Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

Latin Times: DHS Using White Supremacist and Neo-Nazi Symbols in ICE Recruitment, Study Finds

Posted on by
Reply

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has incorporated white supremacist, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi imagery into its recruitment materials for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a new report

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has incorporated white supremacist, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi imagery into its recruitment materials for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch project.

The review found that DHS social media accounts and web content have used graphics and slogans originating from extremist sources, while also disproportionately depicting Black and Brown people in posts highlighting arrests and detention.

Hatewatch traced one widely shared DHS recruitment post, published on June 11, to an X account associated with white nationalist content. The graphic showed Uncle Sam posting a sign reading “Help your country … and yourself … REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS.” The original creator, an account under the name “Mr. Robert,” celebrated its federal use, writing, “TODAY OUR EFFORTS ARE COMING OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE!” DHS dismissed the report’s findings.

Other recruitment images posted by DHS referenced or resembled extremist publications. One graphic echoed the neo-Nazi text “Which Way Western Man?” by William Gayley Simpson, while another depicted armed white men posing as father and son with the caption: “We’re taking father/son bonding to a whole new level.” As the organization explains:

“The two men appear in front of an American flag backdrop, wearing military-style garb and body armor while holding assault rifles. The men have no visual identifiers affiliating them with any government agency. Instead, they look like they could be mercenaries or members of an extremist antigovernment militia.”

Posters also employed rhetoric such as “invasion” and “defend the homeland,” phrases long tied to the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims white people are being displaced and replaced in Western nations. Lindsay Schubiner of the Western States Center told Hatewatch:

“They [DHS’ social media posts] are not only intended to recruit staff but to normalize the dehumanization of immigrants. At the same time, bigotry and dehumanization wrapped in the American flag conditions Americans to accept the heightened horrors and blatant disregard of civil rights that ICE is inflicting upon our communities”

Concerns about whitewashing and white nationalist imagery in DHS communications have been on the radar of critics for a while. A July 25 report from The Guardian took a deep dive into the department’s use of “A Prayer for a New Life,” a painting by Morgan Weistling showing a white pioneer family.

The image, posted with the caption “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage” prompted scholars and critics to comment that the post advanced a selective vision of American identity that excludes Indigenous, Black, and immigrant contributions. Adam Klein, a media scholar at Pace University, said DHS’s wording around the image evokes far-right and anti-immigrant rhetoric:

“The [Weistling] painting isn’t violent at all. On the surface, it’s a beautiful image. But when you look at where it’s coming from, with [DHS using] language like ‘homeland’ and ‘heritage’, that’s really evocative of anti-immigrant sentiment”

Responding to criticism at the time, a DHS spokesperson told The Guardian: “this administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage. Get used to it.” .

DHS Using White Supremacist and Neo-Nazi Symbols in ICE Recruitment, Study Finds
DHS has been employing rhetoric such as “invasion” and “defend the homeland,” phrases long tied to conspiracy theories which claim white people are being displaced and replaced in Western nations

https://www.latintimes.com/dhs-using-white-supremacist-neo-nazi-symbols-ice-recruitment-study-finds-588988

WSWS: Guards riot, beat immigrant detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” concentration camp in Florida Everglades

Posted on by
Reply

On August 28, Noticias 23, the local Spanish-language Univision station in Miami–Ft. Lauderdale, received several frantic phone calls from immigrants detained at the Florida Everglades concentration camp, reporting that guards were assaulting and beating them.

In phone calls recorded by the outlet, immigrants at the facility—dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by President Donald Trump and his fascist supporters—said that at least four detainees were injured after guards deployed tear gas and began beating them.

“People started shouting because a relative had died, and they started shouting for freedom. At that moment, a prison team came in and started beating everyone,” said one of the detainees in one of the three phone calls.

He continued, “Right now, it’s unrest, and well, we have the helicopter overhead. Everyone here has been beaten up, many people have bled, brother, tear gas, we are immigrants, we are not criminals, we are not murderers.”

Another detainee told the outlet, “There are helicopters up above and a lot of people are bleeding. They’re beating us, they’re mistreating us.”

In another phone call, an audible alarm screeched in the background as one of the immigrants pleaded through tears, “It’s the emergency alarm, please help us.”

