Immigration agents, emboldened by President Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration, have increased the rate of arrests by almost 40 percent this year. Over 40,000 suspected undocumented immigrants are held in detention and there is a renewed focus on the targeting of immigrants who have no criminal records.
Thomas Honan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, released the numbers, which offer a glimpse at how immigration enforcement has become a top priority for the new President, as he promised during his last year’s election campaign. A total of 41,300 people have so far been arrested. With almost 11,000 of them having no criminal convictions, this is nearly twice the number of those in a similar situation for a comparable period during 2016.
Deportations have fallen in the three months from late January to late April, compared to the same period last year, despite the increased immigration enforcement spurred on by the new President. There has been outrage in the US over the number of arrests, with Trump opponents claiming that families who have otherwise broken no laws are being rounded up for deportation.
30,500 of the 40,000 suspected undocumented immigrants arrested had criminal records, compared to 30,000 from the year before. Many immigrants, including those given leniencies by President Barack Obama’s administration, have been caught up in the immigration enforcement efforts since Trump signed his executive order on 25 January.