A fear has descended on migrant communities across America. And your political position dictates how you feel about it. President Trump promised mass deportations of people with no legal right to be in the US. The vast majority are from South and Central America, on the other side of his “big beautiful wall”, behind which stands Mexico. He’s coming good on that promise. But campaigners say the tactics deployed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to make that happen are morally repugnant. Migrant arrests Migrants have been arrested by ICE officials at schools, hospitals and even churches – places previously thought safe havens from immigration officers. Fear stalks migrant communities now, some choosing only to leave their homes only for essential reasons, and some are even choosing to call time on their American dream and are voluntarily heading home or handing themselves in to the authorities. And plenty of people are pleased about that. Because this was all part of an election promise President Trump campaigned on, a promise millions of people voted for, a promise he is now delivering on. For some this is an emboldening moment. Channel 4 News was invited to patrol Arizona’s vast borderlands with Tim Foley, the leader of Arizona Border Recon. Tim is a military veteran, bedecked in weapons and communications devices, and he’s out in the Sonoran Desert looking for anyone who dares to cross it. Tim says its drug cartel members he’s interested in, and the only people crossing here he claims, are involved in some way with the cartels – even if it’s just paying them to be shepherded across. Tim says: “They call themselves refugees and they’re seeking asylum, but underneath international asylum laws, you don’t go through 14 different countries to go to the country that you really like to be in. You go to the next country and go, I need asylum. So it’s another spin, you know. “So refugee? No.” Migrant communities Arizona is a state infused with the cultures of nations south of the border – it’s hardly surprising for a border state that was at one time part of Mexico. Not so long ago, day workers would cross the border at sunrise, work agricultural jobs, and head home south at dusk. Those days are long gone. Migrant communities north of the border are now terrified – scared into silence. Tatiana is a business owner, but her mother and stepfather live two-and-a-half-thousand miles away in New York. Seeing them is tough – her stepfather doesn’t have papers to live in the US and is scared of any interaction with law enforcement. She says: “He came here when he was 16 years old. Now he’s 65 years old, he doesn’t know his country. His family don’t know him because they don’t have documents to come here. The last time he saw his family, I think, 25 years ago.” So he goes to work, comes home…and that’s the entirety of his life right now for fear of being noticed and getting on the radar of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers. ICE raids Social media is awash with images of ICE raids, and it is having an effect. “Well, ever since Trump came into office, (it) basically shut down the border,” said Detective Shawn Wilson of Pinal County Sheriff’s Department. “It [people trafficking] has probably dropped by 90%.” Daily arrests along the Arizona highways up from the border have slowed from a couple a day, to a few a week. Detective Wilson continued: “At the height of human smuggling, when the border was real active you could get three or four human smuggling loads a day. They’d have up to 15 people in a car, just trying to cram them in. “Now? I mean you might see we might get one or two loads a week at the most, maybe maybe every two weeks. It’s pretty slow.” To Trump supporters that’s vindication. To thousands of undocumented migrants, it may well be the end of their American dream. —– Correspondent: Paul McNamara Director/DOP: Michael Downey Producer: Jeff Neumann and Vik Patel Editors: Ricardo Marcelino, Alex Micklewright and Sophie Larkin-Tanner Watch more here: Could Trump’s executive orders totally change America? LA residents living in fear over Trump’s immigration crackdown Protestors flood LA streets as ICE raids ramp up