Acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Ken Cuccinelli would not say Sunday whether expected Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would separate families.

Cuccinelli discussed the raids on CNN's "State of the Union," but told host Jake Tapper Jacob (Jake) Paul TapperThe media's misleading use of COVID-19 data Julia Louis-Dreyfus: 'We can't spend much time grieving' Ginsburg Pence aide dismisses concerns rushed vote on Trump nominee will hurt vulnerable senators MORE he is not willing to discuss operational details, which, he said, would put ICE officers in danger.

Among specifics Cuccinelli would not respond to was guaranteeing families won't be separated in the impending raids. ADVERTISEMENT

"In the same way I wasn't willing to talk about operation details .... I won't comment on that," he said, of family separation. "There are 1 million people, including families, with removal orders."

Tapper asked how a pledge to not separate families is "operational."

"I'm not going to say yes or no to anything like that, because then certain people can write themselves off ... or play a loophole," Cuccinelli responded.



He also would not confirm if the raids had started Sunday morning, as President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE announced earlier they would.

Cuccinelli said the "priority" for ICE remains violent criminals, but that "will not be the exclusive limit of any operation."

Cuccinelli doubled down on claims officials have made that facilities are past their capacity and there is not enough space to take in more migrants – but also said authorities were prepared to deal with an additional influx from the raids.

"You're about to do a raid, do you have the beds for them?" Tapper asked.

"ICE is prepared for that," Cuccinelli responded.