On a recent trip to the exceptionally cruel and unusual “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center, Donald Trump repeated his oft-stated campaign promise to focus his deportation crusade on “the worst of the worst,” those immigrants that he calls “vicious and bloodthirsty criminals.”

As is often the case with this administration, the reality on the ground tells a much different story. If the administration’s focus is truly on violent offenders, why have immigration authorities in Maryland arrested over 600 immigrants with no criminal charges, let alone convictions, since Inauguration Day? (Immigration arrests in Maryland have doubled under Trump, July 14, 2025)

Fully a quarter of those who do have criminal convictions had nothing more serious than a traffic violation on their record — does that strike you as a strategy of removing the “worst of the worst?” How does targeting hard-working men and women simply trying to support their families contribute to making Baltimore safer?

The truth is that these types of detentions do not make our communities safer — they make them less stable. They spread terror among the 1 in 10 Maryland households with an undocumented family member who are faced with the gut-wrenching choice between uprooting their lives and leaving their homes or having their family torn apart.

They fuel division in our communities and put our local law enforcement officers in unsafe and unpredictable situations. They drive families into hiding, scared away even from traditional refuges like schools and churches.

Unfortunately, there are no signs that the administration intends to change course. Since White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “arrest” a minimum of 3,000 immigrants per day, workplace raids and the detention of those without criminal records have spiked. The “One, Big, Ugly Bill” passed by Congressional Republicans and signed by President Trump is set to massively expand ICE’s deportation and detention operations.

I share the outrage of my fellow Baltimoreans at the cruel and wanton treatment of our friends and neighbors. I call on President Trump to stick to his word and focus immigration enforcement on violent criminals — and leave our families, friends, and neighbors alone.

U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume represents Maryland’s 7th District

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