Just days after Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration announced the arrests of more than 500 illegal immigrants and hundreds of deportations.
He had promised it. From his first days in the White House, Donald Trump launched his policy to fight illegal immigration and implement “the largest expulsion operation in the history of the United States”. The president’s press service announced this Friday, January 24, the arrest and expulsion of “hundreds of illegal criminal migrants” in the United States. The United Stades Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed, in a press release on the social networksthat 538 people have already been arrested and 373 detained.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed the arrest of “538 illegal criminal migrants” and gave X details on the profile of certain arrested migrants. There would be in particular “a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang and several illegal immigrants convicted of sexual crimes against minors”. The Tren de Aragua gang, of Venezuelan origin, is active in South America. Extortion, contract killings, drug trafficking, prostitution and even human trafficking, the group of around 5,000 members is known for its extreme violence. Donald Trump had designated this gang as a “terrorist group” on the day of his inauguration.
11 million migrants threatened?
One of these arrests was denounced by the mayor of the city of Newark. In a statement, he said that “agents had raided a local establishment […]arrested residents and also citizens, without showing a warrant”. According to ABC7LaMonica McIver, deputy of the 10th district of New Jersey, assured that the detention concerned “not only migrants, but also citizens and even an army veteran”.
This operation could only be the beginning. According to the Pew Research Centerthe United States has 11 million undocumented migrants, according to its latest estimate in 2022. Nearly half are from Mexico. They are therefore now theoretically all threatened with expulsion. Mexico is also preparing to receive these deportees: shelters are being built at the border. “We expect to receive 200 to 250 people per day,” according to the mayor of Matamoros – a border town – Alberto Granados.
During his first term, Donald Trump carried out an average of 80,000 deportations per year, twice as many as under the presidency of Joe Biden. They will not be without consequences. These undocumented immigrants represent 18% of agricultural workers and 13% of construction workers. This could therefore cause a shortage of labor and therefore a drop in production in the country.