US Border Patrol to send Tactical Unit officers to ‘sanctuary cities’

The Trump administration is deploying highly trained officers to boost arrests of unauthorized immigrants in a number of cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, the latest move in a battle against localities that adopt "sanctuary" policies to protect them from deportation.

Members of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Border Patrol Tactical Unit will be among the officers deployed to cities to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. They will also be sent to San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit and Newark, New Jersey, CBP spokesman Lawrence Payne said in a statement on Friday.

The Tactical Unit's members undergo a "grueling" training program designed to "mirror aspects" of U.S. Special Operation Forces courses, according to details about the program published on the CBP website. The unit was launched in 1984 in response to rioting at immigration detention facilities.