Tag Archives: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the company sent the following statement to CNN:

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

How the Georgia raid happened

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

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

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

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

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

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

GOP governor promoted the Metaplant

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

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

The Metaplant was expected to create 8,500 jobs.

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

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

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

South Korea says it’s concerned

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

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

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

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

Dozens apprehended in New York, too

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CNN has reached out to the company for further comment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why It Matters

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

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

What To Know

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Newsweek reached out to Haddad via email for comment.

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

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

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

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

What People Are Saying

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

What Happens Next

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slingshot News: ‘You Can’t Even Answer Some Tough Questions’: Pete Hegseth Faces Public Shaming As He Gets Called Out On His Cowardice During Hearing

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‘You Can’t Even Answer Some Tough Questions’: Pete Hegseth Faces Public Shaming As He Gets Called Out On His Cowardice During Hearing
In a recent hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Wesley Bell called out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for setting a terrible example to the troops under him. Hegseth has repeatedly dodged questions and avoided accountability throughout the hearing, making him a bad role model despite the “warrior ethos” culture he likes to peddle.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/you-can-t-even-answer-some-tough-questions-pete-hegseth-faces-public-shaming-as-he-gets-called-out-on-his-cowardice-during-hearing/vi-AA1LMcRR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Knewz: ICE nabs woman in U.S. for nearly 3 decades in routine traffic stop

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A Guatemala-born woman who has lived in the U.S. since age 9 was nearly deported by ICE after a routine traffic stop in Phoenix, despite three decades of residence and three U.S.-citizen children. Knewz.com has learned that a federal judge later blocked her fast-track removal and ordered her case to be shifted into standard deportation proceedings.

Routine traffic stop escalates to ICE detention

According to court documents, Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul, 38, was pulled over by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer while driving to work at a laundromat in a Latino neighborhood in Phoenix. Her lawyers argued that the stop violated her constitutional rights because officers lacked reasonable suspicion. Following the stop, Co Tupul was transferred first to the Florence Processing Center and then to the Eloy Detention Center, which is about 65 miles from Phoenix. Within days, her attorneys were informed that she had been placed in expedited removal proceedings and could be deported in as little as one to three weeks.

District court judge blocks expedited deportation

The detainee’s legal team submitted vaccination records, affidavits and other evidence to prove her nearly 30 years of continuous presence in the U.S. They also argued that expedited removal did not legally apply to her and that bypassing a court hearing violated her due process rights. Earlier this month, a U.S. district court judge granted an emergency request blocking her deportation. The government agreed in writing not to pursue expedited removal again and moved her into standard removal proceedings, where she will have the opportunity to make her case before an immigration judge.

Attorneys celebrate ruling

Eric Lee, one of Co Tupul’s attorneys, wrote on X, “Good news: Our demand that the court halt Trump from deporting Ms. Co Tupul without due process was just GRANTED by U.S. Dist. Ct. for District of Arizona!” However, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons defended enforcement actions more broadly on Fox News, saying, “I don’t think the American public as a whole realizes just exactly who ICE is going after every day.”

Co Tupul’s case raises concerns

The Donald Trump administration expanded expedited removal in January, allowing immigration officials to apply the process nationwide to undocumented people unable to prove two years of continuous residence. Originally, the procedure was designed for recent arrivals encountered near the border. In Co Tupul’s case, her lawyers said that a deportation officer told her that ICE had a “new policy” to apply expedited removal at an immigrant’s first contact with the agency, even if that person had lived in the U.S. for decades. Attorneys said that this interpretation goes far beyond what federal law permits. Co Tupul’s case underscores concerns from civil rights groups that long-term residents risk being deported without hearings when expedited removal is used aggressively. Advocates warn that immigrants without lawyers may be particularly vulnerable. Co Tupul currently remains in custody at the Eloy Detention Center while her case proceeds.

ICE nabs woman in U.S. for nearly 3 decades in routine traffic stop
A Guatemala-born woman who has lived in the U.S. since age 9 was nearly deported by ICE after a routine traffic stop in Phoenix.

https://knewz.com/ice-nabs-woman-in-us-for-nearly-three-decades-in-routine-traffic-stop

News Nation: ICE officer attacked while trying to take man into custody: Sheriff

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A federal immigration officer was attacked and injured while trying to take a man into custody in Florida, according to local authorities.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the incident unfolded Tuesday morning in Lakeland.

Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had followed Denis Corea Miranda, 21, because he had a warrant for deportation, according to the sheriff’s office.

Authorities said Miranda was in a vehicle with two other people, who were also allegedly in the country illegally. Miranda was in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

An ICE officer walked to the passenger side of the car and informed Miranda that they were going to take him into custody. It was at that point that a fight began, Judd said.

“I’m told that the fight lasted about five minutes,” he said, later emphasizing that five minutes is a “very long tussle.”

Officials said Miranda was on top of the ICE officer when the second officer sprayed Miranda with pepper spray. Miranda then ran into the woods, according to Judd.

The ICE officers chased after Miranda but said they lost him in the woods. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office was then called to assist, launching a helicopter, drones and sending out K-9 teams.

