Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

NBC News: Judge again blocks Trump administration from halting Harvard’s enrolling international students

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A federal judge directed the Trump administration to restore “every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been” before the ban was enacted.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday further blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students while giving those students additional legal protections.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued the preliminary injunction after having granted a temporary restraining order against the federal government this month.

The injunction holds that the administration is blocked from yanking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which was based on a May 22 revocation notice the Department of Homeland Security sent to Harvard administrators.

In her decision, Burroughs directed the government to “immediately” prepare guidance to alert Trump administration officials to disregard that notice and to restore “every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been absent such Revocation Notice.”

It also says the student visa holders should not be denied entry to the country as a result of the revocation.

The government must “file a status report within 72 hours of entry of this Order describing the steps taken to ensure compliance with this Order and certifying compliance with its requirements,” Burroughs wrote.

Judge again blocks Trump administration from halting Harvard’s enrolling international students
A federal judge directed the Trump administration to restore “every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been” before the ban was enacted.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna213836

Guardian: Outrage as DHS moves to restrict lawmaker visits to detention centers

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The US Department of Homeland Security is now requiring lawmakers to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.

The guidance comes after a slew of tense visits from Democratic lawmakers to detention centers amid Donald Trump’s crackdowns in immigrant communities across the country. Many Democratic lawmakers in recent weeks have either been turned away, arrested or manhandled by law enforcement officers at the facilities, leading to public condemnation towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (Ice) handling of such visits.

Lawmakers are allowed to access DHS facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” for inspections and are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility”, according to the 2024 Federal Appropriations Act.

Previous language surrounding lawmaker visits to such facilities said that “Ice will comply with the law and accommodate members seeking to visit/tour an Ice detention facility for the purpose of conducting oversight,” CNN reported.

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In response to the updated guidance, Mississippi’s Democratic representative and the ranking member of the House committee on homeland security, Bennie Thompson, condemned what he called the attempt by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to “block oversight on Ice”.

“Kristi Noem’s new policy to block congressional oversight of Ice facilities is not only unprecedented, it is an affront to the constitution and federal law. Noem is now not only attempting to restrict when members can visit, but completely blocking access to Ice field offices – even if members schedule visits in advance,” Thompson said.

“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny member visits to Ice offices across the country, which are holding migrants – and sometimes even US citizens – for days at a time. They are therefore detention facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time. DHS pretending otherwise is simply their latest lie.”

Outrage as DHS moves to restrict lawmaker visits to detention centers
Elected officials told to give 72 hours’ notice before visiting immigration facilities, with some sites completely off limits

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/dhs-immigration-detention-center-visits-new-guidance

Axios: Trump’s border czar: Immigration raids at farms, hotels to continue

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Following a week of immigration whiplash, President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan confirmed Thursday that immigration raids will continue in the agriculture and hospitality industries.

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While workers at places like farms, restaurants and hotels will be targeted, people with criminal backgrounds will be a priority for immigration enforcement officials, the border czar said.

Criminals will be a priority? That’s just lip service. All they care about are the numbers.

“We’re going to continue to do worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels, but based on a prioritized basis. Criminals come first,” Homan told reporters.

Trump’s border czar: Immigration raids at farms, hotels to continue
People with criminal backgrounds will be a priority for immigration enforcement officials, Tom Homan said.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/19/trump-immigration-raids-farms-hotels-border-czar

Alternet: ‘Ineffective security theater’: Lawmaker blasts Kristi Noem ahead of Michigan visit

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Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow (D) strongly criticized Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday ahead of Noem’s visit to Michigan.

“Kristi Noem is headed to Michigan to fearmonger about border security with… Canada,” Mallory said on the social platform X.

“The Trump administration’s mass deportation boondoggle is nothing but security theater that actually make us LESS safe,” she added.

McMorrow continued: “All to the tune of an additional $1 TRILLION in your taxpayer dollars.”

