Tag Archives: ICE

Rolling Stone: Trump’s ICE Spent Half a Million on Tricked-Out Trucks for a Hype Video

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The vehicles, purchased for “recruitment purposes,” were styled to look like Trump’s private jet — another big expense

Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is flush with cash after the president signed his so-called Big Beautiful Bill, so it should probably come as no surprise that the agency has decided to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on new trucks to showcase in social media posts. 

The Department of Homeland Security posted a video Thursday on X featuring music by rapper DaBaby and footage of a Ford Raptor pickup truck and GMC Yukon SUV traveling the streets of Washington, D.C., and parked outside the White House and the U.S. Capitol. The trucks, which have the same color scheme as Trump’s private jet, sport ICE’s logo and the phrase: “Defend the Homeland.” The words “President Donald J. Trump” appear on the back window of at least one of the vehicles.

The Homeland Security Department’s thread directs users to ICE’s job recruiting website, as it works toward hiring 10,000 officers. Another post with images of the trucks declares: “We will have our country back.”

In the past two weeks, Trump’s administration spent $384,000 on new Ford Raptors and GMC Yukons for “recruitment purposes,” according to federal procurement data. The administration also spent $182,000 this week on “graphic wrap design and application for law enforcement vehicles.” 

Under the Big Beautiful Bill, Trump’s legislation to slash taxes for the rich and health care for the poor, the administration received tens of billions of dollars to hire thousands of new ICE agents. Trump officials are now seeking to recruit agents all over the country, from coast to coast, border to border, to supercharge the president’s militarized immigration crackdown.

The decision to parade new ICE trucks around the nation’s capital comes as Trump has troops in the streets and is leading a federal takeover of Washington because a group of teenagers allegedly beat up a Trump administration staffer known as “Big Balls.”

A $560,000 expense on trucks and wraps the administration can use in social media posts looks downright frugal compared to the $200 million that DHS is spending on ads thanking Trump for deporting immigrants. (Those ad buys are being placed by the firm that bought most of the ads for Trump’s 2024 campaign.)

The Trump administration also spent up to $45 million on a military parade through D.C. on the president’s birthday.

Trump’s ICE Spent Half a Million on Tricked-Out Trucks for a Hype Video
It should probably come as no surprise that Trump’s admin would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on new trucks to showcase on social media.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-ice-spent-tricked-out-trucks-hype-video-social-media-1235408281

Newsweek: Green card holder detained by ICE says food not fit for his dog

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Agreen card holder detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has told Newsweek that conditions at the Houston Detention Center are harsh, saying the food served is so poor that he wouldn’t even give it to his dog.

Deon Lewis, who has lived in the United States since 1993, was taken into ICE custody on June 17. He has criminal convictions for cocaine possession, firearm offenses, multiple drug-related charges and driving without a license, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

He has faced serious medical challenges, including sickle cell disease and two lung surgeries due to pneumothorax. Lewis requested to be deported after struggling to live inside the ICE-run facility.

“The conditions in the Houston Detention Center are terrible. From the health care to the food they feed us. This food my dog wouldn’t even eat,” he told Newsweek from inside ICE custody.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations.

“There is black mold growing in the showers and bathroom floors. The air quality is horrible,” Lewis said.

“Some guards treat us like animals. Not all of them, but I think they try their best to keep us as uncomfortable as they possibly can,” he said.

“These facilities they are holding these people in are not set up correctly for humans to be held in. The conditions are not humane,” he added.

His wife, Roxanne Lewis, told Newsweek, “I have had many nights not being able to sleep from the worry about his health.”

She said that during transfers between detention centers—from Baltimore to New Jersey, Boston, Louisiana and finally Houston—he was denied proper medical attention. She recounted one incident in Louisiana when a nurse allegedly laughed while he vomited on the floor.

President Donald Trump has directed his administration to remove millions of migrants without legal status as he seeks to fulfill his campaign pledge of widespread mass deportations. In addition to people living in the country without legal status, immigrants with valid documentation, including green cards and visas, have been detained.

