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Mirror US: ‘I went to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s LA event – things took an unexpected turn’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday his plans to hold a special election in November to redraw the state’s congressional districts in response to Texas’s attempts to redraw their own maps to help the GOP cling to its narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
Newsom’s press conference was stormed by masked Border Patrol guards with guns.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday his plans to hold a special election in November to redraw the state’s congressional districts in response to Texas’s attempts to redraw their own maps to help the GOP cling to its narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
Arriving in Los Angeles for the planned press conference/rally at the Japanese American National Museum in the early hours of Thursday morning, I thought it would be a fairly standard press event. Newsom and other state and federal lawmakers would make their remarks, lay out their plans for the new congressional maps, and make their case to voters as to why this drastic move was necessary.
The morning started off normal enough. For those who don’t work in the news or media business, covering a press conference may seem an easy, by-the-books type of thing. However, that is rarely the case, especially for any events involving political leaders. First, you must lay all bags and equipment down in a designated area for a bomb sniffing dog to sweep them, and second, depending on your position, whether it be TV cameraperson, still photographer, videographer, or print journalist, you have to jockey for position in the press area. This is particularly important for still photographers. It comes as Newsom’s press conference [was] stormed by masked Border Patrol guards with guns.
As we were ushered into the press area by Newsom’s staff, we were given specific instructions for both parts of the event. The first part, Newsom and several other state and national Democratic leaders would deliver their remarks, including Sen. Adam Schiff, Sen. Alex Padilla, and Rep. Maxine Waters. That would be followed up by a traditional press gaggle where the governor would take questions from reporters.
The day took an unexpected turn as the 30 or so reporters from every major national and local news outlet crammed into the small auditorium inside the Japanese American National Museum. Word began circulating that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agents had appeared outside the museum. While I couldn’t confirm it then, I kept my eye on my phone to see if anyone posted about it on social media. As the event began, speakers from various labor unions and activist groups delivered remarks supporting redistricting efforts. That was until one of the speakers confirmed that Border Patrol agents were intact outside. As Sen. Schiff spoke at the podium, I decided the story had shifted from inside the event to outside.
I quickly went outside to find no Border Patrol agents in sight. (I later learned they had arrested one person and quickly departed.) What I did find was a gaggle of reporters surrounding one person. So, as any reporter would do, I quickly ran over to the area, only to find Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass sounding off at the situation, denouncing President Donald Trump, and accusing him of intentionally sending the agents to the event.
“He [Trump] did this intentionally to disrespect the governor, to disrespect this iconic museum, and to disrespect our state. Now, why is this helpful to anybody at all? At this point, this doesn’t have anything to do with immigration. This is about causing trouble in our city,” Bass said.
Speaking to witnesses, I learned that the agents had arrested one person. I later learned that it was a delivery driver delivering produce to a local restaurant in Little Tokyo. By the time I got back inside, Newsom had already begun speaking. He also called out Trump, accusing him of intentionally sending the agents to the event.
“We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,” Newsom said. “We are not bystanders in this world. We can shape the future. Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back.”
Since I don’t cover events like this regularly, it’s always bizarre to see people you’re used to seeing on TV up close in person. And having even the chance to ask the governor questions during the press gaggle was a big deal to me.
As Newsom finished his remarks, the press were taken to a separate room to set up for the press gaggle. Taking my position near the front of the pack, I set up my camera to get some decent original footage. As Newsom made his way into the room, he began taking questions. My hopes of posing a question to the governor quickly vanished, as it became apparent I was a small fish in a big pond. The TV reporters barked their questions out faster than I could form the words in my mouth. Another reporter luckily asked the question I wanted to ask, regarding the Border Patrol agents converging on the event.
“Well, I think it’s pretty sick and pathetic, and it said everything you need to know about the setting that we’re under. That they chose the time, manner, and place to send their district director outside right when we’re about to have this press conference,” Newsom told reporters. “It said everything you know about Donald Trump’s America, and that was top down, you know that for a fact.”
