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Venessa Marroquin of Lafayette left her 3-year-old daughter with family on March 28 and drove to New Orleans for what she thought would be a routine check-in with officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office there. Instead, she was arrested and transferred to a detention facility in another state. 

Marroquin was held in a Hancock, Mississippi, jail for three days, then moved to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, said Terry Lavergne, a friend, sponsor and godfather to her daughter.

"You can imagine what a 3-year-old is going through," Lavergne said. "She put her head on my shoulder and cried."

Marroquin, her husband and other family members don't have visas or other legal status to be in the United States, said Lavergne, a Donald Trump supporter who said he doesn't blame the president for Marroquin's detention. The family doesn't cause any trouble, he said. They don't even break the rules in the mobile home park where they live.

Around five years ago the family left El Salvador after a brother was killed and a sister was threatened if she called the police, Lavergne said. Scared for their lives, he said, they walked into the United States from Mexico and came to Lafayette because a relative was here.

"They are scared and getting more scared," Lavergne said of the family.

Orders of supervision

There are tens of thousands of immigrants like Marroquin, who are allowed to remain in the United States, sometimes for decades, even though their asylum applications have been denied, their case is pending appeal or they're working through the legal process for asylum.

ICE releases such individuals under orders of supervision, which allows the government to monitor and track them. ICE considers these orders to be humanitarian in nature, according to immigration advocates, as they are often granted to individuals who have children to care for, or who have medical needs that make it difficult for them to be held in detention.

The orders of supervision are revocable, which means the government can choose to terminate them and detain the undocumented person at any time. However, as long as the individual hasn't violated any regulations or committed any crimes, they have typically been allowed to remain free.

That is changing, immigration experts said.

'Low-hanging fruit'

Under previous administrations, immigration officials were instructed to prioritize detaining and expelling people who posed threats to public safety or had criminal records.

However, one of Trump’s first actions after he was sworn in for his second term was to broaden ICE’s mandate — now all immigrants without legal status are prioritized for arrest, including those who have been checking in and cooperating with authorities, immigration attorneys said.

ICE agents are facing quotas, according to . Each field office is expected to arrest 75 immigrants daily. Lafayette is part of the New Orleans field office that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Because of the quotas, some of those being arrested and detained are those who have been living under orders of supervision, Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said Monday.

"Numerous people have lived in this country for years and decades by following through on their orders of supervision," Ahmed said. "When this administration came into power and was wondering how to meet quotas, they started identifying people with orders of supervision."

These are, generally speaking, people who have followed all of ICE's rules and checked in when ordered to do so, she said.

It's easier and takes fewer resources to detain people like Marroquin, who follow the rules and show up for appointments with ICE, than to find those who don't report or are undocumented and have no record with ICE, Ahmed said.

"I think ICE considers them to be low-hanging fruit," Jeff Migliozzi, communications director for Freedom for Immigrants, said on Tuesday. "It's a way for them to pretty easily and quickly juice up their arrest numbers."

During the campaign Trump said ICE would target violent criminals. But agents are going after anyone who is not a citizen, he said, "People with jobs, businesses, supporting their families, doing everything they're supposed to do."

The ICE field office in New Orleans declined to comment on quotas or Marroquin's case.

Following the rules

There are Americans who believe anyone crossing the border into the United States is here illegally and should be deported. However, it is legal, Migliozzi said, to come to the U.S., including walking across the border, to seek asylum. When immigrants turn themselves in or seek asylum they are following the rules, he said.

From a legal perspective, immigration is supposed to be a civil process, not a punishment,  Homero Lopez, director and managing attorney of Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy in New Orleans, said on Monday. Detention, he said, is supposed to be for those deemed a danger to the community or a flight risk and even then, bond may be set.

The 73-year-old grandfather detained by ICE in Lafayette on April 1, he said, is probably not a flight risk.

He was referring to Jose Francisco Garcia Rodriguez who was driving to work last week when ICE agents pulled him over and arrested him. A Cuban refugee who is the primary caregiver to his wife suffering dementia, Rodriguez was held in the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Evangeline Parish for a week and was released Monday. His step-son said he has an appointment with ICE agents.

Meanwhile, attorneys are hard-pressed to counsel immigrants who are living under orders of supervision. 

They can't advise clients to skip check-ins because doing so would mean violating immigration regulations. And because the immigrants have been complying with ICE requirements, the agency is well-informed of their activities and home and work addresses.

Also, because they've been allowed to stay for so long, Ahmed said, many interpret it as having some form of permanent status.

"It's jarring when you've been living in this country and have a family and your order of supervision is revoked," she said.