Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

CNN: Immigration raid at New York business left workers terrified and slowed production, co-owner says

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When Lenny Schmidt arrived at his family-run nutrition bar manufacturing business in upstate New York Thursday morning, federal immigration agents were already there.

“The agents were swarming the plant,” he said. “There were probably over 100 of these agents, on four-wheelers, on foot, they had dogs.”

“They had surrounded the facility and forced their way through into the plant … using, I think, crowbars,” Schmidt, the company’s co-owner and vice president, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Friday.

By the end of the hourslong raid at Nutrition Bar Confectioners in Cato, a rural community about 30 miles northwest of Syracuse, dozens of employees had been detained.

The raid in Cato coincided with a similar operation in Ellabell, Georgia, where federal agents detained 475 workers, mostly Korean nationals suspected of living or working in the US illegally. It marked the largest sweep yet in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown at worksites, which has increasingly targeted industries like manufacturing and agriculture that often depend on immigrant labor.

At the New York facility, agents sealed the exits, halting production and corralling workers for questioning.

“They cornered all of our workers, seemingly targeting just the Hispanic employees, separated everybody … later on, they ended up escorting them into vans,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said his company, which has been operating since 1978, complies with all federal labor laws.

“We vet each person as best as we can in accordance with those laws and get the correct documentation to support this,” he said, adding that all his employees possessed the necessary documentation to legally work in the US.

ICE told CNN affiliate WSTM the raid was a “court-authorized enforcement operation,” but did not provide further details. Employees told WSTM that around 60 workers were detained. CNN has reached out to the agency for details.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul sharply condemned the raid, calling it a cruel disruption to immigrant families.

“What they did was shatter hard-working families who are simply trying to build a life here, just like millions of immigrants before them,” the governor said.

‘Everyone got scared’

The operation began around 9 a.m., according to a Guatemalan worker who has been working on the production line for two years. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the worker described the mounting panic as agents surrounded the building and gathered up to 70 workers – many from Guatemala and Nicaragua – into the lunchroom, where the entire workforce was questioned.

“They surrounded the building. Everyone got scared.”

The worker, a legal US resident, said ICE agents neither showed warrants nor explained the reason for the raid.

“They went straight to the workers,” the employee said. “They asked what country we were from, if we had permission to be in the US. They demanded papers.”

After showing his identification card, the worker was released within half an hour, but others, including coworkers with valid work permits, were taken into custody, he said.

CNN contacted the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find out if the detainees had valid work permits and awaits a response.

Some employees who were released from detention returned to the plant almost immediately, Schmidt said.

“It’s heartbreaking … some of them came back to work. I remember seeing somebody punching the clock and I walked up to him and I couldn’t believe my eyes. So I shook his hand and gave him a hug,” he said.

Production at the plant came to a standstill during the raid, but Schmidt said operations have resumed – though at reduced capacity.

“It’s going to slow us down probably half speed or just less until we get hopefully some of these workers back,” Schmidt said, adding they will also start the hiring process for new workers this weekend.

“What makes us successful is having these wonderful workers,” he said. “We hope and pray for our workers to be safe and to return home to their families and, hopefully, back to work.”

Immigration raid at New York business left workers terrified and slowed production, co-owner says | CNN
When Lenny Schmidt arrived at his family-run nutrition bar manufacturing business in upstate New York Thursday morning, federal immigration agents were already there.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/us/cato-new-york-immigration-raid-business-owner-hnk

CNN: Massive immigration raid at Hyundai megaplant in Georgia leads to 475 arrests. Most are Korean

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Hundreds of federal officers descended on a small southeast Georgia community and raided the Hyundai Metaplant – arresting 475 people in the largest sweep yet in the current Trump administration’s immigration crackdown at US worksites.

Previously, federal officials estimated 450 people were apprehended Thursday at the enormous site in Ellabell, about 25 miles west of Savannah, Georgia.

The majority are Korean nationals, said Steven Schrank, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge. Schrank said he did not have a breakdown of the arrestees’ nationalities.

All 475 people taken into custody were suspected of living and working illegally in the US, Schrank said. Some crossed into the US illegally; some had visa waivers and were prohibited from working; and some had overstayed their visas, he said.

During the raid, several people tried to flee – including some who “ran into a sewage pond located on the premises,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia said.

“Agents used a boat to fish them out of the water. One of the individuals swam under the boat and tried to flip it over to no avail. These people were captured and identified as illegal workers.”

Schrank noted that some of the workers may have been contractors or subcontractors.

“We continue to work on the investigation of who exactly worked for what companies,” he said.

A Hyundai spokesperson told CNN he does not believe anyone arrested was a direct employee of Hyundai Motor Company.

“We are aware of the recent incident at the HL-GA Battery Company construction site in Bryan County, Georgia. We are closely monitoring the situation and working to understand the specific circumstances,” spokesperson Michael Stewart said Friday.

“As of today, it is our understanding that none of those detained is directly employed by Hyundai Motor Company. We prioritize the safety and well-being of everyone working at the site and comply with all laws and regulations wherever we operate.”

The sprawling, 2,900-acre Hyundai Metaplant has two parts: a Hyundai electric vehicle manufacturing site, and an EV battery plant that’s a joint venture between Hyundai and LG.

The raid halted construction of the EV battery plant, The Associated Press reported.

LG did not respond to CNN’s questions about how many arrested workers may have been employed by the company, and how many may have been contractors or subcontractors for LG.

