title: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Begins…Feds Conduct Raids In At Least 6 States With Focus On Finding And Deporting Criminals [VIDEO]
text: U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of  routine  immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term  raids,  and prefers to say authorities are conducting  targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries.  We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system,  she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of  routine  immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term  raids,  and prefers to say authorities are conducting  targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries.  We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system,  she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.David Marin, ICE s field director in the Los Angeles area, said in a conference call with reporters Friday that 75 percent of the approximately 160 people detained in the operation this week had felony convictions; the rest had misdemeanors or were in the U.S. illegally. Officials said Friday night that 37 of those detained in Los Angeles has been deported to Mexico. Dangerous criminals who should be deported are being released into our communities,  Marin said.A video that circulated on social media Friday appeared to show ICE agents detaining people in an Austin shopping center parking lot. Immigration advocates also reported roadway checkpoints, where ICE appeared to be targeting immigrants for random ID checks, in North Carolina and in Austin. ICE officials denied that authorities used checkpoints during the operations.For entire story-Washington Post