Courts Push Back After ICE's 'Operation Country Roads' in W.Va.

An immigration enforcement sweep that rounded up roughly 600 people in West Virginia is now running into resistance in the state's federal courts, NPR reported.

The operation, dubbed "Operation Country Roads" after the John Denver anthem, was launched by the Department of Homeland Security when it was still run by Kristi Noem. Most of those picked up had no criminal records, and West Virginia has since decided not to hold ICE detainees in its jails.

The sweep drew comparatively little national attention, according to NPR, in part because it coincided with the more violent and heavily publicized Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, and in part because it relied far more heavily on local law enforcement to make arrests. DHS did not respond directly to NPR's questions about the West Virginia operation. At his Senate confirmation hearing, the current homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, endorsed that approach: "My goal in six months is that we're not in the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we're out there, we're protecting them and we're working with them."

ICE has arrested more than 600,000 people since President Trump returned to office, and daily arrests reached a record 1,400 nationally in July, according to DHS data.

Arrests do not always end in removal. Kyle Vass of the ACLU of West Virginia said attorneys are "seeing really successful habeas petition filings," with some people released the same day ICE picks them up. Four federal judges in the state have also become an obstacle, calling the administration's tactics wrong and "an assault on the constitutional order."

The human toll runs through both outcomes. Staci Tighe told NPR her friend Mohamed Guezoui, born in Algeria, was taken from his shift at the King Kabab by three masked ICE officers late last year and eventually deported. "'Country Roads' song is a welcoming song," she said. "And they're kicking people out."

In Clarksburg, dozens gathered at the federal courthouse for a hearing for Erick Cristal Cumes, detained at his job at a Mexican restaurant. He was not released. His wife, Lauren Cristal, a U.S. citizen, said, "This is real pain that I'm going through." His asylum application was later denied; he decided not to appeal and is awaiting a deportation date.