Tag Archives: Immigration

Newsweek: Trump admin warns DACA recipients to self-deport

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The Trump administration advised Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to self-deport and warned that they are “not automatically protected from deportation.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, told Newsweek the warning is “not new or news.”

“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] are not automatically protected from deportations,” she said. “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”

Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose state contains the highest number of DACA recipients, told Newsweek the move “highlights the Trump administration’s hypocrisy” and shows that “they do not want to detain and deport the worst of the worst.”

“Their chaos campaign is all about detaining and deporting as many people as possible without a regard to people’s legal rights, including intercepting Americans, Dreamers, kids, people with legal protections and those following immigration rules and even U.S.-born citizens into their indiscriminate dragnet.,” she said. “It’s dangerous precedent when deportations matter more than basic rights or a functional U.S. immigration system.”

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump pledged to undertake the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history on the campaign trail and quickly moved to increase immigration enforcement upon his return to the White House. However, he has offered mixed signals on DACA.

Although Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, he told NBC News’ Meet the Press last December that he wanted to find a way to allow DACA recipients to stay in the United States.

Former President Barack Obama introduced the DACA program in 2012. It offered protections and work authorization for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. But its legal status has remained in limbo for years, and the latest comments from the administration reflect the challenges faced by DACA recipients, commonly referred to as “Dreamers.”

What To Know

McLaughlin first warned that DACA recipients should self-deport in a statement provided to NPR earlier this week.

She told Newsweek on Thursday that undocumented migrants can “take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.”

“The United States is offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” she said. “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live American dream.”

The administration has not outright ended DACA, but the statement reflects a shift in policy toward these migrants from President Joe Biden‘s administration, which was more supportive of protections for Dreamers.

Reports have emerged of DACA recipients being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Erick Hernandez Rodriguez, 34, is among the DACA recipients facing deportation. DHS said he was arrested for allegedly trying to illegally cross the southern border after allegedly self-deporting. His attorney, Valerie Sigamani, said he did not self-deport and made a wrong turn while completing a ride-share trip in San Ysidro, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

He has been in the U.S. for 20 years. His wife, Nancy Rivera, is a U.S. citizen, and the couple has a daughter together and is expecting a son. He had begun the process for permanent legal resident status.

DACA recipients are required to receive advance parole before leaving the U.S. to avoid loss of protection and deportation risk. There are more than 500,000 DACA recipients living in the U.S., according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump told Meet the Press in December: “The Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the dreamers. The dreamers, we’re talking many years ago, they were brought into this country. Many years ago. Some of them are no longer young people. And in many cases, they’ve become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases, they have small businesses. Some cases they might have large businesses. And we’re going to have to do something with them.”

Anabel Mendoza, communications director for United We Dream, told NPR: “We’ve known that DACA remains a program that has been temporary. We’ve sounded the alarms over that. What we are seeing now is that DACA is being chipped away at.”

What Happens Next

DACA’s future remains in limbo, with legal challenges ongoing in federal courts and the administration continuing to enforce strict immigration statutes.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-admin-daca-recipients-self-deport-2106991

Reason: Woman Who Died of Heart Disease in ICE Custody Reportedly Told Son She Wasn’t Allowed to See Doctor for Chest Pains

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Questions about the death of Marie Blaise at a South Florida ICE detention center have lingered since she collapsed in April.

A woman who died of a heart attack in a federal immigration detention facility in South Florida told her son over the phone on the day she died that staff refused to let her see a physician for chest pains, her son told a county investigator.

Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian national, died on April 25 at the Broward Transitional Center (BTC)—a privately run facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, that contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A medical examiner’s report obtained by Reason through a public records request concluded that she died of natural causes from cardiovascular disease.

An investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office interviewed Blaise’s son, Kervens Blaise, who said his mother reported being denied medical care.

“I asked Kervens when he last spoke with his mother and said on Friday, 4/25/25 at 2:54 pm (California time),” the investigator wrote in the report. “At that time, did his mother complained of any health issues and he states she complained of having chest pains and abdominal cramps, and when she asked the detention staff to see a physician, they refused her. Kervens states his mother has been experiencing the chest pains for about a month now.”

Blaise also reportedly told several other detainees that she wasn’t feeling well that day.

Blaise was first detained by ICE on February 14 and was transferred to several different ICE detention centers before being sent to BTC in early April.

An official ICE narrative of Blaise’s medical history during her detention states that she had a history of high blood pressure and kidney disease, and that she repeatedly refused to take prescribed medication. According to the ICE report, Blaise saw medical providers three times between her arrival at BTC on April 5 and her death on April 25.

