In the first eight months of the Trump administration, arrests and deportations of immigrants rose 40 percent versus the year before. The new administration’s decision to halt prioritization of certain immigrants for enforcement, and instead treating all unauthorized or otherwise deportable individuals as candidates for removal, has fueled this surge.
Yet it may not last. A new report from Migration Policy Institute finds it is “unlikely” the current level of removals will continue. Growing opposition—in the form of welcoming or sanctuary policies—from state and local governments, with whom 70 to 85 percent of deportation cases have originated in peak enforcement years, has dramatically reduced the number of immigrants caught up in the removal process. In addition to state and city policies, community efforts such as “know-your-rights” trainings and expanded legal representation for those in removal proceedings have also narrowed the deportation pipeline.
Learn more about these trends during this call, which will feature two authors of Migration Policy Institute’s report, Revving Up the Deportation Machinery: Enforcement under Trump and the Pushback, based on their study of 15 localities around the country, including ICE field offices in Atlanta; Arlington, VA; Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; New Orleans; and New York.
- Geri Mannion, Program Director, U.S. Democracy and Special Opportunities Fund, Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Randy Capps, Director of Research, U.S. Programs, Migration Policy Institute
- Muzaffar Chisti, Director, MPI’s Office at NYU School of Law, Migration Policy Institute
- Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, Migration Policy Institute
Please visit GCIR's ReadyTalk program page to register by COB June 20, 2018.