Houston is one of ten cities where ICE agents will arrest and deport illegal immigrants who have received notification of court-ordered removals on Sunday.
Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke of the pending action Friday night. “Based on the information we’ve received, we don’t anticipate any enhanced activity. That doesn’t mean that things won’t change overnight, or tomorrow or next week, but as of now. We want to relieve people’s nervousness and anxiety.”
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo commented on social media: “When you have a city like our with 600,000 immigrants, and you have political statements being made that we’re going to round up millions of family members it stokes fear and panic in our community.”
According to the Washington Post, which broke the story, the raids are expected to commence before dawn Sunday. ICE is targeting 2,000 families. Earlier in the week, President Trump had tweeted his intention to begin taking steps to deport millions of illegal immigrants.
Mayors in Chicago and Washington DC say they will not cooperate with the ICE round-ups.
Ira Mehlman with the Federation for Immigration Reform tells KTRH News the agents are simply enforcing the law. "These are laws that have been passed by Congress. These are people who violated those laws, had their day in court, and are refusing to leave."