Virgilio Lorenzo Jr

Trump eyes daily quotas of 1,500 ICE arrests; border czar defends church raids

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1737931809007New Project.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">This October 4, 2023 photo from the US Immigration And Customs Enforcement Facebook page shows a &quot;Guatemalan national convicted of sex crimes against Maryland minor arrested by Enforcement &amp; Removal Operations Baltimore.&quot; Immigration And Customs Enforcement Facebook page</span></span></span></div><p>WASHINGTON - Donald Trump&#x27;s border czar on Sunday defended raiding churches and schools as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration, while six federal agencies launched a sweep aimed at &quot;potentially dangerous criminal aliens&quot; in Chicago.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/24/trump-s-deportation-operation-underway-hundreds-of-migrants-arrested-white-house-1827">Trump&#x27;s deportation operation underway, hundreds of migrants arrested: White House</a></div><p>Trump began his second term last Monday with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling US immigration.</p><p>His administration quickly moved to ramp up deportations, including by relaxing rules governing enforcement actions at &quot;sensitive&quot; locations such as schools, churches and workplaces.</p><p>Asked about the rule change, Tom Homan, who was tapped to oversee Trump&#x27;s hard-line immigration agenda, said Sunday it sends a clear message.</p><p>&quot;There&#x27;s consequences of entering the country illegally. If we don&#x27;t show there&#x27;s consequences, you&#x27;re never going to fix the border problem,&quot; Homan, who is also the former head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told ABC News&#x27;s &quot;This Week&quot; program.</p><p>But Trump has been unhappy with the numbers of arrests so far and has directed federal immigration officials to meet higher detention quotas, the Washington Post reported Sunday.</p><p>It said he was ordering ICE to raise the numbers of arrests from a few hundred a day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, citing people with knowledge of internal briefings.</p><p>ICE reported making a total of 593 arrests on Friday and 286 arrests on Saturday. In the 2024 federal fiscal year, it averaged around 310 per day, according to agency data.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/23/ph-embassy-puts-up-hotlines-for-filipinos-amid-trump-s-immigration-crackdown-1557">PH Embassy puts up hotlines amid Trump&#x27;s immigration crackdown</a></div><div><strong></strong><strong>- &#x27;Enhanced targeted operations&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Homan was speaking from Chicago, a Democratic stronghold and a so-called &quot;sanctuary city&quot; for migrants that Homan has viewed as &quot;ground zero&quot; of the deportation push.</p><p>ICE announced Sunday on X that it had joined five other federal agencies in &quot;enhanced targeted operations&quot; in Chicago &quot;to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.&quot;</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1883577941210062880&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-01-26T22%3A35%3A14.060540%3A035f90ae-d878-4841-919f-cd76ca033171%26action%3Dedit%26popup&amp;sessionId=8d929de3a643829e811664597b7fa1f62b588f81&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:729px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1883577941210062880"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>Joining ICE were the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Customs and Border Protection; and the US Marshals Service.</p><p>No details were provided on the extent of the action or how many people were detained.</p><p>Fear of being swept up in the raids kept many Latinos in the region at home, the Chicago Tribune reported.</p><p>Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, told CNN that state officials would assist federal law enforcement agencies in apprehending anyone accused or convicted of violent crimes but would defend &quot;law-abiding&quot; citizens.</p><p>On Thursday, leaders of three Catholic organizations blasted the rule change that allows raids on churches and schools, saying in a joint statement that &quot;turning places of care, healing and solace into places of fear and uncertainty... will not make our communities safer.&quot;</p><p>When pressed on the Catholic opposition, Homan stood firm.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re enforcing laws Congress enacted and the president signed. If they don&#x27;t like it, change the law.&quot;</p><p>Vice President JD Vance, who was also asked about the Catholic pushback in an interview broadcast Sunday, accused one group of being worried about losing funds in the immigration crackdown.</p><p>&quot;I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?&quot; he told CBS&#x27;s &quot;Face the Nation.&quot;</p><p>All eyes during Trump&#x27;s first week in office have been on immigration enforcement and deportations, though it was unclear to what extent actions have increased from predecessor Joe Biden.</p><p>Homan called on Congress to pass additional funding for dealing with those arrested.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re gonna need more ICE beds, a minimum of 100,000,&quot; he told ABC News.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re going to try to be efficient. But with more money we have, the more we can accomplish.&quot;</p><p>des/bbk/bfm</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Donald Trump's border czar on Sunday defended raiding churches and schools as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration, while six federal agencies launched a sweep aimed at "potentially dangerous criminal aliens" in Chicago.</p>

Donald Trump's border czar on Sunday defended raiding churches and schools as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration, while six federal agencies launched a sweep aimed at "potentially dangerous criminal aliens" in Chicago.