US President Donald Trump took the unorthodox step of announcing via his Twitter account on Monday that the government will embark on a major crackdown of illegal immigrants
The claim was repeated by the president yesterday, just before he departed the White House for Florida to attend a rally at which he announced his re-election campaign, when he said a move would be made to remove millions of illegal immigrants from the country starting next week.
Officials and immigration experts have said it would be unlikely and impractical that immigration authorities could move so quickly to deport large numbers of people as resources have already been stretched by an influx of migrants at the Mexico border. President Trump’s message has however put cities and immigration advocacy groups around the country on notice. The unplanned announcement also took US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials by surprise, as it has made sensitive law enforcement plans public. The agency has announced that it will continue to conduct “routine targeted enforcement operations”.
President Trump has also suggested over Twitter that Guatemala is in the final stages of signing an agreement to act as a safe third country which that government has denied.
