Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly planned to start raids nationwide to enforce deportation orders. This comes about a month after they postponed a similar operation.
Here’s some key details about the status of this controversial undertaking.
1. The Basics
ICE reportedly planned on conducting raids in at least 10 major U.S. cities. This multi-day operation would begin Sunday. They wanted to arrest at least 2,000 people facing deportation orders. This operation was intended as a show of force, in order to deter families from entering the U.S. from the southwestern border, according to sources in a New York Times report.
2. Failed Raids Reportedly Occurred Saturday
ICE agents attempted raids in the Harlem and Sunset Park neighborhoods of New York City on Saturday, according to sources in a Wall Street Journal report. This failed. People at the residences turned officials away for not having warrants. The source in this story is described as a “person familiar with the matter.”
3. …But Not a Lot of Visible Follow Up
There doesn’t seem to be much, if any, reported activity as of Sunday morning, at least in cities like Miami, Florida, Baltimore, Maryland, and elsewhere.
ICE is MIA in MIA this am, Herald reports https://t.co/WacEkmMAHq
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) July 14, 2019
Early Sunday morning, all appeared quiet at federal offices where ICE agents work in downtown Baltimore. https://t.co/CzuttXfoNC
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) July 14, 2019
Advocates across the country — in Chicago, California, and Atlanta — have told me similar. https://t.co/5WbgeVtJtw
— Hamed Aleaziz (@Haleaziz) July 14, 2019
4. Trump Administration Says Operation Has Started
A senior administration said that the deportation raid operation has started, according to CNN.
ICE operation to conduct deportation raids in cities across US has begun, a senior admin official confirms to CNN.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 14, 2019
5. ICE Changed Its Original Plans
A New York Times report on Sunday confirmed that the operation is ongoing, but at a different pace than originally intended:
The plans were changed at the last minute because of news reports that had tipped off immigrant communities about what to expect, according to several current and former Department of Homeland Security officials familiar with the operation. Instead of a larger simultaneous sweep, the authorities made a secondary plan for a smaller and more diffuse scale of arrests rolling out over roughly a week, giving individual ICE field offices discretion to decide when to begin.
Update – July 14, 2019, 4:08 p.m.: Added entry 5.
[Image via John Moore/Getty Images]
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