Immigration numbers illustrate lives impacted by Trump-era policies
This story was originally published by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast.
Workplace raids. The separation of families at the border. The end of Temporary Protected Status. The Trump Administration has made vast changes to immigration policy since 2017, dramatically altering the landscape of enforcement priorities both on the border and in the interior.
The changes have touched people of all ages, some just arriving in the United States, others who have lived here most of their lives. Here are key numbers that illustrate what’s at stake under Trump’s immigration policies for hundreds of thousands of people:
50,000 people traveling in families arrested at the southern border since October. Attorney General Jeff Sessions introduced a “zero-tolerance” policy in April. The policy requires that first-time crossers who try to enter the country without authorization be prosecuted and children separated from their families at the border. Source: The New York Times
Attorney General Jeff Sessions adjusts his hat as he tours the U.S.-Mexico border with border officials in April. Credit: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
61 percent of asylum cases denied in 2017. Nearly nine out of 10 Mexican nationals who claim they’re fleeing persecution are denied asylum. Those from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala don’t fare much better. Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)
155,000 immigrants arrested in 2017 by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Thirty percent of those arrested had no criminal record. During the last year of the Obama administration, 110,000 immigrants were arrested and 16 percent had no history of arrest. During the final presidential debate, Trump promised to clean up the border by targeting drug dealers and rid the nation of what he called “bad hombres.” Source: CNN
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., has a capacity of 1,924 detainees is operated by CoreCivic.Credit: Kate Brumback/Associated Press
3,410 “workplace inspection” raids to arrest undocumented workers conducted by ICE between October and May. This figure is double the 1,716 operations conducted in fiscal year 2016. Source: Independent
14,000 ICE detainers issued per month over the last nine months according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data released through November 2017. Following Trump’s election there was a large spike in detainer numbers. However, data from March 2017 indicates the numbers have since stabilized. Sometimes called holds, they are voluntary requests for local jurisdictions to detain someone on behalf of federal immigration agents. It’s unknown how many ICE detainers requested are honored. Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)
428,250 people will have to leave the U.S. within the next two years with the end of Temporary Protected Status for people from six countries. The Department of Homeland Security decided to end provisional residency previously provided to 262,500 Salvadorans, 86,000 Hondurans, 58,600 Haitians, 14,800 Nepalis, 5,300 Nicaraguans and 1,050 Sudanese. Source: CNN
119,100 immigrant workers from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti lost with the end of Temporary Protected Status will affect a number of leading U.S. industries, including construction, restaurants and other food services, landscaping services, child day care services and grocery stores. Source: Journal on Migration and Human Security
15,000 additional H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas available in 2018. In announcing the increase, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen suggested there are not enough workers in the U.S. to keep up with the needs of U.S. businesses. Source: U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services
218 signatures on a petition to bypass Republican leadership and permit the House to decide the fate of over 800,000 DACA recipients on June 5, 2018. Only three more signatures are needed. Source: Politico
Reveal reporter Aura Bogado contributed to this story.
Vanessa Swales can be reached at vswales@revealnews.org.
