Tag Archives: deportation

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

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

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

There were no injuries reported.

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

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

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

She railed against sanctuary leaders for demonizing immigration agents.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Breaks my heart.

Not!

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

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

Raw Story: ICE seizes 11-year-old to force dad’s deportation — despite torture risk

Posted on by
Reply

President Donald Trump is trying to deport a Russian man who passed the U.S. screening process for asylum. The U.S. government has also taken away his son.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, posted an excerpt of a New York Times report revealing that the man fled to the United States after his wife was locked up for her political views.

Pavel Snegir and his 11-year-old son, Aleksandr, already passed the initial screening and confirmed that if Snegir is sent back to Russia, he will likely be tortured.

“But the Trump admin is still trying to deport him anyway, and has taken away his son until he agrees to be deported,” wrote Reichlin-Melnick.

Snegir and his son had been in ICE custody, but in May he was taken to an airport in San Diego. He was told he could take his son to the court hearing in New York. But once they were at the airport, Snegir was scared to board the plane, convinced he was about to be deported back to Russia.

“Later that day, after the flight had left, an ICE official told him he would be separated from his son because he refused to be deported,” the report said.

Snegir said he refused to give the government his child. ICE followed with threats he’d be thrown “to the ground, handcuffed and taken away if he did not relent.”

He didn’t move and “everything she promised happened,” Snegir recalled.

His son witnessed the whole ordeal. He previously watched his mother be taken by the Russian government, too.

Now, ICE is telling Snegir that he can self-deport back to Russia, or they’ll deport him anyway, without his son. They claimed he may never see his son again.

Snegir relented, but the following day, he was approved under the protection screening, which means ICE can deport him, but he can’t be sent to Russia.

This week, the administration also published its guidance on birthright citizenship, which will allow ICE to enter maternity wards and demand papers from families after their infants are born. If the parents can’t prove their citizenship, the government can take the newborn away from its parents and deport it to whatever country it wants, one legal analyst described.

ICE seizes 11-year-old to force dad’s deportation — despite torture risk

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-deportation-2673860882

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

Washington Post: ICE crackdown imperils Afghans who aided U.S. war effort, lawyers say

Posted on by
Reply

Two former Afghan interpreters for U.S. forces face deportation despite following immigration processes, according to attorneys for the men.

One former interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan was detained by immigration agents in Connecticut last month after he showed up for a routine green card appointment. A second was arrested in June, just minutes after attending his first asylum hearing in San Diego.

As the administration seeks to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, attorneys for the men say their clients — Afghans who fear retribution from the Taliban for their work assisting the United States in its 20-year war in Afghanistan — have found themselves in the crosshairs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The attorneys provided The Washington Post with military contracts and certificates, asylum and visa applications, recommendation letters and other records that described both men’s work on behalf of U.S. forces during the war.

After Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, President Joe Biden’s administration moved to resettle Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which grants lawful permanent resident status and a pathway to U.S. citizenship. As of April, about 25,000 Afghans had received an SIV, and another 160,000 had pending applications, said Adam Bates, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Program who analyzed State Department data.

But the Trump administration is rolling back programs created to assist more than 250,000 Afghans — including the allies who worked for U.S. forces and other refugees who fled after the Taliban takeover. And while administration officials say SIV processing will continue, advocates for Afghans who served with U.S. troops fear the curtailment of programs they depend on, along with Trump’s ambitious deportation plan, jeopardizes those still vying for SIV protection.

They point to the arrests of Zia, 36, and Sayed Naser, 33, whose attorneys argue they followed proper immigration processes. The Post agreed to withhold the last names of both men because of the ongoing threats to their lives from the Taliban.

“Zia is not an outlier,” his attorney Lauren Cundick Petersen said during a news conference last month. “We’re witnessing the deliberate redefinition of legal entry as illegal for the purpose of meeting enforcement quotas.”

Matt Zeller, an Army veteran whose Afghan interpreter saved his life in a 2008 firefight, co-founded the nonprofit No One Left Behind to help resettle Afghans. He said he fears the immigration crackdown will unwind that effort.

“The Trump administration knows what’s going to happen to these folks. They’re not stupid. They understand that the Taliban is going to kill them when they get back to Afghanistan,” Zeller said. “They just don’t care.”

