Fixing broken immigration policy is our bipartisan dream

"There is a lot of fear and unknown with what is going to happen", said Richard Morales, immigration policy director at PICO, a national network of faith-based community groups, which is conducting training with congregation leaders, including those from New Jersey.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, has joined growing legislative voices calling for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to provide more details about a reported operation February 8 in Alexandria during which Hispanic men were arrested outside a church shelter.

Kaper-Dale said he has talked to town officials in Highland Park about possibly allowing Nixle alerts, which notify local people of emergencies, to also include information about ICE activity in the area. "And they don't use that word lightly", he said.

Boston Public Schools officials said they have seen the concern among the families of students, and have been offering "Know Your Rights" workshops for families, in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Advancement. According to one lawmaker present at the meeting, their only hesitation was around arresting DACA recipients-ya know, the Dreamers who were told by the federal government they could work here legally.

"It's not in any way shape or form a means to essentially dictate the manner or way we interact with those police departments", she said.

On Wednesday morning, the City of Philadelphia tweeted on its official account, "City is working to gather info on how many people have been impacted by increased ICE enforcements", and gave the number for a hotline created by New Sanctuary Movement, an interfaith immigrant justice organization. They included undocumented individuals with minor offenses such as traffic violations and 176 who the Democrats said were identified as "non-criminals" by Homan.

Donald Trump Dismisses Russia Controversy As 'Scam' By Hostile Media
The president predicted coverage of the conference would say he was "ranting", though he said he wasn't. Even fellow Republicans have expressed unease about Trump's comments about Putin.

While the previous administration had clear guidance that targeted mainly serious and violent criminals, in his first week President Donald Trump signed an executive order that vastly expanded the priorities to include virtually any undocumented immigrant in the U.S., including if they were only suspected of a crime or safety threat.

Lipscombe added, "It sounds like there is a unique focus on different groups but in reality the focus is on certain immigrants and black immigrants are more likely to be arrested by ICE".

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly described the operations as "routine" in a statement released Monday.

"It's a recipe for chaos", said Stephen Legomsky, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who served as chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under President Barack Obama. The arrest last week of Guadalupe García de Rayos, a decades-long Phoenix, Arizona resident and mother, sparked spontaneous protests as local community members blockaded a deportation van where she was being held. "He wants to impose greater law and order and extract those who are committing crimes who shouldn't be here in the first place".

Later in her speech, Roberts said, "I believe that no one should be deported for merely having a broken tail light". And so the game seems to have changed when it comes to interior immigration enforcement under Trump. In the absence of clear priorities, legal experts say it will likely fall to individual agents to determine which immigrants are detained and deported. "That is a direct result". We will fight to protect our communities against deportations and our Nation's values that no human is illegal.