Story highlights Joey Jackson: ICE raids are not new, but advocates and others watching these raids unfold are right to worry

It's one thing to be tough on immigration. It's yet another to be fair, he writes

Joey Jackson is a criminal defense attorney and a legal analyst for CNN and HLN. The views expressed here are solely his.

(CNN) There's a new sheriff in town: President Donald J. Trump has made clear that in matters of immigration, particularly from Mexico, a seismic shift is underway. Only five days after being sworn in, Trump signed a sweeping executive order seeking to both prevent illegal immigration and remove undocumented immigrants.

Among other things, the order seeks the construction of a wall, terminates the "catch and release" procedure whereby undocumented immigrants are detained and released, adds 5,000 border patrol agents, calls for a report quantifying all foreign aid provided by the United States to Mexico annually during the past five years, and makes provisions for greater coordination between federal, state and local governments in implementing immigration policy.

Joey Jackson

Then came the immigration raids . Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent enforcement squads into cities across the country, from the East Coast of New York to the West Coast of Los Angeles. They did so in an effort to expel from the country those who the President has called "bad dudes." Officials noted that this effort was in the planning stages for weeks, and had little to do with Trump's executive order. It was also pointed out that the Obama administration used these squads and that Obama was referred to by immigrant rights activists as the " Deporter in Chief " for his record of deportations.

But while these raids are not new in and of themselves, advocates and others watching these raids unfold are right to worry whether this President is casting a wider net and expanding the objective in ICE enforcement beyond national security. Of the 160 illegal immigrants arrested during the Trump raids, the vast majority had felony convictions and merited deportation. To be sure, the federal government has a solemn obligation to secure the borders and to protect the public. But there are questions as to the other arrests. The concern from a justice perspective, then, is not the enforcement effort itself. The executive branch enforces the law, and any President is entitled to do so in the manner he deems most effective in keeping with his philosophy. Instead, the concern lies in whether enforcement will be over broad and unduly aggressive.

There's reason to be concerned. Homeland Security Director John Kelly testified before Congress last week for the first time. In doing so, he noted that morale among ICE officers was down under the Obama administration, because they felt like their hands were tied. He further suggested that morale would be boosted under the new President. The implication then, is that the Trump administration will enforce immigration laws more aggressively than previous administrations have.

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