In response to questions from The Post, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the administration’s top immigration enforcement priority is “arresting and removing the dangerous violent, illegal criminal aliens that Joe Biden let flood across our Southern Border — of which there are many.”

“America is safer because of President Trump’s immigration policies,” she said.

All King Donald and his cronies care about is deporting foreigner, any foreigners.

Click one of the links below to read the rest of the article.

ICE crackdown imperils Afghans who aided U.S. war effort, lawyers say
Advocates fear President Donald Trump’s ambitious deportation plan jeopardizes Afghan interpreters and other allies who worked for U.S. troops during the war.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/08/03/afghanistan-immigrants-trump-deportations

ICE crackdown imperils Afghans who aided U.S. war effort, lawyers say
advertisement

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-crackdown-imperils-afghans-who-aided-u-s-war-effort-lawyers-say/ar-AA1JOsYf

Washington Post: He left Iran 40 years ago. He may be deported to Romania. Or Australia.

Posted on by
Reply

The withholding of a removal order that Reza Zavvar felt protected him from deportation is now being wielded by the Trump administration to send him to a country he doesn’t know.

Sharp knocks on the front door interrupted Firouzeh Firouzabadi’s Saturday morning coffee. On the porch of her suburban Maryland home were two law enforcement agents and a very familiar pit bull mix named Duke.

“Can you take this dog?” Firouzabadi recalled one of the men saying. “I said, ‘This is my son’s dog. Where is he?’ They wouldn’t say.”

At that moment, her adult son, Reza Zavvar, was handcuffed in the back of an SUV parked two houses down in the Gaithersburg neighborhood where the Iranian-born family has lived since 2009 — apprehended, he later said, that late June day by at least five federal immigration agents in tactical gear who told Zavvar they had been waiting for him to take Duke out for his regular morning walk.

More than a month later, Zavvar, 52, remains in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody,part of a surge of arrests of immigrants with standing court orders barring their deportation to their native countries.

The Trump administration has increasingly turned to sending people to third countries. In court papers, ICE said it plans to send Zavvar to Australia or Romania. He has no ties to either place.

Zavvar left Tehran alone when he was 12, arriving in Virginia in 1985 on a student visa secured by his parents as a way to escape eventual conscription into the Iranian army. He eventually received U.S. asylum, and then a green card.

His family joined him and they settled in Maryland, but in his 20s, Zavvar’s guilty pleas in two misdemeanor marijuana possession cases jeopardized his immigration status. In 2007, an immigration judge issued a withholding of removal order, determining it was unsafe for Zavvar to return to Iran. He built a life, went to college and has been working as a white-collar recruiter for a consulting firm.

…

So he pleaded guilty 27 years ago to a couple marijuana possessions charges (legal today in 24-40 states, depending on purpose of usage) and now ICE wants to deport him to a third country (possibly Romania or Australia).

Click one of the links below to read the rest of the article.

He left Iran 40 years ago. He may be deported to Romania. Or Australia.
Handcuffed outside his Maryland home while walking his dog, Reza Zavvar is among a surging number of immigrants arrested with standing court orders barring deportation to their native countries.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/08/03/immigration-arrests-third-country-removals

He left Iran 40 years ago. He may be deported to Romania. Or Australia.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/he-left-iran-40-years-ago-he-may-be-deported-to-romania-or-australia/ar-AA1JOsY5

Washington Examiner: Judge blocks ICE deportation strategy for paroled immigrants

Posted on by
Reply

A federal judge on Friday blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “expedited removal” deportation strategy to detain paroled immigrants as quickly as possible.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb of the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration’s use of expedited removal exceeded the Department of Homeland Security’s legal authority, in addition to being arbitrary and capricious. The order temporarily halts the federal government’s efforts to deport immigrants previously paroled into the United States at a port of entry.

Cobb specifically blocked three actions: a DHS memo dated Jan. 23 directing immigration officials to apply expedited removal as broadly as possible; an ICE directive dated Feb. 18 authorizing officers to consider expedited removal for “paroled arriving aliens”; and a DHS notice dated March 25 terminating the Biden-era parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

The court took issue with the administration’s actions to dismiss parole immigrants’ pending proceedings in immigration court and proceed to arrest them outside the courtroom afterward.

