July 14, 2019

ICE Started Its Immigration Raids—But Its Agents Got Turned Away

The raids began in New York, but agents were rebuffed.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain a person during a raid in Richmond, Virginia, in October.Steve Helber/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement began its promised raids on undocumented immigrants on Saturday—but they didn’t get off to a good start.

Federal immigration agents tried and failed to raid two New York City homes on Saturday. Officials were turned away by people at those residences because the agents reportedly did not have warrants.

A spokesperson for ICE declined to give any specific details about the failed raids to reporters, commenting to the Wall Street Journal: “As always, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.”

The raids are set to begin in earnest on Sunday in 10 cities: Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco. Most of these municipalities are heavily Democratic, and some have declared themselves to be sanctuary cities, resisting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Immigration activists in these cities have promised to mobilize against the raids. Democratic presidential hopefuls have also spoken out publicly against the raids, signaling that immigration will once again figure prominently in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

President Donald Trump scrapped a previous series of planned raids earlier this year. Still, the president has remained steadfast in his promise of “removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.”

That is pretty much impossible, given that ICE doesn’t have anywhere near the resources needed to make good on Trump’s repeated threats.

Trump’s critics have seized on the moment to denounce the raids. Speaking to the Journal, Vanita Gupta, CEO of the Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights Council and a former Obama Justice Department official, called them a “craven action [that] may motivate his political base.”

Meanwhile, back in New York City, ICE agents promised to return to the two residences at which they’d been turned away. This time, they’ll have warrants.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate