Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

Guardian: ‘Horrific’: report reveals abuse of pregnant women and children at US Ice facilities

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Report from senator Jon Ossoff’s office found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since Trump’s inauguration

A new report has found hundreds of reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centers.

The alleged abuses uncovered include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food and water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and child separation.

The report, compiled by the office of Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat representing Georgia, noted it found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since 20 January 2025.

His office team’s investigation is active and ongoing, the office said, and has accused the Department of Homeland Security of obstructing congressional oversight of the federal agency, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Ossoff said the government was limiting his team’s access to visit more detention sites and interview detainees.

Under the second Trump administration, a Guardian analysis found average daily immigration arrests in June 2025 were up 268% compared with June 2024, with the majority of people arrested having no criminal convictions. And US immigration detention facilities are estimated to be over capacity by more than 13,500 people.

The problem is not new, as before Trump took office again, US immigration detention centers faced allegations of inhumane conditions. But controversy has ramped up amid the current administration’s widespread crackdown on immigration and undocumented communities within the US, including people who have lived and worked in the US for years or came in more recently under various legal programs that Trump has moved to shut down.

Among the reports cited in the new file from Ossoff’s office, there are allegations of huge human rights abuses include 41 cases of physical and/or sexual abuse of detainees while in the custody of the DHS, including reports of detainees facing retaliation for reporting abuses.

Examples include at least four 911 emergency calls referencing sexual abuse at the South Texas Ice processing center since January.

The report also cites 14 credible reports of pregnant women being mistreated in DHS custody, including a case of a pregnant woman being told to drink water in response to a request for medical attention, and another case where a partner of a woman in DHS custody reported the woman was pregnant and bled for days before DHS staff took her to a hospital, where she was left in a room alone to miscarry without water or medical assistance.

The report cites 18 cases of children as young as two years old, including US citizens, facing mistreatment in DHS custody, including denying a 10-year-old US citizen recovering from brain surgery any follow-up medical attention and the detention of a four-year-old who was receiving treatment for metastatic cancer and was reportedly deported without the ability to consult a doctor.

The report from Ossoff’s office was first reported by NBC News. The DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to NBC News in response to the report: “any claim that there are subprime conditions at Ice detention centers are false.” She claimed all detainees in Ice custody received “proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members”.

Meredyth Yoon, an immigration attorney and litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, told NBC News she met with the woman who miscarried, a 23-year-old Mexican national.

“The detainee who miscarried described to Yoon witnessing and experiencing ‘horrific’ and ‘terrible conditions’, the attorney said, including allegations of overcrowding, people forced to sleep on the floor, inadequate access to nutrition and medical care, as well as abusive treatment by the guards, lack of information about their case and limited ability to contact their loved ones and legal support,” NBC News reported. DHS denied the allegations.

“Regardless of our views on immigration policy, the American people do not support the abuse of detainees and prisoners … it’s more important than ever to shine a light on what’s happening behind bars and barbed wire, especially and most shockingly to children,” Ossoff said in a statement his office issued about the investigation.

‘Horrific’: report reveals abuse of pregnant women and children at US Ice facilities
Report from senator Jon Ossoff’s office found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since Trump’s inauguration

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/06/physical-sexual-abuse-pregnant-women-children-immigration-centers

NBC News: ICE is leaning hard on recruitment, but immigration experts say that could come at a price

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ICE is using signing bonuses and a celebrity endorsement to encourage Americans to join its ranks. Experts doubt that the recruitment will improve public safety.

“If you actually wanted the immigration system to work, you would be hiring thousands of immigration judges, you would be funding prosecutors, you would be funding defense lawyers,” he said. “If what we wanted was a fair and fast system, it would be the complete opposite of this.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pushing the message that it wants “patriotic Americans” to join its ranks — and that new perks come with signing up.

The agency enforcing President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations is promising new recruits maximum $50,000 signing bonuses over three years, up to $60,000 in federal student loan repayments and retirement benefits. ICE announced this week it is waiving age requirements and, on Wednesday, actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” announced on social media that he was joining the ranks of ICE as an honorary officer.

“I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it, so I joined up,” Cain said. He encouraged others to join ICE as officers, touting the job’s salary and benefits.

The possibility of monetary benefits and the celebrity endorsement have experts concerned. They fear the recruitment push could endanger public safety if it takes local police away from their communities, removes important personnel from other critical missions or cuts corners in the rush to hire.

