FEB. 2025. Blues Vol 41 No.2

AROUND THE COUNTRYCITIES

AROUND THE COUNTRYCITIES ACROSS AMERICA"Border Czar" Tom Homan says over 3000 Illegal Aliens have been arrested sofar in raids all across America.CITIES ACROSS AMERICA — Federalauthorities have arrested morethan 3000 migrants, according toPresident Donald Trump’s “borderczar” Tom Homan, who has carriedout deportation operations in nearly10 major cities across the U.S.Homan told The BLUES that as ofThursday January 30th that of the3000 arrested, at least 2,000 havecriminal records.“The other ones are either fugitiveswho’ve been through immigrationcourt, that became a fugitive,or collaterals … in sanctuary citiesbecause they forced us in the community,”Homan said.The number of arrests in the firstthree days of Trump’s presidencyrepresents about 10% of total arrestsmade by Immigration and CustomsEnforcement (ICE) in FY2024.Homan said the Biden administrationdid not allow ICE to arrest migrantsunless they were convictedof a serious crime, but that policyno longer binds agents.“There’s nothing in the ImmigrationNationality Act that says yougot to be convicted of a crime. Ifyou’re here illegally, you could beremoved,” he said. “Our focus is onarresting public safety threats andnational security threats. That’s exactlywhat we’re doing now.”Raids have taken place in majorcities such as Boston, Denver, NewYork City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle,Miami, Washington, D.C., andNewark, N.J., according to mediareports.Several of those, such as Newark,are sanctuary cities, which are areasthat have refused to cooperatewith federal immigration authoritiesin deportation proceedings.Newark Mayor Ras Baraka saidin a statement Thursday that ICEagents detained multiple people —including U.S. citizens, a U.S. militaryveteran and undocumentedindividuals — without a warrant.“Newark will not stand by idlywhile people are being unlawfullyterrorized,” the statement read.In Chicago, another sanctuary city,Mayor Brandon Johnson launcheda campaign in conjunction withthe public transportation systemin which digital monitors at trainstations provide “know your rights”information to migrants, reportedWLS-TV.“Any of the measures that thepresident is looking to executeagainst working people in the cityof Chicago … ” Johnson said, accordingto the outlet, “We will defendour city. It’s just that simple.”But Homan pushed back on sanctuarycities, saying if they cooper-60 The BLUES - FEBRUARY ‘25

ated by allowing ICE into local jails,then federal agents wouldn’t haveto go into communities to arrestpeople.“They’re not letting us in thecounty jail because of their sanctuarylaws, but if we can arrest thebad guy in the safety and securityof a jail — which is safer for theofficer, safer for the aliens, safer forthe community — then it’d be a lotless of the type of low-level offenders,and be a lot less arrested,”Homan said.When agents are forced into thecommunity, “sanctuary cities willget exactly what they don’t want:more agents in neighborhoods andmore collateral arrests while we’redoing this criminal operation,” hesaid.“I hope the sanctuary cities comearound,” he said.Migrant deportation flights with military aircraft have begun.WASHINGTON – The Trumpadministration has started flyingimmigrants who entered theU.S. illegally out of the countryusing military aircraft, a WhiteHouse spokesperson said Friday.White House press secretaryKaroline Leavitt shared photoson the social platform X of individualsin handcuffs boarding amilitary plane.“Deportation flights havebegun,” Leavitt said. “PresidentTrump is sending a strong andclear message to the entireworld: if you illegally enter theUnited States of America, youwill face severe consequences.”Trump made cracking downon immigration his top issue inthe 2024 campaign, and administrationofficials have soughtto aggressively tout any actiontaken on that front in his firstfew days in office.The president took a slew ofexecutive actions on his firstday in office to limit the flow ofmigrants in the United States.Trump paused refugee admissions,declared an emergency atthe southern border and increasedthe U.S. military presenceat the border.Trump’s Department of HomelandSecurity also authorizedagents to carry out arrests atsensitive locations includingschools, churches and businesses,reversing a Biden administrationrule to not make arrestsin what was deemed as “sensitiveareas.”“I said from Day 1, no one’s offthe table. If you’re in the UnitedStates illegally, you got a problem,but we’re focusing on publicsafety threats first,” Trump’sborder czar, Tom Homan, toldNewsNation on Thursday.The BLUES - FEBRUARY ‘25 61