ICE Immigration Raids Set to Begin this Sunday in Ten Major Cities
The U
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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids are once again set to begin on Sunday after Trump postponed the original June 23 raids, the New York Times reports.
It’s being reported that ICE agents will go after at least 2,000 immigrants who were set to be deported and many who failed to appear in court. The main cities that were previously set to be included in the raid are Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco. But a source told NBC News that two of those cities may change.
“They’re absolutely going to happen. There are approximately a million people in this country with removal orders. And of course, that isn’t what ICE will go after in this, but that’s the pool of people who have been all the way through the due process chain,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acting director Ken Cuccinelli told reporters at the White House.
The New York Times reports that there will be “collateral” deportations where immigrants who were on the scene by chance might be detained despite not being targets of the raid. Family members who are arrested together will be held in family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania but most families will likely stay in hotel rooms.
The Times also reports that agents have been apprehensive about arresting babies and young children and that they also note that the operation is less effective since the word is out and advocacy groups are informing immigrants about their rights.
As the threat of ICE raids brings fear to our communities, it is important that you know your rights. Please share widely. #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/wAY84161Ra
— UnidosUS (@WeAreUnidosUS) July 11, 2019
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has posted helpful tips on how to handle ICE noting agents don’t have the right to search you or your belongings without your consent or probable cause and can’t enter a home without a judicial search or arrest warrant.
RAICES, a nonprofit agency that’s the largest immigration legal services provider in Texas, created a letter template to assist people in writing a letter to Congress to stop the raids. People can send the letter directly from their website to their state representative or senator.
Immigration defense lawyers are also likely to file motions to reopen the families’ immigration cases, which would delay, if not stop altogether, their deportation, according to the Times. After news of the ICE raids came out, the American Immigration Council tweeted that they’re training immigration lawyers to ensure immigrants are represented fairly in court.
According to The New York Times, there has been a decline in immigrants crossing the border since May, when 144,200 migrants were taken into custody at the southwestern border.
