Tag Archives: ICE

Miami Herald: Exclusive: Hundreds at Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal charges, Miami Herald learns

Posted on by
Reply

Hundreds of immigrants with no criminal charges in the United States are being held at Alligator Alcatraz, a detention facility state and federal officials have characterized as a place where “vicious” and “deranged psychopaths” are sent before they get deported, records obtained by the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times show.

Mixed among the detainees accused and convicted of crimes are more than 250 people who are listed as having only immigration violations but no criminal convictions or pending charges in the United States. The data is based on a list of more than 700 people who are either being held under tents and in chain link cells at Florida’s pop-up detention center in the Everglades or appear slated for transfer there.

A third of the detainees have criminal convictions. Their charges range from attempted murder to illegal re-entry to traffic violations. Hundreds of others only have pending charges. The records do not disclose the nature of the alleged offenses, and reporters have not independently examined each individual’s case.

The information — subject to change as the population of the facility fluctuates — suggests that scores of migrants without criminal records have been targeted in the state and federal dragnet to catch and deport immigrants living illegally in Florida.

Nationally, nearly half of detainees in ICE custody as of late June were being held for immigration violations and did not have a criminal conviction or charge, according to data from Syracuse University. Polls have shown that American voters support the deportation of criminals but are less supportive of the arrest and detention of otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants. South Florida’s congressional representatives have called on the Trump administration to be more compassionate in its efforts to round up and deport immigrants with status issues.

“That place is supposedly for the worst criminals in the U.S.,” said Walter Jara, the nephew of a 56-year-old Nicaraguan man taken to the facility following a traffic stop in Palm Beach County. The list obtained by the Herald/Times states that his uncle, Denis Alcides Solis Morales, has immigration violations and makes no mention of convictions or pending criminal charges. Jara said his uncle arrived here legally in 2023 under a humanitarian parole program, and has a pending asylum case.

Reporters sent the list to officials at the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the absence of a criminal charge in the United States doesn’t mean migrants detained at the site have clean hands.

“Many of the individuals that are counted as ‘non-criminals’ are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters and more; they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S.,” McLaughlin told the Herald/Times. “Further, every single one of these individuals committed a crime when they came into this country illegally. It is not an accurate description to say they are ‘non-criminals.’”

McLaughlin said the Trump administration is “putting the American people first by removing illegal aliens who pose a threat to our communities” and said “70% of ICE arrests have been of criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.”

She added that the state of Florida oversees the facility, not ICE, an argument echoed in court by Thomas P. Giles, a top official involved in enforcement and removal operations.

“The ultimate decision of who to detain” at Alligator Alcatraz “belongs to Florida,” he wrote as part of the federal government’s response to a lawsuit challenging the detention facility on environmental grounds.

A spokesperson for ICE referred reporters to Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the detention facility. The Florida agency did not respond to a request for comment.

The records offer a glimpse into who is being sent to Alligator Alcatraz. The network of trailers and tents, built on an airstrip off of U.S. Highway 41, has been operating for a little more than a week. It is already housing about 750 immigrant detainees, a figure that state officials shared with Democratic state Sen. Carlos Guillermo-Smith, one of several Florida lawmakers who toured the site on Saturday afternoon.

The records obtained by the Herald/Times show detainees are from roughly 40 countries around the world. Immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba made up about half the list. Ages range from 18 to 73. One is listed as being from the United States. Reporters were unable to locate his family or attorney.

Lawmakers who visited the facility Saturday said they saw detainees wearing wristbands, which state officials explained were meant to classify the severity of their civil or criminal violations. The colors included yellow, orange and red — with yellow being less severe infractions and red meaning more severe offenses, said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.

When the detention facility opened on July 1, President Donald Trump visited the site and said it would soon house “some of the most vicious people on the planet.” He and Gov. Ron DeSantis have said the detention center is creating more space to house undocumented immigrants who otherwise would have to be released due to a lack of beds.

The state has refused to make public a roster of detainees at Alligator Alcatraz, instead offering selective information about who is being detained there. On Friday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office released the names of six men convicted of crimes to Fox News, and later to the Herald/Times upon request. The charges against the men — all included on the list obtained by the Herald/Times — ranged from murder to burglary.

“This group of murderers, rapists, and gang members are just a small sample of the deranged psychopaths that Florida is helping President Trump and his administration remove from our country,” Uthmeier’s spokesman, Jeremy Redfern, said in a statement.

One of those men is Jose Fortin, a 46-year-old from Honduras who was arrested in 2017 on attempted murder charges. Records show Fortin was deported to his home country in August 2019. A month later, he re-entered the country illegally. Border patrol agents picked him up in Texas.

Another man identified as a detainee by Uthmeier’s office, Luis Donaldo Corado, was convicted of burglary and petty theft after he was accused of being a “peeping tom” — watching a woman through her apartment window in Coral Gables. And Eddy Lopez Jemot, a 57-year-old Cuban man, was accused of killing a woman and setting her house on fire in Key Largo in 2017. The state dropped homicide charges against him in a plea deal this year and convicted him of arson.

But other detainees left off the attorney general’s list face lesser charges — such as traffic violations, according to attorneys and family members. An attorney told the Herald/Times her client was detained by federal immigration agents after a routine-check in at an ICE field office. Some are asylum seekers.

Solís Morales, the 56-year-old Nicaraguan, ended up in Alligator Alcatraz after he was unexpectedly detained on his way to a construction job in Palm Beach County on July 1, according to Jara, his nephew. He was a passenger in a Ford F-150 when the driver was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol for an unsecured load, Jara told the Herald/Times on Saturday.

Solís Morales arrived in the United States from Nicaragua in 2023 under humanitarian parole and has a pending asylum case, Jara said.

Miami immigration attorney Regina de Moraes said she’s representing a 37-year-old Brazilian man being held at Alligator Alcatraz who entered the United States lawfully on a tourist visa in 2022 and then applied for asylum, which is pending.

She said the man, who has a five-year work permit and owns a solar panel business in the Orlando area, was arrested on a DUI charge in 2024. While he was attending a probation hearing on June 3, he was detained by the Orange County Sheriff’s office, which is participating in a federal immigration program known as 287(g). He was transferred from there to Alligator Alcatraz on Thursday, according to information provided to her by the man’s sister.

De Moraes, a seasoned immigration lawyer, said she doesn’t understand why the Brazilian man was transferred to the state-operated detention facility in the Everglades. She asked the Herald/Times not to identify her client.

“He’s not subject to mandatory detention and he’s not subject to removal because he has a pending asylum application,” de Moraes told the Herald/Times. “He has one DUI and he’s not a threat to others. This is ridiculous. This is a waste of time and money. … He’s not the kind of person they should be picking up.”

“They should be picking up people with sexual battery or armed robbery records,” de Moraes said.

