Arrest 3,000 undocumented migrants daily: US govt to immigration officers

Top Trump aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to arrest 3,000 people a day, Axios reported on Wednesday.

 

This figure is three times higher than what ICE agents were achieving in the early days of President Trump’s second term.

 

Push for higher arrest numbers

 

The push for more arrests was discussed during a meeting on May 21, when Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, demanded that deportation figures be raised. Axios quoted a source saying people left the meeting worried their jobs might be in danger if the targets were not met. Another person said Miller’s tough tone was meant to motivate them.

 

 

The move comes as Republicans work on a plan to provide an extra $147 billion in immigration funding over the next decade.

 

According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE, requests have gone out for additional staff, more bed space and resources. ICE has signed agreements to expand detention facilities in the country.

 

Earlier, a White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, said in a statement, “Keeping President Trump’s promise to deport illegal aliens is something the administration takes seriously. We are committed to aggressively and efficiently removing illegal aliens from the United States, and ensuring our law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to do so. The safety of the American people depends upon it.”

 

Arrests on the ground

 

The new arrest target comes at a time when border-crossing numbers have dropped to lows not seen since the 1960s, and officials have shifted focus to arresting migrants already in the country.

 

A Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) analysis found that border-area deportations have fallen because fewer migrants are attempting to cross the US border, but arrests from inside the country have increased.

 

ICE deported about 65,000 people in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, which began in January. Under President Biden’s final year, ICE arrested an average of 759 migrants a day, according to federal data from TRAC at Syracuse University.

 

Earlier this year, the administration expanded the 287(G) programme, which gives state and local law enforcement the power to carry out immigration arrests. ICE has also announced contract offers worth up to $45 billion to grow detention capacity at immigration jails.

 

Meanwhile, thousands of troops have been sent to the Southwest border.

 

In another development, the Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to block a judge’s order that requires a 10-day notice and an opportunity for migrants to object before deportation to a third country.

 

This emergency request follows a case before a Massachusetts federal judge, who said last week that the administration violated an earlier order by attempting to send a group of migrants convicted of crimes to South Sudan.

 

The Supreme Court has said that the administration must give people a “reasonable time” to challenge their deportations but has not detailed exactly what that means.

 

The new filing involves efforts by DHS to deport people to countries other than their home nation or an alternative country set by an immigration judge.

 

Since the start of Trump’s mass deportation initiative this year, India has identified 388 Indian nationals living illegally in the US, all of whom have since been sent back to India.