The Long-Awaited ICE Raids Are Starting and President Trump Just Confirmed They’re Focused On Criminals.

This is what CBS reported:

As part of a crackdown pushed by President Trump, immigration authorities are slated to carry out a series of roundups targeting undocumented families on Sunday, according to two administration officials. 

The raids — which the president first telegraphed last month only to postpone them — have left undocumented immigrants on edge, fearing they will be deported and separated from their families. As top Democrats urge Mr. Trump to scrap the operation, immigrant advocacy groups have been preparing immigrants who could potentially be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Who will be targeted and why?

Although the president and other officials have claimed that "millions" would be deported, such an operation would be logistically impossible and politically untenable. There are currently approximately 10.5 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. and according to administration officials, about 1 million of them have final removal orders.

But the wave of sweeps that are set to start on Sunday is expected to be limited in scope, targeting about 2,000 people. 

The operation is set to target undocumented families in an expedited docket in the immigration court system. According to ICE, these immigrants were ordered deported by a judge for failing to appear in court, also received notification from the agency. 

ICE says very few of these people responded to the agency's request to arrange their deportation earlier this year. The group in this "rocket" docket is estimated to include about 2,100 people.

But it is highly unlikely that ICE find all of the migrants at the addresses they have on file, especially since the operation has been so publicized. Advocates fear the agency will turn to "collateral arrests," which frequently occur during "targeted" operations. These are apprehensions of people who are undocumented but who are not directly targeted by an ICE operation. They just happened to be in the place where the operation takes place.

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And from Vice:

Undocumented immigrants scheduled for deportation will lock their doors this weekend as federal agents scour some of the largest U.S. cities looking to make arrests. They’ll take sanctuary in churches. They’ll keep their lawyers and advocates close. 

But they’ll be ready. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are expected to swarm nine major cities on Sunday to arrest thousands of undocumented family members in a massive, multi-day raid, according to the New York Times, which spoke to three anonymous officials on the matter. The raids were supposed to start two weeks ago but were postponed after Democrats objected. Raids are typically a surprise, but media attention and the postponement allowed advocates time to prepare. 

The target cities include Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Miami, and San Francisco. New Orleans was initially on the list, but ICE operations there were suspended due to tropical storm Barry. 

While the raids are meant to target 2,000 undocumented immigrants who have already received deportation orders, they’ll also likely result in “collateral” deportations that sweep up not-targeted immigrants who happen to be nearby during arrests. Already, a massive family detention center in Dilley, Texas, has stopped admitting new detainees so it can clear more room for the families immigration officials expect to sweep this weekend. 

But it’s unclear how successful the raids might be in achieving the goal to break up families and send people back to their countries of origin, since President Donald Trump tweeted about the raid weeks ago and gave immigrants and advocates ample time to prepare, change addresses, and read up on their legal rights. (When ICE officials are choosing which immigrants to target, they’ll typically gather data like a person’s last address and place of employment.) Trump criticized the mayor of Oakland, California, for similarly giving immigrants a heads-up ahead of a raid last year.

HEADS UP

“The immigrant community knows that this is coming, and we’re doing everything we can to prepare,” said Omar Angel Perez, the lead organization for the Congregation Action Networkin the D.C. area. 

The ICE raids were scheduled to take place in late June, but Trump postponed them after Democrats expressed outrage. He handed them an ultimatuminstead: reach a Congressional deal on asylum reform and emergency funding for the border, or the raids would be rescheduled. Congress failed to take action within two weeks, and it was widely reported earlier this week that the raids were back on. ICE has repeatedly said it doesn’t comment on the timing or details of planned operations. 

Still, advocacy organizations had time to host know-your-rights trainings, and churches had time to see if their congregants would be willing to take in families hiding from ICE. 

Advocates have also been reminding immigrants that ICE agents aren’t allowed to force their way into a home if they don’t have a warrant signed by a judge.

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