Newsom took several more questions regarding the special elections and the new congressional maps, which he said would be presented to the public and voted on by the legislature next week. Rep. Waters also gave remarks to the gaggle but declined to take any questions.
As Newsom’s staff began to wrap things up we all were ushered outside even as many reporters, including myself, tried to follow Newsom and continue asking questions. I made my way outside, headed to my car and like most of the reporters, quickly wrote the story I would file later that day. It comes after a bizarre internet image exposed how Trump looks without his fake tan and iconic hairdo.
‘I went to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s LA event – things took an unexpected turn’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday his plans to hold a special election in November to redraw the state’s congressional districts in response to Texas’s attempts to redraw their own maps to help the GOP cling to its narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/i-went-gov-gavin-newsoms-1332122
Daily Beast: MAGA Couple Regrets Trump Vote After Terrifying Border Patrol Stop
The husband and wife, both citizens, were stopped on their way to a dentist appointment.
The joke’s on you, bubba!
What do you expect when you vote for a bigoted racist with 34 felony convictions?
Two Trump voters allege that Border Patrol agents racially profiled them after they were stopped and questioned on the way to the dentist.
George and Esmeralda Doilez, both U.S. citizens, were driving to an appointment in Southern California on Wednesday when a dark SUV started to follow them.
George told a San Diego NBC affiliate that the SUV put on a siren, pulled them over, and a group of masked Border Patrol agents got out to question them.
The Doilezes told NBC7 that they had been scoping out potential camping sites in the area on the way to the dental appointment.
George and Esmeralda voted for Trump in 2020, both of their first time voting, and again in 2024.
In a video of the interaction, a Border Patrol agent questions George through the car window.
“If you have a dentist appointment, it probably wasn’t the best idea to be out in the middle of nowhere,” the agent tells him.
“We have the right to travel anywhere we want to travel,” George says.
“You’re absolutely right, you do, and I actually have the right and authority to stop you,” the agent replies. “It’s called reasonable suspicion.”
The stated reason for the stop was that a “known alien” had been detected in the area, which is about 9 miles from the Southern Border. The agent said the Doilezes had aroused suspicion by making several U-turns.
But the couple said they thought the true rationale for the stop was their skin color.
“Why are we not allowed to be here? Because we’re not white? Our skin doesn’t match?” George told NBC7.
The agent called a K-9 unit, which detected a small amount of legally purchased cannabis in the car.
Citing that finding as probable cause, the agents searched George and Esmeralda’s car before letting them go about 30 minutes after the encounter began.
“I’m gonna go ahead and let you off with a warning,” the agent said after he told them he could have ticketed them for having marijuana.
In the wake of the incident, which left George “terrified” and his wife “shaking and crying,” the couple said that they regretted their votes for Trump.
“I feel shame, guilt, and anger at the same time because of the promises that he made that he lied to us about, going after the worst of the worst,” Georgesaid. “He lied on those and he stole our vote.”
Despite Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies dictating that the agency cannot lawfully detain U.S. citizens, the agencies have detained dozens of citizens—including an electrician in New York and a tow yard employee near Los Angeles—per CNN.
Echoing Doilez’s frustration with Trump’s promise to target the “worst of the worst,” internal ICE data obtained by NBC shows that about half of those in custody have been neither convicted nor charged with a crime.
“Complying is going to get you in a prison concentration camp,” George said. “That’s what it’s going to do eventually. Maybe it might be sooner than we all think.”
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Patrol said in a statement to the Beast that the incident was a “lawful stop based on reasonable suspicion” and that “the claim that the stop was based on racial profiling is baseless.”
“Border Patrol Agents acted within their legal authority throughout this incident and remained focused on CBP’s mission: securing the border,” the statement said.
MAGA Couple Regrets Trump Vote After Terrifying Border Patrol Stop
The husband and wife, both citizens, were stopped on their way to a dentist appointment.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-couple-regrets-trump-vote-after-terrifying-border-patrol-stop
KTLA: Teen with disabilities reportedly detained by ICE outside L.A. school
Los Angeles Unified School District leaders are calling for limits on immigration enforcement near campuses after a 15-year-old boy with disabilities was pulled from a car, handcuffed, and briefly detained outside Arleta High School on Monday in what officials describe as a case of mistaken identity.
