The Trump administration’s campaign to increase deportations took a significant step forward in Los Angeles this past Shabbos, with early-morning raids as part of a West Coast operation that is set to run daily throughout the week, the NY Post reports.
While the operation unfolded, immigration agents intentionally steered clear of areas in the city that were severely impacted by the ongoing wildfires in Southern California.
This move was a part of a broader initiative targeting large urban centers across the United States, in line with President Trump’s promises during his campaign. The focus has particularly been on deporting individuals with criminal backgrounds, according to various sources.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, alongside other federal agencies participating in the raids, are expected to work significant overtime hours to accelerate the process of detaining and deporting individuals.
Details regarding the Los Angeles raids remained limited as of Saturday afternoon, though sources confirmed that individuals taken into custody were being held at ICE detention facilities in California as they await deportation proceedings.
Authorities anticipate that the detention centers will reach full capacity swiftly, with the federal government already scouting additional locations to house detained migrants.
In another part of the country, ICE agents were seen in West New York, New Jersey, where they apprehended an unidentified Hispanic man and placed him in a van without further inquiry, as reported by the Hudson Post.
Trump’s executive orders have substantially loosened the limitations on how immigration officers can carry out deportation raids, including lifting bans on conducting searches in courthouses, churches, and other locations historically viewed as “sensitive” where undocumented migrants have sought refuge from federal authorities.
The White House has enlisted military aircraft for daily use, assisting in what Trump and “border czar” Tom Homan have pledged will be the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, according to ABC News.
On Friday, ICE reported arresting 593 individuals who were in the U.S. illegally and issuing 449 “detainer” requests to local authorities, asking them to hand over those specifically targeted for deportation.
As of 4 p.m. Saturday, it remained unclear how many additional arrests had been made that day, although ICE did release the names of individuals arrested in earlier days. These included Jose Roberto Rodriguez-Urbina, an alleged MS-13 gang member apprehended by the New York field office and wanted in El Salvador on extortion charges, and Adam Pablo-Ramirez, a Mexican national with two previous drunk-driving arrests who was arrested in Chicago.
Since Trump took office, federal immigration agents have been making daily arrests of migrant criminals, including numerous individuals with criminal records.
Among those arrested were pedophiles, drug traffickers, gang members, and a suspected terrorist in New York.
In an unrelated incident, Chicago Public Schools apologized on Friday for erroneously claiming that ICE agents had entered an elementary school on the city’s Southwest Side. In fact, the agents who entered Hamline Elementary School were from the U.S. Secret Service and were investigating a threat related to one of their protected individuals, in connection with the recent TikTok ban, NBC News reported.
{Matzav.com}