By The Associated Press’s Rebecca Santana
Washington As the new president looks to fulfill campaign pledges to carry out mass deportations, the Trump administration threw out policies restricting where those arrests could take place, giving officers enforcing immigration laws the authority to make migrants’ arrests at sensitive places like schools and churches.
The action taken on Tuesday overturns guidance that has prohibited two important federal immigration agencies, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from conducting immigration enforcement in sensitive areas for more than ten years.
This move gives the courageous men and women at CBP and ICE the ability to enforce our immigration laws and apprehend criminal aliens, including rapists and murderers, who have entered our country unlawfully. The Department of Homeland Security announced in a statement on Tuesday that criminals would no longer be able to hide in American churches and schools in order to evade arrest.
According to the department, the decision was issued on Monday by Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman.
The ICE guidelines were first published in 2011. Similar guidelines were released by Customs and Border Protection in 2013.
Just as he did during his first term in office, which ran from 2017 to 2021, Trump has made cracking down on immigration a primary goal. He signed a number of executive measures on Monday, including suspending the refugee system, encouraging closer collaboration between ICE and state and local governments, and removing access to an app that allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the country.
He has frequently claimed that his actions have freed ICE officers and other immigration enforcement officials from Biden-era regulations that he claims limited their ability to identify and detain those who no longer possess the legal right to stay in the country.
Tuesday’s statement was anticipated as Trump attempts to fulfill his campaign pledge to deport all illegal immigrants in the nation. Advocates who contend that threatening deportation at hospitals, schools, or churches can keep migrants from receiving medical care or letting their kids go to school, however, found it startling.
According to a statement from Olivia Golden, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy, this action could have disastrous effects on immigrant families and their children, including children who are citizens of the United States. It could prevent them from getting medical care, looking for disaster relief, going to school, and going about their daily lives.
According to Golden, children are more likely to see a parent being detained, arrested, or having other interactions with ICE agents if ICE presence at such sites becomes more frequent.
Although there were few exceptions, such as for national security, officers were generally needed to obtain permission before conducting any enforcement actions at sensitive places under the instruction.
While Trump removed previous instructions that limited immigration enforcement at courthouses, he retained the guidance on sensitive locations from his earlier administration.During the Biden administration, which also released an update to the sensitive sites guideline restricting the areas in which ICE and CBP officials might conduct immigration enforcement, that courthouse guidance was reinstated.
Numerous educational institutions across have been getting ready for this scenario by contacting local law police and immigrant families.
California officials have provided schools with information regarding the state statute that restricts local involvement in immigration enforcement.
The Fresno Unified School District, one of the biggest in California, spokeswoman Diana Diaz stated, “Our policy is clear and strong that immigration enforcement is not allowed on our campuses unless forced through a valid court order.” We have communicated with local law enforcement, and they have promised not to assist with immigration enforcement in any of our schools.
In November, the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education passed a resolution declaring that schools will not help ICE enforce immigration laws. It stated that without a criminal warrant, agents would not be permitted to enter schools.
For immigration-related reasons, dozens of migrants have sought refuge in churches over the years; some have stayed for weeks at a time in order to avoid being apprehended by ICE.
Church World Service, a New York nonprofit that supports the sanctuary movements, stated in a 2018 Associated Press piece that since 2014, at least 70 examples of people seeking safety in churches for immigration-related reasons had come to light. Since Trump took office in January 2017 and promised a tougher stance on immigration, 51 of those have come up.
On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, a Border Patrol truck travels along the border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico. (Andres Leighton/AP Photo)AP
The senior pastor of St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City, Rev. K. Karper, stated that he thought it was necessary to post a notice a few days earlier alerting ICE and Homeland Security that they were not allowed inside the church.
“We’ve been involved with it for a long time,” he stated. Reaching out and offering a safe haven to newcomers and others, irrespective of their position, is a component of our religious mission.
Karper said his church will make it clear to officers that they have no business on church property without a warrant in light of the administration’s policy change.
Our folks are calm. He said, “You know, what are we going to do?” However, we will convey to anyone within the facility who feels frightened by this that they have rights, that they are not compelled to answer inquiries, and that they are not compelled to show identification without a warrant. We’re not Germany in the 1930s, you know, and the rule of law still applies here. We simply aren’t.
The Associated Press It was written by Susan Haigh of Norwich, Connecticut.
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