SOUTH JORDAN — The administration of President Donald Trump has been shining a bright spotlight on immigrants here illegally who commit crime, especially violent crime.

The president regularly berates immigrants who he believes to be part of criminal organizations, most notably Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang. Likewise, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials regularly tout the detention of immigrants allegedly involved in violent activity.

"Another busy week. More fugitives, MS-13 & Sureños gangsters, killers, sex offenders, smugglers, drug dealers, thieves in the bag," reads an X post Sunday by the Salt Lake City ICE office, referencing Latino gangs operating in the United States and other immigrant lawbreakers. The message, accompanied by a photo of an ICE operation outside a home, went on, touting an app, CPB Home, that immigrants here illegally can use to inform U.S. authorities when they leave the country lest they "want us showing up to your place like this."

Still, criminals are hardly the only focus of Trump and immigration officials, whether intended or not. South Jordan immigration attorney Carlos Trujillo, for one, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Venezuela, received an email on April 11 from the Department of Homeland Security advising him to leave the country.

"You will be subject to potential criminal prosecution, civil fines and penalties and any other lawful options available to the federal government. DHS encourages you to leave immediately on your own," it reads, citing the agency's discretionary authority on immigration matters.

Ogden immigration attorney Jonathan Bachison said one of his clients, an immigrant in the process of asking for asylum, was pulled over by Ogden police last month on suspicion of driving without insurance. ICE agents ultimately got involved, Bachison said, and they came to the incorrect conclusion that the man belonged to Tren de Aragua and sent him to an ICE detention center in Nevada.

"He didn't have a single conviction here or anywhere else. Well, he gets detained and taken down to Nevada, and I had to request a bond for him. ... I'm glad I was able to and he just wasn't one of those guys shipped off to El Salvador," Bachison said, alluding to the Central American nation where the Trump administration has deported some immigrants it alleges are criminals.

"Then at his bond hearing, the immigration judge was bothered as well. Why was this guy picked up?" Bachison said.

While Trump has emphasized what he says are the criminal misdeeds of immigrants as part of his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration, reports from immigration attorneys in Utah say many others are being caught up in his administration's dragnet. They include asylum-seekers, university students with clean records, others who have followed procedures set up up during the administration of President Joe Biden and, in Trujillo's case, a naturalized U.S. citizen.

The breakdown of immigrants caught up in Trump's crackdown with legitimate or pending claims to remain in the country versus those here illegally with criminal convictions is unclear. At any rate, Trujillo's experience — first reported by the Utah Investigative Journalism Project and the Utah News Dispatch — sent "a chill down my spine," he said, though he suspects the email was sent mistakenly.

"We're living with that fear. There's no denying that," Trujillo told KSL.com. "But I still love this country. I love what it stands for. I love the rule of law."

Indeed, Trujillo and other attorneys and immigrant advocates understand moves to deport immigrants here illegally who have broken the law. But moves targeting immigrants with clean records who are following procedures outlined in U.S. immigration law have prompted a strong backlash from some of them.

"We have people who have been deported by mistake as well. So it is scary that the sort of things that are so delicate are being done so recklessly," Trujillo said.

A Venezuelan family and a Haitian woman in Millcreek received messages similar to Trujillo's calling on them to leave the country. Last Friday, their advocates held a press conference at Millcreek City Hall, defending the immigrants and decrying U.S. moves against them without giving them proper notice and due process.

The sort of letter the Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants received "misrepresents what's really going on and is intended as a scare tactic to get out of the country with threats of fines and incarceration, and it's wrong," said Jim McConkie, a lawyer with the Refugee Justice League, a nonprofit legal group.

'It's a scapegoat'

Bachison had tough words of his own.

The Tren de Aragua allegations, central in the Trump administration's crackdown, are "all made up," he charged. "We don't have thousands of Tren de Aragua people here in the United States. It's a scapegoat they're using to violate due process rights."

Lehi immigration attorney Jacob Tuimaualuga said two of his clients received emails similar to Trujillo's and the Millcreek immigrants instructing them to leave the United States. They have both filed for political asylum, and he advised them to ignore the messages because by leaving, they'd abandon their pending claims to stay here. He also knows of a handful of international university students who received notices that their permission to remain in the country has been revoked. "These are university students with no criminal backgrounds," or any record of involvement in protests, Tuimaualuga said.

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While not offering comment on specific cases, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent a statement to KSL.com acknowledging the agency has sent notices "terminating parole" for those it suspects don't have permission to remain in the United States. It recognized that some of the messages "may have been sent to unintended recipients such as attorneys" in some cases.

Still, the statement offered a stern message. "To be clear: If you are an alien, being in the United States is a privilege — not a right. We are acting in the best interest of the country and enforcing the law accordingly," it reads.

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