Tag Archives: ICE

Bradenton Herald: ICE Sparks Outrage: MSNBC’s Maddow Responds to Arrests

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Since January, ICE has taken nearly 150,000 people into custody, with about 100,000 having pending charges or prior convictions. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 83% of likely voters consider deporting criminal illegal immigrants important. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has criticized ICE operations, comparing them to an unaccountable police force.

Maddow’s program showed footage of ICE arrests while she criticized the agency’s aggressive enforcement methods. She stated that “the thing we were all warning about for the last few years … is here.”

Maddow said, “We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country. And it sounds melodramatic to say it, I know, but just go with that for a minute, right?” She added, “Think in melodramatic terms. Think in cinematic terms. Imagine the cartoon-level caricature of what you think a dictatorship looks like.”

Maddow concluded by noting that ICE has been “breaking people’s car windows and snatching people off the streets and at church parking lots and courtroom hallways and taking them away with no charges.”

Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza rejected claims of dictatorship and has supported tougher enforcement. D’Souza wrote, “If this is dictatorship, let’s have more of it. Of course it’s not.”

Critics have questioned ICE tactics and respect of civil liberties. Maddow said, “I mean, it’s secret police, right? A massive, anonymous, unbadged, literally masked, totally unaccountable internal police force that apparently has infinite funding but no identifiable leadership.”

D’Souza added, “Rather, the Left is furious, and alarmed, that its thugs are no longer in charge.”

The only thugs I’ve see are King Donalds goons & bully boys!

ICE Sparks Outrage: MSNBC’s Maddow Responds to Arrests
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ice-sparks-outrage-msnbc-s-maddow-responds-to-arrests/ss-AA1KE8sq

Haaretz.com: U.S. Homeland Security Accused of Posting Antisemitic Dog Whistles in ICE Recruitment Tweets

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U.S. Homeland Security Accused of Posting Antisemitic Dog Whistles in ICE Recruitment Tweets

The posts reflect a larger effort by DHS and ICE, who are seeing a massive budget increase and hiring spree under President Trump, to use nostalgic language and images depicting American ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’ as under attack from outsiders

Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security’s X account appeared to reference an antisemitic dog whistle. And it wasn’t the first time that happened this summer.

“Which way, American man?” the department’s official page posted Sunday, over a political cartoon from 1936 called “Uncle Sam at the Crossroads.”

The post, a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alluded to the phrase “Which way, Western man?” – the title of a 1978 book steeped in antisemitic conspiracy theories and explicit threats against Jews. As a social media meme, the phrase has been used to ridicule the “woke,” feminism and immigrants.

In its own X post on Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League called the “Which way” reference “the latest problematic ICE recruitment post from the X account of the Department of Homeland Security.” The ADL cited several problems with it, including the reference to the 1978 book by William Gayley Simpson, whom the organization calls a “white supremacist and antisemite.”

The “American man” post came a month after another controversial post from DHS reading “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage,” with both “H”s capitalized — an alignment that both progressive outlets and X’s own AI chatbot Grok theorized could be an illusion to “HH,” a shorthand for “Heil Hitler” deployed by neo-Nazis.

“HH capitalization … and a painting symbolizing white colonial expansion over Native lands mirrors known white supremacist dogwhistles,” Grok wrote in response to one user.

Multiple Trump administration officials have documented ties to antisemitic and white-supremacist circles and ideologies. Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, announced this week, “has repeatedly appeared in front of the massive portrait of Adolf Hitler’s favorite battleship during media interviews,” the Daily Beast reported.

Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for comment. In a statement to CNN, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “Calling everything you dislike ‘Nazi propaganda’ is tiresome,” and went on to describe the intended message of the “American man” post: “Uncle Sam, who represents America, is at a crossroads, pondering which way America should go.”

The posts reflect a larger effort by DHS and ICE, who are seeing a massive budget increase and hiring spree under President Trump, to use nostalgic language and images depicting American “culture” and “heritage” as under attack from outsiders. As part of its ICE recruitment efforts, DHS has employed numerous works of art depicting frontier life and other American idylls – often without permission from the artists or their estates.

