Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

LA Times: Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan

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More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

“None of us have ever seen anything like this,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Friday.

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But immigrant rights supporters contend that the patrols have focused on parts of the city where the majority of residents are people of color.

“All signs point to this being racial profiling intended to terrorize the heart of the immigrant and refugee community,” Sherman Luna said. “What we’ve heard is that THP is flagging people down for things like a broken taillight or tinted windows.”

Sherman Luna believes some of those being detained would be allowed to stay in the country if they were able to receive competent legal representation at an immigration hearing. Instead, she has heard that people are agreeing to be deported out of fear that they could spend months or years in immigration detention.

Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan
More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-05-11/authorities-arrest-over-100-people-on-tennessee-roads-in-support-of-trumps-deportation-plan

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

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Poor crybabies!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And this is total bullshit:

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

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

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

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

Raw Story: Newark mayor decries ‘egregious’ warrantless ICE raid

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Federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out a warrantless raid on Thursday targeting a local establishment in Newark, New Jersey, according to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka—who decried the move as an “an egregious act” in violation of the U.S. constitution.

Federal agents detained both undocumented residents and citizens, including a U.S. military veteran, Baraka said in a statement Thursday.

The local outlet PIX11 reported that ICE agents targeted the Ocean Seafood Depot, a wholesale seafood distributor. Store owner Luis Janota told the outlet that three people were taken into custody, including a Puerto Rican employee who is a military veteran. People from Puerto Rico have U.S. citizenship.

https://www.rawstory.com/newark-mayor-decries-egregious-warrantless-ice-raid

BBC: New Jersey mayor arrested for protesting at migrant centre

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The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city has been arrested after allegedly trying to force his way into a migrant detention facility.

Newark Mayor Ras Barak, who is running for New Jersey governor, “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings”, to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to acting US attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba.

Barak was accompanied by three Democratic members of Congress, who were not arrested. They say they were there to conduct “oversight” to ensure that the facility is not violating any building safety ordinances.

It is unclear whether Barak faces criminal charges.

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New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy said he was “outraged” by Baraka’s arrest and called for him to be immediately released.

New Jersey Democratic lawmakers Rob Menendez Jr, Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver were also present during the protest.

City officials allege the private firm that signed a contract with ICE did not obtain proper permits and blocked necessary inspections. The firm has told media they haver the proper permits.

Earlier on Friday, Congresswoman Watson Coleman posted on social media: “We’re at Delaney Hall, an ICE prison in Newark that opened without permission from the city & in violation of local ordinances.

New Jersey mayor arrested for protesting at migrant centre
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was part of a group of Democratic officials seeking to enter the facility housing detained migrants.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy904elvxj3o

Roll Call: Pardons for friends, retribution for foes

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Critics say Trump has Used the Powers of the President in Ways That Raise Alarms

President Donald Trump spent much of the last four years decrying Justice Department prosecutions against him and his supporters, and one of his first executive orders in January said it sought to end the “weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process.”

But since then, Trump has used the power of his office for actions that critics and experts say inject politics into federal investigations and prosecutions, such as memorandums last month initiating government investigations into actions of two former officials who have been critical of him.

Trump wiped away the criminal cases of his supporters for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and has given pardons for supporters and erstwhile allies. The Justice Department since January has dropped a high-profile criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, and made personnel moves that target employees involved in the investigations of Trump and the criminal probes of rioters.

Pardons for friends, retribution for foes – Roll Call
President Donald Trump has used the power of his office in ways critics and experts say inject politics into the criminal justice system.

https://rollcall.com/2025/05/07/pardons-for-friends-retribution-for-foes

Raw Story: ‘Our Country, as we know it, is finished!’ Trump rages at legal setback in overnight rant

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Buffeted by multiple court rulings overturning actions taken by his administration, Donald Trump took to Truth Social in the wee hours of Saturday morning to lash out at the legal system.

On Thursday, Trump-nominated U.S. District Judge Fernandez Rodriguez permanently blocked the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security from transferring or removing Venezuelans held under the Alien Enemies Act in the Southern District of Texas.

Judge Rodriguez wrote, “The court concludes that as a matter of law, the executive branch cannot rely on the A.E.A., based on the proclamation, to detain the named petitioners and the certified class, or to remove them from the country.”

That, apparently, set off the president who fired off an attack on his social media platform.

Early Saturday, Trump wrote, “Can it be so that Judges aren’t allowing the USA to Deport Criminals, including Murderers, out of our Country and back to where they came from? If this is so, our Country, as we know it, is finished! Americans will have to get used to a very different, crime filled, LIFE.”

“This is not what our Founders had in mind!!!” he insisted.

Poor crybaby King Donald!

‘Our Country, as we know it, is finished!’ Trump rages at legal setback in overnight rant
Buffeted by multiple court rulings overturning actions taken by his administration, Donald Trump took to Truth Social in the wee hours of Saturday morning to lash out at the legal system. On Thursday, Trump-nominated U.S. District Judge Fernandez Rodriguez permanently blocked the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security from transf…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/our-country-as-we-know-it-is-finished-trump-rages-at-legal-setback-in-overnight-rant/ar-AA1E62Pg

Alternet: ‘Sad white boys’: Fear as Trump terror adviser shrugs off threat from ‘inside the house’

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National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was removed this week but a key Trump counterterrorism official remains in place at the White House — and he’s planning a change in strategy to focus on jihadists rather than white supremacist groups that one leading expert said remain a significant domestic threat.

