Tag Archives: Los Angeles

El País: The head of ICE defends his agents’ heavy-handed approach during raids: ‘They and their families have received death threats on social media’

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Lyons has advocated for the agents, who operate in plain clothes with their faces covered and, often, in unmarked cars. “I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” the official stated at a news conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

F*ck*ng liar! It has nothing to do with safety, everything to do with fear and intimidation. These Gestapo tactics must end! At the very least, any legitimate police officer should be identified by a badge or blazer with their agency name and a unique identifying number.

The head of ICE defends his agents’ heavy-handed approach during raids: ‘They and their families have received death threats on social media’
Todd Lyons, the head of immigration enforcement, boasts about an operation in Boston that took nearly 1,500 people into custody in May

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-06-03/the-head-of-ice-defends-his-agents-heavy-handed-approach-during-raids-they-and-their-families-have-received-death-threats-on-social-media.html

El Paso Matters: Migrants arrested outside El Paso federal building after immigration hearings under new Trump expedited deportation strategy

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Two young men emerged from the Richard C. White Federal Building in Downtown El Paso on Thursday, laughing together as they turned left onto San Antonio Avenue. It was 1:50 p.m. and 99 degrees.

As they reached the corner of South Florence Street just a few steps away, a group of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents converged on them and grabbed Yasmir Marquez by the elbow. The two men were quickly surrounded by more federal law enforcement agents, one of whom showed Marquez a document. He turned to give his friend a hug before he was hustled into a waiting white van. Once inside, he was handcuffed.

Within three minutes, the other man stood alone on the sidewalk under the blazing sun watching in disbelief as the van drove away with his friend inside. “What the f— just happened?” asked the man, who was not arrested.

The courthouse arrests are a new tactic under the Trump administration’s efforts to scale up deportations, targeting migrants at immigration courts immediately after their court-ordered hearings. The migrants are ordered deported or have their cases dismissed and are then arrested by immigration agents as they leave the courtroom or the buildings, which allows for swift removal, the New York Times reported last week. 

The Times obtained an internal ICE memo circulated on May 20 that the news organization reported instructed government prosecutors to help deportation officers with the operation to identify people whose pending immigration court case could be dismissed. Without their case pending in court, the migrants could be subject to expedited removal that doesn’t require a hearing before a judge. 

Migrants arrested outside El Paso federal building after immigration hearings under new Trump expedited deportation strategy
DHS announced last month it was making “common sense courthouse arrests” months after President Trump lifted restrictions that had previously put courthouses, schools and churches largely off limits for immigration enforcement.
Migrants arrested outside El Paso federal building after immigration hearings under new Trump expedited deportation strategy

The Conversation: Surge of ICE agreements with local police aim to increase deportations, but many police forces have found they undermine public safety

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Part of that operation includes what’s known as the federal 287(g) program. Established in 1996, it allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose work is normally carried out by federal officials, to train state and local authorities to function as federal immigration officers.

Under 287(g), for example, local police officers can interview people to determine their immigration status. They can also issue immigration detainers to jail people until agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement take custody.

…

Since Trump began his second term in January, ICE has increased 287(g) agreements from 135 in 25 states in December 2024 to 628 in 40 states as of May 28, 2025.

As a criminal justice scholar, I believe the surge of 287(g) agreements sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and effective tactic in combating crime. In my view, the expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities – not just immigrants – less safe.

Surge of ICE agreements with local police aim to increase deportations, but many police forces have found they undermine public safety
History shows that building the trust of immigrants is an effective tactic in combating local crime and making entire communities safer.

https://theconversation.com/surge-of-ice-agreements-with-local-police-aim-to-increase-deportations-but-many-police-forces-have-found-they-undermine-public-safety-255937

Rolling Stone: Trump’s FEMA Denies North Carolina’s Request for Hurricane Helene Aid

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The president repeatedly bashed the Biden administration’s response to the disaster

Late in the 2024 campaign cycle, parts of western North Carolina were devastated by Hurricane Helene. Donald Trump accused former President Joe Biden of abandoning the region and mishandling the response to the crisis. The disaster in North Carolina became the jumping point for a myriad of conspiracies and attacks by Republicans against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FAMA). Trump vowed he would improve disaster responses as president. 

That was then.

This is now:

Now, four months into his administration North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, has become the latest lawmaker from a disaster-ravaged state who has been forced to beg the president to provide much-needed aid. 

On Friday, Stein published a video on social media informing the public that the Trump administration had denied the state’s request for FEMA to honor a Biden-era commitment to pay for 100 percent of debris removal costs. 

I guess King Donald changed his mind.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fema-denies-north-carolina-request-hurricane-helene-aid-1235347521

Raw Story: Trump’s FEMA thumbs nose at state that backed him 3 times: ‘Gonna cost a lot’

Under President Donald Trump, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has turned down a request from a storm-ravaged state that narrowly voted for him three times.

