On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, journalists from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland discuss how they're covering violent ICE raids conducted by armed agents wearing masks, the devastating toll Trump’s policies are having on immigrant communities, and how people are showing solidarity.
As of September, the Department of Homeland Security reports that more than 59,000 people are in ICE detention and over two million people have been deported or self-deported.
Non-public data from ICE indicate that the government is primarily detaining people with no criminal convictions of any kind, according to the Cato Institute. Sixty-five percent of people taken by ICE had no convictions and 93 percent had no violent convictions. Nearly all of the 614 immigrants detained in Trump's Chicago raid had no criminal convictions, according to The Chicago Tribune. The administration continues to say ICE agents are arresting and grabbing "the worst of the worst," but only 16 detainees in Chicago have criminal histories that present a "high public safety risk."
Trump has expanded ICE raids to Charlotte, North Carolina, and is reportedly planning to send federal troops to New Orleans as soon as December 1.
Guests:
Memo Torres, director of engagement, multimedia journalist, and host of the Daily Memo for L.A. Taco
Melissa Sanchez, investigative reporter for ProPublica
Zane Sparling, reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive
Resources:
L.A. Taco: DAILY MEMO: A Father Was Abducted by Feds. His Teen Son Left School to Finish His Work Route
The Oregonian: ‘I was living day by day:’ Portland woman reunites with children after 4 months in immigration detention
ProPublica: What the Trump Administration’s Videos From a Chicago Immigration Raid Don’t Show
ProPublica: “I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime
The Guardian: Nearly all immigrants detained in Trump Chicago raid had no criminal conviction
The New York Times: How Noncitizens, Anxious Under Trump, Are Altering Their Lives