Exclusive: Hundreds at Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal charges, Miami Herald learns
Descriptions of the Everglades detention center as a place for violent criminals tell only part of the story.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article310541810.html

Washington Post: ICE declares millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond hearings

Posted on by
Reply

A memo from ICE’s acting director instructs officers to hold immigrants who entered the country illegally “for the duration of their removal proceedings,” which can take months or years.

The Trump administration has declared that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

In a July 8 memo, Todd M. Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told officers that such immigrants should be detained “for the duration of their removal proceedings,” which can take months or years. Lawyers say the policy will apply to millions of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border over the past few decades, including under Biden.

In the past, immigrants residing in the U.S. interior generally have been allowed to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge. But Lyons wrote that the Trump administration’s departments of Homeland Security and Justice had “revisited its legal position on detention and release authorities” and determined that such immigrants “may not be released from ICE custody.” In rare exceptions immigrants may be released on parole, but that decision will be up to an immigration officer, not a judge, he wrote.

The provision is based on a section of immigration law that says unauthorized immigrants “shall be detained” after their arrest, but that has historically applied to those who recently crossed the border and not longtime residents.

Lyons, who oversees the nation’s 200 immigration detention facilities, wrote that the policy is expected to face legal challenges.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott issued similar guidance last week; that agency also did not respond to questions.

The sweeping new detention policy comes days after Congress passed a spending package that will allocate $45 billion over the next four years to lock up immigrants for civil deportation proceedings. The measure will allow ICE to roughly double the nation’s immigrant detention capacity to 100,000 people a day.

Since the memos were issued last week, the American Immigration Lawyers Association said members had reported that immigrants were being denied bond hearings in more than a dozen immigration courts across the United States, including in New York, Virginia, Oregon, North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia. The Department of Justice oversees the immigration courts.

“This is their way of putting in place nationwide a method of detaining even more people,” said Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It’s requiring the detention of far more people without any real review of their individual circumstances.”

Immigration hawks have long argued that detaining immigrants is necessary to quickly deport those who do not qualify for asylum or another way to stay in the United States permanently. They say detaining immigrants might also discourage people from filing frivolous claims, in hopes of being released as their cases proceed in the backlogged immigration courts.

“Detention is absolutely the best way to approach this, if you can do it. It costs a lot of money obviously,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors enforcement. “You’re pretty much guaranteed to be able to remove the person, if there’s a negative finding, if he’s in detention.”

In its 2024 annual report, however, ICE said it detains immigrants only “when necessary” and that the vast majority of the 7.6 million people then on its docket were released pending immigration proceedings. Keeping them detained while their case is adjudicated has not been logistically possible, and advocates have raised concern for migrants’ health and welfare in civil immigration detention.

Immigrants are already subject to mandatory detention without bond if they have been convicted of murder or other serious crimes, and this year the Republican-led Congress added theft-related crimes to that list after a Georgia nursing student, Laken Riley, was killed by a man from Venezuela who had been picked up for shoplifting and not held for deportation.

Immigration lawyers say the Trump administration is expanding a legal standard typically used to hold recent arrivals at the southern border toa much broader group — including immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades. Many have U.S. citizen children, lawyers say, and likely have the legal grounds to defend themselves against deportation.

Forcing them to remain in detention facilities often in far-flung areas such as an alligator-infested swamp in Florida or the Arizona desert would make it more difficult to fight their cases, because they will be unable to work or easily communicate with family members and lawyers to prepare their cases.

“I think some courts are going to find that this doesn’t give noncitizens sufficient due process,” said Paul Hunker, an immigration lawyer and former ICE chief counsel in the Dallas area. “They could be held indefinitely until they’re deported.*

ICE is holding about 56,000 immigrants a day as officers sweep the nation for undocumented immigrants, working overtime to fulfill Trump’s goal of deporting 1 million people in his first year. Officials have reopened family detention centers that the Biden administration shuttered because ofsafety concerns, stood up soft-sided facilities such as one in the Everglades, and begun deporting immigrants with little notice to alternative countries such as conflict-ridden South Sudan.

Immigration lawyers say the new ICE policy is similar to a position that several immigration judges in Tacoma, Washington, have espoused in recent years, denying hearings to anyone who crossed the border illegally.

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle filed a lawsuit in March on behalf of detainees challenging the policy, arguing that their refusal to consider a bond hearing violated the immigrants’ rights.

The original plaintiff in the case, Ramon Rodriguez Vazquez, has lived in Washington state since 2009, works as a farmer and is the “proud grandfather” of 10 U.S. citizens, court records show. His eight siblings are U.S. citizens who live in California.

He also owns his home, where ICE officers arrested him in February for being in the United States without permission. In April, a federal judge in Washington found that he has “no criminal history in the United States or anywhere else in the world” and ordered immigration officers to give him a bond hearing before a judge. A judge denied him bond and he has since returned to Mexico, his lawyer said.

But that decision does not apply nationwide, lawyers said.

Aaron Korthuis, a lawyer in the case, said Rodriguez is typical of the type of immigrants who now face prolonged detention as they fight deportation in immigration courts. He called the government’s new interpretation of bond hearings “flagrantly unlawful.”

“They are people who have been living here, all they’re doing is trying to make a living for their family,” Korthuis said in an interview. He said the policy “is looking to supercharge detention beyond what it already is.”

ICE declares millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond …
archived 15 Jul 2025 00:05:00 UTC

https://archive.is/vMvoj#selection-673.0-847.222

Newsweek: Trump backs ICE crackdown as farmworkers say they feel ‘hunted’

Posted on by
Reply

Undocumented farm workers say they are being “hunted like animals” as President Donald Trump expands ICE raids targeting agricultural sites. Amid rising arrest quotas and shifting enforcement policies, workers report living in fear, losing wages, and facing mounting pressure to surrender autonomy in exchange for continued employment.

What to know:

  • ICE raids under Trump have led to injuries, mass arrests, and at least one death
  • Trump has proposed deferring immigration enforcement to farm owners
  • Advocacy groups warn that the policy undermines civil rights and worker protections
  • Many undocumented farm workers have gone into hiding to avoid arrest
  • Critics liken the enforcement approach to indentured servitude or forced compliance
  • Nearly 40 percent of farm workers in the US are undocumented
  • ICE quotas have tripled under the Trump administration
  • Labor unions say raids are unconstitutional and are executed without judicial oversight

In June, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston arrested five undocumented migrants with extensive criminal histories. Among them was 56-year-old Cuban national Adermis Wilson-Gonzalez, convicted in 2003 for hijacking a plane from Cuba to Florida. He was taken into custody on June 29.

On June 13, ICE arrested Arnulfo Olivares Cervantes, a 47-year-old Mexican national and former Mexicles gang member. Cervantes had entered the U.S. illegally six times and faced convictions for attempted murder, drug trafficking, and evading arrest.