In a video attached to her X post, the Michigan lawmaker said immigrants are being arrested even when they show up to their court hearings and try to follow the legal pathway to immigration. She called Noem’s immigration actions “ineffective security theater.”

McMorrow accused the Trump administration of going after people “who have committed no egregious crimes” “Like an 18-year-old student just three credits away from high school graduation here in Michigan,” she added.

On Wednesday, NBC reported that seven Senate Democrats who supported Noem’s confirmation as DHS secretary in January are now expressing regret and disillusionment with her performance.

https://www.alternet.org/kristi-noem-michigan

CNN: DHS issues new guidance for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities after tense confrontations

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After a spate of tense encounters involving lawmakers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, the Department of Homeland Security is asking members of Congress to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.

Under the annual appropriations act, lawmakers are allowed to enter any DHS facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” to inspect them as part of their oversight duties. The act outlines that they are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility.”

The agency’s new memo also seeks to differentiate ICE field offices from detention facilities, noting that “ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities” and therefore do not fall under the appropriations act provision.  

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, called the move “unprecedented” and an “affront to the Constitution and Federal law.”

DHS issues new guidance for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities after tense confrontations | CNN Politics
The agency’s new memo seeks to differentiate ICE field offices from detention facilities, noting that “ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities” and therefore do not fall under the appropriations act provision.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/19/politics/dhs-ice-visits-congress-lawmakers

MeidasTouch News: ICE Agents Tried to Raid Dodger Stadium and were Turned Away

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Major breaking news today out of Los Angeles: Federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to enter Dodger Stadium grounds this morning but were denied entry by the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, ICE agents arrived at Dodger Stadium early Thursday morning and requested access to the stadium’s parking lots. The Dodgers refused entry, confirming the incident in a public statement shortly afterward ….

ICE Agents Tried to Raid Dodger Stadium and were Turned Away

https://meidasnews.com/news/ice-agents-tried-to-raid-dodger-stadium-and-were-turned-away

The Hill: Pregnant US citizen detained by Border Patrol agents: ‘We didn’t do anything wrong’

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A pregnant U.S. citizen who was detained by federal agents approximately two weeks ago has since given birth to a healthy baby girl, but her boyfriend is now being held out of state and her problems are far from over.  

Cary López Alvarado told Nexstar’s KTLA that she “tried to remain strong” during the scary ordeal, which took place outside a building where her boyfriend and cousin were doing maintenance work on June 8. She was nine months pregnant at the time.

Video taken by López depicts her struggling with a masked agent wearing a Border Patrol uniform asking to see her identification as she was protecting a truck carrying her boyfriend Brayan Nájera and cousin Alberto Sandoval — the latter of whom is also a U.S. citizen.  

All three of them were eventually detained. Further footage posted on social media shows agents detaining López after they had pinned her truck between a wall.

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The then-soon-to-be-mother was taken to a processing facility in San Pedro, where, according to her, the agents automatically assumed she was undocumented.  

“[They said] ‘But you’re from Mexico, right?’ And I’m like ‘No, I’m from here,’” López said. “[They asked] … ‘Where’s here?’ and I’m like, ‘Here, the U.S., Los Angeles.”

“They put us in chains, so I had a chain from my hands under my belly that went all the way to my legs,” she added. “Every now and then, I would fix my hands because I felt like I would be putting too much pressure because the chain went under my belly.” 

López was released after complaining of stomach pain and went straight to a hospital where she started having contractions, which she believes were caused by the stress of what she had gone through. 

Pregnant US citizen detained by Border Patrol agents: ‘We didn’t do anything wrong’

https://thehill.com/latino/5359169-pregnant-us-citizen-border-patrol-agents

Western Journal: Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate

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You almost wish Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would make congressional Democrats write it 100 times on the Capitol Hill blackboard: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are not for photo opportunities.”

However, she has issued guidance that works just as well: On Wednesday, the DHS released new restrictions that bar lawmakers from turning ICE facility visits into spectacles, including advance notice of the visit and limits on the detainees they can meet with individually.

