President Trump said he will issue a 2-week delay on what he called the "Illegal Immigration Removal Process," referencing planned mass ICE raids scheduled for Sunday morning in 10 U.S. cities.
At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019
Why it matters: The 10-city Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundup aimed to deport around 2,000 undocumented families, targeting those with final orders of removal.
The backdrop: Trump's tweet emerged after he defended the plan earlier on Saturday, saying that “exportation raids are groups of very, very good law enforcement people going by the law, going by our court system taking people out who came in illegally and out legally.”...
- Some cities targeted by the the Trump administration's planned mass ICE raids already issued statements that they would not participate or cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the Washington Post reports.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Trump to cancel the raids on Saturday.