Tag Archives: Immigration

Associated Press: Some Florida officers are continuing to charge people under halted immigration law

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Some law enforcement officers are continuing to charge people under a Florida law that bans people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state, even though a federal judge has halted enforcement of the law while it’s challenged in court.

Two more people were arrested and charged under the law in July, according to a report Florida’s attorney general is required to file as punishment for defying the judge’s ruling.

Both men were arrested by a sheriff’s officer in Sarasota County, located on the state’s southwest coast. The charges came months after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami first halted enforcement of the state statute, which makes it a misdemeanor for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials.

As punishment for flouting her order and being found in civil contempt, the judge required Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to file bimonthly reports about whether any arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions have been made under the law.

In separate incidents on July 3 and July 28, the men were each charged with driving without a valid license and offenses related to driving under the influence of alcohol. The State Attorney’s Office for the 12th Judicial Circuit dismissed the illegal entry charges against them, and requested that the sheriff’s office advice the arresting officer of the court’s order halting enforcement of the law, according to the status report.

A spokesperson for Uthmeier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a separate court filing, immigrants’ rights advocates who filed the lawsuit questioned whether state officials are using the blocked law to justify holding detainees at an isolated immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Attorneys for the advocates provided the court an email apparently sent by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee to the offices of members of Congress, stating that Florida officials are relying on legal authority granted by the blocked law.

In a separate court filing, immigrants’ rights advocates who filed the lawsuit questioned whether state officials are using the blocked law to justify holding detainees at an isolated immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Attorneys for the advocates provided the court an email apparently sent by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee to the offices of members of Congress, stating that Florida officials are relying on legal authority granted by the blocked law.

Some Florida officers are continuing to charge people under halted immigration law
Some law enforcement officers are continuing to charge people under a Florida law that bans people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state, even though a federal judge has halted enforcement of the law while it’s challenged in court.

https://apnews.com/article/florida-immigration-law-enforcement-lawsuit-uthmeier-59c5d6a4e5de52272a90273e11681386

Latin Times: DHS Reopens Long-Closed Immigration Cases In Efforts To Meet Deportation Quotas: ‘It’s Been 10 Years’

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In efforts to reach ambitious deportation goals, the Department of Homeland Security is giving new life to long-time administratively closed immigration cases.

In efforts to continue stepping up immigration enforcement and reach ambitious deportation goals, the Department of Homeland Security is giving new life to long-time administratively closed immigration cases, even ones involving people who are dead.

Some lawyers have received dozens of motions to re-calendar— the first step to reopen old cases. If lawyers don’t succeed in opposing those motions, immigrants could wind up back in courthouses that in recent months have become a hub for arrests, a new report from Los Angeles Times details.

“It has been 10 years,” Adan Rico, a 29-year-old DACA recipient who has renewed his status at least four times, told the LA Times. “And all of a sudden our lives are on hold again, at the mercy of these people that think I have no right to be here.”

Attorneys handling these proceedings say the government is overwhelming the courts and immigration lawyers by dredging up cases, many of which are a decade old or more. In several of them, clients or their original lawyers have died. In other cases, immigrants have received legal status and were surprised to learn the government was attempting to revive deportation proceedings against them.

That was the case of Rico, a father who is studying to be an HVAC technician in the Inland Empire. The attorney who originally helped him with his immigration cases has since died, making the revival of his case even more confusing and surprising.

“If it wasn’t for his daughter calling, I would have never found out my case was reopened,” he said. “The Department of Homeland Security never sent me anything.”

A similar case occurred with construction worker Helario Romero Arciniega. Seven years ago, a judge administratively closed his deportation proceedings after he was severely beaten with a metal sprinkler head and had qualified for a visa for crime victims. This year, government officials filed a motion to bring back the deportation case even though he had died six months ago.

“They don’t do their homework,” Patricia Corrales, an attorney representing Romero Arciniega and Rico, said of the government lawyers. “They’re very negligent in the manner in which they’re handling these motions to re-calendar.”

