Tag Archives: Immigration

Independent: Trump administration tried to reopen deportation proceedings for man who was long dead: ‘They’re very negligent’

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Government rushes to reopen years-old removal proceedings to boost Trump’s mass deportation agenda

Thousands of immigrants who have legally lived and worked in the United States for years have assumed they would be protected against their removal from the country after their cases were frozen.

But the Trump administration is stripping immigrants of their legal status and reopening removal proceedings as the Department of Homeland Security expands its mass deportation machine.

Homeland Security isn’t even checking to see whether these immigrants targeted for deportation are even alive, let alone legally protected from removal, according to California immigration attorneys speaking to The Los Angeles Times.

An immigration judge had closed removal proceedings against construction worker Helario Romero Arciniega, who was severely beaten with a metal sprinkler head and qualified for a special visa for victims of crime.

Earlier this year, the government reopened removal proceedings against him. He died in January, according to the LA County Coroner’s Office.

“They don’t do their homework,” immigration attorney Patricia Corrales told the newspaper. “They’re very negligent in the manner in which they’re handling these motions to re-calendar.”

Corrales, a former Immigration and Naturalization Service and Homeland Security attorney, told The Independent that the government’s recent motions to recalendar removal proceedings that were administratively closed — and not active — are “boilerplate motions” and “DHS doesn’t do their homework” and are “lazy or negligent in the information they provide to the court.”

“My client was in removal proceedings before he passed away. He was alive when his removal proceedings were administratively closed,” she added.

DHS filed a motion to recalendar on July 10 and “failed to mention an important detail,” she told The Independent.

“So, DHS was negligent in failing to even do some basic research to determine whether my client was alive or moved or anything,” she said.

In another case, Adan Rico, a new father studying to be an HVAC technician, said he had no idea the government restarted deportation proceedings against him.

His original lawyer had died, and “if it wasn’t for his daughter calling, I would have never found out my case was reopened,” Rico told The LA Times. “The Department of Homeland Security never sent me anything.”

A statement from Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Donald Trump’s administration is “once again implementing the rule of law” and accused former President Joe Biden of indefinitely delaying cases that left “criminals” stay in the country illegally.

“Now, President Trump and Secretary Noem are following the law and resuming these illegal aliens’ removal proceedings and ensuring their cases are heard by a judge,” she said in a statement shared with The Independent.

Rico, however, is among immigrants with removal protections under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which doesn’t come up for renewal until 2027, according to Corrales.

The Trump administration has effectively “de-legalized” more than 1 million immigrants since January.

Thousands of people who are following immigration law — including those showing up for their court-ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins, immigration court hearings and U.S. Customs and Immigration Services appointments — have become easy targets for arrests.

Unlike federal district courts, immigration court judges operate under the direction of the attorney general’s office.

When immigrants have appeared for their hearings, Homeland Security attorneys have moved for the cases to be dismissed, while the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Department of Justice has issued guidance to judges to grant those motions on the spot.

Those quick dismissals mean immigrants can then be subject to removal, leading to scenes of masked ICE agents dragging people out of courtrooms across the country.

Those arrests have been condemned by immigrants’ rights groups and attorneys as a “corruption” of the courts, “transforming them from forums of justice into cogs in a mass deportation apparatus,” American Immigration Lawyers Association president Kelli Stump said earlier this year.

“The expansion of expedited removal strips more people of their right to a hearing before a judge — as our laws promise,” she added.

In April, Sirce E. Owen, acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, issued a memo calling the suspension of removal proceedings “de facto amnesty program with benefits” because immigrants can still have authorization and deportation protections.

Owen stated that, as of April, roughly 379,000 cases were still administratively closed in immigration courts, adding to the system’s backlog of 4 million cases.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review confirmed to The Independent that immigration courts must first receive the underlying initial motion before accepting a response to that motion.

Immigration attorney Edgardo Quintanilla told The LA Times that he has received 40 cases, some dating back to the 2010s. “There is always the fear that they may be arrested when they go to the court,” he said. “With everything going on, it is a reasonable fear.”

Mariela Caravetta told the newspaper that roughly 30 clients have been targeted with new motions from the government reopening their cases in the last month, some of which have been frozen for a decade.

By law, she has only 10 days to reply, forcing her to try to track down clients who have since moved.

“People aren’t getting due process,” Caravetta said. “It’s very unfair to the client because these cases have been sleeping for 10 years.”

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

Trump admin tried to reopen deportation proceedings for man who was long dead
Government rushes to reopen years-old removal proceedings to boost Trump’s mass deportation agenda

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-immigration-cases-dead-ice-b2803051.html

Raw Story: ‘Oversized kennel’: Alligator Alcatraz worker blows the whistle on ‘inhumane’ conditions

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An Alligator Alcatraz worker is blowing the whistle on “inhumane” conditions at the notorious immigrant detention facility in South Florida after working there for less than a month.

