1,300 arrested in metropolitan deportation operations: Homan

(NewsNation) — Federal authorities have arrested more than 1,300 migrantsaccording to President Donald Trump “border czar” Tom Homan, which has conducted deportation operations in nearly 10 major cities across the United States

Homan told NewsNation Thursday, that of the 1,300 arrested, at least 1,000 have criminal records.

“The others are either refugees who have been through immigration court, who became refugees, or bail bondsmen … in sanctuary cities because they forced us into the community,” Homan said.

The number of arrests in the first three days of Trump’s presidency represents about 1.1% of the total arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in FY2024.

There were around 310 average arrests per day in 2024, but that average is now around 433 per day – with the number likely to grow.

Homan said the Biden administration did not allow ICE to arrest migrants unless they were convicted of a serious crime, but that policy no longer binds agents.

“There’s nothing in the immigration citizenship law that says you have to be convicted of a crime. If you’re here illegally, you can be removed,” he said. “Our focus is on arresting threats to public safety and threats to the national security. That is exactly what we are doing now.”

Raids have taken place in major cities such as Boston, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami, Washington, DC and Newark, NJ, according to media reports.

Several of them such as Newark, are sanctuary cities, which are areas that have refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in deportation proceedings.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said in a declaration Thursday that ICE agents detained several people — including U.S. citizens, a U.S. military veteran and undocumented individuals — without a warrant.

“Newark will not stand idly by while people are unlawfully terrorized,” the statement read.

In Chicago, another sanctuary city, Mayor Brandon Johnson launched a public transit campaign where digital screens in train stations provide “know your rights” information to migrants, reported WLS-TV.

“Any of the measures that the president is seeking to take against working people in the city of Chicago…” Johnson said, according to the newspaper: “We will defend our city. It’s just that simple.”

But Homan pushed back at sanctuary cities, saying if they cooperated by letting ICE into local jails, then federal agents wouldn’t have to go into communities to arrest people.

“They won’t let us into the county jail because of their sanctuary law, but if we can arrest the bad guy in the safety of a jail — which is safer for the officer, safer for the aliens, safer for the community — then it would be a lot less of the low-level offender type, and be arrested much less,” Homan said.

When agents are forced into the community, “sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in neighborhoods and more collateral arrests while we’re doing this criminal operation,” he said.

“I hope the sanctuary cities come around,” he said.

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