Lewis has a criminal record dating back to 2002, when he was arrested for cocaine possession, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation, according to the Houston Chronicle. In 2020, he faced additional charges, including possession of marijuana and cocaine and carrying a firearm, the outlet reported.

DHS has defended Lewis’ detention, emphasizing his criminal history and ICE’s commitment to providing medical care and maintaining humane conditions for detainees.

“The fake news refuses to report on Americans raped, murdered, and molested by criminal illegal aliens but maintain their 24-7 news cycle peddling false sob stories for dangerous lawbreakers—like Deon Kevon Lewis,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS.

She continued: “Lewis is a 43-year-old convicted DRUG TRAFFICKER from Trinidad and Tobago, with multiple convictions including for cocaine trafficking, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and driving without a license and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

“ICE provides all detainees access to comprehensive medical, dental and mental health care to include conducting an intake screening within 12 hours of their arrival at each detention facility. DHS takes its commitment to promote safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”

Despite DHS’s assurances, Lewis said his experience in detention had been painful and disheartening.

“I am still here being detained, praying to be deported back to my birth country. I am paying for a crime I committed 23 years ago. I paid my dues to society, for the wrong I had done & don’t deserve this,” he said.

His wife described the toll the detention has had on the family, saying: “We are all feeling as a family very depressed. Being without Deon has been extremely difficult. He is a loving Father, Husband, Son, & Friend to many. He isn’t the ‘public safety threat’ as they are trying to portray him as. He is always willing to help someone in need.”

Green card holder detained by ICE says food not fit for his dog
“This food my dog wouldn’t even eat,” Deon Lewis told Newsweek from inside ICE custody.

https://www.newsweek.com/green-card-holder-detained-ice-food-2114892

Washington Post: Eligible for asylum in Canada, stuck in ICE detention

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Three members of an Afghan family, including a man who worked for the U.S. military, could be eligible for asylum in Canada. ICE won’t release them.

They trekked through a dozen countries, from Asia to South America, on horseback across the perilous Darien Gap and up through Central America to Mexico.

Members of Afghanistan’s persecuted Shiite Hazara minority, the family — a man who worked for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, his wife and three of their children — spent months in Mexico trying to schedule an appointment with U.S. immigration authorities through the Biden administration’s CBP One app, to no avail.

Eligible for asylum in Canada, stuck in ICE detention
Three members of an Afghan family, including a man who worked for the U.S. military, could be eligible for asylum in Canada. ICE won’t release them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/18/canada-afghan-migrants-ice-detention

Money Talks News: “There’s No Way This Is Going to Happen to Us” : Army Sergeant, Before ICE Deports His Wife

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“There’s No Way This Is Going to Happen to Us”: Army Sergeant, Before ICE Deports His Wife
Immigration enforcement actions are separating military families despite ongoing legal processes for citizenship. The War Horse investigation reveals how thousands of service members face difficult choices between military service and family unity.

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer: ICE Detains 16 Hmong, Laotian Immigrants

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained 16 Hmong and Laotian immigrants in Michigan, transferring them to facilities in Louisiana and Texas. Advocates have criticized the agency’s aggressive tactics, citing some detainees’ longstanding residence in the U.S. Deportations to Laos are reportedly underway following the acquisition of travel documents.

DHS said, “This operation resulted in the arrest of multiple criminal illegal aliens, including child sex abusers, drug traffickers, a known gang member who obstructed a murder investigation, and other Laotian nationals with extensive criminal histories.”

ICE reported that 15 individuals were arrested following summonses to its Detroit field office, including one later arrest at a Lansing workplace. The group reportedly included a known gang member, child sex offenders, and drug traffickers.

Authorities noted that Laos and Thailand have accepted more deportees following U.S. pressure under President Donald Trump. More than two dozen Michigan lawmakers and a Detroit council member urged Field Office Director Kevin Raycraft to release the detainees.

Families have said several detainees arrived as children or were born in refugee camps. Supporters have highlighted that many serve caregiving roles, while ICE has emphasized that the individuals have felony convictions and active judicial removal orders.