“This case’s underlying question, then, asks whether parolees who escaped oppression will have the chance to plead their case within a system of rules,” Cobb wrote in the 84-page ruling. “Or, alternatively, will they be summarily removed from a country that, as they are swept up at checkpoints and outside courtrooms, often by plainclothes officers without explanation or charges, may look to them more and more like the countries from which they tried to escape?”

Such an incident occurred in June, when New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for refusing to leave an immigrant whose case was dismissed moments earlier. Lander and his companion were both restrained by masked plainclothes officers as seen in a viral video.

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have since crafted legislation to bar ICE officers from wearing masks, which the agency says are used to protect its officers from getting doxxed.

Friday’s order is estimated to affect “hundreds of thousands of paroled aliens,” Cobb wrote.

The Trump administration criticized the ruling, saying it defies a Supreme Court ruling from May that upheld the termination of parole status for more than 530,000 illegal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

“Judge Cobb is flagrantly ignoring the United States Supreme Court, which upheld expedited removals of illegal aliens by a 7-2 majority,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “This ruling is lawless and won’t stand.”

Whine, bitch, whine!

Judge blocks ICE deportation strategy for paroled immigrants
“This ruling is lawless and won’t stand,” the Department of Homeland Security said in response.
Judge blocks ICE deportation strategy for paroled immigrants

LA Times: Ohio city whose Haitian migrants were disparaged by Trump braces to defend them against deportation

Posted on by
Reply

An Ohio city whose Haitian migrants were disparaged by a Donald Trump falsehood last year as he pitched voters on his plans for an immigration crackdown is now bracing to defend the community against possible deportation.

A group of about 100 community members, clergy and Haitian leaders in Springfield gathered this week for several days of training sessions as they prepare to defend potential deportees and provide them refuge.

“We feel that this is something that our faith requires, that people of faith are typically law-abiding people — that’s who we want to be — but if there are laws that are unjust, if there are laws that don’t respect human dignity, we feel that our commitment to Christ requires that we put ourselves in places where we may face some of the same threats,” said Carl Ruby, senior pastor of Central Christian Church.

Ruby said the ultimate goal of the group is to persuade the Trump administration to reverse its decision to terminate legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.

“One way of standing with the Haitians is getting out the message of how much value they bring to the city of Springfield,” he said. “It would be an absolute disaster if we lost 10,000 of our best workers overnight because their TPS ends and they can no longer work.”

In lieu of that, Ruby said, participants in the effort are learning how to help Haitians in other ways. That includes building relationships, accompanying migrants to appointments with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and providing their families with physical shelter.

A city in the crosshairs

Springfield found itself in an unwelcome spotlight last year after Trump amplified false rumors during a presidential debate that members of the mid-size city’s burgeoning Haitian population were abducting and eating cats and dogs. It was the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he promoted throughout his campaign.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in June that it would terminate TPS as soon as Sept. 2 for about 500,000 Haitians who are already in the United States, some of whom have lived here for more than a decade. The department said conditions in the island nation have improved adequately to allow their safe return. The United Nations contradicts that assertion, saying that the economic and humanitarian crisis in Haiti has only worsened with the Trump administration’s cuts in foreign aid.

The announcement came three months after the administration revoked legal protections for thousands of Haitians who arrived legally in the United States under a humanitarian parole program as part of a series of measures implemented to curb immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal judge’s order preventing the administration from revoking the parole program.

Last month, a federal judge in New York blocked the administration from accelerating an end to Haitians’ TPS protections, which the Biden administration had extended through at least Feb. 3, 2026, citing gang violence, political unrest, a major earthquake in 2021 and other factors.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said at the time that the Trump administration would eventually prevail and that its predecessors treated TPS like a “de facto asylum program.” In the meantime, the government has set the expiration date back to early February.

TPS allows people already in the United States to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Immigrants from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon, were receiving those protections before Trump took office for his second term in January.

Residents ponder next steps

Charla Weiss, a founding member of Undivided, the group that hosted the Springfield workshop, said participants were asked the question of how far they would go to help Haitian residents avoid deportation.

“The question that I know was before me is, how far am I willing to go to support my passion about the unlawful detainment and deportation of Haitians, in particular here in Springfield?” she said.

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a longtime supporter of the Haitian community, was briefed by Springfield leaders during a visit to the city Friday. He told reporters that the state is bracing for the potential of mass layoffs in the region as a result of the TPS policy change, a negative for the workers and the companies that employ them.

“It’s not going to be good,” he said.