However, BTC detainees who witnessed Blaise collapse said there was also a slow staff response. 

In a report on inhumane conditions at South Florida ICE detention centers recently published by several human rights and legal aid groups, a former BTC detainee identified only as “Rosa” told researchers that she heard a scream from a nearby cell and saw Blaise kneeling on the ground.

“We started yelling for help, but the guards ignored us,” Rosa told the report authors. “Finally, one officer approached slowly, looked at her without intervening, and then walked away. After that, it took eight minutes for the medical provider to arrive, and then another 15 or 20 before the rescue team came. By then, she was not moving.”

Lawyers and detainees have repeatedly alleged medical neglect by staff at ICE facilities in South Florida, including BTC, the Krome Detention Center, and the Federal Detention Center Miami. 

Harpinder Chauhan, a British entrepreneur who was detained by ICE this spring and eventually deported, told the report’s researchers that BTC staff regularly refused to give him his insulin. 

Chauhan eventually collapsed while standing in the dinner line at BTC, leading to him being hospitalized for three days. Chauhan’s son said that hospital and ICE staff would not give him any information on his father’s condition, and he eventually learned his father had been registered under a false name.

A former detainee, whose lawyer requested that he only be identified as “A.S.,” tells Reason he spent four days in an overcrowded holding cell with 50 to 60 other people at the Krome Detention Center.

“There was a dude, he passed out. He was crying for his medicine for like two or three days,” A.S. says. “They didn’t give him his medicine until he finally passed out, right before they were gonna put him on the plane.”

Another man detained at Krome told the report’s authors that the only way he could get guards to believe he was suffering from an excruciating hernia was to throw himself on the floor. Prison staff eventually wheeled him to the medical team, where the doctor on duty told him he “likely just had gas” and offered him “a Pepto-Bismol and two Tylenols.” The detainee refused to leave until the doctor eventually agreed to send him to a hospital, where he received a CAT scan that found he had a strangulated abdominal wall hernia. “The doctor [at the hospital] told me that if I had not come in then, my intestines would have likely ruptured,” the man said.

Blaise’s death led to condemnations and calls for investigations from Florida Democrats, such as Rep. Frederica Wilson (D–Miami Gardens).

“Marie is just an example of what is going to continue to happen,” Wilson said after touring BTC in May. “This is something we’re going to continue to see. It’s going to get more crowded. It’s going to continue to have more deaths. It’s going to continue to have more children without their parents.”

https://reason.com/2025/07/30/woman-who-died-of-heart-disease-in-ice-custody-reportedly-told-son-she-wasnt-allowed-to-see-doctor-for-chest-pains

Inquisitr:Disabled Man Detained by ICE Allegedly Locked Up in Isolation Without Water and Food—And The Reason is Heartbreaking

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Rodney Taylor is a Liberian-born who was detained by ICE as part of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. He was at Georgia‘s Stewart immigration detention center, where he recently spent three days in a “restrictive housing unit,” or so termed by CoerCivic. However, you would be surprised to know why he ended up there. It is because of a very simple complaint.

According to The Guardian, Rodney refused to enter his cell because it was flooded with above an inch of water due to a leak. It is important to note, he didn’t just complain needlessly. The Liberian-born man had battery-powered microprocessor-controlled prosthetic legs, which could have been damaged if they got wet.

“They don’t see you as an individual, but as someone being deported,” Taylor lamented, taking a jab at the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies. His incident shows how ill-prepared the President and his minions are. Even his fiancée, Mildred Pierre, commented on how the administration’s action made his mental health worse during the last six months, calling it “receiving blow after blow.”

Not only the flood incident on April 25, but he has continued to face various incidents over his stay at the detention center, which included the screws of his prosthetic legs coming out. This made him fall several times and caused injury to his hand.

Although he was sent to a clinic, he couldn’t fit new legs as those were delivered without a charger for the battery. His fiancé, Pierre, bought a charger for those. However, at that time, they were asked to wait two months for the clinic appointment, as they were not adept with Taylor’s model of prosthetics.

Pierre, concerned for her fiancé, spent months “trying to figure out – who do I call? who’s going to listen?”

“I am afraid for Rodent,” she wrote to Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff’s office on Saturday, following the flooding incident. However, ultimately, nothing changed, as the guards at the detention center handcuffed him and placed him in solitary confinement. On Tuesday, Stewart’s assistant warden released him.

