The federal government denied having a quota of arresting 3,000 immigrants per day in its massive immigration crackdown, according to an appeals court ruling issued late Friday, covering federal raids in Southern California.
The 61-page opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals largely let stand a federal district court judge’s July 11 temporary restraining order that halted the federal government’s month-long immigration dragent across Southern California.
For weeks that dragnet had ramped up from its early days in June, when federal immigration agents fanned out across L.A., Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
On Monday, July 28, Department of Justice attorneys argued on appeal in front of the three-judge that they should stay the the lower court ruling, and allow roving raids to continue, arguing that their arrests met constitutional scrutiny.
But during the arguments, Judge Ronald M. Gould — an appointee of President Bill Clinton, asked Roth three separate times to explain a reported 3,000-person daily arrests strategy and to pinpoint exactly where the quota supposedly originated.
He wanted to know if it came from ICE, President Trump, or some other official in the administration. At the time, Department of Justice Attorney Jacob Roth replied that he was aware of no such policy.
At issue was whether the quota was an official “target,” as plaintiffs in the case contend.
Questioned if there was actually such a policy, Roth responded, “Not to my knowledge, your honor,” adding, “I think it came from a newspaper article.”
Gould ordered Roth to determine the origin of the apparent directive and file the results with the court.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly issued the directive to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May, a month before ICE launched its aggressive campaign against what it insists are unauthorized immigrants in the Los Angeles region.
Friday’s ruling shed more light on the matter, even though it was buried in a key footnote early in the ruling.
The government’s attorneys replied to the court in a letter, referring to confirmation from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying there was no policy of 3,000 arrests.
“In response to the Court’s inquiry at oral argument, DHS has confirmed that neither ICE leadership nor its field offices have been directed to meet any numerical quota or target for arrests, detentions, removals, field encounters, or any other operational activities that ICE or its components undertake in the course of enforcing federal immigration law.”
The government went on to say that the 3,000-arrests-per-day push “appears to originate from media reports quoting a White House advisor who described that figure as a “goal” that the Administration was “looking to set.”
But at the same time, government attorneys suggested that reports of what Miller said may have been correct.
They said that while “that quotation may have been accurate,” “no such goal has been set as a matter of policy, and no such directive has been issued to or by DHS or ICE. To be sure, enforcement of federal immigration law is a top priority for DHS, ICE, and the Administration. But the government conducts its enforcement activities based on individualized assessments, available resources, and evolving operational priorities—not volume.”
“This framework, not anonymous reports in the newspapers, governs ICE’s operations,” the letter to the court went on to say, noting that Miller, on May 28, said during a Fox News interview that “under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day.”