Immigration and law enforcement experts also said the hiring push does not reflect the public safety threat posed by unauthorized immigrants, as recent data shows many people who have been arrested by ICE during the Trump administration do not have criminal histories. One in 5 people ICE apprehended in street arrests was a Latino with no criminal history or removal orders, according to an analysis of new ICE data by the Cato Institute, a libertarian public policy think tank.

“We’re moving further away from actually keeping people safe through this,” Jason Houser, who held senior Department of Homeland Security positions during the Obama and Biden administrations, told NBC News.

DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on concerns about recent recruitment efforts and whether they could come at the expense of other critical tasks.

The administration has said it wants to add 10,000 ICE agents to carry out Trump’s promise of mass deportations. That effort recently received an unprecedented influx of funding after the Republican-led Congress passed a bill that includes nearly $30 billion for ICE’s deportation and enforcement operations, tripling the agency’s budget.

DHS recently launched an initiative called “Defend the Homeland” with the goal of recruiting “patriots to join ICE law enforcement” and meet Trump’s goal of deporting 1 million immigrants per year.

The department has since announced new incentives or waived previous requirements to fulfill its goal.

“Your country is calling you to serve at ICE. In the wake of the Biden administration’s failed immigration policies, your country needs dedicated men and women of ICE to get the worst of the worst criminals out of our country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement announcing the initiative.

On Wednesday, DHS said it was ending age limits to join ICE “so even more patriots will qualify to join ICE in its mission.”

Previously, new applicants needed to be at least 21 years old to join. They had to be no older than 37 to be criminal investigators and 40 to be considered as deportation officers. Asked whether there would be any age limits, DHS referred NBC News to a social media clip of Noem saying recruits could sign up at 18.

The department is also using its monetary incentives to try to lure recruits. The “significant new funding” from Congress will fund perks like the signing bonuses, federal student loan repayments and options for enhanced overtime pay and retirement benefits.

Houser raised concerns over the claim that more ICE officers would directly equate to better public safety.

“ICE now has this new gorge of money. But what is the public safety and national security threat? Is it the individuals ICE is now arresting? Many of them are not criminals; a lot of them have no removal orders,” he said.

Almost half of the people in ICE custody have neither been convicted of nor charged with any crime, ICE data shows. In late June, internal data obtained by NBC News showed that after six months of aggressive immigration enforcement and promises to focus on deporting violent criminals, the Trump administration has arrested and detained only a small fraction of the undocumented immigrants already known to ICE as having been convicted of sexual assault and homicide.

DHS did not immediately respond to questions about the arrests of those with criminal records compared with those without.

“Arresting people who are not public safety or national security threats because of the current atmosphere of limited resources just simply means that there are fewer resources for prioritizing people who pose bigger threats,” said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute.

Shifting resources to immigration enforcement

In its push, DHS is recruiting not just those new to law enforcement.

The agency has also faced some recent criticism for aggressively recruiting new agents from some of its most trusted local partners.

Jonathan Thompson, the executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said in a previous interview that the recruitment efforts targeting local law enforcement were “bad judgment that will cause an erosion of a relationship that has been improving of late.”

“It’s going to take leadership at DHS to really take stock, because, hey, they need state and locals,” Thompson said.

The administration is also shifting current personnel to help arrest undocumented immigrants — including more than 5,000 personnel from across federal law enforcement agencies and up to 21,000 National Guard troops, according to an operation plan described to NBC News by three sources with knowledge of the personnel allocations who detailed the previously unreported plans.

The plan, which is already underway, calls for using 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from Homeland Security Investigations, which generally investigates transnational crimes and is not typically involved in arresting noncriminal immigrants. In addition, it involves 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration and 500 employees from Customs and Border Protection. It also includes 250 IRS agents, some of whom may be used to provide information on the whereabouts of immigrants using tax information, while others would have the authority to make arrests, according to the operation plan.

“You have people, literally, whose job it is to go after fentanyl being forced to spend their time arresting grandmas on the streets of Los Angeles,” said Scott Shuchart, who was an ICE official in the Biden administration. “That is a huge and bizarre public safety trade off.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson previously said in a statement: “Enforcing our immigration laws and removing illegal aliens is one big way President Trump is ‘Making America Safe Again.’ But the president can walk and chew gum at the same time. We’re holding all criminals accountable, whether they’re illegal aliens or American citizens. That’s why nationwide murder rates have plummeted, fugitives from the FBI’s most wanted list have been captured, and police officers are empowered to do their jobs, unlike under the Biden Administration’s soft-on-crime regime.”

