The Trump administration is planning a large-scale deportation operation that would include migrant families who did not show up in court to learn their asylum claims had been denied and they had been ordered deported.
Mark Morgan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Tuesday told reporters the agency is moving forward on a strategy it hopes will “disincentive” those who are not in fear for their lives and might claim asylum after illegally crossing in order to get into the U.S. and avoid immediate deportation.
“We have no choice as I see this,” said Morgan. “We need to take some interior enforcement action … We need to continue to do everything that we can within the current legal framework, within the current laws, within the current statutorily mandated duties of ICE, to assist, to reduce this humanitarian crisis,” Morgan told a small group of reporters at a round table briefing at the agency’s headquarters Tuesday. “That will include families.”
Morgan said he did not want to say ICE was going to “target” families, but added no type of unauthorized immigrant would be “exempt” from any such operation.
“I think that a significant incentive there is the fact that once you’re here and you’ve gone through the entire due process in this country and you’ve received a final order of deportation … We’re in a position where we need to enforce that to disincentivize these individuals from taking that trip, exploiting the loopholes, and entering our country illegally,” he said.
Morgan would not share details of the plan, including when it would start or which parts of the country might be affected.
Nathalie Asher, who oversees ICE’s deportations arm, said a similar type of nationwide operation was carried out in 2015 against people with final orders of removal.
“When we were able to affect those removals, we did see a consequence to that,” said Asher.
Morgan insisted the agency was acting within its legal limitations with the 2019 plan though immigrant advocates and Democrats likely will not support it.
“We need to make sure that we’re executing those statutorily required responsibilities that Congress has passed,” said Morgan. “If they don’t like the laws, they can change them. But right now this is the law, this is ICE’s mandate. I’m committed to ensure that we’re executing those laws with compassion and humanity.”
To date, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations arm has deported 66,000 people in fiscal 2019, which started last October and runs through September.
Morgan, who served as U.S. Border Patrol chief for three months at the conclusion of President Barack Obama’s second term, said he also wants to impose consequences on other unauthorized immigrants, including those who have overstayed visas, are working in the country illegally, those who have been convicted of crimes while in the U.S., and employers who hire undocumented people.
The Department of Homeland Security saw more illegal border crossers in April than any month in the past 12 years. Roughly two-thirds of those taken into custody were from Central American countries and traveled to the U.S. southern border with a family member. Families are exempt from immediate deportation under the Flores settlement, unlike single adults from Mexico or other countries. Because families can only be held in ICE custody up to 20 days, families are being released from custody, including those who have not claimed asylum.
