Gambians in the US who may fall under undocumented migrants may soon find themselves in danger of deportation.
President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that potentially 2,000 undocumented immigrants will be swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in raids beginning yesterday.
“It starts on Sunday and [ICE is] gonna take people out and they’re going to bring them back to their countries or they’re gonna take criminals out, put them in prison, or put them in prison in the countries they came from,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before departing to an event in Wisconsin — he was joined by secretary of labor Alex Acosta, who earlier in the day announced his resignation
. “We’re focused on criminals as much as we can… we’re taking them out by the thousands, we’re getting them out.”
On Thursday, The New York Times cited three anonymous Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials who discussed the plan to detain and deport families who have received a deportation notice, and “collateral” immigrants who happen to be near the raids at the time — potentially detaining children.
Matthew Bourke, an ICE spokesperson, said in a Thursday statement to TIME that the agency would not discuss details related to enforcement operations. “As always, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.
However, all of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and—if found removable by final order—removal from the United States.”
