U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is continuing its onslaught on immigrants, brandishing increased numbers of arrests and deportations in its recently published report of fiscal year 2018.
ICE reported 158,581 arrests of undocumented immigrants across the nation, an 11 percent increase over 2017. Meanwhile, arrests in the New York City “area of responsibility” jumped a staggering 35 percent to 3,476. Also, deportations sharply rose by 29 percent, versus the national climb of 13 percent.
As Camille Mackler, director of immigration legal policy at the New York Immigration Coalition, told Gothamist, she believes the Trump White House is attempting to make an example of out our region. The publication wrote:
Mackler said these new numbers show sanctuary cities are not “protective bubbles.” Police may not cooperate, she said, “but that doesn’t prevent the person from being arrested the second they walk into the street if ICE is waiting for them there.”
As Long Island Wins has previously reported, ICE’s tactics spare no one in their dangerously scattershot approach to enforcement, not even if individuals are appearing at court for reasons unrelated to their legal status.
Compounding this tactic is the fact that ICE — backed by a monstrous budget that has even siphoned money out of agencies like FEMA — has also pushed to deputize local police departments. Despite a court ruling, Long Island police are still falling behind in their new mandate restricting cooperation with ICE.
ICE officials attributed 2018’s increases to Trump’s executive order rescinding a policy that prioritized “the arrests and deportations of foreigners who had criminal records, or those who posed a threat to public safety.” This shift in policy further undermines the already damaged relationship between immigrant communities and law enforcement, as well as threatening the economic stability of families and communities.
