Major cities across the United States have seen a drastic increase in immigrant arrests due to a concerted effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to Fusion, as many as 680 arrests were made in just a five-day period. 

Raids were reportedly conducted in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Antonio and Atlanta. ICE claims that 75% of these arrests were “criminal aliens, convicted of crimes including, but not limited to, homicide, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual assault of a minor, lewd and lascivious acts with a child, indecent liberties with a minor, drug trafficking, battery, assault, DUI and weapons charges.”

However, what about that other 25%? That probably includes people who are a lot more like Daniel Ramirez Medina, who was arrested despite being protected under DACA, according to CNN.

While Ramirez’s attorneys claim that he’s been”presently detained without justification” since Feb. 10, ICE has presented a different story, depicting him as a “risk to public safety” due to alleged gang ties.

In Southern California alone, 161 people were detained while numbers aren’t much better in other parts of the country. The South saw 192 people detained from Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina and an additional 51 from San Antonio alone; only 23 of which had criminal records.

President Barack Obama’s history with deportation is shaky, to say the least, and some don’t see much of a difference between his administration and Donald Trump’s in regards to it. During the Obama administration, ICE detained a total of 2,059 immigrants in March 2015.

In recent days, there have been local reports of officers checking identification of Latinx and Muslim citizens, particularly in Chicago. While these haven’t been substantiated, there have been confirmed instances of police checking bags on Chicago’s Red Line as “part of routine checks, according to Chicagoist.

Could this be the nationwide crackdown President Trump has promised for more than a year? Only time will tell.

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