Rachel Bozalis - ICE Raids Have Many Living in Fear

Trump's immigration policy has expanded the power of immigration officers and has also prompted a slew of raids nationwide as the officers seek out undocumented immigrants to deport. These events have many families living in fear; taping sheets over their windows, pulling their children out of school, refusing to answer the door, and staying in their homes as much as possible. The majority of those deported have some sort of criminal record, however not all of these records are very severe. One woman was deported from Phoenix, AZ to Mexico after using a fake social security number. She doesn't consider herself to be a bad person, just a woman who was trying to give her children, who now can only see their mother by traveling to mexico, a better life. Veterans who had entered the country undocumented and had joined the military with the expectation of receiving citizenship as a reward are also being deported on the grounds of drug abuse, something that many war veterans struggle with after returning due to PTSD. They have all served their sentences and expected life to return to normal, not be exiled from the country they risked their lives and left families for. Trump claims to support veterans, so why not these?

These raids are unjust and make the US look unwelcoming and almost dictatorial, a polar opposite from its previous image as the land of opportunity, "with liberty and justice for all." Trump is radically changing the country without regard for how it might affect people. Families are being separated and countless individuals are being sent back to "homelands" they barely even know. Those deported can only return to the country if they are dying or dead. Many affected families cannot afford to travel often to reconnect with their separated loved-ones, meaning that unnecessary strain is being forced upon now single-parent homes, as the other parent is forced to miss crucial landmarks in their children's upbringing. I am tired of hearing the public cry out against these unlawful and selfish executive orders and I am tired of nothing changing. I am tired of having to hear tragic stories like these as America turns away from those who need it. I am tired of being tired of the circumstances I along with the rest of america and the world have to endure for the next 4-8 years when it has yet to even be a month. Obama, we miss you.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/11/politics/immigration-roundups-community-fear/index.html