Data Shows ICE Deportation Efforts Are Way More Aggressive In ‘Blue’ States

Legal Issues

from the this-will-surprise-no-one dept

Trump and his GOP enablers wouldn’t know subtlety if it held them down and punched them in the face repeatedly. Being a little bit crafty is never an option for an administration that prides itself on its performances. A little subtlety tends to go a long way, especially when you’re already fighting dozens of federal lawsuits. But I guess Trump and his buddies prefer the path far less traveled — a path that’s nearly completely devoid of plausible deniability.

Oh, there will be denials. That much is assured. But no one believes them, except for those inclined to believe anything that dribbles from the mouths of Trump and his cabinet.

The justice system has always had at least a few tiers. With ICE just out there grabbing any Latino-looking person they can in hopes of getting a thumbs up from ghouls like Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, it would make sense to be a bit more equitable when engaging in mass deportation efforts.

Instead, we’re getting the other thing: ICE raiding neighborhoods and businesses where Trump can’t win the popular vote, but hanging back to pick up people on detainers from local jails in areas where Trump is considered king. CNN has the receipts, which ironically enough were produced by ICE itself.

The ICE data shows that overall, more immigrants are being arrested in red states than blue states – both in the community and, especially, in prisons and jails. But there is a clear divide in where ICE is apprehending people: 59% of arrests in red states took place in prisons and jails, while 70% of arrests in blue states took place in the community. That partisan gap between red and blue states existed before Trump’s second term began – but it has widened since last year.

Sure, there have been a few high-profile raids of businesses in red states, but for the most part, it’s just another attack option for Trump to get back at his political opponents. While raiding Home Depots and random neighborhoods won’t really encourage entire states to go Red, it’s just another unfriendly reminder that the other party controls the White House and isn’t afraid to abuse its power. There’s no “winning hearts and minds” going on here — just the vindictive behavior of an administration that absolutely hates anyone who hasn’t gone full MAGA.

As CNN correctly notes, some of this disparity in enforcement can be traced back to sanctuary polices enacted by several states and cities during Trump’s first term and/or following his unexpected second election win. That means ICE just hanging around waiting for phone calls from local law enforcement isn’t an option, even though that would do the sort of thing ICE and its officials keep claiming it’s doing: removing dangerous criminals from this country permanently.

Here’s acting ICE director Todd Lyons… well, lying:

“Boston’s my hometown and it really shocks me that officials all over Massachusetts would rather release sex offenders, fentanyl dealers, drug dealers, human traffickers, and child rapists back into the neighborhoods,” he told reporters this summer – without addressing the fact that a large majority of immigrants arrested in the state this year had no criminal convictions.

While that last sentence is true everywhere in the country, it’s especially true in “blue” states where ICE is spending more time raiding workplaces, neighborhoods, and hanging around courts handling immigration cases.

Some of the most aggressive actions targeting places criminals aren’t likely to be found (and carried out by people who always seem to have masks, but never anything approaching probable cause, much less a judicial warrant) happened in Todd Lyon’s previous jurisdiction, which covers five New England states, all of whose electoral votes went to Kamala Harris in the last election.

But even if there weren’t this stark — and obviously partisan — disparity in tactics, ICE would still be deporting people who don’t fit the parade of migrant horrors Todd Lyons concocted to defend his agency’s untargeted mass arrest efforts. As has already been shown by ICE’s own data, nearly 90% of deportees have never been convicted of a serious crime. More recent data shows that nearly one in five ICE arrests are nothing more than crimes of opportunity (violating civil rights is a crime, yo), produced by agents roaming areas with large minority populations and harassing anyone they think doesn’t look white enough to actually live here.

This administration keeps adding tiers to the justice system. The rich vs. the poor. Law enforcement vs. everyone else. White criminals who support Trump are more equal than federal criminals whose crimes didn’t clearly demonstrate their love of Trump. And now there’s the population of entire states, which are now being deprived of justice because their Electoral College votes were cast for the “wrong” candidate.

The only positive aspect of this is that people keep pushing back against Trump and his MAGA counterparts. The worst thing you can do when dealing with a bully is roll over. Every protest and policy protecting people from his worst impulses cuts him a little. And the more there are, the more likely it is there will be an overreaction even the nation’s top court won’t be willing to condone. Any and all resistance matters. And every bit of data showing unequal enforcement of the law will add to arsenals of plaintiffs engaged in lawsuits against this rogue Republic.

Filed Under: abolish ice, dhs, ice, mass deportation, partisan bullshit, trump administration