President Donald Trump has said that a nationwide immigration enforcement operation targeting people who are in the United States illegally will begin on Sunday.
The sweep has sparked outrage and concern among immigrant advocates.
It is set to target people with final orders of removal, including families.
President Trump says Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are focusing on criminals.
The arrest & removal of high-profile criminal aliens send a powerful message to the rest of the world: US will not allow it’s free & open society to be used as a hiding place for another nation’s most violent criminals and human rights violators to use as an escape from justice. pic.twitter.com/5ZK0LCkdTw
— ICE (@ICEgov) July 12, 2019
He says authorities are specifically looking for those he calls “bad players”.
But he said the operation also is targeting people who came into the US illegally, and he says that it is not fair to those who have been waiting for years to become citizens through a legal process.
The operation is similar to ones conducted regularly since 2003 that often produce hundreds of arrests.