Speaking to NBC6, Lindsey, a corrections officer, said that she only wanted to give her first name out of fear of retribution against her or her family.

She confirmed she arrived at the facility on July 6 and was there for about a week before she caught COVID and was forced to isolate.

Lindsey’s comments come just 24 hours after Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) announced that they “identified 510 credible reports of human rights abuse” against immigration detainees.

In response to questions about the report, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in an email to NBC, “Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false.”

DHS bragged on X that they are hard at work attacking “fake news” and announced that they “have the backs of the brave men and women of @ICEgov, who risk their lives every day protecting our homeland.”

But Lindsey said that her experience was different.

“When I got there, it was overwhelming,” she told NBC6. “I thought it would get better. But it just never did.”

She said that she knew going into it that the team would be living in a trailer, but the report described the conditions as “harsh” for the corrections officers as well as the detainees.

“We had to use the porta-johns. We didn’t have hot water half the time. Our bathrooms were backed up,” she said.

“The bathrooms are backed up because you got so many people using them,” she added.

Her story confirms the account from detainees and their family members that DHS has also denied.

When it comes to where the detainees are held, Lindsey called it “an oversized kennel.”

The large cages hold 35 to 38 inmates. There are about eight cages per tent.

“They have no sunlight. There’s no clock in there. They don’t even know what time of the day it is. They have no access to showers. They shower every other day or every four days,” Lindsey continued.

There were reports of flooding at the facility on the day that President Donald Trump toured the tents. Lindsey said that it has continued and each time it rains water floods into the tents.

Lindsey noted that despite Trump’s promise only to deport criminals, there are a number of people there who are not criminals.

“These people are still human. They pulled them from their livelihood. They’re scared. They don’t speak our language,” she said.

When Lindsey got COVID, the facility accused her of trying to falsify medical paperwork, and she was fired. She denies their accusations.

“I was fired. And yeah, I’m pissed off. But more so than ever, like they’re doing wrong,” she said.

Detainees complained last month that there was a lack of food, and when they were provided something to eat, there were worms in it, the Associated Press reported in July. That report also cited the overflowing sewage, which was discounted by spokesperson Stephanie Hartman of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” she claimed.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump want to see the facility as the model for others.

‘Oversized kennel’: Alligator Alcatraz worker blows the whistle on ‘inhumane’ conditions

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-detention-center-whistleblower

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer: Six States Propose Ban on ICE Agents Wearing Masks

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Democratic lawmakers in six states have proposed legislation pushing for the ban of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ ability to wear masks, aiming to increase transparency. Critics have argued the move compromises agent safety by making them more easily identifiable. President Donald Trump emphasized the importance of protecting law enforcement amid ongoing immigration-related tensions.

Border Czar Thomas Homan noted the personal threats he has faced in his role. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) have defended mask bans as a means to keep ICE transparent.

Booker said, “We must act to maintain trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and this legislation is a necessary step toward a more transparent, accountable, and safe immigration enforcement system.”

…

Democratic lawmakers have argued that aggressive ICE tactics have fueled fears among vulnerable communities. “For weeks, Americans have watched federal agents with no visible identification detain people off the streets and instill fear in communities across the country,” Booker said.

Booker added, “Reports of individuals impersonating ICE officers have only increased the risk to public and officer safety. The lack of visible identification and uniform standards for immigration enforcement officers has created confusion, stoked fear, and undermined public trust in law enforcement.”

I’m all for it, but I’m hard-pressed to understand how states can control what federal law-enforcement officers wear or don’t wear.

Six States Propose Ban on ICE Agents Wearing Masks

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/six-states-propose-ban-on-ice-agents-wearing-masks/ss-AA1K33bz

Independent: Trump border czar reacts after Indy 500 track boss demands end to ‘Speedway Slammer’ moniker for new migrant detention center

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Penske Entertainment said it preferred that its ‘IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter’

… On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X: “COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to @GovBraun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the @CBP Home App.”/

…

On Wednesday, Penske Entertainment, the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said the company did not want its intellectual property used alongside the detention center.

“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of the announcement,” the company told IndyStar in a statement. “Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”

Homan reacts after demand to ditch ‘Speedway Slammer’ detention center name
Penske Entertainment said it preferred that its ‘IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter’

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/tom-homan-speedway-slammer-indy-500-b2803213.html

LA Times: Westlake Home Depot raided again, reigniting fears of more sweeps despite judge’s order to stop

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After weeks of relative quiet, Border Patrol agents raided a Home Depot in Westlake on Wednesday as a top federal agent warned, “We’re not leaving,” and posted images of half a dozen border agents running from a Penske truck through the parking lot.

