The ICE man cometh.
Federal officers swept into sanctuary cities on President Trump’s first full day in office Tuesday, nabbing more than 300 illegal migrant criminals — including an attempted murderer and a child molester — to hold them for deportation, The Post has learned.
The coast-to-coast dragnet — a multi-agency effort led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — picked up felons in and around Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, Washington, DC, and Miami, a senior Trump administration official said.
Apart from the arrests, Trump has ordered the implementation of the following:
- Effectively closed the southern border to those seeking asylum, including canceling refugee flights from places such as Afghanistan, where thousands have been seeking to come to the U.S. after helping our troops, many hoping to reunite with family already here.
- Expanded a rule that lets people be deported with little administrative process from those close to the border who have recently crossed, to any undocumented person, anywhere in the U.S. who has arrived within the past two years — no criminal record required. So much for only going after the bad guys.
- Ended prohibitions against immigration raids in churches, schools and other “sensitive” places, which is already causing fear for immigrants.
- Ordered active-duty military to the border. Up to 10,000 members of the military forces may be sent to the southern border and other points of entry, though their exact duties remain unclear.
- Attempted to end birthright citizenship, which is in the Constitution, but also, do we trust the Supreme Court to care?
- And Wednesday, Congress moved the Laken Riley Act forward, making it likely it will land on Trump’s desk soon. It would require that folks accused — not even convicted — of theft and certain other minor crimes to be held in detention, vastly increasing the number of people in detention and raising some serious due-process concerns.
- Ending efforts to reunify children separated from families during the first Trump term.
It was just the start of what border czar Tom Homan has promised will be a renewed effort to boot 700,000 illegal migrants who have committed crimes from the US — and sanctuary cities will not be spared.
“ICE is doing their job,” Homan told Fox News on Wednesday.
Homan has said ICE officers have compiled a “target sheet” of the illegal migrants with criminal records whom they’re looking to arrest and deport.
“So, they’re out there right now looking for the most serious public safety threats and throughout the country, we’re putting them back to work,” Homan said of ICE.
Trump has promised a roundup of illegal immigrants in the US of historic proportions. Under President Joe Biden’s open borders policies, some 8 million people entered the US illegally — an influx that rivals the days of Ellis Island.
In Boston, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported that ICE officers arrested at least eight migrants — including a Haitian gang member with 18 arrests who shouted, “F–k Trump, Biden forever!” as he was hauled away.
ICE also nabbed one illegal migrant who wasn’t originally a target, but happened to be with MS-13 gang members when the feds showed up.
A White House official gave The Post details of some of the other migrants taken into ICE custody on Tuesday.
Sex offender Edward Marlon Rauda-Aldnada, 56, of El Salvador, was arrested in Silver Spring, Maryland, just north of Washington, DC.
Jose Barco-Chirino, a Venezuelan national, was taken into custody at Colorado State Prison in Canon City, Colo., where he was serving time after being convicted of attempted murder, extreme indifference and felony menacing with a real or simulated weapon.
He will remain in ICE custody until an immigration judge can rule on deportation proceedings.
ERO busted Miguel Andres-Mateo, 20, from Guatemala, in Cornelia, Georgia, outside Atlanta. Andres-Mateo had previously been convicted for driving under the influence and was previously ordered removed from the US in 2014 by an immigration judge. He too will remain in ICE custody pending removal from the country.
In Philadelphia, ICE nabbed Kodir Mazhidov, a 22-year-old Tajik national, who was detained after violating the terms of his release from the immigration agency’s custody. On Dec. 29, Philly cops arrested Mazhidov for crimes including reckless endangering another person, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and reckless driving.
Authorities in Seattle arrested Mexican national Victorino Gaytan-Hernandez, who was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor. He was in the country illegally and will be held in ICE custody until his deportation.
In Miami, ICE arrested six illegal aliens from Guatemala who were living in Martin County, Fla., who had lengthy rap sheets including battery, child abuse, fraud, resisting arrest, DWI, trespassing and vandalism. They were detained as threats to public safety and for violating the terms of their release.
In an earlier interview with The Post, border czar Homan emphasized that even without the help of sanctuary city and state leaders, the feds would still “wait ’til they get out of jail, then we’ll go out into the neighborhoods and get them.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking measures to seal off the southern border from illegal crossings.
Border Patrol officers have been barred from releasing illegal migrants into the country, forcing them to hold and deport border crossers, Homeland Security sources told The Post
Trump is preparing to send 10,000 troops to the border as part of his order for the US military to secure the nation’s frontiers.
He also sent 1,500 troops to the border Wednesday, who will reinforce about 2,200 active-duty soldiers and thousands of state national guardsmen already there.
“President Trump signed an executive order — 1,500 additional troops to the United States southern border. This comes off of his day one action … to direct the Department of Defense to make homeland security a core mission of the agency,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
“This is something President Trump campaigned on. The American people have been waiting for such a time as this, for our Department of Defense to actually take homeland security seriously. This is a number one priority of the American people and the president has already delivered.”
Written with additional reports from New York Post
