Trump’s deportation plan begins to take shape as immigrant communities face ‘fear and uncertainty.’ Here’s what we know

A new Justice Department memo outlines the Trump administration’s plans to challenge so-called “sanctuary city” laws by threatening to prosecute state and local officials who resist the federal immigration crackdown, according to a copy of the document obtained by CNN.

The three-page memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove also says federal prosecutors who decline to prosecute those immigration cases will be reported immediately to the Justice Department for investigation and potential prosecution.

“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo reads. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”

The memo is just one example of how President Trump has begun to shift American immigration policy in his first few days in office. In his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to clamp down on immigration and undo Biden-era policies that he said were too permissive and allowed a large influx of undocumented immigrants.

And on Monday, he signed executive orders that would give the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency greater ability to conduct enforcement actions in sensitive areas, expand the pool of undocumented immigrants subject to fast-track deportation and attempt to end birthright citizenship –– a move that has received fierce pushback from constitutional experts and Democratic-led states and cities.

Further, US Customs and Border Protection announced the removal of the scheduling functionality of CBP One – an app that allows migrants to share information and plan interviews with immigration authorities before reaching the US border – and all future asylum appointments were canceled.

Trump laid out these and other priorities in his inauguration speech Monday.

“We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” he said.

The actions have already created fear and confusion among immigrants, who are now left to wonder what to do if ICE comes knocking.

Nedi, a 35-year-old Venezuelan mother of two, set off six months ago on a treacherous journey through the Darien Gap to get to the US.

With the hope of eventually settling in Miami, Nedi and her family arrived in San Diego 11 days ago after successfully crossing into the US with the help of the CBP One app. Now, with her appointment canceled, she is anxious and in limbo.

“I left behind friends and family who didn’t make it, and we don’t know what will happen,” Nedi told CNN. She declined to give her last name for fear of reprisal. “We’re worried about not being able to stay, about being sent back.”

The Trump administration’s actions also set up a conflict between local and federal officials, as a number of Democratic-led cities in Colorado, Illinois and California have instituted sanctuary city policies restricting cooperation with federal immigration officials’ efforts to arrest, detain or gather information on migrants.

“Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want,” White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News on Wednesday. “More agents in the communities, more people arrested, collateral arrests. If that’s the game they want to play? Game on.”

Local officials in several cities told CNN teams they are not aware large-scale actions have taken place so far. Other sources say federal immigration authorities are still waiting for additional guidance and have largely been relying on verbal communication from headquarters.

The new policies, however, begin to paint a picture of how the Trump administration plans to tackle immigration and carry out an ambitious deportation operation. Here’s what we know:

Immigration enforcement near churches and schools

Homan told CNN that targeted enforcement operations by ICE were already happening, but this time agents have greater latitude.

“The gloves are off,” he has said repeatedly since his appointment in November.

Like under the Biden administration, ICE teams are continuing to carry out routine enforcement operations –– arresting and detaining public safety and national security threats nationwide. Agents will identify and target an individual or individuals for arrest, sometimes taking a team for safety.

A key difference now is that if ICE targets a criminal and that person is with another undocumented immigrant, they, too, could be arrested.

Trump’s new policy would also allow ICE to conduct enforcement actions in or near sensitive areas like schools and churches –– places that, under the Biden administration, would require more steps before authorities could initiate arrests.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a statement.

Trump officials also expanded a procedure to speed up deportations, to include undocumented immigrants anywhere in the US who cannot prove they’ve lived in the US continuously for two years or more.

The fast-track deportation procedure, known as “expedited removal,” allows immigration authorities to remove an individual without a hearing before an immigration judge. In doing so, the administration is broadening its powers to deport undocumented immigrants.

Despite the policy changes, Renard Johnson, the mayor of El Paso, Texas, said “it has been business as usual in this community” for the last few days, telling residents they can go to school and church in peace. There are six border crossings throughout El Paso and neighboring areas that connect to Mexico.

“You’re going to be OK,” he said in a news conference Wednesday. “We can take a deep breath because we’re stronger as a community if we unite.”

The end of ‘catch and release’

Trump has repeatedly criticized what Republicans call “catch and release,” referring to a practice of provisionally releasing migrants into the US while they wait for their immigration court date.

On Monday, Trump said during his inaugural address: “I will end the practice of catch and release.”

US Customs and Border Protection has since been directed to hold migrants in custody and not release them, even if that means they’ll keep them longer, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN. The aim is to swiftly remove those who aren’t eligible for asylum.

On Tuesday morning, Customs and Border Protection informed Catholic Charities of San Diego, a non-profit that provides shelter, food and immigration services to migrants, it will no longer be releasing migrants to their care, the organization’s CEO Appaswamy “Vino” Pajanor told CNN.