As many as 16 immigrants were reported rounded up and arrested in what U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino called “Operation Trojan Horse.” The early morning raids revived fears of more widespread sweeps that organizers had hoped would ease with a federal judge’s order, affirmed by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel, that immigration officials cannot racially profile people or use roving patrols to target immigrants.

“For those who thought Immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” acting U.S. attorney Bill Essayli posted on X, shortly after the raid. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”

A day laborer, who identified himself as Ceasar, said around 6:45 a.m. a yellow Penske truck pulled up to the laborers who had gathered in the parking lot. The driver told them in Spanish he was looking for workers.

Several of the men gathered around the truck and then someone, it was unclear who to him, rolled up the back of the truck. Masked agents, one wearing a cowboy hat, jumped out and started chasing people. People scattered.

“This is the worst feeling ever,” said Ceasar, who has been going to the home improvement store to pick up work for several years.

Video on social media captured the moment the back of the rental truck opened. When Penske Truck Rental was asked about it, they said they were aware of the incident.

“The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this,” said Penske spokesman Randolph P. Ryerson. “Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.

He added: “Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances,” the statement said.

One worker who escaped was still shaken by the experience an hour later. He identified himself as Raul, and said he saw at least eight people get arrested.

“That’s one of their cars,” he said pointing to a silver Toyota sedan.

The Home Depot had been one of the scene of the first raids in June that kicked off a more than month of operations in Southern California in which civil rights lawyers say federal agents indiscriminately arrested immigrants. The raids gutted businesses, spread fear and tore apart families.

On July 11, a federal judge temporarily blocked federal agents from using racial profiling to carry out indiscriminate arrests after the ACLU, Public Counsel, other groups and private attorneys sued over the practices saying that the region had been “under seige.”

Department of Justice attorneys argued the order hinders them from carrying federal immigration enforcement, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the order.

For the past weeks since the restraining order kicked in in early July, Bovino has shared photos of arrests of undocumented immigrants, stating that some had active arrest warrants. With others, he referenced a lengthy criminal history, marking the arrests as more targeted than they had been prior.

But organizers say a similar operation to the raid unfolded on Monday at a Home Depot in Hollywood that was the site of a massive raid in June. That operation also sparked concerns about violations of the TRO.

Maegan Ortiz, the executive director of the nonprofit group Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, known as IDEPSCA, said they began receiving word about an immigration operation at the Home Depot in Hollywood around 6:50 a.m. on Monday.

Westlake Home Depot raided again, reigniting fears of more sweeps despite judge’s order to stop

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1K1YKo

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

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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

HuffPost: Critics ‘Mock’ Kristi Noem’s ‘Stupid’ Nickname For New Migrant Jail

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Indiana is getting its own spin on “Alligator Alcaztraz.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem drew swift backlash on Tuesday after unveiling plans for a new migrant detention center in Indiana — which she dubbed the “Speedway Slammer.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Noem announced a partnership with Indiana Governor Mike Braun (R) to expand detention capacity by 1,000 beds at Miami Correctional Facility near Bunker Hill.

It will “help remove the worst of the worst out of our country,” she gleefully wrote.

“COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer,” Noem boosted.

“If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the @CBP Home App,” she added.

Critics condemned the announcement as “disgusting,” cruel and dehumanizing, calling out the Trump administration’s broader approach to immigration enforcement. They also slammed the center’s “stupid” name.

Many compared the branding of the facility to Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” the migrant detention center surrounded by snakes and alligators that the Trump administration promoted earlier this summer.

Critics ‘Mock’ Kristi Noem’s ‘Stupid’ Nickname For New Migrant Jail
Indiana is getting its own spin on “Alligator Alcaztraz.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kristi-noem-new-migrant-center-name_n_6892f411e4b07e7958a124ec

Raw Story: ‘Family separation on steroids’: Expert lays into Trump plan to target newborn babies

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President Donald Trump’s administration has drawn up a draft of guidelines to block non-U.S. citizens from having children on U.S. soil and becoming citizens.

The Constitution details “birthright citizenship” in the 14th Amendment, saying that anybody born on American soil belongs to the nation. The Trump administration has tried to block that with an executive order.

Speaking to MSNBC, Slate legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern said the guidelines are a backdoor effort to reinstate the family separation policy from the early days of the first Trump administration. In that case, the government took children from their parents when they came into the U.S. In some instances, the children were given to a host family, while others were thrown in a “detention center.”

“For months, federal courts have prevented the U.S. government from even beginning to plan the implementation of this executive order, finding that it violated the 14th Amendment,” said Stern, noting that the Supreme Court then stepped in to allow it.

