On President Trump’s very first day of his second term, he issued an array of executive orders pertaining to immigration which has led to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) making around 1,200 arrests daily according to NBC News. Trump’s goal for the rise in ICE arrests is to deport any illegal immigrants who have been accused of crimes. Along with this, Trump is attempting to end birthright citizenship, contrary to the 14th amendment
When signing this new legislation, Trump declared “It’s going to save countless innocent American lives.” It is now named the Laken Riley Act, in memory of a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last year by an illegal Venezuelan migrant. According to the New York Times, “The man had previously been arrested in a shoplifting case but had not been detained.”
Many criticize this new policy as not targeting criminals, but rather anyone without a citizenship. NBC News wrote, “Still, at least 566 people arrested Sunday had not committed any crimes and were only detained because they lacked legal authorization to remain in the United States. Being undocumented is considered a civil offense, not a crime.”
These new laws have affected student attendance in schools drastically with many in fear of being arrested for simply being Hispanic. On January 27, 2025, a Texas substitute teacher had given a tip to ICE via a X (formally known as twitter) post, which read, “I have many students who don’t even speak English, and they are in 10th-11th grade. They have to communicate through their iPhone translator with me.”. This has happened numerous times since this law was signed, showing prejudice and blatant racism.
Along with targets being placed on minors, ICE has also wrongly taken in Puerto Ricans who are lawful citizens because they come from a U.S. territory. There’s been many accounts of these citizens being detained. For example, on January 23, 2025, a Puerto Rican military veteran was searched without a warrant and taken in even after showing his valid veteran identification card. The owner of the store, Luis Janota, told PIX11 News, “One of the guys was a military veteran, and the way he looked to me was because he was Hispanic….It looked to me like they were specifically going after certain kinds of people — not every kind, because they did not ask me for documentation for my American workers, Portuguese workers, or white workers.” Clearly, they had no reason to go after this legal individual.
Sydney Roberts, a student at West Morris Central, said in response to ICE’s recent arrests, “I think they’re going after criminals, but I think that there are some workers who are fully just going after anyone they feel doesn’t belong in this country.” What could have been beneficial to lowering the crime rate in the country can be ruined if the wrong people are in charge of these arrests. In response to child deportations, she added, “children will grow up in fear, and they won’t wanna celebrate and practice their culture because they’ll know that people won’t respond well to it.”
There’s no clear conclusion as to whether or not ICE has been statistically beneficial for the country but either way there’s been an array of issues between the concept versus the execution of this plan. The lack of transparency in the arrests along with obvious prejudice of some may have an impact on the future of immigration in this country.
