Hudson Valley immigrants may no longer evade ICE in schools and churches following federal policy change
Many Newburgh residents told News 12 Friday they have reservations about President Donald Trump's executive order allowing ICE agents to arrest undocumented immigrants at sensitive locations, including churches, schools and hospitals.
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Federal immigration rules that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting immigrants at schools and churches have been reversed, increasing fear in Hudson Valley cities known to be immigrant-friendly.
Many Newburgh residents told News 12 Friday they have reservations about President Donald Trump's executive order allowing ICE agents to arrest undocumented immigrants at sensitive locations, including churches, schools and hospitals.
Previously, federal guidance directed agents with ICE and Customs and Border Protection not to detain offenders at or near sensitive locations.
"It's quite sad and quite difficult," Newburgh resident Raul Velasquez said in Spanish.
Velasquez told News 12 he believes ICE should have some leeway to arrest violent criminals because "they cause evil and truthfully, they don't help this country."
He also said he is worried ICE agents might use this newfound latitude to come after non-violent undocumented immigrants.
"They pay taxes. They are supporting the community," Velasquez said of the vast majority of immigrants in Newburgh.
Officials from the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, told the Associated Press this week that the policy change will empower ICE agents to catch murderers and rapists, and that criminals will not be able to hide in churches and schools anymore to avoid arrest.
Luis Ovando, a Honduran immigrant who has lived in the area for 20 years and has two grandchildren, said he trusts ICE to use discretion.
During Donald Trump's first term, ICE deported several local immigrants who had no histories of violence.
Ovando expects ICE to perform better and more humanely this time to prioritize removals of the most serious offenders.
"I believe they're going to take care of every situation, every person," he said, "depending where they are, and I'm going to tell my people not to worry about it."
News 12 received several tips that ICE agents may have been operating this week in Kingston and Newburgh.
None were substantiated.
Newburgh city administrators said Friday they have no confirmation that ICE has recently carried out any enforcement in the city.
They also told News 12 that New York State Police executed multiple search warrants this week in the city, adding that the searches were related to other criminal investigations, not immigration enforcement.
