100 days of heavy-handed measures: Trump has already deported 142,000 people

The Trump administration boasts about the iron fist with which it has guided immigration policy in its first 100 days. Perhaps as his most visible achievement, the president has underscored the 95% reduction in daily irregular crossings at the border with Mexico. The flow of South American migrants has slowed down, as has the transit of people through the Darien jungle, an important step on the journey toward the United States. The president has already deported around 142,000 people and aims to surpass the mark left by Joe Biden, who expelled more immigrants than Trump during his first presidency (1.5 million). “It’s just the beginning,” the administration said as a warning.

The administration is already beginning to reveal clues about what to expect in the coming weeks. Tom Homan, the border czar, stated on Monday that “in the very near future” migrants and foreigners detained by federal agencies will be taken to the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. In mid-April, the White House instructed the Pentagon to begin land-use conversions for thousands of acres in a swath that encompasses parts of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. By turning the land over to the military, illegal crossings into this area would be a federal crime. The Department of Defense is studying the feasibility of the proposal, according to the Associated Press.

Homan has repeatedly complained about the lack of space in detention centers. He has been pleading with Congress for weeks for a budget increase to expand the housing capacity of these prisons, many of which are operated by the private sector. The Department of Homeland Security stated in early April that the 140 centers nationwide were at maximum capacity, housing 48,000 individuals. This is the highest number in the last five years and 17% above the system’s capacity.

The government has detained 158,000 undocumented immigrants in its first 100 days. Authorities say these arrests include some 2,288 members of gangs such as the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (600 detainees) and MS-13 and Barrio 18, linked to the Mara Salvatrucha gang, among others. In his first hours in the Oval Office, Trump added these criminal groups to the list of international terrorist organizations, which effectively gave authorities more resources to fight them.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has played a prominent role in this period of time. The agency has become the law enforcement arm that has arrested and processed nearly 66,000 people for deportation. According to the agency, three out of four detainees had criminal records. About 1,300 had committed sex crimes, and nearly 500 had been charged with or convicted of homicide.

The government claims that ICE has detained “the worst of the worst.” But these months have left many questions about the way ICE agents have acted. Relatives of some of the 300 Venezuelans and Salvadorans taken away, first to Guantánamo and then to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, have reported that the undocumented immigrants apprehended had no serious crimes on their records. Some even had clean records.

ICE acknowledges that some of its detainees are guilty of minor offenses, such as traffic violations. Approximately 6,300 people have been arrested for driving while intoxicated. Another 9,600 were arrested for open assault charges. Another 1,500 people were detained for illegal weapons possession.

“We have returned 65,000 illegal aliens to various countries around the world,” said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, in a statement. The executive branch is now waging a war against sanctuary cities to force them to provide support for their law enforcement in operations to capture undocumented immigrants. In this way, Washington aims to remove obstacles to expanding the network that ICE and other agencies have cast.

The Department of Homeland Security has also detained 1,000 undocumented workers in raids conducted at various locations. In March, federal agents arrested 11 undocumented workers from Mexico, Nicaragua, and Ecuador who were working on the construction of a port on Lake Charles in Louisiana. In February, they arrested approximately 16 people in an operation at a New Jersey warehouse.

The Homeland Security criminal investigation agency claims that the 1,000 detainees are the highest number ever recorded, and that arrests will continue to increase in the coming months. Federal authorities have fined approximately 1,200 businesses for knowingly employing undocumented immigrants. The total number of these fines is close to $1 million. This is the latest move in Trump’s war on immigrants.

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