But the company sent the following statement to CNN:

“We are closely monitoring the situation and gathering all relevant details. Our top priority is always ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and partners. We will fully cooperate with the relevant authorities.”

How the Georgia raid happened

“This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses,” Schrank said.

“This has been a multi-month criminal investigation where we have developed evidence, conducted interviews, gathered documents and presented that evidence to the court in order to obtain judicial search warrants.”

At the Georgia site, masked and armed agents gave orders to construction workers wearing hard hats and safety vests as they lined up while officers raided the facility, video footage obtained by CNN showed.

ICE and Homeland Security Investigations were accompanied by the Georgia State Patrol, the FBI, DEA, ATF and other agencies in executing a search warrant.

“Together, we are sending a clear and unequivocal message: those who exploit our workforce, undermine our economy, and violate federal laws will be held accountable,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

While the raid is part of an ongoing investigation, “No charges have been filed, so that means that no wrongdoing is being accused at this time,” Schrank said.

GOP governor promoted the Metaplant

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has touted the Hyundai Metaplant as a boon for the Georgia economy.

In 2022, Hyundai announced an agreement with the state of Georgia to build Hyundai’s “first dedicated fully electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the United States” in Bryan County, the company said.

The Metaplant was expected to create 8,500 jobs.

“With the first 500 employees trained, and more soon to join them, this is another major milestone as we continue our momentum towards the full opening of the Hyundai Metaplant!” Kemp posted on social media last year.

Kemp’s office issued a statement Friday in response to the raid.

“In Georgia, we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws,” a Kemp spokesperson said. “The Department of Public Safety coordinated with ICE to provide all necessary support for this operation, the latest in a long line of cooperation and partnership between state law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement.”

South Korea says it’s concerned

In a televised statement Friday, a spokesperson for Korea’s Foreign Ministry said “many of our nationals were detained” in the raid, according to a translation from Reuters.

“The economic activities of our companies investing in the United States and the interests of our citizens must not be unduly violated during the course of US law enforcement,” spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said.

“In Seoul, we also conveyed our concerns and regret through the US Embassy today, urging special attention to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of our citizens are not violated.”

CNN has reached out to the South Korean consulate in Atlanta and the embassy in Washington, DC for comment.

Dozens apprehended in New York, too

On the same day as the Georgia raid, dozens of workers at a family-owned plant that makes nutrition bars were also apprehended during an ICE raid, officials said.

Federal agents arrived at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato and questioned “virtually the entire workforce,” according to Rural & Migrant Ministry, whose staff witnessed the raid.

The group posted a video on its Facebook page showing law enforcement leading people into a van marked “Border Patrol.” During the raid, workers were taken into the kitchen area of the plant and “questioned one by one over the course of many hours,” the group said in the post.

The group estimates that “upwards of 70 employees” were questioned and “nearly all” were then arrested and taken to the nearby Oswego Detention Center. A spokesperson for the group told CNN they’re still waiting to hear from authorities about exactly how many were detained.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned the ICE operation in her state.

“I am outraged by this morning’s ICE raids in Cato and Fulton, where more than 40 adults were seized — including parents of at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house,” Hochul said in a statement.

Hochul said such operations “will not make New York safer” and will “shatter hard-working families who are simply trying to build a life here.”

ICE confirmed to CNN affiliate WSTM that it carried out a “court-authorized enforcement action” in Cato. Employees told WSTM that around 60 workers were detained. CNN has reached out to the agency for further details.

Mark Schmidt, the owner of Nutrition Bar Confectioners, told the New York Times that all his workers had legal documentation to work in the US. “We’ve done everything we can to vet people we hire,” he said.

Schmidt described the ICE raid as “overkill.” His son Lenny Schmidt, the company’s vice president, told the Times the scene was “almost theatrical,” describing police dogs and all-terrain vehicles involved in the operation.

“It could have been handled so much more humanely and decently,” he said. “This kind of raid, you feel like it’s a drug bust or a human trafficking situation.”

CNN has reached out to the company for further comment.

The New York and Georgia raids come as Chicago leaders are preparing for a possible National Guard deployment in step with an expected immigration enforcement operation in the city.

Massive immigration raid at Hyundai megaplant in Georgia leads to 475 arrests. Most are Korean | CNN
Hundreds of federal officers descended on a small southeast Georgia community and raided the Hyundai Metaplant – arresting 475 people in the largest sweep yet in the current Trump administration’s immigration crackdown at US worksites.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/us/georgia-plant-ice-raid-hundreds-arrested-hnk

Reuters: Exclusive: FBI employees worry Trump’s Washington surge is exposing unmarked cars

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  • Current and former FBI employees express concerns over national security risks
  • FBI’s undercover cars risk exposure due to federal law enforcement surge
  • Former DHS official warns of risks to sensitive investigations
  • FBI spokesman says ‘FBI leadership hasn’t received any of the concerns alleged’

President Donald Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement into Washington, D.C., is exposing the FBI’s fleet of unmarked cars, potentially risking its ability to do its most sensitive national security and surveillance work, nine current and former employees of the bureau warned.

The surge, which the White House has said is meant to crack down on violent crime but has featured many arrests for minor offenses, could make it harder for the FBI to combat violent criminal gangs, foreign intelligence services and drug traffickers, said the current and former employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

As part of the surge, FBI agents who normally conduct their investigative work out of the spotlight are now more involved in routine police work in Washington, appearing in high-profile areas dressed in tactical gear and emerging from unmarked cars, with the unintended effect of potentially identifying those vehicles to surveillance targets.