Other images used by DHS, such as John Gast’s 1872 painting “American Progress,” are positive depictions of concepts like Manifest Destiny. DHS itself does not have such a lengthy history: It was formed in 2002 in response to the 9/11 attacks, largely by consolidating offices from other departments.

Critics from groups like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights say the DHS posts use coded language and motifs popular in online white supremacist communities, with some overlap with Christian nationalism: One video overlays a Bible verse over footage of ICE agents. DHS has claimed to receive 100,000 ICE applications since launching its campaign.

But the latest post is more overt.

“Which Way, Western Man?” argues that Western and “Nordic” culture is under threat by Jews. The book includes passages on “the Jewish-led and largely Jewish-manned movement of Communism” and “the Jewification of the West.” One chapter is titled “The Necessity of Eugenics.”

The book has since been re-published by National Vanguard Books, a neo-Nazi group that also publishes the white nationalist novel/manifesto “The Turner Diaries.”

Mike Rothschild, a Jewish researcher of conspiracy theories, wrote on X that the post was “a clear reference” to the book, which he described as “a work of staggering racism and antisemitism that argues Jews must be ‘put out and kept out’ of western society.”

The ADL also objected to DHS’s use of the 1936 cartoon by Frank Lea, which depicts Uncle Sam puzzling over signs pointing to “Inflation,” “Depression” and “Opportunity.” The DHS version replaces those signs with ones reading “Cultural Decline,” “Invasion” and “Law & Order.” Text overlaid on the image reads, “America needs you. Join ICE now.”

The alterations, the ADL said, “basically equate migrants in the U.S. with ‘cultural decay’ and ‘invasion.'” The Jewish civil rights group concludes, “A U.S. government agency should not resort to using such language and imagery for any purpose, let alone recruiting people to serve.”

Liberal Jews, largely pro-immigrant thanks to their own families’ immigrant backgrounds, have increasingly spoken out against ICE’s migrant roundup tactics, including raids at houses of worship. A recent detention center opened in the Everglades has also drawn comparisons to concentration camps.

Pam Nadell, a historian whose forthcoming book is a history of American antisemitism, told JTA that when it came to both posts, “I see the antisemitism.”

“Think of who they’re appealing to, who might be likely to want to join ICE and come and get rid of the immigrants,” Nadell said. She also saw significance in using a New Deal-era cartoon but replacing the name of Franklin Roosevelt’s anti-poverty program with “Cultural Decline.” Roosevelt’s critics, she said, were often antisemitic.

“In the ’30s, the attacks on the New Deal, the attacks on Roosevelt, the charges that he was controlled and manipulated by a cabal of Jews, that’s part of the right-wing attack against the New Deal,” she said. “So the fact that they’re replacing that attack with ‘Cultural Decline,’ that’s the same kind of right-wing attack. Back then, it was on the government; now it’s on civil society.”

U.S. Homeland Security Accused of Posting Antisemitic Dog Whistles in ICE Recruitment Tweets
The posts reflect a larger effort by DHS and ICE, who are seeing a massive budget increase and hiring spree under President Trump, to use nostalgic language and images depicting American ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’ as under attack from outsiders

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u-s-homeland-security-accused-of-posting-antisemitic-dog-whistles-in-ice-recruitment-tweets/ar-AA1KEjV9

MSN: Government agency’s social media post under fire for using unlicensed music and media

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Government agency’s social media post under fire for using unlicensed music and media
America’s Department of Homeland Security isn’t just enforcing immigration law—it’s also making memes on X and Instagram, posting migrant mugshots, ICE recruitment ads, and “humorous” content. Many of these posts borrow images, music, and clips from artists, TV shows, and airlines without permission, including a South Park still and a use of Jess Glynne’s song “Hold My Hand.” Both the show’s creators and Glynne publicly criticized DHS, highlighting the misuse of content meant for satire or positivity. DHS hasn’t directly addressed copyright concerns, instead claiming it’s “bypassing the mainstream media to give Americans the facts.” Experts say claiming fair use is difficult when promoting a government agenda, and licenses on social platforms often don’t cover organizational use, meaning DHS would still need permission. So far, a few videos have had music muted, but no formal lawsuits have been filed, though other agencies have faced similar pushback for unlicensed use of music.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/government-agency-s-social-media-post-under-fire-for-using-unlicensed-music-and-media/vi-AA1KBXSO

Salon: Mom and child detained over visa error released from US facility

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Legal US resident and 6-year-old son detained for weeks after visa paperwork issue, now released from ICE custody

A New Zealand woman and her six-year-old son have finally been released from U.S. custody after spending nearly four weeks in immigration detention over a visa paperwork issue.

