Intensified immigration enforcement efforts adding manpower to ICE

Intensified immigration enforcement efforts underway in Chicago on Sunday are part of a multiday operation that’s expected to spread across the country.

The crackdown that’s bringing in officials from multiple Department of Justice agencies is adding manpower to ICE.

Reports of quotas issued over the weekend, directing ICE to increase daily arrests, are adding to uncertainty among immigrant groups and advocates in Massachusetts.

Some are worried that the targeted effort could expand outside undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

“There’s talk about expanding this to people who may be living here peacefully but may be undocumented,” said Jeff Thielman, President and CEO of the International Institute of New England.

Thielman told Boston 25 News that anxiety is causing some people to avoid coming to non-profits like his for services.

“It causes people not to go out, even people who are lawfully in the U.S. who have not committed a crime who are following all the rules and not doing anything wrong,” he explained.

Community leaders are also now worried about funding for humanitarian parole programs following an announcement from the U.S. State Department on Friday.

“The federal government, on Friday, froze all spending on foreign matters in the U.S. State Department, and they included this in their order,” he said.

The frozen foreign aid impacts 224 newly arrived refugees in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that Thielman’s organization is helping.

He pointed out that those people have been lawfully allowed into the U.S. through refugee resettlement programs and were previously granted deportation protections.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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