Before being sworn in, President Trump was hell-bent on “fixing” the U.S. “border crisis” that was caused by the negligence of former president Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
On January 20 and 21, 2025, President Trump declared a national emergency and issued several executive orders regarding immigration. He plans to further militarize border towns and has reinstated the 2019 Remain in Mexico Act which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court hearings. One of his orders includes sending an additional 1,500 active-duty troops to the border, which will increase forces by 60%.
The Trump administration has started to implement its plan for massive deportations across the U.S.. The administration plans to use punishing measures against sanctuary cities such as LA, New York City, and other localities and states, by withholding federal funding.
Recently the government has ramped up on arrests of undocumented migrants in large sanctuary cities around the U.S.. ICE has detained thousands of people including criminals and people who have come to America illegally looking for work or safety and who do not have any criminal records. They have even detained non-immigrants, U.S. citizens, and many Native Americans who have gotten caught up in immigration customs.
The Trump administration has completely removed the restrictions that prevented ICE from raiding sensitive locations, like schools, houses, churches, and hospitals. So now ICE is being sent into peaceful areas of education and worship to catch and deport people.
In multiple communities, the arrests have caused some migrants to skip work or keep their children home from school. At the same time, large public school districts across the United States have vowed in recent days to try to protect undocumented immigrant students and their families.
According to the Education Department, “Everyone is entitled to a public education, regardless of immigration status.” This allows many public school districts to avoid asking about or keeping records of their pupils’ standing with immigration laws.
Chicago Public Schools stated last week that under the city’s sanctuary city laws — known as its Welcoming City Ordinance, which is a local policy that helps ensure undocumented residents are not prosecuted solely due to their immigration status — “ICE agents are not permitted access to CPS facilities unless they provide their credentials, the reason they are requesting access and a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge.”
Most recently, Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, which according to Homeland Security, “mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury.”
Trump signed the memorandum and is now ordering the federal government to prepare the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to house tens of thousands of migrants. The base in Guantanamo was made by President George W. Bush to hold U.S. terrorists and now Trump is sending “illegal aliens” there.
Every day Trump takes more and more steps towards total mass deportation. He claims that he’s only going after criminals and gangs that have corrupted America but in the process, he is splitting up families and shutting people out. America will suffer a major low from the loss of migrant workers therefore causing a price increase on virtually everything. America claims to value the contributions of immigrants. The people who come to enrich this country and build it, the people who preserve its legacy as a land of freedom and opportunity. But every day that passes it seems like that ideology is changing under Trump.
