Trump rethinking planned immigration raids: Washington Post

WASHINGTON - US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration is reconsidering plans for immigration raids in Chicago in the coming days after details were leaked, Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan told the Washington Post in an interview on Jan 18.

The new administration “hasn’t made a decision yet,” said Mr Homan, the former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the report. “We’re looking at this leak and will make a decision based on this leak,” he added.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Officials and rights advocates had said Trump’s administration

would launch sweeps in multiple US cities

almost as soon as he takes office on Jan 20, with Chicago considered a likely first location.

Ms Dulce Ortiz, president of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told Reuters that as many as 200 ICE agents were expected to start raids in the Chicago area on Jan 20 at 5am local time, aiming to catch people heading into work or starting their day. The enforcement had been expected to continue for several days, she said.

An ICE spokesperson referred questions to the Trump transition team, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters reported on Jan 17 that agents would also conduct raids in New York and Miami. On the same day, the Wall Street Journal reported that ICE would stage a week-long operation in Chicago with potentially hundreds of agents.

Trump said in an NBC News interview on Jan 18 that launching the mass deportations he promised in his election campaign would be a top priority. But he declined to identify the cities targeted or when deportations would start.

“It will begin very quickly,” he said. “We have to get the criminals out of our country.”

Mr Homan himself had appeared to confirm the raids earlier on Jan 18, telling Fox News that “targeted enforcement operations” would quickly pursue some of what he said were 700,000 migrants who are in the US illegally and under deportation orders. He indicated the efforts would occur in several cities.

“President Trump has been clear from day one... he’s going to secure the border, and he’s going to have the deportation operation,” Mr Homan told Fox News.

He said the agency had carefully planned the operation and identified specific individuals for enforcement.

“Every target for this operation is well-planned, and the whole team will be out there for officers’ safety reasons,” he said.

Asked how the detention operations would be received in so-called sanctuary cities, which have pledged not to use city resources for federal immigration raids, Mr Homan said sanctuary city policies were “unfortunate”.

In the case of targeted individuals who are already in local jails, he said the cities’ stance creates a threat to public safety. Cities would “release that public safety threat back into the community... and force (ICE) officers into communities,” he said.

He urged public officials of those cities to assist in the deportation raids, but added: “We’re going to do this, with or without their help. They are not going to stop us.” REUTERS