Luis Pablo Vasquez-Estolano, 29, also from Mexico, was arrested on June 10. He had been deported six times and held convictions for homicide, aggravated robbery, and drug possession.

Jose Meza, 40, was arrested on June 24. ICE reported Meza had entered the U.S. illegally four times and was convicted of sexual assault of a minor and theft.

On June 23, ICE detained 51-year-old Javier Escobar Gonzalez, who had prior convictions for sexual indecency with a minor, criminal trespass with a deadly weapon, and unauthorized firearm use.

ICE officials say the arrests reflect ongoing efforts to remove individuals deemed threats to public safety.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Houston is pushing back against criticism of its recent immigration enforcement actions, with acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez praising agents for their work in removing individuals deemed threats to public safety. In a statement, Martinez said ICE officers are “targeting dangerous criminal aliens” and highlighted recent deportations across Southeast Texas as evidence of their commitment.

The agency reported the removal of individuals with criminal convictions, including child predators and gang members, as part of its broader strategy to restore what it calls integrity to the immigration system. Martinez emphasized that ICE’s mission is being undermined by “false and malicious rumors,” but insisted that agents remain focused on protecting communities.

The statement follows a series of high-profile deportations and increased scrutiny of ICE’s tactics, particularly in Houston, where arrests have surged in recent months.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the Portland International Jetport on Saturday to protest Avelo Airlines’ partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The airline has been conducting deportation flights out of Arizona since May, prompting backlash from immigration advocates and local residents.

Protesters expressed concern that Avelo, which recently began offering commercial flights between Portland and New Haven, Connecticut, is receiving public incentives despite its federal contract. Organizers called for a boycott and urged city officials to reconsider support for the airline.

Avelo maintains that its ICE-related operations are limited to Arizona and are not connected to its Portland service. However, critics argue that any business involved in deportation efforts should not benefit from public resources.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced a new initiative to provide direct cash assistance to immigrants impacted by the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration raids.

The funds will be distributed as cash cards valued at “a couple hundred” dollars each and is expected to become available within the next week, Bass said

Newsweek has contacted Bass’ office for comment via email outside of office hours.

President Donald Trump has vowed to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history to address illegal immigration and border security. However, the policy has sparked concerns about its potential effects on the economy. The GOP’s flagship immigration policy under Trump is causing people to avoid going to work amid fears over workplace raids.

California has become one of the key battleground states for immigration enforcement after President Trump directed ICE to increase operations in sanctuary states.

California State Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) issued a forceful statement Friday condemning the treatment of immigrant children detained in Los Angeles, following the release of a video showing two dozen minors handcuffed and led through a federal building. Durazo called the footage “a moral failure of the highest order,” denouncing the practice as cruel and fundamentally un-American.

The senator urged the Trump administration to end what she described as barbaric tactics and emphasized that no child should be shackled or separated from their parents. She praised U.S. District Judge Frimpong’s recent ruling that blocked federal immigration raids based on racial profiling and ordered access to legal counsel for detainees.

Durazo criticized the White House’s decision to appeal the ruling, warning that it signals a disregard for constitutional protections. She reaffirmed her commitment to defending immigrant families and called for policies rooted in compassion and justice.

Florida State Rep. Fentrice Driskell criticized the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention facility during an interview on CNN, calling the site “inhumane” and a misuse of taxpayer funds. Driskell described overcrowded conditions, sweltering heat, and limited access to sanitation and legal counsel. She said detainees are housed in cages with three toilets per pod and shackled during medical screenings.

Driskell also claimed that some Republican lawmakers privately expressed discomfort with the facility, saying it did not reflect what they had envisioned when supporting immigration enforcement. She questioned the $450 million price tag and suggested contractors with ties to the DeSantis administration may be benefiting.

The facility, located in the Florida Everglades, has drawn criticism from tribal leaders, environmental groups, and immigrant advocates. Driskell warned that the center’s conditions and lack of oversight could have lasting consequences for Florida communities.

Undocumented farm workers say they feel “hunted like animals” as President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies immigration enforcement across U.S. farms, The Guardian reported. ICE raids have disrupted livelihoods, forced workers into hiding, and sparked protests, including one in Ventura County where a worker died after falling from a greenhouse during a raid.

Trump has proposed letting farmers oversee immigration enforcement on their properties, a move critics say strips workers of legal protections and dignity. Labor advocates warn the policy amounts to coercion, with workers forced to rely on employers to avoid deportation.

Despite mixed signals from the White House, the administration has raised ICE arrest quotas and reversed earlier directives to avoid targeting agricultural sites. Officials say the crackdown is necessary to secure the food supply and remove undocumented labor, while critics argue it threatens both human rights and economic stability.

Farmworkers and organizers say the raids have traumatized communities, disrupted families, and risked food shortages. With undocumented workers making up an estimated 40 percent of the U.S. farm labor force, advocates warn that continued enforcement could reverberate far beyond the fields.

Federal immigration agents detained a California woman outside a Home Depot during a workplace raid and used excessive force during her arrest, a family friend told Newsweek.

Alejandra Anleu, a 22-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents outside the store located at San Fernando and 26th Street in Los Angeles on Monday, June 30, 2025.

She had been working there when immigration enforcers detained her.

Joyce Sanchez, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen and family friend, told Newsweek: “They used excessive force on a young woman, which was unnecessary.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek: “FALSE. On June 30, U.S. Border Patrol encountered Alejandra Anleu, an illegal alien from Guatemala. During the encounter, Anleu freely admitted to being an illegal alien and she was placed under arrest without any injuries reported.”

Footage obtained by Newsweek shows federal agents leading her away without incident.

Federal officials on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s intensifying deportation campaign, including a controversial raid at two California cannabis farms that left one worker dead and sparked widespread protests. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said the administration would appeal a federal judge’s ruling that temporarily blocked immigration detentions based on racial profiling and restricted access to legal counsel for detainees.

“We will appeal, and we will win,” Noem said on Fox News Sunday, denying that the administration used discriminatory tactics. Homan added on CNN that physical characteristics could be one factor in establishing reasonable suspicion during enforcement actions.

The July 10 raids in Camarillo and Carpinteria resulted in 361 arrests, including 14 migrant minors, according to DHS. Protesters clashed with federal agents, and Democratic Rep. Salud Carbajal said he witnessed officers firing smoke canisters and projectiles into a crowd of civilians. ICE later accused Carbajal of sharing an agent’s business card with demonstrators.

United Farm Workers confirmed that one farmworker died from injuries sustained during the raid. Senator Alex Padilla, who was forcibly removed from a Noem press conference in June, condemned the administration’s tactics. “It’s causing ICE to get more aggressive, more cruel, more extreme, and these are the results,” Padilla said. “It’s people dying”.

