Why those ICE raids are being announced in advance

Starting Sunday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is expected to resume its previously announced plan to apprehend thousands of illegal immigrants across the country.

The reinvigorated effort comes just weeks after President Trump tweeted that ICE was preparing to kick off days of raids in at least 10 major cities. The operation was halted, however, the day before it was set to start, to give Congress time to arrive at a legislative solution on immigration. Trump said his administration would relaunch the raids after a two-week window – after the Independence Day observance – and that time now seems to have arrived.

So why are the raids being publicized days in advance?

“It’s unprecedented. But there is a political purpose behind it,” Thomas Kilbride, a retired Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent and ICE policy adviser, told Fox News. He said the president has tried to get Democrats to come to the table because asylum laws need to change, and this is a way to bargain.

ICE agents are expected to target a minimum of 2,000 immigrants who have already been listed for deportation, but Kilbride said there will be “collateral” fallout.