However, when he was locked up, he was denied any water to drink and was not allowed to charge the battery in his prosthetic legs. The representative for CoerCivic is now saying that Rodney “is being regularly monitored by facility medical staff, with all known medical issues are being addressed, and our staff continuing to accommodate his needs.”

He also denied that the detention center had any solitary confinement, saying it “does not exist.” 

Disabled Man Detained by ICE Allegedly Locked Up in Isolation Without Water and Food—And The Reason is Heartbreaking
Rodney Taylor, a Liberian-born man, became the victim of the immigration crackdown. However, when he complained about flooding in his cell, which could have potentially damaged his prosthetic legs, things turned really harsh for him. He has since criticized the Trump administration’s policy.

Style on Main: ICE Arrested a 6-Year-Old With Leukemia at Immigration Court. Now the Family Is Suing

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Children are supposed to enjoy their formative years through play and conversation with their families and communities, growing up happy and successful in life. However, some of them experience tragic realities at a very young age… a world full of problems and negativity. Kids who are separated due to immigration issues currently face this harsh and confusing reality. To be placed in a cold room full of adults who keep interrogating them can be stressful. What did they do to be there? Are they supposed to be in such a place?

The family thought they were safe. And they even did everything right. Followed every rule, attended every hearing, and filled out papers by memory. Yet, as the mother walked out of the immigration courthouse with her two children, a 6-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister, the officers (not in uniform) were there, waiting by the door. No warning, no chance to say goodbye, the family was just arrested there on the courthouse steps. They’d been locked up somewhere without any warrant, plus their protection case had been denied. It was a double whammy for the family, and that was just the beginning.

The arrest was just the start. The worst part? The little 6-year-old boy wasn’t just any child, he was fighting a severe form of leukemia, which would be treatable if medicine and treatments were given regularly. But since they were locked in detention, he couldn’t do anything. His treatment eventually stopped, with fewer and fewer chances of beating cancer. According to their mother, his 9-year-old sister then watched as her younger brother got sicker, from crying herself to sleep every night because of extreme stress to sometimes keeping herself awake.

This story isn’t just an isolated case. Imagine babies learning to grow up in cages and toddlers who’ve never even played in real playgrounds. Right now, U.S. immigration centers are holding thousands of children. Some are barely out of diapers…like a 3-year-old kid who spent almost two years in a detention center in Pennsylvania, taking her first steps and learning her first words behind bars instead of in her mother’s arms. These things are now part of those children’s core memories and have left deep scars; they then develop depression and PTSD as they grow older. This pattern questions the humanity of these practices and their impact on young minds.

Behind locked doors is a different kind of tragedy. Families are crowded into dirty rooms like animals in cages, without enough food, or sometimes, a spoiled or cold one. And with the bathrooms smelling bad, the kids would rather hold their pee for hours than use them. No one cares if anyone gets sick. No medicines or even doctors to be found near them. These little ones suffer together, crying constantly, feeling the pain in their bodies as they stay in a strange place. It’s as if their childhood dies a little more each day.

After their release, the mother decided to file a federal lawsuit, saying that the officials violated her family’s constitutional rights by ignoring her son’s need to treat his life-threatening cancer and even detaining them even though they followed all legal immigration requirements. Her lawyers say that the case will show everyone a worrying pattern, that even families who abide by the law can be arrested without any due process. Plus, putting a child’s life at risk and scarring their siblings. Advocates deemed this necessary, despite the fact that the mother speaking out isn’t really well-known, just a simple immigrant trying to pass through their asylum case. They hope that the lawsuit will teach the defendants responsibility and accountability.

After the arrest, and without any notice, the authorities loaded the family onto a transport and drove them from Los Angeles all the way to a remote Texas detention facility, about 1,400 miles away from their so-called home. This destroyed the routines the sick boy relied on. His cancer doctors in California, friends, and family members who might help them were already far, far away from them. While immigration officers claimed that the transfer was necessary for “operational reasons,” it doesn’t hide the fact that the move was deliberately cruel, ripping away the family’s sense of a normal life.

Data shows that 9 out of 10 detained children are locked away longer than federal law allows, with an average of 43 days behind bars. For kids, that feels like an eternity. And even once the gates opened for them, it didn’t erase the scars that were made. Children like the boy and his sister now carry invisible wounds that may never fully heal and will be a part of their lives as adults. Both of them now struggle with how life made them and probably have nightmares during their sleep now and then. Doctors say that trauma can last and shape a person’s life forever.

