AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Six months into his second term, President Trump has moved very rapidly to upend decades of federal policy from education to health care, to vaccines. But nowhere is he moving more aggressively than immigration. And Congress just passed tens of billions of dollars in funding for immigration enforcement. It is the largest domestic enforcement funding in U.S. history, fueling Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Here for a closer look at the biggest immigration changes so far are NPR immigration correspondents Jasmine Garsd and Sergio Martínez-Beltrán. Hello to both of you.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Hello.
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: Hey. OK, so Jas, let’s start with you. I know that you’re joining us from Florida, where you’re reporting on the so-called Alligator Alcatraz, which is this new migrant detention center in the Everglades. Can you just tell us what you’re seeing on the ground there?
GARSD: Yeah, Florida officials have said they really want to be leading the charge when it comes to Trump’s immigration crackdown. And so you’re seeing things like giving highway patrol the power to do immigration enforcement and also this detention facility, Alligator Alcatraz, which was constructed in a matter of days in the Everglades. Now, I was out there for a protest, and I got to tell you, it was some of the most extreme heat I have ever worked in. And detainees have been telling their families about deplorable conditions, saying there are leaks when it rains, bug infestation, people developing skin conditions. No air conditioning for hours on end.
CHANG: Wow.
GARSD: Now, among the protesters, there was a doctor, Dr. Armen Henderson (ph). And he spoke to the crowd.
ARMEN HENDERSON: As a medical professional, I am concerned. People in my profession are concerned. It is inhumane to force people to live in these conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Yes.
HENDERSON: Shut it down.
GARSD: I reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Florida state government. I’ve received no response on these allegations of poor conditions in there.
CHANG: Well, Sergio, if we could just widen the lens beyond Florida, what are we seeing nationally on detentions and deportations at this point?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: So in general, the average daily arrests of migrants is up dramatically from last year during the Biden administration. And that’s in part because this administration has targeted everyone in the country illegally, not just hardened criminals. The White House says that the vast majority of the people currently in immigration detention are dangerous criminals. The administration officials always say these are the worst of the worst and use adjectives like murderers, rapists and gang members to describe the migrants in detention. But, Ailsa, the data published by the government on its own websites show that is not the case for most detainees.
According to the latest numbers posted by the Department of Homeland Security, there are more than 56,000 people in detention. About 70% of them have not been convicted of any crimes. And that figure includes people without any noncriminal convictions and individuals with pending criminal charges. Some 16,000 people, or about 28%, held in immigration detention are convicted criminals. But those convictions include traffic violations and property crimes. So it seems clear from the data ICE is targeting any and all immigrants they believe are in the country illegally, including some with protections from deportation.
I talked to David Bier. He’s the director of immigration studies at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute. This is what he told me about those ICE numbers.
DAVID BIER: If you look at the numbers of people who are arrested without a criminal conviction, you’re already in a situation where it’s six times what it was in 2017 under the first Trump administration. There has been a radical shift in ICE enforcement policy in the interior of the United States.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Now, it’s important to note that Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of public affairs at DHS, disputes the numbers. She tells NPR in an email that the vast majority, about 70%, of the people arrested currently in immigration detention have either been convicted or have pending criminal charges. Now, I asked her three times to provide the evidence. And McLaughlin replied, quote, “we’ll let you know when possible.” We’ve heard nothing further. And to be clear, the numbers DHS published on its website are in direct contradiction of what their spokesperson told NPR.
CHANG: Well, can we talk about ICE more specifically? Because, yes, a recent NPR poll shows that 43% of Americans feel the administration’s immigration policies are making the country safer. But as far as ICE goes, a majority think that ICE has gone too far – right? – in enforcing immigration laws. So, Jas, what are people telling you about how they’re feeling about all these sweeps that we’ve been seeing?
GARSD: Well, I’ve been speaking with farmers and Trump supporters in general in the central Florida region. Now, many Trump supporters I spoke to say they very much continue to love and support the president. But they’re concerned. They voted for an immigration crackdown on serious criminals, and all of a sudden, their next-door neighbor – you know, a hardworking person who’s been here for decades – is abruptly being taken away.
Now, from farmers in particular, I’ve heard a deep anxiety over labor shortages. One strawberry farmer I spoke to said this could prove disastrous. He asked that we withhold his name because he owns a small business in a red area. He’s worried about being retaliated against. But he called for Trump to help create a pathway to citizenship.
UNIDENTIFIED FARMER: There’s been families here for 20 years, 15, I know that, you know, grew up here. Some got kids that graduated here. I think what they really need to do – I know my opinion don’t matter. They need to come up with, like, having a hub somewhere and letting these ones that’s been here 15, 20 years go in and do their paper right.
GARSD: He’s asking for help for farmers, which President Trump has promised but has yet to deliver.
CHANG: OK. Well, to be fair, Sergio, many Trump supporters are applauding the crackdown on immigration, right? They’re pointing to the southern border, which is a lot quieter today than it was under President Biden. So that’s a big win for Trump, isn’t it?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Yeah, I mean, the numbers of unauthorized crossings at the southern border have dropped massively since Trump took office. In January, Ailsa, for example, border patrol agents made about 29,000 arrests there. Last month, in June, that number dropped to 6,000. A huge drop, right? So, yes, it is a big win for President Trump, who campaigned on this promise. Here’s border czar Tom Homan speaking to Turning Point USA, an organization of young conservatives, earlier this month.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TOM HOMAN: Illegal immigration’s down 96%. That means 96% less people coming. With 96% less people coming, how many women aren’t being raped by the cartels? How many children aren’t dying making that journey? How many pounds of fentanyl isn’t getting into the country to kill Americans?
(APPLAUSE)
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: OK, there’s a lot to fact-check there, including…
CHANG: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: …That last line about fentanyl. According to data from the U.S. government, about 86% of those convicted of trafficking fentanyl through the U.S. borders are U.S. citizens.
CHANG: OK, well, in the last minute we have left, I just want to ask both of you, what stands out the most about immigration enforcement during Trump’s second term? Jas, you go first.
GARSD: To me, it’s the level of fear. I have never seen such fear. I’m, like, doing interviews with immigrants in their homes with the curtains drawn. And they are telling me they haven’t gone outside for weeks, that their kids are going out to do the groceries and that when they do dare drive out, it is with extreme caution.
CHANG: Sergio?
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: For me, it has been how the Trump administration has been pushing and testing the judiciary with some of these executive orders. Many of them are before the court, including efforts to end birthright citizenship, right? And we knew he was going to be very aggressive in terms of immigration enforcement. But at times, that has meant stonewalling federal court orders, like the administration did over flights carrying Venezuelans to El Salvador. So that has been very surprising to me.
CHANG: That is NPR’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán and Jasmine Garsd. Thank you to both of you.
GARSD: Thanks for having us.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: You’re welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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