Jhojan doesn’t know why Felipe was detained at the February 5 appointment with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But Jhojan was so worried after Felipe’s deportation that he didn’t show up for his next check-in a month later. Jhojan insisted that The Associated Press withhold the couple’s last names, fearing retribution.

He is among many people who now fear that once-routine immigration check-ins will be used as an opportunity to detain them. The appointments have become a source of anxiety as President Donald Trump presses ahead with a campaign of mass deportations, and the number of people in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has reached its highest level since November 2019.

The check-ins are how ICE keeps track of some people who are released by the government to pursue asylum or other immigration cases as they make their way through a backlogged court system. The government has not said how many people ICE has detained at such appointments or whether that is now standard practice, but immigration advocates and attorneys are concerned people might stop showing up, putting themselves further at risk of deportation. (Jamaica Gleaner)