On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued a series of immigration-related executive orders and proclamations that will quickly re-shape the U.S. immigration system. These executive orders affect nearly every facet of a complex and demanding system. Most of the policy changes introduced through these actions are framed as directives to federal departments and agencies. However, their language also aims to stoke fear as a means of testing the boundaries of executive authority.
As the Trump administration prepares for a dramatic?increase?in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, advocates are sounding the alarm that immigrants and people seeking asylum will suffer increasingly inhumane conditions in detention facilities.
FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
This week, President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security to expand all 287(g) agreements to the “maximum extent permitted by law.”
Through the 287(g) program, state and local law enforcement officers collaborate with the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws. These programs are costly for localities, historically target individuals with little or no criminal history, and harm the relationship between police and local communities.
This recently updated fact sheet from the American Immigration Council provides an overview of how the 287(g) program works and discusses some of the problems associated with its operation. Read more: The 287(g) Program: An Overview | American Immigration Council
ACROSS THE NATION
President Donald Trump issued 10 executive orders and proclamations on his first day in office seeking to change the face of the U.S. immigration system.
The Trump administration has followed up the record of its first term, and the promises of its presidential campaign, with an effort to redefine America to exclude everyone from border-crossers seeking refuge to children born next month to parents who are in the U.S. with temporary status.?Woven through?these executive orders?are novel legal arguments that?fully?task the U.S. military with?repelling?asylum seekers; threaten aggressive use of criminal penalties to ensure compliance; and?open the door to future invocations of the?centuries-old?Insurrection?Act?and Alien Enemies Act.
This new rapid analysis from the Council represents?our best effort to synthesize the executive actions, and to point out some future developments to watch for as these orders?are implemented across the country.
Donald Trump is now the 47th president of the United States. He’s made his immigration goals clear: conduct mass deportations, end birthright citizenship, and dismantle the asylum system.
Americans want to fix our broken immigration system. But these cruel and expensive policies aren’t solutions. Instead, we should focus on real solutions that strengthen our communities, empower immigrants, and create an immigration system that is both fair and functional.
Victory! On Friday, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a temporary block on SF 2340, Iowa’s worst-ever immigration law.
A Federal Appeals court agreed with the federal district court that the law is unconstitutional and that every part of the law should remain blocked while litigation continues.
The court was considering two lawsuits asking that SF 2340 be declared unconstitutional and blocked. One was by the U.S. Department of Justice; the other was by the American Immigration Council, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, and the national ACLU on behalf of Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and the thousands of immigrants that the organization assists, including two individual Iowans.
“Trump claims to have a power in the Constitution that lets him suspend entire acts of Congress. Immigrants taken into custody have rights. No president can erase immigration law with the stroke of a pen.”
