A local immigration attorney says his clients are living in fear about possible deportations.

"They're hiding under their beds, trembling at night. They're having nightmares," says Stamford immigration attorney Phil Berns.

Berns says his clients are afraid Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will take them away. This comes amid reports of an increased presence of ICE agents in Connecticut over the weekend.

"I think it's going to be worse than people expect. I think we're going to see some really, as we did 20 years ago, some really bad violations of people's rights. Treating people with extreme indignity," says Berns.

A senior Trump administration official says immigration authorities made close to 1,200 arrests in just one day across the country, and nearly half of those detained don't have criminal records.

Berns says you should know your rights. If ICE approaches you or your home, you have the right to remain silent and refuse to sign anything without speaking to a lawyer. ICE cannot enter your home without a valid warrant signed by a judge.

"If the immigration service doesn't know what country you're from, it's impossible to deport you," says Berns.

Statistically, Berns says 200,000 immigrants have been deported from the U.S. per year. He says it would take 55 years or more to deport the last of the 11-14 million immigrants who are here.

"There's a very good chance it's going to lose steam after six months, a year or two years," says Berns.

Berns says being undocumented is not considered a crime, but instead a civil offense. However, it's considered a crime when an undocumented immigrant who was previously deported re-enters the U.S. without permission.

Berns says Obama deported more immigrants than any other U.S. president to this point .