Convicted green card holders may be targeted by ICE under executive order

Immigration agents in Dallas have been ordered to make finding green card holders convicted of crimes their top priority. The order came on the heels of President Trump's immigration crack down.

But is it happening in Michigan? As confusion lingers over the executive order and what will be enforced, we went to rights leaders in the area to find out.

"It applies basically to all individuals that are criminals, green card holders, documented and undocumented aliens," Arab-American Civil Rights League Attorney Nabih Ayad said.

One of the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in the past week could now be targeting legal immigrants who have committed crimes that include domestic violence, unlawful carrying of a weapon, multiple thefts, or possession of a controlled substance could face deportation.

The problem is that what is being enforced is not exactly clear.

"This new executive order comes from Donald Trump is quite confusing as well as the rest of the executive orders that have been established in the last week or so," Ayad said.

A spokesperson for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Detroit would not answer any of our questions. Our phone calls and emails to Washington D.C. have also not been returned.

Ayad says the ICE agents in the field are only taking marching orders and that this is an 'abuse of discretion'.

"It allows federal agents to take on matters that we have a Criminal Justice system to do. It takes those who are most vulnerable in the community to go once again after them," Ayad said.

Even if a convicted green card holder served time for a crime they were convicted of and completed parole, they could still face deportation. Given the diversity of residents in Metro Detroit, there is a great concern of the impact this could have.

"This is going to cause some great chaos, great anxiety in the community, especially when they go about it in that particular fashion," Ayad said. But he's confident that legal action is in the future. "It's unfair. It's unconstitutional. I believe once a lawsuit has been filed and challenged, it will be struck down as unconstitutional."