The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency recently declared that no illegal immigrant is immune from arrest, signaling a widespread crackdown that hasn’t been see during the past two presidential administrations. This is particularly significant for Georgia, home to the country’s seventh largest illegal alien population, estimated at 375,000.
Timothy Pratt of Atlanta, a writer for The Atlantic Weekly, writes:
“For many, that climate has grown more difficult in recent months. Federal immigration arrests in Georgia increased by 75 percent during (President Donald) Trump’s first three months in office, compared to the same period one year earlier, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Nationwide, that figure is at 40 percent. Not only that, federal authorities are arresting higher numbers of people with no history of violent or drug-related crimes than during the Obama administration.”
Reporter Mario Guevara of the Spanish-language El Mundo Hispanico (owned by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) complains that “federal authorities were using unmarked cars and dressed in uniforms bearing the word, “Police,” and were stopping anyone, at any time. Everything has changed with the Trump administration.”
Illegal immigrants, some of whom according to various reports are already returning to their countries of origin in larger numbers, will have an even tougher time, The Trump administration last week pledged an all-out wat against the criminal gang MS-13 and other feared Latino gangs, and U.S. Attorney John Horn of Atlanta during the past six months has stepped up successful gang prosecutions and deportations.
Three new Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys will also be taking over prosecutions this year in Georgia, with a special eye toward protecting American workers in the workplace. Look for even more stepped-up pressure on Georgia’s illegal immigrant community in coming months.