Advocates have argued that arrests at scheduled meetings may erode trust with immigrant communities. ICE asserted that it will execute final removal orders once travel documents are finalized.

Rep. Donovan McKinney (D-MI) wrote, “It’s cruel, it’s wrong, it’s unjust, and it must end. We are calling for their release. Families belong together, not torn apart in secrecy. We also call for transparency and accountability so these horrific events stop happening. Deportation doesn’t just impact one person; it tears at the fabric of entire communities.”

Authorities noted that Laos and Thailand have accepted more deportees following U.S. pressure under President Donald Trump. More than two dozen Michigan lawmakers and a Detroit council member urged Field Office Director Kevin Raycraft to release the detainees.

Families have said several detainees arrived as children or were born in refugee camps. Supporters have highlighted that many serve caregiving roles, while ICE has emphasized that the individuals have felony convictions and active judicial removal orders.

Advocates have argued that arrests at scheduled meetings may erode trust with immigrant communities. ICE asserted that it will execute final removal orders once travel documents are finalized.

Rep. Donovan McKinney (D-MI) wrote, “It’s cruel, it’s wrong, it’s unjust, and it must end. We are calling for their release. Families belong together, not torn apart in secrecy. We also call for transparency and accountability so these horrific events stop happening. Deportation doesn’t just impact one person; it tears at the fabric of entire communities.”

McKinney added, “We’re talking about small businesses losing a valued employee, elders losing caregivers, children losing a parent or grandparent. … These individuals are our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, our fellow Michiganders.”

ICE Detains 16 Hmong, Laotian Immigrants

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-detains-16-hmong-laotian-immigrants/ss-AA1KHlJ6

News Nation: NYC student, 7, and family detained by ICE: ‘Should be getting ready for school’

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New York Attorney General Letitia James also took to social media, saying, “This administration is ripping families apart. It’s cruel, inhumane, and wrong.”

ICE is detaining a 7-year-old girl and her immediate family, sources confirmed to Nexstar’s WPIX Saturday morning.

The 7-year-old, a student at a New York City Public School, and her mother were sent to an ICE detention center in Texas. Her 19-year-old brother remains in ICE custody in New Jersey, officials said.

“It is disgusting that a child would be taken into ICE detention this way,” Queens City Councilman Shekat Krishanan said in an interview with WPIX. “She should be with her mom, getting ready for school in a couple of weeks. She should be buying school supplies.”

This is the first known ICE arrest of a New York City child under 18, Krishnan said in a social media post.

The student’s name, which is not being released due to her age, was a student at Public School 89 in Queens.

The detention, first reported by the nonprofit news outlet The City, isn’t the first time ICE has detained a New York City public school student after they had been in the vicinity of the federal building.

WPIX did not immediately receive a response from federal authorities regarding the detainments but, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement shared with The City, the girl’s mother illegally entered the U.S. from Ecuador in 2022.

Mamadou Diallo, another New York City student, was detained by ICE during a routine hearing, City Council Member Lincoln Restler said.‘

Other cases of New York City students being detained have also been reported, prompting New York City Public Schools to issue the following statement:

“New York City Public Schools stands with all of our students, and we are committed to supporting every child and family in our system. When we hear about a family that is being detained, we have – with their permission – connected them with community and agency partners who can offer legal support and other resources. We want to reassure all families: our schools are safe, welcoming places, and we encourage you to continue sending your children to school, where they are cared for and valued.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James also took to social media, saying, “This administration is ripping families apart. It’s cruel, inhumane, and wrong.”

NYC student, 7, and family detained by ICE: ‘Should be getting ready for school’
It is believed to be the first ICE arrest of a child under the age of 18 in New York City.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/nyc-student-7-and-family-detained-by-ice-should-be-getting-ready-for-school/amp

MSNBC: Fanone to ICE officers: silence is complicity – ‘quit your job’

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Fanone to ICE officers: silence is complicity – ‘quit your job’
Retired DC Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone was attacked by rioters on January 6th, a violent day that President Trump does not connect to DC’s alleged crime problem. Fanone joins Ali Velshi to react to the disproportionate response from the White House on what they deem a “dire public safety crisis” that requires a federal police force, warning “ICE is Donald Trump’s police department.”