Likewise, Mariela Caravetta, an immigration attorney in Van Nuys, said that since early June about 30 of her clients have been targeted with government motions to reopen their cases. By law, she has to reply in 10 days. That means she has to track down the client, who may have moved out of state.

“It’s bad faith doing it like that,” said Caravetta, who accused the federal government of flooding the immigration courts in an effort to meet its deportation quotas.

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

When asked about the government’s push to restart old proceedings, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin declined to address questions about the administration’s change in policy or respond to attorneys’ complaints about the process. She released a statement similar to others she has offered to the media on immigration inquiries.

“Biden chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including criminals, into the country and used prosecutorial discretion to indefinitely delay their cases and allow them to illegally remain in the United States,” she said. “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.”

DHS Reopens Long-Closed Immigration Cases In Efforts To Meet Deportation Quotas: ‘It’s Been 10 Years’
In efforts to reach ambitious deportation goals, the Department of Homeland Security is giving new life to long-time administratively closed immigration cases.

https://www.latintimes.com/dhs-reopens-long-closed-immigration-cases-efforts-meet-deportation-quotas-its-been-10-years-588230

Idaho Statesman: Smashed windows. Missing court dates. How ICE is changing its tactics

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Charles Hicks was at the gym when his husband called from the car to say he was being followed, Hicks recalled. His husband pulled over by their home, and Hicks watched on FaceTime as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent smashed his husband’s window.

He rushed to his Meridian apartment, but by then his husband was gone. Hicks, a U.S. citizen, already had started the process to get his husband legal status, he said. He and his husband had talked about the possibility of immigration enforcement, but Hicks said it still didn’t make him ready.

The Statesman is not naming the husband because Hicks said his husband fears repercussions for his case.

“I was not really prepared to watch that or to hear that,” Hicks said by phone. ICE agents screamed and yelled at his husband in the car, he said. “The No. 1 feeling that I had was just a pit in my stomach.”

Being in the United States without authorization is enough grounds to start the deportation process, and some immigrants who are here legally can also be removed. But under President Donald Trump, ICE agents in Idaho have been changing their tactics and using some strategies more often, according to local immigration lawyers. That includes smashing car windows, like with Hicks’ husband.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment sent via its official media email.

ICE agents also have conducted more arrests at ICE check-ins, which are routine meetings for agents to keep tabs on people going through the immigration process. Agents have also focused more on workplace enforcement, lawyers said. ICE isn’t necessarily going out to farms, but agents have been going to businesses to look for people employing undocumented immigrants, according to Neal Dougherty, a Nampa lawyer and partner at Ramirez-Smith Law.

The Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho State Police also have signed cooperation agreements with ICE, known as 287(g) agreements.

Overall, immigration arrests have increased over 900% in Idaho since Trump took office, according to The New York Times.

There aren’t increases in ICE’s resources or agents, said J.J. Despain, managing attorney for Wilner & O’Reilly’s Boise office, but ICE has lowered the bar on who it wants to deport and changed their strategies.

“Some of those are happening by surprise,” Despain told the Statesman.

The criminal justice system

In early April, a man failed to show up for his pretrial conference in Canyon County, perplexing his lawyer.

The lawyer, with the Idaho Public Defender’s Office, had been working with his client, who was charged in December 2024 with driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license.

“I don’t know why he isn’t here today,” the lawyer told the judge in court audio obtained via a records request.

The next day, Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted a picture of the man being detained in Nampa by federal officers.

When ICE picks up people mid-case, they can face default judgments and parole or probation violations for failing to appear in court. When or if individuals ever return to the United States, there can already be a warrant out for an immigrant’s arrest, said Dougherty.

ICE picked up people while their Idaho criminal cases were ongoing before the new administration took office. But it’s happening more often now, Dougherty and Despain said, with potential consequences for the immigrants and any victims.

These aren’t all minor cases like driving with a suspended license. In one instance, a 27-year-old man from Mexico was arrested in Pocatello for child sexual abuse, child enticement and kidnapping. ICE posted a picture of him the day before his preliminary hearing, at which he failed to appear. He has since been deported, ICE spokesperson Alethea Smock said in an email. The case is listed as inactive and pending after the state asked to keep the case open.

