Trump vows to expand deporting illegals from US
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President Donald Trump has directed US federal immigration officials to prioritise deportations from Democratic-run cities after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against his administration’s immigration crackdown.
In a social media posting on Sunday Trump called on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History”.
“I have directed my entire Administration to put every resource possible behind this effort,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He added that to reach the goal officials “must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside”.
Trump’s declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would target at least 3000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump’s second term.
At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a US official familiar with the matter who spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Trump did not elaborate on how specifically he intended to ramp up efforts.
The comments come after a week of tension in Los Angeles, where Trump called in National Guard troops and US Marines to help keep the peace, over the objections of the state’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice.
Trump said troops were necessary to quell the protests – a contention that state and local officials dispute.
Meanwhile, a demonstrator was shot dead at Salt Lake City’s anti-Trump “No Kings” protest on Saturday when a man believed to be part of the event’s peacekeeping team fired at another man allegedly aiming a rifle at protesters.
Police took the alleged rifleman, Arturo Gamboa, 24, into custody on Saturday evening on a murder charge, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said at a Sunday news conference.
The bystander, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, died at the hospital.
“No Kings” protests swept across the country Saturday, and organisers said millions rallied against what they described as President Donald Trump’s authoritarian excesses. Confrontations were largely isolated.
with AP
Reuters
