TEXAS — At a Michigan rally resembling the campaign trail on Tuesday, President Donald Trump celebrated the 130,000 deportations carried out in his first 100 days in office with a supportive crowd. Some of those deportations have come under intense scrutiny by civil rights attorneys, immigrant advocates and family members of the deported.

What You Need To Know

  • Since Trump took office at the end of January, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed 51 cases against his administration

  • Now, migrants and their lawyers across the country have come forward claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are using “welfare checks” to target and detain individuals who have certain permitted immigration status to be in the U.S.

  • Last month, the Trump administration sent out notices telling 500,000 Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans their legal status garnered under the Biden administration was up on April 24

  • Lawyers have argued in court the Trump administration is deporting people without due process

Since Trump took office at the end of January, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed 51 cases against his administration. Emergency relief in 38 of those cases has been requested, and 27 cases won some form of preliminary or temporary order in favor of migrants represented.

Now, migrants and their lawyers across the country have come forward claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are using “welfare checks” to target and detain individuals who have certain permitted immigration status to be in the U.S.

“We are worried that something that started out with good intentions, welfare checks, which are to check that minor children who enter the U.S. are not being exploited or abused which is a good thing is now being used as an excuse to go knock on the door and detain somebody and deport them,” said immigration attorney Jaime Barron.

Barron’s Dallas-based law firm represents thousands of immigrants fighting for legal status to remain the U.S.

“We are seeing due process eroded because sometimes they drop the ball and do not follow protocol,” Barron said.

A protocol Barron says ICE agents are ignoring is failing to have a judge’s final deportation order in hand when arresting migrants without probable cause.

“The level of aggression against the immigrant community is so high we’re worried immigrant legal rights are getting stepped on,” he said.

Last month, the Trump administration sent out notices telling 500,000 Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans their legal status garnered under the Biden administration was up on April 24.

Trump promised on the campaign trail last year he would make deportations a priority if elected a second time.

Lawyers have argued in court the current administration is deporting people without due process.

“That’s what’s scary. It’s a third world mentality where they erode due process, and we hope this doesn’t involve where somebody gets limited due process,” Barron said. “It’s a very scary situation.”