Kansas City Star: Trump Suffers Double Legal Blow

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District Judge Jennifer Thurston has ordered the release of Syrian asylum seeker Salam Maklad and barred her rearrest without constitutional safeguards. Advocates have raised concerns that contested grant rules are disrupting essential services, while officials have noted that the cases have tested federal authority.

In addition to Thurston’s decision, U.S. District Judge William Smith has blocked new Justice Department grant conditions related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and transgender rights. Both rulings represent legal blows to the Trump administration, as they directly challenge and overturn key policy actions.

Both rulings, issued this month, limit the administration’s ability to enforce its immigration and social policy priorities. Critics say this highlights judicial checks on executive authority despite Republican control in Congress and the White House.

Thurston wrote, “Respondents are PERMANENTLY ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED from re-arresting or re-detaining Ms. Maklad absent compliance with constitutional protections, which include at a minimum, pre-deprivation notice—describing the change of circumstances necessitating her arrest—and detention, and a timely bond hearing.”

Thurston added, “At any such hearing, the Government SHALL bear the burden of establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that Ms. Maklad poses a danger to the community or a risk of flight, and Ms. Maklad SHALL be allowed to have her counsel present.”

Thurston ordered Maklad’s release after an ICE check-in triggered her detention, noting she has no criminal history and is not a flight risk. She barred ICE from rearresting Maklad without notice of changed circumstances and a timely bond hearing.

Smith granted preliminary relief to 17 nonprofits challenging updated Office on Violence Against Women grant terms. He found the conditions likely arbitrary under federal law.

Smith wrote, “On the one hand, if the Court does not grant preliminary relief, then the Coalitions will face real and immediate irreparable harm from the challenged conditions, conditions which the Court has already concluded likely violate the APA.”

Smith added, “This could result in the disruption of important and, in some cases, life saving services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. On the other hand, if the Court grants preliminary relief, then the Office will simply have to consider grant applications and award funding as it normally does.”

Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said, “The Justice Department should be exploring what they can be doing to keep people and communities safe, not threatening funding for local and community organizations with proven results.”

Trump Suffers Double Legal Blow

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-suffers-double-legal-blow/ss-AA1KGtBW

Daily Beast: U.S. Citizen: I Was Seized by ICE and Held for Days Without Water

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Andrea Velez spent two days in a Los Angeles detention center despite telling ICE officers that she is a U.S. citizen.

An American citizen has told how she was held by ICE for 48 hours, claiming she was denied water despite proving her legal status.

Andrea Velez, 32, had just arrived at work in Downtown Los Angeles on June 24 when agents grabbed her and forced her into a car.

Velez told NBC4 News Los Angeles that an immigration raid was going on when she was slammed to the ground. Velez, a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, who works in fashion was taken into custody while her mother, Margarita Flores, screamed at agents to stop.

“She’s a U.S. citizen,” Velez’s mother, an immigrant from Mexico, said through tears. “They’re taking her. Help her, someone.”

Velez said she was sitting in a detention center and was given nothing to drink for 24 hours. In total she spent two days in detention. She said that the ordeal has left her unable to physically return to work.

“I’m taking things day by day,” she told the station.

The incident had been notorious from the beginning. LAPD officers were called to the scene because it was reported as a “kidnapping” but did not intervene when it became clear it was an ICE action—even though it was against a U.S. citizen, ABC& Los Angeles previously reported.

Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. A federal criminal complaint alleged that the agent was chasing after a man but 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 added that her arm hit the agent in the face.

The incident had been notorious from the beginning. LAPD officers were called to the scene because it was reported as a “kidnapping” but did not intervene when it became clear it was an ICE action—even though it was against a U.S. citizen, ABC& Los Angeles previously reported.

Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. A federal criminal complaint alleged that the agent was chasing after a man but 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 added that her arm hit the agent in the face.

Velez denied wrongdoing. She said that during the incident, someone grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. She tried to tell the agent, who was in plainclothes, that she was an American citizen. But he told her she was “interfering” and he was going to arrest her.

