WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department is releasing the number of people arrested in raids last week targeting immigrants living illegally in the United States. The figure is far below the totals of similar raids conducted under the Obama administration.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says immigration agents arrested 680 immigrants in roundups around the country. The arrests sparked fears among the immigrant community.
Immigration advocates and the White House both suggested the arrests were President Donald Trump’s first salvo in what he has promised will be a stepped up campaign to find and deport criminal immigrants and others living in the U.S. illegally.
But Kelly and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that carried out the arrests, downplayed the effort as routine enforcement efforts.
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