The Trump administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have stated that their first round of raids will target criminal, undocumented immigrants with crimes outside of illegal entry to the country. However, reports are starting to show that may not be the case.
During a deportation operation in San Antonio, ICE officers used armored vehicles and tear gas to arrest a nonviolent, undocumented immigrant. Juan Ramon Hernandez-Limon, a Mexican national who has called San Antonio his home since he was six months old, was a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient. However, when his status expired in 2015, he was forced to return to his home country. Hernandez-Limon later illegally re-entered the U.S. twice, providing cause for his arrest.
Hernandez-Limon was sweeping his front porch when immigration officials approached him at his residence. Hernandez-Limon told the officers that he had done nothing wrong and entered his home with his wife and child. At the time of the initial contact with Hernandez-Limon, officials had no warrant for his arrest. Federal, state and local law enforcement surrounded the home for hours waiting for ICE agents to obtain a warrant.
According to the ICE officer’s testimony, after obtaining the warrant, officials informed Hernandez-Limon via a police intercom that they intended to arrest him. Agents broke down the front and rear doors of the house using an armored vehicle after Hernandez-Limon refused to leave. Once inside, authorities deployed tear gas to force his removal from the property. He was later arrested the same day.
ICE has been extremely active on social media platform X, under the username @ICEgov. They publish a weekly recap titled “The Worst First ” that includes a thread of posts stating the names of individuals pending arrest and deportation, followed by the violent crimes they have committed. Some examples include assault, kidnapping, gang activity and homicide.
However, Juan Ramon Hernandez-Limon was not included in the weekly post. Authorities confirmed they had been surveilling his home months before his arrest to confirm that he had returned to the country. In addition, utilizing armed vehicles and tear gas to apprehend a suspect suggests that the individual would be included in ICE’s “The Worst First” recap. This raises the question of why such resources are being wasted.
ICE and the Trump administration utilize social media platforms to depict their deportation efforts as a form of national security. They have succeeded in spreading fear and hate towards immigrants by calling attention to highly violent criminals who just happen to be undocumented. It is unclear from this selective reporting what the real motivations are for these measures and whether they promote public safety or just feed anti-immigrant prejudice.
