Cities across US wary of coming ICE age
Legal experts report growing community concerns over aggressive actions, immunity for federal agents
'Ambitious' quotas
Both Republican and Democratic administrations have deported illegal immigrants and Trump regularly blames his predecessor Democrat Joe Biden for allowing a surge of undocumented migrants to cross the US-Mexico border.
Miller, an architect of the Trump administration's anti-immigration strategy, has reportedly said he'd like to see "one million deportations a year" although it is not an official government policy. He has ambitious quotas of 3,000 arrests a day, The Washington Post reported.
This target is among the strategies that have set the Trump administration apart from prior governments, said Fox, and it is muddying the waters on who they apprehend.
"ICE is supposed to go after violent offenders who are unlawfully in the country, they're supposed to hunt them down and deport them," he said. "Instead, what they've been doing is at the direction of Miller.
"They're doing interior enforcement in cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, right? And what we've seen is them clash with civilians, with US citizens, using excessive force, (and) violating the Constitution with impunity."
Noem pledged this month to give federal officers in Minneapolis bodycams and later roll them out nationwide.
Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, said in a speech on Feb 4, that 700 out of the roughly 3,000 federal officers in the state would be withdrawn from Minnesota immediately.
It came after state and local leaders agreed to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants. Homan took the helm after Greg Bovino, Border Patrol Commander-at-Large was demoted.
"Everyone has a right to peaceful protest, President Trump and I support that," Homan said. But he emphasized that protesters would be prosecuted if they impede federal agents' work. "You're not going to stop ICE you're not going to stop Border Patrol," he added.
Democrats and Republicans have under two weeks to negotiate on legislation for DHS funding. The Democrats want to see tightened warrant requirements and a ban on agents wearing masks.