“The call is coming from inside the house,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. “We all understand why the right doesn’t want to tackle domestic violent extremism — it’s their base.”

‘Sad white boys’: Fear as Trump terror adviser shrugs off threat from ‘inside the house’
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was removed this week but a key Trump counterterrorism official remains in place at the White House — and he’s planning a change in strategy to focus on jihadists rather than white supremacist groups that one leading expert said remain a significant domestic threat. “The call is coming from inside the house,” sa…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/sad-white-boys-fear-as-trump-terror-adviser-shrugs-off-threat-from-inside-the-house/ar-AA1E5NjM

The Atlantic: Airport Detentions Have Travelers ‘Freaked Out’

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Fears of being detained are in overdrive, even if the Trump administration insists that they’re overblown.

Jeff Joseph, a 53-year-old immigration attorney in Colorado, has recently started taking precautions while traveling abroad that, at another time, he would have considered a little paranoid. He leaves his phone at home. Instead, he carries a “burner’’—a device scrubbed of his contact list and communications—in case U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers send him to secondary inspection or seize his electronics when he returns home. Joseph told me his knowledge of immigration law has left him with less confidence, not more, about the risks of crossing U.S. borders during the second Trump administration.

“Among immigration lawyers who are well versed in this, and who know what happens in secondary, there’s a level of anxiety and panic that we’ve never seen before,” said Joseph, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Myself included.”

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Immigration attorneys also note Trump has curbed CBP officers’ ability to allow the entry of migrants or visitors using an authority known as “parole.” So travelers who do not qualify for admission to the United States are more likely to be handed over to ICE for detention and deportation. Although U.S. citizens cannot be denied entry to the United States, all other categories of noncitizens—even, in some cases, legal permanent residents with green cards—are at risk of being denied entry or deemed inadmissible by a CBP officer.

https://archive.is/47W6S#selection-745.0-748.0

Associated Press: International students in Alabama fearful after researcher with no political ties is detained

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Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani and her fiance, Alireza Doroudi, had just spent an evening celebrating the Persian new year at the University of Alabama when seven armed immigration officers came to their apartment before dawn and arrested Doroudi.

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Bajgani said the couple does not know why Doroudi — who has no criminal record or public political views — faces deportation, adding that Trump’s recent visit to the school made her feel like the university was “ignorant of our crisis.”

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“It’s like all of us are waiting for our turn. It could be every knock, every email could be deportation,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing his legal status.

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Doroudi’s visa was revoked in June 2023, but the embassy didn’t provide a reason and ignored his inquiries, Bajgani said. The university told him he could stay as long as he remained a student but that would not be allowed to reenter the U.S. if he left, she said.

He was operating under that guidance when immigration officers came to the couple’s door in March.

International students in Alabama fearful after researcher with no political ties is detained
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani and her fiance, Alireza Doroudi, had just spent an evening celebrating the Persian new year at the University of Alabama when seven armed immigration officers came to their apartment before dawn and arrested Doroudi. In a moment, the young couple’s life was upended. “I was living a normal life until tha…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/iranian-students-at-the-university-of-alabama-say-immigration-crackdown-echoes-repression-at-home/ar-AA1E5qXD

CNN: Tennessee authorities release video of Abrego Garcia at a traffic stop that officials have used to paint him as a criminal

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US officials have argued the traffic stop in November 2022, during which Abrego Garcia was not detained, supports their claims that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13 and involved in human trafficking. The stop resulted in no charges, and there was no mention of human trafficking in the parts of the redacted report that have been made available.

Yet the 2022 traffic stop now could play into the ongoing political debate and legal standoff over Abrego Garcia, who is still in El Salvador while a federal judge demands answers and more evidence from the Trump administration.

So far in the ongoing court proceeding over his custody, his attorneys have said that the US in his 2019 immigration proceedings offered little reason to believe Abrego Garcia was tied to a gang, other than the fact he wore a Chicago Bulls hat and that a confidential informant provided a tip to authorities.

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“There is no known link or association between him and the MS-13 gang,” his lawyers told the federal judge last month.

In a statement provided to CNN regarding the bodycam footage, Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said, his client “has been denied the most basic protections of due process—no phone call to his lawyer, no call to his wife or child, and no opportunity to be heard.”

Sandoval-Moshenberg added that “I see no evidence of a crime in this footage. But the point is not the traffic stop — it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court. Bring him back to the United States, return him before the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, and let him speak for himself.”

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Earlier, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Highway Patrol told CNN that Abrego Garcia was flagged to federal law enforcement, “who made the decision not to detain him.”

According to a Department of Homeland Security statement released last month about the incident, federal officials released Abrego Garcia with a warning for driving with an expired license.

And today Trump’s minions are desperately grasping at straws to deport anyone and everyone they can so as to increase their deportation counts.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tennessee-authorities-release-video-of-abrego-garcia-at-a-traffic-stop-that-officials-have-used-to-paint-him-as-a-criminal/ar-AA1E3SOn