Pajanor said the federal agency only provided an explanation that “policy has changed at the federal level.”

Since 2021, Catholic Charities has been working with Customs and Border Protection, ICE and the port-of-entry to provide shelter and care to migrants who are released to their care.

The non-profit organization was receiving an average of 200 to 300 migrants daily, Pajanor said, and now more than 200 migrants in their care are facing uncertainty.

“We have a lot of refugees here and they’re all panicking. They’re very fearful,” Pajanor said.

CNN has reached out to Customs and Border Protection and ICE for comment.

Policies will cause ‘fear and uncertainty,’ expert says

Dozens of Colorado leaders, elected officials, and immigration rights advocates packed the state’s capitol Wednesday to denounce Trump’s immigration policies.

Cristian Solano-Cordova, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty read aloud Solano-Cordova’s story titled “The Meaning of Courage,” about a conversation with his younger sister after Trump’s election. Solano-Cordova’s sister was born in the US and is a citizen but was worried that her two siblings and her mother, who are not, could be deported.

“When we are threatened, she is threatened. My baby sister is forced to bear the burden of political attacks on immigrants,” they read.

“How do you talk to a child about being taken from their siblings or their parents without terrorizing them and without stripping them of their innocence?”

Early Tuesday, Danielle Cosmes, with the American Friends Service Committee, said she was not surprised to see eight migrants near the border wall waiting to be taken to a detention center by Customs and Border Protection agents.

Cosmes runs an aid tent adjacent to the border wall that shares information about immigration law and distributes water, hot beverages, and food to arriving migrants while they wait to be processed. On Tuesday, no migrants accepted donations or wanted to speak to Cosmes.

The announcement of executive orders on immigration does not mean organizations will see immediate effects on the ground, she said.

“Maybe we will, maybe we won’t, but what I am concerned for the most is the effect it will have on migrant communities. The fear it is instilling both on migrant communities that are already in the US and have been living here and are essential part of the communities and people who are in transit attempting to arrive to the United States,” Cosmes said.

“What I can anticipate for sure is fear and uncertainty, because that is essentially what they are being made to feel.”

Cosmes also warned of a potential increase in injuries and fatalities of people attempting to cross in more remote areas of the US-Mexico border. “That’s what we can expect when policies and executive orders are taking away opportunities for safe entries and eviscerating the asylum system.”

How cities and schools are responding

Several Democratic-led cities have expressed plans to resist the Trump administration’s new priorities.

Amid violent winds and bitterly cold temperatures, members of the Chicago Teachers Union have been preparing to protect their students for changes to immigration policy –– training staff at their schools on how to respond to an ICE raid.

“We started attending know your rights training so that we could know how to defend ourselves and our students, if anyone tries to, if ICE tries to communicate with us or potentially detain somebody,” a teacher at Chicago Public Schools, identified only as Erin, told CNN affiliate WLS.

Erin said there are nearly a dozen teachers in her “sanctuary team” –– a group in charge of defending students if threatened.

“I want our families to feel confident they can send their children to school; we are not going to interact with ICE,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez told WLS.

The city’s police department has also spoken out about its response to policy changes, telling WLS that it “does not assist federal immigration authorities with enforcement action solely based on immigration status.”

“Additionally, CPD does not document immigration status and does not share such information with federal authorities,” the Chicago Police Department added.

In New York City, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat who attended Trump’s inauguration – said in a Wednesday statement to CNN that enforcement should focus on criminals.

“Regardless of immigration status, everyone in New York City should be able to get an education, seek medical care, and practice their faith,” the spokesperson said. “Law-abiding immigrants play a vital role in our city, and the mayor has been clear that any enforcement should be focused on the small number of people who are coming to our city or country and committing violent crimes.”

Adams stopped short of endorsing any potential changes to the city’s current sanctuary laws on Tuesday, a turnaround for a city leader who has repeatedly suggested migrants who are accused of committing crimes should be deported without due process.

Authorities in other cities like Las Vegas have similarly weighed in on the policy change.

Speaking to KLAS, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said his police department will not partake in mass deportation “roundups” as outlined in Trump’s new immigration policies.

McMahill, who hopes for a bipartisan effort to secure the US border, told KLAS that “roundups out in the community and those kinds of things, that’s not my job. I have too much to do.”

“I don’t think that with the volume and magnitude of the problem that they’re going to make as much progress on it as they would like to unless they first focus in on stopping people from coming across the borders,” he said.

CNN’s Karina Tsui, Julia Vargas Jones, Norma Galeana and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

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