WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said on Saturday that targeted operations to detain migrants who are in the U.S. illegally will begin next week, and indicated that they include many cities.
Asked by Fox News if deportation raids will be launched in more cities, including Chicago, Homan said, “I wouldn’t categorize them as raids. There are targeted enforcement operations.”
Asked how these operations would be received by so-called sanctuary cities, which have pledged not to use city resources for federal immigration raids, Homan suggested that the incoming Trump administration would target in the city jails.
“We want to arrest a bad guy in the safety and security of a county jail.”
A source told Reuters on Friday that New York and Miami were the targets. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would hold a week-long operation in Chicago with potentially hundreds of agents.
Homan, a former acting director of ICE, said the agency has carefully planned its operations.
“They (ICE agents) know who might be in the home, including the children… Every target for this operation is well planned, and the whole team is there for the reasons of officer safety.”
Asked when Trump’s promised mass deportation flights would begin next week, Homan wasn’t specific.
“We have over 700,000 illegal aliens in the United States with a final removal order.