The administration is also shifting some employees with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, during hurricane season, to assist ICE, DHS said in a statement Thursday.

“DHS is adopting an all-hands-on-deck strategy to recruit 10,000 new ICE agents. To support this effort, select FEMA employees will temporarily be detailed to ICE for 90 days to assist with hiring and vetting,” DHS said. “Their deployment will NOT disrupt FEMA’s critical operations. FEMA remains fully prepared for Hurricane Season.”

DHS said on July 31 that it has issued over “1,000 tentative job offers since July 4, marking a significant milestone in its ongoing recruitment efforts.” Some of the offers were to several retired officers.

The agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment about its seeking to recruit local law enforcement or shifting other federal personnel to ICE.

Houser said it will be important to see what kind of standards will be in place for new hires and whether they are being properly vetted and trained.

Houser said that traditionally it has been difficult to recruit such hires. “ICE officers take about 12 to 18 months to come online,” he said.

Shuchart said the Trump administration is “not irrational for wishing they could make things quicker. The question is, are they making things quicker in ways that make sense, or are they taking shortcuts that are dangerous?”

He said that prioritizing increasing the number of deportation officers could be “exacerbating the problems.”

“If you actually wanted the immigration system to work, you would be hiring thousands of immigration judges, you would be funding prosecutors, you would be funding defense lawyers,” he said. “If what we wanted was a fair and fast system, it would be the complete opposite of this.”

ICE is leaning hard on recruitment, but immigration experts say that could come at a price
ICE is using signing bonuses and a celebrity endorsement to encourage Americans to join its ranks. Experts doubt that the recruitment will improve public safety.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-recruitment-dean-cain-signing-bonus-noem-immigration-rcna223463

Independent: Trump administration tried to reopen deportation proceedings for man who was long dead: ‘They’re very negligent’

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Government rushes to reopen years-old removal proceedings to boost Trump’s mass deportation agenda

Thousands of immigrants who have legally lived and worked in the United States for years have assumed they would be protected against their removal from the country after their cases were frozen.

But the Trump administration is stripping immigrants of their legal status and reopening removal proceedings as the Department of Homeland Security expands its mass deportation machine.

Homeland Security isn’t even checking to see whether these immigrants targeted for deportation are even alive, let alone legally protected from removal, according to California immigration attorneys speaking to The Los Angeles Times.

An immigration judge had closed removal proceedings against construction worker Helario Romero Arciniega, who was severely beaten with a metal sprinkler head and qualified for a special visa for victims of crime.

Earlier this year, the government reopened removal proceedings against him. He died in January, according to the LA County Coroner’s Office.

“They don’t do their homework,” immigration attorney Patricia Corrales told the newspaper. “They’re very negligent in the manner in which they’re handling these motions to re-calendar.”

Corrales, a former Immigration and Naturalization Service and Homeland Security attorney, told The Independent that the government’s recent motions to recalendar removal proceedings that were administratively closed — and not active — are “boilerplate motions” and “DHS doesn’t do their homework” and are “lazy or negligent in the information they provide to the court.”

“My client was in removal proceedings before he passed away. He was alive when his removal proceedings were administratively closed,” she added.

DHS filed a motion to recalendar on July 10 and “failed to mention an important detail,” she told The Independent.

“So, DHS was negligent in failing to even do some basic research to determine whether my client was alive or moved or anything,” she said.

In another case, Adan Rico, a new father studying to be an HVAC technician, said he had no idea the government restarted deportation proceedings against him.

His original lawyer had died, and “if it wasn’t for his daughter calling, I would have never found out my case was reopened,” Rico told The LA Times. “The Department of Homeland Security never sent me anything.”

A statement from Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Donald Trump’s administration is “once again implementing the rule of law” and accused former President Joe Biden of indefinitely delaying cases that left “criminals” stay in the country illegally.

“Now, President Trump and Secretary Noem are following the law and resuming these illegal aliens’ removal proceedings and ensuring their cases are heard by a judge,” she said in a statement shared with The Independent.

Rico, however, is among immigrants with removal protections under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which doesn’t come up for renewal until 2027, according to Corrales.

The Trump administration has effectively “de-legalized” more than 1 million immigrants since January.

Thousands of people who are following immigration law — including those showing up for their court-ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins, immigration court hearings and U.S. Customs and Immigration Services appointments — have become easy targets for arrests.

Unlike federal district courts, immigration court judges operate under the direction of the attorney general’s office.

