
On his first day in the White House, President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly planning to order a large-scale raid against illegal immigrants in the U.S.
According to the Wall Street Journal, people close to incoming President Trump indicated that a significant operation is planned in Chicago just one day after his inauguration, involving Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The raid is expected to involve 100 to 200 law enforcement officers targeting undocumented immigrants for arrest and deportation.
Tom Homan, appointed by Trump as the "Border Czar" responsible for deporting illegal immigrants, told Fox News "There’s going to be a big raid across the country. Chicago is just one of many places. We’ve got 24 field offices across the country. On Tuesday, ICE is finally going to go out and do their job. We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens, that’s what’s going to happen," he said.
"What we’re telling ICE, you’re going to enforce the immigration law without apology. You’re going to concentrate on the worst first, public safety threats first, but no one is off the table. If they’re in the country illegally, they got a problem," he said.
He also added that Chicago's operation is the first planned raid. "If the Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him,”"
During his campaign, Trump announced his intention to conduct mass deportations of illegal immigrants from U.S. borders, and has recently reiterated that he intends to begin the operation within moments of his inauguration.