Wood River Valley lawyer Justin McCarthy said immigrants in Idaho’s criminal justice system should finish their sentences in the Gem State.

“They should be held accountable here. … You don’t get to skate on the sentence,” McCarthy said. “What about victims? What about the victims’ families? … That person could come back, and they often do.”

An immigrant from El Salvador

Hicks had been with his husband for about five years by the time he was detained by ICE in late June. The couple married in 2023, according to a petition filed by his husband’s lawyers.

Hicks’s husband is originally from San Salvador, the capital of the Central American country of El Salvador. He came to the United States in 2018 to support his family and has worked in construction, Hicks said. His husband sends money to his mother, sisters and nephews back home, Hicks said. He hasn’t been able to see his family in years.

In 2021, his husband pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and received a withheld judgment. He was required to undergo alcohol education and was placed on unsupervised probation, according to court records. On June 5 of this year, he was found guilty of driving while using a cellphone, according to online court records.

After his arrest, the husband was sent to Elmore County first. Now he is detained in the Nevada Southern Detention Center west of Las Vegas, according to an online ICE detainee locator tool.

Hicks can’t go visit his husband in detention. The couple can conduct phone and video calls through the jail, Hicks said.

Lawyers for Hicks’ husband filed a petition in federal court to get him out of detention, arguing among other things that ICE agents didn’t show a warrant when they broke into his car and that an immigration judge was unfairly keeping him detained.

Hicks filed a petition earlier in 2025 for his husband to get residency, he said. But it will take four to six years, Hicks said.

“You should enter (the U.S.) with permission,” Hicks said. “But also, the whole process is just broken. It shouldn’t take someone five or six years to possibly get residency when they’re married to a U.S. citizen.”

Smashed windows. Missing court dates. How ICE is changing its tactics
“I was not really prepared to watch that or to hear that,” the husband of a local immigrant said.

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article311591857.html

Kansas City Star: Court Upholds Restraining Order in Blow to ICE

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has criticized President Trump’s aggressive ICE raids, arguing they harm the city’s economy by spreading fear among immigrants. She notes significant business losses in Latino neighborhoods like Boyle Heights. Bass condemned the use of National Guard and Marines to quell protests, calling it excessive.

Earlier this month, a federal court upheld a restraining order against indiscriminate ICE arrests in Southern California. Bass joined a lawsuit to stop the raids, highlighting their impact on families, while adopting a bolder leadership approach amid recovery from January 2025 wildfires and her 2026 reelection campaign.

…

Bass said, “Let me just say that, because we are a city of immigrants, we have entire sectors of our economy that are dependent on immigrant labor. We have to get the fire areas rebuilt. We’re not going to get our city rebuilt without immigrant labor.”

Bass added, “And it’s not just the deportations, it’s the fear that sets in when raids occur, when people are snatched off the street. And I know you are aware that even people who are here legally, even people who are U.S. citizens, have been detained.”

Bass stated that “what I think we need is comprehensive immigration reform. I served in Congress for 12 years.” She stressed the importance of immigrant labor in post-crisis recovery and noted that ICE raid fears impact both undocumented residents and U.S. citizens.

,,,,

Court Upholds Restraining Order in Blow to ICE

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/court-upholds-restraining-order-in-blow-to-ice/ss-AA1Khr9r

Newsweek: ICE detains green card holder returning from vacation after 23 years in US

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A Filipino immigrant and green card holder with prior criminal charges for distributing controlled substances was detained at an airport and is currently in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.

Sonny Lasquite was detained after a vacation in the Bahamas by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on July 28 at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to relatives who spoke with GMA News Online.

Why It Matters

Lasquite’s arrest was due to a red flag in the federal system linked to a 2012 narcotics case. ICE records reviewed by Newsweek show Lasquite currently being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Stewart County, Georgia.

