Trump Says He Will Delay Mass Immigration Raids Two Weeks, Per Democrats’ Request

President Donald Trump declared Saturday afternoon that he would delay by two weeks Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids scheduled for Sunday, citing Democrats’ request for more time to work out a solution with Republicans in Congress. The raids were intended to round up undocumented immigrants for deportation in major cities across the country. On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Trump to halt the raids, saying in a statement, “Families belong together. These families are hard-working members of our communities and our country. The President’s action makes no distinction between a status violation and committing a serious crime.”

At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019

Mere hours before he called the raids off, the president defended them on Twitter, saying the families targeted “have run from the law and run from the courts.”

The people that Ice will apprehend have already been ordered to be deported. This means that they have run from the law and run from the courts. These are people that are supposed to go back to their home country. They broke the law by coming into the country, & now by staying.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019

The raids, which Trump announced in a vague set of tweets on Monday, had been planned in the following cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York and San Francisco. ICE intended to arrest around 2,000 undocumented migrants, a senior immigration official told CNN.

Delaying the raid is a similar tact to the president’s calling off a military attack on Iran. It’s an exercise in brinksmanship. Trump announces his plan to do something horrible, then backs out at the last minute, making himself look like the benevolent hero.