President Donald Trump announced that efforts to detain and deport immigrants without legal status in the nation’s “largest cities,” including Los Angeles, “must expand” in a recent social media post.
The president said this expansion is to achieve a “very important goal” that he has ordered U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers with in a post on Truth Social on Sunday, June 15.
ICE officers are to do “all in their power” to deliver the “single largest mass deportation program in history,” Trump said in the post.
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport illegal aliens in America’s largest cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where millions upon millions of illegal aliens reside,” Trump’s Truth Social post read.
“These, and other such cities, are the core of the Democrat power center, where they use illegal aliens to expand their voter base, cheat in elections, and grow the welfare state, robbing good paying jobs and benefits from hardworking American citizens,” the post continued.
Trump’s order comes more than a week after protests over federal immigration enforcement sweeps broke out in Los Angeles, with protests spreading across California and the nation. The order also follows the over 200 “No Kings” protests and demonstrations that occurred across California as part of a nationwide effort in opposition of Trump on Saturday, June 14.
In the Truth Social post, Trump called for ICE, U.S. Border patrol and law enforcement to focus on “inner cities” and “those places where sanctuary cities play such a big role.”
The president also said that ICE, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the “patriots at Pentagon and the State Department” have his “unwavering support.”
What did Newsom say in response to Trump?
Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Trump’s order in a post on X on Monday, June 16.
“His plan is clear: Incite violence and chaos in blue states, have an excuse to militarize our cities, demonize his opponents, keep breaking the law and consolidate power,” Newsom said on social media. “It’s illegal and we will not let it stand.”
Newsom and Trump have been battling in the courts over Trump’s mobilization of the California National Guard, in which the office of the governor has described recently as being “unlawfully and unconstitutionally seized” by Trump and the Department of Defense.
Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Is Trump calling for more deportations in Los Angeles? ICE ordered to meet an ‘important goal’
Reporting by Paris Barraza, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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