WASHINGTON − The Trump administration is promoting its immigration crackdown amid a slew of courtroom challenges at it approaches 100 days in office by placing dozens of immigrant mugshots along the White House driveway.
The posters that appeared on April 28 show the faces of men with the words “Illegal Alien” and alleged crimes such as “Sexual contact with child” and “Child molestation” spelled out in bold letters. There are no names, but the White House distributed the names of 100 violent criminals who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent months.
“Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime,” Tom Homan, Trump’s top White House border aide, told reporters during a morning briefing. “Every sick person we take off the streets, especially child rapists, makes this country safer.”
Arrests of immigrants with criminal records or pending charges have risen under the Trump administration. More than half of nearly 48,000 current ICE detainees have a criminal record or face criminal charges, according to the agency’s latest data.
But the administration’s crackdown has swept in thousands of immigrants with non-criminal immigration violations, too. The same data showed 46% of ICE detainees in mid-April had no criminal record.
Illegal crossings dropped 95% at the Southwest border in March, to fewer than 7,200 migrant encounters from more than 137,000 encounters the same month a year ago, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Homan attributed the decline to the construction of more segments to the border wall, and a more aggressive policy of forcing migrants seeking asylum to await their decisions in Mexico.
“The success is unprecedented,” Homan said. “Border numbers are at a historic low.”
Homan’s briefing came a day before Trump completes the first 100 days in his second term. Even as immigration remains a hot button issue for voters, the administration’s aggressive crackdown has come under scrutiny and it’s deportations attempts have been mired in legal fights.
Trump toughened enforcement by declaring members of crime gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations and by invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport them more swiftly, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. But courts up to the Supreme Court have temporarily paused those removals while hearing arguments about whether the migrants deserve hearings to deny their membership in the gangs.
“The Trump administration is working 24/7 to successfully arrest and deport these foreign criminals and terrorists from our country,” Leavitt said. “We are in the beginning stages of carrying out the largest deportation campaign in American history.”
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This article was originally appeared on USA TODAY
