President Trump's border advisor told journalists on Thursday that federal authorities planned to increase immigration raids in Los Angeles and other called “Sanctuary cities”, with Chicago probably the next objective.
“You will see an increase in operations in New York; you will see that an increase in operations continues in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with the ice,” said Tom Homan.
Since June, southern California has been the zero zone of thousands of immigration arrests, as well as legal battles on whether they violate the constitution of the United States.
There is no agreed definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited cooperation with immigration and customs application.
Homan did not elaborate details about new raids in Los Angeles
But talking with journalists on Thursday morning, he said that the application of immigration and customs is considering using a naval base to northern Chicago as its center when possible application raids in that city occur.
Tom Homan said: “There are discussions about that, yes,” when journalists asked him outside the White House.
It did not provide an exact timeline for use.
“Planning is still being discussed,” he said. “Then, maybe at the end of today.”
Earlier this week, Trump said Chicago would probably be the next city in which he will direct an offensive against crime and, in particular, illegal immigration.
Recently he sent 2,000 National Guard troops to Washington, DC, after having sent soldiers, ice and border patrol agents to Los Angeles since the beginning of June. The National Security Department said that as of August 8, ICE agents and the border patrol had arrested 2,792 undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area.
“I think Chicago will be … Next,” Trump told Reporters in the White House in Friday.
He also called the Broad shoulders city as a “disaster” and that his residents were “screaming for you to come.” Three days after Trump criticized the crime in Chicago, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, issued a statement, saying that general crime in the city had decreased by 21.6%, year to date, and homicides fell by 32.3%.
Homan would not commit to how many soldiers and agents would be used in any immigration application.
“We are not going to tell him how many resources we are going to send to the city,” he said. “We do not want the bad to know what we are sending.”
He added: “It will be a great contingent.”
Since a federal judge issued a temporary restriction order that prohibits federal agents from addressing people only depending on their race, language, vocation or location, the number of arrests in southern California decreased in July.
But the raids continue, and Home Depot stores become a common goal in recent weeks.
On August 1, the 9th Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit denied a request from the Trump administration to lift the restriction order that prohibits itinerant raids.