As the Republican president publicly muses about expanding his crackdown into cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, the employees said they are urging leadership not to continue to expose more vehicles in this way.

“Every time you see us getting out of covert cars wearing our FBI vests that car is burned,” said one of eight current FBI employees who spoke with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“We can’t use these cars to go undercover, we can’t use them to surveil narcotraffickers and fentanyl suppliers or Russian or Chinese spies or use them to go after violent criminal gangs or terrorists,” said a second current FBI employee.

An FBI spokesman denied the current employees’ assertions.

“The claims in this story represents a basic misunderstanding of how FBI security protocol works — the Bureau takes multiple safeguards to protect agents in the field against threats so they can continue doing their great work protecting the American people,” Ben Williamson, assistant director of the FBI public affairs office said in an email.

“FBI leadership hasn’t received any of the concerns alleged here, and anyone who did have a good faith concern would approach leaders at headquarters or our Washington Field Office rather than laundering bizarre claims through the press.”

The White House referred questions to the FBI.

The use of as many as 1,000 FBI unmarked vehicles in Washington during highly public scenes comes amid an already heightened threat to law enforcement from cartels, gangs and hostile nations who actively seek to identify agents and their vehicles, the current and former FBI employees said.

“They’re putting federal agents in a more highly visible situation where they’re driving their undercover cars and they’re engaging in highly visible public enforcement action or patrol actions,” said John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism coordinator.

“They may be unwittingly compromising the ability of those same personnel to go back and engage in sensitive investigations.”

The current and former FBI employees said they spoke to Reuters because of the depth of their concerns and the potential harm to national security and safety of the American public.

‘BAD FOR THE BUREAU’

Several of them urged an end to the practice of using undercover cars in the surge now before more are exposed.

“This is crazy, dangerous and bad for the bureau,” said former FBI agent Dan Brunner, who worked on cases involving the MS-13 street gang before retiring from the bureau in September 2023 after a two-decade career there.

“This is currently in D.C., which is the most saturated city with foreign nation spies, foreign actors so of course they’re going to be down there,” Brunner said. “So those guys, you know, their vehicles, their license plates are getting recorded.”

Reuters was not able to determine whether foreign actors were in fact tracking agents’ vehicles and Brunner did not provide evidence that they were doing so. But Brunner, Cohen and the current and former FBI employees said investigative targets, such as members of drug gangs and foreign intelligence entities, are constantly working to try to identify law enforcement agents and FBI in particular and said there would be no reason to think that would have stopped during the surge.

“It is a major threat facing U.S. law enforcement,” said Cohen, who now serves as executive director for the Center for Internet Security’s program for countering hybrid threats.

Cohen and several of the current and former FBI employees who spoke to Reuters cited a recent report by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog that detailed how this kind of information can be used against law enforcement.

In 2018, a hacker working for the Sinaloa Cartel homed in on an FBI employee working at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, accessing their phone records and tapping into the city’s network of cameras to help the cartel identify, track and kill FBI witnesses and sources.

“This isn’t a hypothetical issue, just look at what happened in Mexico City,” said a third current FBI employee.

Brunner, the retired agent, said that, at minimum, he believes the license plates of all the cars that were used in the surge need to be replaced. He and other current and former FBI employees said the bureau should consider using other cars if its agents are further deployed in future surges, perhaps renting them or borrowing them from other U.S. government agencies.

“There’s an argument to be made that highly visible law enforcement presence in high-crime areas can serve as a deterrent for crime,” said Cohen, the former DHS official.

“But at the same time, the value that comes from the federal government in fighting violent crime is through their investigations, which very often are conducted in a way in which the identity and the resources and the vehicles of the investigators are kept, you know, secret.”

Poor babies! With the fewest possible exceptions, ALL police cars should be conspicuously marked. There should be NO secret police in the United States.

Exclusive: FBI employees worry Trump’s Washington surge is exposing unmarked cars
Agents are appearing in high-profile areas dressed in tactical gear and emerging from unmarked cars.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-employees-worry-trumps-washington-surge-is-exposing-unmarked-cars-2025-09-04

Washington Post: How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.

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The deputy White House chief of staff has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department.

From the head of the conference table in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, Stephen Miller was in the weeds of President Donald Trump’s takeover of policing in the nation’s capital.

The White House deputy chief of staff wanted to know where exactly groups of law enforcement officers would be deployed. He declared that cleaning up D.C. was one of Trump’s most important domestic policy issues and that Miller himself planned to be involved for a long time.

Miller’s remarks were described to The Washington Post by two people with knowledge of the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House business. The result is a behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of Trump’s most trusted aides in action, someone who has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department and deployed thousands of National Guard troops to patrol city streets. While widely seen as a vocal proponent for the president’s push on immigration and law and order, Miller’s actions reveal how much he is actually driving that agenda inside the White House.

“It’s his thing,” one White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. “Security, crime, law enforcement — it’s his wheelhouse.”

Miller’s team provides an updated report each morning on the arrests made the night before to staff from the White House, Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security, among others. The readouts include a breakdown of how many of those arrested are undocumented immigrants.

He has also led weekly meetings in the Roosevelt Room with his staff and members of the D.C. mayor’s office. Last week, he brought Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to two people briefed on the meeting. It’s unclear why Bessent attended the meeting.

