WASHINGTON:
“What worries me is that if I’m deported as an illegal immigrant, everything will go back to zero. I’ll have nothing,” said Mushtaq Ahmad*, 48, a Pakistani national living in New York state who applied for asylum earlier this year.
A former truck driver in the Middle East, Mushtaq now works long days at a convenience store outside Albany, sending what little he can home. Mushtaq spent more than two decades working as a truck driver in the Middle East, but years of grueling work abroad did little to change his family’s life. Coming to the United States was his last attempt to build a stable future, earn enough money to educate his six children, and finally give his family the security he could never have obtained at home.
Ahmad arrived in the United States in July last year. He has since received a work permit and a social security number. Documents that allow him to work legally in the United States.
But the promises he had imagined of a life filled with opportunity and security collided with the harsh reality of an increasingly hostile immigration climate. “Friends told me that life in the United States is beautiful, fun, with lots of work, money and everything is easy. So I thought, let’s try. But now I’m not happy, and everyone who came to America like me regrets their decision,” he said.
His trip to the United States cost him about $16,000, taking him through Europe and Mexico on irregular routes. He estimates that the typical cost of such trips ranges between $30,000 and $40,000, depending on the logistical hurdles involved.
On his first day back in office, January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed executive orders aimed at sharply increasing deportations of undocumented immigrants. The main order, titled “Protecting the American People from Invasion,” reinstates and expands expedited deportation policies. Under the rule, immigration officials can deport individuals without a court hearing if they cannot prove two years of continuous residency in the United States, a policy that had ended under the Biden administration.
Upon his arrival, Ahmad, a professional truck driver, thought he would be able to continue his work in the United States, as he had done at home. But the situation has become tense. Instead of being on the road, he now does odd jobs, never venturing far from home. “I’m afraid that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will come after me if I go out,” he said. His fear is not abstract; it dictates how he navigates public spaces, from grocery stores to streets lined with authorities.
Most of their information comes from WhatsApp groups and social media platforms where news snippets, rumors and social media posts spread faster than official updates.
The U.S. illegal immigrant population reached a record 14 million in 2023, according to the Pew Research Center, with preliminary figures suggesting further growth in 2024 before declining slightly in 2025.
Meanwhile, the number of people detained by ICE increased under the Trump administration, reaching 59,762 people nationwide as of September 21, 2025, up from 59,380 six weeks earlier. For comparison, the average number of ICE detentions under the Biden administration was 30,000 to 35,000, while Trump’s first term peaked at around 55,000 in 2019.
“Every day I wake up thinking: Will today be the day?” he asked. “It’s like walking a tightrope without a safety net,” he added.
Ahmad’s lawyer warned him to avoid airports and other places where encounters with immigration officials are likely.
Media reports that ICE has sometimes detained legal permanent residents. However, some immigrants feel a certain security.
Pakistani American Ainy Agha, 43, a green card holder based in Massachusetts, said she has confidence in the American justice system. “ICE searches and deportations target people without legal status or with criminal records. People like us, with legal status, a strong tax history and a clean past, are not the target,” she explained.
Despite this, broader policies – expanding detention centers, empowering local police as immigration agents, imposing ICE arrest quotas, and reviving the Remain in Mexico policy – have created an environment of pervasive fear. Programs like Project Homecoming, which offer $1,000 for voluntary departure, along with threats of fines and deportation for non-compliance, have left many people constantly anxious. DHS figures released September 23 indicate that nearly two million undocumented immigrants have been deported or left voluntarily since January 20, 2025.
Forty-year-old Tariq Khan*, a Pakistani-American entrepreneur based in Virginia, explained how the job market has contracted. “We are in the transportation sector and the fear in the air is hitting everyone: legal workers, green card holders and undocumented immigrants. Job applications have dried up. The job market is disappearing because people are afraid,” he said. Businesses in immigrant-dependent communities have seen a sharp drop in spending, affecting both families and local economies.
Khan noted that many families have cut back on spending, delaying or canceling essential purchases, further depressing the local economy. “I voted for Trump because I believed he would strengthen the economy and help small businesses like mine grow. We expected progress, but instead we are seeing fear, pushback and declining activity. The workers our industries depend on are disappearing, not because they don’t want to work, but because they are afraid,” he said.
Trump’s immigration orders are the subject of multiple lawsuits. Civil rights groups say the expedited removal extension violates due process, while courts have blocked his birthright citizenship order, calling it “patently unconstitutional.” A judge also warned that the administration showed “willful disregard” of an earlier ruling by expelling migrants under a little-used wartime law.
A July report from the American Immigration Council says enforcement has trampled on basic constitutional rights. It highlights ICE practices that critics say undermine protections under the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments, including free speech, protection from unlawful searches, and the right to due process.
*Names changed to ensure confidentiality
