DEA in Los Angeles helping feds with immigration enforcement efforts
LOS ANGELES - The Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles said it is cooperating with federal law enforcement partners on immigration enforcement efforts.
Matthew Allen, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's LA field division, wrote on social media the agency is assisting the Department of Homeland Security, sharing pictures of uniformed law enforcement agents in an undisclosed LA neighborhood.
It's unclear which communities are affected.
Similar targeted operations are underway in other U.S. cities. including Chicago and Atlanta.
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On Sunday, the DEA's Chicago office also shared on social media that it was working with ICE and the Justice Department on immigration enforcement. Border czar Tom Homan is seen speaking with federal agents.
ICE raids have also been confirmed in the metro Atlanta area.
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The U.S. southern border has seen a sharp drop in illegal immigrant encounters in the first days of the Trump administration, compared to the final few days of the Biden administration, multiple Department of Homeland Security sources tell Fox News Digital.
The number of Border Patrol encounters at the southern border in the first three days of the Trump administration is 35% lower than the final three days of the Biden administration, the sources said. The numbers do not include encounters at the northern border, or encounters at ports of entry by Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Office of Field Operations.
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On Jan. 17, there were 1,288 encounters nationwide, then 1,266 on Jan. 18 and 1,354 on Jan. 19. That is 3,908 encounters in total.
Immigration Crackdown
This comes as President Donald Trump signed a series of border security measures as he launched a crackdown on illegal immigration last week.
Trump implemented additional restrictions. On taking office, he signed orders declaring a national emergency at the border, deploying the military to the border and ending the use of the CBP One app to process migrants at ports of entry via humanitarian parole.
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His administration has also launched a mass deportation operation, with ICE agents active in multiple cities and states across the U.S.
The Source: Information for this story is from the LA DEA, FOX 11 reports, and FOX News.