A person familiar with Bessent’s thinking said he was encouraged by D.C. officials’ enthusiasm and collaborative tone.

Miller frequently frames Trump’s approach to crime-fighting as a moral and spiritual war against those who oppose him.

“I would say to the mayors of all these Democrat cities, like Chicago, what you are doing to your own citizens is evil. Subjecting your own citizens to this constant bloodbath and then rejoicing in it is evil,” Miller said on Fox News last week. “You should praise God every single day that President Trump is in the White House.”

Trump has signaled that his crackdown on cities will continue, recently naming Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Oakland, California, as places that might require federal intervention. Critics have characterized the moves as counterproductive, a waste of federal resources and illegal. Supporters see the effort as bringing long-awaited relief to cities afflicted by violent crime.

In D.C., crime was already trending down before Trump moved to take over the police department, according to city data. But rates have decreased further when comparing the 15 days before the Aug. 11 order with the 15 days after Trump’s operation, with violent crime decreasing by roughly 30 percent and property crime decreasing by roughly 16 percent.

Since Trump initiated an unprecedented incursion into D.C. affairs, the city has transformed from a place that proudly welcomed immigrants into one primed for their deportations. D.C. police officers now work with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who have detained people in front of schools and restaurants. Park Police officers, now operating as beat cops, have chased vehicles with tinted windows, fake tags and broken headlights — a major departure from a city policy to avoid pursuits that pose safety threats. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has attributed the drop in crime to the federal surge.

Miller and others close to Trump have celebrated the changes in Washington, which they see as a winning political issue and central to their plans to host a series of events for America’s 250th birthday next year. White House officials expect the increased federal law enforcement presence to continue in the District through the end of 2026 — a period that would not only come after the semiquincentennial celebrations but also the midterm elections. D.C. officials have not publicly committed to that timeline.

This week, members of the Republican National Committee were briefed on a call about the D.C. crime operation, getting data on arrests and talking points for how to tout the initiative in their states.

Bowser and other top D.C. officials have gone out of their way to show willingness to work with Trump and his staff, positioning themselves as allies in his public safety crackdown. They see that tactic as their best chance at maintaining power given D.C.’s unique status under the U.S. Constitution, which grants Congress ultimate say over city laws and budgets.

Miller has been less involved in working directly with the mayor.

City Administrator Kevin Donahue, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah and the D.C. police department’s executive assistant chief Jeffrey Carrol have all attended Miller’s weekly meetings in the Roosevelt Room.

Bowser has maintained a separate line of communication with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, with Bondi speaking with Bowser sometimes daily, the White House official said.

Last week, as Trump’s complaints about the mayor escalated, Bondi and Wiles met with Bowser at the White House. Soon after, Bowser gave White House officials an executive order to review — which ultimately ordered indefinite coordination between the city and federal law enforcement officials. The president has since changed his tune on Bowser, holding her up as an example of how blue-city mayors should behave.

“Everyone at the White House is pleased with Mayor Bowser and the ongoing partnership,” a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share internal thinking.

Miller has made a point of being seen around the city since Trump infused it with federal troops. Last month, he appeared at a D.C. police station to address line officers and visited Union Station with Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Over the weekend, Miller and his family walked around the National Mall.

“Beautiful day to take in our monuments,” his wife, Katie Miller, wrote on X. “Thank you President Trump for Making DC Safe Again!”

She posted a picture in front of the Reflecting Pool, which stretches between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. Stephen Miller looked at his children and pointed toward the camera.

As deputy chief of staff, Miller oversees Trump’s domestic policy agenda. But he also serves in the lesser-known role of homeland security adviser, directing roughly 40 federal law enforcement officers in the Homeland Security Investigation division assigned to work on D.C. crime. Miller and his deputy on homeland security matters — a veteran law enforcement officer whose name the White House has declined to publicize — are also in close contact with the other federal and D.C. law enforcement agencies, the White House official said.

White House officials emphasized that Miller is acting on behalf of the president, who is personally invested in producing a successful operation. The officials said that his top domestic policy priority at the moment is reducing crime in large cities nationwide. Every day, those around him say, Trump inquires about the details of the D.C. operation. He has asked questions about the people arrested and how many guns and drugs officers seized from the streets, the White House official said.

“As President Trump has said himself many times, making D.C. safe and beautiful again is a top priority for the entire Trump Administration,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. “The results of the highly successful operation speak for itself. President Trump has driven down crime in the District, removed countless violent criminals from the streets, and kick-started beautification efforts to make D.C. the greatest city in the world.”

Miller and his homeland security deputy, along with Terry Cole, the Drug Enforcement Administration chief whom Trump named D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner” last month; Gady Serralta, director of the U.S. Marshals Service; Bondi; and representatives from the FBI have all met with Trump a handful times since Trump signed the emergency declaration about D.C., according to the White House official.

By law, Trump’s federalization of the D.C. police force lasts 30 days and is set to expire next week. The White House has not announced its next steps, but those who know Miller say he almost certainly has a plan.

We must remember that Stephen Miller is an unrepentant bigoted racist whose #1 goal in life is to make America white again. The actions they are taking in L.A. and D.C. are targeted at Democrat mayors; the many Republican mayor of cities with HIGHER crime rates are getting a free pass. This is all about racism and politics, not public safety.

