Q24N – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of undocumented Central American immigrant families, says The Washington Post.
Early in 2016, the nationwide campaign is to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The raids would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled Central America, said the newspaper quoting anonymous sources close to the operation.
The ICE operation that has not been given final approval by DHS, would target only adults and children who have already been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge. The number targeted is expected to be in the hundreds and possibly greater.
The operation has been announced two days after DHS’ report with official statistics on illegal immigration from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
According to the report issued on December 22, the United States deported in that period some 462,000 undocumented immigrants, 30% less than in the same period last year.
Since President Barack Obama took on power, more than 2.5 million undocumented people have been deported.
