Close to 1000 arrests were made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday, as the agency ramps up its efforts as part of President Trump’s mass deportation policy.
The tally of 956 is the largest yet since President Trump was sworn in to office on Monday, and three times the average number of daily arrests of illegal aliens in the fiscal year to 30 September 2024.
Most of the action took place in Chicago, with Border Czar Tom Homan and other top officials present to oversee arrests in the city.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the U.S. Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago,” said a post on ICE’s website.
The goal of these arrests, the post continues, is “to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
In an interview on ABC’s This Week, Homan said arrests and deportations would continue to “steadily increase.”
“Right now, it’s concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats,” he said.
“That’s a smaller population.”
In his first week in office, President Trump has signed a number of executive orders designed to bring about fundamental changes to US immigration policy. He has ended birthright citizenship, sent troops to the southern border and authorised raids on churches and schools to arrest illegal aliens.