Trump: ICE set to remove millions of illegal immigrants

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday on Twitter that U.S. authorities would begin next week removing millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” Trump tweeted, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. “They will be removed as fast as they come in,” he said. He did not offer specifics.

Under a deal reached earlier this month, Mexico has agreed to take Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the United States until their cases are heard in U.S. courts.

The agreement, which included Mexico pledging to deploy National Guard troops to stop Central American immigrants from reaching the U.S. border, averted a Trump threat to hit Mexican imports with tariffs.

Trump also said in the tweet that Guatemala “is getting ready to sign a Safe-third Agreement.”

Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary said Monday the government will not tolerate human trafficking and provided new details of the weekend “rescue” of nearly 800 migrants packed into semi-trailers.

Marcelo Ebrard said more than 150 of those migrants were children and said he considers it a rescue because the people were stuffed into the trucks and could have suffocated.

Ebrard said Monday that each of the migrants had paid $3,500 in their countries of origin to be smuggled to the United States. Some who paid $5,000 were entitled to a second attempt if the first failed.

He said their payments were made in their home countries or in the United States but as they passed through Mexico they also were going to pay “commissions” to ensure their free passage.