The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, just days before more than half a million LAUSD students return to classrooms. According to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the student — who attends San Fernando High School — had gone to Arleta High with his grandmother to accompany a relative registering for classes.
While the family member was inside, several officers approached their vehicle, telling them they were not with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, Carvalho said district-reviewed video appeared to show both police and Border Patrol personnel.
The boy was removed from the car and placed in handcuffs.
“As our students return to school, we are calling on every community partner to help ensure that classrooms remain places of learning and belonging,” Carvalho said. “Children have been through enough — from the pandemic to natural disasters. They should not have to carry the added weight of fear when walking through their school gates.”
The teen was eventually released after school staff and Los Angeles police Intervened.
“The release will not release him from what he experienced,” Carvalho said during a news conference. “The trauma will linger. It will not cease. It is unacceptable, not only in our community, but anywhere in America.”
Parents like Yvonne, whose child attends school in the district, said the incident has left them shaken. “I was upset because our kids shouldn’t have to be going through this and being scared of coming to school, parents dropping them off. We shouldn’t be going through this,” she told KTLA.
Soon after the incident, parents received a recorded voice message from the principal, saying: “We are aware of reports of immigration enforcement activity in the area, near our campus. Our school has not been contacted by any federal agency.”
Many parents KTLA spoke with called the presence of federal agents near public school campuses shameful. “Our government, the administration had stated they were going to go after criminals. At a school, what criminals are you going to find? Kids trying to enroll — today’s orientation day,” parent Dorian Martinez said.
Board of Education President Kelly Gonez condemned the actions on social media, calling them “absolutely reprehensible” and part of the “continued unconstitutional targeting of our Latino community.”
The district says the detention underscores the need for strong protections as students return to school. In a statement Monday, LAUSD reaffirmed that “schools are safe spaces” and said immigration enforcement near campuses “disrupts learning and creates anxiety that can last far beyond the school day.”
Some parents fear that their children will be targeted simply because of the color of their skin, regardless of immigration status. “He fits that category,” Yvonne said of her child. “Where he’s on the darker side, and I feel like that’s who they’re attacking… that’s the main reason I tell him you better be careful and you don’t go with anybody.”
Ahead of the start of the school year, the district said it has contacted 10,000 families potentially impacted by immigration enforcement efforts, rerouted bus stops, deployed 1,000 central office staff to assist in school zones, and expanded virtual options for those too afraid to leave their homes.
Teen with disabilities reportedly detained by ICE outside L.A. school
Los Angeles Unified School District leaders are calling for limits on immigration enforcement near campuses after a 15-year-old boy with disabilities was pulled from a car, handcuffed, and briefly …
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/disabled-teen-detained-ice-outside-school
San Francisco Chronicle: Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids
Any attorney who files or argues in favor of this appeal should be disbarred!
Any justice who votes in favor of this appeal should impeached and removed!
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow officers to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Southern California because of how they look, what language they’re speaking and what kind of work they’re doing, factors that federal judges have found to be baseless and discriminatory.
Last month’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong, upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California,” D. John Sauer, the Justice Department’s solicitor general, said Thursday in a filing with the Supreme Court. “This Court should end this attempted judicial usurpation of immigration-enforcement functions” and suspend the injunction while the case is argued in the lower courts, Sauer wrote.
The Central District, which includes Los Angeles County and six other counties, has nearly 20 million residents, more than any other federal court district in the nation. It became the focus of legal disputes over immigration enforcement after President Donald Trump took control of the California National Guard in June and sent thousands of its troops to the streets in Los Angeles to defend immigration agents against protesters of workplace raids.
A 9th Circuit panel upheld Trump’s commandeering of the National Guard, rejecting a lawsuit by Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Frimpong, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ruled July 11 that immigration officers were overstepping legal boundaries in making the arrests, and issued a temporary restraining order against their practices.
