Shifts in immigrant arrest policies

The Trump Administration has thrown out policies that prohibit the arrest of migrants at sensitive places like schools and churches.

For over a decade, the policies restricted two key federal immigration agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs (ICE) and Border Protection, from carrying out immigration enforcement in sensitive locations. What does this mean for undocumented students and others, as well as schools and churches?

Elizabeth Chatham, Partner at Stinson LLP, joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk about how the Trump Administration’s decision may affect schools and churches.

This is one of nearly 89 immigration enforcement actions by the Trump administration, and it’s only been about three weeks. This particular order was announced related to securing the border, and there was a policy change.

Chatham said that previously, in other administrations going back to 2011, schools, places of worship, churches, domestic violence shelters, and even hospitals were considered sensitive areas that were protected from immigration enforcement action. The previous guidance wouldn’t even allow ice or law enforcement near these sensitive areas.

“The reason was to look at activities conducted at these locations and to protect the larger community, so there was not going to be a chilling effect or fear that someone who is going to attend a Sunday service might actually has an interaction that they weren’t anticipating with immigration.” said by Chatham.

Chatham then talked about how many schools in Arizona are preparing communications that are being sent to families, saying that immigration status doesn’t matter in the state of Arizona.

“We’ll allow and enroll children k-12, regardless of their immigration status, attend school,” said Chatham.