Acting ICE director: I'm not running a popularity contest

The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said he is not "running a popularity contest" in his role in enforcing immigration laws in the U.S.

"I'm not running a popularity contest, I wouldn't be in this job," Thomas Homan said during an interview on Fox News. "I mean we're enforcing the laws enacted by Congress."

He said the agency does not "conduct raids," it conducts a "target enforcement operation."

"We don't go into neighborhoods knocking on a bunch of doors looking for people different than us," he said.

"Every person we arrest, we know exactly who we're going to arrest, we know exactly where we're going to arrest them based on a lot of intelligence, a lot of investigative work," Homan said.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpEx-Playboy model accuses GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy of physical abuse: reports Cohen seeks to vacate hush-money deal with Stormy Daniels Stormy Daniels says she broke into 'sobs' when she heard about Cohen's plea MORE made a hard line on immigration a centerpiece of his presidential campaign and the arrest of “noncriminal” immigrants more than doubled from 2016 to 2017, according to The Washington Post.

There have been numerous reports in recent months of people who have been detained and deported after living in the U.S. for years.

Last month, a Palestinian man who had been living in the U.S. for 39 years was deported, despite a request from the House Judiciary Committee that his case be reviewed.

Earlier this month, immigration rights groups said they were suing ICE for allegedly targeting immigration activists for possible deportation.

Last year also saw Trump rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protects immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children. The president gave Congress until March 5 to come up with a legislative solution for the program's recipients.

The Senate rejected three separate proposals earlier this month aimed at resolving the immigrants' fate, after Trump declared he would veto any measure that did not directly address his immigration priorities.