Federal immigration police say they have arrested hundreds of undocumented people this year in Upstate New York, including the North Country.

It's part of President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump granted broad authority to arrest and deport anyone who's in the U.S. illegally, not just those who have committed a crime. The administration says it's about making the country safer and enforcing the law.

But for many undocumented immigrants, it's seen as a terrifying roundup that's tearing their families apart.

An SUV rolled up a gravel driveway, and a guy hopped out from the back seat.

This was in Washington County, a place with a lot of dairies and rolling hills. The man wore a baseball cap, a T-shirt, and dusty jeans. He’s an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, and these days, he avoids going anywhere he doesn’t have to.

“The safe place for me is home. When I get home, I don’t think about it, like to go anywhere else,” he said. “As soon as I get home, I’m stuck here.”

He didn’t want to be identified – not even with a first name, or with the work he does. He said he came here 17 years ago to make a better life for himself.

“In Mexico, it’s tough. It’s not really too many jobs,” he said. “The United States – you want to work? You have a job.”

He did find a job right away and now, he owns his home with his wife, who’s a U.S. citizen – though his name isn’t on the mortgage because of his status.

He’s always had to lay low, but he said he feels more anxious with President Trump in the White House. In part because last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE – arrested 27 undocumented people right nearby, in Saratoga Springs.

“That’s another place I have to stay away from,” the man said.

ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said Mexican and Guatemalan men were arrested on a range of violations. Activists say earlier in the year, eight people were also arrested in Hudson Falls. There’s no indication that any were accused of violent crimes, or posed an immediate threat to public safety.

And that’s what’s new here. Federal officials say anyone found in violation of immigration laws can be arrested and deported. ICE director Thomas Homan was very clear on this point, a few weeks ago at the White House.

“There has been this notion that if you get by the Border Patrol, if you get in the United States, you have a U.S. citizen kid, no one’s looking for you. But those days are over,” Homan said.

Finding people in the North Country whose lives have been affected by this policy change is hard, because they’re scared. They live more underground than ever.

I found a local activist, who introduced me to a dairy veterinarian, who helped me find a farm. The undocumented workers there were nervous but willing to talk.

We’re afraid, one Guatemalan worker said. Because if we go out – well, you can’t. While we’re out they could catch us and deport us.

Into Your hands I commit my spirit because I am not a criminal. His wife also works and lives here without legal papers. She said when people do go off the farm to buy food, she prays to God.

Into Your hands I commit my spirit because I am not a criminal, she said. For me, this is a very sacred country, and I’m grateful that God allows me to be here.

Later, I met Susan Sánchez in Hudson Falls. She’s a Spanish teacher who also gives English lessons to undocumented families here. She said some of the people who were arrested are her friends.

“It was extremely devastating on many different levels,” Sánchez said. “They don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, so it kind of prohibits them from doing a lot on a daily basis.”

She said the arrests in this area have also driven some migrants away. When ICE is out, word travels quickly, she said, and the scare is leaving some restaurants short staffed. One place called El Mexicano in Hudson Falls was reportedly forced to close.

While Sánchez and the families she works with are fearful and angry, a lot of people are enthusiastic about the government’s tougher approach.

Brian Getty is a sixth-generation dairy farmer in the town of Hebron, in Washington County. He voted for Donald Trump and said people who break the law have to know there might be consequences.

“If you know you’re speeding down the highway, there is a potential chance there’s going to be a trooper sitting in the wayward side looking for you,” Getty said.

Getty said he has a lot of respect for immigrants’ work ethic, and he doesn’t want to see families torn apart. But he thinks the nation’s border laws should be respected.

“We have to decide as a country, is illegal illegal? Or is – or are we going to decide what is illegal and let there be gray areas?”

But the truth is, the U.S. has used undocumented workers for decades. Trying to get rid of these gray areas is changing the way life works for people, and not only on dairies and in restaurants.

“They’ve stopped coming to church. They are afraid to come out,” said Father Tom Babiuch. He’s the pastor at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Fort Edward, where he said 12 undocumented families used to come to worship.

“They are afraid to go outside and live a normal life,” he said. “And I think they do it for their children. Because their children are afraid that when they go out, their parents will be taken away from them or arrested and separated from them.”

Babiuch is an immigrant himself. He was born in Poland, and he’s now a U.S. citizen. He wishes his parishioners could come out of the shadows and get legal status, but it’s not so easy for them, he said, especially not now.