The Department of Homeland Security is readying for raids to deport hundreds of illegal immigrants who have crossed into the country illegally across the southern border,
The Washington Post reports.
The nationwide effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents is set to begin as early as January. Agents would go after only adults and children who have been ordered deported by immigration judges.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has been pushing for the deportations, the Post said, though the move has been controversial inside the Obama White House. The reason behind Johnson's move is a recent spike in illegal immigrants from Central America and a recent court ruling saying families must be released more quickly from detention centers.
Violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – as well as a recent drought – has pushed more people from those nations to flee to the United States.
Immigration advocates were critical of the decision, with Gregory Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, saying, "This administration has never acknowledged the truth: that these families are refugees seeking asylum who should be given humanitarian protection rather than being detained or rounded up."
Meanwhile, groups seeking stricter immigration measures were skeptical.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies told the Post. "It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the number they’ve admitted into the country. If you have photogenic raids on a few dozen illegal families and that’s the end of it, it’s just for show."