Deportation is a complicated process — with lots of layers. As the Trump administration expands the number and scope of deportations – what does that mean in practice? NPR's Asma Khalid and Ximena Bustillo unpack how deportations are supposed to work — and why so many lawsuits have been filed saying court process has been sidestepped in recent cases.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Days before the 2024 election, speaking to an electrified crowd at Madison Square Garden, President Trump made a promise.
On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.
During this campaign speech, Trump railed against immigrants who come to the United States illegally, whom he described as criminals and gang members.
We will not be occupied. We will not be overrun. We will not be conquered.
And just hours after his inauguration, the president signed a flurry of sweeping executive orders declaring a national emergency at the southern border, suspending refugee resettlement, ending asylum programs, and expanding the pool of people who could be deported.
You're going to be under arrest soon.
In March, federal immigration agents also began arresting people involved with pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses. One of them was Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and green card holder. His wife, Noor Abdullah, filmed his arrest as agents who refused to give their names handcuffed him and put him in an unmarked car. Yeah, they just like handcuffed him and took him.
I don't know what to do. Shh. Abdullah told NPR it took 38 hours for her to find out where her husband had been sent. I think that's probably the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. Within weeks, masked ICE agents arrested another graduate student.
Rumeysa Ozturk was studying at Tufts University on a valid visa and had co-written an op-ed criticizing the university's response to the war in Gaza. In this video provided by freelance journalist Daniel Bogoslaw, you can hear a bystander questioning the agents.
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