Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has planned a major operation to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country, this time targeting "family units". It was set to begin on Sunday, June 23rd, but has since been postponed by President Trump.
The term "family unit" is used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify cases involving illegal immigrants and their children. Such cases are tracked by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and are monitored as they progress through the immigration court system.
A week before the operations were to begin, President Trump tweeted that "ICE will begin the process of removing millions of illegal aliens". The operation was revealed soon after as a large-scale effort by ICE to round-up illegal family units with final deportation orders or that had missed their court date. It targets ten major U.S. cities -- Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, and San Francisco.
According to numbers released by EOIR, Houston and Miami top the list for number of removals from September 2018 through June 2019. Both are at well over 2,000 removals. San Francisco and Baltimore are at the bottom of the list, with 314 and 402 removals respectively. The newly-appointed ICE director stated that the goal of the operation is to lower the number of illegal immigrants by discouraging future attempts to enter the country.
The president delayed the operation a day before it was slated to begin, stating that he will give 2 weeks for Democrats and Republicans to find a solution to asylum problems at the Southern border. The family operation is part of a continued effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration. With the 2020 election in sight, it is no coincidence that this incident coincided with the beginning of Trump's re-election campaign.
It is unlikely that the partisan U.S. Congress can actually come up with something quickly within a couple of weeks. After all, the debates about asylum and immigrant reforms have been going on for many years. At the same time, it is not also not possible for ICE to deport "millions" even if the President wants to. The agency simply does not have the manpower and resources to handle such an operation, given other more pressing priorities such as removal of criminal and terrorist aliens. What is clear is that, these threats of massive raids and arrests of family units have already caused tremendous fears and anxiety in the immigrant communities.
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