“What we see is that this administration doesn’t plan to give any kind of grace period to the children of undocumented immigrants. It will render them noncitizens and deportable from the moment of birth,” clarified Stern.

“The administration has also repealed a 14-year-old rule that barred ICE from entering and committing enforcement actions in and around hospitals. So, the government now has a setup where it can send ICE agents into maternity wards, as you said, to monitor births to demand papers from new mothers and fathers, and to potentially take away and deport their children, their infants, from the moment they’re born. If the parents can’t prove citizenship to their satisfaction.”

Under the new memo, there are about a dozen new classifications of people who will have their U.S. citizenship taken away.

“In fact, the trump administration has already started to quietly reintroduce family separation by relaxing restrictions that had been imposed over the last few years to prevent it from happening,” Stern noted. “The government seems ready to take away infants from their parents if they deem it necessary to effectuate immigration laws. And if this order takes effect, that baby would be deportable upon birth.”

Worse, he said, those infants could be taken, denied citizenship, and under Supreme Court rulings, they could be deported to a third-party country in which they or their parents haven’t set foot.

“This would be like family separation in the first administration on steroids, with a hugely disproportionate impact on the youngest and most vulnerable among us,” he characterized.

‘Family separation on steroids’: Expert lays into Trump plan to target newborn babies

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-family-separation

Washington Examiner: Judges get emotional on Trump efforts to end temporary immigration programs

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The Trump administration has faced various legal setbacks in its efforts to implement sweeping deportations and immigration policies, with some of the judges issuing orders accusing officials of racism and unfavorable comparisons in dramatic opinions.

Judge Trina Thompson, a Biden appointee on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, offered the latest lengthy opinion, aimed at the morals of Trump administration officials trying to end temporary immigration programs for foreign nationals.

Challenges to revoking TPS bring racism allegations by judges

In a 37-page opinion Thursday blocking the administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua, she accused officials of “racial animus” based on their statements about criminal migrants.

“By stereotyping the TPS program and immigrants as invaders that are criminal, and by highlighting the need for migration management, [Homeland] Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s statements perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population,” Thompson wrote in her opinion.

Thompson wrote in her rejection that she “shares” the “concern” of those suing the Trump administration regarding the president’s ability to end TPS at his discretion. The Biden-appointed judge added that her court “does not forget that this country has bartered with human lives” and included a lengthy footnote discussing the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

“The emancipation of slaves saw the same pattern, but in reverse. Many whites were uncomfortable with the idea of free non-white people in their communities, even if they had lived in the United States for generations,” Thompson wrote in her opinion. “Plaintiffs’ allegations echo these same traditions.”

Thompson also alleges that ending TPS for the three countries and requiring those who had the temporary status to return to their home country is the equivalent of freed slaves being removed from the U.S. and sent to Africa.

Earlier this year, Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, blocked the Trump administration from ending TPS for Venezuela and accused the Trump administration of similar claims of racial animus in his 78-page opinion.

“Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes,” Chen wrote in his March order.

The Trump administration’s official reasons for ending the Temporary Protected Status for the countries have been that the reasons outlined for initially granting TPS are no longer applicable, and conditions have improved.

Other decisions bring emotional responses

While many dramatic opinions from federal judges blocking the Trump administration’s policies have come in TPS lawsuits, judges have also made fiery accusations in other issues. A ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday made another unfavorable comparison about the Trump administration’s policies.

Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, compared the president’s policies blocking the administration from rapidly deporting people who had previously been paroled into the country to the countries that illegal immigrants have fled in her order.

“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. “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?”

Among the various rulings against the Trump administration in district courts, a case regarding the administration’s cancellation of diversity, equity, and inclusion grants at the National Institutes of Health brought another dramatic racial discrimination claim.

“I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable,” U.S. District Judge William Young said in his ruling in June. “I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years. I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this.”

While the Trump administration has faced dramatic and blistering opinions at lower district courts, it has racked up several wins on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket on various issues, including terminating TPS.

The Supreme Court’s order allowing the administration to proceed with various policies, including immigration policies, has typically been accompanied by fiery dissents from the liberal minority on the high court.

The judges are seeing right through the Trump regime’s disgusting racist agenda!

Judges get emotional on Trump efforts to end temporary immigration programs
The Trump administration has faced various legal setbacks in its efforts to implement sweeping deportations and immigration policies, with some of the judges issuing orders accusing officials of racism and unfavorable comparisons in dramatic opinions. Judge Trina Thompson, a Biden appointee on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, offered the […]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judges-get-emotional-on-trump-efforts-to-end-temporary-immigration-programs/ar-AA1JOuJ5

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

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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