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.
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 — but this time, he was detained.
“He’s a hard worker, honest, humble," Dennis told KERA in Spanish.
His friend worked at the airport and passed through TSA every day without issue, Dennis said.
“He had all his processes turned in," he said, "asylum, residency, everything in order, his taxes done." But when his friend showed up at the check-in with his paperwork in order, it didn’t matter, Dennis said.
Dennis’s friend is one of countless migrants detained at their check-ins in recent months — something attorneys and advocates say hadn’t happened in the past.
"A routine check-in is no longer that," said Dallas immigration attorney Oscar Escoto. "You really have to prepare for a more enhanced question and possible detention."
The change has caught migrants off-guard – 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.
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 "a 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."
According to data compiled by the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project, from the time Trump took office last January, to July 29, ICE made approximately 138,000 arrests nationwide — almost a quarter of them in Texas.
Daily arrests jumped about 30% in the ICE regions that include Houston and Dallas, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of the data.
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.
“The idea here is that ... they're looking to create more assistance from Border Patrol to implement, expand, and amplify the reach of enforcement in the interior,” Ruiz Soto said. “Because 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."
To reach daily quotas, advocates and attorneys say they have also seen new tactics emerge.
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.
“The turnaround time is so short that they don't have time to talk to a lawyer and explore what their options are,” she said.
She said many people — especially if they aren’t paying attention to the news or social media — don't know when they walk into their appointments that "this is essentially a detention sentence.
"Most of these people walk into that building not knowing that they're not going to come out," she said.
Despite the tougher policies, attorney Oscar Escoto said it's still possible to be successful before an immigration judge.
"What we have to brace for is ongoing changes that are adversely affecting the immigrant community," he said. "So we have to fight harder than before."
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
