Roundups of undocumented immigrant families will start Sunday in 10 U.S. cities, fulfilling a hardline immigration stance from U.S. President Donald Trump which will be a key issue in his 2020 re-election bid, the New York Times reported.
The raids will be conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents over a number of days starting July 14, the Times reported citing unnamed sources, including two current and one former homeland security officials.
Reuters could not independently confirm the pending government action early on Thursday. The Associated Press confirmed the plan late Thursday morning.
The officials told the Times that ICE agents were targeting at least 2,000 immigrants who have been ordered deported but remain in the country illegally. The raids are set to occur over “multiple days” and will include so-called collateral deportations where agents may “detain immigrants who happened to be on the scene, even though they were not targets of the raids.”
Trump said on July 5 that the mass roundups would begin “fairly soon,” even as migrant advocates vowed their communities would be “ready” when immigration officers come.
WATCH: Trump supports mass ICE raids against illegal immigrant families
He postponed the operation last month after the date was leaked, but last week said it would take place after July 4.
“They’ll be starting fairly soon, but I don’t call them raids, we’re removing people, all of these people who have come in over the years illegally,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.
On Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli told reporters at the White House that the raids are “absolutely going to happen,” despite the delay.
“There are approximately a million people in this country with removal orders,” he said. “Of course that isn’t what ICE will go after in this, but that’s the pool of people who have been all the way through the due process chain.”
Last month ICE officials said operations would target recently-arrived undocumented migrants in a bid to discourage a surge of Central American families at the southwest border.
ICE said in a previous statement its focus was arresting people with criminal histories but any immigrant found in violation of U.S. laws was subject to arrest.
The threatened raids have rattled immigrant communities and come after apprehensions of migrants on the southwest border hit a 13-year high in May before easing in June as Mexico increased immigration enforcement.
WATCH: Trump claims ICE has arrested 266,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records
Democratic lawmakers visited an El Paso, Texas, Border Patrol station on Monday and said migrants were being held in “horrifying” conditions, with women told to drink out of a toilet, a claim that has been disputed.
Immigrant families arrested together will be held together, when possible, in family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania, the officials told the Times.
But because of space limitations, some might stay in hotel rooms until travel is arranged.
“ICE’s goal is to deport the families as quickly as possible,” according to the Times.
Undocumented parents could also be separated from their American children — a concern that worried Kevin K. McAleenan, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting secretary in June.
McAleenan warned that children could be separated from their parents while they’re at daycare or summer camp.
Some agents have expressed apprehension about arresting children and babies, the officials told the Times. They are also reportedly worried about people evading arrest “because word has already spread among immigrant communities” about how to do so. ICE agents are not permitted to force entry to a home, so someone approached by an officer may not necessarily open the door.
— With files from Global News