Tag Archives: immigrants

LA Times: Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens

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Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb Thursday when armed, masked men — wearing vests with “Border Patrol” on them — pushed him up against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born.

“I’m American, bro!” 29-year-old Gavidia pleaded, in video taken by a friend.

“What hospital were you born?” the agent barked.

“I don’t know, dawg!” he said. “East L.A., bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.”

His friend, whom Gavidia did not name, narrated the video: “These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!” The friend said Gavidia was being questioned “just because of the way he looks.”

In a statement Saturday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said U.S. citizens were arrested “because they ASSAULTED U.S. Border Patrol Agents.” (McLaughlin’s statement emphasized the word “assaulted” in all-capital and boldfaced letters.)

When told by a reporter that Gavidia had not been arrested, McLaughlin clarified that Gavidia had been questioned by Border Patrol agents but there “is no arrest record.” She said a friend of Gavidia’s was arrested for assault of an officer.

As immigration operations have unfolded across Southern California in the last week, lawyers and advocates say people are being targeted because of their skin color. The encounter with Gavidia and others they are tracking have raised legal questions about enforcement efforts that have swept up hundreds of immigrants and shot fear into the deeply intertwined communities they call home.

Agents picking up street vendors without warrants. American citizens being grilled. Home Depot lots swept. Car washes raided. The wide-scale arrests and detainments — often in the region’s largely Latino neighborhoods — contain hallmarks of racial profiling and other due process violations.

Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens
Border Patrol agents on ‘roving patrol’ arrest U.S. citizen on assault charges. Fear of widespread racial profiling gains momentum as Home Depots and car washes raided.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-15/latinos-targeted-in-raids-u-s-citizens-detained-indiscriminate-sweeps-home-depot-lots-targeted

Washington Post: A powerful tool in Trump’s immigration crackdown: The routine traffic stop

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ICE has vastly expanded its work with local police to arrest undocumented immigrants at traffic stops. In a break with past practice, many of the detained have no violent criminal record.

Chelsea White and her husband were driving home from cleaning office buildings one May evening when they happened upon a Tennessee Highway Patrol checkpoint. It was a situation the couple feared — and had taken precautions to avoid.

White rolled down the driver’s side window on the Ford Fusion with their company’s logo. She drove because her husband, Hilario Martínez García, 46, is undocumented and cannot obtain a license in Tennessee.

One of the officers looked at Martínez, she recalled, and instructed them to pull into a nearby parking lot and step out of the car. Agents in black vests began patting them down and reaching into their pockets. They let White, 31, go when they saw her driver’s license. But her husband had no proof of U.S. citizenship.

The officers escorted him away.

“That was the last time I saw him,” she said.

The searches were clearly unconstitutional.

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After Martínez was arrested, White did not hear anything for a week. She began to worry that her husband had been taken to Guantánamo or El Salvador. She couldn’t eat or sleep. She became so stressed she thought she was going to miscarry.

Finally, with the help of a lawyer, she made contact. “First thing that came out of his mouth was, ‘Are you okay and are the kids okay?’ And I said the same thing — ‘How are you?’” White said. He told her the guards hadn’t allowed him to make calls at the jail until he was about to be transferred to an ICE detention center.

Last week, Martinez was deported back to Mexico. It’s not clear what the next steps are for him. Though there is a pathway to citizenship through his 2013 marriage to White, a U.S. citizen, he never got his papers because they could not afford the legal fees. Now, his lawyer, Michael Holley, said his wife could petition for a visa for him, and he could apply for an exemption from the 10-year ban on his return that is currently in place. But that process, if successful, would take at least five years, the attorney said.

In the month and a half since Martinez has been gone, White’s life has begun to unravel. Without her husband’s income, she has fallen behind on rent. One of her cars was repossessed. And she was forced to withdraw from classes at a community college where she was pursuing a nursing degree, a lifelong dream.

She still gets questions from her children, who are 6, 9 and 11. They didn’t know their father was undocumented, and she has struggled to explain it — and why they are paying the price.

