WASHINGTON: US authorities arrested 538 migrants and deported hundreds in a mass operation just days into President Donald Trump’s second administration, his press secretary said late Thursday.
“The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals,” Karoline Leavitt said in a post on social platform X, adding “hundreds” were deported by military aircraft.
“The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway. Promises made. Promises kept,” she said.
Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling entry to the United States.
On Thursday Newark city mayor Ras J. Baraka said in a statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “raided a local establishment... detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens, without producing a warrant.”
The mayor said one of those detained during the raid was a US military veteran, “this egregious act is in plain violation” of the US Constitution.
An ICE post on X said: “Enforcement update ... 538 arrests, 373 detainers lodged.”
New Jersey Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim said they were “deeply concerned” about the Newark raid by immigration agents.
“Actions like this one sow fear in all of our communities — and our broken immigration system requires solutions, not fear tactics,” they said in a joint statement.
Trump has vowed to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history,” impacting an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.
On his first day in office he signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area while vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”
His administration said it would also reinstate a “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed during Trump’s first presidency, under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.
The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border.
Earlier in the week the Republican-led US Congress green-lit a bill to expand pretrial incarceration for foreign criminal suspects.
Trump frequently invoked dark imagery about how illegal migration was “poisoning the blood” of the nation, words that were seized upon by opponents as reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
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US arrests, deports hundreds of ‘illegal immigrants’ — Trump press chief
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US arrests, deports hundreds of ‘illegal immigrants’ — Trump press chief
- 538 illegal immigrant criminals arrested, “hundreds” deported by military aircraft
- Trump had promised crackdown on illegal immigration during election campaign
Russia pledges support for Venezuela against US ‘hostilities’
- Russian foreign minister expresses 'solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people'
- US has seized two oil tankers linked to the country and is pursuing a third
CARACUS: Russia on Monday expressed “full support” for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by US forces deployed in the Caribbean.
The pledge from Moscow, itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Caracas and Washington.
In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.
A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.
“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.
“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement.
US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.
US President Donald Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.
Trump claims Caracas under President Nicolas Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
He has also accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” — in an apparent reference to the country’s nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: “we want it back.”
Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”
Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”
Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”
- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -
On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”
Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.
Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”
US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.
Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.
The pledge from Moscow, itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Caracas and Washington.
In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.
A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.
“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.
“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement.
US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.
US President Donald Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.
Trump claims Caracas under President Nicolas Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
He has also accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” — in an apparent reference to the country’s nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: “we want it back.”
Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”
Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”
Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”
- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -
On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”
Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.
Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”
US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.
Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.
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