Strategies used by Trump to Target Immigrants
His immigration agenda isn’t just cruel; it’s strategic. It’s grounded in a white supremacist vision of America—one where power is easier to hold when society is more homogenous, and those who don’t “belong” are either silenced, deported, or too afraid to exist freely.
-Indivisble
Legal Rulings
The conservative Supreme Court made the decision on June 23rd 2025 in a 6-3 split that the administration has the right to deport migrants to countries that they have no connection to. This can put asylum seekers at risk and takes away due process these migrats have rights to just by being in the country (nothing to do with citizenship).
Look out for other rights to be stripped away from non-citizens such as DACA medicare and medicade, temporary protected status for refugees, and taking away DACA and Dreamers rights to stay in the country.
Mass Deportation
ICE is being ordered to increase the amount of deportations to insanely high quotas, to the point where the head of ICE Todd Lyons callously compared his work detaining and holding people to "Amazon Prime but with Human Beings". They want efficient, violent and purposefully terrorizing actions to keep others in line.
Look out for the increase of resources to ICE. The recently passed house reconciliation bill allots over $29 billion to ICE's budget... that same money that we didn't have to give medical care or food to kids. This 62% budget increase not only will increase the amount of people detained to over 100,000 a day, but will also lower the amount of immigration judges to make it even harder for migrats to make their case fairly in a court of law.
Decreasing Current Legal Statuses
Be it his executive order attacking birthright citizenship or de-naturalization effots to take away citizenship from Americans who have lived their whole lives as citizens as this country - it is no longer just about whether or not someone is "legally" here. Trump is moving the goal posts to decrease the presence of targeted groups of people. Currently he is targeting groups of people that he does not like such as political dissidents, muslims, or people from "non-white" countries. His directives are very partial stating to go after people who are "sufficiently important to pursue" which can be open to almost anyone.
Look out for Any attacks on the 14th ammendment (the one that enshrined birthright citizenship). The administation will be doing everything in their power to strip rights away from anyone they dislike, naturalized citizens or those who went through "legal means" to attain the right to be in the country need to be on guard.
Attacks Against Free Speech
Students, researchers, workers and other valid visa holders are being detained simply for expressing political opinions or participating in lawful protests. Even American citizens such as David Huerta or Newark Mayor Ras Baraka are being arrested at events where they are protesting.
Look out for stories that claim these citizens are acting violent. We can't trust the integrity of reports especially from ICE. We may continue to see more politically motivated legal actions, especially against community leaders in elected positions.
Secret Police
ICE does not wear badges or uniforms. They wear masks and drive in unmarked vehicles. They don't serve warrants or hold other means of proving they are who they say they are. This empowers anyone who wants pretend to be ICE to use violence to surveil and harass people in the community. It is meant to both be a scare tactic and decrease access to legal right by doing detentions through typical means.
Look out for states actually fighting back against this. California has introduced the "No Secret Police Act SB 627" that prohibits ICE from wearing masks during operations that would require other police officers to have transparency. Unsuprisingly, far right law enforcement groups like Peace Officers Research Association of California are against this citing officer safety threats. But citizens must turn out to support the safety of everyday citizens above the anonymity of public servants.
Growth of Immigrant Dention Facilities
In order to hold the growing population of detained people, the administartion is creating more prisions (both public and private). The infamous Alligator Alcatraz/Auschwitz are highly gaurded and substandard quality facilities that qualify it as a concentration camp by several historical experts. The goal is not simply to detain for legal processing, the clear intent is to punish and torture human beings.
Look out for fellow community members. Do not allow these facilities to be built in your communities. Do not support detaining and holding people hostage in these facilities. Share stories of the inhumane treatment and in some cases death of inmates due to negligence or overt harm. The new reconciliation bill continues to provide more money to build these facilities.
Illegal Abductions and Cooperation of Foreign Governments
The Kilmar Abrego Garcia case (a legal US resident who was kidnapped to El Salvador despite court rulings against sending him to this exact country for his own safety) demonstrated how the US will use satelite locations to remove people. At locations such as El Salvador's CECOT is known for committing human rights violations but gives the US a free pass since they themselves are not actively responsible for the conditions. When these people are deported to these other countries (which now the Supreme Court supports can happen to people regardless of where they come from or are born) outsources torture and decreases their rights to due process.
Look out for congress members who can hold oversight hearings . Support states like California who are creating legislation to fight back. Join protests and support dissent with large numbers.