It is business as usual for President Donald Trump's deportation offensive despite the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections, with immigration arrests reported across the country even as the president publicly questioned his own approach.
After Democrats won control of the next Congress, Trump said his immigration crackdown may have been "too tough" and suggested it was time to sit down with the rival party. "I'd love to do something on immigration," he said in an interview with CBS "60 Minutes" recorded Friday. Hours later, he named Stephen Miller, the architect of his hardline immigration agenda, as his new chief of staff. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, said his orders had not changed.
"Deportations will continue," Mullin wrote in an online post the day after the election, warning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes no days off and that "this includes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Election Day."
Advocates reported arrests from California to Michigan to Massachusetts. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not released numbers. Maria Bilbao, a campaign coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in Miami, said she has received at least one call a day from someone detained in South Florida since the election. "Everything remains exactly the same. The arrests have not ceased at all," Bilbao said.
In Los Angeles, masked immigration officers in body armor blocked a hospital emergency room driveway in a heavily Latino neighborhood early Saturday. Erick Gasca, 31, who lives near Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center, said an "unprecedented" number of vehicles with tinted windows and no license plates were parked near the emergency room entrance. "I thought they were going to raid the hospital or something," he recalled. The Department of Homeland Security declined to explain the officers' presence, though Bill Essayli, the top Justice Department prosecutor in Los Angeles, said they were bringing a detainee for medical treatment and that two people were arrested for assaulting federal agents. "ICE does not target hospitals, schools, or churches," the department said in a statement. The hospital said it was not involved: "White Memorial does not participate in immigration enforcement," hospital president Daniel Fontoura said, adding it would not let such activities "compromise our commitment to patient care and safety."
A married couple from Orlando, Florida, was arrested Saturday at the airport in Phoenix while traveling to a funeral. Gustavo Romanello and Agustin Baccega, both from Argentina, have work permits while they seek asylum after entering the United States about six years ago, according to Jonathan Batchelor, a family friend. Batchelor was on the phone with them at the time. As the couple left the airport, two casually dressed officers asked if one was Agustin Baccega. Batchelor heard the officer say, "Asylum seekers are not in the United States legally." Both men remain in detention centers. They worked as acrobats in Florida and had no criminal record, Batchelor said. "This is just taking good people who have been following the rules out of their lives and out of the lives of those who rely upon them and care about them," he said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the arrests.
In central Alabama, twin 19-year-old brothers from Venezuela were arrested while driving back to college a day after the election. Luis and Carlos Orta-Santoro, who have lived in the U.S. for four years, are soccer players at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville. Relatives say they have pending asylum applications, valid work permits and no criminal records. Both are now in an immigration detention facility. "Our family is devastated," said their aunt, Carolina Orta. The department said that while they had entered the country legally, they had "overstayed in defiance of our laws," and their case would be heard by an immigration judge. It said pending asylum applications do not confer legal status in the U.S. The school said in a statement: "Both young men are valued members of the Wallace State community, and our thoughts are with them during this difficult time. We sincerely hope for a positive resolution to their situation."
Florida Highway Patrol officers and ICE agents have detained people in their cars, as well as in places including supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations. Immigrants under supervision have also been arrested when they showed up at ICE's Miami office for their appointments. The Associated Press report also describes an 8-year-old Haitian boy in San Diego who was taken into custody on November 4 after being summoned to an ICE office, a case that drew protests from his school district.