In a ruling Aug. 1 upholding the judge’s decision, another 9th Circuit panel said federal officers had been seizing people from the streets and workplaces based on four factors: their apparent race or ethnicity, the language they spoke or accent in their voice, their presence in a location such as a car wash or an agricultural site, and the type of work they were doing.
That would justify the arrest of anyone “who appears Hispanic, speaks Spanish or English with an accent, wears work clothes, and stands near a carwash, in front of a Home Depot, or at a bus stop,” the panel’s three judges said. They agreed with Frimpong that officers could not rely on any or all of those factors as the basis for an arrest.
But the Trump administration’s lawyers said those factors were valid reasons for immigration arrests in the Central District.
In April, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston issued a similar order against the Border Patrol, prohibiting immigration arrests in the Eastern District of California unless officers have a reasonable suspicion that a person is breaking the law. The district is based in Sacramento and extends from Fresno to the Oregon border.
“You can’t just walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers,’” Thurston, a Biden appointee, said at a court hearing, CalMatters reported. The Trump administration has appealed her injunction to the 9th Circuit.
The administration’s compliance with the Central District court order was questioned by immigrant advocates on Wednesday after a raid on a Home Depot store near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, in which officers said 16 Latin American workers were detained. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Mohammad Tajsar, said the government “seems unwilling to fulfill the aims of its racist mass deportation agenda without breaking the law.”
There is ample evidence that many businesses in the district “unlawfully employ illegal aliens and are known to hire them on a day-to-day basis; that certain types of jobs — like day labor, landscaping, and construction — are most attractive to illegal aliens because they often do not require paperwork; that the vast majority of illegal aliens in the District come from Mexico or Central America; and that many only speak Spanish,” Sauer told the Supreme Court.
“No one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion” that someone is an illegal immigrant, the Justice Department attorney said. “But in many situations, such factors — alone or in combination — can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States.”
The Supreme Court told lawyers for the immigrants to file a response by Tuesday.
The case is Noem v. Perdomo, No. 25A169.
Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let officers arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Southern California because of how they look.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/scotus-immigration-california-20809308.php
NBC San Diego: Couple alleges racial profiling in Border Patrol stop they recorded on video
George and Esmeralda Doilez are U.S. citizens who live in Brawley and were headed to a dental appointment in North County on Wednesday.
A couple detained by Border Patrol in Boulevard said they believed agents did not have reasonable suspicion to stop them at all, recording the interaction and alleging they were racially profiled, pulled over by an unmarked vehicle as they were scoping out campsites on their way to the dentist.
George and Esmeralda Doilez are U.S. citizens who live in Brawley and were headed to a dental appointment in North County on Wednesday. They said they were exploring Jacumba and the surrounding area for the first time when a dark-colored SUV started following them near McCain Valley Recreation Area, then put on a siren and pulled them over.
“We didn’t think we had anything to worry about,” George said.
George said the Border Patrol agents first approached wearing masks.
“Who does that?” George said. “Criminals do that. Robbers and thieves do that. Kidnappers do that. And that’s what we’re seeing by our own government.”
They lowered the masks, George said, as Esmeralda began to record.
“The reason why we’re stopping you is because you did U-turns and there’s a known alien out in the area,” an agent at the driver’s side window said in the video.
George can be heard telling the agent that he and his wife were avid campers “exploring” on their way to the dentist and that he did not consent to any search.
“If you have a dentist appointment, it probably wasn’t the best decision to be out in the middle of nowhere,” the agent said.
“We have the right to travel anywhere we want to travel,” George responded, to which the agent replied, “You’re absolutely right you do, and I actually have the right and authority to stop you.”
Border Patrol has not responded to request for comment on the stop.
“Why are we not allowed to be here?” George said. “Because we’re not white? Our skin doesn’t match?”
