Chicago President Donald Trump has referred to Sunday’s immigration enforcement operations in several cities as the start of a new era of mass deportations that will mainly target migrants with criminal histories, but there are still worries that those without criminal histories will also be swept up.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told NBC News on Sunday that a number of individuals convicted of heinous crimes, such as sex crimes and murder, have been arrested. He also stated that there will be collateral arrests and detentions of others present during the raids who had no criminal convictions.
Keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities is one way that Immigration and Customs Enforcement hopes to “enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security,” according to a statement released on Sunday.
Later, the agency reported that ICE made 956 arrests on Sunday, the most in a single day during the Trump administration. At least 2,681 arrests have been made by ICE since Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The number of those apprehended with criminal convictions or backgrounds was unknown.
Six persons convicted of serious sexual offenses, several gang members, and two more with prior convictions for murder and aggravated sexual battery were among those arrested in Chicago on Sunday, according to Homan.
He also went into detail about the potential for operations in places like churches and schools after Trump reversed earlier, long-standing directives that had classified them as sensitive sites. According to Homan, decisions on entering those areas would be decided on an individual basis.
Homan, who was in Chicago for the enforcement operations, stated that we must prioritize the protection of the United States.
Four sources with information told the Washington Post on Sunday that Trump officials had ordered ICE officers to make 1,200 to 1,500 arrests each day instead of only a few hundred.
Homan told NBC News that the objective is to apprehend as many offenders as possible when asked about the reports.
He said, “I don’t have a quota.” I told them to make as many arrests as they could.
Stay tuned for real-time updates.
In a post on X, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that the enforcement action did not involve Chicago police.
Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois has conflicting opinions on the enforcement measures. Pritzker stated on CNN on Sunday that while he opposes targeting law-abiding citizens, he is in favor of deporting those found guilty of violent crimes.
He questioned, “Why are we going after them?” “We need to give these individuals a route to citizenship because they are not the ones generating issues in our nation.
Our border must be secured. He went on to say, “We must eliminate violent criminals, but we also need to protect people, at least the people in Illinois and throughout the country, who are merely doing what we hope immigrants will do.”
Social media on Sunday was used by Drug Enforcement Administration offices in various places to claim that the agency assisted in operations that resulted in the unlawful arrest or detention of citizens.
Nearly 50 individuals nationwide were arrested without permission during an operation at a makeshift nightclub in Adams County, Colorado, early Sunday, according to the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division and its federal and local partners.
Many of them were linked to the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua, according to the DEA.
At least 100 law enforcement personnel participated in the early-morning raid, according to an agency official later Sunday, and the operation was authorized by a federal search warrant.
According to the DEA, 41 of the 49 individuals present at the time the warrant was served were discovered to be in the country illegally. Other than stating that the 41 were a mix of men and women and that they were being transported to a local ICE processing facility, the officer did not disclose any other details regarding their statuses.
According to the police, gang members were attempting to distribute counterfeit fentanyl tablets around the Denver metro region, and multiple firearms, cash, and drugs were discovered at the scene.
According to the officer, the Biden administration has been investigating the nightclub since August.
The Los Angeles office of the DEA in California announced on social media that it was helping other federal agencies in the city with more focused targeted operations. Additionally, the San Diego branch of the agency stated that it was supporting immigration enforcement activities.
On social media, the DEA’s Phoenix and Atlanta divisions also announced that they were supporting the efforts of the immigration operation.
In a string of social media posts The White House claimed on Sunday that ICE agents have detained a number of individuals in recent days who were either convicted, accused, or wanted in relation to crimes.
ICE divisions in Washington, California, Louisiana, New York, and other states made the arrests, according to the tweets.