Lasquite’s detention illustrated how lawful permanent residents could face immigration enforcement after arrests at ports of entry, raising questions about the consequences of past criminal convictions for long-term residents and the humanitarian impact on families that rely on detained relatives for financial and caregiving support.

What To Know

Lasquite reportedly lived in the U.S. for 23 years and worked as a banquet server in Las Vegas.

From roughly December 2010 to about August 2012, Lasquite “intentionally and knowingly” possessed with the intent to distribute Schedule IV narcotics, including diazepam, alprazolam, zolpidem and carisoprodol, according to court records in the Southern District of New York reviewed by Newsweek.

But records indicate that he promptly took responsibility for his actions and cooperated with the federal government in identifying charged and uncharged co-conspirators. A 2014 sentencing memorandum by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said that Lasquite helped stop narcotics distribution practices and led to the prosecutions of others.

“You are, as the government points out, the only defendant who cooperated,” Bharara said on September 9, 2014. “You did that at some risk to yourself. I think there needs to be recognition of that and proportionate sentencing between you and the other defendants.

“I feel pretty confident that you’re not going to commit any crimes in the future, and I join the government in wishing you well and hopefully being able to put this behind you.”

The court ultimately sentenced Lasquite to time served and no additional prison time, ordering him to pay $200.

Lasquite has put that time of his life behind him, according to family and friends, who created a GoFundMe on Saturday to raise $30,000 for legal representation, filing fees, and “essential expenses to fight for Sonny’s right to remain in the U.S. and reunite with his family.”

As of Monday morning, nearly $11,600 had been raised from 56 donations. The fundraiser was started by Vivian Hirano, of Las Vegas, who writes that Lasquite “has had no further legal troubles and has been a law-abiding, contributing member of his community” since his 2012 criminal conviction.

Newsweek reached out to Hirano via the GoFundMe page for comment.

“Sonny Lasquite is more than a name—he is a beloved son, brother, uncle and friend whose kindness has touched countless lives,” the GoFundMe says. “For decades, Sonny has lived peacefully in the United States, working hard, caring for his elderly mother, and always putting others before himself. He is the kind of person who never hesitates to help, greet you with a warm smile, or offer comfort when you need it most.”

Aside from Lasquite’s detention causing his mother’s health to “decline under the weight of this stress,” his own health is reportedly taking a toll. Lasquite has purportedly faced medical neglect during detention, including delayed access to his blood pressure medication and proper care for his recent fever, according to Hirono.

What People Are Saying

Immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi told Newsweek on Monday that cases like these are “not new and have been happening for decades.”

She said: “Under current U.S. immigration law, lawful permanent residents—even those who have lived in the country for most of their lives—remain vulnerable to removal proceedings if they are convicted of certain drug-related offenses. This is true regardless of how much time has passed since the conviction or how significantly they have contributed to their communities in the years afterward.

“Because of this, we strongly encourage our clients to pursue U.S. citizenship as soon as they are eligible. Naturalized citizens cannot be deported for criminal convictions in the same way, providing a crucial safeguard against the devastating consequences of removal.”

Vivian Hirano on Sonny Lasquite’s GoFundMe page: “Sonny is the primary breadwinner of his family, providing both financial and emotional support to his loved ones. His income helps cover essential expenses, including his elderly mother’s medical needs and daily living costs.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday in Illinois called allegations of ICE detaining immigrants without criminal convictions “false,” according to NewsNation: “I’m here today because elected leaders in Illinois are ignoring the law. In fact, they’re being obstructionists when it comes to getting dangerous criminals off of their streets. They’re deciding that dangerous criminals that are murderers, rapists, money launderers, have committed assaults, and that are trafficking children are more important than the families who live in the communities here.”

What Happens Next

Lasquite’s case was pending in immigration custody, and his legal options were constrained by immigration statutes that treat certain controlled-substance convictions as grounds for removal.

