MIAMI – President Donald Trump’s administration has directed federal agents to enforce immigration laws at churches and schools.
Benjamine Huffman, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, issued a memo allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to make arrests in or near “sensitive” areas.
A DHS spokesperson released a statement on Tuesday saying, “criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Also, the humanitarian parole program, which applies to migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua will be operating on a case-by-case basis.
“Just yesterday, in the last 24 hours, ICE arrested over 308,“ Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, told Fox News Wednesday.
Homan also told Lawrence Jones during “Fox & Friends” that there were murderers and rapists among the 308.
“Some of them raped a child. Some were sexual assault of a child,” Homan said.
It remains unclear if the administration plans to prosecute refuge-providing church pastors under The Immigration and Nationality Act, which does prohibit harboring an undocumented migrant.
“We do have people that are concerned. People are unsettled, and some people are scared,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski, of the Archdiocese of Miami.