For more than a decade, US immigration agencies like ICE and CBP have avoided raids on places that provide vital services, like hospitals.
The administration of newly inaugurated United States President Donald Trump has revoked longstanding protections barring immigration raids on schools, hospitals, churches and other “sensitive areas”.
The announcement on Tuesday arrives as part of Trump’s attempts to fulfil a campaign-trail pledge to launch a campaign of “mass deportation”.
According to government estimates, as many as 11 million undocumented people live in the United States, many of them cornerstones in their families and communities.
For more than a decade, federal agencies have issued guidance against carrying out immigration enforcement efforts in places like schools and medical centres, on the basis that such raids might discourage people from seeking necessary services.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) implemented its policy in 2011. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) followed suit in 2013.
But in Tuesday’s statement, the Trump administration accused that guidance of serving to “thwart law enforcement” efforts.
It framed the new directive, repealing the protections, as a form of empowerment for immigration agencies.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the statement said. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Trump has long conflated irregular migration with criminality. On the campaign trail last year, he repeatedly raised examples like that of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old student who was allegedly murdered by an undocumented person.
He has also used dehumanising language to refer to migrants and asylum seekers.
“The Democrats say, ‘Please don’t call them animals. They’re humans.’ I said, ‘No, they’re not humans. They’re not humans. They’re animals,’” he said in April, while referring to the Riley case.
Studies, however, have repeatedly shown that undocumented immigrants commit far fewer crimes than native-born US citizens.
Human rights groups have warned that Tuesday’s decision could force undocumented people, including children, into precarious situations, cut off from vital services.
“This action could have devastating consequences for immigrant families and their children, including U.S. citizen children, deterring them from receiving medical attention, seeking out disaster relief, attending school, and carrying out everyday activities,” the Center for Law and Social Policy said in a statement.
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