Sarah Shaw, who has lived in Washington state for three years, was stopped by border officials on July 24 while re-entering the country from Canada. She had dropped off her older children at Vancouver airport to visit their grandparents in New Zealand, when officers flagged her “combo card” visa. The document allowed her to work legally in the U.S., but another portion of her petition, filed under the Violence Against Women Act, was still pending.

Her son’s paperwork was approved, but because of the anti-family separation policies, he remained in custody as well, despite her request for his father or a friend to pick him up and take him home.

Instead of permitting her to return home, Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred Shaw and her son to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, about 2,000 miles from her residence. Advocates say conditions were harsh. Shaw’s phone was confiscated. She was locked into a room each night with her son, and she was denied access to her own clothing.

Her case drew swift criticism from supporters, including the Washington Federation of State Employees, the union she belongs to. They argued that detention was unnecessary and harmful, especially since her son’s visa had already been approved. Immigration attorneys also noted that ICE had the discretion to release Shaw on parole while her paperwork was finalized.

Shaw’s family in New Zealand and friends in the U.S. spoke out during her detention, raising concerns about the impact on her child and calling the ordeal “traumatizing.”

On August 16, Shaw and her son were released and returned to Washington. Their experience has fueled broader debate over immigration enforcement and the risks families face when caught in administrative gaps.

Mom and child detained over visa error released from US facility – Salon.com
Legal US resident and 6-year-old son detained for weeks after visa paperwork issue, now released from ICE custody

https://www.salon.com/2025/08/16/mom-and-child-detained-over-visa-error-released-from-us-facility

The State: Child with stage 4 cancer deported by ICE despite being US citizen, lawsuit says

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A 4-year-old boy’s ongoing care for stage 4 kidney cancer was interrupted when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers illegally deported him, his sister and mother “without even a semblance of due process,” attorneys for the family say.

Though they are U.S. citizens and were born Louisiana, the boy and his 7-year-old sister were deported to Honduras along with their 25-year-old mother, who is a Honduran citizen, on April 25, according to a federal lawsuit filed in the Middle District of Louisiana on July 31. The filing uses pseudonyms for the family, referring to the brother and sister as Romeo and Ruby and their mother as Rosario.

Before their deportations, Romeo, now 5, was receiving “life-saving” treatment at a New Orleans children’s hospital for his “rare and aggressive form” of cancer, following his diagnosis at age 2, a complaint says.

“As a direct consequence of ICE’s unlawful conduct, Romeo was deprived of much-needed continuity in his treatment, and he has faced substantial health risks due to his inability to access emergency specialized care and the routine critical oncological care that was available to him in the United States,” his family’s attorneys wrote in the complaint.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Romeo and his family, as well as a second family also wrongly deported by ICE under similar circumstances on April 25, according to the National Immigration Project, Gibson Dunn, Most & Associates, and Ware Immigration, groups representing the case.

The second family includes Julia, 30, a mother from Honduras. She has two daughters, Jade, 2, a U.S. citizen born in Baton Rouge, and Janelle, 11, also a Honduran citizen. Those names are also pseudonyms.

The same week of both families’ deportations, Rosario and Julia separately went to what they thought were supposed to be “regularly scheduled check-ins” with an ICE contractor.

However, officers with ICE apprehended both women and their children “in hotel rooms” in secret, the National Immigration Project said in a July 31 news release.

ICE “denied them the opportunity to speak to family and make decisions about or arrangements for their minor children, denied them access to counsel, and deported them within less than a day in one case and just over 2 days in the other,” the advocacy organization said.

According to the lawsuit, ICE did not let Rosario or Julia decide whether they wanted their children to come with them to Honduras or to make arrangements for them to stay in the U.S. with other loved ones.