When the news picked up the family’s story, the public exploded all over social media like a landmine. Protesters gathered outside, and politicians demanded answers. The family was suddenly released within days of the story going viral. No court order, no legal victory, just the public pressure that the immigration office couldn’t ignore. This story proved to be a pivotal point for society, that when people speak up, even the most powerful groups will listen. It wasn’t the legal system that released the family; it was the voice of common people who refused to stay silent.

The case could change how a part of the system operates, including new rules protecting sick children in detention and changes to broken immigration court procedures. Even mental health researchers are demanding immediate policy changes, as there’s no safe way to lock up children. This story may well inspire the agencies to make broader efforts to end or drastically limit family detention policies, pushing for more humane alternatives for countless children and families as they scour through America’s complicated immigration system. Hopes are high for everyone that a new path will be forged through humanity and justice.

ICE Arrested a 6-Year-Old With Leukemia at Immigration Court. Now the Family Is Suing
YouTube – Nigerian Center Children are supposed to enjoy their formative years through play and conversation with their families and communities, growing up happy and successful in life. However, some of them experience tragic realities
ICE Arrested a 6-Year-Old With Leukemia at Immigration Court. Now the Family Is Suing

Bradenton Herald: Trump Suffers Legal Blow — Judge Sides with Blue State

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District Judge Lindsay Jenkins has dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump administration regarding sanctuary policies in Illinois and Chicago, affirming that local governments have retained the right to refuse cooperation with federal immigration enforcement under the Tenth Amendment. The ruling marks a major setback for the administration’s efforts to challenge state and city-level protections for undocumented immigrants. It upholds laws such as Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, reinforcing local authority in guiding immigration-related policies.

The Trump administration had sued sanctuary cities in California and New York. The Department of Justice (DOJ) targeted laws such as Illinois’ Way Forward Act and Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance.

The court rejected DOJ claims that state laws violated federal authority and dismissed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker from the case. Meanwhile, some local governments like Louisville have expressed a willingness to work with federal agencies.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Pritzker praised the ruling, claiming it upholds local laws that protect public safety and resist harmful immigration policies.

Pritzker wrote, “Illinois just beat the Trump Administration in federal court.”

Johnson stated, “This ruling affirms what we have long known: that Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance is lawful and supports public safety. The City cannot be compelled to cooperate with the Trump Administration’s reckless and inhumane immigration agenda.”

Trump Suffers Legal Blow — Judge Sides with Blue State

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-suffers-legal-blow-judge-sides-with-blue-state/ss-AA1JFoTb

ABC News: ICE recruitment efforts upset some local law enforcement leaders

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ICE is making an effort to recruit new agents from local partners, sources say.

Leadership at some local and state law enforcement agencies across the country — including agencies that have been supportive of federal immigration enforcement efforts — grew frustrated this week with efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to recruit new deportation officers and investigators from their ranks, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

Earlier this week, ICE sent a recruiting email blast directly to officers at sheriffs’ offices and other agencies who were trained by ICE to support the federal 287(g) program that allows local officers to perform certain law enforcement functions related to federal immigration enforcement.

The email left some local law enforcement leaders upset that after agreeing to have their officers help ICE, the agency was now trying to pull those officers away, sources said.MORE: Millions of undocumented immigrants will no longer be eligible for bond hearings, according to ICE memo

In the email addressed to the “287(g) community,” ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said that this is a “critical time for our nation,” and “we hope to welcome you to the ICE team soon.”

“As someone who is currently supporting ICE through the 287(g) program, you understand the unique responsibility we carry in protecting our communities and upholding federal law. Your experience in state or local law enforcement brings invaluable insight and skills to this mission — qualities we need now more than ever,” said the email, which was reviewed by ABC News.

“ICE is actively recruiting officers like you who are committed to serving with integrity, professionalism, and a deep sense of duty. This is more than a job; it’s a continuation of your service to our country,” the email said.

The email said that new recruits can receive a signing bonus of $50,000, paid over five years.

In Florida, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told ABC News that the outreach from ICE was “wrong.”

“The State of Florida and Florida law enforcement agencies have expended significant resources and invested in our personnel to ensure that we are properly staffed so that we can provide the best law enforcement services to our residents and visitors,” Gualtieri said in a statement to ABC News.

“We have partnered with ICE like no other state to help ICE do its job of illegal immigration enforcement,” Gualtieri said. “ICE actively trying to use our partnership to recruit our personnel is wrong and we have expressed our concern to ICE leadership.”

