Washington D.C., Feb. 11 (ANI): The U.S. federal immigration authorities have launched a new wave of raids across America, raising fears within immigrant communities around the country.
According to a report published in the Guardian, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials confirmed five-day “surge operations” in south-eastern states and southern California, saying that the majority of the people arrested were men with prior criminal convictions.
They also described the raids as “routine” and said they would have final statistics about how many people were arrested on Monday.
David Marin, the field office director for Ice in Los Angeles, said the operation was planned before Barack Obama left office and that the majority of the people arrested had felony convictions.
He compared the raids to operations during the Obama administration, for instance when more than 200 were arrested over four days in 2015, and more than 100 over four days last year.
The development comes after a federal appeals court upheld the decision of halting President Donald’s Trump executive order to ban immigrants.