WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump made a hardline immigration agenda central to his 2020 re-election campaign and his administration has pushed ahead with a wide-ranging crackdown even as the United States has become the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak worldwide.
U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a signing ceremony for the “Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act,” approving additional coronavirus disease (COVID-19) relief for the U.S. economy and hospitals treating people sickened by the pandemic, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 24, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dialed back arrest operations and agreed to review cases of some at-risk immigrants in custody, it is still detaining tens of thousands and proceeding with deportation flights.
Pro-immigrant advocates have called for detainees – particularly low-level offenders – to be released from custody given the risks of contracting the virus inside. Foreign governments have pressed Washington to ensure migrants deported to their countries are not infected with COVID-19, the deadly respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Have questions about ICE enforcement during the pandemic? Here are answers.
HOW HAS COVID AFFECTED ICE OPERATIONS?
The U.S. enforcement agency handles arrest, detention and deportation of immigration law violators. As such