{"id":6342,"date":"2025-02-13T07:02:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T07:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6342"},"modified":"2025-02-18T00:29:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T00:29:24","slug":"mass-deportation-and-the-fall-of-detentions-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6342","title":{"rendered":"Mass Deportation and the Fall of Immigration Detention Regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Rios<\/em><\/p>\n

Associate Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

As the Trump administration ushers in a new era of mass deportation and hysteria, \u201csanctuary\u201d communities like Chicago are more important now than ever. The term \u201csanctuary\u201d generally refers to states, counties or cities that have policies<\/a> that limit the extent to which a local officials will cooperate with federal agencies\u2019 efforts to deport undocumented persons. Recently, regulations concerning detention and deportations of undocumented immigrants have rapidly devolved<\/a>, along with what protections they offered to these communities. Previous regulations were similarly deferential to federal enforcement agencies, particularly U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, the current administration is actively working to broaden federal authorities\u2019 power to deport<\/a> immigrants who are not lawfully in the U.S. and have been accused, rather than convicted, of crimes. One way the administration seeks to do so is by loosening its regulation<\/a> of the methods ICE may use to conduct arrests as well as the role state and local law enforcement may play in such operations. Biden administration\u2019s discontinuing the practice of mass immigration sweeps at worksites such as factories is just one of the limitations that has been discarded. This leaves already fragile protections for undocumented persons to the wayside, resulting in unnecessary harm and suffering to thousands of undocumented persons and citizens.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Established law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act 287(a)(3),<\/a> the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Border Patrol has authority to patrol areas and neighborhoods that are located \u201cwithin a reasonable distance\u201d from the border. This provision limits Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by allowing Customs and Border Protection agents to enter and search buses, trains, boats and aircrafts within 100 miles of a land or sea border without a warrant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Mathews v. Diaz<\/em><\/a> the Supreme Court held that the Fifth Amendment protects persons whose presence in the country is unlawful from discrimination by the Federal Government stating,\u201c[e]ven one whose presence in this country is unlawful, involuntary, or transitory is entitled to that constitutional protection.\u201d The Court later held in Plyler v. Doe<\/em><\/a> that the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment applies to persons regardless of immigration or legal status, \u201c[w]hatever his status under the immigration laws, an alien is surely a \u2018person\u2019 in any ordinary sense of that term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Limitations on who ICE may detain and methods of arresting and detaining undocumented persons are necessary<\/a> to protect Due Process and Fourth Amendment rights. This concept is not new, but sanctuary cities and States are now instrumental to resisting federal attempts to diminish those rights. Sanctuary communities have implemented their own policies, but additional regulations at the state level, such as barring local officials from working with ICE to locate and deport persons not yet convicted of a crime, may be necessary as anti-immigrant operations continue.<\/p>\n

Deregulation under the Trump administration<\/strong><\/p>\n

On January 20th, 2025, the Trump administration\u2019s acting homeland security secretary issued a memo reversing the Biden administration\u2019s immigration guidelines on \u201csensitive locations<\/a>.\u201d This Biden-era policy instructed ICE and Customs and Border Protection to forego arrests of unauthorized immigrants at or near locations \u201cthat would restrain people\u2019s access to essential services or engagement in essential activities<\/a>.\u201d Some of these locations<\/a> included schools, hospitals, and places of worship. The underlying principle is that enforcement can be do and should be done without threatening individuals\u2019 access to basic necessities such as medical care, school, food and shelter. For mixed-status families, these limitations help ensure that their families stay together, that parents are able to take their children to school without fear of being detained, that siblings are not torn apart simply because one was born in the U.S. and the other was not.<\/p>\n

Executive order Protecting the American People Against Invasion Sec. 11<\/a> allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to authorize state and local law enforcement officials to perform the functions of immigration officers in investigation, apprehension or detention operations. State and local officers who are deputized<\/a> by the DHS are bound<\/a> by the Immigration and Nationality Act and federal immigration law regulations. Given the recent and active expansion of immigration operations, however, sanctuary states must brace for the impending aftermath of such aggressive efforts to eradicate undocumented individuals, especially amid threats to federal funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has further eroded regulations on immigration detentions and arrests with the signing of the Laken Riley Act<\/a>. Prior memos under Biden limited ICE arrests to \u201cserious criminals<\/a>, national security threats and recent border arrivals.\u201d Rather than focusing efforts on individuals who have committed more serious crimes, the Act requires the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to detain any migrant who is arrested or charged with minor non-violent crimes such as shoplifting. Meaning, even minor crimes are a basis<\/a> for initiating deportation proceedings. This feature of the Act is an expansion of ICE\u2019s authority and further undermines the right to Due Process. Moreover, the Act itself is yet another means of dehumanizing an entire population hidden beneath a political disguise to \u201cfight crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, there is no clear solution to the flood of mass deportation efforts. However, over 40 sanctuary cities, including Chicago, recently joined forces<\/a> at the Seeking Sanctuary convention where officials exchanged policy innovations, litigation strategies and methods for disrupting Trump\u2019s deportation policies. Though a remarkable step, it is imperative that sanctuary communities follow through on these plans by continuing to fight via litigation, policies, and refuse to submit in spite of backlash. These innovations must build on one another well into the Trump administration, not only on behalf of their own residents, but also for those whose governments will not protect them. Sanctuary communities must stand in solidarity with one another as they resist the harm deregulation has already done. Without this solidarity, only more suffering will come for undocumented persons who have built their lives alongside the everyone else who call the U.S. \u201chome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Trump administration ushers in a new era of mass deportation and hysteria, \u201csanctuary\u201d communities like Chicago are more important now than ever. The term \u201csanctuary\u201d generally refers to states, counties or cities that have policies that limit the extent to which a local officials will cooperate with federal agencies\u2019 efforts to deport undocumented persons. Recently, regulations concerning detention and deportations of undocumented immigrants have rapidly devolved, along with what protections they offered to these communities. Previous regulations were similarly deferential to federal enforcement agencies, particularly U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, the current administration is actively working to broaden federal authorities\u2019 power to deport immigrants who are not lawfully in the U.S. and have been accused, rather than convicted, of crimes. One way the administration seeks to do so is by loosening its regulation of the methods ICE may use to conduct arrests as well as the role state and local law enforcement may play in such operations. Biden administration\u2019s discontinuing the practice of mass immigration sweeps at worksites such as factories is just one of the limitations that has been discarded. This leaves already fragile protections for undocumented persons to the wayside, resulting in unnecessary harm and suffering to thousands of undocumented persons and citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[600,776,1111],"class_list":["post-6342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-department-of-justice","tag-department-of-justice","tag-executive-orders","tag-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6342"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6345,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions\/6345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}