A powerful tool in Trump’s immigration crackdown: The routine traffic stop
ICE is working with local police to arrest more undocumented immigrants at traffic stops. In a break with the past, many arrestees have no violent criminal record.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/22/trump-ice-deportation-arrests-traffic-stops

Straight Arrow News: Lime starts geofencing restriction at Seattle court after anti-ICE blockade

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A scooter and e-bike rental company has reprogrammed its vehicles so they can’t be parked outside Seattle’s immigration court, where protesters used them to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, Straight Arrow News has learned. Lime changed GPS settings on its scooters and bikes to create a no-parking zone outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle.

Lime says it acted to ensure its riders’ safety, not to assist ICE or other law enforcement agencies.

The change follows a June 10 protest against immigration raids carried out to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. 

Protesters used “dozens of e-bikes and scooters” to create a barricade at the federal building, KIRO-TV of Seattle reported. One such barricade, as seen in footage posted to social media, was used “to slow down an ICE bus from leaving,” KIRO said.

Lime starts geofencing restriction at Seattle court after anti-ICE blockade
A scooter and e-bike rental company has reprogrammed its vehicles so they can’t be parked outside Seattle’s immigration court.

https://san.com/cc/lime-starts-geofencing-restriction-at-seattle-court-after-anti-ice-blockade

Newsweek: Man who came to US as young child faces deportation after over 30 years

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Karem Tadros, who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years after immigrating from Egypt with his family, who are all U.S. citizens, faces deportation to an unspecified country following his release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New Jersey, he told Newsweek in a Friday phone interview.

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His citizenship process was halted due to his 2006 conviction, telling Newsweek it was for “intent to distribute oxycodone.” He said, “I was on the right path. I made a terrible mistake when I was younger.”

He spent six days in a county jail and was released on bail, completing his probation afterwards, he said. “Because of that, I was detained at Hudson County facility for 13 months. And I was released by the judge on a court date with no supervision, no nothing. So 17 years go by, now it’s 2025, I haven’t seen a single ICE officer since I was detained back in 2008, 2009,” he added.

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On June 16, Tadros was granted a Writ of Habeas Corpus, as U.S. District Judge for the District of New Jersey, Evelyn Padin, found the “petitioner has remained in perfect compliance with the conditions of release dictated in the April 9, 2009 Order of Supervision.”

The judge found it was “unlawful” for the government to keep Tadros detained and ordered his release.

The judge’s order stated that “ICE may identify a third country within thirty to sixty days of this order to which the Petitioner may be removed.” The judge denied the Trump administration’s request to place an ankle monitor on Tadros. He must stay within the tri-state area.

Man who came to US as young child faces deportation after over 30 years
Karem Tadros, who was born in Egypt, has lived in New Jersey for over three decades and now faces deportation to a third country.

https://www.newsweek.com/man-faces-deportation-after-30-years-2088572

Newsweek: Anti-Trump Protests Update: ‘National Day of Action’ Planned for July 17

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Another round of national anti-Trump demonstrations is being planned across the U.S. for July 17 under the banner of Good Trouble Lives On, a reference to the late civil rights icon, Congressman John Lewis.

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Good Trouble Lives On demonstrations are being planned for dozens of American cities on July 17 including the likes of New York, Washington D.C, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco with attendees invited to “March in Peace, Act in Power.”

The name is a reference to Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and an advocate of peaceful protests, who famously called for “good trouble” during the civil rights era.

According to its downloadable “Host Toolkit” for organizers, the protests have three main goals. These are demanding an end to “the extreme crackdown on civil rights by the Trump administration,” “the attacks on Black and brown Americans, immigrants, trans people, and other communities,” and “the slashing of programs that working people rely on, including Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security.”

Good Trouble Lives On is being supported by a range of other groups including the 50501 Movement, which also helped organize the “No Kings” demonstrations.

