United States

ICE enforcement and removal operations

Within his first week in office, Trump had fulfilled another of his signature campaign promises by issuing an executive order mandating the construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico aimed at controlling illegal immigration. An additional executive order authorized the withholding of federal funds from “sanctuary” cities that had chosen to provide refuge for illegal immigrants. That order was answered with defiant statements by a number of big-city mayors. Nevertheless, at the administration’s behest, in February the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency began an aggressive effort to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants. The operation targeted individuals with serious criminal records, but opponents of the policy argued that it was being used less specifically to simply round up undocumented immigrants. Many observers were surprised in June, however, when the Trump administration announced that it would allow the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to stand, thus continuing to bar the deportation of undocumented immigrants who had come to the United States as children. At the same time, though, the administration eliminated a parallel program that would have similarly prohibited the deportation of undocumented parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents.