CNN
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It’s been six months since Nedi, a 35-year-old Venezuelan mother of two, set off on a treacherous journey through the Darien Gap to the United States.
With hopes of eventually settling in Miami, Nedi and her family arrived in San Diego 11 days ago after successfully entering the U.S. with the help of the CBPOne app — a tool that allows immigrants to share information with immigration officials. Allows to exchange and plan interviews. Prior to reaching the US border.
But on Monday, as President Donald Trump took the oath of office, the US Customs and Border Protection announced. CBPOne will lose its scheduling functionality. And all future political meetings will be cancelled.
It has left thousands of migrants – some of whom have helped Nidi get to where she is – desperate and desperate.
“I left friends and family behind who couldn’t make it, and we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he told CNN. “We’re worried about not being able to stay, being sent back.”
Since running for re-election, Trump has vowed to curb immigration and undo Biden-era policies that he says were too permissive and accused of allowing a large influx of undocumented immigrants. .
The president signed executive orders on Monday that would give the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency more freedom to conduct enforcement actions in sensitive areas, subject the pool of undocumented immigrants to expedited deportation, and They will end the right of citizenship. That has received strong pushback from constitutional experts and Democratic-led states and cities, which have already challenged the measure. Courts
CNN teams in contact with local authorities in several cities said they were not aware of any large-scale actions so far, while other sources said federal immigration officials were still awaiting additional guidance. are and are mostly relying on verbal communication from headquarters.
However, these new policies begin to paint a picture of how the Trump administration intends to handle immigration and conduct an ambitious deportation operation. Here’s what we know:
White House “border czar” Tom Homan told CNN that targeted enforcement operations by ICE already take place, but this time, he argued, agents have more latitude.
“The gloves are off,” he has said repeatedly since Trump announced his appointment shortly after winning the November election.
As under the Biden administration, ICE teams are continuing routine enforcement operations — arresting and detaining threats to public safety and national security across the country. Agents will identify and target an individual or individuals for arrest, sometimes carrying a team for protection.
However, an important difference now is that if ICE targets a criminal and that person is with another undocumented immigrant, that person can also be arrested.
Trump’s new policy would also allow ICE to conduct enforcement actions in or near sensitive areas like schools and churches — places where, under the Biden administration, more steps would be required before authorities could begin arrests. .
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement agencies, and instead trusts them to use common sense. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman said in a statement.
Trump officials also expanded the process of expediting deportations, to include undocumented immigrants anywhere in the U.S. who cannot prove they have lived in the U.S. for two consecutive years or more. .
The fast-track deportation procedure, known as “expedited removal,” allows immigration officials to remove an individual without a hearing before an immigration judge. In doing so, the administration is expanding its powers to deport undocumented immigrants.
The end of ‘catch and release’
Trump has repeatedly criticized what Republicans call “catch and release,” referring to the practice of temporarily releasing immigrants in the U.S. while they await their immigration court date.
On Monday, Trump said during his inaugural address: “I will end the tradition of catch and release.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has since been directed to detain the immigrants and not release them, even if it means holding them longer, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN. told Its purpose is to quickly remove those who do not qualify for asylum.
On Tuesday morning, CBP notified Catholic Charities of San Diego, a nonprofit that provides shelter, food and immigration services to immigrants, that it would no longer release immigrants into its care. , the organization’s CEO Appaswami “Venu” Pajunor told CNN.
The only explanation the federal agency provided was that “the policy at the federal level has changed,” Pajnor said.
Beginning in 2021, Catholic Charities is working with CBP, ICE and ports-of-entry to provide shelter and care to immigrants who are released into their care.
The nonprofit was receiving an average of 200 to 300 migrants per day, Pajanur said, and now more than 200 migrants in their care face uncertainty.
“We have a lot of refugees here and they’re all scared. They’re very scared,” Pajanur said.
CNN has reached out to ICE as well as CBP for comment.
Earlier Tuesday, Danielle Kosmas, with the American Friends Service Committee, said she was not surprised to see eight migrants near the border wall waiting for Customs and Border Protection agents to take them to a detention center.
Cosmes operates an aid tent along the border wall that shares information about immigration law and distributes water, hot drinks and food to incoming migrants as they await processing.
On Tuesday, none of the migrants accepted donations or wanted to speak to Cosmas.
He said the announcement of executive orders on immigration does not mean organizations will see immediate effects on the ground.
“Maybe we will, maybe we won’t, but what I’m most concerned about is the impact this will have on immigrant communities,” Kosmos said. are already in and living in the U.S. and are an integral part of the communities and people trying to get to the U.S.
“What I can definitely expect is fear and uncertainty, because that’s basically what they’re feeling.”
Cosmes also warned of a possible increase in injuries and deaths from people trying to cross the more remote areas of the US-Mexico border. “This is what we can expect when policies and executive orders take away opportunities for safe entries and dismantle the asylum system.”
Amid violent winds and bitterly cold temperatures, Chicago teachers union members are preparing for changes in immigration policy to protect their students — training staff at their schools to respond to ICE raids. How to give
“We started attending Know Your Rights training so we know how to defend ourselves and our students if someone tries to do this,” said Erin, a Chicago Public Schools teacher. If ICE tries to talk to us or potentially detain someone,” said Erin, a Chicago Public Schools teacher. CNN affiliate WLS.
Erin said she has about a dozen teachers on her “protection team” — a group that defends students if they are threatened.
“I want our families to feel confident that they can send their kids to school. We’re not going to negotiate with ICE,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Martinez told WLS.
The city’s police department has also been vocal about its response to the policy changes, telling WLS that it “does not support federal immigration authorities in enforcement action based solely on immigration status.”
“Additionally, CPD does not document immigration status or share such information with federal authorities,” the Chicago Police Department added.
Officials in other cities, such as Las Vegas, have similarly weighed the policy change.
Speaking to KLAS, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahal said his police department would not participate. Mass Deportation “Round Up” As outlined in President Trump’s new immigration policies.
McMahal, who hopes for a bipartisan effort to secure the U.S. border, told KLAS that “community roundups and things like that, that’s not my job. I have a lot to do.”
“I don’t think with the size and scope of the problem they’re going to make as much progress on it as they’d like unless they focus on stopping people from coming across borders,” he said.