“Given Romeo’s cancer and specialized medical needs, Rosario wanted both of her U.S. citizen children to remain in the United States,” the complaint says.

DHS, however, maintains both women wanted their children with them.

In response to McClatchy News’ request for comment for DHS and ICE on Aug. 11, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “the media and Democrat politicians are force-feeding the public false information that U.S. citizen children are being deported. This is false and irresponsible.”

“Rather than separate their families, ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates,” McLaughlin added. “The parents in this instance made the determination to take their children with them back to Honduras.”

The lawsuit has been brought against Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE and ICE Director Todd Lyons, as well as New Orleans ICE Field Office Director Brian Acuna, the office’s Assistant Field Office Director Scott Ladwig and the office’s former director, Mellissa Harper.

Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre declined to comment.

‘Detained and deported U.S. citizens’

After being deported in April, Rosario said in a statement shared in National Immigration Project’s news release that life in Hondorus has been “incredibly hard.”

“I don’t have the resources to care for my children the way they need,” Rosario said.

The morning of April 25, ICE officers are accused of waking Rosario, Romeo and Ruby and forcing them into a van.

They drove them to an airport in the Alexandria area and had them flown to Honduras, the lawsuit says.

With her son still in need of specialized treatment for his cancer, which had spread to his lungs, she has to send Romeo “back and forth” from Honduras to the U.S. for care, without her, according to the complaint.

“Even though she has very limited financial resources, Rosario has already had to pay for flights and travel companions to enable her children to return to the United States for Romeo’s necessary medical appointments,” the complaint says.

Romeo, whose health has worsened, has been temporarily staying in the U.S. for cancer treatment, according to the filing.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that ICE wrongly arrested, detained and deported Rosario, Romeo and Ruby, as well as Julia, Jade and Janelle, in violation of their constitutional rights.

“This whole situation has been incredibly stressful,” Julia, who is married to a U.S. citizen, the father of her daughters, said in a statement shared by the National Immigration Project.

“Returning to Honduras has meant leaving my husband behind, and that’s been very hard,” she added.

In a statement to McClatchy News, National Immigration Project attorney Stephanie Alvarez-Jones said “ICE put these families through a series of incredibly traumatizing experiences, taking actions that are completely shocking from a human perspective and illegal even by ICE’s own standards.”

“ICE denied these families the fundamental opportunity to make meaningful choices about the care and custody of their children, and detained and deported U.S. citizens in flagrant violation of its own policy and the law,” Alvarez-Jones added.

The families are seeking an unspecified amount in damages and demand a jury trial.

Child with stage 4 cancer deported by ICE despite being US citizen, lawsuit says

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/child-with-stage-4-cancer-deported-by-ice-despite-being-us-citizen-lawsuit-says/ar-AA1Knodq

Newsweek: Trump supporter detained by ICE Agents regrets vote: “Were all brainwashed”

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A California man who voted for President Donald Trump has spoken out after being detained by immigration agents.

Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old American citizen from Montebello, joined a lawsuit challenging immigration enforcement tactics after federal agents detained him on June 12, NBC 4 Los Angeles reported.

“I truly believe I was targeted because of my race,” Gavidia told the outlet, adding elsewhere in the interview, “We were all brainwashed.”

“While conducting a lawful immigration enforcement operation in Montebello, CA, Brian Gavidia was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with agents during their duties,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek.

“Javier Ramirez was detained on the street for investigation for interference and released after being confirmed to be a U.S. citizen with no outstanding warrants,” she added.

Why It Matters

Millions of Americans voted for Trump in support of his promise to carry out widespread deportations of migrants living in the U.S. illegally, particularly those with criminal records. As immigration enforcement efforts ramp up across the country, concerns are mounting that the Trump administration is not, as it pledged, targeting the “worst first.”

Newsweek has documented several cases of Trump supporters being affected by the immigration raids.

What To Know

Gavidia voted for Trump, believing that his administration’s immigration agenda would target criminals, not everyday citizens, NBC 4 Los Angeles reported.

He told the outlet that during an immigration enforcement operation in the San Gabriel Valley, a federal agent pushed him against a wall and demanded proof of citizenship, asking him the name of the hospital where he was born.

