Donald Trump signs two executive orders: one for his border wall and one that removes any oversight or review for deporting undocumented immigrants.
The second order allows law enforcement — not just Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) — to target immigrants for any reason, without the department’s review. All they have to do is accuse the target of a committing a crime, proof or not.
These and other immigration policies result in I.C.E. detaining multiple U.S. citizens for weeks or months, refusing to verify their identity or citizenship.
He also includes, according to language in the order, anyone who has “committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense,” meaning anyone the authorities believe has broken any type of law — regardless of whether that person has been charged with a crime…
Finally, he allows the targeting of anyone who “in the judgment of an immigration officer” poses a risk to either public safety or national security. That gives immigration officers the broad authority they have been pressing for, and no longer requires them to receive a review from a supervisor before targeting individuals.
The New York Times
The U.S. – Mexico border wall, which Trump says Mexico will pay for, is still not built at the time of this writing (September 2020).
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/trump-immigration-deportation.html?searchResultPosition=167
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ice-releases-us-citizen-18-wrongfully-detained-border-64521121
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/thousands-of-u-s-citizens-have-been-mistakenly-detained-or-deported/
Photo: Justin Norman
