Raids to detain and deport immigrants living in the United States without permission are set to begin on the first full day of the new Trump administration, US media reported.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal say the operations, threatened by Donald Trump's “border czar” Tom Homan, could begin in Chicago, a city with a large immigrant population, as early as Tuesday.
Trump said he would oversee the largest deportation program in US history.
In an interview with Fox News this week, Homan promised a “big raid” across the country. He said previously Chicago will be “ground zero” for mass deportations.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deports illegal immigrants all the time. However, the operation, which is expected to begin after Trump's inauguration on Monday, is expected to target so-called “sanctuary” cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Along with Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles are among dozens of American cities that have adopted “sanctuary” policies.
“On January 21, you're going to have a lot of ICE agents searching your city for criminals and gang members,” Homan told a Republican rally in Chicago last month. “Count on it. It will happen.”
New York, Los Angeles, Denver and Miami are also scheduled to be targeted for raids, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plans.
Under Democratic President Joe Biden, ICE generally prioritized detaining illegal immigrants who were serious criminals, had recently crossed the border or posed a threat to national security.
While the Trump team has indicated that it will start with immigrants who have committed crimes, all undocumented immigrants — including those who have lived and worked in the United States for many years and have no criminal history — will likely be arrested and deported.
Immigration raids on construction sites where illegal immigrants often work are also expected to resume, after the Biden administration halted them, according to CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US.
Ahead of the expected hardening of US policy, more migrant farmworkers are seeking advice on dealing with immigration officials and appointing temporary guardians for their children.
“The administration has not been sworn in yet, but people are already afraid,” Sarit Martinez, executive director of the Center Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño, which supports Mexican farmworkers in California, told Reuters news agency.
In addition to pledging to deport millions of illegal immigrants and threatening to raid the workplaces of some Reports suggest Trump could also get rid of a long-standing policy that made churches off-limits to ICE arrests.
However, the upcoming raids are likely to pose major difficulties for officials – with limited detention space to hold detainees.
Meanwhile, US lawmakers are expected next week to approve the Laken-Riley Act — named after a college student who was killed last year in Georgia by a Venezuelan man who had previously been arrested for shoplifting.
The proposed legislation would require the federal government to detain immigrants who are living in the United States illegally and who are suspected of criminal activity — even if they have not been charged with a crime.
