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Tracy Mumford (0:35)
From the new York Times. It's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, December 5th. Here's what we're covering.
Tracy Mumford (0:46)
The Times has gotten access to newly available government data on hundreds of thousands of immigration arrests carried out by the Trump administration and and found that most of the immigrants who've been arrested during crackdowns in major cities had no criminal record. Millions of illegal aliens with violent records have flooded into our communities. We conducted a deportation flight to remove some of the most barbaric violent individuals illegally in the United States. Incredible. Law enforcement officers are arresting violent illegal aliens from American communities every day. The administration has repeatedly said that its aggressive and widening immigration crackdown that has targeted cities like L a, Chicago and D.C. has been crucial for apprehending dangerous people. But the records the Times reviewed, which cover every ICE arrest through mid October, show that only about 7% of people arrested in those major operations had violent convictions. Of the people who had nonviolent convictions, the most common were for driving under the influence and other traffic offenses. Overall, the share of immigrants with criminal records that ICE has arrested under the Trump administration is considerably lower than it was under the Biden administration. That could be in part because Trump officials have been casting a much wider net, arresting people at Home Depots and schools, at airports and green card interviews, notably in September when the Supreme Court gave the green light for immigration officers to use race and ethnicity and as factors in who they can stop and question. The arrests of people without a criminal history jumped in response to questions from the Times. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security reiterated that the government is targeting, quote, the worst of the worst, and pointed to the fact that beyond those who've had criminal convictions, many others who've been arrested have pending criminal charges. Meanwhile, the Times has been covering how the stepped up immigration enforcement is sending shock waves through communities across the country. In New York City, there's been outrage from elected officials after a six year old boy was separated from his father when the two were arrested during a scheduled immigration hearing last week. Their case is apparently part of a tactic the administration is using to pressure undocumented immigrants to leave the US by taking children from their parents if they refuse to cooperate. At the same time in Minneapolis, the mayor says, quote, people are incredibly scared as the administration launches a new effort to detain Somali immigrants there. He said he's been getting questions from people about whether it's safe to go to the grocery store or to drop their kids off at school. And in New Orleans, where federal agents have also started another crackdown, my colleagues talked with immigrants who are afraid of getting caught up in it, including the owners of a Mexican restaurant who now roll out mattresses on the floor at closing time and sleep there so they don't risk getting pulled over on the drive home.