Washington, July 16 (RHC)-- U.S. authorities have launched small-scale operations seeking to arrest undocumented immigrants in an apparent start to President Donald Trump’s vow to launch mass deportation round-ups across the country.

The operation, which Trump threatened on Twitter several weeks ago, is reportedly targeting hundreds of recently arrived families in about 10 cities who had been ordered deported by immigration judges.

The removal operations are meant to deter a surge in Central American families fleeing poverty and gang violence in their home countries, with many seeking asylum in the United States.  Immigrants and their advocates were bracing for mass arrests, but there were only reports of low-profile operations in a few cities.

“We are doing targeted enforcement actions against specific individuals who have had their day in immigration court and have been ordered removed by an immigration judge,” Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matt Albence told reporters when asked for an update.

Mary Bauer at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said there were no confirmed operations in large Southern cities such as Atlanta.  There also were no reports of arrests from the American Immigration Council, which has lawyers on standby to give legal advice at the country’s largest family migrant detention center in Dilley, Texas.

“Immigrants and immigrant communities all over the country are hiding and people are living in these terrified, terrorized ways, because that is the point of this whole action, whether enforcement actions take place or not,” said Bauer, the SPLC’s deputy legal director.