Atlanta prepares for ICE deportation crackdown

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement are preparing for large scale raids in 10 major cities across the country, with Atlanta being one of those targets.

Over the weekend, community groups protested the raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, and DeKalb County.

In downtown Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she is hoping President Donald Trump will call off the raids before they even begin, saying this is not what she and other city leaders want from the federal government.

"It's baffling. I don't understand what this is about," Bottoms said.

Sunday is the day many have been dreading with fear and anxiety as immigration and customs enforcement agents say they plan to arrest thousands of immigrants who are in the country illegally. While the raids are expected to happen in Atlanta, Bottoms says she is not backing this operation.

MORE: Demonstrators protest anticipated deportation raids in Georgia

"We haven't asked for the government for assistance. This notion that this is helping mayors address crime, I haven't talked to a single mayor in this nation who says they want these raids to happen," she said.

The New York Times reported ICE agents will target at least 2,000 immigrants whose deportation have already been ordered, and the mayor says she's heard the orders go further than that.

"There may also be collateral deportations, meaning that if there's someone else around with a deportation order, they may be picked up," she said.

Bottoms says this fear of confrontation is creating ripple effects in the community.

"It's creating this level of anxiety and chaos that's really dumfounding when you look at the humanitarian crisis that we're already seeing with children," she said.

The mayor says overcoming the fear is all about preparing and educating the community.

"They are entitled to due process. You don't have to open the door. Please have some contingency plan," she said. "If you do get separated and to the extent that you can, record what's happening."

Last year, Bottoms announced the city will not allow ICE to use its jail to hold anyone arrested for being here illegally. And she says there is room here for a more compassionate solution.

"We really need to look inward as if this was our family, and really they are our family. They are our community," she said.

The community is also speaking out about the raids. A demonstration to shut down the local ICE office is planned for Monday afternoon.