By Mars Thera Pope
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, has been arresting and deporting illegal immigrants. So far, 23 arrests have been reported in Iowa as a part of the ICE three-day operation, which officials claim ended on March 9. The arrests are rumored to occur at the immigrant’s place of employment but also on school grounds, despite the fact that arrests at schools, churches, or hospitals are against an ICE formal policy adopted during the Obama administration.
ICE was originally formed in 2003 through a merger of the previous U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. With a budget of $6 billion, ICE devotes itself to enforcement and removal operations as well as homeland-security investigations. The agency works to stop human trafficking as well as illegal trading of goods in and out of the country. These tend to be seen as good things. The only disagreement is the deportation of illegal immigrants, especially ones being prioritized for false identification, because a false ID is needed so that the individual can obtain employment.
The operation is causing families to lose their source of income because of the fathers’ absence. Once the father is determined deportable by the court, there is little to no hope that he will be able to return. Rapid response teams are being constructed across Iowa in order to provide for the affected families. Still, no resources can replace a loved member of the family. In Des Moines, an after-school program called Al Exito that traditionally is meant to help minorities excel in school, is now alerting students about alleged raids through social media. Immigration lawyer Jim Benzoni backs the after-school program by stating that tipping people off to ICE is not illegal, leaving the new alert system up and running.
The deportation of these individuals not only tears apart families, but also costs a lot of money. Tax money goes into keeping illegal immigrants locked up, then banished once they are deemed deportable by the court. Mass deportation would quickly reduce the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, along an annual loss of $434 billion, reducing cumulative GDP by $4.7 trillion over 10 years, according to “The Economic Impacts of Removing Unauthorized Immigrant Workers” by economists Ryan Edwards and Francesc Ortega. Deporting these workers would also mean leaving employers high and dry, with a lot fewer people willing to work a dead-end job for little pay. This is a lot of workers among the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Even if only half of them are working, that’s 5.5 million workers that will no longer contribute to the economy.
ICE will continue to deport immigrants, as promoted by President Trump, despite how it will affect the economy and the American way of life. Citizens are legally allowed to do everything in their power to alert families that may be affected by ICE or to assist families that have already been affected. Those who disagree with the deportation of harmless immigrants advise that all immigrants, regardless of if they are here legally, know their rights when it comes to ICE or any other government agency.