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The new DHS guidelines require lawmakers to give ICE field offices 72 hours notice and their staff to give 24 hours notice before any visits.

Furthermore, if they want to meet with any of the inmates, they have to provide a list of who they want to speak to or give 48 hours notice to allow for the creation of a sign-up list for detainees who want to speak to lawmakers.

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Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi was the go-to guy for the freakout du jour when it came to DHS’ new visitation guidelines.

“There is no valid or legal reason for denying Member access to ICE facilities and DHS’s ever-changing justifications prove this,” said Thompson, who apparently lacks access to social media or this show on cable that airs 24 hours a day that some people like to call “the news.”

“To be clear, there is no agency or department that is ‘too busy’ for oversight. If ICE has nothing to hide, DHS must make its facilities available,” he said via a statement.

“Kristi Noem’s new policy to block congressional oversight of ICE facilities is not only unprecedented, it is an affront to the Constitution and Federal law. Noem is now not only attempting to restrict when Members can visit, but completely blocking access to ICE Field Offices — even if Members schedule visits in advance. No matter how much she and [President] Trump want to force us to live under their authoritarian rule, ICE is not above oversight and the Department must follow the law,” he added.

“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country, which are holding migrants — and sometimes even U.S. citizens — for days at a time. They are therefore detention facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time. DHS pretending otherwise is simply their latest lie.”

Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate
“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country,” one prominent Democrat said in response.
Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate

NBC News: A teen with no criminal background was deported by ICE, leaving his community aghast

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Emerson Colindres’ soccer coach says his case is an example of how those getting taken by ICE “are your friends and neighbors … and then one day they’re just gone.”

For 19-year-old Emerson Colindres, it was supposed to be a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It turned out to be a trap. He never returned home.

Colindres, who came to the United States with his family more than a decade ago to escape the violence in their native Honduras, was detained by ICE on June 4, just days after the talented student and soccer player graduated high school in Cincinnati. Colindres, whose teammates said was one of the greatest players they met on the field, dreamed of continuing his sports career and hoped to attend a university. He did not have a criminal record, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

In the span of two weeks, Colindres went from celebrating his graduation to being detained by ICE to then being deported to a country where he has not lived since he was 8 years old.

So much for the American dream — f*ck*ng ICE *ssh*l*s!

A teen with no criminal background was deported by ICE, leaving his community aghast
Emerson Colindres’ soccer coach says his case is an example of how those getting taken by ICE “are your friends and neighbors … and then one day they’re just gone.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-deports-teen-soccer-star-graduation-rcna212566

SFGate: From San Diego to the Bay Area, California restaurants are on edge over immigration raids

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Brandon Mejia usually spends his weekends conducting a symphony of vendors serving pupusas, huaraches and an array of tacos at his two weekly 909Tacolandia pop-up events.

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But in the past week, that’s all come to a screeching halt. As the Trump administration ramps up immigration raids in California, some restaurants, worried about their workers or finding that customers are staying home more, are closing temporarily. Many street vendors are going into hiding, and some food festivals and farmers markets have been canceled.

Mejia called off all Tacolandia events last week. His mind raced about whether agents would come for his vendors as videos surfaced on social media of taqueros, farm workers and fruit vendors vanishing in immigration raids around LA and neighboring Ventura County.

“A lot of these vendors, their goal is to have restaurants. They want to follow the rules,” said Mejia, who was born and raised in San Bernardino in a family from Mexico City. But after conferring with vendors, they decided the risk was too high: “Some people have told me that their relatives have got taken, so I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

After a week of mass protests and more raids at farms, grocery stores and at least one swap meet, Mejia and many others remain on edge. Mejia said some small food businesses are getting desperate, trying to decide whether to risk reopening or stay closed while their own families grow hungry.

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From San Diego to the Bay Area, California restaurants are on edge over immigration raids

https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/from-san-diego-to-the-bay-area-california-20385093.php