ICE detains green card holder returning from vacation after 23 years in US
The Filipino immigrant helped the government over a decade ago to arrest narcotics co-conspirators, receiving a reduced sentence and monetary fine.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-illegal-immigration-filipino-detained-criminal-2111738

Another article:

Outrage Sparked Over ICE Detention Conditions

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/outrage-sparked-over-ice-detention-conditions/ss-AA1KGVSw

Newsweek: ICE detains woman in green card process and son at Canadian border

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A New Zealand woman and her youngest son, living in Washington, were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the Canadian border after dropping her other children off in Vancouver.

Sarah Shaw, who is waiting for a green card, and her son Isaac, 6, were arrested despite having some immigration documents. She is now being held in a detention facility in Texas.

Newsweek reached out to ICE and Shaw’s attorney for comment via email Monday morning.

Why It Matters

Since President Donald Trump‘s return to the White House in January, ICE has been seen to take a tougher stance on immigration enforcement, including against those with legal status. This has led to increased uncertainty around international travel for green card holders and those with other long-term visas.

What To Know

A GoFundMe page set up by Shaw’s friend, Victoria Besancon, explained that the mother of three had fully prepared for a quick trip across the U.S.-Canadian border on July 24 to drop off her two eldest children at Vancouver’s airport. They were headed back to New Zealand for a visit with their grandparents.

While crossing into Canada had been fine, on the return trip, immigration officials detained Shaw and Isaac.

Originally entering the U.S. sponsored by her ex-husband, Shaw is now in the process of seeking a green card independently under a domestic violence survivor’s provision. According to the GoFundMe, Shaw had work authorization but not travel permissions just yet, as part of what is known as a “combo card”, while her son did.

Her attorney, Minda Thorward, told NBC King 5 news that under previous administrations, Shaw would likely have been quickly paroled back into the U.S. by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), but that this had clearly shifted under Trump.

Despite Isaac having travel permissions, ICE still holds him in detention, with Shaw also held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas.

Besancon wrote on her GoFundMe page that Shaw works for the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and was set to begin grad school soon. The funding, sitting at over $33,000 Monday morning, was to cover legal fees and essentials, after she was forced to burn through savings for legal representation.

Shaw’s case is not the first of its kind, with multiple legal residents reported to have been detained by ICE in recent months. While some have known criminal records or histories, which can be reason to withdraw visas, others have claimed that they simply made mistakes with paperwork and should be released.

What People Are Saying

Victoria Besancon, Shaw’s friend, speaking to NBC King 5: “Sarah had been waiting on some travel documents to be approved. But once her visa and her children’s visas were cleared, she felt comfortable taking them to Canada. We assumed everything was fine.

“The main thing Sarah has expressed throughout this ordeal is just absolute shock and devastation. She truly believed she had done everything that was required of her.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a recent statement on immigration enforcement: “The fact of the matter is those who are in our country illegally have a choice—they can leave the country voluntarily or be arrested and deported. The United States taxpayer is generously offering free flights and a $1,000 to illegal aliens who self-deport using the CBP Home app. If they leave now, they preserve the potential opportunity to come back the legal, right way. The choice is theirs.”

What’s Next

Shaw is yet to show up on ICE’s inmate detainee locator, with her friends and legal team urging the agency to release her and her son.

ICE detains woman in green card process and son at Canadian border
The mother of three thought she had her paperwork in order when making a quick trip to Vancouver.

https://www.newsweek.com/domestic-violence-survivor-detained-ice-us-canada-border-2111838

Newsweek: Green card applicant arrested by ICE while driving to grocery store

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A Los Angeles doctor has told how she watched on FaceTime as her husband, a Tunisian musician with a pending green card application, was arrested by federal immigration agents on what she called “probably the worst day of my life.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pulled over Rami Othmane while he was driving to a grocery store in Pasadena on July 13, the Associated Press (AP) reported, before he pulled out paperwork he was carrying.

His wife, Dr. Wafaa Alrashid, who is a U.S. citizen and chief medical officer at Huntington Hospital, told the AP she watched events unfold over the video call, “They didn’t care, they said, ‘Please step out of the car,” she recalled.

Confirming the arrest, Department of Homeland Secuity’s (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek via email on Monday that Othmane’s “B-2 tourist visa expired more than nine years ago. He will remain in custody at ICE’s Eloy Detention Center pending his removal proceedings.”

