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Federal agents in immigration raids told to be camera-ready as hundreds arrested

ICE arrests more than 100 workers in raid on Ohio meat supplier
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The Trump administration’s weekend immigration sweep that included nearly 1,000 arrests and has chilled many immigrant communities was followed by another blitz: A barrage of video and photos from the federal government showing agents in tactical gear and vests emblazoned with “Police ICE” and “Homeland Security” taking cuffed suspects away.

The made-for-TV look of the arrests is not a coincidence.

At least two agencies assisting US immigration officials with the raids have told personnel to ensure their clothing clearly depicts their respective agency in case they are filmed by members of the media, sources familiar with the operations tell CNN.

While it is a common safety practice for agents conducting arrests to wear insignias clearly identifying themselves as law enforcement, even agents on the perimeter of operations conducted across the nation have been specifically instructed by their leadership to wear raid jackets in view of media attention, sources said.

On Sunday, federal agencies released numerous photos on social media of agents in tactical gear conducting purported immigration arrests.

Former TV talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw announced on social media he was “embedded” with an ICE team in Chicago as raids began. McGraw released video showing him interviewing the Trump administration’s new “border czar,” Tom Homan, at what was described as an ICE Command Center.

In addition to Chicago, immigration actions were also reported in California, Texas, Georgia, Colorado, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, according to Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

“We’re prioritizing criminal aliens,” Homan told CNN on Sunday, but added, “There’s going to be a point where we have to open the aperture to fugitives.”

Arrests reported at homes and a church

A suburban Chicago woman said her father – a native of Mexico – had been living in the Unites States for nearly 30 years when he was arrested Sunday after agents knocked on his door.

“They would open the door because they thought maybe one of (his children) were in trouble or something happened to us,” Yelitza Marquina told CNN affiliate WLS. “Never did he think they were ICE.”

One undocumented man was taken into custody by ICE while attending church Sunday in Tucker, Georgia, his pastor told CNN.

Luis Ortiz was in the middle of his sermon when he saw the man being escorted out by other congregants. He was told ICE agents did not enter the building but asked for the man by name.

Adult migrants have stopped going to work and children are not going to school out of fear they could be arrested at any time, a Chicago-based nonprofit assisting immigrants told CNN. The charity asked not to be named because of fear of retaliation.

ICE leaders determined to increase arrests

Teams across the country have been given various quotas for the number of so-called “high-profile” immigration raids they should conduct each month, one source said, with the goal being to beat the number of administrative arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year.

Homan denied imposing an arrest quota on ICE officers.

“My goal is to arrest as many public safety and national security threats as possible and move on to the other priorities,” told CNN.

Federal law enforcement agencies have been told to prioritize deporting a wide swath of criminal suspects under investigation who may be “out of status,” a law enforcement source familiar with the latest operations tells CNN. Someone who is out of status may have entered the United States legally but has violated the terms of their visa or other immigration requirements.

If a suspect under investigation by agencies like the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or Drug Enforcement Administration is in the country unlawfully, and an indictment for non-immigration criminal offenses investigated by those agencies is not likely in the near term, the source said investigators have been told to consider “just getting them out,” the source said.

The new posture is notable because crimes investigated by federal law enforcement agencies can take weeks or even several months to prove and prosecute. However, under the new guidance from Trump administration officials, agencies have been told to opt for deportation of undocumented suspects if a criminal indictment does not appear on the horizon.

Prior to taking office, Trump transition officials were asking law enforcement agencies about how many of their investigations involved non-US citizens, the source said.


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