Ohio city whose Haitian migrants were disparaged by Trump braces to defend them against deportation
Springfield, Ohio, whose Haitian migrants were vilified by a Trump falsehood during last year’s campaign, is now bracing to defend them against possible deportation.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-08-02/ohio-city-whose-haitian-migrants-were-disparaged-by-trump-braces-to-defend-them-against-deportation

Ohio city whose Haitian migrants were disparaged by Trump braces to defend them against deportation

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ohio-city-whose-haitian-migrants-were-disparaged-by-trump-braces-to-defend-them-against-deportation/ar-AA1JNjlg

This U.S. Citizen Recorded an Immigration Arrest. Officers Told Him To Delete It or Face Charges.

Posted on by
Reply

The peaceful traffic stop in Florida turned violent after immigration officers arrived and used chokeholds and a stun gun to make arrests.

Immigration officers were caught on video celebrating proudly after using chokeholds and a stun gun to arrest two undocumented immigrants in Florida. The owner of the video, an 18-year-old American citizen, was threatened and charged after he refused to delete the footage revealing the harsh tactics used by immigration authorities to meet the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals.

Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio was on his way to work on the morning of May 2 with his mother and two other men in North Palm Beach, Florida, when the vehicle was pulled over by a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) officer, reported The Guardian. The initial reason for the stop is unclear, but after the FHP called in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, the peaceful traffic stop quickly turned violent.

Laynez-Ambrosio began recording when CBP agents arrived, and a female officer can be heard asking if anyone in the car is an undocumented immigrant. One of Laynez-Ambrosio’s friends answered that he was. “That’s when they said, ‘OK, let’s go,'” Laynez-Ambrosio told The Guardian. Before anyone was able to exit the vehicle, CBP officers became aggressive. “[One officer] put his hand inside the window,” he said, “popped the door open, grabbed my friend by the neck and had him in a chokehold.”

In the video, he can be heard telling the officers, “You can’t grab me like that,” while three officers pull the second man from the van, and tell him to “get your fucking head down, on the ground.” When the man lands on his feet while being pulled from the vehicle, officers push him to the ground and then pull him back to his feet while one officer keeps him in a headlock. Laynez-Ambrosio, who was also forced to the ground, can be heard yelling, “That’s not how you arrest people. If y’all going to arrest people, y’all have to arrest people regular.” He then tells his friend, in Spanish, “Don’t resist. Don’t resist.” The commotion ends when an officer uses his stun gun on Laynez-Ambrosio’s friend, who falls to the ground, crying out in pain. 

“You’re scaring the dude,” Laynez-Ambrosio says to an officer shortly after. “That’s not how you arrest people.” “Why?” an officer callously responds. After asserting his “rights to talk,” an officer tells Laynez-Ambrosio, “You’ve got no rights here. You’re a migo, brother.” 

The recording continues after the three men are in custody and captures the officers’ candid remarks. A couple of officers can be heard cracking jokes about how one man smells and bragging about the stun gun use. One officer remarks on how “they’re starting to resist more now.” Another responds, “We’re going to end up shooting some of them… because they’re going to start fighting.” 

“Just remember, you can smell that [inaudible] with a $30,000 bonus,” one officer says amidst post-arrest celebrations. 

After his arrest and six-hour detention at a CBP station, Laynez-Ambrosio told The Guardian he was threatened with charges if he didn’t delete the exposing video. When he refused, he was charged with obstruction without violence for having allegedly interfered with CBP officers’ arrest—a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and one year of incarceration. He was ultimately sentenced to 10 hours of community service and a four-hour anger management course. The two undocumented men were transferred to the Krome detention center in Miami. Laynez-Ambrosio “believes they were released on bail and are awaiting a court hearing, but said it has been difficult to stay in touch with them.”

Florida has led the nation in cooperation with federal immigration authorities, sparking privacy and civil liberty concerns for both undocumented immigrants and American citizens alike. But rather than change course, the Trump administration has doubled down on mass deportation goals and recently appropriated nearly $75 billion to dramatically increase immigration detention capacity and immigration arrests to reach 3,000 arrests per day. The appropriation includes funding for hiring, retention, and performance bonuses for federal immigration officers.

“The federal government has imposed quotas for the arrest of immigrants,” Laynez-Ambrosio’s attorney, Jack Scarola, told The Guardian. “Any time law enforcement is compelled to work towards a quota, it poses a significant risk to other rights.” 