Alrashid said her husband has since been subjected to “inhumane treatment.” The DHS told California news station KABC in a statement that detainees recieve “proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”

Newsweek contacted the family via GoFundMe for comment on Monday.

Why It Matters

The administration is pushing forward with plans to carry out widespread deportations as part of President Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown.

In addition to people living in the country without legal status, immigrants with valid documentation, including green cards and visas, have been detained. Newsweek has documented dozens of cases involving green card holders and applicants who were swept up in the ICE raids.

What To Know

Alrashid told the AP her husband has lived in the U.S. since 2015, and though he overstayed his initial visa, a deportation order against him was dismissed in 2020. They married in March 2025 and Othmane promptly filed for his green card, Alrashid said.

On learning her husband had been stopped, Alrashid got into her car and tracked his location on her phone, the AP reported. She reached the scene just in time to catch a glimpse of the outline of his head through the back window of a vehicle as it drove away, the agency said.

“Agents blocked his car, did not show a warrant and did not identify themselves,” Othmane’s family said in a GoFundMe set up to raise financial support.

The family said Othmane suffers from chronic pain and has an untreated tumor.

Othmane remains in federal custody at an immigration detention facility in Arizona.

“When they took him, he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and flip-flops,” Alrashid told a rally of fellow musicians, immigration advocates and activists outside the facility more than a week after his arrest.

“So he was freezing. Also, there are no beds, no pillows, no blankets, no soap, No toothbrushes and toothpaste. And when you’re in a room with people, bathrooms open, there’s no door. So it’s very dehumanizing, it’s undignifying, the food is not great either.”

What People Are Saying

Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in an emailed statement on Monday: “Rami Jilani Othmane, an illegal alien from Tunisia, was arrested by CBP on July 13. His B-2 tourist visa expired more than nine years ago. He will remain in custody at ICE’s Eloy Detention Center pending his removal proceedings.

“President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.

“The fact of the matter is those who are in our country illegally have a choice—they can leave the country voluntarily or be arrested and deported. The United States taxpayer is generously offering free flights and a $1,000 to illegal aliens who self-deport using the CBP Home app. If they leave now, they preserve the potential opportunity to come back the legal, right way. The choice is theirs.”

Dr. Wafaa Alrashid wrote in a post on GoFundMe: “This is not just an immigration issue—this is a human rights crisis happening in downtown Los Angeles. My husband has been subjected to 12 days of inhumane treatment in a federal building. He is not a criminal. He is a kind, peaceful man with an open immigration petition. He should be with his family, not sleeping on a concrete floor without medical care.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to KABC: “Any allegations that detainees are not receiving medical care or conditions are “inhumane” are FALSE. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”

What Happens Next

Othmane will remain in ICE custody, pending further removal proceedings.

Green card applicant arrested by ICE while driving to grocery store
Rami Othmane’s wife, a California doctor, told how she watched it happen over FaceTime.

https://www.newsweek.com/green-card-applicant-arrested-ice-grocery-store-california-2108413

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids

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Any attorney who files or argues in favor of this appeal should be disbarred!

Any justice who votes in favor of this appeal should impeached and removed!

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow officers to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Southern California because of how they look, what language they’re speaking and what kind of work they’re doing, factors that federal judges have found to be baseless and discriminatory.

Last month’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong, upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California,” D. John Sauer, the Justice Department’s solicitor general, said Thursday in a filing with the Supreme Court. “This Court should end this attempted judicial usurpation of immigration-enforcement functions” and suspend the injunction while the case is argued in the lower courts, Sauer wrote.

The Central District, which includes Los Angeles County and six other counties, has nearly 20 million residents, more than any other federal court district in the nation. It became the focus of legal disputes over immigration enforcement after President Donald Trump took control of the California National Guard in June and sent thousands of its troops to the streets in Los Angeles to defend immigration agents against protesters of workplace raids.

