Preparing for ICE Visits in Light of Executive Orders
The Trump administration, through its recent executive orders and public statements, has kept its promise to take swift actions on immigration enforcement. On January 21, 2025, the Trump administration revoked a longstanding policy that restricted federal immigration authorities from carrying out enforcement activities at sensitive locations including schools, churches, and hospitals. As of the date of this publication, the executive orders, and the actions on them, have shown an intention to focus on persons in the United States without lawful status who have committed crimes.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been empowered to take aggressive actions to enforce immigration laws. These developments have left employers, particularly those in industries like education, manufacturing, health care, and childcare, uncertain about how to handle ICE interactions effectively and in compliance with the law.
Given the administration’s announced plans to ramp up immigration enforcement and news stories documenting that ICE raids have already begun in parts of the country, our partners at Ballard Spahr Lane Powell are providing this alert so employers can understand their rights and responsibilities if ICE agents come to one of your facilities:
