Hundreds of Central American Families Could Be Deported In January

A proposed operation by the Department of Homeland Security would seek out migrants who have already been ordered to be removed from the U.S.

A group of young migrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are stopped in Granjeno, Texas, on June 25, 2014.

Eric Gay / AP Photo

Migrant advocates are angry that the Department of Homeland Security could begin rolling out a nationwide campaign next month to deport hundreds of families who entered the United States in 2014 seeking asylum from violence and unrest back home, according to reports.

If approved, the operation would be the first significant move to send back home the scores of families who crossed the border between the U.S. and Mexico from Central America in 2014, the Washington Post reported.

Anonymous sources told the Post that the plan, which could be set into motion as early as January and carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), would target migrant adults and children who have already been ordered by a court to be deported.

Since 2011, the number of migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua has increased significantly, particularly among children. In addition to an estimated 90,000 unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014, some 100,000 families migrated into the states as well, according to the Post.

Edwin Lemus, 10, from El Salvador, sits in the men's section of a shelter providing in Chiapas State, Mexico, on June 18, 2014.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP Photo

The deportation operation has yet to receive formal approval, but Central American migrant and refugee advocates are already urging the government to reconsider the action.

Greg Chen, advocacy director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CBS News that the U.S. government "has treated this influx of central American asylum seekers as a border problem, rather than a humanitarian problem."

"And now it is doubling down on a failed policy of treating asylum seekers as illegal border crossers rather than providing them with humanitarian protection," he added.

When Central American families arrived in the U.S. last year, the government ordered the construction of two detention facilities in Texas, and one in Pennsylvania. Advocates argued that the conditions within the centers were unlivable, and in July this year, a federal judge ordered that the families housed in the detention centers be released.

Others were released immediately and told to report back to court at a later date to find out if they would be granted asylum. Some families never returned to court, however, while others' pleas for asylum were rejected. This latter group is the one that will likely be directly affected by the ICE raids, according to reports.

Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, told CBS News that the federal government has "been signaling right from the beginning of the central American crisis that they're not happy about people being here, and they're finding any opportunity they can to crack down on people."

BuzzFeed News has reached out to ICE and migrant advocacy groups for more information.

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