Chris Landry, a longtime New Hampshire resident and green card holder, was denied re-entry into the United States after a family vacation in Canada, sparking personal and political upheaval. Landry, 46, has lived in the U.S. since he was three years old and was traveling with three of his five American-born children when he was stopped at the border in Holton, Maine.

“They pulled me aside and started questioning me about my past convictions in New Hampshire,” Landry told NBC News from New Brunswick, Canada. His record includes a 2006 marijuana possession charge and a 2007 suspended license violation—both resolved with fines and no further offenses since.

Despite his legal permanent resident status, border agents denied him entry and warned he could be detained if he returned. “I never expected that I wouldn’t be able to go back home,” Landry said. “It was scary. I felt like I was being treated like a criminal.”

Landry now faces an uncertain future, requiring an immigration judge’s approval to return. The experience has shaken his political beliefs. Once a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, Landry said, “I feel differently now. I’ve been torn from my family. My life has been disregarded completely”.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection defended the decision, stating that “possessing a green card is a privilege, not a right,” and that prior convictions can trigger mandatory detention or additional scrutiny at ports of entry.

Landry has reached out to New Hampshire’s congressional delegation for help, while his children prepare to return to the U.S. without him.

A GoFundMe campaign for Jaime Alanis, a 57-year-old California farmworker who died Saturday from injuries sustained in a 30-foot fall during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, has raised over $150,000 as of Sunday evening.

Newsweek has reached out to Alanis’ niece, Yesenia Duran, for comment via GoFundMe on Sunday.

Alanis’ death is among the first reported during an ICE raid under President Donald Trump‘s second term. The administration has spearheaded a major immigration crackdown, vowing to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. The initiative has seen an intensification of ICE raids across the country.

Congress has allocated funding for tens of thousands of additional detention beds in the current tax bill, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moves to expand detention capacity and ramp up arrests.

A federal judge on Friday concluded that immigration agents had been “unlawfully” arresting suspected illegal immigrants in Los Angeles and six surrounding counties, marking the latest legal clashes between California and the Trump administration over immigration enforcement. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong imposed two temporary restraining orders (TRO) banning law enforcement from detaining suspected illegal migrants in the area without reasonable suspicion and insisting that those arrested must have access to legal counsel.

Jaime Alanis, a 57-year-old farmworker, died Saturday from injuries sustained during a chaotic federal immigration raid at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California. Alanis fell roughly 30 feet from a greenhouse roof while reportedly fleeing agents, according to family members. He had worked at the farm for a decade and was the sole provider for his wife and daughter in Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it executed criminal search warrants at the cannabis facility and a second site in Carpinteria, arresting approximately 200 undocumented individuals and identifying at least 10 migrant children on-site. DHS stated Alanis was not in custody and was not being pursued when he climbed the roof and fell.

The United Farm Workers union, which does not represent workers at the raided farm, condemned the operation, calling it “violent and cruel” and warning of its impact on food supply chains and immigrant families.

Protests erupted during the raid, with demonstrators clashing with agents in military gear. Tear gas and smoke forced crowds to disperse. Four U.S. citizens were arrested for allegedly assaulting officers, and the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information about a suspect who fired a gun at agents.

Glass House Farms said it complied with federal warrants and is assisting detained workers with legal support. The company denied knowingly violating hiring practices or employing minors.

Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida’s newly opened Everglades immigration detention center after touring the facility Saturday, describing it as overcrowded, unsanitary, and infested with insects. “There are really disturbing, vile conditions, and this place needs to be shut the hell down,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who joined other Democrats in criticizing the 3,000-bed site dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Republicans on the same tour disputed those claims, with State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia calling the facility “well-run” and “clean.” Sen. Jay Collins added that the center was “functioning well” and equipped with backup generators and dietary tracking systems.

The tour followed an earlier attempt by Democrats to access the site, which was denied. Lawmakers have since filed a lawsuit against the DeSantis administration, alleging obstruction of oversight authority.

The detention center, built in days on a remote airstrip, is part of President Donald Trump’s push to expand migrant detention capacity to 100,000 beds. While officials say detainees have access to medical care, air conditioning, and legal services, advocates and relatives report worm-infested food, overflowing toilets, and limited hygiene access.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said any issues “have been addressed” and suggested other states may adopt similar models. The facility remains controversial, with critics calling it a political stunt and supporters touting its efficiency.

Vice President JD Vance encountered heckling and widespread protests during a family visit to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, over the weekend.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the theme park, the Los Angeles Times reported, voicing their disapproval of Vance’s presence amid ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across California.

Jane Fleming Kleeb, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, later confronted Vance inside the park while the Republican walked with his child. Vance’s visit disrupted park operations as security measures increased, resulting in prolonged wait times and temporary ride closures for other guests, according to The Independent.

Newsweek has contacted Vance’s team via email outside of normal office hours for comment.

Trump backs ICE crackdown as farmworkers say they feel ’hunted
ICE raids surge under Trump, leaving farmworkers fearing arrest, injury, and loss of income amid immigration crackdown. This live blog is closed.

https://www.newsweek.com/immigration-trump-ice-raids-green-card-visa-live-updates-2098579

Raw Story: Tom Homan spews insults as he challenges ‘ultra MAGA’ protester to fight

Posted on by
Reply

Tom “Pugsley” Homan = low-class thug with no class whatsoever!

Kudos to the protestor who “owned” Pugsley with that parody of what Pugsley and his flunkies had tried to do regarding an innocent detainee!

Pugsley is just too stupid to realize how he was being mocked here.

Trump administration border czar Tom Homan didn’t hold back when faced with a heckler during a conservative conference over the weekend, launching into a profanity-laced tirade that included questioning the protester’s masculinity.

“Are you a MS-13 member?” a man shouted at Homan during a speech at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida on Saturday. The heckler, ironically sporting Trump gear including an “I identify as ultra MAGA” t-shirt and Trump hat, carried a poster of Homan. He was escorted out to boos from the crowd.

But rather than ignoring the disruption, Homan seized the moment to unleash a stream of insults, the Daily Beast reported.

“Come up here and hand me that picture? Bring it,” Homan challenged, before whipping the crowd into “U-S-A” chants. Then came the personal attacks: “They’ve got morons like this all over the country … this guy ain’t got the balls to be an ICE officer. He hasn’t got the balls to be a border patrol agent.”

The border czar’s verbal assault didn’t stop there. “This guy lives in his mother’s basement. The only thing that surprises me is that you don’t got purple hair and a nose ring. Get out of here, you loser … If you’re such a bada–, meet me offstage in 13 minutes and 50 seconds.”

The crescendo of Homan’s rant came with a crude attack on the protester’s masculinity: “I guarantee you he sits down to pee,” he said.

Misogynist!

Though it’s unknown what sparked the protest, Homan is one of thefaces of Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has sparked massive unrest. The White House has set a target of 3,000 immigration arrests each day as part of a drive for mass deportations across the country.

