guardians and are suspected gang members, in a widening of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants.
The raids
are set to begin on Sunday and continue through Wednesday, according to an
internal memo seen by Reuters. The teenagers targeted will be 16- and
17-years-old.
The raids
represent a sharp departure from practices during the presidency of Barack
Obama. Under Obama, minors could be targeted for deportation if they had been
convicted of crimes, but were not arrested simply for suspected gang activity
or membership.
U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that a person can be
identified as a gang member if they meet two or more criteria, including having
gang tattoos, frequenting an area notorious for gangs and wearing gang apparel.
The agency
said it does not comment on plans for future law enforcement operations, but
that it focuses on individuals who pose a threat to national security and
public safety.
The memo
instructing field offices to prepare for the raids was dated June 30. A
Department of Homeland Security official speaking on background confirmed on Friday
the raids were still scheduled to take place, though ICE could still change its
plans.
Trump, who
campaigned on the promise of tough immigration enforcement, has made deporting
gang members, especially those belonging to the El Salvador-based Mara Salvatrucha,
or MS-13, a top priority.
"You
have a gang called MS-13. They don't like to shoot people. They like to cut
people. They do things that nobody can believe," Trump said at a rally in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa last month. In a May speech, the president promised the gang
would be "gone from our streets very soon, believe me."
'This Is
Troubling'
Although
children can be deported like adults, U.S. immigration law considers minors
arriving at the border without a parent or guardian particularly vulnerable and
gives them additional protections.
Minors
apprehended entering the country without a guardian are placed in custody
arrangements by U.S. Health and Human Services, often with a family member
living in the United States.
Law
enforcement agencies maintain databases of individuals suspected of having gang
affiliations, but the lists have come under fire from civil rights groups.
Marielena
Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center in Los
Angeles, said the databases often contain inaccurate information.
"This
is troubling on several levels," Hincapie said. "For one, the gang
databases in places like California are rife with errors. We have seen babies
labeled as potential gang members."
Immigration
lawyer David Leopold of Ulmer & Berne said innocent children could be swept
up in the raids.
"In
many cases, children don’t freely decide to join a gang. They are threatened by
older gang members and forced to get a gang tattoo if they live in a certain
neighborhood," he said.
The raids
planned for next week will also target parents who crossed the border illegally
with their children and have been ordered deported by a judge, and immigrants
who entered the country as children without guardians and have since turned 18,
according to the memo.
The document
directs field offices to identify people in their areas that meet the criteria.
The Obama
administration targeted those two groups in 2016 raids that sought to deter a
surge of illegal border crossings by families and minors that began in 2014.
Obama,
however, directed immigration agents to prioritize for deportation only those
who had committed serious crimes or had recently entered the country.
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