Last week, officials from ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants in states across the southern U.S and New York. They detained immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries, the majority of whom were criminals responsible for crimes such as domestic violence and even murder.

Now fear is sweeping among other undocumented people, even those who have no criminal records. Parents are keeping their children home from school. They avoid favorite coffee shops and restaurants, and have even gone dark on Facebook. Terror grew even greater after this Arizona mother was deported to Mexico on Thursday:

A television station in Austin, Texas, broadcast advice for undocumented parents on what to do about their school-aged American-born children should their worst fears happen.

The blame for their woes is, of course, falling on President Trump. “This is clearly the first wave of attacks under the Trump administration, and we know this isn’t going to be the only one,” said the director of an organization for immigrant youths. A video began circulating on social media purportedly showing ICE agents making mass arrests in an Austin shopping mall parking lot. Unconfirmed reports of raids at Austin taco stands were being spread. An Atlanta immigration lawyer said she had heard rumors of ICE agents going door-to-door in Hispanic neighborhoods.

And, of course, protests have been breaking out.

The truth, however, may not be as dire as activists and rumors would depict. David Marin, an ICE official in Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times, “The rash of these recent reports about ICE checkpoints and random sweeps and the like, it’s all false, and that’s definitely dangerous and irresponsible. Reports like that create panic, and they put communities and law enforcement personnel in unnecessary danger.”

Furthermore, says Marin, the California raids were planned long before Trump took office, and were similar to those carried out last summer. Who was president then? Yep. Barack Obama.

The question remains of what should be done about those illegal immigrants who, other than entering the country illegally (which carries a fairly light fine of between $50 and $250 for a first offense), have lived in the U.S. without committing any other crimes. If more people are deported by ICE, other illegals may see this as a portent of things to come, and self-deport. Punishment of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers could help deter illegals from entering the country, as well as denial of federal funds to sanctuary cities.

For those who have been illegally living in the country since early childhood, and who may have married and are now raising American-born children, the prospects are truly ominous. We’re a nation of compassion — do we extend mercy or harsh justice? I’d like to think that they could be extended some sort of options. But if we are too forgiving, how is that fair to immigrants who have arrived here legally, paying the costs and enduring the long wait to finally be admitted into the U.S.?

This is a tough situation for the U.S. to face, and blame for the distress caused by this massive problem shouldn’t be laid at the feet of President Trump. Assign it to those presidents, congressmen, and other governmental authorities who willfully turned a blind eye to our Swiss cheese southern border and gave winking approval to cheap illegal labor. In the meantime, we need to realize that while we will never be able to deport all illegal immigrants, these ICE arrests are like taking bitter medicine — it’s not pleasant, but necessary if we’re going to begin to correct our enormous immigration dilemma.