Anti-Trump protests update: “National day of action” planned for July 17
There have been a series of national anti-Trump demonstrations since the president’s inauguration in January.

https://www.newsweek.com/anti-trump-protests-update-national-day-action-planned-july-17-2088233

Newsweek: NYC mayoral candidate arrested by ICE says agents feel overworked

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New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander has told Newsweek that ICE agents expressed feeling “overworked” shortly after detaining him at a downtown court earlier this week.

“I talked to the ICE agents afterward, and it’s clear to me they are being overworked,” Lander said in an interview on June 19.

“I asked what their shifts were. And they say, we really don’t have shifts anymore,” he added.

Poor crybabies should get respectable jobs.

Lander and other critics called the arrest further evidence of what they described as a drift toward authoritarianism by the Trump administration.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Newsweek: “Like many Democrat politicians before him, Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander seems to think obstructing federal law enforcement is his ticket to fame. Unfortunately, it’s just his ticket to being arrested.”

More often than not, these bogus “obstructing” charges are dropped. They are nothing more than harassment.

In response for comment to the suggestion ICE agents are being overworked, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: “Under Secretary [Bimbo #2] Noem, we are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe.”

Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true. Arresting and deporting non-criminal aliens does nothing to make America safe.

NYC mayoral candidate arrested by ICE says agents feel overworked
Lander was detained by President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcers on June 17 at a downtown Manhattan immigration court.

https://www.newsweek.com/brad-lander-ice-agents-2088020

Guardian: ‘Abducted by Ice’: the haunting missing-person posters plastered across LA

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The handmade posters of immigrants have become a symbol of quiet resistance. Their creators reveal the story behind the project

“Missing son.” “Missing father.” “Missing grandmother.”

The words are written in bright red letters at the top of posters hanging on lampposts and storefronts around Los Angeles. At first glance, they appear to be from worried relatives seeking help from neighbors.

But a closer look reveals that the missing people are immigrants to the US who have been disappeared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Some of the faces are familiar to anyone who has been following the news – that missing father, for instance, is Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in March without a hearing, in what the Trump administration admitted was an error. “Abducted by Ice,” the poster reads, under a picture of Ábrego García with his small son. “Did not receive constitutional protections. Currently being held in detention.”

The missing grandmother is Gladis Yolanda Chávez Pineda, a Chicago woman who was taken by Ice when she showed up for a check-in with immigration officials this month. She had arrived in the US seeking a better life for her daughter and was in the midst of applying for asylum. “Lived in the US for 10 years,” the poster states. “No criminal history.”

The missing son is Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist who fled persecution in Venezuela. On arrival in the US, he was detained, with US authorities claiming his tattoos indicated gang membership. His family and friends say that’s ridiculous. He was among hundreds of people deported to the El Salvador mega-prison known as Cecot in March. “Currently being held in a concentration camp,” the poster says.

The posters are just a few examples of a campaign of quiet resistance on the streets of Los Angeles. On Monday, a walk down Sunset Boulevard in the historic Silver Lake neighborhood meant encountering an array of flyers, artwork and spray-painted messages of support for disappeared immigrants and fury at the administration.

The “missing” posters, which have also appeared in other neighborhoods, were particularly effective. Duct-taped to telephone polls amid ads for comedy shows, guitar lessons and yard sales, they reminded passersby of the individual lives derailed by Trump’s immigration crackdown – instead of names in the news, these were families and friends who might have lived just down the road.

Humanizing people’s stories was precisely the goal, said the creators behind the posters.

…

‘Abducted by Ice’: the haunting missing-person posters plastered across LA
The handmade posters of immigrants have become a symbol of quiet resistance. Their creators reveal the story behind the project

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/18/los-angeles-missing-posters-ice

MSNBC: Stephen Miller is becoming a victim of his mass deportation policy’s success

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The chief architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy faces internal pushback as the effects of increased ICE raids become clear.

In a meeting last month, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tore into senior leaders at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, demanding a massive surge in arrests of undocumented immigrants. As ICE tried to comply with Miller’s orders, immigration activists and other concerned Americans launched a series of protests in defiance of the mass deportation agenda. But it was a different set of protests that got the attention of Miller’s boss, President Donald Trump.

