U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that 538 people were arrested during extensive workplace searches that took place around the Northeastern United States on Thursday.
Targeting companies across multiple states, the raids were a component of ICE’s continuous enforcement activities. Ras J. Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said that one of the raided locations was a company.
“This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” Baraka stated in a press release. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized. I will be holding a press conference in alliance with partners ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights. Details to come.”
Local media outlets covered the enforcement activities, and other arrests were made in different sections of Massachusetts and New York.
The governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, publicly commended ICE’s efforts, highlighting the agency’s involvement in combating what it considered to be unlawful employment and immigration practices.
The hardline immigration policies of New administration began with these raids, which occurred just days after his inauguration.
In addition to characterizing such enforcement efforts as ordinary operations that are part of the agency’s regular enforcement work, ICE officials have maintained that the timing of the raids was entirely accidental.
Nonetheless, the scope of these raids, which led to a high number of arrests, garnered media attention and demonstrated the Trump administration’s will to combat illegal immigration, especially in regions where sanctuary policies have been put into place.
Targeting undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities where local authorities have little cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, ICE was supposed to greatly up its operations new administration’s new policies.
“I wouldn’t describe them as raids,” Healey stated. “What it seems to be, and what we expected and what I support, which is the apprehension of criminals in our communities.”
By limiting the enforcement of federal immigration laws, Thomas Homan, who was in charge of ICE’s operations at the time, made it plain that the agency would be conducting “big raids” in certain communities, which are typically perceived as offering sanctuary to illegal people.
As the raids were being conducted around the Northeast, the new administration was simultaneously being sued for its immigration policy.
The question of birthright citizenship was one of these difficulties. The new president has been accused by a judge of trying to abolish birthright citizenship, which confers citizenship on children born in the United States, as being “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Political anxiety over immigration issues in the nation was exacerbated by this setback for the government, which coincided with the raids.
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The nation was eagerly monitoring the raids on Thursday for indications of the incoming president’s approach to immigration enforcement, even though they were part of routine operations.
Many people felt that the timing of these arrests brought attention to the continuous discussion over how to best balance immigration reform, border security, and the treatment of illegal immigrants in the US.
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