US President Donald Trump said Saturday that he delayed wide-ranging immigration raids across the United States "at the request of Democrats" to work out "a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems", warning, however, that if no compromise between Democrats and Republicans is reached, the deportations would start, Trend reports citing Sputnik.
Earlier, Trump announced that his administration would begin mass deportations of illegal immigrants on Sunday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was reportedly preparing to launch an operation in major US cities on Sunday to roundup some 2,000 illegal aliens. The raids were reportedly expected in about a dozen cities, including Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago.
Following published media reports about ICE plans, state of New York Attorney General Letitia James warned the Trump administration that New Yorkers would not stand idly by.
"This is an immoral and unconscionable act by a president and an Administration hell-bent on dividing our country, and, as New York’s top law enforcement officer, I can assure New Yorkers we will do everything in our power to fight back against these inhumane policies", James said late Friday.
On Thursday, US Customs and Border Protection chief Carla Provost told the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee that over 100,000 migrants had evaded arrest after entering the United States illegally this year.
Pedestrian caravans of migrants from Central American countries seeking asylum in the US began moving north through Mexico last fall. Trump called the surge of arrivals a "crisis" and declared a national emergency in February in an unsuccessful attempt to secure funds to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
Earlier in June, Washington and Mexico City reached a deal implying that the US would abandon plans to impose tariffs in return for Mexico deploying its National Guard to its southern border and working to dismantle human smuggling networks.
The migration deal came just days before new US duties on imports from Mexico were scheduled to come into force. Trump previously also threatened that the 5 percent duties would go up to 25 percent by October unless the US southern neighbor alleviated the immigration crisis. The countries subsequently engaged in talks to resolve their tensions.