An anti-ICE protest inside the main hall at Grand Central Station. Photo: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
Specially trained border officials are being deployed to a handful of sanctuary cities to help carry out an immigrant arrest operation to begin this weekend alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The administration has made several efforts over the past few weeks to crack down on states and cities that choose not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agencies.
From February through May, at least 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers will be sent to cities including Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit and Newark, according to the Times. Not all are considered sanctuary cities.
- Some of the agents are members of an elite tactical unit of CBP.
- Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence told the Times the action was in response to sanctuary jurisdictions, where law enforcement often refuse to hold unauthorized immigrants in criminal custody for ICE agents to pick up.
- Albence blamed sanctuary areas for releasing "criminals back to the street," which he claimed "increases the occurrence of preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims."
The big picture: CBP has recently moved to end expedited airport processing programs for New Yorkers and the Justice Department has filed lawsuits against four different jurisdictions with immigration sanctuary-style policies.