As part of President-elect Donald Trump’s strategy to secure the border, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will conduct post-inauguration raids as early as Tuesday, sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.
ICE will likely start in Chicago and could expand to other major cities, according to sources who noted that plans could change.
Trump called the raids a “big priority” when asked by ABC News’ Rachel Scott if his administration could conduct post-inauguration raids as early as Tuesday. He declined to discuss timing, but promised it “will happen.”
“It is a priority that we get the criminals out of our country,” he said. “And it’s for everyone else — it’s one of the reasons I won the election by such a wide margin. And it’s a priority.”
ICE has ramped up its operations in anticipation of Trump’s plan to carry out deportations, and the agency put out a request for ICE agents to volunteer to help with at least some of the operations, according to a source.
In this Feb. 7, 2017, file photo released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, foreign nationals are arrested during a targeted enforcement operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting immigration fugitives, re-entrants and general criminal aliens in Los Angeles.
Charles Reed/AP, FILE
The plans were first reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Agencies that fall under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella, such as Enforcement and Removal Operations, which handles deportations, and Homeland Security Investigations, have been put on “alert” by the incoming administration, officials with knowledge of the plan told ABC News.
Although field teams have not been given specific details about what next week will hold, federal agents assigned to the region were told to prepare cases and operations that were “ready to go,” the officials said.
In this July 17, 2024, file photo, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan speaks on stage during the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE
Tom Homan, the border czar-to-be, has previewed these operations in previous comments, particularly targeting Chicago.
In December, Homan visited the city and promised that enforcement operations would begin there.
In this Oct. 22, 2018, photo, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surround and detain a person during a raid in Richmond, Va.
Steve Helber/AP, FILE
“All of that starts Jan. 21, and we’re starting right here in Chicago, Illinois,” Homan said during the visit.
Homan has vowed to go after violent offenders in the United States.
