WASHINGTON:
“My concern is that if I am deported as an illegal immigrant, everything will go back to zero. I will have nothing,” said Mushtaq Ahmad*, 48, a Pakistani national living in upstate New York who applied for asylum earlier this year.
Mushtaq, a former truck driver in the Middle East, now works long shifts at a convenience store outside Albany, shipping 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 brought little change to his family’s life. Coming to the United States was her last attempt to build a stable future, earn enough to educate her six children, and finally give her family the security she could never achieve at home.
Ahmad arrived in the United States in July of last year. He has since received a work permit and a social security number. The documents that allow you to work legally in the United States.
But the promises he had imagined of a life full of opportunity and security have collided with the stark reality of an increasingly hostile immigration climate. “My friends told me that life in the United States is good, fun, with many jobs, money and that everything is easy. So I thought: let’s try it. But now I’m not happy and everyone who came to the United States like me regrets their decision,” he said.
His trip to the United States cost him approximately $16,000 and took him through Europe and Mexico along irregular routes. He estimates the typical cost of such trips is 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 dramatically increasing deportations of undocumented immigrants. The primary order, titled “Protecting the American People from Invasion,” restores and expands expedited deportation policies. Under this rule, immigration officials can deport people without a court hearing if they cannot demonstrate two years of continuous residence in the US, a policy that previously ended under the Biden administration.
When he arrived, Ahmad, a professional tractor-trailer driver, assumed he could 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 takes odd jobs and never ventures far from his residence. “I’m afraid that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) might come after me if I go out,” she said. Their fear is not abstract; It dictates how you navigate public spaces, from grocery stores to streets filled with authorities.
Most of their information comes from WhatsApp groups and social media platforms where snippets of news, rumors and social media posts spread faster than official updates.
According to the Pew Research Center, the population of unauthorized immigrants in the United States reached a record 14 million in 2023, and preliminary figures suggest further growth in 2024 before declining slightly in 2025.
Meanwhile, ICE detention numbers have increased under the Trump administration, reaching 59,762 people nationwide as of September 21, 2025, up from 59,380 just six weeks earlier. For comparison, ICE detentions under the Biden administration averaged between 30,000 and 35,000, while Trump’s first term peaked at around 55,000 in 2019.
“Every day I wake up thinking: Is today 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 he is likely to encounter immigration officials.
Media reports indicate that ICE has occasionally 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 legal system. “ICE raids and deportations are aimed at people without legal status or with criminal records. People like us, with legal status, a solid tax history and clean records, we are not the target,” he 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 widespread 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 constantly anxious. DHS figures released on September 23 report that nearly two million undocumented immigrants have been deported or voluntarily left the country since January 20, 2025.
Tariq Khan*, a 40-year-old Pakistani-American businessman from Virginia, explained how the job market has contracted. “We are in the transportation business and the fear in the air is affecting everyone: legal workers, green card holders and the undocumented. Job applications have dried up. The job market is disappearing because people are afraid,” he said. Businesses in communities that rely on immigrants 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, regression and a decline in activity. The same 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 face multiple lawsuits. Civil rights groups say the expanded expedited removal violates due process, while courts have blocked his birthright citizenship order as “blatantly unconstitutional.” A judge also warned that the government showed “deliberate disregard” of an earlier ruling by deporting immigrants under a law little used in wartime.
A July report from the American Immigration Council contends that law enforcement has trampled basic constitutional rights. It calls out ICE practices that critics say undermine protections contained in the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments, including free speech, protection against unlawful searches, and the right to due process.
*Names changed to ensure privacy.
