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The federal authorities conducted raids Sunday in the main cities of the country, with the aim of bringing together about 2,000 illegal immigrants already expelled from the country, a senior government official said.
"It's their job every day," said Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, referring to "immigration and loyal immigration and customs agents" at CNN .
On Sunday, these were scheduled raids in immigrant enclaves in nine of America's largest cities: New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.
Their goal, CNN told a senior government official, was to apprehend about 2,000 illegal immigrants who had not complied with previous court orders to report to the ICE for deportation.
"They are not without papers," Cuccinelli said. "They have a court order on a piece of paper – a federal order – which says that they have got due process. "
These 2,000 people are part of about one million people who have been the subject of a removal order, said Cuccinelli, although he pointed out the priority of the ICE is always the expulsion of dangerous criminals.
He refused to guarantee that the children would not be separated from their parents when the raids were going on.
"It would be an operational detail that I will not comment on," he said. "One million people, including families, have been the subject of a removal order. The priority remains for ICE to tackle criminals, violent criminals, aggravated criminals, etc., as in the Obama administration. "
But at least in New York, the raids, long feared in immigrant communities, seemed to drag on Sunday.
"We have followed every report today and so far, no ICE activity has been confirmed," tweeted Mayor Bill de Blasio just before 15:30
The seemingly quiet day occurred after ICE raids began on Saturday morning, after visiting three buildings in Harlem and the Sunset Park area in Brooklyn, before leaving them empty handed.
"My son is sleeping in this room right here, so he's seen them out the window," said Toboca Del Carmen, whose building on 56th Street Sunset Park was raided around 6:45 am on Saturday. "Once he saw them, he told us who it was, and we did not open.
"They said they would come back today, but they did not do it and hope that they will not come back," she said, adding that the agents seemed mainly looking for two Guatemalan men who lived on the fourth floor of the building.
Citing "sensitivities related to law enforcement," ICE in a statement declined to reveal the details of the scan, including the total number of apprehended people.
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