George can be seen on the video showing the agent his ID but not leaving the vehicle, repeatedly saying he was asserting his rights. Border Patrol called a K-9 unit, which detected a small amount of legally purchased cannabis, prompting an agent to say they now had probable cause and the couple would be arrested if they did not get out for a full search of the vehicle.
“Terrified, terrified, absolutely terrified,” George told NBC 7 on Thursday. “As a husband, you’re seeing your wife, you know, shaking and crying. Your natural instinct is: I got to do something to protect her. And then what is this going to lead to? In my mind, I’m thinking of so many things, OK? If I fight these guys, I’m going to lose. I could get killed out here. But why should I allow them to trample on my Constitutional rights? Why should I allow them to get away with this kind of stuff?”
After the full search, an agent can be heard telling the couple that he could seize their vehicle and ticket them for having marijuana but that he would let them off with a warning. About 30 minutes after the encounter began, they were released.
“This place is controlled by goons in masks in unmarked vehicles chasing down American citizens just because of the color of their skin,” Doilez said. “Nobody should be afraid of their own government. They’re here to protect, to serve, not to be pirates.”
George and Esmeralda said they both voted for the first time in 2020, and then again in 2024 – both times for President Donald Trump. They said, as they’ve watched his mass deportation effort unfold in immigration court and at workplaces, seeing the majority of people detained without a violent criminal record, they both have come to regret their votes.
“I feel shame, guilt and anger at the same time because of the promises that he made that he lied to us about, going after the worst of the worst,” George said. “He lied on those and he stole our vote.”
They were going to the dentist because, two years ago, George was injured in an accident at work that destroyed his jaw and nearly took his life. Esmeralda said that the thought crossed her mind that she could have almost lost him again.
“I did think that there might have been a chance,” Esmeralda said through tears. “I remember sitting there crying, thinking like, ‘Oh, my God, if this happens, what’s going to happen? I’m going to see something bad. I don’t want to see that.’”
“We already went through something traumatic two years ago, so, you know — we don’t want to see something else even worse,” Esmeralda continued. “I feel sad this is where we’re at. I can’t believe this is where we’re at.”
Both said they felt the need to record and speak out to raise awareness.
“Do not comply, because complying is going to get you in a prison concentration camp,” George said. “That’s what it’s going to do eventually. Maybe it might be sooner than we all think.”
“We can’t let them take our rights,” Esmeralda said. “Then we’re nothing.”
LA Times: Westlake Home Depot raided again, reigniting fears of more sweeps despite judge’s order to stop
After weeks of relative quiet, Border Patrol agents raided a Home Depot in Westlake on Wednesday as a top federal agent warned, “We’re not leaving,” and posted images of half a dozen border agents running from a Penske truck through the parking lot.
As many as 16 immigrants were reported rounded up and arrested in what U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino called “Operation Trojan Horse.” The early morning raids revived fears of more widespread sweeps that organizers had hoped would ease with a federal judge’s order, affirmed by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel, that immigration officials cannot racially profile people or use roving patrols to target immigrants.
“For those who thought Immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” acting U.S. attorney Bill Essayli posted on X, shortly after the raid. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
A day laborer, who identified himself as Ceasar, said around 6:45 a.m. a yellow Penske truck pulled up to the laborers who had gathered in the parking lot. The driver told them in Spanish he was looking for workers.
Several of the men gathered around the truck and then someone, it was unclear who to him, rolled up the back of the truck. Masked agents, one wearing a cowboy hat, jumped out and started chasing people. People scattered.
“This is the worst feeling ever,” said Ceasar, who has been going to the home improvement store to pick up work for several years.
Video on social media captured the moment the back of the rental truck opened. When Penske Truck Rental was asked about it, they said they were aware of the incident.
“The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this,” said Penske spokesman Randolph P. Ryerson. “Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.
He added: “Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances,” the statement said.
One worker who escaped was still shaken by the experience an hour later. He identified himself as Raul, and said he saw at least eight people get arrested.
“That’s one of their cars,” he said pointing to a silver Toyota sedan.
