Illegal aliens held
Immigration raids net 680
US IMMIGRATION officers last week arrested more than 680 people in the country illegally, the homeland security chief said yesterday, in a broad enforcement action that alarmed immigrant rights groups.
US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said the operations, conducted in at least a dozen states, were routine and consistent with regular operations carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Immigrant rights advocates said the operations, which they describe as raids, were not business as usual, and were more sweeping than operations conducted during the administration of former Democrat President Barack Obama.
Kelly said 75% of the immigrants arrested had criminal records.
Obama was criticised for being the “deporter in chief” after he deported more than 400 000 people in 2012, more than any president in a single year.
In 2014, Obama’s homeland security chief issued a memo directing agents to focus on deporting a narrow slice of immigrants, namely those who had recently entered the country or committed serious felonies. Immigrants who were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, for example, were treated as lower priorities for deportation.
Republican President Donald Trump promised to deport 2 million to 3 million migrants with criminal records on taking office. He said his administration had “really done a great job” in its recent arrests of immigrants.
“We’re actually taking people that are criminals, very, very, hardened criminals in some cases with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems,” Trump said.
In a January 25 executive order, Trump broadened an Obama-era priority enforcement system for immigrants subject to removal from the US.
“Now it seems like anyone could be arrested,” said ShiuMing Cheer, senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Centre. “The level of fear and anxiety is much higher than I’ve ever seen it.” – Reuters