Family members of immigrants at the facility also reported to Noticias 23 that guards were rioting. Univision/Noticias 23 sent a request for comment to the Florida state spokesperson who oversees the concentration camp, but as of this writing there has been no reply.

The riot at the concentration camp comes one week after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction barring any further transfers to the facility and ordering it to be shut down within 60 days. Williams’ decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups and the Miccosukee tribe of Florida, who argued that the facility violated several environmental laws and endangered local species and tribal resources.

The state of Florida and the US federal government have asked Judge Williams to put her order on hold pending an appeal from the state. As of this writing, Williams has not ruled on the stay request. But hundreds of detainees have reportedly been moved to other detention facilities.

It appears the judge’s decision to shut down the camp infuriated the guards, who have sadistically taken out their anger on the remaining immigrants at the facility.

While the camp was initially sold to the public as a cheap alternative to house up to 5,000 immigrants, it appears that at its height just under 1,000 people were imprisoned in the hellish facility. On a tour last week following Judge Williams’ decision, Florida Representative Maxwell Frost (Democrat) estimated that between 300 and 350 people were still being held at the camp.

On August 27, the Associated Press reported that in a message sent to South Florida Rabbi Mario Rojzman on August 22, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said the camp was closing down operations quickly.

“[W]e are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days,” Guthrie wrote to Rojzman, indicating that the rabbi’s services would not be needed at the camp.

Questioned by an AP reporter about the email at an event in Orlando, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not dispute the account and indicated that the camp was no longer needed because the Department of Homeland Security was increasing the pace of deportations.

“Ultimately, it’s DHS’s decision where they want to process and stage detainees, and it’s their decision about when they want to bring them out,” DeSantis told AP.

The barbaric immigrant detention facility was hastily constructed two months ago in the middle of the Florida Everglades on a defunct airport tarmac. After construction was completed, Trump toured the facility with DeSantis, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the fascist White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

Trump hailed the camp as a model to be emulated and openly mused that it could be used to imprison and deport US citizens: “But we also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time. … They are not new to our country, they are old to our country. Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too. You want to know the truth.”

As soon as the concentration camp opened, reports immediately emerged of cruel, inhumane and unlivable conditions. Overflowing toilets, humid tents filled with mosquitos and other insects, inedible food containing worms, and the denial of access to attorneys and medical care are just some of the abuses immigrants held at the facility have suffered.

Disease also appears to be spreading rampantly at the facility. Immigrants and guards have fallen ill from what appears to have been a massive COVID-19 outbreak that nearly killed Luis Manuel Rivas Velásquez, a 38-year-old Venezuelan man. Rivas Velásquez collapsed at the facility earlier this month after being denied medical care.

In addition to being a colossal human rights abuse, the concentration camp is also a tremendous waste of money. The state of Florida signed approximately $405 million in vendor contracts to build and operate the facility, and by July 2025 had already paid out about $245 million, according to the AP. Because of the judge’s ruling, the AP estimated the state stands to lose approximately $218 million.

Court documents submitted by the Florida Department of Emergency Management and reviewed by WPTV, the local NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, found that it could cost as much as $20 million to tear down the camp.

Guards riot, beat immigrant detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” concentration camp in Florida Everglades
In frantic phone calls, immigrants reported that guards deployed tear gas and assaulted them.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/08/29/uyvh-a29.html

Tampa Free Press: Federal Court Affirms Dismissal Of False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution Claims Against HSI Agents

Posted on by
Reply

Second Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Against Plaintiff Karina Sigalovskaya, Citing Supreme Court Precedent that Limits Federal Officer Liability

Sigalovskaya claimed that during the search, Special Agent Abigail Braden falsely accused her of confessing to taking pornographic photos of her own child, leading to her arrest and pretrial detention. She was charged with sexual exploitation of children, a charge that was later dropped.

Sigalovskaya alleged that as a result of the fabricated evidence, she was held in jail for three weeks, lost temporary custody of her children, and was placed on the New York State Sex Offender Registry.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Karina Sigalovskaya against four special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit.

The decision, handed down on Wednesday, concludes a lengthy legal battle that began in 2015 and centers on allegations of false arrest and malicious prosecution.