The Home Depot had been one of the scene of the first raids in June that kicked off a more than month of operations in Southern California in which civil rights lawyers say federal agents indiscriminately arrested immigrants. The raids gutted businesses, spread fear and tore apart families.
On July 11, a federal judge temporarily blocked federal agents from using racial profiling to carry out indiscriminate arrests after the ACLU, Public Counsel, other groups and private attorneys sued over the practices saying that the region had been “under seige.”
Department of Justice attorneys argued the order hinders them from carrying federal immigration enforcement, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the order.
For the past weeks since the restraining order kicked in in early July, Bovino has shared photos of arrests of undocumented immigrants, stating that some had active arrest warrants. With others, he referenced a lengthy criminal history, marking the arrests as more targeted than they had been prior.
But organizers say a similar operation to the raid unfolded on Monday at a Home Depot in Hollywood that was the site of a massive raid in June. That operation also sparked concerns about violations of the TRO.
Maegan Ortiz, the executive director of the nonprofit group Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, known as IDEPSCA, said they began receiving word about an immigration operation at the Home Depot in Hollywood around 6:50 a.m. on Monday.
Fresno Bee: Some Californians carry passports in fear of ICE. ‘We’re being racially profiled’
With the Trump administration’s directive that federal immigration agents arrest 3,000 people per day as part of a massive deportation campaign, some U.S. citizens are taking the extraordinary step of carrying their passports to avoid being profiled and detained.
For some Fresno residents, it’s an obvious choice. They say it’s the simplest way to prove citizenship in case of encounters with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.
For others, the decision is rooted in fear and distrust of the federal government and law enforcement due to being erroneously profiled for being Latino in the past.
“This is the first time I renewed my passport not for travel but for proof of citizenship,” said Fresno resident Paul Liu.
There’s growing concern about how ICE is ensnaring citizens in its deportation operations. A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that, between 2015 to 2020, ICE arrested 674 U.S. citizens, detained 121 and deported an estimated 70 citizens.
Liu’s passport expired in January 2024. He renewed in February one month after Trump took office.
Liu, 52, said his decision is inspired by his family’s experience in China. His great-uncle sympathized with the Nationalist Party that opposed the Communist Party of China. As far as Liu’s family knows, his uncle was disappeared by the government and wasn’t seen until 30 years later by a sister who recognized him working on a chain gang in the city.
“I see what an oppressive regime has done to our family,” he said. “I’m just convinced that now, the onus is on anyone who’s not white, male and MAGA to prove they belong in this country.”
The REAL ID or a valid passport is required for domestic travel as of May, but American citizens are not otherwise required to carry a national form of identification.
To avoid potential detention and arrest, immigration lawyer Olga Grosh of Pasifika Immigration Law Group, LLP said people can consider having evidence of valid immigration status handy, or a copy of these documents in your wallet if concerned about about loss or theft.
“But does a citizen have to live in fear of being kidnapped by their own government?” Grosh said. “There has been a shift from it being the government burden to show to a judge that a person should be detained under the law, to citizens proving that they shouldn’t be detained by unidentified agents.”
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ABC News: ICE recruitment efforts upset some local law enforcement leaders
ICE is making an effort to recruit new agents from local partners, sources say.
Leadership at some local and state law enforcement agencies across the country — including agencies that have been supportive of federal immigration enforcement efforts — grew frustrated this week with efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to recruit new deportation officers and investigators from their ranks, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier this week, ICE sent a recruiting email blast directly to officers at sheriffs’ offices and other agencies who were trained by ICE to support the federal 287(g) program that allows local officers to perform certain law enforcement functions related to federal immigration enforcement.
The email left some local law enforcement leaders upset that after agreeing to have their officers help ICE, the agency was now trying to pull those officers away, sources said.MORE: Millions of undocumented immigrants will no longer be eligible for bond hearings, according to ICE memo
In the email addressed to the “287(g) community,” ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said that this is a “critical time for our nation,” and “we hope to welcome you to the ICE team soon.”
