Anti-immigration policies create widespread fear and mobilization
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Every time Rosa, a 39-year-old Guatemalan woman living in Texas, pulls out of her driveway these days, she finds herself gripping the steering wheel in fear. What used to be an easy commute has become the most anxious part of her day.
Sometimes Rosa notices a police car behind her while driving. When that happens, she blocks everything from her mind. “You block it out and focus on not messing up, so they won’t stop you. Because if they grab you, they’ll deport you without asking any questions,” she says.
Rosa isn’t alone; she is among the immigrants nationwide who say the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies have spiked their anxiety.
Since he took office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump and his administration have declared a national emergency at the southern border and signed a series of executive orders, including a June 7 order sending National Guard troops to California after protests broke out over immigration arrests there. But his promise to enact the “largest deportation program in American history” hasn’t transpired. A recent report by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse says the Trump administration’s removals are currently about one percent below last year’s daily average under the Biden administration at the time of writing. That could change, however, if the Senate passes the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this month. According to an analysis by The Washington Office on Latin America, the Republican funding package, passed by the House on May 22, includes about $160 billion in funding over the next four and a half years to implement the administration’s immigration goals.
Against this backdrop, news reports of increased raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are creating panic among immigrants nationwide. Nevertheless, community members are uniting to find ways to push back peacefully and advocate against these anti-immigrant policies.
Angelica B., a 25-year-old Honduran recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) who lives in California, is among those who feel targeted though her DACA status allows her to remain and work in the country. She recalls that on Jan. 7, even before Trump took office, her area was targeted by border patrol as part of Operation Return to Sender. Although ICE officials said they were targeting immigrants with criminal histories, data obtained from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by the nonprofit newsroom CalMatters revealed that agents had no prior knowledge of criminal history for all but one of the 78 people arrested. CalMatters also reported on allegations from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that agents were targeting anyone who resembled a farm worker.
Once Trump took office and the high-profile ICE raids commenced, people were hesitant even to leave their homes, Angelica recalls. “I saw a good chunk of my friends who are also Hispanic [saying] ‘I’m going out for my parents to the store’ because they are horrified that ICE is going to get them,” she says.
Others didn’t initially believe the ICE crackdown would have any effect. “My dad went from telling me ‘don’t worry’ to sending me videos that say ‘carry your license,’ ‘if they ask questions don’t say anything,’ ‘you have the right to remain silent,’” says Valerie O., an 18-year-old Dominican woman residing in Delaware. “That is when it all became real.”
The Trump administration has blown past previous norms, sweeping away, for instance, longstanding federal guidance banning enforcement actions in “sensitive locations” like schools, religious sanctuaries and hospitals.
Polls show growing confusion and uncertainty among immigrants with the administration’s approach to immigration. A poll published in May by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that 41% of immigrant respondents now worry that they or a family member could be detained or deported, up from 26% in 2023. More than a third responded that they did not know if ICE or CBP have the authority to make arrests at “sensitive locations.” In a follow-up focus group, some respondents said they now avoid these previously protected community spaces.
ICE raids at schools are also generating fear and absenteeism among immigrant students. Citing an internal survey by the Council of Great City Schools, a coalition of large urban public school systems, NBC News reported that the council’s member school districts “have already seen increased absenteeism, higher anxiety among students, increased bullying, less parental involvement, and heightened fear as a result of the change in guidance.”
“When asked whether parents, students, or educators had expressed concerns about ICE raids occurring near or on school grounds since January 21, 2025, every respondent answered ‘yes,’” the Council stated in an amicus brief referencing the survey.
Despite these challenges, communities nationwide have been mobilizing against Trump’s immigration policies since he took office this winter. In early February, 250 businesses closed nationwide to take part in A Day Without Immigrants, a movement and annual day of observance that calls on immigrants to refrain from attending school and work, and from shopping, the Los Angeles Times reported. At colleges that saw rumors about ICE on campus, students quickly responded. After social media posts about a man wearing an ICE vest on campus at American University in D.C., for instance, student organizations mobilized a march on March 4. University officials eventually confirmed in a memo that the man was not an ICE agent.
Though only about 100 students turned out, Cristian Benavidez, co-president of one of the walkout organizations, AU’s chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), says their willingness to put themselves at risk in such a tense environment was significant.
This is not the first time the U.S. government has targeted immigrants. During the Great Depression, Mexicans and Mexican Americans became the scapegoats for high unemployment rates. The U.S. government created the Mexican Repatriation program, which effectively pressured an estimated 400,000 to 1 million Mexican and Mexican Americans to leave the U.S., USCIS reported. After World War II, so-called Operation Wetback continued this trend with a publicity campaign intended to scare more people out of the country, Kelly Lytle Hernández, a history professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, explains in a Washington Post interview.
Today the country is divided on whether constitutional protections should extend to undocumented immigrants. As of now, according to an NPR/Ipsos opinion poll published May 15, only 32% of respondents say constitutional rights should apply to undocumented immigrants, while 43% say they should not. But when asked about First Amendment protections 45% of U.S. citizens agree that freedom of speech should apply to everyone including undocumented immigrants, with 30% saying undocumented immigrants should not have the right to speak freely.
Even without that poll, Angelica B., the DACA recipient from Honduras, was not willing to risk herself when protests broke out in her town. She says she felt extremely proud of her community but didn’t feel safe to join because of her status.
“I would love to protest but I have this small fear that either ICE is going to come and start grabbing people or the police are going to help out, so I just avoid them,” she says.
People who don’t feel safe attending a protest are finding other ways to show support, according to several people interviewed for this story.
Open Mic and Poster Making Event (Courtesy of American University’s League of United Latin Americans (LULAC))
“You don’t just have to be involved in a protest to be a part of these events. You can just call your friends and check up on them and things like that to still have that kind of solidarity,” Benavidez says.
Uly is a 23-year-old Mexican DACA recipient living in Alabama who says that although the community is strong in his state, he must advocate with caution. Instead of protesting, he contacts local news stations and schools about legislation like Alabama’s S.B. 53, which criminalizes anyone helping an undocumented immigrant, and Mississippi’s H.B. 1484, essentially a bounty hunter program targeting immigrants. While the Mississippi bill failed, the Alabama bill was enacted on May 22 and is set to go into effect on Oct. 1.
Uly worries that more anti-immigrant copycat laws will be proposed across southern states. He says it is his duty to spread news and resources about these issues and ensure that those around him are informed.
“I can’t go out and protest. However, when it comes to resources getting the word out, that’s where I have been heavy in,” he adds.
Entire communities are finding ways to spread resources about ICE sightings, protest dates and policy updates. Regardless of growing challenges, Uly says immigrant communities must continue to push back.
“How was DACA formed?” Uly asks rhetorically. “It was because other people before us protested, fought and wanted change. Why should I quit now that I benefit from the change they were able to create?”
– Story by Mariana Benitez Arreola
– Copy edited by Kami Waller
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