The Human Costs of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
By Emelynn Arroyave and Oprah Cunningham
The Unfolding Tragedy
On day one of Trump’s second term in office, the Trump administration issued a flurry of orders that called for shutting down the border and ramping up aggressive immigration enforcement across the nation. In an effort to fulfill a campaign promise of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, the Trump administration has been engaged in high-profile immigration arrests. Numerous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have recently been reported in several cities, including Newark, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City, with many more projected to occur in the coming days. While the Trump administration claims that the focus of these mass deportations will be on “those with criminal records,” the reality is more problematic. A new ICE directive, announced on January 21, 2025, eliminated previous restrictions on raids in “sensitive locations.” This change seemingly allows ICE to conduct raids in schools, places of worship, and hospitals, which had historically been restricted. The agency has also received orders to ramp up arrests to meet newly established quotas. Recent reporting in The Washington Post indicates that this move will “increase the chance that officers will engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics.” Without a doubt, families, students, and patients will be unjustly profiled, as we’ve already seen happen with ICE wrongfully questioning and detaining U.S. citizens, including Native Americans and Puerto Ricans. It is clear that this initiative is not about national security — it is a cruel abuse of power.
The Policy Shift
In a poll conducted by the Associated Press, a majority of adults in the United States (6 in 10) opposed the arrests of undocumented immigrants in schools and places of worship. The American people overwhelmingly side with decency and the need to balance human dignity with immigration enforcement. For over a decade, ICE and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) followed the directive of “sensitive locations” in an effort to ensure that immigrants living in the United States could safely get an education, seek emergency medical treatment, and seek religious solace without the fear of detention and deportation. The elimination of this policy signals a troubling shift toward a more punitive and dehumanizing approach to immigration enforcement. As the United States grapples with this new reality, we must not forget that the erosion of fundamental civil liberties for undocumented immigrants will have a reverberating impact on all.
The Human Toll
Trump’s destructive and inhumane immigration policies have already stoked immense fear in immigrant communities across the country, and that’s exactly what he wants them to experience. These abrupt changes have resulted in parents keeping their young students home from school in fear of ICE raids and children being afraid to go to school because they worry that their parents will be taken while they’re in school. School should be a place where children can get their education and feel safe while doing so, but these policy changes jeopardize that.
Similarly, allowing ICE to enter hospitals is a gross abuse of power that has serious public health implications. Under federal law, hospitals are required to treat people who seek emergency care regardless of immigration status or income level because every person deserves to seek care when they need it most. But now, this added fear will undoubtedly deter people from seeking care when they need it, and it will create an additional risk to public health for all.
These directives are terrorizing children, families, and entire communities who now live in constant fear.
Cruelty as a Strategy
The Trump administration has ignored the ethical implications and public opinion on upholding these sensitive location restrictions. They are charging forward while using inflammatory language and baseless stereotypes to fuel this shift in policy that makes our communities less safe. The mislabeling of all immigrants as “criminals” provokes the dehumanization of not only immigrants but all people of color. Using criminalizing language makes our communities feel less safe. Reliable research studies have demonstrated that there is no connection between migration and crime rates. Research also shows that local policies that promote use of local tax dollars for the common good — and not to fuel mass deportations — actually make communities safer.
Mass deportation is not about law and order. It’s about power and control. By leading with the notion that undocumented immigrants are “criminals,” they normalize cruelty, sending a clear message that immigrants are not welcome here. As highlighted in a recent Axios article, “less than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in immigration courts during the past fiscal year — involving about 8,400 people — included deportation orders for alleged crimes other than entering the U.S. illegally.” By misleadingly framing immigration enforcement as a fight against crime, the Trump administration is attempting to spin the story and obscure the human cost of his policies.
The Moral Question
At the core of these new immigration policies lies fundamental moral flaws. They strip away the basic dignity that every person deserves, and they undermine the promise that the United States was built upon.
The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the promise of the American dream, boasts a poem that reads:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
That is the message that welcomed more than 12 million immigrants to the United States through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Then, the American dream represented the hope to build a bright future in a new country that promised a wide array of opportunities.
Yet today, those very same ideals seem increasingly out of reach. The same people whose ancestors benefited from this promise are now working to dismantle and destroy the same opportunity for the individuals who wish to build a better life for themselves and their families today.
To allow ICE to target schools, hospitals, and churches — places meant to protect and nurture people in their most vulnerable moments — is not just an affront to those seeking safety, but a direct contradiction to the values America claims to uphold.
Compassion, empathy, and the pursuit of justice seem to be lost ideals in today’s administration.
Shadows of Historical Injustice
Looking back at some of the darkest chapters of American history, the unsettling parallels are clear. From the unfathomable treatment of Native Americans on their own land to the segregationist policies that oppressed Black Americans and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, these destructive actions were all justified through fear and the dehumanization of entire groups of people. Each of these moments in history was marked by the use of government power to suppress and control individuals based on their identities.
Today, we’re seeing a similar pattern unfold in how immigrant communities are being treated and the horrifying rhetoric used to describe people who, in reality, deeply contribute to our social culture and our economy. Much like we’ve seen in the past, these policies and rhetoric exploit fear and fuel division, turning communities against one another.
Take Action
Although it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of these policies and the multitude of harmful policies that have been flooding out of the administration in the last several weeks, we should remember that change starts with us — the people who care enough to speak out in the face of injustice and push back against it.
Contact your representatives: Your elected officials work for you. Demand that they speak out against raids in sensitive locations and hold the administration accountable for its actions. And express your opposition to legislation that further uses immigrants as scapegoats to weaken the people’s power and endanger democracy. We must continue demanding that our leaders advance policies that reflect the core values of compassion, human dignity, and justice.
It’s also up to us to come together in community and provide support for those affected around us. Knowledge is a tool of resistance. Help spread the word so that immigrants in your network know the rights they are entitled to if they are approached by ICE. Engage in conversations that challenge the harmful stereotypes and misinformation being spread.
History has shown us time and time again that when communities come together, our collective resistance has the power to rewrite the narrative and create change. While it may feel like we are in the midst of a dark chapter, together, we can write the next one — a chapter where compassion and justice prevail over cruelty and inhumanity. In the end, that’s what defines us — not just as a nation, but as human beings.
“El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido.”
“The people, united, shall never be defeated.”
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Emelynn Arroyave is the manager, digital writer at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Oprah Cunningham is the strategic communications associate at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.