White House sends message to migrants on Valentine's Day
The pink card covered in hearts read: “Illegal immigration, we will deport you.”
The White House sent out a blunt message on Valentine's Day aimed at curbing illegal immigration into the US, sharing a pink card featuring President Donald Trump alongside newly appointed border adviser Tom Homan.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been conducting daily raids across the United States since Trump took office on January 20. An estimated 11 million to 35 million people are living in the United States illegally. President Trump pledged during his campaign that, if elected, he would reduce that number by leading “the largest deportation campaign in American history.”
“Roses are red, violets are purple, illegal immigration, and we will deport you” – the message on the card was shared on the official White House X account on February 14, with the caption “Happy Valentine’s Day” and a heart icon.
The border crackdown has yielded significant results, with the number of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border each day falling to an average of 359 – a drop of more than 90% from February last year, according to internal data cited by the New York Post.
In the first 18 days of the operation, immigration agents made about 11,000 arrests, a third of the total arrests ICE made in the entire previous year under former President Joe Biden. As of February 3, at least 5,693 of those people had been deported, according to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In addition, the Trump administration has increased the use of alternative detention facilities to deal with the growing number of detainees – including transferring some detainees to Guantanamo Bay.
Trump’s initiative has faced opposition from many Democratic-led states and localities. Several states, including California, New York and Illinois, as well as more than 200 cities and counties, have refused to cooperate with federal immigration efforts, arguing that less than half of those arrested have criminal records or are facing criminal charges.
The White House insists that all immigrants who enter the United States illegally are “violating the laws of the land, therefore they are criminals.” Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s new border adviser, told Fox News late last month that he was unhappy with the pace of deportations. He blamed sanctuary policies for making it difficult for the administration to focus on those who pose a danger to public safety. Homan warned that more arrests would be coming “if they want to play this game.”
