Hundreds of additional ICE officers are being deployed in unmarked cars in cities that refuse to help with deportations as part of an initiative called Operation Palladium, reports the New York Times. Despite the fact that we are in a global pandemic and rapidly intensifying public health crisis, the goal of Operation Palladium is to "arrest as many undocumented immigrants as possible." Immigration law violations under this effort are considered civil rather than criminal infractions.
The initiative began last month and will run through the end of the year in sanctuary cities like Boston, New York, Newark, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Many of these cities are simultaneously contending with whether or not to issue shelter in place orders to its residents in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. In light of growing COVID-19 concerns, ICE told the Los Angeles Times that precautionary measures would be taken, but that arrests would continue regardless. In Los Angeles, ICE agents continued their arrests. The only change was that now they brought along protective face masks and sanitizing wipes.
"Immigrant detention centers are institutions that uniquely heighten the danger of disease transmission," ACLU's National Prison Project senior staff attorney, Eunice Cho, said in a statement on Monday. "In normal circumstances, ICE has proven time and again that it is unable to protect the health and safety of detained people."
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