A 9th Circuit panel upheld Trump’s commandeering of the National Guard, rejecting a lawsuit by Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Frimpong, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ruled July 11 that immigration officers were overstepping legal boundaries in making the arrests, and issued a temporary restraining order against their practices.

In a ruling Aug. 1 upholding the judge’s decision, another 9th Circuit panel said federal officers had been seizing people from the streets and workplaces based on four factors: their apparent race or ethnicity, the language they spoke or accent in their voice, their presence in a location such as a car wash or an agricultural site, and the type of work they were doing.

That would justify the arrest of anyone “who appears Hispanic, speaks Spanish or English with an accent, wears work clothes, and stands near a carwash, in front of a Home Depot, or at a bus stop,” the panel’s three judges said. They agreed with Frimpong that officers could not rely on any or all of those factors as the basis for an arrest.

But the Trump administration’s lawyers said those factors were valid reasons for immigration arrests in the Central District.

In April, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston issued a similar order against the Border Patrol, prohibiting immigration arrests in the Eastern District of California unless officers have a reasonable suspicion that a person is breaking the law. The district is based in Sacramento and extends from Fresno to the Oregon border.

“You can’t just walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers,’” Thurston, a Biden appointee, said at a court hearing, CalMatters reported. The Trump administration has appealed her injunction to the 9th Circuit.

The administration’s compliance with the Central District court order was questioned by immigrant advocates on Wednesday after a raid on a Home Depot store near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, in which officers said 16 Latin American workers were detained. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Mohammad Tajsar, said the government “seems unwilling to fulfill the aims of its racist mass deportation agenda without breaking the law.”

There is ample evidence that many businesses in the district “unlawfully employ illegal aliens and are known to hire them on a day-to-day basis; that certain types of jobs — like day labor, landscaping, and construction — are most attractive to illegal aliens because they often do not require paperwork; that the vast majority of illegal aliens in the District come from Mexico or Central America; and that many only speak Spanish,” Sauer told the Supreme Court.

“No one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion” that someone is an illegal immigrant, the Justice Department attorney said. “But in many situations, such factors — alone or in combination — can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States.”

The Supreme Court told lawyers for the immigrants to file a response by Tuesday. 

The case is Noem v. Perdomo, No. 25A169.

Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let officers arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Southern California because of how they look.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/scotus-immigration-california-20809308.php

Raw Story: ‘Please disregard!’ ICE kills lucrative bonuses within hours of reporters asking questions

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, announced this week that it was offering “cash bonuses” to help meet President Donald Trump’s quotas for deportation targets.

However, The New York Times reported Tuesday that once they started asking questions, the announcement was quickly withdrawn.

ICE announced Tuesday morning it would implement a 30-day pilot program, offering agents a bonus for deporting individuals more quickly. The agreement would pay $200 for each immigrant that a law enforcement officer can deport within seven days of being arrested. They’ll get $100 if they get the migrant out in two weeks, the memo said.

According to the memo, agents are encouraged to “maximize” their bonuses by “using a fast-track process known as expedited removal, which allows immigrants without legal status to be deported without court proceedings.”

It comes at a time when ICE is facing problems in the courts because they are alleging crimes but not allowing the accused the due process allotted to them in the courts.

It took less than four hours for ICE to kill the program.

“PLEASE DISREGARD,” said a follow-up email from Liana J. Castano, an official in ICE’s field operations division, the Times reported.

When the Times requested a comment from the national Department of Homeland Security, the spokesperson said that the program isn’t in effect. The email canceling it was sent out not long after.

The Times said the idea only draws attention to the struggle for the administration to meet aggressive targets. Already, the agency has offered $50,000 signing bonuses as it tries to hire another 10,000 agents.

Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he would only deport criminals, but the administration has done the opposite, arresting people off the street who look like immigrants. The CATO Institute revealed that one in five of those arrested has no criminal history.

In July, a lower court blocked ICE agents from racially profiling the people it was arresting. Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift a temporary restraining order that blocks immigration officers from targeting a person based on their job or the language they’re speaking.

