Reason #5541 That Trump Was Elected

ICE: Arrests up nearly 40% over last year

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests are up substantially under President Trump. ICE published a statement on its website highlighting the increase since the president signed an executive order on immigration enforcement in January:

ICE has arrested more than 41,000 individuals who are either known or suspected of being in the country illegally. This reflects an increase of 37.6 percent over the same period in 2016.
Between Jan. 22 and April 29, 2017, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers administratively arrested 41,318 individuals on civil immigration charges. Between Jan. 24 and April 30, 2016, ERO arrested 30,028.

Acting Director Thomas Homan says of the arrests, “ICE agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security, which has resulted in a substantial increase in the arrest of convicted criminal aliens. However, when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law.”

That latter point has been a major concern for immigration activists who are concerned about people being swept up in an ICE sweep despite having committed no crime. Acting director Homan says nearly 75% of those arrested are convicted criminals, but Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice Education Fund, disputes that. He tells the LA Times, “These guys spin, distort, exaggerate, and dissemble almost as much as the president they work for.” Sharry adds, “Instead of targeting serious criminals, they are targeting every immigrant they can get their hands on and calling all of them criminals.”

And I'm OK with that. ICE should focus on criminal illegal aliens, but if, in the course of seeking them out, they run into illegal aliens who have not been proven to be criminals (other than entering the country illegally), are they supposed to just overlook it, and say "Never mind?" They were under the Obama regime. And it's pretty clear that they were handicapping ICE's attempts to arrest criminal aliens, given the sudden rise in their arrests and deportations.

Democrats didn't like the old electorate, and they were trying to import a new one.