The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Monday against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking information as to how the agency plans to carry out the mass deportations planned by President-elect Donald Trump.
The lawsuit is seeking information regarding ICE Air, which was used to remove approximately 140,000 illegal immigrants last year. The ACLU is concerned that the Air Operations network could be increased to aid the incoming Trump administration in deporting the over 11 million people that have entered the U.S. during President Joe Biden's term.
"For months, the ACLU has been preparing for the possibility of a mass detention and deportation program, and FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) litigation has been a central part of our roadmap," said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project. "A second Trump administration underscores the urgency of our litigation."
Trump had made illegal immigration and its effects on society a key campaign issue and has promised he will conduct mass deportations if elected. "We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," Trump said last month during a speech in Los Angeles.
"Little is known about how President-elect Trump would carry out its mass deportation agenda, but what we do know is that this proposal has already instilled fear among immigrant communities," said Eva Bitran, director of immigrants' rights at ACLU SoCal. "The public has a right to know how its taxpayer dollars could be used to fund deportation flights that would tear apart not only families, but also our communities."
Tom Homan, whom Trump has picked to be border czar, denied allegations the administration plans to remove U.S. citizens under the planned mass deportation operation. During a "60 Minutes" interview in October, Homan said "families can be deported" together — leaving many to assume U.S. citizens would be included.
"The Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to disclose information requested by the public," said Sophie Mancall-Bitel, a partner at Mayer Brown LLP, which joined the lawsuit. "It's more important than ever that we understand what federal resources could be used to forcibly remove people from the United States."
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the president-elect's intentions in a statement early in the week, "President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history."
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