When immigrants have appeared for their hearings, Homeland Security attorneys have moved for the cases to be dismissed, while the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Department of Justice has issued guidance to judges to grant those motions on the spot.

Those quick dismissals mean immigrants can then be subject to removal, leading to scenes of masked ICE agents dragging people out of courtrooms across the country.

Those arrests have been condemned by immigrants’ rights groups and attorneys as a “corruption” of the courts, “transforming them from forums of justice into cogs in a mass deportation apparatus,” American Immigration Lawyers Association president Kelli Stump said earlier this year.

“The expansion of expedited removal strips more people of their right to a hearing before a judge — as our laws promise,” she added.

In April, Sirce E. Owen, acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, issued a memo calling the suspension of removal proceedings “de facto amnesty program with benefits” because immigrants can still have authorization and deportation protections.

Owen stated that, as of April, roughly 379,000 cases were still administratively closed in immigration courts, adding to the system’s backlog of 4 million cases.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review confirmed to The Independent that immigration courts must first receive the underlying initial motion before accepting a response to that motion.

Immigration attorney Edgardo Quintanilla told The LA Times that he has received 40 cases, some dating back to the 2010s. “There is always the fear that they may be arrested when they go to the court,” he said. “With everything going on, it is a reasonable fear.”

Mariela Caravetta told the newspaper that roughly 30 clients have been targeted with new motions from the government reopening their cases in the last month, some of which have been frozen for a decade.

By law, she has only 10 days to reply, forcing her to try to track down clients who have since moved.

“People aren’t getting due process,” Caravetta said. “It’s very unfair to the client because these cases have been sleeping for 10 years.”

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

Trump admin tried to reopen deportation proceedings for man who was long dead
Government rushes to reopen years-old removal proceedings to boost Trump’s mass deportation agenda

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-immigration-cases-dead-ice-b2803051.html

Independent: Trump border czar reacts after Indy 500 track boss demands end to ‘Speedway Slammer’ moniker for new migrant detention center

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Penske Entertainment said it preferred that its ‘IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter’

… On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X: “COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to @GovBraun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the @CBP Home App.”/

…

On Wednesday, Penske Entertainment, the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said the company did not want its intellectual property used alongside the detention center.

“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of the announcement,” the company told IndyStar in a statement. “Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”

Homan reacts after demand to ditch ‘Speedway Slammer’ detention center name
Penske Entertainment said it preferred that its ‘IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter’

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/tom-homan-speedway-slammer-indy-500-b2803213.html

2paragraphs: Kristi Noem Ends Age Limit for ICE Recruits After Reportedly Receiving 80,000 Applications

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President Trump‘s domestic policy bill included $165 billion in appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. According to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a portion of the funds will help “to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens” in the United States.

Noem, who said in June that she plans to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, last week issued a recruitment campaign on social media featuring photos of her wearing an ICE vest and President Trump saluting.

Today, the DHS announced in a press release: “In less than one week since DHS launched its recruitment campaign, more than 80,000 Americans applied to join ICE.”

It also revealed that Noem has lifted age limits for new applicants, “so even more patriots will qualify to join ICE.” Prior to the announcement, ICE was accepting applications from those 21 to 37 years old.

Note: All ICE law enforcement recruits are required to go through medical screening, drug screening, and complete a physical fitness test. Those selected to serve are offered:

  • A maximum $50,000 signing bonus
  • Student loan repayment and forgiveness options
  • 25% Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) for Special Agents
  • Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUI) for Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) Deportation Officers
  • Enhanced retirement benefits

LEAP compensation allows for “unscheduled duty” pay of up to 25% of regular salary, an acknowledgement of the “irregular hours” required by the job.

Great, now old people can join in the abuse, too. 🙁

Kristi Noem Ends Age Limit for ICE Recruits After Reportedly Receiving 80,000 Applications
President Trump‘s domestic policy bill included $165 billion in appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. According to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a portion of the funds will
Kristi Noem Ends Age Limit for ICE Recruits After Reportedly Receiving 80,000 Applications

Fox News: ICE raid tipoffs from Dem lawmaker could mean charges, says DHS rep: ‘Looks like obstruction’

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‘State Senator Analise Ortiz is siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals over American citizens,’ said a DHS spokesperson.

A Democratic state lawmaker tipping off ICE operations in her community could be hit with obstruction-of-justice charges, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital.

After Democratic Arizona state Senator Analise Ortiz admitted on social media to alerting her community about ICE movements, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed in a statement to Fox News Digital that the lawmaker is choosing illegal criminals over American citizens.

