A nationwide immigration operation on Sunday resulted in the arrest of 956 people, marking the highest number since Donald Trump returned to power, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The operation involved several federal agencies with expanded detention powers, executing raids in cities such as Chicago, Newark, New Jersey, and Miami.
Trump, who came to power after making mass deportations of undocumented immigrants a central campaign promise, has since overseen significant changes to the US immigration system. His predecessor, Joe Biden, carried out an average of 311 immigration deportations daily, primarily targeting individuals who had committed crimes.
Since taking office, Trump has issued 21 executive actions aimed at overhauling the immigration system.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, was present in Chicago to oversee the operation, but his federal enforcement has drawn criticism from Democratic leaders. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged the ICE enforcement activity, clarifying that Chicago police were not involved, and reminded residents to “know their rights.”
In Miami, federal law enforcement agencies carried out multiple “immigration enforcement actions,” as confirmed by the city’s Homeland Security Investigation on social media. This included ICE’s local office in Miami detaining undocumented migrants for various offences.
An unnamed man spoke with CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, about his wife being detained during the Miami raids. “It’s despicable what they’re doing right now,” he said. “It’s very embarrassing.”
He explained that his wife was in the process of gaining citizenship when ICE arrived: “They just came and they snatched her.”
Last week, Newark Mayor, Ras Baraka claimed that undocumented residents, including one military veteran, were detained without a warrant during an ICE raid of a local business. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” Baraka stated.
Immigration advocates have warned that during ICE raids, even citizens could be caught in the crossfire. Homan, however, has consistently argued that undocumented individuals involved in criminal activity will be deported as well.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Homan stated he expected arrest and deportation numbers to “steadily increase,” emphasizing that the current focus was on addressing “public safety threats, national security threats.”
The 956 arrests on Sunday followed 286 arrests on Saturday, 593 on Friday, and 538 on Thursday.
During Joe Biden’s four years in office, 1.5 million deportations were carried out, according to figures from the Migration Policy Institute, closely mirroring the deportation numbers during Trump’s first term.
(BBC)
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