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 Amid a surge in the arrival of unaccompanied children and families
from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, U.S. government sources
confirmed preparations to detain and deport, starting next month,
families that already have been ordered to leave.
The Washington Post first reported on Wednesday that the Department
of Homeland Security was considering launching the crackdown in
January.
Government sources, who asked not to be identified, said on Thursday
the campaign by DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
marks an expansion from mostly targeting individuals to pursuing
families with undocumented members.
A spokesman for Hillary Clinton, who is leading among Democratic
candidates seeking the presidency in next November's elections, said
she "has real concerns about these reports," adding it is "critical
that everyone has a full and fair hearing and that our country
provides refuge to those that need it."
An ICE spokesperson, asked why the agency was targeting families,
said it focuses on people who pose a threat to national security,
public safety and border security, "whether alone or with family
members."
Senator Bernie Sanders, chief rival to Hillary Clinton for the
Democratic presidential nomination, said in a statement, "Our nation
has always been a beacon of hope, a refuge for the oppressed ... we
need to take steps to protect children and families seeking refuge
here, not cast them out."
Another of Clinton's Democratic opponents, ex-Maryland Governor
Martin O'Malley, tweeted: "Holiday plans for raids to round
up/deport Central American refugees fleeing death are wrong. We are
a better nation than this."
Many seek asylum in the United States by claiming their governments
are unable to protect them from drug-related or domestic violence.
Support for the deportations came from Republican Senator Ron
Johnson, who chairs the Homeland Security and Government Affairs
Committee. "The primary solution to reducing this ongoing crisis is
to eliminate the incentive that results from allowing 95.6 percent
of these illegal immigrants to stay - by humanely and expeditiously
returning them to their home countries."
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DHS has put a priority on targeting for deportation previously
convicted criminals who are undocumented. But it also wants to
remove recently arrived Central Americans.
Hispanic-Americans are a growing force in U.S. politics and
Democrats hope a strong turnout in November could help them,
especially with Republicans campaigning on a vow to seal U.S.
borders from illegal immigrants.
Donald Trump, who leads the Republican presidential field, caused an
uproar last June, accusing Mexico of sending rapists and other
criminals into the United States and saying undocumented immigrants
carried "tremendous infectious disease."
Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration group
America's Voice, said the upcoming raids would "be a political
nightmare for the Democrats."
Michelle Brané, director of the Women's Refugee Commission's migrant
rights program, said she had not received briefings from the
administration. But she worried that some families facing
deportation may not have had proper legal representation, especially
if their cases sped through the courts.
"It's a pretty traumatic way to break in the new year," she said.
(Additional reporting by Julia Edwards in Honolulu; Writing by
Richard Cowan; Editing by Richard Chang and Steve Orlofsky)
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