Last Thursday, the administration abruptly paused raids and arrests at hotels, farms and restaurants, a stunning shift in priorities that was clearly contrary to Miller’s orders. But the change was short-lived. The Department of Homeland Security reversed that guidance Monday, according to The Washington Post, allowing the immigration raids on those industries to resume and letting Miller retake control of the policy that has been the focus of his years in both Trump administrations.

Since Inauguration Day, Miller has had carte blanche on immigration policy in his dual role as deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser. His insistence that ICE make 3,000 arrests per day kick-started a scramble from field offices to meet his demand. But as Vox’s Eric Levitz recently noted, Miller’s own strategy of deterrence at the border has led to a decline in the kind of encounters that would make it easy for ICE agents to rack up those numbers:

Over the past two months, America witnessed the largest decline in its foreign-born workforce since the pandemic in 2020. This contraction was driven partly by a collapse in unauthorized border crossings. Between January 2022 and June 2024, US Customs and Border Protection encountered an average of 200,000 people per month at America’s Southwest border. According to an analysis of government data from Deutsche Bank, that figure has fallen to just 12,000 people per month since Trump’s inauguration.

That has meant ICE has had to expand its list of targets to meet its quotas, including rounding up day laborers in Home Depot parking lots and field workers toiling on farms. The resulting climate of fear has scared more than just undocumented immigrants in these workforces. A Texas farmer recently told NBC affiliate KVEO of Brownsville, Texas, that within the last three weeks, there have been “zero people wanting to come out and be exposed to be able to be picked up whether they are legal or illegal.”

Opinion | Stephen Miller is becoming a victim of his own success
The chief architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy faces internal pushback as the effects of increased ICE raids become clear.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/stephen-miller-ice-deportation-rcna213491

Newsweek: ICE detains green card-holder returning from visit to son in US Air Force

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Victor Avila, a 66-year-old green card holder who has lived in the United States since he was a teenager, was detained in May by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport after returning from a trip to visit his son, a U.S. Air Force servicemember stationed in Japan, according to local reports and a GoFundMe page.

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Avila was detained May 7 at San Francisco International Airport after returning from Japan. The 66-year-old has been a legal permanent resident since 1967, when he immigrated to the United States from Mexico. He was returning from the trip with his wife, who had not been detained.

According to a GoFundMe page, his wife, four children and six grandchildren are all U.S. citizens, including his son, who serves in the U.S. Air Force.

A longtime resident of San Diego, Avila has worked as a legal assistant at the workers’ compensation law firm Kiwan & Chambers APC for over a decade.

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Avila’s daughter, Carina Mejia, told local outlet ABC 10 News that her father was pulled over in 2009 and arrested for a DUI and drug possession misdemeanor. He served his time and paid the fines for the misdemeanors. She said he has been able to renew his green card two times since that arrest.

ICE detains green card-holder returning from visit to son in US Air Force
Victor Avila, a green card holder for more than 50 years, was arrested after returning from a visit to his son, a U.S. Air Force servicemember stationed in Japan.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detains-green-card-holder-returning-visit-son-us-air-force-2087397

News Nation: LA’s undocumented immigrants try to avoid ICE

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  • ICE has been targeting stores where day laborers congregate
  • The raids in LA sparked protests in the city
  • Workers have stayed home out of fear of being detained

Raiding stores like Home Depot has become a common strategy for ICE, with stores across Southern California reporting raids.

One Cuban immigrant who asked to remain anonymous told NewsNation he’s seen men get snatched up in parking lots.

“[It’s like] you’re catching animals, it’s like they’re not considering these people to be human because you take their freedom and they have committed no crime,” he said. “Some of them don’t even hear their Fifth Amendment right, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in law.”

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Immigrants who spoke to NewsNation said they are not criminals, they’re just honest people looking for work, trying to feed their families and support themselves.

LA’s undocumented immigrants try to avoid ICE

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/la-immigrants-avoid-ice