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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Alex Woodward

Trump gives the OK for ICE agents to raid churches and schools looking for undocumented migrants

Donald Trump’s administration rescinded long-standing policy that prohibits federal immigration authorities from enforcement actions in places like schools, daycare centers, hospitals, churches and other so-called “sensitive areas” as the president lays the groundwork for his “mass deportation” agenda.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

For more than a decade, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents had been restricted from arrests in “sensitive” sites without approval from more senior officials.

The latest directive under Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman rescinds previous guidance under Joe Biden’s administration, which further established “protected areas,” including places where “children gather, disaster or emergency relief sites, and social services establishments.”

The changes have drawn sharp rebukes and warnings from faith leaders, teachers unions, school districts and immigrant advocacy groups, with state and local leaders in so-called “sanctuary” policies pledging to defend their jurisdictions in court.

“The end of the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive locations policy strikes fear into the heart of our community, cynically layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking health care and dropping off and picking up children at school,” according to Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration.

Huffman also reinstated “expedited removal” procedures, allowing immigration authorities to swiftly deport any undocumented person arrested within the United States who cannot prove they have been living in the country for more than two years.

DHS said the guidance ends the “broad abuse of humanitarian parole” and returns the program “to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.”

The Department of Justice has also issued a memo instructing prosecutors to identify state and local laws and policies that “threaten to impede” Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.

Prosecutors shall “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes,” according to the memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” according to the memo. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”

ICE will also rescind a Biden-era memo from 2021 that changed internal language referring to “aliens” as “noncitizens.”

The memo also calls for replacing “noncitizenship” with “alienage.”

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