It was the operation that reportedly cost former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen her job. She was reluctant to go through with it. So, Trump got rid of her, part of the massive overhaul at DHS that occurred in April. To put it simply, we’re going to have a large-scale raid on illegals by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s not cruel. It’s not immoral. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the law. You cannot come here illegally, no matter how sad your sob story is—we have a new sheriff in town. It’s time for these folks to go. The president tweeted about the planned raids last week, but they were postponed. Why? Well, from sources at DHS, acting director Kevin McAleenan leaked the plan in order to torpedo the raid. Trump did mention the ICE raids, but The Washington Post got their hands on some key information that reportedly no one but a select few knew, according to Anna Giaritelli of The Washington Examiner. In fact, these five sources that spoke with her accused McAleenan of leaking the plan to the media in anticipation of the blowback that could follow [emphasis mine]:
In a move he said was to placate Democrats, President Trump announced on Saturday that the nationwide immigration enforcement operation planned to start Sunday — aimed at migrant families who illegally remain in the country despite being denied asylum — was called off to give lawmakers two weeks to work on a plan to fix legal “loopholes” he said have enticed migrants to come to the U.S.
However, all five officials who spoke with the Washington Examiner confirmed McAleenan's decision to go rogue and stymie the operation was what prompted the White House to call off the 10-city operation.
The planned raids in cities such as Los Angeles, Miami, and Houston, were first reported by the Washington Post on Friday.
The sources said only a small number of people in the White House, ICE, and DHS were even aware of the plan’s details, including which cities, the date and time, and who would be targeted.
Two officials said the acting secretary, who was promoted internally in April, had fought for months during closed-door discussions with White House officials, the former acting ICE Director Ronald Vitiello, and the new acting ICE Director Mark Morgan against the plan…
[…]
“I know he has not approved of this operation for months,” one person familiar with those private conversations said during a phone call Saturday night. “The president wouldn’t leak that. ICE wouldn’t leak that. There’s only a few people involved in these discussions … The only one who could have shared the details of those operations were Kevin.”
“That’s our belief,” a second official said when asked if McAleenan was behind the leak. “The secretary was not supportive from day one.”
The first official said McAleenan may have leaked it so that he could “be the martyr” in the face of anticipated blowback in the future.
A third official claimed McAleenan “cares more about what liberals and 'Never Trumpers' in Congress and the media think of him the achieving the express mission of his department.”
But then, The Hill reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleaded with Trump to halt the raids:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reportedly called President Trump on Friday night and urged him to call off planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids hours before Trump announced he had done so.
CNN reported Saturday that the House Democratic leader spoke with the president for roughly 12 minutes Friday night, hours before Trump announced on Twitter that raids in 10 cities planned for Sunday had been delayed for two weeks to give lawmakers time to reach an agreement on asylum policy and other immigration issues.
"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. If not, Deportations start!" Trump tweeted Friday.
So, which story is true? Maybe they’re both true. Maybe Nancy gave Trump an escape hatch to use while he figures out what the hell is going on over at DHS…if these sources are accurate. There are always ulterior motives in this town. Either way, the raids are halted…for now.
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