Raids in the USA: the 3 groups of immigrants that are in the "sight" of ICE in the United States

Within the operations carried out by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, in English), 3 groups of immigrants have been prioritized by the agency and other government agencies: migrants with temporary visas who violated their conditions, people without legal status, and legal residents with convictions.  

According to the information revealed by the Migration Policy Institute, only this last group of immigrants represented 79% of all deportations carried out between the years 2021 and 2024. 

Therefore, and given the increase in raids and other detention operations, these groups continue to be a priority for ICE. 

The groups of immigrants in the sights of ICE 

Migrants with temporary visas who did not comply with their conditions 

All those individuals who have temporary visas but have failed to comply with the terms of their immigration status have been targeted by ICE. These types of violations can arise due to various factors such as changing jobs without notifying the corresponding authorities. 

Despite being classified as minor offenses, these actions have become a priority due to the immigration policies promoted by President of the United States Donald Trump. 

People without legal status 

This group consists of all those individuals who entered the North American country without authorization or, if they did so legally through tourist, student, or work visas, remained unauthorized for a longer period of time. 

According to data revealed by ICE and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), this group of people represents a significant percentage of the expulsions carried out by ICE. 

People with visas or legal residents with convictions for crimes 

This group is characterized, as its name suggests, by individuals who have legal permanent residency, or Green Card, and those with temporary visas who have been convicted of crimes such as traffic violations, drug or weapon possession, theft, violent crimes, among others. 

For ICE, these types of individuals have become a priority due to their previous convictions that may result in their deportation to their countries of origin. 

Regarding the way in which ICE carries out its work, a custody transfer is carried out in the first instance by the Department of Homeland Security, so that local police can take the individual's fingerprints

The purpose of this action is to send this data to national security databases to determine if the detainee has a deportation order or irregular immigration records. After this discovery, ICE requests the detention of the individual and carries out the processes determined for deportation. 

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence