US Plans to Deport Immigrant Families Who Crossed Southern Border
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The US Department of Homeland Security is planning a large-scale effort to detain and deport hundreds of immigrant families who have illegally crossed the southern border of the US since the start of 2014.
The plan was first reported by the Washington Post, which cited people familiar with the operation as saying it could begin as soon as early January, though final DHS approval was still pending.
The raids would be carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and target adults and children already ordered to leave the US by an immigration judge, the newspaper said.
Sources confirmed the information contained in the Post article to CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues.
A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that the deportations would be consistent with Homeland Security Jeh Johnson's emphasis on "individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security."
"As Secretary Johnson has consistently said, our border is not open to illegal immigration, and if individuals come here illegally, do not qualify for asylum or other relief, and have final orders of removal, they will be sent back consistent with our laws and our values," the spokesperson said.
ICE deported more than 235,000 people between October 2014 and September 2015, the DHS spokesperson said.
The questions of what to do with the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally and how to enforce immigration laws have been major topics in the 2016 presidential race.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has pledged to be "less harsh and aggressive" than President Obama, while Republican Donald Trump has pledged to deport millions of people in the country illegally and build a wall along the Mexican border to stop future illegal immigration.