The administration’s aggressive approach has triggered widespread resistance, particularly in liberal strongholds like Los Angeles, where widespread demonstrations broke out in early June against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The protests led Trump to deploy 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to quell the unrest over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Despite the growing opposition, Homan remained defiant about the administration’s plans. “We’re going to do the job that President Trump gave us to do,” he declared.

Tom Homan spews insults as he challenges ‘ultra MAGA’ protester to fight

https://www.rawstory.com/tom-homan-2673151677

Washington Post: L.A.’s protest movement shifts tactics as ICE raids continue

Posted on by
Reply

Volunteers are monitoring Home Depots and coordinating know-your-rights workshops as organizers prepare for a long-term battle.

A little more than a month after mass demonstrations against federal immigration raids gripped Los Angeles, the protest movement hasn’t stopped — it’s transforming.

Its spontaneous nature has shifted into a methodical one, as activists prepare for a longer fight against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Volunteers are stationing themselves outside Home Depots to monitor for ICE activity targeting day laborers, and a citywide strike is planned for next month to protest the raids. Organizers are hosting smaller demonstrations, coordinating know-your-rights workshops and passing out pamphlets to keep community members informed. And some residents who weren’t involved before are getting involved now.

There’s strategy behind the shift. Immigration advocates and some city leaders told The Washington Post it’s crucial to continue finding ways to dissent as the Trump administration continues targeting Los Angeles County’s large immigrant community. Thousands of National Guard troops, which Trump deployed to L.A. in an unprecedented move in June, remain in the area. ICE continues to conduct operations, showing up last week at MacArthur Park in central Los Angeles and at two Southern California cannabis farms.

“We’re in this for at least three and a half more years,” Los Angeles City Council member Hugo Soto-Martínez (D) said, describing the thought process behind the anti-ICE movement. “What are the values that we’re leading with? What is the core messaging that we are trying to uplift? What are our demands?”

The White House in a statement said that it’s committed to removing people who are in the country illegally. “In LA, these were not merely ‘demonstrations,’ they were riots — and attacks on federal law enforcement will never be tolerated. The Trump Administration will continue enforcing federal immigration law no matter how upset and violent left-wing rioters get,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.

The protests began in June after a series of immigration raids across the greater Los Angeles area. More than 100 people were arrested around that time, including outside of a Home Depot in Paramount, a city in Los Angeles County. Workers who witnessed the June 6 ICE operation said officers began handcuffing anyone they could grab as more than a hundred men and women standing in the parking lot began to run.

Protesters hit the streets that weekend, in demonstrations largely organized by activist groups and labor unions. They drew thousands of people but were not especially large by Los Angeles standards. While videos circulated showing self-driving Waymo cars set ablaze and windows smashed, and Los Angeles police reported that some people threw “concrete, bottles and other objects,” the protests were mostly peaceful according to local authorities and previous reporting by The Post. Trump repeatedly condemned participants as “insurrectionists,” “looters” and “criminals” — and ordered thousands of California National Guard troops and hundreds of active-duty Marines to the city.

During those protests and in the weeks since, Soto-Martínez, the son of two Mexican immigrants, said labor unions, nonprofits and volunteer groups have banded together to defend, educate and protect immigrant communities. Last week, Soto-Martínez said, more than 1,000 people gathered at a convention center for a two-hour training on nonviolent direct action. Residents also conduct walks around their neighborhoods to spot ICE agents, sign up for networks that quickly disseminate information about ICE sightings and deliver food to families who are afraid of leaving their homes.

Social media posts shared by the Los Angeles Tenants Union on July 3 showed volunteers tabling near the Home Depot on Sunset Boulevard, the site of an ICE raid late June. While there, residents passed out fliers with information on how to report ICE sightings.

Coral Alonso, a mariachi performer, said many residents have also turned to fundraising for those impacted by the raids or gathering to protest at La Placita Olvera, a historic plaza in Los Angeles.

Friday morning, immigration activists gathered at La Placita Olvera to announce a citywide strike on Aug. 12 to rally against the ongoing federal immigration actions.

The advocacy groups, including labor unions SEIU 721 and United Teachers Los Angeles, urged all community members to keep protesting as part of the “Summer of Resistance.”

“We are going to stop Trump’s terror campaign against our community,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “We will not stop marching. We will not stop fighting. We will continue to appeal to the hearts and minds of all Americans.”

She said the city remains under a “military siege.”

There are about 4,000 service members from the California National Guard on the ground currently in the Los Angeles area, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army said in an email to The Post. “Title 10 forces are protecting federal personnel conducting federal functions and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area,” the spokesperson said, citing the statute that allows federal deployment of the National Guard if there is “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the government. “They can and have accompanied federal officials conducting law enforcement activities, but they do not perform law enforcement functions.”

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, representing immigration advocacy groups such as CHIRLA and five workers, on July 2 sued the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit alleged that the federal government is violating Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights by “abducting individuals en masse” and holding them in a federal building in Downtown Los Angeles “which lacks beds, showers or medical facilities,” without counsel, due process or probable cause.

ACLU attorneys delivered arguments in federal court Thursday, and the city of Los Angeles and several other Southern California cities are seeking to join the lawsuit. Jackson, the White House spokeswoman, said of the lawsuit: “Enforcement operations require careful planning and execution; skills far beyond the purview or jurisdiction of any judge.”

Some magazines and content creators that hadn’t focused on immigration issues are also taking a new approach. L.A. Taco, once a food and culture publication on the verge of shuttering, has shifted its focus to a social-media-first strategy covering ICE activity. And after attending a few protests in June, Jared Muros, a content creator with more than 250,000 followers on Instagram, moved his content away from fashion and entertainment to emphasize video journalism about the impact of ICE raids.

Muros, who grew up in Los Angeles’ Latino-populated neighborhoods, said he had concerns over how his audience would react to the transition, but ultimately was motivated to correct rhetoric he overheard that those detained in the raids were “just criminals.”

“I feel like more people have started to speak up, but it’s more so people who are affected or who have immigrant parents or know somebody who is Latino and has been profiled.” Muros said, “But more and more, I do see more people speaking up.”

L.A.’s protest movement shifts tactics as ICE raids continue
Protests in downtown Los Angeles last month against the federal immigration crackdown have faded away, but city residents are finding new ways to push back.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/07/14/los-angeles-immigration-protests-ice

NBC News: Immigrants in overcapacity ICE detention say they’re hungry, raise food quality concerns

Posted on by
Reply

As the Trump administration ramps up immigration arrests, recent detainees and advocacy groups are raising concerns about food in ICE facilities nationwide.

Immigrants being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in at least seven states are complaining of hunger, food shortages and spoiled food, detainees and immigration advocates say. They say some detainees have gotten sick; others say they have lost weight. In one facility, an incident involving detainees reportedly broke out in part because of food.

