On his first day in office, President Donald Trump unleashed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to begin apprehending and deporting criminal illegal aliens across the country, to great initial effect.

Now comes reports that, per a leaked internal memo, ICE is preparing to launch an imminent targeted operation in Los Angeles, California, to sweep that populous city for deportable migrants, according to the Daily Mail.

It is not clear when or even if that crackdown in L.A. will occur, and it is a safe bet that Trump and other senior officials are furious over the leak to the media that undermined the alleged impending operation and potentially endangered agents by robbing them of the element of surprise.

Imminent ICE raids in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that it had obtained a leaked internal ICE memo about an impending "large scale" enforcement operation in L.A. that was set to begin at some unspecified point before the end of the month.

Similar to the dozens of small-scale raids that have occurred in cities and towns across the nation over the past few weeks, the L.A. operation would be focused on illegal aliens with criminal records or pending removal orders that were not enforced by the prior administration, though any individuals without legal status who are encountered by federal agents could be apprehended and deported as well.

An unnamed federal law enforcement source told the Times that ICE would receive support in the operation from other federal agencies like the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, given the need for "more bodies" to make arrests.

Timing of alleged operation could change

That information was allegedly confirmed to the Times by a second anonymous source, a former federal LEO, who noted that some FBI agents had been directly ordered to participate in the imminent "raids" across L.A., though neither the active nor former federal source could say when, exactly, the purported raids were scheduled to occur.

In fact, the active federal source suggested that the timing of the operation could change given the "chaotic" nature of the Trump administration and the anticipated pushback from local officials, and further implied that the leaked memo could have been deliberately released with false information to help catch leakers and identify "resistant" federal agents.

"Just because certain information is being given doesn’t mean it’s the administration’s plan, because they know some agents are going to be resistant," the unnamed official said.

The Times noted in its report that it reached out with requests for comment about the leaked memo to ICE but did not receive a response.

The outlet similarly sent inquiries to the FBI, DEA, and ATF, and while all three agencies confirmed that they have previously assisted ICE in operations to apprehend deportable illegal aliens, none would comment on any purported involvement in the allegedly impending L.A. raids.

Who leaked the ICE memo?

Meanwhile, Border Czar Tom Homan has been quite outspoken in the past against internal leaks that expose ICE's plans and undermine imminent operations, such as leaks in Colorado that allowed many alleged Venezuelan gang members to evade ICE agents in Aurora last week.

In a Fox News interview, Homan said of the leaks, "This is not a game" and that "To have this type of interference puts our officers at great risk." He further threatened to find and prosecute leakers, as "We're not going to tolerate it anymore."

As for who leaked the ICE memo, suspicions appear to have centered on the FBI, as Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem shared a link to the L.A. Times report on her official X account and wrote, "The FBI is so corrupt. We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law."