Our nation’s immigration laws are being used to create a climate of fear

First published in the Idaho Capital Sun, September 16, 2025

Currently, refugees, workers and others who have come to Idaho from other countries are at increased risk of detention and deportation, even if they came to the US through legal means of entry.

ICE raids and the too frequent reports of individuals being deported signals a dangerous situation for many individuals living in the US. These individuals have come to the US through legal immigration programs that may now be expired, or they may have arrived here without authorization.  Sometimes they arrived as young children.  

This approach to immigration control is fueled by 1) federal quota mandates for immigration arrests, 2) depriving refugees of their protected rights and 3) by a rapidly expanding system of detention that involves all of us, even down to the county levels in places like Idaho and Wyoming.

The US is increasingly taking away Temporary Protected Status (TPS).  If refugees lose their TPS they lose their work permits, medical care, and their right to be in the US. Many of these individuals are waiting for immigration hearings and they are trying to do the right thing.

As of July, 2025, the backlog of immigration hearings is approximately 3.4 million cases.  Once the individual cannot legally work, they are vulnerable to being arrested if they continue working.  Without income and not able to return to their home countries, they are trapped in a perilous situation.

Other refugees (from dangerous situations and from economic hardship) have been living and working in the US without legal status for months or years; employers conveniently look the other way in some industries, like dairy, that have difficult to fill labor needs. Students and other types of visa holders are in similar situations; overstaying of student visas is very common. 

There are incentives now, put in place by an increasingly aggressive administration, to arrest these individuals and to deport them.

Along with strong federal mandates to fill the rapidly expanding state and federal ICE detention facilities, the pool of vulnerable individuals is concomitantly increasing. Millions of people are at risk of being deported back to many countries.

Individuals who are taken into custody by ICE are shuffled through multiple detention centers across the US before being released and deported to their countries of origin or sent to third country detention centers.

Small prisons and jails in the rural West have established agreements with ICE to house these detainees as they await their fates. Local jails in our communities are being used to house detainees; these jails are often in remote, rural areas of the Western US. These jails, like the one mentioned in the recent WyoFile article about the Natrona County jail in Casper Wyoming where Cuban immigrants were housed, lack sufficient space and psychological care services. Detainees who are being constantly moved between facilities are at high risk for depression and suicide.

This is the Jail Enforcement Model, a contract which allows local jurisdictions to house detainees in some of the beds in their jails. Idaho has one jail, in Coeur d’Alene listed that has a 287 (g) contract with ICE.  Prisons in Mountain Home and Rigby also house immigration detainees.

Sheriff’s offices in Bingham, Bonneville, Gooding, Kootenai, Owyhee and Power counties have Warrant Officer contracts with ICE. The Idaho State Police, through Jerome County has a Task Force Model contract with ICE. These agreements fund this work.  They expand ICE’s surveillance and detention activities through involving local prison facilities and law enforcement personal in arresting and detaining individuals on immigration charges as part of their routine job descriptions.

Idaho, like its neighboring state of Wyoming, is involved in the movement of individuals between incarceration facilities. Individuals are arrested in one state and quickly moved to a second or third prison. They are moved from large prisons to small prisons across the US. Detainees lose contact with their families, they are stressed, and they are in a dangerous situation. This is an inhumane way to treat individuals who have come to this country as refugees.

Data on these immigration detainees show that 70% of them have no criminal records.   These are not “the worst of the worst”. These are individuals who are struggling to survive in the US after they have endured immense expense, danger and personal trauma to get away from their countries of origin. Many of these individuals have lived for years in the US, and many are married with children who are US citizens.

Each situation has a unique constellation of threats that have made people desperate to leave their homes; it is always an agonizing choice. Returning can be incredibly dangerous, like the warzone Ukrainians fled, or it can be an economically decimated, hollowed out country, like Cuba or it can be both dangerous and economically destroyed like Haiti, Venezuela and Afghanistan.  

The implementation of our nation's immigration laws is being used to create a climate of fear for many immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and their families and friends. All these individuals deserve to be treated with respect and given access to safety and due process during these difficult times. This process is increasingly militarizing the US, with implications for all of us.