It’s Getting Real: ICE Arrests More Than 500 In Raids, Including U.S. Veteran In New Jersey

Federal law enforcement and ICE agents have arrested over 500 undocumented migrants wanted for outstanding crimes in sanctuary cities, including three in New York.

Newark Mayor Ray Baraka said ICE officials detained undocumented residents as well as citizens during a raid on a business, without producing a warrant. One of the people detained, Baraka said, was a U.S. military veteran “who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned.”

“This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…’” the mayor said in a statement. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized.”

An ICE spokesperson defended the arrests in a statement to media outlets, saying the agency may encounter some citizens “while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today.”

“This is an active investigation and, per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations,” the spokesperson told Axios.

The agency wrote it arrested 538 people and detained 373. It’s unclear where those arrests took place.

President Donald Trump had foreshadowed an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system and quickly moved to sign a raft of executive orders targeting migration along the southern border with Mexico. The Pentagon is sending 1,500 active-duty troops to the border to bolster those already there to support the U.S. Border Patrol. And the White House recently canceled travel for thousands of refugees that had already been approved to come to the country.

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” has also promised to carry out the president’s pledge to begin the largest mass deportation event in U.S. history from the first day of the new administration. The White House threatened this week to take legal action against any officials who resist enforcement efforts, although many Democratic mayors and governors have said they will not assist ICE agents.

Homan said later Thursday the number of arrests so far was closer to 1,300 people, adding that collateral arrests of citizens or others legally allowed to be in the country would be higher than normal because so-called sanctuary cities were not helping ICE agents.

“I hope the sanctuary cities come around,” he told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo. “I really hope once they see what we’re doing … once they see that we really are concentrated on the criminals, that they’ll come to us and sit at the table and work with us.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared details of the arrests later Thursday, describing those detained as “illegal immigrant criminals” linked to a Venezuelan gang.

“The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” she wrote on X. “Promises made. Promises kept.”

?TODAY: The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors.

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 24, 2025

via: HuffPost

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