The Donald Trump effect on immigration is evident:  between the end of January and mid-March, arrests of immigrants in the United States rose by 32.6% on the same period for 2016. Among foreigners with no criminal record, arrests doubled, according to official figures seen by The Washington Post.

Two months after taking office, Trump has begun to fulfill his promises to prioritize the expulsion of undocumented citizens with criminal records. Around 11 million people live in the US with no residence or work permits.

Between January 20, when Trump took office, and March 31, 21,362 immigrants were arrested, 5,441 of whom had no criminal record, compared to the 16,104 arrests for the same period in 2016, according to official figures. The figure is higher than the 18,031 arrests during the same period in 2015, but lower than 2014’s 29,238, as reported in El País. 

The number of arrests grew at the offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), which is responsible for detaining undocumented migrants, at its offices in New York, Boston, and Atlanta. Human rights groups say that the mood of fear has seen a sharp fall in the number of calls to police stations by immigrants.

However,  Trump has a long way to go to beat the 2.9 million immigrants Barack Obama deported. As reported in El País.