What Trump Means for Undocumented Immigrants

Guest: Claudio Holzner, PhD, Professor of Political Science and Associate Director, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Utah Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly are in Mexico today discussing, among other things, the Trump Administrations new immigration enforcement policies announced this week. The changes mean immigration agents will no longer focus primarily on undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes. Anyone in the country illegally can be detained and deported if they’re charged with even a minor offense, like a traffic violation. So-called “Dreamers” who were brought to the states by their parents as children are, for the moment, still protected under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. But if one of the 750,000 people who’ve been granted that status does something criminal or is found to have gang affiliation, they can be deported, too. Trump’s new policies also call for enlisting more local authorities to enforce immigration law and jailing more people who cross the border illegally, rather than allowing them to go free while they wait for a hearing to determine their eligibility for asylum. There’s also a plan afoot to send border crossers immediately back to Mexico to wait out the immigration process – even if they’re from another country and just came through Mexico to get to the US border. That last proposal is something Mexican officials say they won’t stand for.