Trump further squeezes immigrants as vital workers shun L.A. recovery but federal judge blocks “roving” arrests

• Trump’s pledge to focus on immigrants with criminal records is just another lie as the share of unauthorized immigrants with criminal records being deported continues to plummet. More than half of those removed from the country since Jan. 20 do not have a criminal conviction and as arrests increase the share of detained migrants with a criminal conviction has been dropping. All around the country immigrants, both those authorized to be here and those not, are scared of going to work, including in the Los Angeles neighborhoods decimated by fires. Immigrant workers have been vital to rebuilding efforts, but they are increasingly staying home rather than risk going to a job site.  As the New York Times reported, quoting Jose Madera, the director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, “They’re living in fear. They don’t know what can happen if they go to work — are they going to come back?”

• In a newly aggressive measure to halt immigrants at the border, Trump will deny a  bond hearing to immigrants who want to fight deportation proceedings in court. The new policy will result in immigrants being detained for months or years which is how long the court proceedings may take.

• But in good news, a federal judge ruled in July that the “roving” immigration raids like those in Los Angeles are unconstitutional. As Politico reported, “U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ruled Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were conducting “roving patrols” of the city and coordinating arrests without “reasonable suspicion” that their targets were in the country illegally. Rather, she ruled, they are relying on improper factors — race, accent and line of work.”

• And in another good ruling in July, a federal judge blocked Trump from ending deportation protections for more than 60,000 migrants from Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua. The judge found that Trump’s move to deport the immigrants was akin to asking migrants “to atone for their race, leave because of their names and purify their blood.” She further found that Trump’s actions “perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population.”

Trump shuts door to Head Start to immigrant children

• Trump is banning undocumented pre-schoolers from enrolling in Head Start, denying them a chance at vital early development. Trump’s latest cruelty comes as it is already illegal for people without documentation to benefit from federal programs, including SNAP and Medicaid. Some states are covering all immigrants regardless of their status with their own money, particularly children and pregnant women. 

Trump’s wrecking of asylum claims found illegal 

• Trump’s ending of asylum claims by immigrants crossing the southern border vastly exceeded his legal authority and must be halted, a federal judge ruled in early July. The judge ruled that  Trump’s Jan. 20 proclamation declaring an “invasion” of southern border-crossers cannot be used to justify the “sweeping” unilateral restrictions he sought, including severe limits to asylum applications and the ability to seek protection from torture.

Trump acts to strip legal immigrants of health care, food, tuition assistance and child tax credits

• Trump’s budget bill would strip legal immigrants, mostly children  of food stamps, tuition assistance, Medicaid and Medicare and ACA coverage. He would deny child tax credits to two million children of immigrant parents who are here legally. 

Trump extorts sanctuary cities but judge dismisses Trump’s case against Chicago 

• Trump threatens sanctuary cities with a loss of funding that would cause serious and ongoing harm to local governments and residents. Citing the irreparable harm that Trump would cause, a federal judge blocked part of Trump’s order.

• A federal judge dismissed Trump’s case against Chicago for being a sanctuary city. The judge found that Trump “lacks standing” to invalidate the state, city and county laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, Trump sued New York City for the same policy. 

Trump revocation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) cuts “a lifeline for migrant families” 

• Trump revoked deportation protections for 350,000 Venezuelans, exposing thousands to the risk of being sent back to a country struggling with political repression and economic collapse.

• The federal judge halted the deportations ruling, writing that the decision, allegedly because the immigrants are criminals,  “smacks of racism.” Trump is also trying to revoke the protections for 550,000 Haitians, even as their country remains in extreme turmoil.

• Trump directs immigration judges to ignore due process for asylum claims they deem "legally deficient." Judges can dismiss 'weak' asylum cases early, bypassing lengthy hearings that typically take years due to a backlog of nearly 4 million cases.

• Trump arrested a Milwaukee County judge who his FBI accused of protecting an immigrant who appeared before her in court from ICE. However, ICE arrested the immigrant after the court hearing. 

Trump allows white Afrikaners into the U.S. after shutting refugees from other countries

• Trump allowed 49 white, Afrikaners from South Africa into the U.S. under a humanitarian rule that he suspended for all other groups around the world. Trump alleged that their land is being seized even though no land has been taken by the government. “Now, to have a group that didn’t flee their country, that has historically enjoyed tremendous privilege in the country and that are white, provides a cruel racial twist to the suspension of refugee resettlement,” commented Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch.

• The Supreme Court approved Trump’s cancellation of the humanitarian protections from 500,000 people now in the U.S. from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua. 

Trump Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison by Mistake

And deports other immigrants and American citizens illegally 

• Trump deported Maryland father, Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite his having protected legal status in the U.S. Trump claims he has no ability to bring him back to the U.S. The Supreme Court agreed with a lower court ruling that Garcia had to be brought back to the U.S. But the Trump administration has refused to follow the Court’s order, leaving Garcia in a dangerous prison in El Salvador. 

• Trump finally returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S.  but only after imprisoning him here, accusing him of transporting immigrants who are not here legally, charges that are widely seen as fabricated. A judge then ordered him released on these charges but he will remain in immigration custody. Finally in July a judge ordered his immediate release from custody.

• Abrego Garcia is far from alone. Trump’s migrant purge has resulted in the detention and deportation of legal immigrants and people with no criminal records. He even deported a 10 year old American citizen with brain cancer when her parents sought medical attention. 

• Trump deported a 2-year old American citizen after her mother made a regular check-in with ICE. A federal judge, who has a long record of supporting Trump, said she was deported with “no meaningful process,” even as the child’s father was frantically petitioning the courts to keep her in the country.

• Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants was ruled illegal by a Trump appointed judge, who ruled that the act only applied when the U.S. faced an armed, organized attack. 

• Trump violated a court order and with DOJ officials may be criminal contempt when he put seven men on a deportation flight to war-torn South Sudan. Three federal judgers have castigated Trump for defying orders related to illegally deporting immigrants, denying them due process. 

Trump authorizes ICE raids in schools, churches and hospitals and courts

• Trump reversed previous protections, allowing immigration raids in schools, churches, and hospitals. School districts in the Phoenix, Arizona area are resisting Trump’s threats to have ICE enter school buildings. Noting that immigrant children have a constitutional right to an education, the Phoenix Union district told parents, “We know there is fear and uncertainty in our community. Please know we remain fully committed to providing schools of opportunity that welcome, love, and inspire all students to go places and do things that matter.”

• Trump’s attempt at arresting  immigrants in California based on their skin color was put on hold by a federal judge, as the law requires some legally sound reason to suspect that the person is in the U.S. illegally. ICE picked up Hispanic farm workers and day laborers with no indication of their immigration status. 

• Trump’s deportation raids have led to lower attendance of school age children in Latino communities according a new study. 

• Trump sent masked officers to courthouses across the country, arresting immigrants when they showed up for scheduled immigration hearings.  

Trump Escalated His War on Immigrant Families

• Trump blocked undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition while falsely branding entire cities as lawless—despite outcry from groups like Mi Familia Vota, which called these attacks "morally repugnant" and harmful to tax-paying families.

• Trump pressured local jails to detain immigrants for ICE and threatened to prosecute judges like Milwaukee’s. Immigration advocates warn that these tactics will tear apart communities while doing nothing to improve public safety.

Trump takes away health care coverage from Dreamers

• Trump proposed to end health insurance coverage under the ACA for “Dreamers,”  undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S.A. when they were children. Dreamers can now get coverage in 31 states. 

Trump took immigrants off of Social Security declaring them dead

• Trump’s  Social Security Administration purposely and falsely labeled 6,100 living immigrants as dead, eliminating their ability to legally earn wages or to receive the Social Security benefits they have earned and paid for.