Thread: 121 people picked up in raids targeting immigrant families

121 people picked up in raids targeting immigrant families

By Jason Buch
Updated 11:46 am, Monday, January 4, 2016

• 
  

Photo: John Davenport, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrest a man Monday August 17, 2015 on San Antonio's Northwest Side. The agency was conducting a target enforcement operation to round up immigrants with ... more


Immigration officials apprehended 121 people over the weekend as part of raids in three states targeting families from Central America, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced today.

The detentions in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina focused on families who came into the country after May 1, 2014, when DHS began reacting to an influx of families and children seeking asylum, were ordered removed by an immigration judge and “have exhausted appropriate legal remedies,” Johnson said in a statement.

“Given the sensitive nature of taking into custody and removing families with children, a number of precautions were taken as part of this weekend’s operations,” Johnson said. “ICE deployed from around the country a number of female agents and medical personnel to take part in the operations, and, in the course of the operations, ICE exercised prosecutorial discretion in a number of cases for health or other personal reasons.”

Families caught in the raids have started arriving at South Texas detention centers, said Mohammad Abdollahi, an activist with the San Antonio nonprofit Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.

One family each from Houston, Dallas and Kansas City arrived at the Karnes County detention center Sunday, Abdollahi said. RAICES is part of a network of advocacy agencies providing legal services to the detention centers in Karnes County and Dilley.

Abdollahi said the organization had also received reports of raids in San Antonio, New Jersey, Virginia and Atlanta. In the case of the San Antonio raid, a client told RAICES that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had come to her house looking for another family, but no one was detained.

ICE regularly conducts what it calls targeted enforcement operations, when officers fan out looking for specific targets that fall under the bureau’s priorities for deportation. The fact that this weekend’s raids are the first such operation to target families and their announcement just before Christmas drew widespread condemnation from immigration activists.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...nt-6735478.php

Considering that over 300,000 breached our borders last summer and they have been streaming across since then this is a show for the media. JMO

More than 120 immigrants arrested in weekend crackdown

Getty Images

By Julian Hattem - 01/04/16 12:57 PM EST

More than 120 immigrants in the country illegally were arrested this past weekend and are currently in the process of being deported back to their home countries, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The arrest of 121 people marks the first major offensive since a wave of families and unaccompanied children flooded the nation’s southern border in 2014, which prompted a renewed debate about U.S. immigration laws and led to accusations from conservatives that the Obama administration has been too weak on protecting the border.

This weekend’s efforts “should come as no surprise,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement announcing the arrests. “I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed.”

The raids targeted adults and children who were caught attempting to cross the border after May 1, 2014, who have been told to leave the country by an immigration court and who would not be eligible to stay in the U.S. by seeking asylum or through other means.

The immigrants were primarily arrested in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, Johnson said.

Details about the DHS’s crackdown were first reported in December.

The actions could have ripples throughout the presidential race.

Republicans have been eager to blast President Obama for what they say is a misguided complacency with immigrants in the country illegally, following on the aggressive promises of front-runner Donald Trump. Democrats, meanwhile, have been more critical of new enforcement efforts, which they describe as unnecessary and contrary to the country’s history of welcoming foreigners.

On Monday, the Obama administration framed the new deportations as part of a tough approach to protecting the border that nonetheless made allowances for humanitarian values.

“I know there are many who loudly condemn our enforcement efforts as far too harsh, while there will be others who say these actions don’t go far enough,” Johnson said. “I also recognize the reality of the pain that deportations do in fact cause.

“But, we must enforce the law consistent with our priorities.”

In addition to the latest arrests, Johnson claimed that the number of Border Patrol apprehensions of people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 2015 had declined to one of the lowest figures in decades.

In 2014, thousands of children and unaccompanied minors coming from Central America flooded the southern border, straining the government’s resources.

Since then, immigration officials have been increasing their deportations, the DHS claimed, averaging about 14 per week.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...kend-crackdown

120? In a whole weekend? That's pathetic.