Western North Carolina saw massive devastation last year from Hurricane Helene, which killed over 100 people and left the city of Asheville, along with a number of small communities in the Appalachian Mountains, struggling to pick up the pieces after flooding in areas that had hardly ever seen floods before. At the time, Trump supporters spread baseless conspiracy theories that the federal government was ignoring communities there, or only giving aid to Democratic areas, and Trump himself vowed to improve emergency management.

According to Rolling Stone, however, Trump’s administration is now denying an extension of a commitment to pay the full amount for a vital portion of the recovery process.

See above for the Rolling Stone article.

https://www.rawstory.com/fema-north-carolina

Latin Times: At Least a Dozen Migrants Arrested After Attending Immigration Hearings in Arizona

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A dozen people who attended a morning session of immigration hearings in Phoenix were arrested and taken away in vans after prosecutors asked to dismiss their cases.

Multiple people who attended civil immigration hearings were arrested in Phoenix outside the courtroom this week.

At least a dozen people who attended a morning session of hearings in Phoenix were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and taken away in vans after prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss their cases, AZ Mirror reported.

Isaac Ortega, a Phoenix-based immigration attorney, said one of his clients was among those arrested Tuesday morning. He recalled that the officials who took the people refused to identify themselves and wore masks. It remained unclear whether his client was taken to an immigration detention facility in Eloy or Florence, or sent to another state.

“My client has no criminal history; he entered the U.S. through the CBP program,” Ortega said. He added his client was preparing for a credible fear interview, the first hurdle as part of the asylum process when federal agents grabbed him from the court.

This is very deceitful, dishonest behavior on the part of DHS & ICE:

“There were two ICE officers inside the courtrooms who would notify the officers sitting in the hallway when a case was dismissed,” she wrote on social media. “It appears the (government attorneys) were moving to dismiss cases where people have been in the U.S. less than 2 years. By arresting them post-dismissal they will now try to put them in expedited removal proceedings and move towards deportations at lightning speed.”

And the locals weren’t particularly impressed:

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs denounced the arrests on a social media statement, saying, “we need to prioritize efforts to deport criminals and secure the border. Indiscriminately rounding up people following the rules won’t make us safer.”

In time, Karma will come around.

At Least a Dozen Migrants Arrested After Attending Immigration Hearings in Arizona
A dozen people who attended a morning session of immigration hearings in Phoenix were arrested and taken away in vans after prosecutors asked to dismiss their cases.

https://www.latintimes.com/least-dozen-migrants-arrested-after-attending-immigration-hearings-arizona-583619

Miami Herald: ICE agents in Miami find new spot to carry out arrests: Immigration court

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Federal agents in plain clothes staked out the hallways of Miami’s downtown immigration courthouse for hours and arrested at least four unsuspecting men as they walked out of courtrooms on Wednesday.

Miami Herald reporters witnessed how Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers sat in on run-of-the-mill immigration proceedings and followed the men outside the courtrooms after their hearings wrapped up.

Then, a group of about 10 other ICE agents, also in plain clothes, caught them off guard in the hallway. The agents identified themselves in Spanish before handcuffing each of the men and escorting them to a van outside.

“I am not afraid,” a Cuban man said to his wife and daughter as ICE agents arrested him.

In each case, Department of Homeland Security attorneys moved to drop the deportation cases before immigration judges. That is important because ICE cannot place someone in expedited removal proceedings — an administrative process that doesn’t require a judge and that the government uses to quickly deport people — if they have a pending case in court.

…

The reason behind Wednesday’s arrests at immigration court is unclear. The Herald does not know if the men detained have criminal records. But several immigration attorneys told the Herald they believe the arrests are being driven by a Homeland Security memo from January directing ICE agents to consider putting immigrants in expedited removal proceedings if they have been in the U.S. for less than two years. Expedited removals are deportation proceedings that are administrative and don’t require a judge.

“Take all steps necessary to review the alien’s case and consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether to apply expedited removal. This may include steps to terminate any ongoing removal proceeding,” the DHS memo says.

Lawyers had previously told the Herald the memo could lead to agents showing up at immigration court, and called it a “tool for mass deportation.”

“In my opinion, they are taking removal cases out of the docket… to put it on expedited removal, which is a lot faster,” said Antonio Ramos, an immigration attorney whose office is based in the downtown immigration court building.

Ramos urged people with pending cases to seek legal counsel and request virtual hearings to avoid unnecessary exposure at in-person court dates.

ICE agents in Miami find new spot to carry out arrests: Immigration court
The Herald witnessed ICE agents arresting at least four men inside the immigration courthouse in downtown Miami.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article306900486.html

CBS News: Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker says he was detained, asked “Do you like Donald Trump?” at Chicago O’Hare

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Popular Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker, who has more than 2 million followers on the live-streaming platform, said he was detained and questioned by federal authorities at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for more than two hours after arriving in the U.S. on an international flight.