The food problems come amid overcrowding at ICE facilities tied to the Trump administration’s push to quickly ramp up immigration arrests. While capacity data isn’t publicly available for every ICE detention facility, nationwide figures on the availability of beds show a system beyond its overall capacity. As of mid-June, ICE was detaining nearly 60,000 people, almost 45% above the capacity provided for by Congress.

Although many of ICE’s detention centers are run by private contractors, the problems are happening all over the country regardless of who’s running a given facility, advocates say. A former ICE official told NBC News it is difficult for a facility to stay stocked with the right amount of food when, on any given day, it may face an unexpected surge of new detainees. While the agency can move money around to cover the cost of detaining more immigrants, planning for unexpected daily spikes can be difficult for facilities and could lead to food being served late or in small quantities, the former ICE official said.

On top of that, there are now fewer avenues for detainees to submit concerns while they are in ICE custody, advocates say, pointing to recent job cuts to an independent watchdog within the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency.

“We haven’t seen any company-specific trends,” said Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It just goes to the overall detention system and how overcrowded the detention system is as a whole.”

Alfredo Parada Calderon, a Salvadoran man who has been detained for almost a year, says he has recently had meals that have left him feeling hungry.

Detainees have sometimes been given flavorless meat that is so finely ground that it is almost liquefied, he told NBC News from the Golden State Annex detention facility in California.

“It looks like little, small pebbles, and that will be the ounces that they give you,” he said, referring to meat portions he has had in meals.

Jennifer Norris, a directing attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center with clients at multiple California detention centers, said it has gotten several complaints from clients in other facilities about the food being “inedible” and in one case “moldy.” The complaints come as some centers reach capacity with recent arrests, she said.

A woman named Rubimar, who asked that she and her husband, Jose, be identified by their first names only because he was deported Wednesday and fears fallout in Venezuela as a result of talking to the media, said Jose was detained by ICE in El Paso, Texas, for about three months and had complained about a lack of food there.

“He tells me many are given two spoonfuls of rice and that many are still hungry,” Rubimar said in an interview before Jose was deported to Venezuela.

Russian immigrant detainee Ilia Chernov said the conditions, including food, have gotten worse since he was detained at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana on July 24, 2024.

“The portions got smaller,” Chernov said through a Russian translator. “I have to deal with hunger, so I am getting used to the hunger. So I have lost weight.”

DHS said Winn Correctional Center has received no complaints from Russian detainees. However, Chernov’s lawyers said he has submitted complaints about food to ICE in writing, at least one as recently as April.

The detainees’ complaints are consistent with what advocates say they are hearing from other detainees and their lawyers across the country.

Liliana Chumpitasi, who runs a hotline for detainees at the immigration advocacy group La Resistencia in Washington state, said she gets 10 to 20 calls a day from ICE detainees complaining about conditions. They have told her that the meals used to be delivered on a regular schedule, such as 6 a.m. for breakfast and noon for lunch, but that now breakfast may not come until 9 a.m. and dinner is often not served until midnight. Some detainees have also said meals are now half the size they were last year, she said.

According to ICE’s food service standards, detainees are required to be served three meals a day, two of which are supposed to be hot, and with “no more than 14 hours between the evening meal and breakfast.”

Congress has funded ICE to detain up to 41,500 people, including facilities, food, staffing and supplies. But as of the week of July 7, ICE had over 57,000 detainees in its facilities across the country, according to ICE data. However, there is an expectation that more space will be added with the passage this month of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which allocates $45 billion for ICE detention centers until the end of September 2029. According to an estimate by the American Immigration Council, that amount could “likely fund an increase in ICE detention to at least 116,000 beds” per year.

Two other former ICE officials said the agency can hold more people than Congress has funded it for but only for short periods. A current senior ICE official, who asked not to be named to freely discuss ongoing funding issues, said the agency has pulled money from other parts of DHS to continue funding detention through Sept. 30.

Asked about specific allegations of food scarcity and substandard food, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News in a statement, “Any claim that there is lack of food or subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false.”

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment and have opportunity to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” McLaughlin said. “Meals are certified by dieticians. Ensuring the safety, security and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.”

‘Improper food handling practices’

In Tacoma, Washington, at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, Chumpitasi fears the increase in people being held there has contributed to poor food safety.

Seven food violations have been found there in 2025 so far, compared with two in 2024 and one in 2023, according to inspection data by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. According to ICE data, 1,081 people were detained there as of June 23, compared with 719 at the end of fiscal year 2024 and 570 at the end of fiscal year 2023. (The federal government’s fiscal year runs through Sept. 30.)

One morning in mid-April, the facility contacted the local Health Department to report 57 cases of suspected foodborne illness, with symptoms including diarrhea, stomachache and bloating, according to the Health Department. After an investigation, the department concluded that reheated collard greens that had been served at the facility had tested positive for Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning. The collard greens were a substitute food for that day and not posted on the day’s menu, according to health department documents. Food poisoning caused by Bacillus cereus is often related to leftover food that has been improperly cooled or reheated.

The Health Department went back to the Northwest Processing Center for an unannounced visit and found “several improper food handling practices.” It worked with the staff there to correct them, and as of June 18 the facility had passed inspection.

Asked about that, McLaughlin said in an email, “While the Health Department was notified, the on-site medical team concluded that there was no evidence linking the illness to a specific food item, as claimed by the detainees.”

‘I am getting used to the hunger’

Over the past month, the American Immigration Lawyers Association has received at least a dozen food-related complaints from advocacy groups and lawyers representing detainees across the country, according to Dojaquez-Torres.

“The common complaint is that there is just not enough food,” she said in an interview. “What I am hearing is that there are extended periods of time when people are not being fed, and when they are, they are being given chips or a slice of bread.”

“We have been getting reports from around the country from our members … and conditions have been declining rapidly,” she said. She also said that some detainees haven’t been given beds and that some have said they aren’t given access to showers.

In early June, a “melee” broke out in Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, because of conditions inside the facility, which included “paltry meals served at irregular hours,” according to The New York Times, which spoke to several lawyers representing detainees inside the facility and family members.

Geo Group pushed back against the Times’ reporting in an emailed statement at the time, saying, “Contrary to current reporting, there has been no widespread unrest at the facility.”

DHS also denied allegations of food issues at the Newark immigration detention facility when NBC News asked about them.

“Allegations that there are chronic food shortages at Delaney Hall are unequivocally false. The facility regularly reviews any detainee complaints. The Food Service Operations Director conducted a review of food portions and detainees are being fed the portions as prescribed by the nutritionist, based on a daily 2400 to 2600 caloric intake,” McLaughlin said.

DHS didn’t respond to a follow-up question about how recently the food service operations director — or any oversight body reviewing food in ICE detention facilities nationwide — had last visited and made an assessment.

