Breaking Down Trump’s Immigration Orders

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It’s Friday afternoon, the end of a short work week that felt as long as a month.

I am writing to 1,045 newsletter subscribers and a social audience of over 10,000 followers. I remember the day when we had 121 subscribers and 10 followers.

We keep going.

Over the next couple of weeks, The Latino Newsletter will be crystalizing a strategic plan for 2025. We have been a little late in delivering on it because of me. Yes, I am the blocker but I hope to unblock it all by the end of the month, which is next Friday.

February and March are critical months, and we are hoping to get to our $20,000 goal by then. Getting to that number will keep us going into May and June, and we wouldn’t have to change our cadence, outside of the podcast, which we hope to start a Season 2 by then.

In the meantime, The Latino Newsletter will keep publishing daily from Monday to Friday.

Here is today’s story.

I have been following the work of the American Immigration Council for more than 15 years. This organization has always produced accurate and comprehensive information about immigration policy in this country. Earlier this week, as we all felt the barrage of executive orders and 24/7 SportsCenter-like Donald Trump news coverage, the American Immigration Council delivered a fact sheet that is required reading for those who are following what has become one of the country's top issues right now.

The analysis provides a clear breakdown of Trump’s Day One executive orders, including the expansion of expedited removal, the targeting of sanctuary jurisdictions, and changes to work permits. It also highlights the legal challenges these orders may face and emphasizes the importance of separating political rhetoric from what is actually being implemented.

Knowing what is fact from fiction is critical if we want to stay informed about the current situation we are all experiencing in the United States. Having covered immigration stories since 2008, I am at the point where I can say with certainty that mainstream American media has not delivered when presenting the complexities of this contentious issue. I also think that credible social media accounts can be very helpful in getting immediate information about news, but that takes us only so far. To change the immigration narrative, you first need to understand it fully. This is where an organization like the American Immigration Council and other similar groups play a key role in providing the public with deep analysis.

That is what I told Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council, when I asked him to share some thoughts about the fact sheet.

Here is a Q&A of what he shared.

Julio Ricardo Varela: Why is this analysis necessary in the moment that we are in?
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: It’s important for people to be able to understand which policies have changed, what has happened already, what is yet to come, and what all of these changes mean. The executive orders call for sweeping changes in immigration enforcement, but these proposals may face challenges to implementation. At a time when people are scared, it’s more important than ever to separate the facts from the bluster.

JRV: What should observers or people following immigration policy changes not be doing?
ARM: Keep an eye on what is actually happening, as opposed to what the administration says is happening. Finding trusted media sources remains key to responding to changes in government policy.

JRV: In the context of the last decades of immigrant policy, what does this analysis do to provide historical context?
ARM: The last three presidential administrations have come into office with an explicit goal of reshaping immigration policy. Trump’s executive orders are the most sweeping and radical, but like all executive orders, may not fully be put into effect due to lawsuit and resource limitations.

JRV: Where do you and your colleagues feel the executive orders are on solid legal ground? Where are they not?
ARM: We have already seen successful lawsuits filed to block the birthright citizenship executive order and a lawsuit filed to block the nationwide expansion of expedited removal. More are coming as well to challenge some of Trump’s more unlawful orders, including a claimed power to ignore the Immigration and Nationality Act for migrants crossing the border. We will eventually find out which of the executive orders are unlawful and which are not. In some cases, it may be years before we find out, in others, we may get answers in the upcoming weeks and months.

JRV: What is success for your organization about the impact your analysis can have in the national conversation?
ARM: We want to make sure that people understand not only what has happened already, but what it all means and how the executive orders aim to reshape how this country views immigration.

Take the time to read the fact sheet. I think you will learn something you didn’t know.

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What We’re Reading

ICE Arrests U.S. Veteran: According to WPIX in New York, an ICE raid in New Jersey led to the arrest of a U.S. veteran of Puerto Rican descent.

“One of the guys was a military veteran, and the way he looked to me was because he was Hispanic. He is Puerto Rican and the manager of our warehouse. It looked to me like they were specifically going after certain kinds of people—not every kind, because they did not ask me for documentation for my American workers, Portuguese workers, or white workers,” the store manager told the outlet.

East Boston Reacts: The Boston Globe wrote about how East Boston’s immigrant community is feeling after Trump’s immigration plans ramped up.

The Globe noted, “While panic continues to characterize the mood in cities and towns shaped by immigration, it remained unclear Thursday whether federal authorities had done anything different during the first few days of Trump’s new term. Multiple messages left with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement were not returned Thursday, even as images of its agents arresting immigrants, including alleged MS-13 gang members, spread throughout the region.”

Nationwide ICE Arrests: Meanwhile, NBC News reported about some of this week’s ICE raids.

“Trump’s designated border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News on Wednesday that ICE had conducted 308 arrests across the country. For comparison, in September of 2024, the latest month for which data is available, ICE arrested 282 migrants per day,” NBC News noted.

Friday reports on the raids showed a daily arrest number of over 500.

Have a restful weekend.

Julio

About the Author

Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder and publisher of The Latino Newsletter.

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