One Trump administration official told ABC News that the administration understands the frustration and values its partners, and that ICE would love to attract quality law enforcement officers who wouldn’t need to be trained for as long as a new hire off the street.

Not everyone was upset by ICE’s latest recruitment effort.

In Texas, Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Border Patrol veteran, said that while all of his deputies received a recruitment email from ICE, he is supportive of it.MORE: Trump doubles down on expanding deportations in America’s biggest cities

“I have a deputy who is interested and I’m supportive. I want to see my employees succeed at whatever their plans may be,” Cleveland said in a statement to ABC News. “I’m retired Border Patrol and I’ve received an email to come back as well.”

“Both agencies are beginning to recruit.” Cleveland said. “In the past, Border Patrol loses a lot of agents to ICE, due to there being more desirable locations in the interior of the U.S. as opposed to border towns.”

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

ICE recruitment efforts upset some local law enforcement leaders
Leadership at some local and state law enforcement agencies grew frustrated this week with efforts by ICE to recruit new agents from their ranks, according to sources.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ice-recruitment-efforts-upset-local-law-enforcement-leaders/story?id=124259508

NBC News: ICE efforts to poach local officers are angering some local law enforcement leaders

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An email to officers whose agencies partner with ICE has even some sheriffs who support the Trump administration and its immigration crackdown seeing red.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is newly flush with billions from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” spending legislation and under pressure to rapidly hire 10,000 new agents. But one tactic it recently tried to do that hiring — aggressively recruiting new agents from some of its most trusted local law enforcement partners — may have alienated some of the leaders it needs to help execute what the Trump administration wants to be the largest mass deportation in US history.

“We’re their force multipliers, and this is the thanks we get for helping them do their job?” Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd said in an interview with NBC News. Judd said he’s not happy about a recruitment email sent by ICE’s deputy director to hundreds of his deputies and he blamed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE.

“Kristi Noem needs to get on her big girl pants and do what’s right. She needs to make sure that there’s an apology,” said Judd, who also made clear that he wants to “support President [Donald] Trump’s mission.”

NBC News spoke to local law enforcement leaders in four states whose agencies participate in 287(g) and whose deputies were being targeted for ICE recruitment.

The recruitment email those agencies’ officers received, sent earlier this week, appears to have targeted law enforcement officers whose agencies participate in ICE’s 287(g) program, under which local officers are deputized to help in immigration enforcement.

The email from Sheahan, which NBC News has obtained, reads in part, “As someone who is currently supporting ICE through the 287(g) program, you understand the unique responsibility we carry in protecting our communities and upholding federal law. Your experience in state or local law enforcement brings invaluable insight and skills to this mission —qualities we need now more than ever.”

The email also touts potential $50,000 signing bonuses as an incentive for joining ICE and links to a government recruitment website featuring an image of Uncle Sam, the headline “AMERICA NEEDS YOU,” and the possibility of up to $60,000 in student loan repayment beyond those signing bonuses.

“ICE actively trying to use our partnership to recruit our personnel is wrong and we have expressed our concern to ICE leadership,” the Pinellas County, Florida Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to NBC News.

The sheriff in Pinellas County is a Republican, as is Polk County’s Judd.

“It was bad judgement that will cause an erosion of a relationship that has been improving of late. And it’s going to take some getting over and it’s gonna take leadership at DHS to really take stock cause hey, they need state and locals,” Jonathan Thompson, the executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said in an interview with NBC News.

Thompson said that the association has heard from more than a dozen law enforcement agencies about the recruitment emails. He also said that the group has not heard from DHS since the emails were flagged to the association, and that he intends to send a “very stern note” to ICE.

“This is inappropriate behavior of a partner organization,” Thompson said. “We’re all on the same boat. And you just don’t treat friends or partners like this.”

One Florida chief of police who did not want to be named out of concern his department could face retaliation said departments that have partnered with the federal government now fear they could lose their best officers.

“Now you know why everybody’s so pissed,” the chief said.

“This is like the transfer portal in college sports,” the chief said, adding, “We see people leave us because they believe they can make more money at other locations… Law enforcement has always been a calling. Now it’s a job.”

The DHS press office did not respond to questions about local law enforcement concerns but provided NBC News with a statement that it attributed to a senior DHS official: “ICE is recruiting law enforcement, veterans, and other patriots who want to serve their country … This includes local law enforcement, veterans, and our 287(g) partners who have already been trained and have valuable law enforcement experience. Additionally, more than $500 million from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will go to increasing our 287(g) partnerships with state and local law enforcement.”