In late May, Rubimar said, her husband, Jose, had called and told her that the gas at his facility wasn’t functioning and that they had been given only a bag of tuna to eat in the meantime. But even before that, she said, her husband said the food was “too little.”

McLaughlin said a dietitian had recently approved the meal plan at the El Paso Service Processing Center and indicated “the total caloric intake for ICE detainees at the facility was 3,436 per day — which exceeds the average daily recommended minimums.”

LaSalle Corrections, which operates the Winn Correctional Center, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The GEO Group, which operates the ICE facilities in Newark and Tacoma, as well as the Golden State Annex and many others nationwide, didn’t respond to specific allegations about food service and instead provided this statement: “We are proud of the role our company has played for 40 years to support the law enforcement mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Over the last four decades, our innovative support service solutions have helped the federal government implement the policies of seven different Presidential Administrations. In all instances, our support services are monitored by ICE, including on-site agency personnel, and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure strict compliance with ICE detention standards.”

Reduced oversight

Beyond overcrowding, immigration advocates also blame the alleged food issues at detention facilities in part on cutbacks to a team of inspectors inside DHS.

The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, an office that previously oversaw conditions inside ICE and ICE-contracted facilities, was entirely or mainly shuttered this year after the “majority of the workforce” was issued reduction-in-force notices, according to ongoing litigation regarding the cuts.

“One of the things that made the [Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman] is that we actually had case managers in the facilities and they were accessible to the detainees,” a former DHS employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about future government employment. “They would actually go into the kitchen [to see] if there were deficiencies and work with kitchen management.”

Karla Gilbride, a lawyer with Public Citizen, a nonprofit advocacy group suing the Trump administration over the firings of people in the office, said the office has been completely dismantled.

“That is our position, that they have shut down the office. They put everyone on leave. They were told to stop interacting with everyone who filed complaints” from detention, Gilbride said.

The former DHS employee said the dismantling of the ombudsman’s office means detainees have fewer options if they have complaints or concerns about things like food, overcrowding, sanitation, access to legal counsel and clean clothes.

“At the end of the day, it really just means that there are less people to sound an alarm,” the former DHS employee said.

McLaughlin didn’t respond to requests for comment about the dismantling of the ombudsman’s office. DHS has maintained in court filings that the ombudsman’s office remains open and that efforts to restaff certain positions affected by the layoffs are underway.

In a status report filed in court in early July, government lawyers said they are onboarding three new employees at the ombudsman’s office and that files have been created for all new complaints since the end of March.

There have been way too many of these complaints about insuffieient and low quality food at the ICE detention centers. Outside investigation (international Red Cross?) is needed.

Immigrants in overcapacity ICE detention say they’re hungry, raise food quality concerns
As the Trump administration ramps up immigration arrests, recent detainees and advocacy groups are raising concerns about food in ICE facilities nationwide.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/immigrants-overcapacity-ice-detention-say-hungry-raise-food-quality-co-rcna214193

Raw Story: ‘Cried every night’: 6-year-old cancer patient detained nearly 2 months by ICE

Posted on by
Reply

A 6-year-old Honduran boy battling leukemia was detained — along with his family — by President Donald Trump’s ICE agents despite following every immigration rule, the boy’s lawyer told Salon.

The family’s nightmare began when they were seized by plainclothes ICE agents after a court hearing in May.

“The boy and his 9-year-old sister cried every night in detention,” attorney Elora Mukherjee told Salon. The government pursued expedited removal while the cancer patient suffered in a Texas detention facility that Biden had shuttered but Trump reopened.

“The Trump administration’s policy of detaining people at courthouses who are doing everything right, who are entirely law-abiding, who are trying to fulfill all the requirements that the U.S. government asks of them — it violates our Constitution, it violates our federal laws,” Mukherjee said. “It also violates our sense of morality.”

The family had fled Honduras after receiving death threats, applied for asylum through proper channels, and waited for permission to enter using a CBP appointment. They never crossed the border illegally, the lawyer said.

“So this particular family did everything right,” Mukherjee emphasized.

During their month-long detention at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the boy experienced leukemia symptoms including easy bruising and bone pain. He missed a crucial June 5 cancer appointment. His sister barely ate.

Jeff Migliozzi from Freedom for Immigrants blasted Trump’s “aggressivequota of 3,000 daily immigration arrests — a policy pushed by hardliners in the White House like known white nationalist Stephen Miller — is terrorizing communities.”

The administration’s “bait-and-switch tactics” increasingly target people at scheduled check-ins and courthouses, Migliozzi said. “Here you have people doing everything they can to follow the instructions given to them, and then the rug is pulled out from under them.”

The family was released July 2 after public pressure and media coverage, but only after enduring traumatic detention that Mukherjee said “clearly violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.”

“High-level officials in the Department of Homeland Security constantly say that we are targeting the ‘worst of the worst,'” Mukherjee noted. “These are the people who are doing everything right.”

‘Cried every night’: 6-year-old cancer patient detained nearly 2 months by ICE

https://www.rawstory.com/immigration-kids

Charlotte Observer: Officer Shot Near Detention Center — Border Czar Responds

Posted on by
Reply

Border Czar Tom Homan expressed concern over the growing dangers ICE officials face following an incident in which a Texas police officer was shot near a detention facility. Homan noted that rising attacks, including vandalism of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, have come amid increasing threats to federal agents. Homan urged politicians to tone down their rhetoric against the agency.

…

Just get your masked Gestapo thugs off our streets and keep them off!!!

Officer Shot Near Detention Center — Border Czar Responds

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/officer-shot-near-detention-center-border-czar-responds/ss-AA1IxjXz

Salon: “Cried every night”: ICE detains child with leukemia

Posted on by
Reply

As part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, a young cancer patient and his family were detained, despite adhering to every rule of the immigration process. The boy’s lawyer says the family’s experience puts to lie the Trump administration’s claims about deportation.

In May, a 6-year-old boy from Honduras who had been suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia since the age of three was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alongside his family, immediately after a court hearing on May 29. Their case was dismissed at the hearing, per instructions from Trump, who directed judges to dismiss the cases of immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years so that ICE can move to deport them. On July 2, the family was released after significant pressure from the public and media coverage of the detention.

Elora Mukherjee, an attorney who represented the boy and his family, told Salon that the boy and his 9-year-old sister “cried every night in detention.” At the same time, the government pursued an expedited removal, a process by which the government deports someone without a hearing before a judge.

“The Trump administration’s policy of detaining people at courthouses who are doing everything right, who are entirely law-abiding, who are trying to fulfill all the requirements that the US government asks of them — it violates our Constitution, it violates our federal laws. It also violates our sense of morality. Why are we targeting hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including children, who are doing everything right?” Mukherjee said.

Jeff Migliozzi, the communications director for Freedom for Immigrants, an immigrant advocacy organziation, told Salon that “The Trump administration’s aggressive quota of 3,000 daily immigration arrests — a policy pushed by hardliners in the White House like known white nationalist Stephen Miller — is terrorizing communities.”