The case stems from a 2013 incident where HSI agents allegedly unlawfully entered Sigalovskaya’s home. According to the complaint, the agents were searching for her common-law husband, who was under investigation for child pornography.

Sigalovskaya claimed that during the search, Special Agent Abigail Braden falsely accused her of confessing to taking pornographic photos of her own child, leading to her arrest and pretrial detention. She was charged with sexual exploitation of children, a charge that was later dropped.

Sigalovskaya alleged that as a result of the fabricated evidence, she was held in jail for three weeks, lost temporary custody of her children, and was placed on the New York State Sex Offender Registry. Her lawsuit sought damages for false arrest, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and denial of a fair trial.

The Second Circuit’s ruling upholds a lower court’s dismissal of the remaining claims against Special Agent Braden. The court’s decision was heavily influenced by the 2022 Supreme Court case Egbert v. Boule, which significantly narrowed the ability of individuals to sue federal officers for constitutional violations under a legal principle known as a Bivens action. The Bivens doctrine allows a person to sue a federal agent for money damages for violating their constitutional rights.

In an opinion, the majority concluded that Sigalovskaya’s claims were no longer viable under the restrictive framework established by the Supreme Court.

The court found that Sigalovskaya’s claims, which focused on the fabrication of evidence, presented a “new context” that was meaningfully different from the original Bivens case. The court also noted that “special factors,” such as the existence of an alternative remedial process within the Department of Homeland Security, weighed against creating a new Bivens remedy.

he ruling was accompanied by three separate opinions from the judges on the panel, highlighting the complexity and debate surrounding Bivens claims.

Judge Myrna Pérez, in a concurring opinion, agreed with the dismissal, arguing that the existence of an internal grievance process within the Department of Homeland Security was a sufficient reason to dismiss the case, echoing the reasoning in the Egbert decision.

Judge Eunice C. Lee, also concurring in the judgment, provided a detailed analysis of the case’s “new context.” She concluded that the claim was distinct from the original Bivens precedent because it centered on fabricated evidence rather than a typical Fourth Amendment violation like a warrantless search or seizure.

Judge Gerard E. Lynch issued a partial dissent, arguing that the false arrest claim should have been allowed to proceed. He contended that Sigalovskaya’s claim was “materially indistinguishable” from the original Bivens case because both involved an arrest made without probable cause. Judge Lynch criticized the majority for drawing what he considered to be fine, intellectually dishonest distinctions that effectively undermine Bivens without explicitly overruling it.

The decision marks another instance of a federal appeals court limiting the scope of Bivens actions, a trend that began with the Supreme Court’s increasingly skeptical view of implied constitutional remedies against federal officials.

Federal Court Affirms Dismissal Of False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution Claims Against HSI Agents
Second Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Against Plaintiff Karina Sigalovskaya, Citing Supreme Court Precedent that Limits Federal Officer Liability The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Karina Sigalovskaya against four special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/federal-court-affirms-dismissal-of-false-arrest-malicious-prosecution-claims-against-hsi-agents/ar-AA1LlvfR

Fox News: Chicago Teamsters, backed by mayor, want ICE blocked without warrants in strike fight

Posted on by
Reply

Mayor Brandon Johnson reportedly backed the move, calling Trump a ‘dictator’

About 140 people work at the plant, which reconditions metal barrels for chemical storage, and a plurality are Latino, according to the American Prospect.

One striking worker told the outlet that he and others are concerned that ICE may target them on a racial basis even if they are able to prove legal residency.

A Chicago Teamsters local is demanding a packaging company refuse to allow federal immigration enforcement on its property without warrants as a top tenet of its overall demands.

The workers are seeking assurances from Mauser Packaging Solutions that it will require ICE to display a warrant signed by a judge before it is allowed on the property.

The strike at Mauser’s plant in the heavily Hispanic “Little Village” neighborhood has lasted more than two months, and the Teamsters Local 705 negotiator recently refused the factory’s latest offer, according to multiple reports.

About 140 people work at the plant, which reconditions metal barrels for chemical storage, and a plurality are Latino, according to the American Prospect.

One striking worker told the outlet that he and others are concerned that ICE may target them on a racial basis even if they are able to prove legal residency.

The Prospect reported the strike began over a separate issue — allegations of employee surveillance during discussions with union representatives amid contract bargaining.

