NYPD memo: Officers should not assist with immigration enforcement
NYPD prepares for ICE raids in leaked memo
FOX 5 News has obtained a leaked NYPD memo reminding officers not to assist federal agents with immigration enforcement. FOX 5's Stephanie Bertini has more on how the NYPD will handle interactions with federal authorities and the latest moves on immigration by the Trump administration.
NEW YORK - In an internal NYPD operations memo obtained by FOX 5 NY, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reminds officers that local police should not be assisting federal authorities when it comes to immigration enforcement.
NYPD preparing for Trump administration's immigration crackdown
What we know:
The memo emphasizes to officers that immigration status is a civil matter, not a criminal one, and officers are instructed to focus solely on criminal investigations without interfering in federal immigration enforcement efforts.
However, while the order highlights existing laws preventing local police from collaborating with federal immigration authorities, it also instructs officers not to take actions that impede federal agents conducting civil immigration enforcement.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration threw out policies that prevented officers enforcing immigration laws from arresting migrants at sensitive locations like schools and churches.
The Pentagon is also set to deploy as many as 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border.
ICE makes over 300 arrests
By the numbers:
The Trump administration has increased immigration enforcement efforts, with ICE focusing on arresting individuals deemed public safety or national security threats.
Border Czar Tom Homan said that deportation efforts have already begun, and that ICE recently arrested 308 individuals with criminal backgrounds.
"Right now, as we've said repeatedly and President Trump's been clear, we're concentrating on the worst, first," Homan said.
The backstory:
President Donald Trump is putting into effect his immigration and border security plans, reviving priorities from his first administration that his predecessor had rolled back, including forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico and finishing the border wall.
Others launched sweeping new strategies, like an effort to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in America and ending use of a Biden-era app used by nearly a million migrants to enter America.
"I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came," Trump said in his inauguration speech to thunderous applause.
Local perspective:
Locally, the expected raids are already drawing opposition. A church on the Upper West Side has already put up a sign on the door that reads "ICE and Homeland Security is not permitted."
The Source: This article uses information from The Associated Press and