Roughly half of the 675 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in February had either no criminal convictions, or had at most committed traffic violations, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.
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REPORT: Many undocumented immigrants recently rounded up by ICE agents had no criminal convictions
"That makes me so angry."
Of these:
From January to mid-March, the Trump administration was reported to have detained 21,362 immigrants for deportation proceedings. The amount of arrests were a 32% increase from last year, according to The Post. And while the administration said most of them were criminals, 5,441 of them were found by the Post to not be criminals.
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The report comes during a worrisome era for undocumented immigrants, who have faced the looming threat of deportation from the Trump administration's policies. The Obama administration's official line was that federal authorities would not prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants with no criminal history — although, in practice, many immigrants with no criminal history were still deported. The Trump administration has said that Obama's policies and rhetoric stymied the department's efforts to ensure the safety of US citizens.
"I think their morale has suffered because of the job they were hired to do, and then in their sense, they're ... kind of hobbled or, you know, hands tied behind their back, that kind of thing," Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. "And now, they feel more positive about things. I bet if you watch the morale issue, you'll ... be surprised going forward."
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