“They were just overwhelmed. The issue is ICE needs help,” Judd said, explaining that the officers were also monitoring the two other people in the car.

The ICE officer who got into a fight with Miranda was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for a shoulder injury and is expected to recover.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time we’ve had an ICE agent injured in the line of duty, and he was significantly injured, he had to go to the hospital,” Judd said.

An employee at a nearby business eventually encountered Miranda hiding among several steel drums, according to officials. Judd said Miranda asked the employee for water, but the employee felt something was off.

The employee went inside and called 911, alerting law enforcement officers to Miranda’s location. Authorities said Miranda was arrested soon after.

An employee at another nearby business told NewsNation affiliate WFLA she saw deputies with their guns drawn.

“You could tell that it was kind of like a manhunt situation,” she said. “So my first response, honestly, was like we need to lock the doors.”

Judd referenced a photo showing deputies taking Miranda, who was smiling, into custody.

“We have him under arrest. He’s smiling,” the sheriff said. “I bet we’ve wiped the smile off his face.”

According to the sheriff’s office, Miranda faces a slew of charges, which all have been upgraded to more serious felonies due to Florida’s recently passed immigration legislation.

The charges include battery of a law enforcement officer, resisting with violence, resisting without violence, false imprisonment, and burglary of an occupied structure.

Judd said the two other people who were in the car with Miranda cooperated with law enforcement and were taken into ICE custody.

The employee said she is glad the situation wasn’t worse, and also glad Miranda didn’t come into her business.

“That’s scary to think about because he chose violence with cops. If I wouldn’t have let him in or if he came in before we lock the doors, what would happen, you know?” she said.

According to officials, Miranda, who is from Nicaragua, is believed to have entered the country in 2021. Judd said he was stopped by Border Patrol and was later released with a court date.

Miranda was arrested in July 2024 in Galveston, Texas, for DUI, but was released and never showed up for court, according to authorities.

“This guy just wanted to get away, and he was going to do whatever he needed to do to get away,” Judd said.

Resist!

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/ice-officer-attacked-florida-arrest

News Nation: Oregon lawmakers to propose ban on ‘secret police’ in state

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As the Oregon legislature convened for a special session Sunday, two lawmakers were already planning ahead for next year’s short session and announced their intent to introduce a bill to ban “secret police” in the state.

Reps. Tom Anderson, a Democrat, and Cyrus Javadi, a Republican, both co-sponsors of the bill, stated that it would enable Oregon voters to amend the state constitution to prohibit law enforcement from wearing masks or being unidentifiable.

It would further require them to wear official uniforms detailing names and badge numbers. However, there would be exceptions made in the case of SWAT teams and undercover operations.

In a statement, Anderson said the impetus for the bill came with the increased presence of unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the state brought on by Trump administration policies, which he referred to as “malignant forces.”

“This is no longer just some Donald Trump fever dream. It’s happening right now — unidentified
federal ICE officers are using violence and the threat of violence in our communities to replace
normal law enforcement,” he said. “When I see masked, anonymous quasi-law enforcement ICE employees on our streets, making violent, warrantless arrests, I am aghast and angry. We are becoming a nation of clandestine bounty hunters. Simply put, secret police have no place in a free and democratic society because public trust in government erodes when you don’t know who’s enforcing the law.”

Javadi echoed this sentiment, noting “Oregonians shouldn’t have to wonder who’s knocking on their door in the middle of the night.”

“In a free society, the people who enforce the law should never be faceless or unaccountable,” he added. “This amendment isn’t about partisanship, it’s about protecting the rule of law itself. The Oregon Constitution already safeguards us from unreasonable searches and seizures. This proposal makes sure we also safeguard the principle that law enforcement must be visible, identifiable, and responsible to the people they serve.”

For the bill to pass, it would require a majority vote in both the House and Senate during the 2026 short legislative session beginning in January.

If passed, it will then be placed on the ballot for a public vote in the November 2026 general election.

If approved by Oregon voters, the amendment will be added to the state constitution.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/oregon-lawmakers-secret-police-ban-masks

Reuters: These Trump voters back his immigration crackdown, but some worry about his methods

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While Trump supporters are happy to see criminals deported, they are split over methods for detaining immigrants.

Juan Rivera voted for President Donald Trump, hoping that the president’s efforts to rid the United States of illegal immigration would improve safety in the Southern California city where the 25-year-old content creator lives.

Neighborhoods near Rivera’s home in San Marcos that used to be frequented by migrants with “violent tendencies” do feel much safer now, he said. But he also said he’ll “never forget” seeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pull over a truck of Latino workers and haul the men into their cars without asking for identification, leaving the empty truck behind.

Some of Rivera’s family members work for U.S. Border Patrol. Other relatives who are in the process of establishing legal residency in the United States “are scared of going to work because they fear that they’re going to get pulled over by immigration,” he said.

Overall, however, Rivera gave the Trump administration very high marks on its handling of immigration because “there’s a lot more public safety.”