“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.”

Velez said she repeatedly told ICE officers she was a U.S. citizen. When she was taken into a Los Angeles detention center, she gave officers her driver’s license and health insurance card to prove her citizenship status. She was still locked behind bars.

Velez’s family was unaware of her whereabouts for more than a day until lawyers for the family tracked her down.

Later, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed her case without prejudice, meaning it could be reopened if prosecutors decide to.

Velez’s attorneys told NBC Los Angeles that they are exploring legal moves against the federal government.

Between 2015 and 2020, ICE erroneously deported at least 70 U.S. citizens, arrested 674 and detained 121. It is unclear how many have been mistakenly taken amid the Trump administration’s mass campaign to deport 1 million immigrants per year.

In January, U.S. citizen Julio Noriega was looking for work in Chicago when he was swept up in the mass raids. In May, Georgia college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal was detained after police pulled over the wrong car during a traffic stop. In June, a deputy U.S. marshal was detained in Arizona because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE.” That same month, a Ph.D. student named Job Garcia was tackled and thrown to the ground by ICE for recording a raid in Los Angeles.

A recent lawsuit claims that at least three American-born children have been removed from the country. The sudden banishment includes a 4-year-old boy with stage-four kidney cancer who was receiving critical, life-saving medical treatment in the United States. He was shipped from Louisiana to Honduras in April.

The Daily Beast has reached out to ICE for comment.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast: “FALSE. ICE provided Andrea Velez with water, food, sanitary products, and she was given restroom breaks as needed. The media needs to stop peddling lies and smears that have led to a 1000% increase in assaults against our brave ICE officers.”

U.S. Citizen: I Was Seized by ICE and Held for Days Without Water
Andrea Velez spent two days in a Los Angeles detention center despite telling ICE officers that she is a U.S. citizen.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-citizen-andrea-velez-i-was-seized-by-ice-and-held-for-days-without-water

Daily Beast: ICE Accidentally Adds Wrong Person to Sensitive Group Chat

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The reported blunder echoes the Trump administration’s infamous Signalgate fiasco.

ICE has joined the Trump cabinet in the group chat disaster club.

Law enforcement officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies accidentally added a stranger to their group chat, exposing highly sensitive information about a manhunt, according to a 404 Media report published Thursday.

The blunder echoes the infamous Signal chat fiasco, in which a journalist was inadvertently included in a text chain where top members of the Trump administration discussed impending air strikes in Yemen.

The ICE messages, which discuss an active search for a convicted attempted murderer slated for deportation, were sent via MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, and were not end-to-end encrypted like messages on Signal or WhatsApp.

Officials reportedly texted an ICE “Field Operations Worksheet” on Wednesday that revealed detailed information about the person being sought—including their Social Security number—and DMV and license plate reader data, 404 Media reported.

The outlet labeled the incident a “significant data breach and operational security failure for ICE.”

404 Media reported that the group chat had six members, verifying one as an ICE official and identifying another as likely from the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Daily Beast has reached out to ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service for comment.

The person mistakenly added to the group chat is not a law enforcement official and had no connection to the manhunt, according to 404 Media. They told the outlet they were added weeks ago and assumed the messages were spam—until they received the ICE worksheet and license plate numbers.

404 Media, which said it obtained and verified screenshots from the group chat, has withheld the person’s identity to protect them from retaliation.

In Wednesday’s messages, the law enforcement officials discussed the search for their target and their next moves.

“Going to need to roll out at 1000,” one member texts the chat, called “Mass Text.”

“Copy. We can break it down at 10,” another replies.

The unintended recipient told 404 Media that the messages stopped coming shortly thereafter.

In what became known as “Signalgate,” Trump cabinet members, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed classified attack plans for airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen on a Signal chat.

ICE Accidentally Adds Wrong Person to Sensitive Group Chat
The reported blunder echoes the Trump administration’s infamous Signalgate fiasco.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-accidentally-adds-wrong-person-to-sensitive-group-chat-about-manhunt