The Illinois-based global company’s striking workers also collected a big-name voice in their court during that time: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Johnson, a former teachers’ union figure, is familiar with similar situations and also agreed with the union’s aversion to federal law enforcement.

“This union and this strike is leading the way to ensure that this country knows that workers run this country,” Johnson said while rallying with strikers earlier this month.

He said Mauser’s workers have the right to seek livable wages and environs “at a time in which we have a federal government coming after workers, immigrants, Brown and Black people,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Johnson demanded workers get protections to ensure “ICE agents do not get to run amok [or] create fear and come in and disrupt and destabilize our communities and workplaces, whether you are at work, school, church or the barbershop.”

He noted that Chicago is a “welcoming city,” a term increasing in popularity among Democratic leaders due to the political stigma now associated with “sanctuary cities.”

In his remarks, Johnson also once again referred to President Donald Trump as a “dictator.”

Updated figures from Chicago’s official crime dashboard now show 266 homicides this year, averaging more than one a day.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and the Teamsters for comment.

Mauser Packaging Solutions communications director Kimberly Braam told Fox News Digital later Wednesday the company “is aware of the concerns raised by members of Teamsters Local 705. We are committed to negotiating a fair and sustainable collective agreement with employees.”

When asked about the union’s demands, a DHS spokesperson criticized Johnson, saying he and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker “stand with criminal illegal aliens over the safety of American citizens.”

The spokesperson also said “shameful rhetoric” against ICE has “fueled a culture of hate against law enforcement resulting in a 1,000 percent increase in assaults against them.”

ICE’s ill-disciplined pigs & bully boys have a well-deserved, well-earned reputation. They have only themselves to blame for this achievement.

Chicago Teamsters, backed by mayor, want ICE blocked without warrants in strike fight
Workers at the Mauser Packaging plant in Little Village seek assurances that ICE must display judge-signed warrants before accessing company property during strike.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chicago-teamsters-backed-mayor-want-ice-barred-without-warrants-strike-fight

Newsweek: McDonald’s manager detained by ICE agents before company picnic

Posted on by
Reply

A manager at a McDonald’s outlet in New York was detained by immigration authorities earlier this week, despite reportedly holding a valid U.S. work visa and just before the restaurant’s annual company picnic.

Christian Rodriguez, who has worked at the branch in Oceanside, Long Island, for several years, reportedly possesses a Social Security number, according to Newsday.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Newsweek: “Christian Emmanuel Rodriguez Torrealba, a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela, entered the U.S. on a B-2 tourist visa that required him to leave the U.S. by June 3, 2016. Nearly 10 years later, he is still illegally in the U.S. Rodriguez’s criminal history includes convictions for battery and property damage crimes. ICE arrested this illegal alien on August 21, 2025.

“President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem have been clear: criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States.”

Newsweek has contacted McDonald’s for comment.

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump has directed his administration to remove millions of migrants without legal status to fulfill his campaign pledge of mass deportation. The White House has maintained that anyone living in the country unlawfully is considered to be a criminal by the incumbent administration.

What To Know

A co-worker who requested anonymity told Newsday that Rodriguez taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after attending a hearing regarding his immigration application, in Bethpage, New York, on August 21, according to the outlet.

He had previously appeared at another hearing on August 7, which colleagues believed went favorably, the outlet reported.

On the day of the second hearing, at around 2 p.m.—the time he was expected at a company picnic—Rodriguez sent a text to a co-worker saying his application had been denied and that ICE had arrested him, per the outlet.

Rodriguez was transported to Central Islip, where ICE appears to be taking detainees to the federal courthouse, according to Newsday.

A resident of the neighboring town of Baldwin, Rodriguez came to the United States in December 2015 on a tourist visa, per the outlet, which reported that Rodriguez’s immigration “notice to appear” stated that he faced possible removal from the United States for staying past the period permitted on his tourist visa.

Concerns have been raised over the economic impacts of the president’s mass removal policy. Immigrants, documented or undocumented, made up 20 percent of U.S. workers at the beginning of the year, but by June that share had fallen to 19 percent, a decrease of more than 750,000 workers, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

What Happens Next

Rodriguez will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

McDonald’s manager detained by ICE agents before company picnic
The man was arrested after attending a hearing regarding his immigration application at a U.S. immigration office in Bethpage, New York.

https://www.newsweek.com/manager-arrested-ice-immigration-agents-company-picnic-2120819

Associated Press: Appeals court blocks Trump administration from ending legal protections for 600,000 Venezuelans

Posted on by
Reply

A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status for Venezuelans while the case proceeded through court.

