Fed up with thousands of illegal immigrants thumbing their noses at court orders to leave the country, the Trump administration is ramping up warnings that their time is up.
“It’s your last chance to come to us, or we’re coming for you. We have to uphold the law,” said an administration official.
Acting on President Trump’s orders, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is poised to begin arresting illegal immigrants with removal orders issued in the last year.
The agency plans to focus first on criminal illegal immigrants and work places, but officials said that there will be no special exemptions as agents begin removal enforcement.
ICE officials are frustrated and angered that migrants given final orders to leave the United States have instead gone into hiding. In February, for example, ICE sent letters in Spanish asking families set for deportation to check in with the agency. They were given 30 days to get their affairs in order and buy a ticket home.
Throughout the process, they were given access to attorneys, legal services, and an interpreter.
But of the 2,105 sent letters, just 65 showed up. Some 97% did not.
Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019
The timing of the operation’s start is unclear, though Trump tweeted this week, “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people.”
The goal is twofold: Show potential illegal immigrants that the U.S. is going to enforce its immigration laws and end the so-called pull factor from immigrants entering the country illegally and showing friends and relatives back home that it is easy to get in.
The crisis at the border has grown as migrants rush to get into the U.S. before the president issues a further crackdown on crossings. Since just December, immigration officials have released 207,000 illegal immigrants into the United States as required by law. That is an average of 1,176 a day.
Many, they said, will never appear at immigration status hearings.
Officials added that about 95% of the family units from Central America who were apprehended at the southwest border in fiscal year 2017 remain in the country today.
