Courtesy of SiliconValley.com

Students in Overfelt High protest the raids along with community members in East San Jose on Jan. 28.

Editor’s Note: John is a pseudonym to protect the subject’s identity.

In late January, high schooler John, who attends a Bay Area high school, was startled awake by banging on his family’s apartment door. Even though he iss a legal U.S. citizen of Hispanic descent, he still found himself terrified to find rows of agents with black vests pounding on doors all over his apartment complex.

He later discovered that they were U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who investigate public areas that are suspected to hold illegal immigrants. They had arrived to interrogate multiple people living in John’s apartment complex. 

ICE was created two years after the September 11th attacks on the U.S. by President George W. Bush, who made it his mission to strengthen national security. ICE emerged from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Customs Service. Since then, deportation numbers in the U.S. have increased from 20,000 a year to around 155,000.

The purpose of ICE is to enforce laws of immigration, trade and border control to protect the American people. Specifically, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) are, according to ICE, responsible for “the identification, arrest, detention and removal of aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States.”

In 2024, deportation numbers skyrocketed after ICE increased their diplomatic efforts to have countries take back deportees from the United States; the organization deported over 271,000 immigrants, marking a 10-year high.

The Trump administration’s stance on ICE and immigration

With the January inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, promises have been made of even higher numbers of deportations. In his inaugural address, Trump stated that he would deport “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants to maintain safety in the country. Within the first month of his presidency, he has begun to deliver on that promise. 

His first month in office came with 37,660 deportations and 20,000 arrests, putting him on pace for over 450,000 deportations across the entire year, a 627% increase from 2024 under the Biden administration. 

Trump’s new drastic measures have led to concerns about safety. So-called raids and similar operations conducted by ICE have seen agents enter large facilities like schools or apartment complexes to check people’s identification. Agents check passports, driver’s licenses or visas and, if necessary, take action to expel their owners.

And even though Trump has made the same promises before, during his first term in office, the deportations are even more intense this time around.

With around 5.1 million U.S. citizen children living with an undocumented family member, critics say deportations break up families and threaten the wellbeing of the children themselves. With family members being held in detention centers, which have poor living conditions such as overcrowding and inadequate medical care, there is only a 52.5% chance that a deportee will return to see their family again. 

Following Trump’s inauguration, White House social media posts related to ICE operations have sparked outrage — a post from Feb. 18 titled “#ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” contains a video of illegal immigrants being loaded onto a plane beneath sounds of chains; another contains a poem warning against entering the country illegally. Viewers have found the posts to be insensitive and cruel; one user, @javacatsmusic, stated: “this post is genuinely so revolting and so inhumane on so many different levels.” The comment received over 70,000 likes. 

ICE raids make their way to the Bay Area

ICE raids have occurred all over the U.S. in cities including New York, Chicago and Phoenix, primarily targeting Hispanic communities; 21% of illegal immigrants are from Central America and 51% from Mexico. San Jose, which has a 30% Hispanic population, is another area of target for ICE agents — residents of East San Jose have already spotted agents going around neighborhoods knocking on residents’ doors. 

Armando Ceja, a San Jose resident, was among those who was targeted. “I was freaking out,” he said in an interview with ABC News. “I had my legal resident papers with me. I had citizenship for my family and sons. Who were they looking for? What did they want on my property?” 

John, a teen who also lives in San Jose, spoke to The Falcon about his experience, which he felt was one of the most nerve-wracking ordeals in his life, saying: “After the agents knocked on our door, we spoke to a lot of our neighbors about it. Most of my neighbors are Mexican, and they were all in disbelief that something like this even happened.”

John said he was outraged by the intrusion, as were his parents, who contacted the authorities after the incident. The attack on their community made them feel targeted and threatened. 

But even though ICE is not required to share investigation details, he learned while talking to the police that they still have to follow a simple protocol. 

When entering a home, agents must have a warrant signed by a judge. If the warrant is not signed by a judge, the homeowner can deny a search. They also cannot force the homeowners to answer questions or sign any papers.

Jeremy Barousse, the director of policy for Amigos de Guadalupe, a San Jose-based nonprofit, said, “Citizens need to be able to identify why they’re being arrested and when to ask for an attorney, especially if they’re being detained.”

Not long after his run-in with ICE agents at home, John found himself visiting Los Angeles with his parents, where they attended a rally on Feb. 2 to protest the mass deportation of immigrants. 

“The rally was really eye-opening. It was startling how many people marching with us had experienced losing a family member, friend or neighbor to ICE,” John said. “It lasted for several hours and it was one of the most powerful things I have ever been a part of.”

During the several hours of the protest, the protestors blocked the freeway and called for immigration reform while holding banners with messages such as “Nobody is illegal” and “Everybody is human.” 

 
The effects of deportation

Trump’s new policies aimed at strengthening border security have made it even more difficult for deportees to get back into the US. Depending on the reason for deportation, the ban before being able to come back can range from five years to a permanent ban.

While some of the deportees have been sent straight back to their country of origin, others have been sent to different parts of the world. One of those cases included when at least 238 Venezuelan men, who were suspected to have a gang affiliation with Tren de Aragua, were sent to CECOT, a mega-prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses, inviting further controversy. But with no trial, some of the men have proven to not have any criminal record or gang affiliations, exacerbating worries about the abuse of due process rights. 

Legally, the condition of a person once they are sent back depends on their criminal record in the US. If a person has been deported before, they will likely be sentenced to a 20-year ban from the US. Otherwise, they will face a 10-year ban. Once they are sent back, they may continue to live their regular life or be sent to prison based on their criminal record in the United States. 

With some deportees unable to return to their home country, they are forced into detention centers, which are overcrowded and put stress on the deportee. In some rare cases, when deportees aren’t accepted back into their home country, they are sent to a third country or even given residency in the country they were deported to, as indefinite detention is not allowed.

One alternative for non-citizens of the United States who are already facing deportation is voluntary deportation, allowing them to leave the country without receiving a deportation order at their own expense. However, applicants have to meet different requirements, such as not being convicted of any felonies, and their return date is based on the length of their unlawful stay.

Ultimately, ICE’s activation in the early months of Trump 2.0 is proving to be painful and scary for both the deportees and their families and given rise to questions about human rights and abuses of power.