Footage circulating on social media shows Gavidia shouting, “I was born here in the states, East LA bro!”

The video shows agents, who are wearing vests with “Border Patrol Federal Agent” on them, holding Gavidia’s hands behind his back.

Agents allegedly confiscated his Real ID and phone. Gavidia was later released and recovered his phone, but he said he never received his ID.

Convinced he was targeted because of his Latino heritage, Gavidia now rejects his prior support for the president.

“I believe it was a mistake because he ran on lies,” Gavidia said. “He said criminals.”

“If this was going to happen, do you think we would have voted? We’re humans. We’re not going to destroy our community. We’re not going to destroy our people,” he continued.

“We were all manipulated. We were all brainwashed,” Gavidia told NBC 4 Los Angeles. “And now look at us. We are all suffering because of it, and I feel guilty 100 percent.”

Gavidia is among seven plaintiffs in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that resulted in a court order limiting when federal agents can initiate immigration enforcement.

The filing requested that the court prohibit raids conducted without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. It also said agents concentrated operations in places where Latino workers were often found, such as local car washes and outside Home Depot locations.

California has been a key battleground state for immigration enforcement operations after Trump ordered federal agents to ramp up arrests in Democratic cities.

On August 1, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary restraining order, originally issued by a federal judge, that placed limits on how the federal government could carry out immigration enforcement operations in Southern California.

An attorney for the Trump administration argued before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, seeking a stay of the temporary restraining order while the case was appealed. The panel denied the request.

The decision upholds a July 11 ruling granting a restraining order sought by immigrant rights advocates to limit federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and other areas of Southern California. Under Judge Maame E. Frimpong’s directive, officers and agents may not detain individuals unless they have reasonable suspicion that the person is in the United States in violation of immigration law.

What People Are Saying

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek: “Any allegations that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are FALSE. What makes someone a target is if they are in the United States illegally. These types of disgusting smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. This kind of garbage has led to a more than 1,000 percent increase in the assaults on ICE officers. Politicians and activists must turn the temperature down and tone down their rhetoric.

“DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.

“We will follow the President’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets.”

Brian Gavidia told NBC 4 Los Angeles: “I believe I was racially profiled. I believe I was attacked because I was walking while brown. Where is the freedom? Where is the justice? We live in America. This is why I’m fighting today. This is why I’m protecting the Constitution.”

What Happens Next

Despite the legal restrictions, immigration raids continue. The Trump administration has appealed the Ninth Circuit’s decision that upheld the temporary restraining order. The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether to lift or uphold the restrictions limiting broad-based immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.

Trump supporter detained by ICE Agents regrets vote: “Were all brainwashed”
“I truly believe I was targeted because of my race,” Brian Gavidia of Montebello, California, told NBC 4 Los Angeles.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-supporter-detained-ice-agents-immigration-2112676

KTLA: ICE officers barred from using deceptive tactics in Southern California home raids

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are no longer allowed to identify themselves as local police or use deceptive tactics during home arrests in Southern California, following a court-approved settlement reached in a class action lawsuit.

The settlement, approved Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II in Kidd v. Noem, prohibits ICE officers in the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office from falsely claiming to be state or local law enforcement or misrepresenting the nature of their visit in order to enter a home or persuade a resident to come outside.

The case was filed in 2020 by Osny Sorto-Vazquez Kidd and two immigrant advocacy organizations, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of ICE’s home arrest practices in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.

Under the agreement, ICE officers may not claim to be conducting criminal investigations, probation or parole checks, or other public safety inquiries unless those claims are accurate. Officers are also prohibited from using pretexts, such as suggesting a problem with a resident’s vehicle, to lure individuals outside.

“This settlement makes clear immigration officers are not above the Constitution and will be held accountable for their deceptive practices,” said Diana Sanchez, a staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, which represented the plaintiffs. “We’ll be monitoring to ensure ICE does not violate the rights of our community members.”

As part of the settlement, ICE officers in the Los Angeles Field Office must wear visible identifiers clearly labeling them as “ICE” whenever they display the word “POLICE” on their uniforms. The measure aims to prevent confusion among residents and reduce the possibility that individuals might mistake federal immigration agents for local law enforcement.