An email to the Department of Homeland Security for comment was not immediately returned.

The 9th Circuit judges found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior extension of temporary protected status because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit it. Then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration had extended temporary protected status for people from Venezuela.

“In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics,” Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, wrote for panel. The other two judges on the panel were also nominated by Democratic presidents.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco found in March that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claim that President Donald Trump’s Republican administration overstepped its authority in terminating the protections and were motivated by racial animus in doing so. Chen ordered a freeze on the terminations, but the Supreme Court reversed him without explanation, which is common in emergency appeals.

It is unclear what effect Friday’s ruling will have on the estimated 350,000 Venezuelans in the group of 600,000 whose protections expired in April. Their lawyers say some have already been fired from jobs, detained in immigration jails, separated from their U.S. citizen children and even deported. Protections for the remaining 250,000 Venezuelans are set to expire Sept. 10.

Congress authorized temporary protected status, or TPS, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country.

In ending the protections, Noem said that conditions in Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the U.S. national interest to allow migrants from there to stay on for what is a temporary program.

Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. Their country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.

Attorneys for the U.S. government argued the Homeland Security secretary’s clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program were not subject to judicial review. They also denied that Noem’s actions were motivated by racial animus.

Appeals court blocks Trump administration from ending legal protections for 600,000 Venezuelans
A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-trump-temporary-status-venezuelans-7c70b2d301c43663a6f506af527637a4

Newsweek: ICE detains dad of four “awaiting green card interview”

Posted on by
Reply

A Russian immigrant said to be awaiting a green card interview is being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after Russian authorities allegedly issued an Interpol request for his arrest, according to a GoFundMe set up by his family.

Aleksei Levit—who escaped persecution in his home country some eight years ago, including a purported assassination attempt, per the GoFundMe—is being held at the Dodge Detention Center in Juneau, Wisconsin, according to ICE records.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Newsweek: “Aleksei Levit, an illegal alien from Russia, entered the United States on March 13, 2017, on a B2 tourist visa. He overstayed the visa and remained in our country illegally.

“Over the past eight years, he never applied for a green card. ICE arrested him on July 31, 2025, and placed him in removal proceedings. All of his claims will be heard before a judge. Under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem, criminals are not welcome in the U.S.”

Newsweek reached out to Levit’s wife via the GoFundMe page.

Why It Matters

Levit’s case spotlights the Trump administration’s broader illegal immigration crackdown, which includes apprehending nonviolent individuals who lack the proper credentials to remain in the United States.

His family claims he was never provided with green card interviews for the majority of the last decade.

In February, a lawsuit was filed against ICE representing 276 immigrants from ex-Soviet countries, including Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan, who claimed that they were detained and locked up for extended periods of time, violating federal law and internal policies, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.

In June, ICE reported its arrest of a 39-year-old, Tajikistan-born Russian national in Philadelphia who was wanted overseas for being suspected of being a member of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

What To Know

Levit and his Slinger, Wisconsin-based family, which includes his wife and four children (ages 8, 6 and 4-year-old twins), fled Russia over eight years ago to seek asylum in the U.S. due to Levit “facing persecution for refusing to participate in corrupt practices,” according to a GoFundMe started by his wife. It’s unclear from where that claim is derived.

As of Wednesday morning, $1,650 had been raised of its goal of $5,500.

The husband and father has been detained for over three weeks. Photos show him wearing a hard hat and safety gear as part of his job. The job title was never mentioned.

“As a dedicated public servant, he always upheld the values of honesty and integrity,” the GoFundMe states. “However, this commitment came at a devastating cost. Our family was forced to leave behind a life we cherished, filled with love and hope, as threats, searches and even an assassination attempt made it clear that our safety was in jeopardy.

“The fear for our lives pushed us to start anew in a foreign land, without connections and with limited English. We faced countless challenges, losing everything multiple times, yet we persevered.”

