In shift, U.S. vows to more aggressively deport migrant families

The Trump administration will step up efforts to deport families of unauthorized migrants in the United States, the new leader of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Tuesday, in an aggressive step to discourage illegal immigration at the southwestern border.

Mark Morgan, who took over last week as the acting director of ICE, stopped short of setting a timeline for deploying agents to arrest thousands of migrant families. But he said deporting them was necessary to deter a record-high number of Central American migrants from approaching the border.

The new focus will apply to migrants who have missed a court hearing or otherwise received deportation orders.

“We will be going after individuals who have gone through due process, who have received final orders of deportation. That will include families,” Morgan said in a briefing with reporters. “Right now we’re talking about that and what it should look like.”

Morgan was installed at ICE after President Donald Trump in April pulled the nomination of the former acting director, Ron Vitiello, saying he wanted to go in a “tougher direction.” Vitiello had resisted White House pressure to raid migrant families’ homes and neighborhoods, in part, because of the bad optics of targeting children.

On Tuesday, Morgan said an operation that had targeted migrant families during the Obama administration led to a decline in immigration at the southwestern border.