Shawn Neudauer, an ICE spokesman, confirmed the new policies are based on the Homeland Security directives and a Trump executive order. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told CNN deportations are aimed at people who pose a public safety threat, but U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Fox News anyone here illegally is subject to deportation, and he didn’t exclude those covered by DACA.

What’s happening in Des Moines is probably a microcosm of what is happening in cities and towns across America. One of the sad paradoxes for the small, independent businesses built to serve Latino communities is customers who fear deportation avoid those places the most, thinking they would be magnets for ICE agents, said Mayorga, Los Laureles’ owner. Marquis of La Tapatia said fearful shoppers prefer shopping at night at chain stores where they won’t be as visible as a group.

He believes some fears are overblown, touched off by rumors of ICE stings that spread on social media.

But Wil Melgar, the editor of Conexion Latina, billed as Iowa’s largest Latino newspaper, says enforcement activities have stepped up locally since January. “Before, it would happen, but people wouldn’t pay attention because they were just targeting people with felonies,” he said. “Now they’re taking anyone without papers, whether they have a criminal record or not.”

Melgar heard of a raid on a local Mexican restaurant in which four employees were arrested but one was released and posted about it on Facebook. He said agents also seem to be targeting particular people, perhaps after getting tips. But he has heard once there, the agents have asked for other employees’ papers and taken away those who couldn’t produce them.

Mayorga said she saw a raid at a gas station and stories abound of other ICE sightings. The fears have prompted some undocumented Latinos to go to lawyers to give power of attorney to other people to safeguard their children and possessions in case they get deported, Melgar said.

These detentions are never going to return all 11 million undocumented immigrants to their homelands. Too many employers, landlords, businesses, communities and schools depend on their presence. But the federal government can cause a lot of fear and hardship in the meantime, as large Obama-era deportations showed. We need comprehensive immigration reform.