President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his goal to conduct mass deportations in some of the country’s biggest cities, specifically those run by Democrats.
As he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday, Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement should turn its attention to New York and Chicago in addition to Los Angeles.
“I want them to focus on the cities because the cities are where you really have what’s called ‘sanctuary cities,’” Trump told reporters. “And that’s where the people are.”
The comments came after Trump’s lengthy social media post on Sunday in which said he was ordering ICE to do “all in their power” to oversee the largest mass deportation program in history.
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities,” Trump wrote.
The president said those cities are “the core of the Democrat Power Center” and accused Democrats of using illegal immigration to influence elections — despite the fact that noncitizens can’t vote in federal or state elections and instances where it occurs are rare. He also claimed without evidence that illegal immigrants were being used to “grow the Welfare State.”
“To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE!” Trump wrote in the post.
Trump’s determination on deportations follows protests in LA and in other areas around the country last week to his administration’s immigration crackdown. This past Saturday, immigration was one focus of nationwide “No Kings Day” demonstrations against Trump and his policies that drew thousands of people.
Amid the pushback, Trump last week shifted his stance on undocumented immigrants who work in the farming and hospitality industries.
Trump acknowledged on social media that his “aggressive policy” was “taking very good, long time workers away.” The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed they received new guidance to pause most raids on farms, restaurants and hotels.
“Our farmers are being hurt badly, they have good workers that have worked for them for 20 years. They are not citizens, but turned out to be great. We will do something about that,” Trump said at a White House event last week.
Such comments undercut what he and his top officials have said would be a focus on the “worst of the worst” violent or criminal offenders in their deportation efforts.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
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