White House also plans to deport foreigners granted temporary residence by Biden

A raid by immigration police on Thursday at a wholesale seafood business in Newark, New Jersey, has raised numerous questions about the scope and objectives of the deportation orders signed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term. The operation by ICE agents at the Newark business resulted in an unspecified number of arrests, including undocumented immigrants as well as U.S. citizens, among them an Army veteran. Compounding the confusion surrounding the raid is the White House’s plan to expand its deportation efforts to include 1.4 million temporary residents — in other words, legal residents, such as citizens who fled Cuba or Venezuela.

Although it is unclear whether the raid in New Jersey’s most populous city was triggered by any of the White House’s new enforcement directives — as ICE regularly conducts actions across the region — the fact that those detained included citizens with proper documentation, as well as others with temporary residency status, raises concerns. This suggests that, beyond the stated aim of deporting only undocumented individuals with criminal records, including many awaiting trial, the mass deportation campaign may also target the roughly one million foreigners who received temporary residence permits during president Joe Biden’s administration. Activists and legal groups worry that the scope of the mass expulsions could also extend to the thousands of Afghans and Ukrainians who sought refuge in the U.S. in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Under a memo signed late Thursday by the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by The New York Times, the Republican administration has directed ICE officials to swiftly deport migrants who were temporarily allowed into the U.S. under two Biden-era programs: the CBP One asylum application and an initiative that permitted entry to certain migrants fleeing Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti. These individuals were granted a two-year residency permit known as parole, a program that was terminated by Trump.

The memo provides immigration agents with a roadmap for identifying, detaining, and removing individuals — powers that have traditionally been used only at the Mexican border to expel migrants on the spot. Newark’s mayor alleges these powers were used during Thursday’s raid, which Mayor Ras Baraka claims was carried out without a warrant.

Meanwhile, the White House has confirmed that deportations have begun, posting two photos on the social network X (formerly Twitter), which is owned by Elon Musk. The images show rows of individuals boarding military planes, accompanied by a message from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt: “Deportation flights have begun. President Trump is sending a strong message to the world: those who enter the United States of America illegally will face serious consequences.” Leavitt’s post does not provide details about the departure airports or the number or identity of those being deported. However, the images show individuals in handcuffs, visibly young men, though they are pictured from behind.

In another message posted to its X account on Thursday, ICE reported that 538 people were questioned (asked to identify themselves) and 373 arrest warrants were issued, although it did not specify the duration or location of the actions. According to the Republican administration’s plans, the first significant push against illegal immigration was set to take place on Monday in Chicago, a sanctuary city governed by Democrats, where a large shelter with capacity for nearly 2,000 migrants was evicted on Christmas Eve. The second stage of the large-scale deportations was expected to unfold in New York, according to Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, but the complaint from Newark’s mayor, Democrat Ras Baraka, has raised doubts about the timeline.

The implementation of the new immigration policy is also revealing deep divisions within the Democratic Party. On one hand, there is the critical and combative stance of Baraka, who has long championed policies of protecting immigrants. On the other, there is the more self-interested acquiescence of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has shown a willingness to support or at least tolerate ICE’s actions in an effort to align himself with Trump for purely political reasons (Adams, who is facing corruption charges, will be tried in April). The closure of the Chicago shelter has also been interpreted as a precautionary move to avoid resistance to the inevitable.

Baraka was one of the first local officials in the U.S. to speak out about a specific raid under the new administration. In 2017, he signed an executive order affirming the city’s sanctuary status and strongly opposed Trump’s immigration policies during his first term. This contrasts sharply with Adams, who has expressed willingness to cooperate with ICE agents in New York, despite the city’s long-standing obligation to provide shelter to new arrivals, a mandate that has been in place since the 1980s.

Of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally or with temporary status in 2022, about 44% resided in states with “sanctuary” laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. This number excludes those living in sanctuary cities and counties in areas without state laws, such as New Mexico.

The confusing incident in Newark, which has only been reported by the mayor and a representative from the district — both Democrats — was confirmed by ICE. In a statement, a spokesperson explained that agents “may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting fieldwork and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today [Thursday] in Newark.”

However, Baraka condemned it as a constitutional outrage, pointing out that one of the detainees is a veteran who suffered the “indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned.” “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” the mayor said in a statement.

ICE, for its part, is investigating the incident. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed on X the number of arrests provided by ICE, describing all those arrested as “illegal immigrant criminals.” Although ICE has been selective with details, Leavitt stated that among those detained were gang members who had escaped from a Venezuelan prison, as well as individuals convicted of sexual crimes — in theory, the type of people the Trump administration had originally said would be prioritized for deportation.

Some of the information released by Leavitt was picked up by the ultra-conservative Fox News channel, which ran the headline: “Trump’s ICE nabs child sex offenders among 530+ illegal immigrants caught in single day.” However, local media differ in their time references and report that nearly 500 undocumented immigrants were detained in sanctuary cities, including New York and New Jersey, between Tuesday and Wednesday. According to sources, these immigrants had outstanding warrants for various crimes.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition