Myth: ICE Raids are new to America and not previously seen in other administrations.

FACT: ICE raid deportations occurred during President Barack Obama’s term as well, and 2.5 million undocumented workers were deported through ICE raids during his time in office. Trump Administration raids are different from Obama’s in that ICE officials may also deport immigrants detained in collateral arrests, in which immigrants are arrested during the raid, but not the target of the raid. In the week of Feb. 6, over 680 illegal immigrants were detained by ICE Raids and 75 percent of the undocumented workers possessed a criminal record.

Myth: ICE Raids are random and deporting only minorities.

FACT: ICE’s goal is to “ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the U.S. once they have been determined deportable by an immigration court.” After an initial hearing called a master hearing, a foreign national can set future master hearings in order to secure additional documents, prepare evidence, conduct discovery or await the status of the pending application for deportation. After the hearing, if the immigrant is found illegal and is planned for deportation, they are taken to a level one detention holding center. News reports have condemned the prison like atmosphere of detention holding centers, such as the LA Times and Raw Story. The average time of holding is 21 days, where they are next taken to an ICE airport and flown back to their original country. Non-citizens may come to the attention of the immigration authorities by phoned-in tips, a workplace raid, a check on the immigration status of people in jail, or a failed application for asylum, green card or naturalization.