Exclusive: Before Trump’s purge at DHS, Nielsen and top ICE official challenged plan to arrest thousands of parents and children
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speaks as then-Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy director and acting director Ronald D. Vitiello listens in July 2018 in Washington. Both were ousted shortly after they challenged a secret White House plan to arrest and deport thousands and parents and children.
The arrests were planned for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the other largest U.S. destinations for Central American migrants. Though some of the cities are considered “sanctuary” jurisdictions with police departments that do not cooperate with ICE, the plan did not single out those locations, officials said.
“There was concern that it was being hastily put together, would be ineffective, and might actually backfire by misdirecting resources away from critical border emergency response operations,” said one DHS official, who, like others, described the plan on the condition of anonymity. But administration officials who described the plan said Vitiello and Nielsen’s pushback was a factor in President Trump’s decision to oust both officials — particularly Vitiello.
Vitiello, a 30-year veteran of the Border Patrol, had been on track to be the Trump administration’s first confirmed ICE director when his nomination was abruptly rescinded on April 5 without explanation. Trump told reporters the next morning that he had opted to go in a “tougher direction,” without elaborating.
“ICE needs to do a nationwide operation,” Homan said. “Look for family units and single adults who had their day in court or didn’t show up in court and [were] ordered removed by a federal judge,” he said. “If those orders don’t mean anything, if those orders aren’t executed, there is no integrity to our system.”
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