ICE Raids Are Announced and People Are Pushing Back

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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) is anticipated to crack down on illegal immigration by performing raids across the country.

Fox News reports that these raids are a bit different because they are being announced.

Retired Department of Homeland Security agent and policy adviser, Thomas Kilbride, says, "It's unprecedented. But there is a political purpose behind it".

He says that even though the immigrants are trying to focus on people who are criminals, if they find someone else in the same area illegally, they will also be arrested.

He says, "At a minimum, the asylum laws need to change, for people to have to remain outside the country when applying for asylum or applying at a foreign embassy".

Other people say that these announcements are more of a "gesture".

Steve Bucci who is a homeland security expert at the Heritage Foundation says, "The main point here is that the Trump administration is trying to circumvent some of the blowback from the other side of the aisle. It sends the message that these people have been notified to self-deport and if they fail to do that, this might happen. It is saying that we aren't monsters, what we are doing is in accordance with the law and in a reasonable fashion".

The announcements will give illegal immigrants a heads up to either move or not open the door when police come. They've also lead to the creation of online movements such as #knowyourrights and #protecteachother which help immigrants know what to do when police come knocking.

Meanwhile, there has been other forms of push-back.

The Times of San Diego reports that after these announcements, both activists and lawmakers are fighting back in Southern California.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis is trying to inform illegal immigrants of their rights.

At a news conference, she said, "If they don't have a warrant with your name on it, you don't have to answer".

She went on to say, "Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Forcibly separating children from their parents is traumatizing and inhumane. Children and their families enduring this type of trauma suffer from lifelong emotional wounds. To rip a child from the warm and loving embrace of their family is an unspeakable crime against humanity. The United States has been and will always be a nation of immigrants. I call on all Americans to reject the politics of division, hate, and fear".

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has said that the city will not be helping ICE with the raids.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said, "The presence of undocumented residents in our communities calls for compassion, not threats of deportation and family separation. As your Los Angeles County sheriff, I stand for everyone's public safety and understand a basic principle of law enforcement, which is that we cannot ensure public safety if residents are afraid to contact law enforcement to report a crime".

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit in New York requesting immigrants to be brought before an immigration judge before they are deported.

Matt Bourke, a spokesman for ICE says that the agency, "prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security".


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