The incoming Trump administration intends to repeal a long-standing policy that largely prevents federal immigration authorities from apprehending undocumented immigrants in areas known as “sensitive” locations, NBC News reports.
President-elect Donald Trump has announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents may illegally operate in or near hospitals, schools, churches, and other locations deemed “sensitive” locations without requiring prior approval from a supervisor. They want to be able to start arresting immigrants. According to NBC News. Trump, who won the presidential election on a platform of tough immigration policies, could issue rule changes as early as his first day in office. (Related: Eric Adams considers end run around Democratic-controlled City Council to shut down sanctuary policies)
The reported policy changes could allow ICE agents to better carry out one of the president-elect's most notable campaign promises: the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
For more than a decade, the agency has had a policy of not making arrests in sensitive locations, with exceptions related to terrorism, national security threats or other imminent danger. John Morton, then ICE director. issued a memo In October 2011, it largely banned operatives from operating in schools and churches, establishing a policy that also applies to the Trump and Biden administrations.
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 11: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) police officers attempt to apprehend an illegal immigrant during an operation in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, on April 11, 2018. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Morton's memo restricted ICE arrests at schools, churches, and hospitals, as well as funerals, weddings, religious ceremonies, and public demonstrations. He ordered that agents can only do so under urgent circumstances or with the approval of their superiors.
The incoming administration is reportedly considering other novel ideas to help carry out its ambitious deportation plan, such as sending illegal immigrants whose home countries reject them to third countries such as Panama or the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is reported that there are.
President Trump also promised a series of measures, including ending birthright citizenship for people born to illegal immigrant parents, continuing construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and increasing Border Patrol personnel. To lead the effort, he has appointed Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security, former acting ICE director Tom Homan as border czar, and longtime aide Stephen Miller as chief policy adviser. was nominated. Former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott will become head of Customs and Border Protection, and Caleb Vitello will head ICE.
A growing number of Democratic mayors and governors are speaking out against President Trump's hardline approach to immigration enforcement, with some localities passing or doubling down on sanctuary city policies. Homan, meanwhile, publicly warned his Democratic opponents to “stand back in full” if they begin deporting illegal immigrants from the United States.
A spokesperson for Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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