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-cash-bonus

Independent: More than 100 human rights abuses discovered in immigration detention since Trump took office, senate probe says

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Report from Senator Jon Ossoff uncovers dozens of allegations, including medical mistreatment of children women and children

An investigation from the office of Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff uncovered more than 500 allegations of human rights abuses in immigration detention facilities, including more than a two dozen reports involving children and pregnant women and more than 40 instances of physical and sexual abuse.

The senator launched an investigation into conditions inside the nation’s sprawling network of immigration detention facilities after Donald Trump took office in January.

A subsequent report, first published by NBC News on Tuesday, identified 510 “credible reports” of abuse inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, federal prisons, local jails and military bases, including Guantanamo Bay, and on deportation flights.

“Credibly reported or confirmed events to date include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse, mistreatment of pregnant women, mistreatment of children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food or water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and family separations,” according to the report.

Those events include 41 allegations of physical or sexual abuse, including an alleged incident in El Paso where a detainee was “slammed against the ground, handcuffed, and taken outside” for “stepping out of line in the dining hall.”

The report also uncovered two 911 calls from a California facility referencing sexual assaults or threats of sexual assaults. At a facility in Texas, at least four emergency calls since January have reportedly referenced sexual abuse, the report found.

When a group of detainees in Miami flooded a toilet in protest of poor conditions, officers reportedly threw flash-bang grenades into the room and “shot at the men with what appeared to be pellets or rubber bullets,” according to the report. The detainees were then handcuffed with zip-ties that cut into their wrists when detainees requested food, water and medication, the report says.

The senator’s office uncovered at least 14 reports alleging pregnant women were mistreated in Homeland Security custody, “including not receiving adequate medical care and timely checkups, not receiving urgent care when needed, being denied snacks and adequate meals, and being forced to sleep on the floor due to overcrowding,” according to the report.

A pregnant woman’s partner in custody in Georgia had reported to the senator’s office that she had bled for days before staff took her to a hospital.

Once she was there, “she was reportedly left in a room, alone, to miscarry without water or medical assistance, for over 24 hours,” according to the report. According to documents obtained by NBC News, the woman received a follow-up check-up on April 9, 11 days after she miscarried.

In another case, a pregnant detainee was reportedly told to “just drink water” after requesting medical attention.

Attorneys for other detainees told the senator’s office that their pregnant clients have been forced to wait “weeks” to see a doctor while in custody.

The senator’s office also collected 18 reports involving children, including U.S. citizens, some as young as two years old.

Three of those children reportedly experienced “severe medical issues” while in detention and were denied adequate medical treatment, according to the report.

In another case, an attorney reported that a U.S. citizen child with severe medical issues was hospitalized three times while in custody with her non-citizen mother. According to the report, when the young girl began vomiting blood, the mother begged for medical attention, to which an officer reportedly told her to “just give the girl a cracker.”

A citizen child recovering from brain surgery was reportedly denied access to follow-up care, a case that was publicly reported earlier this year. She faces continued brain swelling and speech and mobility difficulties, according to the senator’s report.

Another previously reported case involving a four-year-old cancer patient is also included in the senator’s report.

“Regardless of our views on immigration policy, the American people do not support the abuse of detainees and prisoners … it’s more important than ever to shine a light on what’s happening behind bars and barbed wire, especially and most shockingly to children,” Ossoff said in a statement shared with The Independent.

Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News that “any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false.”

Detainees in ICE custody are provided with “proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,” she said.

“Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,” she told NBC.

The Independent has requested additional comment from Ossoff’s office and Homeland Security.

Ossoff’s report follows nearly eight months of the president’s vast anti-immigration agenda and mass deportation machine, set to receive tens of billions of dollars over the next decade to radically expand detention capacity and the number of ICE agents working to remove people from the country.

Lawsuits and reports from immigration advocates and attorneys have alleged similarly brutal conditions in facilities in California, Texas, Louisiana, New Jersey, Florida and New York, where detainees have reported food shortages, illness and denial of access to legal counsel.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-detention-human-rights-jon-ossoff-report-b2802585.html