“Arizona state Senator Analise Ortiz is siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals over American citizens,” said McLaughlin.

“Notifying the public about ICE law enforcement operations endangers law enforcement and weakens American national security,” she went on.

In response to Fox News Digital’s question about whether Ortiz could face charges, McLaughlin answered, “This certainly looks like obstruction of justice.”

She pointed to DHS statistics that ICE officers are currently facing an 830 percent increase in assaults.

“The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens,” said McLaughlin. “Make no mistake, sanctuary politicians like Arizona Senator Analise Ortiz are contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE.”

This comes after popular conservative social media page “Libs of TikTok” blasted Ortiz for posting alerts on her account giving updates on ICE operations in the area. Libs of TikTok posted a screenshot, indicating it belonged to Ortiz, that warned in English and Spanish, “ICE is present.” The post also gave the location of the federal officials’ whereabouts.

Libs of TikTok wrote, “Arizona State Senator Analise Ortiz (D) is actively impeding and doxxing ICE by posting their live locations on instagram.” The account urged Border Czar Tom Homan, the DHS and ICE to file charges against Ortiz.  

In response, Ortiz admitted to alerting her community about ICE activity, saying, “Yep. When ICE is around, I will alert my community to stay out of the area.”  

Seemingly in response to the Libs of TikTok’s call for charges against her, Ortiz also wrote, “I’m not f*****g scared of you nor Trump’s masked goons.”

After the comment, Arizona Senate Warren Petersen, a Republican, issued a statement reprimanding Ortiz: “Public servants have a duty to uphold the law and respect those who enforce it, not undermine them.”

Petersen said he had referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona for investigation “as it appears she may be in violation of federal law.”

Ortiz has remained defiant, writing in an X post, “I will not be intimidated. I will alert our community to avoid the area when Trump’s masked thugs terrorize us all, regardless of citizenship. Trump doesn’t respect our laws nor our constitution. My duty is to keep people safe from his unconstitutional and authoritarian actions.”

LOL! It’s no different than holding up a sign along a highway that says “speed trap ahead”. It’s free speech protected by the First Amendment.

ICE raid tipoffs from Dem lawmaker could mean charges, says DHS rep: ‘Looks like obstruction’
A Democratic state lawmaker tipping off ICE operations in her community could be hit with obstruction-of-justice charges, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-raid-tipoffs-from-dem-lawmaker-could-mean-charges-says-dhs-rep-looks-like-obstruction

NBC News: ICE releases Purdue student who was abruptly detained at her visa hearing

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Yeonsoo Go, who was handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents upon leaving her visa hearing, was kept at a facility in Louisiana, according to the ICE database.

A Purdue University student and daughter of a prominent New York priest who was detained during a visa hearing last week has been released.

Yeonsoo Go, 20, reunited with her family Monday night in downtown Manhattan. It comes after Go, who was handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents upon leaving her visa hearing, spent several days in a facility in Louisiana, according to the ICE database.

Go came to the U.S. in 2021 on a religious dependent visa for children or spouses of religious workers temporarily in the country, Marissa Joseph, Go’s attorney, told NBC News. Go, whose visa had been extended until December, was attempting to renew the visa because her mother had changed employers. It isn’t clear why the student was targeted for detention, Joseph said.

She was targeted just because they could. Every immigration arrest is a feather in the racist Stephen Miller’s hat.

“I’m just so grateful for the support that I’ve had,” Go told the crowd of supporters after she hugged her family.

ICE did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request to comment on the reasons behind Go’s detention. And the Department of Homeland Security did not provide the family a reason for Go’s release, Joseph said. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin previously described Go in a statement as an “illegal alien” who had overstayed her visa that expired more than two years ago.

Go, who lives in Scarsdale, New York, with her mother, Kyrie Kim, came to the U.S. for Kim’s work. Kim, who became the first woman ordained in the Seoul Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea, had been invited to develop the Episcopal church’s connection to Asian communities, said Mary Rothwell Davis, an attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of New York, where Go’s mother is a reverend.

“It was an initiative to begin a new ministry, reaching out to Asian clergy, Asian families, and … to help strengthen and grow that aspect of our Episcopal and Anglican community,” Davis said, just hours before Go’s release. “Rev. Kim is the person who was chosen to do that.”

Go, a rising sophomore at Purdue, had a smooth, uneventful visa hearing, Davis said, and was given a date to return to court.

“Everything seemed to go perfectly well,” Davis said. “So she had no idea this was coming. None.”

