Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Trump has modified and installed a number of new and existing policies regarding immigration, including those which prohibit agents from arresting people in “sensitive locations” and ending many of the Biden administration’s immigration programs. Trump has revoked pathways for immigrants to arrive legally, suspended refugee admissions and stripped the temporary legal statuses of several hundred thousand immigrants. He tried to end birthright citizenship, as well as to capture, detain, and deport “illegal” immigrants with a criminal record.
On Jan. 29, crowds gathered in Gainesville, Georgia to protest the deportation and detainment of over 6,000 undocumented immigrants throughout the United States. Many protesters spoke out about the inhumane nature of deportation and held signs stating “No Human Is Illegal On Stolen Land.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) averaged 787 arrests a day from Jan. 23 to 31, compared to 311 a day during the Biden Administration Period which ended Sept. 2024. Although numbers have doubled since Biden’s presidency, Trump has reassigned the directors of search and removal of undocumented immigrants, Russell Hott and Peter Berg, in order to boost the rate in which arrests and deportation happens.
In the weeks since Trump’s inauguration, ICE reported a goal of at least 1200 arrests daily, and although that number has been in decline, many documented immigrants have begun to avoid public spaces. Two immigrant Paideia parents share their opinion, saying that “deporting undocumented criminal immigrants could benefit our country, but that the government should not use violent or unjust methods to do so.”
