Although large-scale ICE enforcement operations are typically kept secret to avoid tipping off the intended targets, Donald Trump said in a tweet on Monday night (June 17) that immigration agents are planning to make mass arrests starting “next week.”

“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” the President wrote on Twitter, “They will be removed as fast as they come in.”

Meanwhile, it's been reported that ICE has been preparing this move for months in a plan that's been dubbed as “rocket docket," while back in April the acting ICE director Ronald Vitiello and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were ousted after they hesitated to go forward with the plan. As for their reasons for removal, both Vitello and Nielson had reportedly cited concerns about it's about its preparation, effectiveness, and risk of public outrage after migrant children were separated from their families. 

Vitiello has been now been replaced at ICE by former FBI and Border Patrol official Mark Morgan, who was said to have impressed the president with televised statements in favor of harsh immigration enforcement measures.

Source: WashingtonPost