Davis said she has seen the visa herself and was unsure why McLaughlin had claimed Go overstayed her visa.

“We have no idea why they are alleging this, because we have a piece of paper that says she has a visa till December 2025,” Davis said. “This is what lack of due process does. We have evidence on our side. They’re making allegations. We are not being given the opportunity to sort it out.”

Go’s detention drew massive backlash across faith and local New York communities. Over the weekend, friends, loved ones and more gathered in downtown Manhattan to rally around the student. Davis said that as Go was being transferred to Louisiana from the facility in New York, she caught a glimpse of the supporters.

“She was leaving the building by bus, and she saw the Episcopal Diocese rally that was taking place in front of the courthouse,” Davis, who’s been in constant communication with the family, said. “It was very bittersweet.”

New York Assemblymember Amy Paulin, who spoke to Go on the night of her release, said in a statement that she is “overjoyed” that so many individuals spoke out for Go.

“The pain, fear, and uncertainty she and her family endured over the past five days should never have happened,” Paulin said in the statement. “But tonight we celebrate her freedom and the strength of a community that refused to stay silent.”

Kim told reporters that though she’s relieved that her daughter is back home, it’s also critical to remember that many others continue to contend with circumstances similar to Go’s detention.

“There’s more who need the support,” Kim said.

ICE releases Purdue student who was abruptly detained at her visa hearing
Yeonsoo Go, who was handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents upon leaving her visa hearing, was kept at a facility in Louisiana, according to the ICE database.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/ice-releases-yeonsoo-go-purdue-student-detained-visa-hearing-rcna223089

New York Post: Federal agents flee arson attack at ICE office in Washington state after rock hurled through window

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Federal immigration agents escaped an arson attack at their office in Yakima, Washington, over the weekend, The Post has learned.

An unidentified crazed arsonist first threw a rock through a window of the building — which is listed as a field office on ICE’s website — before setting a fire in the back of the property on Saturday, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post.

Photos taken during the torching show flames charring the grass behind a chain link fence surrounding the building while a thick cloud of black smoke billowed above.

There were no injuries reported.

While McLaughlin said it’s not confirmed that immigration agents were the target of the firebombing, the building has public signage identifying it as a Department of Homeland Security office.

The complex, 140 miles southeast of Seattle, is also home to a Washington state Department of Social and Health Services office.

Assaults on ICE personnel are up 830% as the Trump administration pushes a mass deportation campaign, according to McLaughlin.

She railed against sanctuary leaders for demonizing immigration agents.

“Make no mistake, Democrat politicians like [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries, Mayor [Michelle] Wu of Boston, [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, and Mayor [Karen] Bass of Los Angeles are contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE,” said McLaughlin.

“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi Gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale,” she said.

She added: “Secretary [Kristi] Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to harm law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

No officers were injured as a result of the attack and local cops are investigating it as an act of arson.

In another recent anti-ICE attack, rioters took to the streets of Los Angeles in June, hurling concrete blocks at federal officers working at the detention center downtown and setting Waymo autonomous cars ablaze.

The agitators began the rampage in response to a deportation raid at a local Home Depot.

President Trump later deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the City of Angels to control the violence.

Breaks my heart.

Not!

Exclusive | Federal agents flee arson attack at ICE office in Washington state after rock hurled through window
“Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to harm law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said the DHS’ assistant secretary…

https://nypost.com/2025/08/05/us-news/arsonist-attacks-ice-office-in-washington-state-hurls-rock-through-window

CBS News: Kristi Noem says “Alligator Alcatraz” to be model for ICE state-run detention centers

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Perhaps coming soon to Arizona, Nebraska and Louisiana?

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says “Alligator Alcatraz” will serve as a model for state-run migrant detention centers, and she told CBS News in an interview that she hopes to launch a handful of similar detention centers in multiple airports and jails across the country, in the coming months. Potential sites are already under consideration in Arizona, Nebraska and Louisiana. 

“The locations we’re looking at are right by airport runways that will help give us an efficiency that we’ve never had before,” Noem said, adding that she’s appealed directly to governors and state leaders nationwide to gauge their interest in contributing to the Trump administration’s program to detain and deport more unauthorized migrants. 

“Most of them are interested,” Noem said, adding that in states that support President Trump’s mission of securing the southern border, “many of them have facilities that may be empty or underutilized.”

