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Officials in the Donald Trump administration have ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to make at least 1,200 to 1,500 arrests a day in the country for deportation purposes, because, for the president, the results have not been as expected.
This was reported by the newspaper Washington Post, which states that “the president has been disappointed with the results of his mass deportation campaign so far, according to four people with knowledge of the briefings.”
The four people, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the “quota” of arrests to be filled was ordered during a call with top ICE officials on Saturday, telling them that each field agent must make 75 arrests a day.
He also explained that the superiors of these agents will be held responsible if their subordinates do not achieve this goal.
Such demands are likely to lead officers to engage in indiscriminate arrest practices and even violate civil and human rights in order to meet quotas.
This weekend, President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, and Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove were in Chicago for the start of accelerated immigration enforcement operations in the city.
Homan defended the mass arrests.
“That’s what President Trump has been saying since day one,” Homan said in a one-on-one interview with NBC News on Sunday. “We’re going to focus on public safety threats first, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
It should be noted that these arrests in Chicago were joined by various federal agencies.
“There are a lot of targets, a lot of teams looking,” Homan said. “I can tell you that the last time I looked at the board, I think we have six people who are serious sex offenders, we have at least two or three TDA gang members, two other gangs that were convicted of murder, manslaughter, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, some bad guys.”
The official said that, although they are targeting immigrants on criminal charges, there are “collateral arrests.” Federal forces and immigration authorities have focused on so-called “sanctuary cities” such as Chicago and Los Angeles, among others.
“In a sanctuary city, if we can’t put the bad guys in jail, we’ll go into the community looking for them, and when we find them, if they’re with others who are here illegally, they’ll go too,” he said.
According to ICE, 956 arrests were made and 554 people were brought before authorities on Sunday, January 26.
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