arrests have been made in states across the country, with ICE even coming to schools and places of work to make their arrests.
The director of the MIRA coalition, Elizabeth Sweet, spoke about Trump’s plans to crack down on immigration. Sweet said, “We’ve entered this new moment, this new phase, where we know ICE is going to be targeting a much wider swath of folks, including folks who have been living in the Commonwealth for 10, 20 years.”
This sentiment, and others like it, have brought about concern from critics of Trump’s plans as they poke holes in ICE’s actions versus their stated goals. Many legal immigrants have been targeted by ICE and arrested due to what can only be described as racial profiling.
If put into action, Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship would most likely compound these arrests, as ICE would be able to justify even more arrests, whether it is constitutionally lawful or not.
