US Immigration begins crackdown-including local enforcement

The protest letter specifically refers to raids over the past weekend that led to the arrests of 121 illegal immigrants from Central America, many of them mothers and children who had settled in North Carolina, Texas, and Georgia. “I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed”, Johnson said in a memo Monday, in which he reinforced the department’s new priorities for immigration enforcement.

American officials are keen to avoid a repeat of the surge in unaccompanied children entering the United States in 2014, when tens of thousands of minors traveling without adults flooded across the southern USA border illegally.

“She has given a criticism of the latest round of deportations, but it is comparatively light compared to O’Malley and Sanders, so she could see more demonstrations at her rallies from immigrant rights organizations who believe that she is the worst choice among the three candidates for the Democratic nomination, especially with her ties to the Obama administration, as the title “deporter in chief” will be thrown around more”, Mr. Campbell said.

The focus of the operation, he said, were adults and their children who were apprehended after May 1, 2014 after crossing the southern border illegally, were issued orders of removal by an immigration court and have exhausted “appropriate legal remedies”.

Maria Hernandez and her two sons were asleep early Saturday morning in her parents’ Dallas home when several immigration agents banged on the door.

President Obama sought to prevent the deportation of 5 million illegal immigrants via executive action in November 2014, but was blocked by the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“They told us that in two days they’ll send us to our country”, Hernandez said Monday in a phone interview from the South Texas Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. “And we call upon elected officials, faith leaders and people of good conscious to reflect on our country’s values and provide real assistance to those seeking refuge and to block any local cooperation with ICE”. If I don’t come back, always remember me, ‘ ” Ericka said, her eyes swelling as she glanced over to her brother.

“People should take from this the understanding that the administration is quite serious when it comes to enforcing immigration laws”, Earnest said.

Renteria said after all that happens, that is when the judge makes a final judgement and orders a removal.

Obama administration officials said in late December that they would step up deportations of those who had already been ordered to leave the country. The next time he checked in with ICE, as required, they attached a Global Positioning System device to his ankle to monitor him. The “Know Your Rights” event will inform people about the recent immigration operation.

The Obama administration’s enforcement effort has come under fire from immigration activists who claim the effort is unfair and targets vulnerable Central Americans fleeing their home counties.

ICE also was lenient in a number of cases “for health or other personal reasons”, Johnson said.

“Don’t open the door to strangers who say they’re looking for someone else”, the ministry’s statement said.

“This should come as no surprise”, he said in a news release.

“The mothers we have heard from were victims of fraudulent lawyers, they have legal rights in this country and, by ICE now violating those rights, they have even more legal options available to them”, said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.

“Here, there are no sources of work and we are asking them not to deport people”.

Unzueta said that the raids were “nothing new”, but noted that in recent years ICE had targeted only those with criminal records.

Now, those advocates are claiming that the raids violate federal disability law because numerous immigrants targeted for deportation suffer from mental illness.