Federal officials insist they have not made fundamental changes in enforcement actions, and they deny stopping people randomly at checkpoints or conducting “sweeps” of locations where undocumented immigrants are common.
But anxiety among immigrants spiked this week after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency conducted a series of enforcement actions in large metropolitan areas. On Saturday the agency announced that more than 200 people had been arrested this week in six states overseen by the Chicago office. That was in addition to more than 160 detained in the Los Angeles area, as well as arrests in New York, Atlanta and other cities.
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Congress on Saturday demanded an immediate meeting with Thomas D. Homan, the acting head of ICE.
“These raids have struck fear in the hearts of the immigrant community as many fear that President Trump’s promised ‘deportation force’ is now in full-swing,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Homan.
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