Candidate Trump promised to have immigration as one of the cornerstones of his second term as president of the United States. He knows immigration was one of his strongest polling issues during the 2024 election, and is an energising theme for his base.
However, for Kenyans and other immigrants in the US, the recent violent immigration raids in Los Angeles have several constitutional, public safety and ethical concerns. While President Trump sees these raids as part of his enforcement of the popular mandate received from the electorate, civil rights and due process concerns have been raised. As is the question of racial profiling of Latin and black immigrants.
Key among these concerns is public safety. According to long-time Kenyan Los Angeles resident Mukurima Muriuki, “Kenyans, especially those without papers, might feel heightened anxiety and uncertainty, potentially leading to the community laying low to avoid detection during this tense period. The raids are a troubling escalation of federal power over state government.”
This is because, under the US constitutional framework, policing is a state function under the reserved powers of the states in the 10th Amendment. The normative practice for decades has been for the federal government in Washington DC to intervene only when states cannot control the escalation of events in their jurisdiction. This usually happens in the event of an act of God, such as a massive earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.
Such circumstances could also occur in the event of an insurrection in the states to topple the US government or in the event of a foreign invasion of the US by a foreign power. In addition to this, the state governor usually has to invite federal troops into the states because of state sovereignty.
The Trump administration argues that the deployment of 700 Marines and the mobilisation of more than 2,000 National Guardsmen was necessitated by the failure of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and California State officers to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carrying out their work.
Kenya-born Minnesota House Representative Hulda Momanyi-Hiltsley said, “Kenyans, like many immigrants, came here to work, raise families, and contribute (to the economy). Most of us are just trying to live with dignity. These mass deportations, amplified by inflammatory rhetoric, tear families apart and send shockwaves through entire communities. We need to go back to policies rooted in humanity, not fear.”
The riots in Los Angeles are only one of the flashpoints of the numerous raids that have been happening in the past few months in major American cities such as Minneapolis, New York, Dallas, Chicago, San Diego, Boston and Philadelphia.
“I personally have heard deeply concerning reports from community members about increased immigration enforcement activity, including arrests and deportations, impacting Kenyan nationals and other African immigrants here in Minnesota. While exact numbers are difficult to confirm due to fear and underreporting, what’s clear is that anxiety and uncertainty are growing — especially for those without legal status or with pending asylum cases,” she said.
What frustrates Los Angeles residents more is the manner in which the raids are being carried out. While the federal government has every right to remove undocumented violent criminals from communities, the show of force by the Trump administration seems more of a political stunt to embarrass the Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom. Newsom will probably be running for president in 2028. Trump wants to reinforce the image to his base that he is “getting tough” on immigration in a Democrat “Blue state,” the biggest and richest of which is California.
Another longtime Los Angeles-based Kenyan, who only prefers to be called Ngotho, said that Trump is very conniving.
“The Orangeman (Trump) is making a cynical move to get maximum attention. Unlike the king of deportation (Barack Obama), who did it silently, with smooth words, Orangeman is doing it loud! He believes it works for his base,” he said.
Trump has not shied away from “doing it loud” in the LA immigration raids. For one, undocumented immigrants appearing in court for the mention of their cases were being arrested outside federal court buildings. This was the case outside the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, where ICE agents in civilian clothes detained undocumented immigrants who were in deportation proceedings. The same has happened outside schools, churches and parks.
What is concerning for Kenyans is that these raids appear to be indiscriminate, targeting brown and black immigrants, while not having any semblance of probable cause in order for the detention of suspected undocumented immigrants to commence.
“There are strict constitutional and legal limits under the Posse Comitatus Act on using federal troops for domestic law enforcement. The legality would depend heavily on who authorised it, under what statute, and whether it meets the threshold for such intervention. That said, from a community standpoint, this move feels more like a political stunt than a public safety solution. Militarising immigrant-heavy communities only heightens fear and re-traumatises people who’ve already fled conflict and persecution,” Momanyi-Hiltsley said.
Immigration has historically been a divisive political issue. One key problem with the US immigration system is that it is outdated and has not adapted over the years to the volume of immigrants coming to the US. The "pull" factors (mainly economic) of immigrants coming to the US from developing nations like Kenya, Mexico, India and Nigeria, are an inevitable consequence of globalisation.
"Push" factors like economic deprivation, political persecution, climate change, female circumcision and LGBTQI+ from countries in the developing world have overwhelmed the system. This has resulted in the broken US immigration system today and the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows.
President Trump seems determined to continue with these immigration raids, mass deportations and the use of the military to enforce immigration law if he deems it necessary.
The United States will continue to experience these raids. For Kenyans, getting a good attorney to advise on legal rights and channels to regularise one’s status seems the smart way to go. Donald will continue to play the immigration trump card for many months more.