Federal immigration authorities carrying out raids in Atlanta region

11:25 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 | Filed in: Politics

Federal immigration authorities have started carrying out raids in the Atlanta region as part of a nationwide crackdown targeting Central Americans who have illegally entered the U.S., advocates said Monday.

It’s unknown precisely how many people were detained over the weekend, though news reports say similar raids targeting hundreds of others have started in Texas and are planned for different parts of the country.

The crackdown comes amid an increase of Central Americans — families and unaccompanied children and teens — surging across the southwest border. Many are fleeing deprivation and gang violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

ILANA PANICH LINSMANFILE — Residents at the South Texas Family Residential Center that houses women and children caught crossing the border illegally, in Dilley, Texas, May 14, 2015. A federal judge in California has ruled that the Obama administrations detention of children and their mothers is a serious violation of a longstanding court settlement, and that the families should be released as quickly as possible. (Ilana Panich-Linsman/The New York Times)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment other than to outline the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement priorities.

“Attempting to unlawfully enter the United States as a family unit does not protect individuals from being subject to the immigration laws of this country,” ICE said in a prepared statement. “ICE will continue to pursue the removal of persons who fall within DHS immigration enforcement priorities, including families who are recent unlawful border crossers and who are subject to final orders of removal.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-r...t-raids/npxH7/

I could swing a cat and find more than 120 families of them in Atlanta. Did they go to the Walmart on Saturday or Sunday?

It's a joke, a total and complete disgrace.

115 Hondurans deported from the U.S. arrived home on Monday

ICE is a joke. They make a big deal out of nothing. They should doing 121 deportations every 5 minutes. What a waste of money. We pay this agency over $6 billion a year to fund 20,000 employees.

ICE was created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the former U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. ICE now has more than 20,000 employees in more than 400 offices in the United States and 48 foreign countries.

The agency has an annual budget of approximately $6 billion, primarily devoted to two operational directorates — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). A third directorate, Management and Administration (M&A), is charged with providing professional management and mission support to advance the ICE mission.

https://www.ice.gov/about

CBP has a workforce of over 58,000 employees, including officers and agents, agriculture specialists, aircraft pilots, trade specialists, mission support staff, and canine enforcement officers and agents.

More than 21,180 CBP Officers inspect and examine passengers and cargo at over 300 ports of entry.

Over 2,200 CBP Agriculture Specialists work to curtail the spread of harmful pests and plant and animal diseases that may harm America’s farms and food supply or cause bio- and agro-terrorism.

Over 21,370 Border Patrol Agents protect and patrol 1,900 miles (3,100 km) of border with Mexico and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of border with Canada.

Nearly 1,050 Air and Marine Interdiction Agents prevent people, weapons, narcotics, and conveyances from illegal entry by air and water.

Nearly 2,500 employees in CBP revenue positions collect over $30 billion annually in entry duties and taxes through the enforcement of trade and tariff laws. These collections provide the second largest revenue for the U.S. Government. In addition, these employees fulfill the agency’s trade mission by appraising and classifying imported merchandise. These employees serve in positions such as import specialist, auditor, international trade specialist, and textile analyst.

The CBP Canine Enforcement Program conducts the largest number of working dogs of any U.S. federal law enforcement agency. K-9 teams are assigned to 73 commercial ports and 74 Border Patrol stations throughout the nation.[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._C...der_Protection

That's $20 billion a year we spend enforcing US immigration law and what we do have in return? More illegal aliens. That is the opposite result. The complete opposite result of what we're paying for.

So spare us these brag reports about 120 illegal aliens being deported. It would be 12 million, then another 12 million and then another 6 million until they're all out.

Unfortunately, morale in the U.S. Border Patrol is at an all-time low because Obama has there hands tied
behind there backs with a rope around their necks fearing prosecution or termination if they do their job.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have had their authority to detain illegal aliens reduced, some have been disarmed,
and now they are seeing cuts in their paychecks.