Following his promises to crack down on illegal immigration on the campaign trail last fall, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of Executive Orders on his first day in office. The Executive Orders cover a wide array of different subjects regarding immigration and are aimed at cracking down on the act of immigration and illegal residency in all 50 states through the use of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This includes Kentucky, which has an estimated 181,000 immigrants living in the Commonwealth and 46,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Jeremy Bacon, assistant field office director for ICE in Northern KY and Southern IN, told LEX 18 News on Jan. 24, “ICE’s mission is to protect America from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threatens national security and public safety.” Bacon continued. “Most of the time, here in Kentucky, the folks that we are attempting to target are all people that have been arrested within our local systems already as an active public safety threat… Anyone that’s foreign-born that goes into any jail in Kentucky, we’re attempting to screen and see if there are any laws that are amenable with them.”
This interview followed immigration raids in Cincinnati, Oh., and Chicago, Il., in late January, and ICE is starting to affect Kentucky as well. Fayette and Jefferson County schools have started to send instructions to their principals about what to do if government officials come to their building. This motion comes in the wake of the Trump Administration’s repeal of a 2011 Immigration policy which prevented ICE agents from conducting enforcement at schools and churches.
ICE also detained a man unexpectedly in late January at the Fayette County Courthouse. Marco Antonio Gomez, a 28 year old who was at the Courthouse for a DUI charge, was detained by officials and taken away. Deputy Sheriff of Fayette County James Lee said that the Sheriff’s office was “not aware” that ICE was coming.
Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) stated that ICE has not requested assistance from KY officials since the crackdown began. “Any request {from ICE} we’re going to look at it, certainly there are instances where, if we know of somebody who has broken the law, that has committed a violent offense, and that’s somebody that we would normally work, whether it’s with immigration or just regular law enforcement, to apprehend and make our community safer,” Beshear said at a press conference last week.
The governor followed by saying he would do “anything and everything and try to do what’s best for the people of Kentucky. At the end of the day, my approach is that border security is national security.” He finished, “We must enforce our immigration laws, but also understand that many of these people are fleeing violence and oppression, and we ought to be recognizing that while we are enforcing our immigration laws.”
Despite this commitment towards national security by the governor, the policies the Trump Administration has enforced regarding illegal immigration have faced backlash in the Commonwealth. Nancy Sullivan, director of Transformations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) out of Cincinnati, a non-profit aimed at helping immigrants and their children, expressed discontent towards the orders while speaking to The Enquirer out of Cincinnati. While talking about the effects of ICE in Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky, Sullivan said, “They are hardworking. They love their children. They’re not getting Medicaid.” She followed, “I see them working hard to learn English and to make sure their children get a good education. They pay taxes. They are people who are paying into my Social Security who will never be able to collect it.”
Citizens of Kentucky also have shown objections towards the acts by the White House. One of the biggest demonstrations against the Administration’s orders regarding deportation so far happened in downtown Lexington on Jan. 27. “The word illegal. Illegal immigration has a negative stigma. No human being is illegal. There are citizens here in Kentucky and the whole nation who are undocumented,” said Luz Elena Farias to LEX 18, a nurse who is an immigrant herself. Other protestors also showed discontent towards the Executive Orders, with one protestor stating, “You might not like us. You might not want us. But you’re gonna respect us.”
Despite the lambast of the orders in many states, including Kentucky, the White House seemingly has no plans to hold back on their immigration stances.
Photo courtesy of Gregory Bull.
