When will ‘the blow’ come? Georgia immigrants wait for mass deportations

There was also a high-profile arrest of a churchgoer in Tucker, the product of a Trump policy change that opened places of worship, schools and hospitals to ICE — institutions that had previously been largely off-limits.

But, so far, the administration’s immigration crackdown has not been unprecedented. Across Georgia, longtime Hispanic community leaders say the unauthorized immigrant population faced more perilous moments in the past and that Trump’s stated goal of deporting millions hasn’t yet translated into a historic enforcement operation on the ground.

“I think it’s a show,” said America Gruner, an immigration advocate for the past 40 years and leader of CLILA, a Latino-serving nonprofit in Dalton. “It’s a lot of propagandizing.”

Gruner said her corner of the state has so far been spared from the targeted arrests that have been documented in metro Atlanta, a far cry from the “years of panic” that she said seized Dalton during a period of intense immigration enforcement under President Barack Obama.

“Our people didn’t even want to come out to the street corner, they didn’t even want to look out their window,” she said of that era.

More recently, during the first Trump administration, community volunteers organized to supervise 16 children after their parents were detained and deported. “I’ll never forget that time,” she said.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

On the campaign trail, Trump frequently vowed to create the largest deportation program in U.S. history. ICE then quickly ramped up apprehensions, with government officials saying that the agency tripled the number of arrests it makes in U.S. cities.

But after reaching a daily peak of 800 to 1,200 per day in late January, immigration arrests tapered off last month as ICE began running out of room in detention centers and lost the assistance of other federal agents who had been temporarily reassigned to help. Tom Homan, a former acting director of ICE whom Trump has installed as border czar, has been urging lawmakers to provide additional funds and resources to the agency, which ICE will need to sustainably scale up its operations and make meaningful strides toward the president’s goals.

Amid frustration among Trump officials over the slowing pace of arrests and deportations, two top ICE officials were removed from their posts last month.

Despite the administration’s stumbles, Georgia immigrant leaders say this moment in time has brought its own set of challenges, including a more antagonistic attitude toward immigrants from the broader community.

Recent polls, including one released last month from the Pew Research Center, have found widespread support among Americans for increased deportations. That has been translating into tension-filled moments for some, according to Adelina Nicholls, who has spent decades at the helm of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights.

The government’s rhetoric has “created a permission structure,” she said. Some everyday citizens “feel like they are now immigration agents … they feel empowered to ask people about their immigration status. That’s something that we are coming up against every day.”

For those who do get arrested, there will be fewer recourses available to defend themselves against deportation.

As part of the many executive orders he signed upon his return to office, Trump expanded the use of expedited removal, a mechanism that subjects people who are in the country unlawfully to a streamlined deportation process, depriving them of the opportunity to make their case in immigration court for being allowed to stay in the country.

Under former President Joe Biden, federal immigration officials were only allowed to use expedited removal on unauthorized immigrants detained within 100 miles of an international border, and who had been in the country for less than two weeks. As mandated by Trump, the sped-up deportations will apply to unauthorized immigrants anywhere in the U.S. who have been present in the country for less than two years.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Another concern for advocates: There are more conservative judges on the Supreme Court now than there were during the first Trump administration, which could imperil legal challenges to the government’s actions on immigration.

“Before we at least had some peace of mind, if we can call it that, because we had the courts, the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court as sources of hope that somebody could put a stop to things,” Gruner said. “Nowadays, I don’t feel that protection is there.”

Meanwhile, the immigration arrests that do take place reverberate in a terrifying loop on social media. Trump officials are promoting their deportation campaign on live television and posting videos and photos of enforcement operations.

The Department of Homeland Security launched an ad campaign warning immigrants without lawful status to self-deport and stay out. The White House posted what it labeled an “ASMR” video of people in shackles being led onto a deportation flight. And for several days, ICE published its daily arrest numbers on social media, although the agency stopped last month after the numbers went down.

“We see the arrests that are taking place in other cities and there is anxiety around when that will come to us,” Gruner said. “I think it’s cruel. A woman here told me: ‘I feel my stomach all tense like when you know you are about to get hit, and you’re just thinking, when is the blow going to come?’”

Organizing efforts

According to immigrant community advocates, there is another factor that may be helping tamp down arrests: Immigrants vulnerable to deportation are more informed about their rights than during the first Trump administration.

“The community is more prepared,” said Daniela Rodriguez, executive director of Migrant Equity Southeast, a Savannah-based nonprofit that assists immigrant and refugee populations across south and coastal Georgia.

Migrant Equity Southeast has been regularly holding know-your-rights presentations, urging community members to not open the door if ICE agents come knocking unless they produce a warrant signed by a judge, and to remain silent if agents try to talk to them.

In metro Atlanta, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights has been dispatching canvassers across immigrant neighborhoods, to educate residents and distribute “ICE-Free Zone” flyers.

Alliance staff is also making regular appearances in Latin American consulates across the metro area. Since Trump’s inauguration, they have held over 30 know-your-rights presentations statewide. Attendants were encouraged to “be proactive” and pass on the information shared in those forums to their friends and neighbors, Nicholls said.

In Dalton, CLILA has been organizing volunteers to give unauthorized residents rides around town as needed, so that they aren’t forced to drive without a license, an infraction that could lead to detention and deportation.

They have also helped roughly 150 immigrant parents get a power of attorney, to formally designate a caregiver for their children should they be arrested and separated from them.

To lift the community’s spirits, CLILA held a group vigil Feb. 28 where dozens gathered to pray and sing. The organization did not publicize the meeting’s location ahead of time, to keep attendees safe.

“We will be free … We will leave in peace,” vigilgoers sang in Spanish.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez