Trump Calls Immigration Crackdown ‘Too Tough’; East Valley Residents Weigh In
THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) — A year ago, ICE presence in the East Valley was prominent. But this year, President Donald Trump is reflecting on what he calls a “too tough” immigration policy.
During an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Trump said he would like to collaborate with the Democratic majority now in office. He addressed immigration, citing it as a key factor in the election results.
“I do think [the crackdown] both helped and hurt. I think I got an A+ for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs that created one violation or breaking of the law,” Trump said.
However, on Friday, following the Republicans’ electoral defeat, Trump appointed Stephen Miller — who is widely viewed as the architect of his second-term immigration crackdown — as White House chief of staff. He officially assumes the role today.
Locally, attention is focused on the East Valley as residents remain concerned about immigration raids.
Areas such as Thermal, Mecca, North Shore and Oasis remain under scrutiny from authorities, with reports of ICE activity in Thermal appearing on Instagram as recently as 8:26 a.m. today.
Eddie Torres, who serves as policy director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, says they do not expect enforcement operations to slow down in their communities.
“Now with somebody like Miller, who has for, you know, as long as he’s been around, espoused anti-immigrant rhetoric, it’s even more concerning,” Torres said. “And we need to be prepared for having more enforcement in our communities.”
Through these discrepancies between Trumps words and local enforcement action, Ismael Cruz, a staff member at TODEC, emphasized that permanent legal status does not offer full protection from removal.
“As a green card holder, you can still lose your green card… So we always say it’s very important for you to become an American citizen,” Cruz said.
Click here to follow the original article.