“For over eight years, we have been waiting for our Green Card interviews, living and working legally, and contributing to our community,” the page says.

The crowdfunding campaign alleges that Levit was taken into custody “in handcuffs and chains, without explanation” as he left for work one day. It also alleges that Russian authorities issued an Interpol request for his arrest, seeking to deport him back to a country “where he would face certain death or imprisonment for his beliefs.”

“The Russian government is relentless in its pursuit of those they deem undesirable, and they have taken away my beloved husband and the father of our four young children,” says the GoFundMe. “Throughout our time in the U.S., we had an attorney who was supposed to guide us and represent us, but on that fateful day he abandoned us, leaving us without support when we needed it most.

“We lost all the money we had paid him, and now we find ourselves in desperate need of funds to hire a new attorney.”

They added that “without legal representation, the odds are stacked against us,” saying that individuals in his position who lack counsel “almost always lose.”

What People Are Saying

On Tuesday, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Newsweek: “A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) presenting at a U.S. port of entry with criminal convictions may be found inadmissible, placed in removal proceedings, and subject to mandatory detention.”

What Happens Next

Levit’s future remains unknown as the family continues to attempt to hire legal representation in his case.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-immigration-green-card-detention-father-russia-2120121

Independent: Trump team has fined immigrants who didn’t self-deport $6 billion — and now it’s coming to collect

Posted on by
Reply

Department of Homeland Security threatens lawsuits and massive tax bills to collect balances ‘owed’ by thousands of immigrants

Immigrants have been racking up as much as $1,000 a day in fines if they disregard orders to deport, totaling more than $6 billion that the Trump administration now intends to collect.

Since Donald Trump returned to office, the Department of Homeland Security has issued roughly 21,500 fines, part of a pressure campaign to encourage millions of people to leave the country with a promise that the government would waive the fees against them.

In recent weeks, the government has threatened immigrants with lawsuits, debt collectors and massive tax bills if they don’t pay those penalties, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The new system, put in place by the Trump administration in June, means immigrants are not only at risk of arrest and forced removal from the U.S. but also crushing financial debt that is virtually impossible to escape. One immigration attorney told the WSJ that it amounts to “psychological warfare.”

DHS has issued past-due notices for unpaid fines with growing interest and threatened to garnish tax refunds, deploy private collection agencies and alert credit bureaus to delinquent payments owed by targeted immigrants, many of whom are low-wage workers, according to WSJ.

The agency has also suggested it could report unpaid fines to the IRS, which could then treat the balance as taxable income.

The message from Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “is clear: if you’re in the country illegally, leave now or face the consequences,” a senior DHS official said in a statement to The Independent.

Under rules introduced in June, DHS officers can send letters threatening fees on noncitizens over failure to deport, and all rights of appeal could be eliminated if they fail to reply within 15 days.

The process is permitted under a law passed by Congress in 1996 as part of a wider immigration package. But over the last three decades, threats of fees — which can now reach up to $998 a day — have rarely been enforced. Officers instead focused on removal, rather than adding another layer of punishment.

But that changed under Trump, largely because the process for sending out threatening fines with potentially financially disastrous results is much easier, according to the American Immigration Council, an immigration policy research group.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has vowed to recoup “funds owed to Americans.”

“As part of the effort to fulfill President Trump’s agenda, Treasury’s Debt Collection Service is actively working with ICE to secure payment for all civil fines and penalties owed by illegal aliens to the U.S. government,” Bessent said on social media.

According to TV ads and social media announcements from DHS, immigrants who choose to “self-deport” will “not have to pay these fines.”

Instead, immigrants are offered “financial assistance up to $1,000” and “a free flight home,” as well as “the potential opportunity to return to the United States the legal, right way,” according to the agency.

Immigrants can do so using the CBP Home app, formerly the CBP One app, a Joe Biden-era product that allowed more than 1 million immigrants to begin their immigration process before reaching the country. The Trump administration has revoked legal status for all immigrants who entered the country with that app.

A senior DHS official told The Independent that “iIlegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to fly home for free and receive $1,000 stipend, while preserving the option to return the legal, right way.”

“It’s an easy choice: leave voluntarily and receive [a] $1,000 check or stay and wait till you are fined $1,000 [a] day, arrested, and deported without a possibility to return legally,” the official said.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has called that promise “a deeply misleading and unethical trick.”

