NEW YORK– U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the delayed 10-city raids on illegal immigrants will start after the July 4 U.S. independence holiday.
“After July 4, a lot of people are going to be brought back out,” Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office while signing the 4.6-billion U.S. dollars border funding bill to tackle the influx of migrants from Central America at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The President said late last month he decided to delay the raids for two weeks to see if Republican and Democratic lawmakers could get together and work out a solution.
Trump is pressing for the passage of new restrictions on asylum laws which was opposed by Democrats who control the House of Representatives.
The two-week interval was generally impacted by the July 4 recess, when lawmakers are normally not in Washington.
The raids, organized by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was set to target up to 2,000 migrant families facing deportation orders in 10 cities that include Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco, based on cases filed in 10 immigration court locations.
Concerns are being raised about more family separations. The mayors of Chicago and Los Angeles have both said their cities would not assist in the raids.
Once arrests take place, families will likely be moved to ICE family residential detention centers as the agency works with consulates to obtain travel documents, according to sources.
