ILAP Community Update: More Immigration News from Week One
Dear Community,
The past week has been incredibly difficult, to say the least. The Trump administration’s attacks on immigrant communities across the U.S. and those seeking safety at the border are unconscionable. But at the same time, our community – in Maine and beyond – is coming together, demonstrating our strength, and readying ourselves for the work ahead.
At the time of this email, one of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant Executive Orders to end birthright citizenship has already been temporarily halted by the courts for being “blatantly unconstitutional.” State Attorney Generals and local police departments across the country are pushing back that the federal government cannot attempt to use state law enforcement to conduct immigration enforcement and they will not participate.
As a reminder, in the weeks, months, and years ahead, we will see many announcements from the Trump administration and Congress but that does not always mean what is proposed or declared will definitely happen. Sometimes an order from the president will be stopped by the court system. Sometimes Congress will not give the president the money needed to carry out a plan. Sometimes a bill proposed in Congress will not become law.
Please see below for information on some of the federal immigration announcements and updates that occurred the week of January 20, 2025. All announcements are subject to rapid changes.
Know Your Rights
An important step you can take now to protect yourself is to learn your rights! See ILAP’s resources here.
IMMIGRATION UPDATES:
➡️ Click here for ILAP’s Community Update from January 21, including a list of some of the Trump Administration’s first Executive Orders related to immigration.
Below is a summary of some of the additional actions the Trump administration has taken on immigration as of January 24, 2025.
PLEASE NOTE: These updates are subject to rapid change.
What It Means:
Under this announcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have permission to conduct immigration enforcement at places like schools, places of worship, hospitals, and other similar locations. These locations had been previously protected from enforcement under longstanding policy.
While ICE and CBP now have authority to conduct enforcement at these locations, it does not necessarily mean they will. Additionally, it does not mean there will be raids at these locations (for example, ICE or CBP may just elect to seek out specific individuals at these locations).
If you represent any of these entities, it is important that you consult legal counsel to prepare for the possibility of immigration enforcement at your location, and advise staff on how this will be handled.
In one of the Trump administration’s first Executive Orders, they announced the end of the Cuba Haiti Nicaragua Venezuela parole program and other categorical parole programs (like for Afghans and Ukrainians). On January 23, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo that they are laying the groundwork to quickly deport people who have already come to the U.S. under these programs.
This would impact Maine’s immigrant communities who arrived in the U.S. through these critical humanitarian programs as well as those who were hoping loved ones still in these countries would be able to access safety through them. It would also impact Maine businesses where people on parole programs are working.
On January 22, Congress passed the Laken Riley Act. This law:
Requires mandatory indefinite detention for undocumented people who are accused of, admit to, or are convicted of committing burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.
Expands power of state Attorney Generals to challenge federal immigration decisions.
ILAP condemns and strongly advocated against this law which strips due process rights away from vulnerable people and expands immigrant detention. This bill, like the Trump administration’s Executive Orders, seeks to create a false link between immigrants and criminality – no data supports these claims.
President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law soon.
The Trump administration announced the expansion of “expedited removal,” a process for rapidly deporting people without due process under the law.
Under this announcement, the government can now use expedited removal anywhere in the country against any undocumented person who 1) did not enter on parole or a visa; and 2) can’t prove they have been in the U.S. continuously for two years before the arrest.
In a January 23 memo, the Trump administration specified it will apply expedited removal to some people who arrived in the U.S. on the Cuba Haiti Venezuela Nicaragua parole program or other parole programs.
The National Immigration Law Center has prepared community explainers and Know Your Rights resources on expedited removal in English and Spanish.
This directive gives authority to federal law enforcement officers outside of ICE and CBP to conduct immigration enforcement. Taking resources from other federal law enforcement entities could have impacts on overall public safety in the country as more resources are spent targeting undocumented people.
This memo calls for using an obscure law that would permit state and local law enforcement to act as full federal immigration officers. State and local law enforcement would have to agree and enter into a written agreement with the Department of Homeland Security.
This is more expansive than 287(g) agreements, a practice which permits state and local law enforcement to assist in federal enforcement, but not carry out a federal immigration officer’s full duties. Like 287(g), such agreements would do tremendous harm to public safety by making immigrant communities even more fearful of engaging with state and local law enforcement to report crimes and share information; would increase racial profiling affecting citizens and noncitizens alike; and drain limited state and local resources to do work for the federal government.
Research shows that states that have invested state and local resources in immigration enforcement cause economic downfall in those states as workers are lost.
Stay Connected:
Follow ILAP @ilapmaine on social media for the latest updates:
Take Action:
United We Dream, Make the Road, CASA, and the Action Lab are collecting 10,000 pledges to challenge Trump’s anti-immigrant attacks by working to create welcoming and loving communities, speaking up in defense of our neighbors, and supporting families with information and mutual aid.