“For far too long, ICE disrespected the privacy of community members by taking shortcuts around the Constitution’s requirement that law enforcement have a warrant signed by a judge to enter a home,” said Annie Lai, director of the Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic at the UC Irvine School of Law. “Thanks to this settlement, ICE must now be transparent about who they are if they don’t have a warrant and want to speak with someone at their home.”

The settlement also mandates new training protocols. ICE must inform all Los Angeles Field Office officers of the new policies through broadcast messages and regular trainings. Officers will be required to document certain details when conducting home arrests, and ICE must share those records with class counsel to ensure compliance. This oversight will remain in place for three years.

The Los Angeles Field Office covers seven counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

The settlement follows a related court ruling issued in May 2024, which found that ICE officers and Homeland Security Investigations agents may not enter the private area around a home, known legally as the “curtilage,” without a judicial warrant or consent if their intent is to make a warrantless arrest. The combined effect of the two rulings significantly limits ICE’s authority to carry out home arrests without judicial oversight.

Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, said the decision brings meaningful safeguards. “By prohibiting ICE agents from using trickery, for example, falsely claiming that there is an issue with a resident’s vehicle, to lure people out of their homes, this settlement protects all its occupants and creates a safer community.”

Lizbeth Abeln, deputy director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, called the agreement a long overdue victory.

“For years, we’ve heard the testimonies: ICE agents impersonating local police, showing up at people’s doors, lying about their purpose, and using fear to tear families apart,” she said. “ICE can no longer use deception to target our communities.”

Giovanni Saarman González, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and counsel for the plaintiffs, said the settlement, combined with the earlier ruling, offers meaningful relief to the classes and the broader Southern California community.

ICE officers barred from using deceptive tactics in Southern California home raids
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are no longer allowed to identify themselves as local police or use deceptive tactics during home arrests in Southern California, following a court…

https://ktla.com/news/california/ice-officers-barred-deceptive-tactics-home-raids

KEYT: Nursing mother unlawfully detained by ICE, attorney says

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The attorneys for a nursing mother in the Twin Cities who has spent more than three weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody argue she is unlawfully detained and will petition in federal court on Tuesday for her release.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, 26, has two young children who are U.S. citizens and lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and was taken into custody on July 17. Gloria Contreras Edin and Hannah Brown, who are representing her pro bono, submitted a writ of habeas corpus petition challenging her continued detention.

They argue she should be released on bond in accordance with an immigration judge’s earlier decision on July 31, to which the Department of Homeland Security filed an automatic stay, which has kept her in the Kandiyohi County Jail.

“I’ve had over 1,000 cases before the immigration courts, and in all of my years and in all of my experience, I haven’t seen anything like this before, especially when someone is lactating, has small baby at home, no criminal history, and then being detained for so long,” Contreras Edin said in an interview. “It just goes against ICE’s policies. It just seems wrong.”

There is a hearing on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in St. Paul seeking emergency relief. In court filings, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Maldonado’s detention is “fully supported by statute, regulation and the Constitution” and that “her detention is lawful because she is an applicant for admission who is not ‘clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted’ to the United States,” writing that Maldonado “herself does not claim that she has lawful status to remain in the United States.”

The government is asking the judge to reject the motion for a temporary restraining order.

“We should respect the fact that our country can and should enforce immigration laws. I think that’s important,” Contreras Edin said. “But I also think that we should recognize an element of humanitarian interests and concerns, right? We don’t want a US citizen baby being deprived of his mother’s milk. This is about a mother and a baby.”

Maldonado came to the U.S. as a teenager in 2017 and had a removal order in 2019 for failing to attend a hearing. But an immigration judge reopened her case last year after finding she wasn’t given notice of that court appearance, her attorney said.

Since then, she has been doing “everything right,” Contreras Edin explained, and filed for asylum, obtained work authorization and has no criminal history. Her arrest on July 17 came as a surprise.

“In my practice during removal proceedings, someone like Ms. Maldonado would have normally been released on a bond and then proceed with a non-detained docket, and would have been allowed to appear before an immigration judge while being able to be with her family and her children,” she said.

