DHS Official Tried To Depict Immigrants as Criminals to Justify Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

Emails revealed that local immigration officials were directed to come up with “three egregious [immigration] cases” that would create a narrative to justify raids (Image via Giphy)

Email exchanges between local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed how the Department of Homeland Security agency attempted to create a narrative that would justify the Trump Administration’s mass-deportation tactic.

The emails, reported by The Intercept earlier this month and obtained by students at Vanderbilt University’s Law School through a Freedom of Information Act request, included a directive by former DHS Secretary, John Kelly, asking local immigration enforcement agents to “put together a white paper covering the three most egregious cases.”

John Kelly’s goal? To showcase to the media that Donald Trump’s racist anti-immigrant comments and policies were desperately needed across the country.

Unfortunately for John Kelly, immigration enforcement agents were unable to locate the atrocious cases the Trump Administration was hoping to uncover.

As reported by The Intercept:

DHS officials tried — and largely failed — to engineer a narrative that would substantiate the administration’s claims that the raids were motivated by public safety concerns. In the emails, local ICE officials are ordered to come up with “three egregious cases” of apprehended criminals to highlight to the media.

The country will have to wait to see how Trump’s DHS nominee, Kirstjen Nielsen, will try to shape Trump’s narrative about immigrants being “rapist,” “murderers,” and “drug dealers.”