The Department of Homeland Security strategy builds on the opening of a 3,000-bed immigration detention center at a jetport in South Florida last month. Dubbed Alligator Alcatraz by state and federal officials, the makeshift facility will cost an estimated $450 million to operate in its first year. Up and running in just 8 days, the tents and trailers at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport are surrounded by 39 square miles of isolated swampland, boasting treacherous terrain and wildlife  

Last month, President Trump toured the facility, seeing rows of bunk beds lined up behind chain fences and encircled by razor wire. Mr. Trump joked to reporters there that “we’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.” Asked if the temporary facility would be a model of what’s to come, the president said he’d like to see similar operations in “many states.”

The Arizona’s governor’s office told CBS News it has not been approached about a state-run facility. 

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s office said in a statement that his administration “continues to be in communication with federal partners on how Nebraska can best assist in these efforts,” but added that for now, “it is premature to comment” and the governor would “make details public at the appropriate time.”

For her part, Noem called the Alligator Alcatraz model “much better” than the current detention prototype, which largely contracts out its Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention capacity to for-profit prison companies and county jails. ICE is an agency that falls under DHS. This model relies on intergovernmental service agreements (IGSAs) negotiated and signed between ICE and individual localities. She called the Florida facility — with an eventual price tag of $245 per inmate bed, per night, according to DHS officials — a cost-effective option. “Obviously it was much less per-bed cost than what some of the previous contracts under the Department of Homeland Security were.”

According to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, the estimated average daily cost of detaining an adult migrant in fiscal year 2024 was about $165, though the actual cost of detention typically varies based on region, length of stay and facility type.

Still, Noem argued that the new venues, all with close proximity to airports or runways, will help ICE to cut costs by “facilitating quick turnarounds.” 

“They’re all strategically designed to make sure that people are in beds for less days,” Noem said, adding that some of the facilities being considered are still undergoing vetting by the department and subject to ongoing negotiations. “It can be much more efficient once they get their hearings, due process, paperwork.”

Unlike Alligator Alcatraz, which uses funds from a shelter, food and transportation program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Noem said the state-based initiative will tap into a new $45 billion funding pool for ICE prompted by President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, which was signed into law last month. The pool of money is allocated specifically to the expansion of ICE’s detention network and will nearly double the agency’s bedspace capacity of 61,000 beds, based on cost analysis. As of Saturday, ICE was holding just over 57,000 individuals in its detention network in more than 150 facilities nationwide.

Noem — who has implemented a department-wide policy across DHS of personally approving each and every contract and grant over $100,000 — said keeping ICE detention contracts to a duration of under five years is now “the model we’ve pushed for.” For instance, she added, Alligator Alcatraz is a one-year contract that can be renewed. 

“For me personally, the question that I’ve asked of every one of these contracts is, why are we signing 15-year deals?” Noem said. “I have to look at our mission. If we’re still building out and processing 100,000 detention beds 15 years from now, then we didn’t do our job.”

The new policy is a departure from earlier agreements made under the Trump administration. In February, ICE signed a 15-year, $1 billion deal with the GEO Group, a private prison company, to reopen Delaney Hall, a two-story, 1,000-bed facility that ranks among the largest detention centers in the Northeast.

Still, Noem said she doesn’t feel the U.S. is moving away from a private detention model. “I mean, these are competitive contracts,” she said. “I want everybody to be at the table, giving us solutions. I just want them to give us a contract that actually does the job — a contract that doesn’t put more money in their pockets while keeping people in detention beds just for the sake of that contract.”

But Alligator Alcatraz has also come under fire from attorneys claiming that both the Trump and DeSantis administrations are holding detainees without charge or access to immigration courts, violating their constitutional rights. Attorneys argued in a legal filing last month that unauthorized migrants held at the Florida-run site have no legal recourse to challenge their detention. 

Lawyers and experts have also called into question the very legality of a state-run immigration detention center, given the federal government’s authority over immigration enforcement. Opening the detention center in the Everglades under Florida’s emergency state powers marked a departure from the federal government’s role of housing migrant detainees, an option typically reserved for those who’ve recently entered the country illegally or those with criminal convictions. 

A U.S. district judge last week ordered state and federal officials to provide a copy of the agreement showing “who’s running the show” at the Everglades immigrant-detention center. 

“Florida does not have the legal authority to detain undocumented immigrants in the absence of a contract with ICE,” said Kevin Landy, the director of detention policy and planning for ICE under President Barack Obama. “A state government can’t do that.” 

Detainees held at Alligator Alcatraz have also claimed unsanitary and inhumane conditions, including food with maggots, denial of religious rights and limited access to both legal assistance and water. Florida officials have denied the accusations. 