Under current law, anyone living in the U.S. for more than six months without legal permission cannot return as an immigrant for at least three years. Immigrants who were in the country for more than a year could be blocked from reentering for at least 10 years.

Immigrants with a record of deportation also are more likely to face lengthy waiting periods, or outright denials, when applying for future visas.

Noem has claimed that more than 1.6 million immigrants have “left” the country within the first 200 days of the administration.

In May, a Honduran woman who has lived in the U.S. for two decades was hit with nearly $2 million in fines for failing to leave the country after receiving a removal order in 2005.

“I live with anxiety… I can’t sleep… I don’t feel,” the 41-year-old mother-of-three U.S. citizens told CBS News.

Another woman — a mother-of-four in New York who has been living in the U.S. for 25 years and trying to get her removal order tossed so she can get a green card — had considered self-deporting out of fear that the Treasury Department would repossess her house, according to WSJ.

She faces more than $2 million in overdue penalties, with growing daily interest. She could also be subject to administrative costs totaling at least 32 percent of her fine, or more than half a million dollars, according to DHS.

To carry out the president’s plans for mass deportations, the Trump administration has pushed to “de-legalize” millions of immigrants who were granted humanitarian protections and other protective orders to legally live and work in the country.

More than 1 million people are at risk of being removed from the U.S. after the administration revoked Temporary Protected Status for several countries.

Another 1 million immigrants who entered legally through the CBP One app also are at risk of being arrested and removed, while thousands of people with pending immigration cases are being ordered to court each week only to have those cases dismissed, and find federal agents waiting to arrest them on the other side of the courtroom doors.

Those reversals have radically expanded a pool of “undocumented” people to add to Trump’s deportation numbers.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/migrants-self-deport-fines-trump-administration-b2815156.html

L.A. Times: L.A. teen is moved to ICE detention center out of state without parents’ knowledge

Posted on by
Reply

Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz’s family was stunned and heartbroken when the 18-year-old was grabbed by immigration agents while walking his dog in Van Nuys just days before he was set to start his senior year at Reseda Charter High School.

This week, his family was caught off-guard once again when they learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had transferred him to Arizona without notifying any relatives, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), which spoke to his family and reviewed ICE detention records.

Guerrero-Cruz was moved out of the Adelanto Detention Facility in San Bernardino County late Monday night and taken to a holding facility in Arizona in the middle of the desert, according to the congresswoman’s office.

On Tuesday night, he was scheduled to be transferred to Louisiana, a major hub for deportation flights, but at the last minute he was taken off the plane and sent back to Adelanto, where he is currently being held.

“Benjamin and his family deserve answers behind ICE’s inconsistent and chaotic decision-making process, including why Benjamin was initially transferred to Arizona, why he was slated to be transferred to Louisiana afterward, and why his family wasn’t notified of his whereabouts by ICE throughout this process,” Rivas said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Rivas introduced a bill that would require ICE to notify an immediate family member of a detainee within 24 hours of a detainee’s transfer. Currently, ICE is required to notify a family member only in the case of a detainee’s death.

“Benjamin’s story of being detained and sent across state lines without warning or notification is like many other detainees in Los Angeles and across the country,” Rivas said. “Many immigrant families in my district do not know the whereabouts of their loved ones after they are detained by ICE.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency previously stated that Guerrero-Cruz was awaiting deportation to Chile after overstaying his visa, which required him to depart the United States on March 15, 2023.

Guerrero-Cruz was arrested Aug. 8 and held in downtown L.A. for a week, during which time he was briefly taken on an unexplained trip to a detention center in Santa Ana before being transferred to Adelanto on Aug. 15, according to a former teacher who visited him in custody.

His experience of being pingponged around different facilities is common among those being detained in what the Trump administration is billing as the largest deportation effort in American history.

This trend is also reflected in ICE’s flight data. The agency conducted 2,022 domestic transfer flights from May through July — representing a 90% increase from the same period last year, according to a widely cited database of flights created by immigrant rights advocate Tom Cartwright.

Cartwright posited in his July report that this uptick could be related to a “need to optimize bed space as detention numbers have ballooned from 39,152 on 29 December to 56,945 on 26 July.”

Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesperson for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights L.A., called the Trump administration’s detention policies cruel, saying it appears that they are detaining people for as long as possible and “moving them from place to place for no reason other than because they can.”

“The fact that these dumbfounding transfers in the middle of the night cause chaos, confusion, and minimizes access to legal representation does not seem to bother them one bit,” he said in a statement.

Susham M. Modi, an immigration attorney based in Houston, said he had witnessed an uptick in the frequency of transfers among those recently detained by ICE.

“[Detainees are] also being often transferred to where there’s less lawyers,” he said. “I’ve seen consults where they’ve been transferred to Oklahoma, where it is very hard to find an attorney that might do, for example, federal court litigation.”

Although families can use ICE’s Online Detainee Locator to search for loved ones, it isn’t always up to date, and some families do not know how to use it, Modi said. When detainees are transferred, they often can’t make outgoing calls from the detention facility until someone has deposited money into their account — another hurdle for keeping family members updated on their whereabouts, he added.

L.A. teen is moved to ICE detention center out of state without parents’ knowledge
Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz, detained by immigration agents while walking his dog, was moved across state lines without his parents’ knowledge. A congresswoman says ICE should be required to notify family when a detainee is transferred.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-28/l-a-teen-nabbed-on-street-by-ice-transferred-out-of-state-without-parents-knowledge

Newsweek: Ron DeSantis Wasted $250 Million on Alligator Alcatraz as It Faces Closure

Posted on by
Reply

The state of Florida is committed to $245 million toward the construction of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Everglades immigration detention facility which is due to close in days.

An email obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday from Kevin Guthrie, head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, indicates the facility will likely soon be empty, after a federal judge ruled it must cease to operate.

Newsweek contacted Governor DeSantis’s office and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment on Thursday via email outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

Since his second presidential inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has overseen a crackdown aimed at illegal immigration, increasing spending on immigration enforcement and removing legal impediments to rapid deportations.

Having to close the new Florida detention facility would be a blow to both Governor DeSantis and the Trump administration, and would show that one of the main impediments to White House policy continues to be the courts.

What To Know

Figures published by Florida officials show the state has signed contracts worth at least $245 million to companies for work at the new Florida detention facility, which was constructed by repurposing the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee.

The largest single contract, at $78.5 million, went to Jacksonville based Critical Response Strategies which is responsible for hiring corrections officers, camp managers and IT personnel.

Longview Solutions Group was awarded $25.6 million for site preparation and construction while IT company Gothams has a $21.1 million contract to provide services including access badges and detainee wristbands.

Some of the contract details were later removed from Florida’s public database, sparking criticism from Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Florida officials said some of their spending would be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But the Trump administration has said in a court filing it has had nothing to do with funding of the facility, according to CBS: “Florida is constructing and operating the facility using state funds on state lands under state emergency authority.”

The filing also says: “DHS (the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) has not implemented, authorized, directed, or funded Florida’s temporary detention center.”

The facility was expected to cost $450 million to operate each year after construction, according to CNN.

However, in a blow to DeSantis, a federal judge in Miami ruled on August 21 that “Alligator Alcatraz” must be closed down within 60 days, and that no further detainees could be transferred to the facility during this time. Just weeks previously the same judge had ordered a halt on construction work at the camp.

Legal challenges had been brought by a coalition of environmental group and the indigenous Miccosukee Tribe.

What People Are Saying

Speaking about conditions at the facility Florida Representative Debbie Schultz, a Democrat, said: “They are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.”

In an interview with CNN Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said: “The fact that we’re going to have 3,000 people detained in tents, in the Everglades, in the middle of the hot Florida summer, during hurricane season, this is a bad idea all around that needs to be opposed and stopped.”

In a statement previously sent to Newsweek a DHS official said: “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens.

“DHS is complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities. We will continue to fight tooth-and-nail to remove the worst of the worst from American streets.”

What Happens Next

The Trump administration is expected to continue its crackdown on illegal migrants in the United States in a move that will put pressure on existing immigration detention facilities, and could lead to more being constructed.

Ron DeSantis wasted $250 million on Alligator Alcatraz as it faces closure
A federal judge has ruled that the new Florida detention center must close within 60 days.

https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-wasted-250-million-alligator-alcatraz-it-faces-closure-2120638