When a couple from Colombia who was planning their wedding showed up for a check-in with U.S. immigration authorities, one was given his next appointment date. The other was detained and deported.
Jhojan doesn’t know why Felipe was detained at the Feb. 5 appointment with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But Jhojan was so worried after Felipe’s deportation that he didn’t show up for his next check-in a month later. Jhojan insisted The Associated Press withhold the couple’s last names, fearing retribution.
He is among many people who now fear that once-routine immigration check-ins will be used as an opportunity to detain them. The appointments have become a source of anxiety as President Donald Trump presses ahead with a campaign of mass deportations and the number of people in ICE custody has reached its highest level since November 2019.
The check-ins are how ICE keeps track of some people who are released by the government to pursue asylum or other immigration cases as they make their way through a backlogged court system. The government has not said how many people ICE has detained at such appointments or whether that’s now standard practice, but immigration advocates and attorneys are concerned people might stop showing up, putting themselves further at risk of deportation.
“If you show up, they’ll deport you. If you don’t, they’ll deport you, too,” Jhojan, 23, told the AP this week.
The U.S. government is saying little
ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to repeated requests for comment about immigrants being detained at check-ins.
With the federal government releasing little information, it’s hard to sort out facts from rumors as fears run rampant in many immigrant communities. However, Trump has made it a priority to deport anyone who is in the U.S. illegally, a sharp shift from his predecessor, Joe Biden, who focused only on immigrants who were deemed public safety or national security threats and people stopped at the border.
ICE has arrested 32,809 people since Trump took office, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Wednesday during a call with reporters. About 47,600 people are in ICE detention, according to the ICE official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with guidance set by the administration.
It’s the first time in four years that ICE has arrested more people than Customs and Border Protection, indicating that more immigrants are being detained inside the U.S. than along its borders.
Immigration check-ins
ICE calls people in for appointments for several reasons, including issuing a court date. If an immigrant breaks the law during that time or a judge declines their appeal to stay in the U.S., ICE can detain and deport them.
In Louisiana, ICE detained an immigrant last month who was asked to show up under the guise of being eligible for another program with less supervision, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, which declined to offer further details.
ICE also has locked up some people it just recently deemed as likely to qualify for asylum and unlikely to flee authorities.
John Torres, a former ICE acting director, said it’s hard to comment in detail without more information about each case. But, he added, “the major reason those things take place is because something has changed in their status or something’s been discovered about their background.”
Some asylum-seekers have been targeted
An immigrant from Ecuador who is in his 20s is among the asylum-seekers who have been detained, according to attorney Rosa Barreca.
It happened at the man’s first check-in, on Feb. 3. The man had turned himself in to border agents after entering the U.S. illegally three weeks earlier. ICE officials at that time interviewed him and released him from custody, concluding he had a reasonable fear of persecution if he returned to his home country, according to Barreca.
Releasing him suggested that ICE wasn’t concerned he would flee. The fact that he didn’t made it easier for ICE to jail him.
“The family called me surprised and in a panic,” said Barreca, who runs a private practice in Philadelphia, where the man’s family lives. “When I asked the reason, he just said it is based on the executive orders and didn’t specify anything further.”
He had no criminal convictions and no contact with police during his few weeks in the U.S., Barreca said, ruling out every red flag she can imagine.
Lawyers are telling immigrants to prepare
Lawyers cannot advise clients to simply skip the meetings, which would lead to deportation orders. Instead, advocates and lawyers urge immigrants to prepare for appointments and the possibility of detention. They’re cautioning immigrants to note sudden changes in how their check-ins are conducted — such as appointments that were always virtual instead being done in person.
They are also encouraging immigrants to make emergency child care arrangements and to provide details of their cases with friends and family. That includes sharing a unique identification number that ICE uses to track people.
Immigrant rights groups say people should bring someone, preferably an attorney, to ICE appointments.
Advocates are also returning to a tactic from the first Trump administration by telling people to have a group of supporters walk them to their check-ins and wait outside.
“When people feel unsafe going to report, it’s setting everything up for failure,” said Heidi Altman, vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center. “It undermines the trust that people need to have.”
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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.
