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Immigration advocates and attorneys say they\u2019re seeing new tactics emerge as federal agents try to arrest more migrants. (Yfat Yossifor | KERA)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tImmigration advocates and attorneys say they\u2019re seeing new tactics emerge as federal agents try to arrest more migrants. (Yfat Yossifor | KERA)<\/p>\n
As people sit outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office in Dallas, waiting to be called in for their appointments, not many words are exchanged.<\/p>\n
One of the people in line on a recent morning is Dennis, who only wanted to be identified by his first name. He drove his friend, a Cuban national, here for a routine check-in, his third since he moved to the U.S. two and a half years ago \u2014 but this time, he was detained.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a hard worker, honest, humble,\u201d Dennis told KERA in Spanish.<\/p>\n
His friend worked at the airport and passed through TSA every day without issue, Dennis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had all his processes turned in,\u201d he said, \u201casylum, residency, everything in order, his taxes done.\u201d But when his friend showed up at the check-in with his paperwork in order, it didn\u2019t matter, Dennis said.<\/p>\n
Dennis\u2019s friend is one of countless migrants detained at their check-ins in recent months \u2014 something attorneys and advocates say hadn\u2019t happened in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cA routine check-in is no longer that,\u201d said Dallas immigration attorney Oscar Escoto. \u201cYou really have to prepare for a more enhanced question and possible detention.\u201d<\/p>\n
The change has caught migrants off-guard \u2013 and forced advocates and attorneys to adjust. Escoto, who used to work for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which conducts federal immigration hearings and removals, said he and others have seen an increase in detainments at the Dallas ICE Field Office in recent months and weeks.<\/p>\n
Under the Trump administration, ICE reportedly has a minimum number of arrests they must make every day. An ICE spokesperson denied any quotas, but Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller told Fox News last spring the administration had a goal of \u201ca minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to data compiled by the University of California, Berkeley\u2019s Deportation Data Project<\/a>, from the time Trump took office last January, to July 29, ICE made approximately 138,000 arrests nationwide \u2014 almost a quarter of them in Texas.<\/p>\n Daily arrests jumped about 30% in the ICE regions that include Houston and Dallas, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of the data<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ariel Ruiz Soto is a senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute who has studied the data of ICE arrests under the second Trump administration. Border Patrol has also been heavily involved, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea here is that \u2026 they\u2019re looking to create more assistance from Border Patrol to implement, expand, and amplify the reach of enforcement in the interior,\u201d Ruiz Soto said. \u201cBecause ICE by themselves, the agency alone cannot reach the scale of arrest and removals that are needed for what the administration is hoping to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n To reach daily quotas, advocates and attorneys say they have also seen new tactics emerge.<\/p>\n Kate Lincoln- Goldfinch is a legal advisor for the League of United Latin American Citizens. She said some of her clients have begun to receiving messages late at night from ICE notifying them of last-minute check-ins.<\/p>\n \u201cThe turnaround time is so short that they don\u2019t have time to talk to a lawyer and explore what their options are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said many people \u2014 especially if they aren\u2019t paying attention to the news or social media \u2014 don\u2019t know when they walk into their appointments that \u201cthis is essentially a detention sentence.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of these people walk into that building not knowing that they\u2019re not going to come out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Despite the tougher policies, attorney Oscar Escoto said it\u2019s still possible to be successful before an immigration judge.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have to brace for is ongoing changes that are adversely affecting the immigrant community,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we have to fight harder than before.\u201d<\/p>\n Priscilla Rice is KERA\u2019s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n