Trump beats deporter in chief: Raul Reyes

President Trump campaigned on a promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants, and now we know what the president’s deportation force might look like. Last week, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted raids across the country, causing terror in immigrant communities and sweeping up more than 680 people. Among them are a young man in Seattle with no criminal record who had received deferred action under President Obama, an alleged victim of domestic abuse in El Paso, and a father who was detained in Austin after being mistaken for his brother-in-law.

Although the Trump administration is painting these ICE raids as a continuation of Obama-era policies, Trump’s immigration enforcement actions have the potential to go far beyond those of his predecessor. In spirit and in practice, Trump’s immigration policies differ significantly from Obama’s. And this first round of raids is likely a preview of what we can expect in the future.

“We’re actually taking people that are criminals — very, very hardened criminals in some cases — with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems, and we are getting them out,” Trump said last week. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and ICE officials have made similar remarks. But if this were true, Trump would have not issued an executive order rescinding Obama’s deportation priorities.

Under Obama’s 2014 guidelines, the government focused on convicted criminals, national security threats and recent arrivals as priorities for removal. These sensible guidelines meant that the overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants could live their lives without fear.

Trump’s Jan. 26 executive order goes much further in defining who can be deported. Under the new policy, an undocumented person can be deported if he has a criminal conviction, regardless of when and under what circumstances it occurred. People can be deported if they were ever charged with a crime, even if they were not convicted. Trump’s executive order gives immigration agents wide discretion to decide who should be removed; under Trump’s order, agents can remove anyone whom they judge to be a threat to public security or safety. This means that virtually all of the country’s 11 million undocumented people are now potential targets for deportation. Trump’s order would treat a senior citizen with a decades-old conviction, a teenager who was allegedly speeding and a murderer all the same — as people to be kicked out.

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In a statement about last week’s raids, Kelly noted that “of those arrested, approximately 75% were criminal aliens” convicted of crimes that include homicide, drug trafficking and sexual abuse. But many of those were likely swept up for minor offenses or for re-entering the country illegally.

And what about the other 25% of those arrested? Here, too, Trump’s deportation priorities differ from Obama’s. Under Obama, immigration agents focused on targeted individuals. By comparison, the latest round of ICE raids reportedly swept up some people as “collateral arrests,” meaning they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If nothing else, Trump’s immigration raids might dispel a common myth around “sanctuary cities.” Many people seem to have the idea that sanctuary cities are places where undocumented immigrants run amok without any fear of deportation. Yet ICE made arrests in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle — all of which are sanctuary cities. This proves that simply residing in a sanctuary city does not mean that an undocumented immigrant can evade immigration enforcement.

True, Obama deported more undocumented immigrants than any other president, earning himself the title of “deporter in chief" in the process. However, Obama’s immigration enforcement actions were part of an attempt to show congressional Republicans that he was serious about tackling illegal immigration.  By ramping up raids and deportations, Obama hoped that Republicans would then help him pass immigration reform, which never happened. Once Obama grasped this reality, he began setting more reasonable removal priorities.

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Trump’s raids have no broader purpose except to expel some of the most vulnerable people among us and satisfy the most xenophobic members of his base. His ICE raids have already produced anxiety and fear in immigrant communities. Does anyone feel safer because Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, an Arizona mom of two, was deported? We are likely less safer because, by casting such a wide net, the Trump administration will have fewer resources to go after violent criminals, and immigrants will increasingly shy from interacting with local law enforcement. More people who are simply trying to live their lives — like the DREAMer in Seattle — will be caught up in ICE raids and have their futures upended. Meanwhile, the American public continues to favor legalization over mass deportations by huge margins.

Trump’s deportation priorities are overly broad and poorly conceived. The fact that administration officials are attempting to deflect some blame for them onto Obama suggests they recognize that ICE raids will not make America great again.

Raul A. Reyes, an attorney, is an NBC News and CNN Opinion contributor. Follow him on Twitter @RaulAReyes.

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