ICE's plans for a nationwide raid to start next week — Sept. 17, to be exact — have been completely scuttled by Hurricane Irma after going wobbly after Hurricane Harvey, leaving the agency trying to walk talk of the planned exercise.
NBC News reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had originally planned a large raid targeting 8,400 undocumented immigrants across the country, with an internal memo calling it "the largest operation of its kind in the history of ICE."
The plans were confirmed by three other law enforcement officials, NBC News said. CBS News also said it had also confirmed a planned large-scale immigration raid that was scrapped because of the Hurricane Harvey hitting Texas and Irma expecting to slam Florida.
Called Operation Mega, NBC News said the raid would have started Sept. 17 and lasted over five days, according to an agency-wide memo issued in August. ICE field officers had been instructed to target adults deemed to be gang members or perpetrators of serious crimes.
Now ICE is saying that while the hurricanes have effected its operations, there was "currently no coordinated nationwide operation planned at this time. The priority in the affected areas should remain focused on life-saving and life-sustaining activities."
ICE said its fugitive operations teams will continue to target and arrest criminal aliens and other individuals who are breaking immigration laws.
"While we generally do not comment on future potential law enforcement actions, operational plans are subject to change based on a variety of factors," ICE said. "Due to the current weather situation in Florida and other potentially impacted areas, along with the ongoing recovery in Texas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had already reviewed all upcoming operations and has adjusted accordingly."
An official told NBC News that while the alleged raid was targeting those who have committed crimes, other undocumented immigrants could be arrested as "collateral."
News of the reported mass raid came after President Donald Trump ended an Obama-era program that protected undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, CBS News said.
The phasing out of DADA affects almost 780,000 people across the country, nicknamed Dreamers, CBS News said.
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