In this YouTube panel, attorney Lorena Rivas and participant Linda discuss the mechanics of the U.S. detention‑to‑deportation pipeline, highlighting how individuals are intercepted during routine immigration processes such as fingerprint appointments and then placed in detention. They present stark statistics—approximately 70,000 people detained, 70% without criminal records, 6,000 children, and 46 deaths since the start of the current administration, averaging one death every six days—to illustrate a humanitarian crisis. Rivas links mass deportations to broader foreign‑policy issues, arguing that wars create refugees and that anti‑war positions are essential to addressing immigration pressures. She also counters common criticisms that immigration advocates favor open borders, urging a focus on stopping the creation of refugees through foreign‑policy reform. Finally, Linda offers practical advice: individuals at risk should consult multiple immigration attorneys early, comparing strategies much like seeking second medical opinions, to improve their chances of a favorable outcome.
Chapters
The detention to deportation pipeline. What we want to talk about is kind of like the infrastructure, the mechanics of how people get deported. We know that there is a policy of mass deportation currently underway, and we wanted to shed some light on exactly how that works.
You have to have a background check, right? Because we want non-criminals getting status. We want good people joining our country. And so they got to their fingerprints appointments, trying to do everything legal, and they're being detained at their fingerprints appointments down in Oklahoma City at the USCIS office.
Why did the disapproval ratings skyrocket? There have been 46 deaths in detention centers since Trump 2.0. And since the beginning of the year, there has literally been one death every 6 days in a detention center. 6,000 children detained, and there are currently approximately 70,000 people in detention centers, 70% of whom have no criminal record. This is everybody's issue. We all need to be concerned about this. Just like ICE is doing a rebrand, we also have to get ahead of it and also really think through our counter-narratives. When we are being accused, for example, "Oh, but you're just for open borders. You just want everybody just to flood into the country," and this and that. Well, hold on a minute. I mean, I would like to say to this, you know, stop creating refugees then, you know, stop creating asylum seekers then, you know. You know, I feel that people have the right to thrive in the communities that they're from. And so what that means, this is why we are very much concerned with foreign policy. That's why a lot of us are anti-war, because we know war creates refugees.
Yeah. No. So my first advice is, right. Is let's not wait until somebody gets detained, that gets picked up by ICE. They need to be talking with an immigration attorney now. And not just one, a couple, or three. Just like anybody else, you know, you go to the doctor, you're not getting the first opinion, you're going to second, or the mechanic. This is their life. It's so important to have them talk with various immigration attorneys because some of them, immigration attorneys, have different strategies or are willing to try different strategies.
Lorena and Linda, thank you so much. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you all for coming.
