“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away,” said Washington Bishop Mariann Budde after her sermon on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
Following his defeat in 2020, Donald Trump has been inaugurated as the nation’s 47th president. The 78-year-old politician’s supporters celebrate his return to office for a second term. But while voters of his show great excitement, millions are now living in fear due to his increasingly harsh and dangerous anti-immigration policies.
On his first day in office, Trump signed 26 executive orders. Among these were orders to rescind dozens of previous policies that prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He also ordered a withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), called border security a “national emergency” that requires the use of military force, and, chief among them, ordered an end to birthright citizenship prospectively.
“People just need to be more aware and share more empathy, not protest, but help spread more awareness over this unfair treatment from our government,” said one student.
Trump is also enforcing mass deportations by the millions and has already begun overstepping rights previously guaranteed to immigrants. The Trump Administration allowed the Department of Homeland Security to end a policy that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from raiding and making arrests in sensitive locations. This includes schools, places of worship, and hospitals. These tactics are instilling fear and evoking danger in areas where we should feel the safest.
Just last year, ICE arrested 230,000 migrants. On Jan. 27, 2025, they arrested nearly 1,200 immigrants despite half of them having no criminal records. ICE was also seen raiding a workplace in Newark, New Jersey where agents detained a U.S. military veteran and questioned the legitimacy of his military documents. Many of these raids were soon followed up with numerous complaints of racial profiling.
On top of the growing, nationwide fear and paranoia, ICE agents have also been spotted in our local communities including in towns such as San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, making this a much more pressing and personal issue for many of our students and their families.
“People just need to imagine if it was their family because I think a lot of people don’t really understand how horrible it must be. It doesn’t even have to be immediate family, it could just be someone that you know that has been living here for such a long time and just thinking about the fact that they’re being treated so unfairly,” said a student, who wished to remain anonymous.
These raids are directly spreading fear amongst our local communities as well, with many of our own students being worried about even going to school out of fear of being confronted by ICE officers.
Our fellow students, regardless of their personal or familial citizenship status, should not have to worry about simply showing up to school because of the possibility of their lives being ruined and their families torn apart.
Those with similar viewpoints to Trump may be quick to cite crime statistics, claiming that immigrants are more likely to commit criminal offenses. However, according to research conducted by Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky, “relative to the US-born, immigrants’ incarceration rates have declined since 1960: immigrants today are 60% less likely to be incarcerated.” Through this, it can be seen how this false, often xenophobic narrative is pushed on the false pretense of preventing crime.
Some Americans also accuse immigrants of reducing their job opportunities. In reality, 77% of undocumented immigrants occupy the jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want or that became unstable after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2020.
In fact, immigrants tend to fill essential jobs that serve as the backbone of the nation, including those in agriculture, construction, and service, as well as countless indispensable others that help maintain stability in our communities.
“What keeps me motivated is my family. I’ve always been really proud of my family and the fact that they came here. They came here to support themselves and to support me and my brother and give us a chance at a better life,” said another student.
While these increasingly threatening policies are being implemented and causing local communities to worry more and more, it is important to have hope and simply do what can be done to protect those we care about.
For more information regarding safety, whether for yourself or someone you care about when encountering ICE agents, you may refer to the helpful links below. It is important to be aware of and exercise your rights to ensure you are not taken advantage of in these situations.
Resources To Know Your Rights:
CUSD Family Resource on Immigration
National Immigrant Justice Center
