ICE launches raids but so far, only few arrests reported
Coordinated federal raids targeting parents and their children who are in the United States illegally began over the weekend, part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to swiftly enforce deportation orders against thousands of recently arrived migrants who are not eligible to remain in the country.
Only a handful of arrests appeared to take place, and they were reported in only a few cities. That was much different from the nationwide show of force that had origi- nally been planned, in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were expected to fan out in uni- son Sunday morning across immigrant communities in major cities. But authorities said more arrests would follow through the week.
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, authorities made a secondary plan for a smaller and more diffuse scale of arrests roll- ing out over roughly a week, giving individual ICE field offices discretion to decide when to begin.
The first reports came in Friday and Saturday. In Chi- cago, a mother was arrested with her daughters, but that family was immediately released under an agree- ment to be closely super- vised, according to a person familiar with the operation.
In New York, two “ICE enforcement attempts” were reported Saturday in Brooklyn, with a third incident in Harlem, according to the New York Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs. “No arrests were made to our knowledge,” the office said.
An additional operation was reported in Florida.
Immigration authorities planned to continue making arrests throughout the week. They identified at least 2,000 targets, but may ultimately arrest far fewer. In most such operations in the past, only 20% to 30% of the targets were apprehended.
Because agents cannot legally use force to enter the homes of their targets, they rely on the element of surprise, suggesting that the current, highly publicized operation could yield an even smaller proportion of arrests.
The operation is one of the first to target not just adults in the country illegally but also parents and children who are part of the recent wave of migrant families from Central America and elsewhere many of them seeking asylum from violence in their home countries.