US agents have raided a plant in New Jersey as Trump escalates immigration crackdown By Reuters

Author: Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as U.S. citizens on Thursday in a raid on a construction site in Newark, New Jersey, that the mayor said included the detention of a military veteran and human rights violations.

The raid in New Jersey’s most populous city, which has been praised in the past by Mayor Ras Barak for his “sanctuary” policies that protect migrants, followed President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the US illegally.

After taking office on Monday, Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. He has taken steps to punish officials who resist implementing his sweeping crackdown.

In a search of a business in Newark, outside New York, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents failed to produce a warrant because they detained “undocumented residents as well as citizens,” Baraka said in a statement.

“One of the detainees is a US military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned,” Baraka said.

In a statement, an ICE spokesman said agents “may encounter US citizens while working in the field and may request identification to determine an individual’s identity, as was the case during today’s targeted workplace enforcement operation in Newark.”

A spokesman said ICE is investigating the incident.

Baraka said the attack violated citizens’ rights under the US Constitution.

“Newark will not lie down while people are illegally terrorized,” he said.

Neither Baraka nor ICE identified the company that was raided by name.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said on X that the Trump administration had arrested 538 people on Thursday, describing them all as “criminal illegal immigrants.” She said they included members of a Venezuelan prison gang and people convicted of sex crimes.

Leavitt did not provide further details.

A number of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native Americans. Other studies find that illegal immigrants in the US also do not commit more crimes.

SANCTUARY CITIES

Baraka, the mayor of Newark, is one of the first local officials in the US to issue a statement about a specific raid since the start of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In 2017, he signed an executive order enshrining Newark’s sanctuary status and was a vocal opponent of Trump’s immigration policies during the president’s first term.

Of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the US illegally or with temporary status in 2022, about 44% lived in states with “sanctuary” laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

That figure does not include those in sanctuary cities and counties in places without state law, such as New Mexico.

US media reported that federal police and ICE agents arrested nearly 500 undocumented migrants wanted for unsolved crimes in sanctuary cities, including some from New York and New Jersey. The reports cited ICE officials as saying the arrests took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.