How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.
The deputy White House chief of staff has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/09/05/trump-dc-takeover-stephen-miller-white-house

No paywall:

How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.
The deputy White House chief of staff has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-stephen-miller-is-running-trump-s-effort-to-take-over-dc/ar-AA1LW0Uf

Newsweek: ICE detains dad who entered US with green card 50 years ago—Family

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Ahusband and father of four from Michigan who arrived in the United States over 50 years ago on a green card has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment for nearly a month, according to the man’s family.

Newsweek reached out via email to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security via email for comment.

Why It Matters

Nael Shamma, a 58-year-old Palestinian from Burton, Michigan, was getting his wife, Christina, a cup of coffee when an unmarked car reportedly pulled in front of the family’s home and took him into custody, according to Flint news station ABC12.

Shamma’s detention sparks questions about the Trump administration’s wide-ranging immigration crackdown, which has included apprehending both criminals and non-violent offenders alike. ICE and DHS have remained adamant that immigrants who possess a green card are provided “a privilege, not a right,” and that the government has the authority to revoke a green card if laws are broken or abused.

What To Know

An ICE spokesperson told The Detroit News that Shamma “has a two-decade-long rap sheet” that includes breaking and entering, armed violence and aggravated battery.

“He freely admitted to ICE officers he ‘ran’ with the Latin Kings street gang in Chicago in the 1980s and has had a final order of removal since 1989,” they said.

Christina Shamma stated that her husband has resided in the U.S. for over five decades and has consistently complied with reporting requirements. His green card was revoked in his 20s when he went to prison for assault, resulting in annual check-ins since 2012, according to The Detroit News.

“He was ordered to report once a year,” she told ABC12. “He just reported in May. They told him everything was fine.”

Nael has been held at The North Lake Processing Center in West Michigan.

Shamma’s niece, Sara Haddad, told The Detroit News that ICE attempted and failed to deport him in 2012 after Israeli officials wouldn’t sign off. Shamma was born in Jerusalem one year before Israel took control of the city, effectively leaving him “stateless,” according to news outlet MLive.

Haddad said that she is fearful that her uncle will be deported to Gaza. Sending him to the wartorn area “would be sending him to death,” she said.

“It’s been very, very hard on everyone,” she told The Detroit News. “We love him so much, and he really helps take care of everyone.”

Newsweek reached out to Haddad via email for comment.

Haddad is listed as the petitioner on both a Change.org petition for Shamma and a GoFundMe that has raised more than $3,400 from 51 donations as of Thursday morning.

The pages state that Shamma is the third oldest of seven siblings, came to the U.S. at the age of 9, and has four children and two grandchildren. He’s described as “a hardworking man” who provides for his family and the “kind of person who doesn’t wait to be asked for help.”

“He is a proud American, even if the government hasn’t always seen him that way,” the Change.org petition reads. “He pays his taxes. He contributes to his community. He comes home to his two dogs, plays with his grandkids, and tries to be the best man he can be. And yet, ICE ripped him from his family without warning.

“They came to his home—a home he worked hard to earn—and took him away from the people who love and depend on him. There was no crime, no threat, no reason for such cruelty. Just a sudden, violent separation that has left his children, wife and elderly parents reeling. One moment he was feeding the dogs. The next, he was gone.”

What People Are Saying

An ICE spokesperson indicated to The Detroit News that the agency might send Shamma to a third country: “When an immigration judge orders an alien removed to a country that will not accept them, ICE coordinates with the State Department to look for a third country that will.”

What Happens Next

Shamma’s family has called for assistance from national and state lawmakers, including President Donald Trump, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Michigan U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats.

ICE detains dad who entered US with green card 50 years ago—Family
ICE said Nael Shamma of Michigan “has a two-decade-long rap sheet” that led to his green card being revoked.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detains-father-green-card-michigan-2124475

NBC News: Why a court order barring ICE from targeting people based on their race isn’t being enforced

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The order issued by a federal judge in Los Angeles is on appeal by the Trump administration, making its viability murky.

Mejia and her son are U.S. citizens…. The interaction has left lasting scars on her son, who now suffers from nightmares and sometimes “breaks down” in tears when she’s driving, Mejia said.

“People with the slightest shade of brown in their skin in L.A. fear that they may be the target of immigration officials,” Contreras said. “It’s across the board now.”

Federal agents are violating a court order that prohibits them from racially profiling Latinos and other Southern California residents as the directive winds it way through an appeals process, immigrant advocates and local officials say.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, a Biden-era appointee, imposed the temporary restraining order in Los Angeles more than a month ago, but arrests in locations frequented by Latino workers, such as Home Depots and car washes, have become daily occurrences.

“It’s a complete disregard,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA. “It’s almost like the rounding up of cattle in the road.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denies racially profiling people in its efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

“Unelected judges are undermining the will of the American people,” DHS said Wednesday in an emailed statement. “What makes someone a target of ICE is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.”

The American Civil Liberties Union and Public Counsel, which filed the original lawsuit in July, filed a new motion Tuesday asking Frimpong to order additional evidence from the federal government “in light of apparent violations” of her order.

“This limited discovery is needed to determine whether further action may be necessary to enforce the Court’s TRO and to inform what additional measures, if any, may be needed to ensure compliance with any preliminary injunction the Court may issue,” the motion reads.

It details six arrests in August — three at Home Depots and three at car washes in Los Angeles County — that appear to undermine the temporary restraining order.

In one instance, on Aug. 22, federal agents detained seven people at a Pasadena car wash, including a legal resident, according to the motion. The man was handcuffed and detained despite having proper documentation nearby, the motion said. He was later released but described the incident as “devastating and humiliating.”

Frustrated by the lengthy court battle, immigrant rights’ organizers say communities are being torn apart while lawyers file motion after motion. But local officials say the order has been difficult to enforce while litigation remains ongoing.

“We’re using every tool at our disposal to put a stop to this behavior,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.

Last month, Soto’s office led a coalition of 20 California cities — including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Long Beach — in joining a federal lawsuit alleging that the federal government conducted unconstitutional and unlawful arrests and raids without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

The organizations asked the court to stop federal agencies from using “disproportionate force,” which has sometimes led to U.S. citizens being detained.

The federal government twice challenged the temporary restraining order, first in the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals and then in the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling was upheld in the appeals court, and the Supreme Court has not weighed in on the issue.

The lawsuit is set for a hearing on Sept. 24 for a preliminary injunction that would extend the order as the case progresses through the courts.

Meanwhile, immigration advocates said they recorded more than a dozen arrests at Home Depots and car washes in Los Angeles and Orange counties Tuesday.

Volunteers who witnessed the arrests or went to the scene to help families get information about their missing loved ones said the workers all spoke Spanish.

Eight people were arrested last week outside a Home Depot near a day labor center, which has been the target of at least three previous enforcement actions, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Video shot by immigration advocates and circulated on social media shows federal agents arriving in unmarked cars as workers run, some tripping over themselves.

DHS said in a statement that three of the eight people had “extensive rap sheets,” but did not mention the other five.

“Every day, DHS is enforcing our nation’s laws across all of LA not just Home Depots,” the department said in Wednesday’s emailed statement.

The operation unfolded at the same Home Depot where federal agents jumped out of a Penske rental van and took a dozen people into custody.

Joshua Erazo, a day laborer organizer who connects workers with employers at the center, told NBC Los Angeles that the people who were detained included street vendors.

Data compiled by CHIRLA shows that 471 of the 2,800 arrests made by the Department of Homeland Security from June 6 to July 20 occurred in predominantly Latino neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley.

As of Wednesday, Homeland Security has made more than 5,000 arrests in Los Angeles, “including murderers, rapists, and child abusers,” it said in the statement.

Believing they have little recourse, some residents have filed individual lawsuits instead of waiting for the temporary restraining order to be enforced.

Lawyers representing a Los Angeles mother took the first step last week toward suing the federal government after her teenage son was detained by agents at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identity. They filed a claim for $1 million in damages for personal injury, including “assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment,” according to court documents.

Andreina Mejia said she and her son, who is 15 and has special needs, were sitting inside her parked car outside Arleta High School when masked federal agents approached them with guns drawn. They were both pulled out and Mejia was handcuffed while agents questioned her son, she said.

“He didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “So, I just told him, ‘Don’t make any movement, don’t move, just follow instructions.’”

Agents asked for the whereabouts of a person whose name her son did not recognize and briefly detained him when he could not provide information, Mejia said. One of the agents appeared to realize they had the wrong person and let her son go, she said.

Mejia and her son are U.S. citizens. Agents said they were looking for a young man from El Salvador.

“The family is Mexican American,” said Mejia’s attorney, Christian Contreras. “It feels as if they were exploited, abused and taken advantage of because of the color of their skin.”

The interaction has left lasting scars on her son, who now suffers from nightmares and sometimes “breaks down” in tears when she’s driving, Mejia said.

“People with the slightest shade of brown in their skin in L.A. fear that they may be the target of immigration officials,” Contreras said. “It’s across the board now.”

Why a court order barring ICE from targeting people based on their race isn’t being enforced
The order issued by a federal judge in Los Angeles is on appeal by the Trump administration, making its viability murky.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/immigration-court-order-ice-targeting-people-race-not-enforced-why-rcna227792

MSNBC: New report shows how Trump’s DHS is mainstreaming white supremacy

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The SPLC’s Hatewatch looked at how the Department of Homeland Security has ramped up its bigoted social media strategy in recent months.

Under President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security’s social media channels are beginning to look like a white nationalist content mill, churning out bigoted, jingoistic schlock.

A recent report from Hatewatch, the extremism watchdog run by the Southern Poverty Law Center, shows how the agency and top Trump administration officials have ramped up their promotion of white nationalist or anti-immigrant social media posts since June, when the agency reposted anti-immigrant propaganda that originated from an avowedly racist social media account.

MSNBC has noted the agency’s propaganda in the past, including their use of cruel memes that vilify nonwhite immigrants and of American artworks to promote themes of ethnic cleansing.

The Hatewatch report takes a comprehensive look at these incidents since June, citing an apparent increase in racist propaganda as part of what the watchdog calls “an escalating trend in American immigration enforcement toward overt use of white nationalist and anti-immigrant myths to recruit personnel and justify departmental operations.”

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to MSNBC’s request for comment on Hatewatch’s claims. When asked last month by NBC’s Los Angeles affiliate about the campaign, the DHS called its digital strategy “bold and effective.”

Here’s one example Hatewatch flagged:

In one recruitment poster, published on Aug. 11, a white Uncle Sam caricature in the style of a Norman Rockwell painting stands at a crossroads of directional signs that include such phrases as “INVASION,” “CULTURAL DECLINE,” “HOMELAND” and “LAW & ORDER.” The poster includes the caption “Which way, American man?” — which appears to be a nod to the influential white nationalist text Which Way Western Man? by William Gayley Simpson. Published by an imprint associated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance, the book is a reflection and critique of society from Simpson’s travels. While critical of some aspects of society, it largely frames Western civilization as superior and veers into sexist and antisemitic commentary.

