A new report suggests that President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind a longstanding policy within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that prevents unauthorized arrests of undocumented immigrants in sensitive places — including schools, hospitals and places of worship.
Three sources with knowledge of discussions on changing the standard spoke to NBC News under the condition of anonymity, noting that they weren’t authorized to discuss the plan outside of the transition team’s communications.
The policy barring ICE from conducting unauthorized raids in sensitive places has been in place since 2011, and has been respected, at least to some degree, by the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations. Biden expanded the guidance somewhat, to cover areas that “require special protection.”
ICE agents are still allowed to conduct raids in these types of locales, but only under special circumstances where an imminent threat is suspected. Otherwise, they must first receive special approval from their supervisors before they can conduct raids in such areas.
Besides being a moral standard, the policy is a matter of public safety, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt explained to NBC News.
“In the past, Presidents of both parties have recognized that merely because it may be lawful to make arrests at hospitals and schools doesn’t mean it’s humane or wise public policy. … We don’t want people with contagious diseases too scared to go to the hospital or children going uneducated because of poorly considered deportation policies,” Gelernt said.
Immigrant rights advocates denounced the incoming Trump administration’s plans for rescinding the rule, noting the plan’s extreme cruelty.
“Not even most ICE agents want to barge into churches or schools and carry out arrests,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said in a post on X. “But the Trump admin wants people to be afraid; so they want nowhere to seem safe, no matter how draconian and brutal the operation may seem and how much backlash it may generate.”
The report from NBC News “highlights a significant threat that will impact every person in our country — immigrant and U.S.-born alike,” said Heidi Altman, federal advocacy director at the National Immigration Law Center.
“People should not have to worry about their safety when sitting in church pews, going to the doctor, or picking up their kids at school,” Altman added.
“It is cruel beyond words to think ripping children from their classrooms, targeting patients in their hospital beds, and families going to church is going to make anyone in our country safer,” said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of federal advocacy for United We Dream.
Despite Trump transition members vowing to slash funding for localities that refuse to cooperate with Trump’s mass deportation plans, Macedo do Nascimento said it was imperative that communities and states resist the incoming administration’s actions.
“Knowing the horrific and inhumane ways the Trump Administration plans to fulfill its promises, we demand local leaders and elected officials on all levels step up to defend the members of their communities now,” she added.
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