House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) questioned "the point" of planned, sweeping immigration enforcement operations on Monday and even went so far as to say that enforcing final deportation orders in line with federal immigration law is "outside the circle of civilized society."

Speaking at an event in Elmhurst, N.Y. on Monday, Pelosi attacked President Donald Trump and the now-delayed ICE enforcement operations that were supposed to begin the weekend before.



"When I saw that the president was going to have these raids—I mean it was so appalling; it's outside the circle of civilized human behavior to just be kicking down doors, splitting up families, and the rest of that, in addition to the injustices that are happening at the border," Pelosi said. "We have legislation to go forward to address those needs, but in terms of interior enforcement, what's the – what's the point?"

At the same event, Pelosi also said that,"A violation of [immigration] status is not a reason for deportation."

News broke Friday afternoon that a long-expected mass enforcement of deportation orders by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would begin the following Sunday. However, the operation was delayed for two weeks after President Trump announced that leaks to the media had sabotaged their effectiveness.

"The media got ahold of some operational specifics, and they reported it. It's just egregious, and it puts the lives of the officers and agents at risk," acting ICE director Mark Morgan told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro Saturday. "The men and women at ICE are true American heroes. The president recognized that. He postponed it to protect them."

Multiple government officials told the Washington Examiner, that they believe acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan was behind the leaks.