How Trump's immigration policy changes who gets arrested and detained
Consider This from NPR
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🗓️ 11 April 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
And true to his word – Trump's administration is arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants without legal status.
But as part of the crackdown on illegal immigration, legal immigrants are getting caught up in the mix.
And then there's people like Amir Makled – a U.S. Citizen and lawyer. Makled was detained by Border agents at a Detroit airport as he returned from a family vacation in the Caribbean.
How is the Trump administration's immigration policy changing who is getting arrested and detained?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | During his second presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to carry out the largest deportation program the U.S. has ever seen. |
| 0:09.3 | On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history. |
| 0:14.5 | And true to his word, Trump's administration is arresting, detaining, and deporting immigrants without legal status. But as a part of the crackdown on |
| 0:23.3 | inlegal immigration, legal immigrants are getting caught up in the mix. There's Luellen Dixon, |
| 0:29.1 | a green cardholder from Seattle. She emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines 50 years ago. |
| 0:34.9 | And in February, she and her niece returned to Seattle from the Philippines. |
| 0:39.3 | They both waited in the same line for customs. Dixon's niece, Madonna Cristobal, a U.S. citizen, |
| 0:45.2 | went through without a problem. Then Christobal waited for her aunt and waited. |
| 0:50.7 | One hour, two, three hours. I started to worry, and then I'm like, oh, what the heck is going on? |
| 0:55.9 | Dixon had been detained by Border Patrol officers. A few days later, she was transferred to ICE's |
| 1:01.7 | Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. A month later, Dixon is still at that detention center. |
| 1:08.4 | Her next immigration hearing is scheduled for July. The reason for |
| 1:12.3 | Dixon's detention, a felony conviction for embezzling nearly $6,500 from the bank where she worked |
| 1:19.0 | more than 20 years ago. At the time, Dixon pleaded guilty and paid a fine. She never served |
| 1:25.4 | any jail time. But now, any past infraction can loom large as |
| 1:30.6 | immigration authorities ramp up enforcement at airports and at border crossings. |
| 1:35.4 | There isn't a lot of explanation. There isn't a lot of consistency on what they're doing, |
| 1:40.3 | except trying to find any and every reason to prevent people from coming back into the United States. |
| 1:45.4 | That's Ben Johnson, the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. |
| 1:50.6 | But it's not just cases like Dixon's. Tourists have been arrested and detained. |
| 1:55.8 | And university students in the U.S. legally with visas are also being detained and arrested. |
| 2:01.8 | Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil has gotten the most attention. He is a green card |
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