mass deportation plan was to be kept secret but Trump blurted it out on Twitter

White House aides and Homeland Security officials were frustrated that the president put ICE’s plans on Twitter, prompting concerns that the operation’s blown cover diminished its chances for success and jeopardized the safety of federal agents. Administration officials said it was the uproar that followed — not a potential deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — that led to the operation’s delay.

Justice Department and Homeland Security officials began working on the “family operation” in late 2018 to deport some of the Central American parents and children who have been arriving in record numbers during the past year, viewing the arrests as a deterrent to future migration.

The Justice Department fast-tracked the cases of thousands of families, many of whom claimed fear of harm if sent back. Homeland Security officials say 90 percent of those ordered deported did not show up for their court hearing

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Trump’s June 22 tweet crediting Pelosi with the delay was a “face-saving” move, said one senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to contradict the president’s public statement.

Since then, acting Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s office has been working with Homeland Security officials to figure out if the family operation can proceed in a more targeted way, instead of the “shock and awe” approach favored by Miller and others.

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The plan is to carry out the arrests in a more piecemeal fashion, without announcing dates or times in advance, the senior official said, cautioning there is “always a chance POTUS blurts them out.”

The president has been briefed on the broad strokes of the plan, but not the precise details, the official said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/fear-of-immigration-raids-loom-as-plans-for-ice-family-operation-move-forward/2019/07/05/76788e2a-9f41-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html?utm_term=.69408059a887