"The Trump administration has arrested 538 illegal migrant criminals," writes President Donald Trump's press spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on social media.
According to Leavitt, "hundreds" have been deported from the country in military planes.
The newly elected president was voted in with promises to close the country's borders to people trying to cross them illegally. He has also promised to carry out mass deportations of people who do not have the right to stay in the USA.
When Trump took office, he immediately issued a number of directives, including declaring a state of emergency in the border areas against Mexico in the south and allowing more soldiers to be stationed there.
Early on Thursday, Ras J Baraka, the mayor of Newark in the state of New Jersey on the east coast, announced that federal customs and immigration police had raided a property. An unspecified number of people – "undocumented residents, including citizens" – were detained without the police showing a warrant to conduct a search, according to Baraka.
Earlier in the week, the Republican-dominated Congress gave the green light to make it easier to detain foreign nationals suspected of crimes.
