Trump's threatened ICE raids could hearten his base, and terrify immigrants
LOS ANGELES - When unconfirmed reports surfaced this week that the Trump administration had resurrected threats of nationwide immigration raids expected to launch Sunday, Roberto Suro, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California, honed in on the number of targeted apprehensions: an estimated 2,000.
Currently, there are about 1 million immigrants with final removal orders.
He did the math: Apprehensions would amount to a bit more than .2% of those facing deportation.
But the relatively small number of apprehensions doesn't matter, Suro said. It's the perception that counts.
"It's purely psychological," he said. "This is yet one more example of how the Trump administration is trying to use fear as an instrument of immigration control. It generates a lot of fear and anxiety but not a lot of control. This has nothing to do with actual enforcement."
Suro and other longtime immigration analysts believe that the apprehensions resulting from the anticipated raids will likely be a statistical drop in the bucket, but that the frenzy leading up to it sends a powerful message to two groups.
"One audience is supposed to feel like something is happening," Suro said, "and the other
