Trump officials secretly plotted mass arrests of families and children

Trump’s team planned and almost executed a series of mass arrests targeting immigrant families in 10 major cities across the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) came up with an initial target list of 2,500 adults and children — which was only the beginning, according to a Monday report in the Washington Post.

The ultimate goal was to target 10,000 parents, children, and single adults — the vast majority of whom were seeking asylum — in order to frighten families and discourage them from trying to cross the border.

Trump aide and anti-immigrant zealot Stephen Miller was a driving force behind the plot. According to the Post, he was “eager to execute dramatic, highly visible mass arrests” that would act as a deterrent to other families seeking to come to the U.S.

The Department of Justice even set up a so-called “rocket docket” system to bypass the backlog of immigration cases in the courts and deport families at a faster rate.

The plan was originally developed in September 2018, in part because of Trump’s growing anger at the number of immigrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border.

It was scrapped because top officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opposed the measure. But the opposition wasn’t because of any ethical concerns or hesitations about cruelty to children seeking asylum, according to the Post — it was for logistical reasons.

“There was concern that [the arrest plan] was being hastily put together, would be ineffective and might actually backfire by misdirecting resources away from critical border emergency response operations,” one anonymous DHS official told the Post.

“The level of depravity in terms of this administration has no bounds,” Melissa Mark-Viverito, president of the Latino Victory Project, told the Post. “It’s just insane.”

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) told Shareblue Media earlier this month that the Trump administration is “obsessed with attacking immigrants” and seeks to “turn prejudice into policy.” Chu was commenting on the Trump administration’s attempts to bypass the courts and more quickly deport immigrants.

Trump and his team are determined to come up with increasingly cruel ways to terrorize society’s most vulnerable members, including parents and children seeking asylum in the United States.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.