You might not have noticed it, but last week the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States surged by 350,000.

Don’t worry, an army of gangbangers and other criminals didn’t charge the border. Rather, President Donald Trump simply decided to turn 350,000 legal immigrants into illegal ones.

Trump has been fearmongering about an “invasion” of unauthorized immigrants for years. Since retaking the White House, he has attempted to manifest those fever dreams into reality through a “de-documentation” campaign. This is not an immigration agenda that targets criminals; it’s one that criminalizes immigrants who have followed the law, by stripping them of their existing visas and work permits.

The 350,000 people de-documented last week are Venezuelans who had permission to live and work in the United States — subject to screening and other conditions — under a program known as temporary protected status. TPS was created in 1990 to shield immigrants from countries experiencing war or other catastrophes that make it unsafe for them to return home.

Returning to Venezuela is dangerous because it’s ruled by a brutal socialist dictator who has caused widespread hunger and other humanitarian crises. Not long ago, Republican politicians wanted the United States to be a haven for victims of socialism, so they welcomed Venezuelans to our shores. Alas, to Trump, every (non-White) immigrant is a threat. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, called this development “the single largest mass-illegalization event in U.S. history.”

This month, the administration also revoked temporary protected status for more than 9,000 Afghans living in the United States. Many had assisted the U.S. military at great personal risk.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem justified this decision by saying, meh, Afghanistan seems pretty safe now. Her evidence: Afghanistan could soon become a hot vacation destination. “The Taliban government is promoting tourism to shift its global image,” her DHS memo says.

Trump sometimes insists he supports immigration so long as it happens legally. But in fact, he has revoked the legal status of roughly 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came into the United States during the Biden administration with advanced legal permission (and an American sponsor!). This process was designed to encourage immigrants to apply for entry while still abroad, where they would undergo rigorous background checks, instead of showing up at our border unannounced and unscreened.

Indeed, that program successfully reduced pressure on the border. But those immigrants have been de-documented, too.

These patterns are evident from government data collected by Austin Kocher, a professor at Syracuse University: While the number of people with criminal convictions in immigration detention is about 1½ times what it was before Trump took office, the number of detainees with zero criminal convictions or charges has nearly septupled.

The Trump administration claims noncriminal immigrants are getting swept up in their dragnet only incidentally — “collaterals” who happen to be nearby during raids targeting real public-safety threats. This is false. The government is arresting immigrants when they show up for routine immigration check-ins or citizenship interviews.

For years, Trump alleged — without evidence — that nearly all “catch and release” immigrants disappeared into the shadows instead of showing up for required hearings; today, he’s making his fantasy a reality.

“Obviously it will reduce compliance, and they want that outcome because they will use it justify even harsher measures,” said David Bier, an immigration researcher at the Cato Institute.

Some of Trump’s attempts to de-document or illegalize immigrants have been blocked by courts, at least temporarily. For example, well before the recent escalation with Harvard University, administration officials tried to revoke hundreds of student visas nationwide. They then backtracked after some adverse court decisions. Likewise, Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship remains blocked for now, but the purpose is to strip children of their citizenship so they can be deported. Ukrainians fleeing war and young immigrants brought here as children have good reason to fear that they are next, based on past Trump actions.

Trump claims to be cracking down only on illegal immigration. Ironically, given trends so far, he might turn out to be the most pro-illegal immigration president in decades.

Catherine Rampell is an opinion columnist at The Washington Post.