Two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers pleaded guilty this month to working with members of a Mexican drug trafficking organization to smuggle multiple types of drugs into the country, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Jesse Clark Garcia, 37, and Diego Bonillo, 30, conspired to let vehicles carrying illegal drugs cross into the United States without being inspected, helping the drug traffickers bypass border security.
The Department of Justice said the two officers secretly used emojis to communicate with the drug smugglers about their location or assignment at the border.
Guilty Pleas in Major Trafficking Case
On July 8, Garcia pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges listed in an indictment, including conspiracy to import controlled substances and importation of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl through the Tecate, California, port of entry.
On July 28, right before his trial was about to begin, Bonillo admitted guilt to three charges, including conspiracy to import controlled substances and importation of fentanyl and heroin through the Otay Mesa port of entry.
Prosecutors: Officers Profited From Smuggling
“The United States has alleged that both defendants profited handsomely, funding both domestic and international trips as well as purchases of luxury items and attempts to purchase real estate in Mexico,” a press release from federal prosecutors reads.
Garcia and Bonillo both face life in prison with a minimum of 10 years. Federal prosecutors say Garcia will be sentenced on Sept. 26, and Bonillo on Nov. 7.
Multi-Agency Investigation
The case was investigated through a coordinated effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The dirtbags should be detaining and deporting their own and leave the honest day workers at Home Depots alone!
CBP officers admit to drug smuggling conspiracy using emojis to talk to runners
Two CBP officers pleaded guilty to working with members of a Mexican drug trafficking organization to smuggle drugs into the U.S.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wants an immediate and full congressional investigation into the latest death of a detainee in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration.
The detainee, a 75-year-old Cuban national named Isidro Perez, was reported to Congress by ICE officials, with news on the incident saying that “the death appears to have been caused by a heart attack.”
That explanation didn’t suffice for Vance.
“‘Appears’ is doing a lot of heavy, lifting here given what we know about how other detainees, including a woman who lost her baby in ICE detention have experienced,” wrote Vance. “Especially with ICE trying to prevent Congress from oversight, there should be a full investigation into this.”
Ex-prosecutor demands full probe after ‘heart attack’ death in ICE custody
Masked and unidentified ICE agents lurking near schools and homeless shelters spark fear and confusion in majority-Latino enclaves outside New York.
Run, scum, run!
See scum run!
Run, run, run!
A dozen or more masked men, some with long guns, tried to enter a men’s homeless shelter without identifying themselves in a rural town with a long-standing immigrant community on eastern Long Island in New York. Officials from the local police department later admitted they didn’t know where the masked men came from — only adding to local residents’ concerns.
At the same time, 50 miles to the west, six unmarked cars with masked agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, parked within hundreds of feet of an elementary school in a working-class town with a large Latino population. In response, a group of residents gathered to shame the agents, accusing the agents with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, of lying in wait to snatch the parents of students when school let out.
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On Long Island, the two federal raids on Tuesday saw emergency communiqués from schools to parents, incorrect information distributed to area media by local authorities, a confrontation with angry demonstrators, and a car accident.
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Late Tuesday morning in Westbury, in western Nassau County, parents and nearby residents noticed what they immediately recognized as unmarked federal agent vehicles parked within feet of Park Avenue Elementary School, two eyewitnesses told The Intercept. One of those residents, Allan Oscar Sorto, picked up his phone and began streaming live on Facebook.
As he streamed, a dozen or so people began congregating near the cars, two Nissan Altimas and several Ford SUVs with flashers. People can be heard explaining that they’ve seen these cars around the neighborhood in recent weeks, part of immigration raids. Now the sight of the cars parked so close to the elementary school seemed to spark heightened outrage and fear that federal immigration agents were lurking to surprise parents going to pick up their children from school.
Sorto, from nearby Hempstead, estimated that there were four cars near the school, some within 10 feet of the schoolyard fence, and two other cars on the next block. Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named out of fear of law enforcement retaliation, told The Intercept that he could see uniformed HSI agents sitting in all the cars, most masked.
