The forthcoming Trump administration is reportedly planning to discard a long-established policy that generally restricts federal immigration authorities from detaining illegal immigrants in areas designated as "sensitive," as per an NBC News report.
As reported by Conservative Daily News, President-elect Donald Trump is considering permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to initiate the arrest of illegal immigrants in or around hospitals, schools, churches, and other areas classified as "sensitive," without requiring prior authorization from their superiors. Trump, who secured his presidential victory on a stringent immigration platform, could potentially implement this rule change as early as his first day in office.
This anticipated policy shift could enable ICE agents to more effectively fulfill one of the president-elect's most prominent campaign pledges: executing the most extensive deportation operation in U.S. history.
For over a decade, a policy has been in place within the agency that discourages apprehensions at sensitive locations, barring exceptions related to terrorism, threats to national security, or other imminent dangers. This policy, which was largely established by then-ICE Director John Morton in an October 2011 memo, prohibited agents from operating in schools or churches and has been upheld through the Trump and Biden administrations.
Morton's directive not only limited ICE apprehensions at schools, churches, and hospitals, but also at funerals, weddings, religious ceremonies, and public demonstrations. Agents were instructed to only operate under urgent circumstances or after securing approval from their superiors.
The incoming administration is also reportedly exploring other innovative strategies to facilitate its ambitious deportation agenda. This includes the possibility of deporting illegal immigrants to third-party countries such as Panama or Turks and Caicos if their home countries refuse to accept them.
Trump has also committed to terminating birthright citizenship for those born to illegal immigrant parents, continuing construction on the U.S-Mexico border wall, enhancing Border Patrol staffing, and implementing a range of other measures. To assist in leading this initiative, he has selected Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, former ICE acting director Tom Homan as border czar, longtime aide Stephen Miller as a top policy advisor, former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and Caleb Vitello to head ICE.
However, Trump's stringent approach to immigration enforcement has been met with resistance from an increasing number of Democratic mayors and governors. Some localities have even passed or reinforced their sanctuary city policies. In contrast, Homan has publicly admonished Democratic opponents to "get the hell out the way" once he commences the deportation of illegal immigrants from the U.S.
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