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