Judges are scrutinizing the latest mismatch between White House deportation rhetoric and DOJ's position in court
'The Trump Administration is committed to carrying out the largest mass deportation operation in history by enforcing federal immigration law and removing the countless violent, criminal illegal aliens that Joe Biden let flood into American communities,' Jackson said.
A Justice Department spokesperson said there is no disconnect between the DOJ's court filings and the White House's public statements.
'The entire Trump Administration is united in fully enforcing our nation's immigration laws and the DOJ continues to play an important role in vigorously defending the President's deportation agenda in court,' the DOJ spokesperson said.
Immigration advocates have pointed to reports about the daily 3,000-arrest quota as proof that the administration's most extreme tactics — ones they contend violate due process and other constitutional or legal principles — are the result of a single-minded drive to hit numerical targets. Judges have pointed to those reports as well, figuring them into the analysis of whether the administration's tactics are legal.
The existence of the target has created particular complications in the case challenging the immigration sweeps in Los Angeles. The administration is fighting an order that a federal judge issued last month prohibiting ICE from conducting 'roving' immigration arrests based on broad criteria such as presence at a home improvement store or car wash.
The claim of a quota featured prominently in oral arguments at the 9th Circuit last week on the administration's bid to overturn that order. And when the 9th Circuit ruled Friday night, leaving the order largely intact, the judges seemed to highlight the contradiction by quoting the entirety of DOJ's denial and then taking note of Miller's statement to Fox about a 'goal.'
The three Democratic-appointed judges assigned to the case said the vague factors ICE appeared to be relying on 'impermissibly cast suspicion on large segments of the law-abiding population, including anyone in the District who appears Hispanic, speaks Spanish or English with an accent, wears work clothes, and stands near a carwash, in front of a Home Depot, or at a bus stop.'
During the arguments Monday, the appeals judges assigned to the case pressed the Justice Department for an answer on whether ICE officers were under pressure to meet some numerical target that might encourage them to detain people based on grounds that fall short of the 'reasonable suspicion' the law required.
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