To some online observers, like author and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, this apparent nod to an unabashed bigot was hardly subtle

….

The report notes that multiple Trump administration figures in senior leadership roles have ties to racist organizations or have been known to espouse white nationalist themes. That includes border czar Tom Homan, who collaborated with anti-Muslim hate group The United West on his “Defend the Border” project, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whose white nationalist views first came under scrutiny during Trump’s first term.

The report also refers to multiple posts from DHS that promote the idea of forging friendships or strengthening familial bonds over the targeting of immigrants. And it notes that the agency’s social media strategy has been celebrated by known white supremacists like activist Jared Taylor, who called the posts a “remarkable change” during an episode of his podcast in August.

That’s certainly one way to describe the Department of Homeland Security’s embrace of racist propaganda to further the Trump administration’s draconian anti-immigrant agenda.

New report shows how Trump’s DHS is mainstreaming white supremacy
The SPLC’s Hatewatch looked at how the Department of Homeland Security has ramped up its bigoted social media strategy in recent months.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/homeland-security-social-media-white-supremacy-rcna228582

Haaretz.com: ICE Gains Access to Israeli Spyware Maker Paragon’s Tool

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After the deal between Paragon and Homeland Security’s investigations unit was frozen, the first signs that Trump wants spyware emerged, sparking concerns amid a growing arsenal of digital tools

The contract between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Israeli spyware company Paragon has been reactivated, in what some say is the first sign of a shift in the current administration’s policies towards offensive cyber.

Last year, a $2 million contract was signed between Paragon and ICE, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit. However, it was frozen a month later amid the Biden administration’s policy to clamp down on the offensive cyber industry, which sells technologies that allow states access to encrypted smartphones and has been misused across the globe over the past decade.

That policy included pressuring Israel to rein in its spyware exports, and also sanctions on Israeli companies like NSO and Candiru, which are regulated by Israel, as well as harsher personal sanctions against the owners and executives of Intellexa, which operated outside Israel’s regulatory oversight.

The temporary suspension of the Paragon contract stemmed from concerns it could violate Biden’s 2023 executive order restricting the purchase of foreign spyware by U.S. agencies, if those had been used to undermine U.S. national security or had been implicated in misuse.

Its renewal, announced with little fanfare this Saturday on an official U.S. procurement data website, is seen by some as an early signal of a potential shift in the Trump administration’s policy toward the offensive cyber industry. The contract renewal was first published by Jack Poulson, an independent journalist, on his Substack.

Paragon, the procurement documents details, will provide a “proprietary solution” to ICE via the HSI, an investigative arm that combats illegal immigration, human and arms trafficking, international crime, cyber threats, and more. It was founded by former Unit 8200 commander Ehud Schneorson and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and developed a spyware called Graphite.

It has been sold to intelligence and law enforcement agencies in Israel, Europe, the United States and Singapore. Infection with the spyware gives operators full access to a victim’s mobile phone, including files, photos, and contacts, as well as the ability to eavesdrop on calls and read encrypted messages. Earlier this year, Paragon was for the first time embroiled in a scandal regarding misuse of its tech in Italy, where the country’s intelligence service turned the spyware against activists and journalists.

Digital rights groups fear that Trump’s policies, coupled with the renewal of the Paragon contract, signal that the United States may roll back its efforts to regulate the spyware industry and could even emerge as a state that abuses these advanced tools.

According to U.S. media reports, the administration has budgeted $170 billion for enforcing Trump’s immigration policy, setting a daily target of 3,000 arrests for the authorities. To meet this goal, ICE is recruiting 10,000 agents, offering signing bonuses of $50,000.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has flooded the streets of Washington, Los Angeles, and other cities with immigration agents, ramping up arrests and deportations of undocumented migrants, as well as enforcing strict new policing measures.

“It is deeply concerning that the U.S. government and DHS are acquiring highly invasive spyware at a time of unprecedented crackdowns on students, protesters, and migrants,” said Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, head of Amnesty International’s Security Lab, which monitors technologies that violate human and civil rights. “Time and again, such tools have ultimately been found to be abused to target journalists and government critics.”

DHS-affiliated bodies have numerous ties to Israeli surveillance and intelligence companies: Cognyte provided various technologies to the Secret Service last year and this year reported a $20 million deal with a leading U.S. security organization; Cellebrite supplies law enforcement agencies, including ICE and the Secret Service, with phone-hacking technology for seized devices.

ICE also has access to intelligence technologies from companies like Palantir and Babel Street, Ó Cearbhaill explained. A Haaretz investigation last year revealed how Babel Street sells software that allows surveillance and tracking of individuals using advertising data collected online. According to him, the addition of Paragon’s spyware to the authorities’ surveillance toolkit increases the risk of unlawful and arbitrary arrests, investigations, visa revocations, and deportations, “in significant violation of numerous human rights.”

Late last year, Paragon was sold to the American private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, considered close to the U.S. defense establishment. The sale caused tension and criticism within Israel’s offensive cyber industry.

An investigation by Israeli television uncovered an intelligence community document that warned that the sale of Paragon posed a “potential danger” to national security, due to concerns about American influence over a “strategic sector” for Israel and the leakage of sensitive knowledge abroad. Similar concerns were exposed in 2022 when the American defense contractor L3Harris attempted to purchase NSO and relocate it to the United States.

