Immigrant workers in the US are preparing themselves for workplace raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Hundreds of undocumented immigrants have already been rounded up by ICE agents in what immigrant activists have described as an unprecedented Department of Homeland Security campaign.
Several of the raids were carried out at manufacturing plants, construction sites, and restaurants. At other times, undocumented immigrants were arrested during raids on different targets or picked up at traffic stops. Former President, Barack Obama, oversaw a record-breaking number of deportations, and that has been further expanded by President Donald Trump. He has increased the criteria for those eligible for deportation, tripled the amount of ICE agents, and created an expedited means for deporting immigrants sans hearings.
Many advocates for immigrant rights are preparing communities for even bigger ICE raids and have organized training sessions to ensure that such workers are aware of their legal rights. According to Workers Defense Project spokeswoman, Sam Robles, almost 50 percent of the construction industry workforce in Texas consists of undocumented immigrants, according to a joint study they carried out with the University of Texas last year.
According to a 2015 report from the Pew Research Center, 11 percent of the Illinois leisure and hospitality workforce is likewise made up of undocumented immigrant workers, along with nine percent of construction workers and 10 percent of workers in the manufacturing industry.