“No son padres ustedes?” a woman in the video says to the closed window of one of the parked Nissans: “Are you not parents?”
People on the sidewalk yelled at the cars in Spanish and English. “Show your face!” “You feel proud?” “None of us are criminals, we work, we pay taxes like you do.” “Leave the school grounds!”
The Westbury residents’ fears seemed well-founded, considering reports from around the country….
The Car Crash:
In Westbury, the HSI agents didn’t respond to the gathered crowd. After a few minutes, the agents drove away. A commotion erupted down the road, off-camera, and onlookers began rushing toward the corner.
One of the Nissans, carrying two of the HSI agents, had crashed into a black pickup truck that happened to be passing through the intersection. Three eyewitnesses told The Intercept that the agents’ car had sped away. Two of the witnesses believe the Nissan blew a stop sign, causing the crash. (Nassau County police referred questions about the accident to ICE, which did not respond to an inquiry.)
After the accident, the crowd gathered around the scene, according to the video stream. The two agents got out of the crashed car, seemingly panicked and, witnesses told The Intercept, appearing to avoid eye contact with bystanders. The agents got into another HSI vehicle.
A third agent, an unmasked man with a black polo shirt covering his tactical vest, stood near the crashed car, remaining stoic as people questioned him on the livestream.
“You’re looking for criminals in the school?” one bystander asked, as the agent remained expressionless.
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Soon, the federal agents left, leaving the smashed Nissan with the passenger side airbag deployed behind, and many in the crowd dispersed.
The driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident was placed in a stretcher and left in an ambulance….
“Now you’re clogging up the street and people have to work,” one of the remaining bystanders can be heard to say during the stream. “How is this making America great again?”
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The Long Island newspaper Newsday first reported the Westbury incident with a quote from Nassau County police that the action was not immigration-related and that the agents were not working for ICE on Tuesday afternoon.
Late Tuesday, however, an ICE spokesperson issued a statement that contradicted the Nassau police.
“ICE Homeland Security Investigations Long Island personnel were conducting an operation associated to an ongoing federal investigation,” the statement said. “During the operation special agents were confronted by multiple anti-law enforcement agitators, which prohibited the enforcement action. ICE HSI personnel departed the location and, shortly thereafter, a member of the law enforcement team was involved in a motor-vehicle collision.”
Homeless Shelter Raid:
A week earlier, ICE raids using another Long Island fire department sparked outrage in the community. The fire department subsequently issued a statement that fire officials were not previously informed that ICE would be using their parking lot.
Several hours after the men were seen at the Riverhead Fire Department, they were spotted again. Twelve to 14 of the masked men, some reportedly carrying long guns, were trying to get into a Riverhead men’s homeless shelter, according to a video shared by several immigrant advocates in the area. They would not identify themselves, a shelter employee told local news outlet RiverheadLOCAL.
A shelter resident told RiverheadLOCAL that one of the men, wearing a black U.S. Marshals vest, came to the front door seeking entry but would neither show credentials or a warrant, nor give his name. (A representative for the shelter did not respond to inquiries.)
A representative for the Riverhead Fire Department told The Intercept, “We had no idea who they were.”
Clock the links for more, it’s a long article:
ICE Agent Fled From Angry Residents Outside New York School — and Got in a Car Crash
Masked and unidentified ICE agents lurking near schools sparked fear, confusion, and a car crash in Latino-heavy New York suburbs.
Armed agents in tactical gear threw flash-bang grenades to disperse a crowd in Los Angeles’s Fashion District. Later, agents fired less-than-lethal ammunition at protesters outside a detention center.
Federal agents in tactical gear armed with military-style rifles threw flash-bang grenades to disperse an angry crowd near downtown Los Angeles on Friday as they conducted an immigration raid on a clothing wholesaler, the latest sign of tensions between protesters and law enforcement over raids carried out at stores, restaurants and court buildings.
The operation was one of at least three immigration sweeps conducted in Los Angeles on Friday. In another one, federal agents converged at a Home Depot where day laborers regularly gather in search of work.
The raid at the clothing wholesaler began about 9:15 a.m. in the Fashion District, less than two miles from Los Angeles City Hall.