Following the acquisition, Paragon’s U.S. branch joined REDLattice, a cyber-intelligence company also owned by the U.S. fund. Reporting on the contract renewal, journalist Poulson revealed the two firms’ deep ties to the U.S. intelligence community. According to Poulson’s substack, former CIA deputy director John “Finbar” Fleming was appointed head of Paragon’s U.S. branch.

ICE Gains Access to Israeli Spyware Maker Paragon’s Tool
After the deal between Paragon and Homeland Security’s investigations unit was frozen, the first signs that Trump wants spyware emerged, sparking concerns amid a growing arsenal of digital tools

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-regains-access-to-israeli-spyware-maker-paragon-s-tool/ar-AA1LNpsh

Metro: Officer who worked at Alligator Alcatraz reveals ‘inhumane’ living conditions

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An unnamed former staff member at Alligator Alcatraz, President Donald Trump’s controversial US immigrant detention center, has revealed what it’s really like inside the ‘prison.’ The worker called the conditions ‘inhumane’ for both staff and detainees, and shared that things got so bad, he quit after three weeks. He called his experience at the 3,000-bed facility, which costs a reported $450 million a year to run, ’emotionally and mentally draining’.

During his three-week stint, the worker said detainee numbers went from approximately 2,700 to just 35. Now, it appears the center is closing down for good. The Department of Homeland Security says detainees are being moved from the facility in compliance with a district judge’s order after ruling that it violated federal environmental law. The judge ordered it to close within 60 days last month. The camp was built deep in the Florida Everglades; the surrounding swampland is brimming with alligators, pythons and mosquitoes. It’s thought this location was picked to repel detainees from escaping.

Last month, Metro reported that when the first journalists were allowed onto the site, they described thousands of detainees being crammed into cages and fed limited rations. The former worker backed these claims up, revealing that inmates were only allowed to shower every three days. They also noted this was the only time they were allowed to leave their cells. In addition, the ‘prisoners’ were also refused vital medication, such as blood, seizure, or heart medication.

‘I heard a nurse say she didn’t have to give someone medicine if she didn’t want to,’ the former worker said, adding that they saw ‘a lot of guys who weren’t getting treated for four to five days’. He recalled a person who had an infected leg who collapsed and had to be stretchered out due to a lack of treatment. ‘I tried to help someone, I was reminded they were detainees and not to help them’.

The correction officer expanded: ‘These guys would be in their cell for three days with no sunlight. They were allowed to be outside for 25 minutes every three days, and that was when they showered. They were treated like prisoners of war, most of those guys in there were working citizens – people who had their own businesses. They would only let the prisoners shower every three days, which is inhumane. Even in state penitentiaries, you get a shower every day’ .

The former worker also explained that detainees were classified. Those with a red band meant they had a criminal record, orange meant they had a misdemeanor, and yellow meant they had no criminal past. They specifically noted that the majority of inmates they interacted with had yellow bands. And still, staff ‘were expected to be a certain level of mean’ to the detainees. ‘I would look at them, and I just couldn’t do it’.

It wasn’t just detainees treated badly, either, according to the staff member. Workers were also treated poorly and ‘unfairly.’ Staff were required to live on site, and correctional officers were reportedly not allowed to leave their rooms unless they were on shift. ‘By the end of my time there, they were treating us like the detainees. We weren’t allowed out of our room unless we were working’.

A spokesperson for Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director, has disputed the claims. They said: ‘Detainees receive three meals per day, have access to indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, 24/7 access to a fully staffed medical facility – which has a pharmacy on site, as well as clean, working facilities for hygiene’. 

https://metro.co.uk/galleries/officer-who-worked-at-alligator-alcatraz-reveals-inhumane-living-conditions-24048847

Wichita Eagle: ICE Targets Sanctuary City — Mayor Faces Defiance

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Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons claimed that some Boston Police officers have shared information with ICE despite the city’s sanctuary policies. City officials and immigrant-rights advocates have criticized the actions, arguing they undermine community relations. ICE has noted that it plans to increase enforcement in sanctuary jurisdictions. Lyons said, “We have so many men and women of the Boston Police Department and other jurisdictions that are so pro-ICE, that want to work with us, and that are actually helping us behind the scenes.” He stated, “Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. But 100%, you will see a larger ICE presence.”

Lyons reported an alleged covert cooperation by some officers. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu affirmed the city’s sanctuary status, saying Boston follows the law but will resist federal demands to revoke it.

Wu said, “Silence in the face of oppression is not an option. The U.S. Attorney General asked for a response by today. So here it is…Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.”

The Boston Trust Act limits city cooperation with federal agencies. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent letters to sanctuary jurisdictions seeking compliance plans and warned of potential federal fund cuts for noncompliance.

Local officials have called the enforcement and funding threats politically motivated. Bondi stated, “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”

Lyons said, “What I think local leaders don’t understand, is they need to talk to the men and women on the ground, because … there are so many of these criminal aliens that keep getting released to go out and commit more crimes that the local law enforcement have to deal with.”

Bondi concluded, “We are going to send in law enforcement just like we did during the LA riots, just like we’re doing here in Washington, DC, and if they’re not going to keep their citizens safe, Donald Trump will keep them safe.”

ICE Targets Sanctuary City — Mayor Faces Defiance

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-targets-sanctuary-city-mayor-faces-defiance/ss-AA1LFGeg