Contreras Edin described her client as depressed and distraught and said she has to pump breast milk and dump it in the sink.

“She’s imagining the wailing of her baby every night, and that’s what she goes to bed to, and now her milk is turning green,” she said.

Her children are currently staying with relatives.

When asked about Maldonado’s case, a spokesperson for ICE provided the following statement to WCCO: “By statute, we have no information on this person.”

Contreras Edin said she is hopeful a judge will authorize the release of Maldonado, pointing to a similar case involving a Turkish graduate student at the University of Minnesota who was detained by ICE and later released.

Nursing mother unlawfully detained by ICE, attorney says | News Channel 3-12
By Caroline Cummings Click here for updates on this story TWIN CITIES, Minnesota (WCCO) — The attorneys for a nursing mother in
Nursing mother unlawfully detained by ICE, attorney says

NBC News: U.S. citizen detained by ICE in L.A. says she wasn’t given water for 24 hours

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Andrea Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. The DOJ later dismissed her case.

A U.S. citizen who was detained by immigration agents and accused of obstructing an arrest before her case was ultimately dismissed said she is still traumatized by what happened.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Andrea Velez in downtown Los Angeles on June 24. She was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect.

The Justice Department dismissed her case without prejudice. It did not immediately reply to a request for comment Tuesday.

Velez, a production coordinator for a shoe company, recalled seeing federal agents when her mother and sister dropped her off at work.

“It was like a scene,” she told NBC Los Angeles. “They were just ready to attack and chase.”

Velez said someone grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. She said that she tried to tell the agent, who was in plainclothes, that she was a citizen but that he told her she “was interfering with what he was doing, so he was going to arrest me.”

“That’s when I asked him to show me his ID, his badge number,” she said. “I asked him if he had a warrant, and he said I didn’t need to know any of that.”

A federal criminal complaint alleged that an agent was chasing a man and that Velez stepped into the agent’s path and extended her arm “in an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending the male subject he was chasing.”

The complaint said Velez’s arm hit the agent in the face.

Velez said she denied any wrongdoing and insisted she was a U.S. citizen. She was taken to a detention center in downtown Los Angeles, where she gave officers her driver’s license and her health insurance card, but she was still booked into jail, she said.

She said she spent two days in the detention center, where she had nothing to drink for 24 hours.

Velez said that the ordeal traumatized her and that she has not been able to physically return to work.

“I’m taking things day by day,” she told NBC Los Angeles.

Her attorneys told the station that they are exploring legal options against the federal government.

Her story echoes those of others who have said they were wrongfully detained by immigration agents under President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.

Job Garcia, a Ph.D. student and photographer, said he was immigration agents tackled him and threw him to the ground for recording a raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles. He was held for more than 24 hours before his release. In July, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said it was seeking $1 million in damages, alleging that Garcia was assaulted and falsely imprisoned.

In June, a deputy U.S. marshal was briefly detained in the lobby of a federal building in Tucson, Arizona, because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE,” the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.

And in May, Georgia college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal was granted bond after she was detained by immigration agents after local police pulled over the wrong car during a traffic stop.

U.S. citizen detained by ICE in L.A. says she wasn’t given water for 24 hours
Andrea Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. The DOJ later dismissed her case.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna224493

Democracy Now: Community Organizer Slams “Fascist ICE Agents” After Arrest of U.S. Citizen Documenting Raids

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Community Organizer Slams “Fascist ICE Agents” After Arrest of U.S. Citizen Documenting Raids
As immigration raids and arrests continue to terrorize communities across the United States, we look at grassroots efforts to fight back. ICE has faced widespread backlash over the arrest of community advocates swept up while documenting raids across the country, many of them U.S. citizens. In Los Angeles, nurse and community activist Amanda Trebach was released from federal custody this weekend without criminal charges, after she was violently arrested early Friday morning while recording the operations of federal immigration agents in the area. Trebach, who is part of the community group Unión del Barrio, was released Saturday after intense community pressure.
“This is just another example of the Trump administration and their fascist ICE agents — or whoever they are, because they’re unidentified — violating the rights and breaking the law that they’re supposed to protect,” says Ron Gochez, an organizer with Unión del Barrio.

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/11/los_angeles