Still, tucked away in the Florida Everglades 45 miles west of Miami, if its location sounds treacherous, Noem concedes, that’s kind of the point. “There definitely is a message that it sends,” the secretary said. “President Trump wants people to know if you are a violent criminal and you’re in this country illegally, there will be consequences.”

Noem offered that deterrence is an effective strategy based on U.S. gathered intelligence “from three letter agencies, from other intelligence officials throughout the federal government and in a lot of the Latin American and South American countries” that indicates “overwhelmingly, what encourages people to go back home voluntarily is the consequences.”

“They see the laws being enforced in the United States,” Noem said. “They know when they are here illegally and if they are detained, they’ll be removed. They see that they may never get the chance to come back to America. And they’re voluntarily coming home.”

The DHS secretary met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in March. “One of the questions I asked President Scheinbaum when I was in Mexico is, ‘Do you have any idea how many people may have come back to Mexico that we may not know about,'” Noem said. 

“[Sheinbaum] said 500,000 to 600,000 people have come back to Mexico voluntarily since President Trump’s been in office,” Noem continued, explaining that the Mexican president believes her reluctant citizens fear losing the chance to return to the U.S. on a visa or work program.

It’s a datapoint she solicits from many of the foreign leaders she meets with, including Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who shared a 90-minute lunch with the DHS secretary in Quito, last Thursday. “I asked him the same question,” Noem recalled. “He doesn’t have as many illegal immigrants in the United States as in Mexico and Venezuela, but he said he thinks over 100,000 of his citizens have come back to Ecuador. And that’s a huge number.” 

Noem reasoned that her Ecuadorian counterpart’s rough estimate is based on two factors — a strengthening Ecuadorian economy and a DHS television campaign launched across Latin and South America, warning prospective migrants not to enter or remain in the U.S. illegally. 

“He was very proud of the fact that he’s doing better with his economy. So there’s jobs,” Noem recounted. “But he said, you know, our ads are running in Ecuador. We’re telling people that, if you have family in the United States that are there illegally, it’s time to come home.”

Kristi Noem says “Alligator Alcatraz” to be model for ICE state-run detention centers
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says possible new locations include Arizona, Nebraska and Louisiana.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alligator-alcatraz-model-kristi-noem-homeland-security

Fresno Bee: Some Californians carry passports in fear of ICE. ‘We’re being racially profiled’

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With the Trump administration’s directive that federal immigration agents arrest 3,000 people per day as part of a massive deportation campaign, some U.S. citizens are taking the extraordinary step of carrying their passports to avoid being profiled and detained.

For some Fresno residents, it’s an obvious choice. They say it’s the simplest way to prove citizenship in case of encounters with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.

For others, the decision is rooted in fear and distrust of the federal government and law enforcement due to being erroneously profiled for being Latino in the past.

“This is the first time I renewed my passport not for travel but for proof of citizenship,” said Fresno resident Paul Liu.

There’s growing concern about how ICE is ensnaring citizens in its deportation operations. A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that, between 2015 to 2020, ICE arrested 674 U.S. citizens, detained 121 and deported an estimated 70 citizens.

Liu’s passport expired in January 2024. He renewed in February one month after Trump took office.

Liu, 52, said his decision is inspired by his family’s experience in China. His great-uncle sympathized with the Nationalist Party that opposed the Communist Party of China. As far as Liu’s family knows, his uncle was disappeared by the government and wasn’t seen until 30 years later by a sister who recognized him working on a chain gang in the city.

“I see what an oppressive regime has done to our family,” he said. “I’m just convinced that now, the onus is on anyone who’s not white, male and MAGA to prove they belong in this country.”

The REAL ID or a valid passport is required for domestic travel as of May, but American citizens are not otherwise required to carry a national form of identification.

To avoid potential detention and arrest, immigration lawyer Olga Grosh of Pasifika Immigration Law Group, LLP said people can consider having evidence of valid immigration status handy, or a copy of these documents in your wallet if concerned about about loss or theft.

“But does a citizen have to live in fear of being kidnapped by their own government?” Grosh said. “There has been a shift from it being the government burden to show to a judge that a person should be detained under the law, to citizens proving that they shouldn’t be detained by unidentified agents.”

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Click the links below to read the rest of the article:

Some Californians carry passports in fear of ICE. ‘We’re being racially profiled’

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/some-californians-carry-passports-in-fear-of-ice-we-re-being-racially-profiled/ar-AA1JPvLq