Arrest of undocumented "non-criminal" immigrants have tripled across the Nevada region compared to this time last year, according to numbers released by Immigration and Custom Enforcement.
13 Action News obtained the number of undocumented immigrants arrested from President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office across the Salt Lake City Area of Responsibility, which includes, Nevada, Montana, Utah and Idaho.
Overall this year, 1,562 undocumented immigrants were arrested across the four states compared to 1,395 undocumented immigrants arrested in 2016 in the same area.
Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order to add more immigration officers to increase the number of deportations. He had said he would focus on undocumented immigrants who had committed dangerous crimes.
But groups like the ACLU are more concerned about the number of "non-criminal" undocumented immigrants that have been arrested in his first 100 days, because that number has nearly tripled from last year.
"They are valuable members of the community in which they live, yet, we're treating them like they don't belong," said Amy Rose, the Legal Director for the ACLU in Southern Nevada.
ICE says in 2016 75 "non-criminal" undocumented immigrants were arrested, but so far this year 245 have been arrested.
13 Action News Crime and Safety Expert Randy Sutton say ICE officers are just doing the job they were sworn into.
“That’s what their job is,” Sutton said. “But we’re a nation of laws and we are very welcoming of people, you just have to go through the right process.”
But many undocumented Nevadans are still living in fear they could soon be deported.
“It's sad that they have to be on watch,” said Soni Sanchez, whose parents were undocumented before becoming citizens when she was a child.
ICE also released the number of criminal undocumented immigrants that were arrested this year compared to last year, There were three fewer arrest in 2017.