Scarola’s warning appears to be right. The Department of Homeland Security posted on Monday that it will “stop at nothing to hunt [undocumented immigrants] down.” The brutal tactics used by federal officers under the Trump administration, against mostly nonviolent immigrants—including people on their way to work and who pose no threat to public safety—will only serve to degrade constitutional protections and subject more people to the government’s abuse of power.

https://reason.com/2025/07/29/this-u-s-citizen-recorded-an-immigration-arrest-officers-told-him-to-delete-it-or-face-charges

MSNBC: Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi’s cynical, misleading attack on Judge Boasberg

Posted on by
Reply

Another crack in the foundation of American democracy.

Earlier this week, the Justice Department escalated its fight with the judiciary by filing an ethics complaint against Judge James Boasberg, the chief U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C. Boasberg is overseeing the case challenging the Trump administration’s deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a Salvadoran prison without due process. The new complaint, signed by Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi’s chief of staff, accuses Boasberg of making improper comments about President Donald Trump.

Only those wearing MAGA-tinted glasses could fail to see this complaint for what it is: another brazen attack on the rule of law and the constitutional separation of powers, and another crack in the foundation of American democracy.

The controversy began March 15, when five Venezuelans sued Trump and other administration officials to block their imminent deportation under a 2025 presidential proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act. That 1798 law allows the removal of foreign citizens when there is a “declared war … or any invasion or predatory incursion” by a foreign nation against the United States. The plaintiffs were among hundreds being deported to a country other than their homeland. They were not given an opportunity to challenge the legality of their deportation, or even to contest the government’s allegations that they were gang members. Comparing the situation to a Kafka-esque nightmare, Boasberg ordered the administration to stop the deportations.

In April, the case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled for the administration on a legal technicality regarding the proper mechanism and jurisdiction for the suit. At the same time, the court unanimously affirmed that those facing deportation must be allowed to bring a legal challenge before removal. The case was sent back to Boasberg and remains ongoing.

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Boasberg also found that the government had likely committed criminal contempt of court by willfully disobeying his order to stop deportations. He offered the government a chance to correct its contempt before referring the case for prosecution, but in April a three-judge panel from the D.C. appellate court paused the contempt proceedings without addressing the merits. Curiously, the pause has lasted for months, leaving the contempt action in limbo.

Then came Monday. The Justice Department formally accused Boasberg of committing misconduct during a national judicial conference held March 11 — before the deportation case began. The complaint alleges Boasberg “attempted to improperly influence Chief Justice [John] Roberts and roughly two dozen other federal judges” by expressing “his belief that the Trump Administration would ‘disregard rulings of federal courts’ and trigger ‘a constitutional crisis.’” In the AEA case, then, Boasberg “began acting on his preconceived belief that the Trump Administration would not follow court orders.” The DOJ argues that Boasberg’s “words and deeds” harmed “public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”

To begin with, the DOJ’s complaint is misleading: The memo it cites, summarizing the conference, says Boasberg “raised his colleagues’ concerns,” not his own. But no matter who raised the concerns, they would be right on the mark. Trump’s record of contempt for the judiciary is well established. Throughout his first term, he repeatedly criticized judges who ruled against the administration. While out of office, Trump repeatedly leveled personal attacks against not only the judges presiding over his criminal and civil cases, but even court staff and their family members. And Trump specifically called for Boasberg’s impeachment in March after the judge ordered a temporary pause in deportations.

Although Trump has publicly said that he would follow court orders, his administration’s track record on respecting judicial authority suggests otherwise. For example, in early July, the Justice Department filed an unprecedented lawsuit against the entire bench of federal judges in Maryland, challenging an administrative order issued by their chief judge regarding deportation cases. Disturbingly, there is also evidence that Emil Bove, whom the Senate confirmed Tuesday to an appellate judgeship, told DOJ prosecutors that, if necessary, they should ignore court orders that stop deportations.

Given this track record, for the Trump administration to accuse Boasberg of undermining public confidence in the judiciary is the pinnacle of hypocrisy. In truth, the complaint against Boasberg is an obvious stunt. The administration is following the old legal adage: When the facts and the law are against you, “pound the table and yell like hell.”

