The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be raiding cities all across the country on Sunday.
The raids, called the “family op,” will target around 2,000 families in as many as 10 U.S. cities, including Houston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and other major immigration destinations, according to The Washington Post.
President Donald Trump gave the orders to target families that have received deportation orders. The operation is likely to begin in the predawn and take place over several days. Hotel rooms will be used to detain parents and children until all family members are together and ready for deportation.
In direct defiance of what Trump says should be done, DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan suggested that ICE should do a narrower, more targeted operation. McAleenan recommended detaining a group of about 150 families that were provided with attorneys but dropped out of the legal process.
He warned that massive, indiscriminate raids will separate families — again.
According to the Post, McAleenan said that “an indiscriminate operation” to arrest migrants at home and at work could end up separating the children from the parents when the kids are enjoying the summer at camp or daycare. He also said that it didn’t look good that Trump wants to spend all of these resources on flashy raids away from the so-called “border crisis.”
Officials also acknowledged that they might arrest people they cannot even deport, which is known as “collateral arrests.”
Both the Los Angeles Police Department and New York Attorney General Letitia James have said they do not support and will not help the federal government in their raids.
“This is an immoral and unconscionable act by a president and an administration hellbent on dividing our country, and, as New York’s top law enforcement officer, I can assure New Yorkers we will do everything in our power to fight back against these inhumane policies,” James said in a statement.
