operations despite the president's weeks of warnings that he'd mass-target 2,000 undocumented migrants to deport starting this past weekend. earlier today the president denied the criticism that the raids were overstated to generate hysteria among immigrant communities. >> is this to scare people, mr. president? >> the i.c.e. raids were very successful. people came into our country illegally. many were felons. many were convicted of crimes. many, many were taken out on sunday. you just didn't know about it. >> in fact, i went to -- i spoke to the head of i.c.e. i spoke to a couple of people. we had many people. it was a very successful day. >> all right. joining me now nbc correspondent julia ainsley who covers the justice department and homeland security department. joulia, there are some references including to the