The United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants within hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Fox News reports that over 460 illegal immigrants were picked up by ICE from various locations.
“ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested nationals from a slew of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela.” Fox News reported.
The media house further reported that the arrests took place across the U.S. including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland.
The ICE arrests escalated on Thursday when officers from the enforcement agency raided an establishment in Newark. The raid was confirmed by an ICE spokesperson who said that the agency had conducted a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite on Jan. 23 in Newark, New Jersey. New Jersey is reportedly hosting up to 470,000 undocumented immigrants.
Similar raids were also conducted in New York, with ICE saying that as at Thursday, it had made 538 arrests, and detained 373 undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities across the country.
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Earlier in the week, a report that appeared in the New York Times stated Trump’s government has expanded the authority of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers – popularly known as ICE. As a result, ICE officers shall now be required to quickly remove undocumented immigrants from the country, the New York Times report stated.
Under the new policy that is known as expedited removal, ICE will be able to deport unauthorized immigrants without taking them through court proceedings. Previously, illegal immigrants who were picked up in the US were given a notice to appear in immigration court where they could make their case to stay in the country.