No matter where this complaint goes from here, it is likely to have a chilling effect on judicial independence. Judges routinely discuss their constitutional approach or emerging legal trends in public, including during Senate confirmation hearings. This complaint puts a target on the backs of judges who speak out against executive overreach or comment on other broad legal issues that could be perceived as contrary to administration policy.

It will threaten judicial independence, undermine judicial legitimacy, and ultimately show that, for this administration, legal authority depends on political loyalty rather than adherence to the rule of law.

The justices of the Supreme Court appear to at least understand this in principle. Speaking at a judicial ceremony in May, Chief Justice John Roberts emphasized judicial independence is “crucial” to “check the excesses of the Congress or the executive.” Against the backdrop of Trump’s attacks on the federal judiciary, Roberts reiterated the familiar simile that judges are like umpires, responsible for calling balls and strikes fairly and impartially.

It’s less clear whether Roberts and his colleagues are prepared to fight for that ideal. After all, when a manager’s antics — like kicking dirt at the umpire’s feet or screaming in his face — begin to undermine the integrity of the game itself, eventually even the most restrained umpire must be prepared to eject him. Without that implicit threat, the game will collapse under the bullying of any manager who is unwilling to follow the rules everyone else plays by.

No one should tolerate that: not in a sporting event and certainly not in an arena when our nation and democracy are at stake.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/justice-department-pam-bondi-judge-boasberg-rcna222067

Newsweek: Trump admin warns DACA recipients to self-deport

Posted on by
Reply

The Trump administration advised Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to self-deport and warned that they are “not automatically protected from deportation.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, told Newsweek the warning is “not new or news.”

“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] are not automatically protected from deportations,” she said. “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”

Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose state contains the highest number of DACA recipients, told Newsweek the move “highlights the Trump administration’s hypocrisy” and shows that “they do not want to detain and deport the worst of the worst.”

“Their chaos campaign is all about detaining and deporting as many people as possible without a regard to people’s legal rights, including intercepting Americans, Dreamers, kids, people with legal protections and those following immigration rules and even U.S.-born citizens into their indiscriminate dragnet.,” she said. “It’s dangerous precedent when deportations matter more than basic rights or a functional U.S. immigration system.”

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump pledged to undertake the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history on the campaign trail and quickly moved to increase immigration enforcement upon his return to the White House. However, he has offered mixed signals on DACA.

Although Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, he told NBC News’ Meet the Press last December that he wanted to find a way to allow DACA recipients to stay in the United States.

Former President Barack Obama introduced the DACA program in 2012. It offered protections and work authorization for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. But its legal status has remained in limbo for years, and the latest comments from the administration reflect the challenges faced by DACA recipients, commonly referred to as “Dreamers.”

What To Know

McLaughlin first warned that DACA recipients should self-deport in a statement provided to NPR earlier this week.

She told Newsweek on Thursday that undocumented migrants can “take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.”

“The United States is offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” she said. “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live American dream.”

The administration has not outright ended DACA, but the statement reflects a shift in policy toward these migrants from President Joe Biden‘s administration, which was more supportive of protections for Dreamers.

Reports have emerged of DACA recipients being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Erick Hernandez Rodriguez, 34, is among the DACA recipients facing deportation. DHS said he was arrested for allegedly trying to illegally cross the southern border after allegedly self-deporting. His attorney, Valerie Sigamani, said he did not self-deport and made a wrong turn while completing a ride-share trip in San Ysidro, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

He has been in the U.S. for 20 years. His wife, Nancy Rivera, is a U.S. citizen, and the couple has a daughter together and is expecting a son. He had begun the process for permanent legal resident status.

DACA recipients are required to receive advance parole before leaving the U.S. to avoid loss of protection and deportation risk. There are more than 500,000 DACA recipients living in the U.S., according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump told Meet the Press in December: “The Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the dreamers. The dreamers, we’re talking many years ago, they were brought into this country. Many years ago. Some of them are no longer young people. And in many cases, they’ve become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases, they have small businesses. Some cases they might have large businesses. And we’re going to have to do something with them.”

Anabel Mendoza, communications director for United We Dream, told NPR: “We’ve known that DACA remains a program that has been temporary. We’ve sounded the alarms over that. What we are seeing now is that DACA is being chipped away at.”

What Happens Next

DACA’s future remains in limbo, with legal challenges ongoing in federal courts and the administration continuing to enforce strict immigration statutes.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-admin-daca-recipients-self-deport-2106991