Trump delays deportations by two weeks

Washington: US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would delay for two weeks raids on illegal immigrants that were scheduled to start this week.

"At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border," Trump tweeted.

"If not, Deportations start!" the president said.

Local media reported on Friday that the Trump administration was expected to kick off predawn raids on Sunday on up to 2,000 migrant families facing deportation orders in 10 cities including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco, based on cases filed in 10 immigration court locations.

The operation raised concerns about more family separations. Both Chicago and Los Angeles mayors said their cities would not assist in the raids.

"We are all aware of the threat from President Trump regarding raids by ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and in response, Chicago has taken concrete steps to support our immigrant communities," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted on Friday. "CPD (Chicago Police Department) will not cooperate with or facilitate any ICE enforcement actions."
"Los Angeles will always stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters, and our law enforcement officers will never participate in these actions," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also said in a statement.

Trump defended the plan on Saturday, tweeting: "The people that ICE will apprehend have already been ordered to be deported. This means that they have run from the law and run from the courts."

In February, ICE sent some 2,000 letters to families who already had received final orders of removal by judges in absentia, asking them to self-report to local ICE offices by March to comply with the orders, local media reported. The aforementioned operation was expected to target them.