Donald Trump's promise as a candidate to deport immigrants has been consistent since the first day of announcing his candidacy for president when he said in his speech, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us.
They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." Since then, other statements could have been made that could further form the view that he sees all illegal immigrants as criminals who have committed the worst crimes. But with his power as president, he's able to access all of the tools in his power and function based on the view established in his statement, with very little to stop him.
Homeland Security goes after bakery
As President, Trump has signed executive orders that put Muslim bans in place, and recently, had the Department of Justice putting pressure on sanctuary cities to force them to start cracking down on those illegal immigrants.
The lines are now blurred with who the Trump administration considers criminals because when they have been forced to respond, they have said that they consider them to be those who have committed serious crimes. This assumed that they would review those who were here illegally and consider making them citizens based on their criminal records. For instance, those with tickets as opposed to those with felonies.
But in December, the Department of Homeland Security informed a Long Island Bakery that they had to have all of their undocumented immigrants prove that they were working legally during an audit. Last Friday it was reported that 30 of those undocumented immigrants were fired and are now unemployed.
Many of those fired said they had been at the bakery for an average of 12-years. The workers are said to be represented by the Bakers Union Local 53 who are giving those who have lost their jobs a severance package that includes a week's pay for every year they were at the bakery. Its also been reported, however, that those workers who are able to submit papers within a six-month window are able to return to work and will likely be able to have a seniority position.
More protests to come
At this time it is unknown if Homeland Security acted alone or if this was part of President Trump's enforcement. But Daniel gross who is the founder of an advocacy group called Brandworkers said that this kind of audit is rare and that it was the first one of its kind in 11-years.
Last Friday the New York Times reported that people were gathered out in front of Tom Cat Bakery to protest and that some arrests were made. Since it would appear that Homeland Security was successful in being able to see how this situation played out, there is the chance that they will continue to do more of these audits to further put pressure on undocumented immigrants. Other similar businesses in the area decided to stop baking bread and even contributed protest signs to the cause. Protesters say that they are organizing a larger one for International Worker's Day on May 1.