This happened as Piker, 33, was headed to speak at the University of Chicago on Sunday after he returned from a family vacation in Paris. Piker, a prominent Turkish American live streamer who has openly spoken out against the war in Gaza, told the Institute of Politics crowd at UChicago that he believes he was targeted at O’Hare for his criticism of the Trump administration.

…

“They took me to the back room, into a detention center. An agent came out and took me into the interrogation room … and they started asking me about crazy [expletive], like, ‘Do you like Donald Trump?'” he said.

The American-born Twitch streamer and left-wing political commentator recounted at length to his millions of followers his two-hour encounter with federal agents after he arrived in Chicago from Paris. He claims he was asked not only about the president, but he was also questioned about his opinions on Israel, Hamas and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“Everything I’ve done is fully protected under the First Amendment, OK?” Piker said. “And none of these questions are actually valid questions to ask.”

Piker said this applies no matter what one’s political beliefs are.

“It’s illegal for them to even ask me those questions, like, they can’t deny me entry into my own country,” Piker said. “It’s like, even if I was like, ‘I love Hamas,’ they can’t do that. Like, what do you mean?”

And this bullshit from Homeland Security:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin acknowledged that Piker was detained, but took issue with his account of what happened.

McLaughlin said: “This is nothing but lying for likes. Claims that his political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless. Our officers are following the law, not agendas.”

Under King Donald, it’s all about agendas — Trump’s agendas.

Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker says he was detained, asked “Do you like Donald Trump?” at Chicago O’Hare
Hasan Piker said he was detained and questioned by federal authorities at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport following a trip to Paris.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/streamer-left-wing-commentator-hasan-piker-detained-ohare

Washington Post: This Los Angeles port is among the first casualties of Trump’s trade war

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Empty berths and idle cranes show the effects of sky-high tariffs on Chinese goods.

The number of shipping containers that arrived at the nation’s top container port last week was roughly one-third lower than during the same period last year — a sharper decline than during the depths of the Great Recession. More than one-fifth of the giant ships that were scheduled to call in Los Angeles this month have already canceled, and that number is expected to rise.

Trump’s 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods — and Beijing’s triple-digit retaliation — are bringing a swift halt to the trans-Pacific flow of electronics, clothing, furniture, industrial parts and everything else that the world’s two largest economies exchange.

los-angeles-port-tariffs-trade-tensions

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/11/los-angeles-port-tariffs-trade-tensions

Los Angeles Times: ‘Even the cops don’t like us anymore’: Under Trump, ICE is despised and divided

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Poor crybabies!

Across the nation, ICE has never seemed more visible, especially as anger continues over the separation of immigrant families at the border under the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy. Protesters have rallied across the U.S., demanding that the agency be abolished — calls that have been echoed by politicians. Earlier this month, WikiLeaks published the identities and information of more than 9,000 supposed current and former ICE employees.

Being an ICE agent has always come with challenges. The agency has faced criticism for years from immigration activists, including during the uptick in immigration enforcement during the Obama administration.

But Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has made ICE much more of a target. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf won praise from many of her constituents and criticism from the White House earlier this year when she alerted her city to upcoming ICE raids.

Many California police departments have longstanding policies against working with ICE to arrest suspects on immigration charges. But since Trump took office, California has enacted even tougher “sanctuary state” policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration officials even more, and that has heightened the strains.

…

Recently, “Occupy ICE” protests have sprung up across the nation. In Portland, Ore., protesters were able to shut down an ICE facility for at least a week.

On Saturday, hundreds of coordinated rallies were scheduled around the country to protest Trump’s zero tolerance policy, which has resulted in the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents or guardians crossing the border.

This week, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) stated that he plans to introduce legislation to eliminate ICE. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who beat Rep. Joe Crowley, the House Democratic Caucus chair, in New York’s Democratic primary, ran on a platform that called for the abolition of the agency.

And this is total bullshit:

ICE “fully respects the Constitutional rights of all people to peacefully express their opinions,” ICE said in a statement. “That being said, ICE remains committed to performing its immigration enforcement mission consistent with federal law and agency policy.”

Just ask all the students who are being deported for espousing pro-Palestinian views.

‘Even the cops don’t like us anymore’: Under Trump, ICE is despised and divided
In May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were spotted in Union Station.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ice-conflict-20180630-story.html

Euronews: ‘A surprising debasement’: Trump administration sues four states over climate lawsuits and laws

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The Trump Administration filed lawsuits against two US states on Wednesday, to stop them from taking legal action against fossil fuel companies for harms caused by climate change. On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued two more states over their climate laws.

Officials in the four Democratic states – Hawaii and Michigan, New York and Vermont – are defiant in the face of these unprecedented lawsuits.

It fits a strong pattern of anti-climate action measures that Trump has pursued during his first 100 days back in office. On the campaign trail last year, he pledged to “stop the wave of frivolous litigation from environmental extremists.”

‘A surprising debasement’: Trump administration sues four states over climate lawsuits and laws
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https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/other/a-surprising-debasement-trump-administration-sues-four-states-over-climate-lawsuits-and-laws/ar-AA1E3KNa