It was an extraordinary show of force. Dozens of federal agents wearing helmets and green camouflage arrived in two hulking armored trucks and other unmarked vehicles, and were soon approached by a crowd of immigrant activists and supporters. Some agents carried riot shields and others held rifles, as well as shotguns that appeared to be loaded with less-than-lethal ammunition.
Agents cleared a path for two white passenger vans that exited the area. A short time later, as officers boarded their vehicles to leave, a few agents lobbed flash-bang grenades at groups of people who chased alongside the slow-moving convoy. Some protesters had thrown eggs and other objects at the vehicles. At one point, the vehicles snagged and crushed at least two electric scooters that protesters had used.
Agents Use Military-Style Force Against Protesters at L.A. Immigration Raid
Armed agents in tactical gear threw flash-bang grenades to disperse a crowd in Los Angeles’s Fashion District. Later, agents fired less-than-lethal ammunition at protesters outside a detention center.
Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, turned emotional when asked to explain why officials wear masks. He said some have received death threats and been harassed online.
“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” he said at a news conference in Boston to announce nearly 1,500 arrests in the region as part of a month-long “surge operation.”
Lyons was leaving the room when a reporter asked him about the masks. He returned to the podium.
“Is that the issue here that we’re just upset about the masks?” he asked. “Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?”
Lyons may have been referring to comments by San Diego Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera, who called ICE officers “terrorists” after Friday’s restaurant raid. “This isn’t safety. It’s state-sponsored terrorism,” Elo-Rivera wrote on Instagram.
Gestapo? Terrorists? Thugs? ICE is receiving the reputation it has earned. And I could care less if the poor bully boys are harassed, either online or in public — they’ve earned it.
Immigration official defends tactics against criticism of a heavy hand as arrests rise nationwide
The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is defending himself against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed as they ramp up arrests toward President Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportations.
Across the nation, ICE has never seemed more visible, especially as anger continues over the separation of immigrant families at the border under the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy. Protesters have rallied across the U.S., demanding that the agency be abolished — calls that have been echoed by politicians. Earlier this month, WikiLeaks published the identities and information of more than 9,000 supposed current and former ICE employees.
Being an ICE agent has always come with challenges. The agency has faced criticism for years from immigration activists, including during the uptick in immigration enforcement during the Obama administration.
But Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has made ICE much more of a target. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf won praise from many of her constituents and criticism from the White House earlier this year when she alerted her city to upcoming ICE raids.
Many California police departments have longstanding policies against working with ICE to arrest suspects on immigration charges. But since Trump took office, California has enacted even tougher “sanctuary state” policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration officials even more, and that has heightened the strains.
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Recently, “Occupy ICE” protests have sprung up across the nation. In Portland, Ore., protesters were able to shut down an ICE facility for at least a week.
On Saturday, hundreds of coordinated rallies were scheduled around the country to protest Trump’s zero tolerance policy, which has resulted in the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents or guardians crossing the border.
This week, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) stated that he plans to introduce legislation to eliminate ICE. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who beat Rep. Joe Crowley, the House Democratic Caucus chair, in New York’s Democratic primary, ran on a platform that called for the abolition of the agency.
And this is total bullshit:
ICE “fully respects the Constitutional rights of all people to peacefully express their opinions,” ICE said in a statement. “That being said, ICE remains committed to performing its immigration enforcement mission consistent with federal law and agency policy.”
Just ask all the students who are being deported for espousing pro-Palestinian views.
‘Even the cops don’t like us anymore’: Under Trump, ICE is despised and divided
In May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were spotted in Union Station.
The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city has been arrested after allegedly trying to force his way into a migrant detention facility.
Newark Mayor Ras Barak, who is running for New Jersey governor, “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings”, to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to acting US attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba.
Barak was accompanied by three Democratic members of Congress, who were not arrested. They say they were there to conduct “oversight” to ensure that the facility is not violating any building safety ordinances.
It is unclear whether Barak faces criminal charges.
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New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy said he was “outraged” by Baraka’s arrest and called for him to be immediately released.
