Last week President Trump tweeted that he would start deporting “millions” of migrants. Most didn’t know what to make of the threat until the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mark Morgan, said a couple days later that agents would be targeting more than 2,000 members of immigrant families who already have been ordered to be deported.
Morgan says ICE would prioritize the arrest and removal of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security. By Friday night word had spread that deportations would happen Sunday in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New Orleans and New York City. President Trump said these are high crime cities and the illegal immigrants already have a removal order issued.
The LAPD sent out a release assuring residents the department would not cooperate with any removal operation. Other agencies like the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Santa Ana PD sent similar releases. At one point local law enforcement were made aware that around 140 people had been targeted for deportation in 7 counties in southern California. Critics of the operation tried to calm fears in immigrant communities, but acting ICE Director Mark Morgan said this was not a random operation; rather it was a calculated operation targeting individuals who broke the law.
Then, on Saturday morning President Trump Tweets this…
As attention veered away from deportations, a whole new issue cropped up over the weekend…the conditions of detention centers where illegal immigrants and their children are being kept. Doctor Dolly Sevier, a pediatrician who was given access to a border patrol facility in McAllen, Texas, says the conditions are deplorable, especially for children. She said roughly 2/3 of all the kids in the Ursula facility have some sort of medical issue. She said the kids sleep on concrete floors with the lights on 24/7.
Sevier says given the current political climate, and the way President Trump has weaponized illegal immigration, the poor conditions seem almost intentional.
Over the last few months sources have provided leaked photos to KFI News of overcrowded facilities in southern California and border agents have spoken to me anonymously about how they are overworked, understaffed and lack necessary resources. It was confirmed Sunday morning that California Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was the one who called President Trump to ask that he stop the removal operation.
As both sides of the aisle continue to fight over immigration in Washington DC, KFI News is confident it will soon be able to independently report on actual conditions in Southern California.
Listen to my report from Wake Up Call:
Photo: Getty Images, KFI News