WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan admitted that the timing of a sweeping raid targeting illegal immigrants in Mississippi last week was unfortunate.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had arrested nearly 700 mostly Latino immigrants in large scale raids on food processing facilities across Mississippi on August 7.
Responding to a question on NBC's Meet the Press program if he wished this raid didn't take place this week, McAleenan said 'The timing was unfortunate.'
The raids, which left young children separated from their parents and families torn apart, were carried out within four days of the racially motivated mass shooting in El Paso.
22 people were killed and dozens of others injured in the violence propagated by a white supremacist.
In the initial part of the interview with Chuck Todd, McAleenan defended the raids, saying that they were planned more than a year ago.
The Latino community in the state has been reportedly living in fear after the raids. The Trump administration is said to have instructed U.S. immigration officials to continue the crackdown.
'I want people to know that if they come into the United States illegally, they're getting out,' President Trump told reporters on Friday.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) accused that the Trump's administration is running a 'campaign of terror.'
'Children are afraid to go to school for fear that when they come home, their parents won't be there,' the presidential candidate said in another Meet the Press program.
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