Enforcement Continues After the Election
The Republican defeat in the midterm elections has done little to slow President Donald Trump's deportation campaign. In the days after Democrats won control of the next Congress, immigration officers kept making arrests in cities and towns across the country, and advocates in states from California to Michigan to Massachusetts said they were still receiving reports of detentions.
The picture is mixed at the top. Trump told CBS "60 Minutes" in an interview recorded Friday that his crackdown may have been "too tough" and hinted that it was time to sit down with the opposing party. "I'd love to do something on immigration," he said.
Within hours, though, he named Stephen Miller, the architect of his hardline immigration agenda, as his new chief of staff. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also made clear that nothing had changed. "Deportations will continue," he wrote online the day after the election, adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes no days off, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and Election Day.
Everything remains exactly the same. The arrests have not ceased at all.
That was the assessment of María Bilbao, a campaign coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in Miami. She said she has fielded at least one call a day since the election from someone detained in South Florida, where Florida Highway Patrol officers and ICE agents have picked people up in their cars and at supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations. Immigrants who were under supervision have also been detained when they went to ICE's Miami office for scheduled check-ins.
Officers Gather Outside a Los Angeles Hospital
Early Saturday, masked immigration officers in body armor blocked the emergency room driveway of Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center, in a largely Latino neighborhood of Los Angeles. Erick Gasca, 31, who lives nearby, came home Friday night after playing board games with friends and saw what he described as an unprecedented number of vehicles with tinted windows and no license plates near the entrance. "I thought they were going to raid the hospital or something," he said.
The Department of Homeland Security would not explain why the officers were there. Bill Essayli, the top Justice Department prosecutor in Los Angeles, said they were bringing a detainee in for medical care, and that two people were arrested for assaulting federal agents. DHS said in a statement that ICE does not target hospitals, schools or churches.
About 30 residents and passersby gathered. Video recorded by Gasca's cousin, Michelle Rivera, shows protesters shouting and officers holding someone to the ground. The hospital's president, Daniel Fontoura, said it was not involved and does not take part in immigration enforcement, and that such activity would not be allowed to compromise patient care and safety.
A Couple Detained at the Phoenix Airport
On Saturday, a married couple from Orlando, Florida, was detained at the airport in Phoenix as they traveled to a funeral. Gustavo Romanello and Agustin Baccega, both from Argentina, hold work permits while their asylum case is pending, according to family friend Jonathan Batchelor. They entered the United States about six years ago.
Batchelor was on the phone with them when it happened. A friend of theirs had died Friday, and they were in Phoenix for the service. As they left the airport, two casually dressed officers asked whether one of them was Agustin Baccega, and Batchelor heard an officer say that asylum seekers are not in the country legally. He could hear Romanello asking how to collect their belongings, and then an officer asking for another set of handcuffs. The voices faded and the call ended.
Both men remain in detention. Batchelor said they worked as acrobats in Florida and have no criminal record. "This is just taking good people who have been following the rules out of their lives," he said, and out of the lives of those who depend on them. DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Twin Brothers Stopped on the Way Back to College
Luis and Carlos Orta-Santoro, 19-year-old twins born in Venezuela, were driving back to Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama, where they play soccer, after visiting their parents. They were stopped in a small city in central Alabama, a day after the election. They have lived in the United States for four years.
Relatives say the brothers have pending asylum applications, valid work permits and no criminal records. Both are now held at an immigration detention facility. "Our family is devastated," said their aunt, Carolina Orta.
DHS said the brothers entered the country legally but overstayed "in defiance of our laws," and that an immigration judge will hear their case. The department added that a pending asylum application does not give someone legal status. Wallace State called both young men valued members of its community and said it hopes for a positive outcome.
An 8-Year-Old Taken Into Custody in San Diego
In San Diego, an 8-year-old Haitian boy had been living with his uncle since his father was deported last year. The uncle, who is not his legal guardian, brought him to an ICE office on Nov. 4 after he was summoned, and he was taken into custody.
In a letter to senior administration officials, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabi Bagula and school board members said the boy was left without the support of his family, community and school. "Children should not lose access to education simply because of circumstances unfolding around them," they wrote.
ICE has defended its actions. Johny Oxeda, pastor of the Fairmount Haitian Community Church, which helped arrange legal representation for the boy, said he will ultimately benefit from going through legal channels. Activists were furious. Guerline Jozef of Haitian Bridge Alliance said: "This is not child protection. This is state-inflicted trauma."
What Comes Next
The gap between Trump's remarks and his administration's actions is the central question now. Whether his openness to a deal leads to real talks with congressional Democrats, or whether Miller's elevation signals a harder line, will shape how immigration plays out in the new Congress. For now, families, schools and advocates are dealing with enforcement that has not let up.
