How US Immigration Policy Has Changed Under Trump: Eyewitness Accounts

The main driver of Trump's immigration enforcement campaign is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). To understand how this agency has changed, The New York Times interviewed more than 80 current and former DHS employees, as well as representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees immigration courts.

Here are just some of the testimonies.

"The Biden administration has set the stage."

Ryan Schwank, former attorney for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: "The Biden administration paved the way for the tragedies we're seeing now, including by pressuring immigration courts to keep asylum cases in limbo. When the Trump administration took office, the goal was to find a way to remove these people—not at any cost, but very close to it."

On the subject: The Trump administration has brought in agencies that have never done so before to handle immigration enforcement.

Mark Coumans, former Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner for Operations Support, U.S. Customs and Border Protection: "The asylum process was effectively shut down. Everyone was sent back to Mexico or their countries of origin. Trump's appointees had thought this through carefully, and this was evident in the president's executive orders. Immigrants and cartels quickly realized the rules of the game had changed."

Rafael Reyes, former chief of the U.S. Border Patrol station in Deming, New Mexico: "It was a relief for the Border Patrol. Apprehensions dropped from thousands to hundreds, then to almost zero. Places in downtown El Paso where migrants congregated (churches, parks, bus stations) began to empty. It was a honeymoon. Then everything changed. No one expected deportations on this scale."

«It looked like a scene from a cartoon."

The Senate has confirmed Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, to be secretary of Homeland Security.

Jason Marks, former senior refugee officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: "At Secretary Noem's first Department of Homeland Security town hall, she walked on stage to the song "Hot Mama," spoke for a few minutes, didn't answer a single question, and then left. I wasn't in the room, but everyone was talking about it in real time. It felt like a scene from South Park."

Danny Chin, former assistant counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: "We were disappointed to choose someone with so little relevant experience. Her biggest story was the puppy killing, so there were a lot of dark jokes about how she might apply that philosophy to immigrants."

Mark Coomans: "Offices across the country were asked to provide dozens of agents to assist US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Then we saw agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives—everyone—on the streets. The joke in the hallways was, 'We all work for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement now.'"

"The administration said we were pursuing dangerous criminals."

Teresa Pedregon, former deputy chief of the Northern Border Patrol: "Going into Walmart parking lots and setting up checkpoints there—I've never seen anything like that in my entire career. It's a complete change from how the U.S. Border Patrol has historically conducted operations."

An agent with the Homeland Security Investigations Unit, speaking on condition of anonymity: "We stopped a man from our list who we were monitoring. There was a child of about eight years old in the backseat. He was crying. It was obvious he was under a lot of stress and didn't understand what was happening. His father said he had autism.

I thought we weren't going to arrest this man, so I told him in Spanish, 'Get a lawyer, do what you have to do. You're here illegally and you're subject to deportation.' He started crying. I turned to him again, 'I understand, I'm a father myself. Just leave. I know for a fact there are agents who would have done something different. They would have said, "Someone else will take care of the child. We can call child services."'

An agent with the Homeland Security Investigations Unit, speaking on condition of anonymity: "There was tremendous pressure on performance indicators. Publicly, the administration said we were pursuing dangerous criminals. But in practice, every day was different. If we detained a hundred people, perhaps 10-15 had serious criminal violations.

Sometimes it almost reached the point of profiling. One time, my staff was assisting agents who were posted at an address with a specific target—a Hispanic man. Another Hispanic man came out of the house, got into a car, and drove away, and the agents started stopping him—simply because he was also Hispanic. I told my staff, 'Don't get involved in this.' Many agents quit or resigned because of the moral dilemma."

"The administration is interested in worsening conditions of detention"

Kerry Doyle, former head of the legal division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and former immigration judge: "Before the current administration, there were isolated cases of removal to third countries, but nothing comparable in scale. Furthermore, the government fails to disclose its agreements with third countries in court. The fact that immigration judges accept this raises serious questions about due process and our international obligations."

Sarah Pierce, former policy analyst at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: "This administration is not prioritizing oversight. This is directly related to the record number of deaths in custody—nearly 50 under Trump."

What frightens me most is how interested the administration seems in worsening conditions. They want detention to be unbearable. That's why we hear about overcrowding, poor sanitation, and lack of temperature control.

Immigration detention shouldn't be a prison. It's a civil, not a criminal, procedure. But these places are like prisons, or worse. And there are thousands of children there."

Michel Brane, former Ombudsman for the Immigration Detention Authority: "Under Biden, I led the family reunification task force. Hundreds of children hadn't seen their parents for years. Children separated under the 'zero tolerance' policy reacted differently depending on their age, but they were all traumatized. They showed regression in toilet skills, as well as in speech and behavior. Every medical specialist we consulted agreed that forced separation from a parent is a severe trauma."

«ICE "She pulled people right out of the interview."

Amanda Ceja, former interpreter at Denver Immigration Court: "We were instructed to issue forms in English and were forbidden from providing any additional explanations. People didn't understand the rules. Lines at the window stretched down the hallway, and the phone never stopped ringing. All we could say was, 'You need to see a lawyer.' I saw so many people fall victim to scammers posing as lawyers, and I realized I couldn't fulfill my role of ensuring meaningful communication any longer. So I decided to leave."

George D. Pappas, former immigration judge: "When US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers started coming into the courthouse, my associate chief judge told me, 'Stay out of the way and grant the government's motion to dismiss.'"

"No, I had no intention of doing that. That would have meant the man losing his legal status, his work permit, and making him vulnerable to arrest at any moment. We were obliged to provide him with the opportunity to be heard in court."

Michael Knowles, former asylum officer: "Asylum offices have always been physically separated from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies. The idea was to send the message: you can come even if you entered illegally or overstayed your visa, because our job is to evaluate your application. This is enshrined in law: everyone has the right to a hearing.

But US Immigration and Customs Enforcement was pulling people out of interviews or detaining them as they were leaving. Some of them had no criminal records, and there were no arrest warrants. Asylum officers told me that if they completed an interview before agents arrived, they were told to hold the applicant longer. They were effectively being made part of a trap.

I retired even though I wasn't ready for it."

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: "In March, a 19-year-old man committed suicide at the Glades facility in Florida. We closed that facility under Biden due to persistent problems. It has been reopened. Like many other facilities previously closed due to conditions."

Adam Boyd, former attorney for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: "If you have a criminal record, you must be held in custody. But previously, if there wasn't enough space, low-risk people, like a mother with a child, could be released. Now, there's virtually no such discretion. You could have lived here for 15 years but crossed the border without paperwork—and now you can be held in custody until all hearings are complete."

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Jeremiah Johnson, former immigration judge: "On November 21, I heard the case of a family of four indigenous Guatemalans—parents and two children. They were refugees and had been subjected to physical violence. The father had a broken leg, and his brother had been killed. They were persecuted on racial and ethnic grounds. They had reason to fear persecution based on their experiences, and the government did not deny this.

I granted them asylum. The Department of Homeland Security rejected the appeal. My final words from the podium were: You have been granted asylum in the United States. This decision is final. Welcome to the United States. One of the children (I think he was in fifth grade) jumped up and clapped.

When I returned to the office, I logged on to the computer and learned I'd been fired. They escorted me out without even letting me print the letter."

…We've presented only a small portion of the evidence here. The original multi-page New York Times article, linked at the beginning, provides a much broader picture of how US immigration policy has changed during Trump's second term.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Iranian elite families lived a luxurious life in the US: now they are facing deportation.

ICE arrested 13 truck drivers from post-Soviet countries at the Pennsylvania DMV.

A US Army veteran was deported to Jamaica without even knowing about his immigration hearing.

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