Law-Abiding Long-Term Residents Being Deported to Countries They Cannot Identify on a Map

WLRN investigation documents ICE targeting long-term legal residents and visa holders — not just undocumented immigrants — for deportation to countries where some have never lived or cannot locate on a map. Cases include individuals with decades of US residency, tax payment histories, and US-citizen children. Attorneys report a shift from prioritizing criminal cases to 'volume-based enforcement' quotas that treat administrative violations the same as criminal ones. The pattern accelerated since February amid the DHS shutdown.