“As someone who is currently supporting ICE through the 287(g) program, you understand the unique responsibility we carry in protecting our communities and upholding federal law. Your experience in state or local law enforcement brings invaluable insight and skills to this mission — qualities we need now more than ever,” said the email, which was reviewed by ABC News.
“ICE is actively recruiting officers like you who are committed to serving with integrity, professionalism, and a deep sense of duty. This is more than a job; it’s a continuation of your service to our country,” the email said.
The email said that new recruits can receive a signing bonus of $50,000, paid over five years.
In Florida, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told ABC News that the outreach from ICE was “wrong.”
“The State of Florida and Florida law enforcement agencies have expended significant resources and invested in our personnel to ensure that we are properly staffed so that we can provide the best law enforcement services to our residents and visitors,” Gualtieri said in a statement to ABC News.
“We have partnered with ICE like no other state to help ICE do its job of illegal immigration enforcement,” Gualtieri said. “ICE actively trying to use our partnership to recruit our personnel is wrong and we have expressed our concern to ICE leadership.”
One Trump administration official told ABC News that the administration understands the frustration and values its partners, and that ICE would love to attract quality law enforcement officers who wouldn’t need to be trained for as long as a new hire off the street.
Not everyone was upset by ICE’s latest recruitment effort.
In Texas, Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Border Patrol veteran, said that while all of his deputies received a recruitment email from ICE, he is supportive of it.MORE: Trump doubles down on expanding deportations in America’s biggest cities
“I have a deputy who is interested and I’m supportive. I want to see my employees succeed at whatever their plans may be,” Cleveland said in a statement to ABC News. “I’m retired Border Patrol and I’ve received an email to come back as well.”
“Both agencies are beginning to recruit.” Cleveland said. “In the past, Border Patrol loses a lot of agents to ICE, due to there being more desirable locations in the interior of the U.S. as opposed to border towns.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
CBS News: U.S. citizen told “you have no rights” during immigration arrest speaks out
Video of an 18-year-old U.S. citizen being violently arrested in Florida by immigration agents back in May has drawn heavy scrutiny, with advocates saying the expansion of state and local law enforcement’s role in illegal immigrant crackdowns contributed to the incident.
Border Patrol and the Florida Highway Patrol were conducting immigration enforcement on May 2 when they detained Kenny Laynez, a high school senior who was on his way to work as a landscaper with two other co-workers and his mother, who was driving.
Video Laynez recorded of the arrest shows an officer telling him, a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in the country, “You got no rights here. You’re an amigo, brother.”
“It hurts me, hearing them saying that I have no rights here because I look like, um, you know, Hispanic, I’m Hispanic,” Laynez told CBS News.
The car was pulled over for having too many people sitting in the front seat. Two passengers were undocumented, according to Laynez, and officers are seen on the video using a Taser. The teens’ two co-workers were both detained, and Laynez says he has been unable to contact them.
“We’re not resisting. We’re not committing any crime to, you know, run away,” Laynez said, recalling the arrest.
Laynez’s phone continued recording after he was detained, capturing an exchange in which an officer tells another, “They’re starting to resist more. We’re gonna end up shooting some of them.”
Another officer replies, “Just remember, you can smell that too with a $30,000 bonus.”
Florida Highway Patrol did not comment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection told CBS News in a statement that the individuals “resisted arrest” and said immigration agents are facing a surge in assaults while doing their job. The statement made no mention that a U.S. citizen had been detained.
The video comes as Florida is set to deputize more than 1,800 additional law enforcement officers to conduct immigration operations as part of a statewide crackdown.
“Laws are just, you know, they’re no longer being respected. They’re no longer being upheld,” said Mariana Blanco, director at the Guatemala Maya Center, an advocacy group that opposes Florida’s new crackdown. “Deputizing these agents so quickly, it is going to bring severe consequences.”
U.S. citizen told “you have no rights” during immigration arrest speaks out: “It hurts me”
Border Patrol and the Florida Highway Patrol arrested Kenny Laynez, an 18-year-old high school senior who was on his way to work as a landscaper, back in May.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kenny-laynez-arrest-you-have-no-rights-interview