Seven months into his second term, Trump’s signature issue – immigration – is still helping buoy his overall sinking approval ratings, making up for a downturn in support for his economic policies. A group of 20 Trump voters Reuters has interviewed monthly since February, including Rivera, illuminated the complex views behind the numbers.

Reuters asked the voters to rate the Trump administration’s handling of immigration on a scale of 1 to 10. Sixteen gave it a rating of 7 or higher, and none rated it below 5.

They universally support Trump’s tightening of U.S. border security to prevent further illegal immigration and his efforts to expel immigration offenders with violent criminal records. But there was less consensus about how Trump is going about the crackdown.

“President Trump was elected based on his promise to close the border and deport criminal illegal aliens,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson in an emailed statement. “The Trump Administration will continue carrying out the largest mass deportation operation in history.”

The 20 voters were selected from 429 respondents to a February 2025 Ipsos poll who said they voted for Trump in November and were willing to speak to a reporter. They are not a statistically representative portrait of all Trump voters, but their ages, educational backgrounds, races/ethnicities, locations and voting histories roughly correspond to those of Trump’s overall electorate.

Seven of the voters said they worried about the means Trump was using to achieve his goals, with some recoiling at the way authorities are rounding up immigrants for deportation.

“I agree that you have to have an immigration policy and enforce it. I don’t agree with kidnapping people off the street,” said Virginia Beach-based retiree Don Jernigan.

Jernigan, 75, said that footage of ICE raids he has seen on ABC and Fox News “reminds me of Nazi Germany. And you would rarely hear me say that name, Nazi, okay? But it does, the way they snatch people.”

Other voters, such as Will Brown, 20, a student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, urged the administration to pursue even more ambitious deportation goals.

Brown, who said he “couldn’t be more of a fan of Stephen Miller,” the White House aide credited with designing Trump’s immigration policy, noted that the deportation rate of Trump’s second term so far lagged that of the last two Democratic administrations. “Honestly, I don’t think they’re doing enough,” he said.

REALITY DIVIDE

The voters’ attitudes towards traditional news outlets heavily affected their view of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“If you get your information from one source, ICE is devils incarnate, and if you get it from another source, they’re superheroes,” said Gerald Dunn, 66, a martial arts instructor in upstate New York.

Dunn said he rarely reads or watches news from mainstream outlets because “everything is so exaggerated.” Instead, he browses headlines and watches YouTube videos to stay informed.

He has heard reports of ICE agents detaining non-criminal immigrants, but said such incidents are blown out of proportion.

“You’re going to arrest people wrongfully, and it turns out they shouldn’t have been arrested. That doesn’t mean you don’t arrest anybody.”

In the Chicago suburbs, municipal office secretary Kate Mottl, 62, said she is thrilled with Trump’s immigration policy. She does not believe news outlets that report immigrants without a criminal record are being swept up in raids.

Mottl was dismayed to learn that some immigrants without legal status she knows are afraid of being deported under Trump.

“I tell them, ‘you shouldn’t be worried about that because you’re not a bad person. You’re not committing crimes,’” she said, adding that she feared they were being misinformed by the news sources they watch.

CLEARER PATHWAY TO LEGAL STATUS

Fourteen of the 20 voters said they hoped Trump would improve the immigration system and vetting process to help deserving foreigners with the potential to contribute to the U.S. economy legalize their status more easily in the United States.

Like Mottl, Lesa Sandberg of St. George, Utah, said she knows undocumented immigrants “who are raising their families here, who are working, who are contributing to our economy and our society. And my heart goes out to them.”

Sandberg, 57, who runs an accounting business, rents properties and works for a former Republican congressman’s political action committee, said she is glad to see the administration cracking down on immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

But when it comes to the immigrants in the U.S. illegally she considers friends, she said, “I would never call ICE on them … [it’s] that whole concept of when we know people in the situation, feelings are different about it because we know how bad it is for them.”

David Ferguson, 53, a mechanical engineer and account manager in western Georgia, said some of the foreign students in his daughter’s graduate school program want to stay and work in the United States but fear they won’t be able to re-enter if they visit their home countries, despite having valid visas.

Some immigrants really do “want to have long-term residency and be productive members of our society. Let’s give them a path for that,” he said.

Ferguson said he doesn’t think an amnesty program is necessarily the solution. But Juan Rivera, the Trump voter in southern California, thinks it could attract wide support.

“It’s actually a really big sentiment I’ve been hearing from a lot of local Republican elected officials, that the Trump administration [should] offer amnesty the way that Reagan did,” said Rivera, who does Latino outreach advocacy for his county’s Republican Party.

His own father was able to become a U.S. citizen after former Republican President Ronald Reagan signed legislation in 1986 granting amnesty to about 3 million immigrants without legal status, according to Rivera.

He said he hopes Trump moves the country toward “an immigration system that balances security with humanity.”

These Trump voters back his immigration crackdown, but some worry about his methods

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/these-trump-voters-back-his-immigration-crackdown-some-worry-about-his-methods-2025-09-02

Wichita Eagle: ICE Targets Sanctuary City — Mayor Faces Defiance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ICE Targets Sanctuary City — Mayor Faces Defiance

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