New Jersey Democratic lawmakers Rob Menendez Jr, Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver were also present during the protest.
City officials allege the private firm that signed a contract with ICE did not obtain proper permits and blocked necessary inspections. The firm has told media they haver the proper permits.
Earlier on Friday, Congresswoman Watson Coleman posted on social media: “We’re at Delaney Hall, an ICE prison in Newark that opened without permission from the city & in violation of local ordinances.
New Jersey mayor arrested for protesting at migrant centre
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was part of a group of Democratic officials seeking to enter the facility housing detained migrants.
A former New Mexico judge and his wife were arrested on Thursday after being accused of sheltering a Tren de Aragua gang member at their home.
Local news captured the raid and arrest of former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife Nancy Cano, who were charged with tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper, respectively.
In footage posted by KFOX14 News, Mr. and Mrs. Cano could be seen in handcuffs next to agents from both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Good sound bite, charges will probably be tossed!
Note that Cristhian Ortega Lopez is a SUSPECTED Tren de Aragua gang member. It’s never been proven in court.
And secondly, despite King Donald’s massive overreach with his foreign terrorist nonsense, it is not illegal to be a member of a gang per se. There is no such thing as guilt by association in the U.S. The “freedom of assembly” is specifically guaranteed by the First Amendment. A gang member can only be arrested for specific crimes that he or she has committed.
Feds Arrest Former Judge Accused of Sheltering Gang Member at Home
A former New Mexico judge and his wife were arrested on Thursday after being accused of sheltering a Tren de Aragua gang member at their home.
Homeland Security agents nabbed a Texas man who allegedly vowed to “open fire” on ICE agents coming to his neighborhood — and said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] should be sent to a gulag.
Robert King, a US citizen, was collared in McKinney, Texas, after he made the disturbing threats online, Homeland Security Investigations said Wednesday.
“It’s time to stop being a p—- and put the Second Amendment to work. ICE are not real cops, they are a secret police force with no real legal authority. Kill them,” King said in one of the menacing posts, according to Fox News.
Texas man allegedly vowed to ‘open fire’ on ICE agents, said Kristi Noem should be sent to ‘gulag’
Robert King, a US citizen, was collared in McKinney, Texas, after he made the disturbing threats online, Homeland Security Investigations said Wednesday.
I hope Robert King lawyers up, because the government has some real problems here. For starters, we don’t have to like the government. Moreover, we can’t be penalized for hating what the government has become. ICE today is close to what the SA & SS (Gestapo) were in the early years of Nazi Germany.
Robert King’s statements are not threats, certainly not actionable threats. They are the constitutionally protect free speech of a man who is obviously disgusted and exasperated at the fascist Nazi party Trump cronies have turned into.
Personally I hope we can resolve the current situation and send the Trump regime packing peacefully. But if we can’t, the Second Amendment is there for us.
The Second Amendment is not about deer hunting and target shooting. It is there because we had just removed a repressive regime, and our Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that we could remove another one should the need arise.
And as far as Bimbo #2 Kristi Noem is concerned, I could care less what happens when Bimbo #2 dies and goes to Hell. She’s a heartless wench who shot her own puppy and pet goat and later bragged about it; a gulag in Hell will suit her just fine.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving wench. Any dirtbag that shoots pet puppies and goats deserves to be kicked around the block and then some.
The Post was there as she dodged kicks from a suspect wearing slip-on shoes and gamely told him, “You’re not scaring me with your Croc.”
Aim better next time, Bubba. She deserves it!
The multi-agency task force — led by Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and joined by a coterie of federal law enforcement and immigration agencies — nabbed three illegal immigrant felons with extensive criminal histories.
Wow! 100 law enforcement officers to nab 3 illegal immigrants! What an efficient use of manpower! Not!
But it’s what one expects with Bimbo #2 running the show, when she’s not shooting pet puppies and goats.
Exclusive | Kristi Noem dodges kicks from migrant suspect as she leads ICE deportation raids in Phoenix
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Noem led about 100 federal agents on an early morning raid Tuesday in Arizona’s capital, where they nabbed three illegal migrants wanted …