“The administration is directing resources and personnel from every possible corner of the government to conduct a multi-agency detention and deportation campaign at unprecedented scale,” Migliozzi said.. “This destructive agenda touches every corner of American life and civil society, as more and more people, including those who have been in the US for decades and are pillars of their community, are suddenly snatched by masked agents and taken away to remote detention sites. Street operations are resource-intensive, so the administration has increasingly turned to bait-and-switch tactics to drive up the numbers. ICE is now relying more on arrests at scheduled check-ins and at courthouses. These practices underscore not only the cruelty of this administration’s policy, but of the outdated and unfair immigration system. Here you have people doing everything they can to follow the instructions given to them, and then the rug is pulled out from under them. The result is separated families and shattered lives.”

Despite living in Los Angeles, the family was kept at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for over a month. The center had been closed under the Biden Administration, but has been reopened as part of Trump’s push to deport as many immigrants as possible.

In detention, Mukherjee said that the boy suffered from easy bruising and bone pain, both symptoms of leukemia, and missed a June 5 medical appointment related to his cancer treatment. His sister barely ate in detention, she added.

In response to a request for comment from Salon, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, “ICE does not consider a six-year-old child a ‘flight risk’ or a ‘criminal’—that is a disgusting accusation and devoid of any reality. ”

McLaughlin claimed that the family entered the United States illegally and that “Any implications that ICE would deny a child proper medical care are FALSE,” adding that “ICE ALWAYS prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all detainees in its care.”

Bullshit!!! It’s all about cruelty and terror!

“On May 29, 2025, an immigration judge in California dismissed the family’s immigration case and they were served orders of expedited removal,” McLaughlin said. “ICE took custody of the family following the judge’s decision and pending further proceedings. The child arrived at the Dilley facility on May 30, 2025, and was seen by a nurse during intake. Fortunately, the child has not undergone chemotherapy in over a year and was seen regularly by medical personnel while at the Dilley facility. During this time, the family chose to appeal their case. On July 2, the child, his mother, and his sister were released on parole.”

The Dilley detention facility has been subject to renewed scrutiny as the Trump administration has sought to terminate the Flores Settlement, a 1990s-era policy stemming from the Supreme Court case Reno v. Flores, which set basic standards for the treatment of children in detention and required the government to release children from detention without unnecessary delay.

Recent testimony about conditions at ICE facilities has raised concerns over violations of the agreement, with one girl describing situations in which adults and children were fighting over an insufficient amount of water at one facility.

“We don’t get enough water. They put out a little case of water, and everyone has to run for it,” the girl said in testimony related to conditions in immigrant detention. “An adult here even pushed my little sister out of the way to get to the water first.”

Mukherjee said that the family had followed all the rules in coming to the United States, but were still arrested by ICE. And, despite claims from the Trump administration that they’re focusing their efforts on criminals, neither the small children nor the mother had been accused of a crime. The family arrived in the United States in October, applying for asylum after they faced death threats in Honduras. The names and details of the family have not been released due to the threats they face in Honduras.

“So this particular family did everything right. They came to the U.S. border after fleeing imminent and menacing death threats in their home country of Honduras. They didn’t cross the border illegally. They waited for permission to enter the United States using a CBP one appointment. At that point, DHS paroled the family into the United States, which necessarily entailed a determination that the family did not pose a danger to the community or a flight risk,” Mukherjee said. “The family did exactly what the federal government asked them to do.”

According to Mukherjee, as soon as the family stepped out of their May 29 hearing, plain clothes ICE officers detained them, a move that she said “clearly violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.”

“When Trump was campaigning for president, and since he’s become president, and high-level officials in the Department of Homeland Security constantly say that we are targeting the ‘worst of the worst,’” Mukherjee said. “These are the people who are doing everything right.”

Their release followed a suit filed by the mother of the family, demanding the family’s immediate release. Mukherjee told Salon that the family intends to continue its legal battle to remain in the United States.

“Cried every night”: ICE detains child with leukemia – Salon.com
The Trump administration is going after easy targets, including sick children, to meet its deportation quotas

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/14/cried-every-night-ice-traumatizes-a-child-with-leukemia

Telegraph: Trump begins removing legal migrants under new crackdown

Posted on by
Reply

Migrants living legally in the US are facing deportation under a new Trump administration crackdown.

In an attempt to fulfil his campaign pledge to carry out the largest deportation program in US history, Donald Trump has set his sights on 1.2 million people granted temporary protection to stay in the US.

Temporary Protective Status (TPS) had been granted to migrants fleeing wars and natural disasters by Joe Biden and other presidents. It allows migrants to work in the country for up to 18 months and can be extended.

But in recent weeks Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, terminated protections for more than 700,000 in the TPS programme, according to Axios.

Those impacted include 348,187 Haitians fleeing violence and human rights abuses, 348,187 Venezuelans, who fled Nicolás Maduro’s regime and 11,700 Afghans.

A Haitian granted TPS, who came to the US as a student before their country’s government collapsed and was overrun by criminal gangs, told Axios: “I didn’t come here illegally and I never stayed here illegally, and I’m not a criminal by any means.”

They added: “If I need to go to Haiti, I would pray that I don’t get shot.”

Among those affected include 52,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans, who have had protections since 1999.

Leonardo Valenzuela Neda, the Honduran embassy’s deputy chief of mission in the US, said the country is not ready for the return of tens of thousands of migrants.

The Trump administration is also targeting potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants given humanitarian “parole” under the Biden administration.

Immigration judges have been dismissing status hearings for parole cases, which grants migrants the ability to live and work in the US for a set period.

‘Removalpalooza’

Migrants have been detained by ICE agents and put on a “fast track” for deportation without full court hearings, a tactic immigration rights groups have called “Removalpalooza”, Axios reported.

The shift change in policy could hand Mr Trump the large numbers of deportations as the administration continues ramping up ICE raids in a bid to hit targets.

The Trump administration has determined that migrants who crossed into the US illegally will not be eligible for a bond hearing while deportation proceedings are played out in court.

Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, told officers in an July 8 memo that migrants could be detained “for the duration of their removal proceedings”, according to documents seen by the Washington Post.

Removal proceedings can take months or years and could apply to millions of migrants who crossed the border in recent years.

It comes after Congress passed a spending package to allocate $45 billion (£33.6 billion) over the next four years to spend on detaining undocumented immigrants.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesman, said programmes such as TPS “were never intended to be a path to permanent status or citizenship” and that they were “abused” by the Biden administration.

Trump begins removing legal migrants under new crackdown
Migrants detained by ICE agents and put on a ‘fast track’ for deportation without full court hearings

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/07/15/trump-begins-removing-legal-migrants-under-new-crackdown