The sheriff’s office in Forsyth County, Georgia told NBC News that the Atlanta ICE office “sent an apology” for the recruitment email.

Not all sheriffs are upset with the recruitment effort. In fact some say they support it.

Thaddeus Cleveland, the sheriff of Terrell County, Texas, said, “I think if someone wants to better their life, better their career, you know, look towards the long years, the long game, retirement, there’s nothing better than the US government to go out and have a successful career.”

Cleveland, who has just four deputies on his staff, admits he can’t compete with the $50,000 bonuses that the agency is offering.

“We may not be able to turn around and hire somebody the next day. It may take a few weeks. It may take a few months. But again, I support, you know, someone wanting to pursue something they’re interested in. I may end up having to work a little more, which is okay.”

Goliad County Texas Sheriff Roy Boyd also said he’s not upset about the recruitment, and noted that his office also has to deal with the state recruiting new troopers from his department.

“We can’t compete with the salaries of the state and the feds,” he said.

ICE efforts to poach local officers anger some local law enforcement leaders
An email to officers whose agencies partner with ICE has even some sheriffs who support the Trump administration and its immigration crackdown seeing red.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/ice-efforts-poach-local-officers-are-angering-local-law-enforcement-le-rcna222335

Bradenton Herald: Defiant Mayor Signs Executive Order in Blow to ICE

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mayor Tim Keller has signed an executive order mandating city departments to report any Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in city facilities. He reaffirmed Albuquerque’s commitment to civil rights and ensured that city resources will not be used for federal immigration enforcement unless required by law. The action comes in response to the ongoing federal enforcement of immigration measures under President Donald Trump.

Keller said, “From day one, I made it clear that we will not be intimidated by harmful federal policies—and we’ve never wavered from our commitment to civil rights and public safety.” He added, “This Executive Order makes it clear that we will not stand by silently as our neighbors and friends are living in fear, and we will protect due process for all people living in our City.”

The order directs city departments to support families impacted by federal actions in housing, healthcare, jobs, and education. Keller stated that immigrants have added $12 billion annually to New Mexico’s economy.

Keller argued the city must serve all residents, regardless of immigration status. City councilors have planned to draft legislation to codify the executive order following recess.

A spokesperson for Keller stated, “The City actively partners with community organizations to ensure that services, including housing, healthcare, employment, and education assistance are accessible to those impacted by federal immigration actions. These services are provided to all residents and neighbors, regardless of immigration status. We do not inquire about immigration status when offering assistance.”

The spokesperson added, “Albuquerque is proud to welcome immigrants and values the rich diversity of our community. Our focus remains on fostering safety, inclusion, and support for everyone who calls our city home.”

A city spokesperson stated that Albuquerque has worked with community groups to ensure affected residents have equitable access regarding essential services.

Defiant Mayor Signs Executive Order in Blow to ICE

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/defiant-mayor-signs-executive-order-in-blow-to-ice/ss-AA1JB3t5

Washington Post: Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says

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Tae Heung Kim, a Korean citizen studying in the United States, is being held in San Francisco after returning from his brother’s wedding overseas.

A Korean-born researcher and longtime U.S. legal permanent resident has spent the past week detained by immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport without explanation and has been denied access to an attorney, according to his lawyer.

Tae Heung “Will” Kim, 40, has lived in the United States since he was 5 and is a green-card holder pursuing his PhD at Texas A&M University, where he is researching a vaccine for Lyme disease, said his attorney, Eric Lee. Immigration officials detained Kim at a secondary screening point July 21 after he returned from a two-week visit to South Korea for his younger brother’s wedding.

Lee said the government has not told him or Kim’s family why it detained Kim, and immigration officials have refused to let Kim speak to an attorney or communicate with his family members directly except for a brief call to his mother Friday. In 2011, Kim faced a minor marijuana possession charge in Texas, Lee said, but he fulfilled a community service requirement and successfully petitioned for nondisclosure to seal the offense from the public record.

“If a green card holder is convicted of a drug offense, violating their status, that person is issued a Notice to Appear and CBP coordinates detention space with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said Tuesday in a statement to The Washington Post. “This alien is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”

Aside from a brief phone call, the only other contact Kim’s family has had with him is through what they believe to be secondhand text messages — probably an immigration official texting them from Kim’s phone in his presence. When relatives asked via text if Kim is sleeping on the floor or if the lights remain on all day, Lee said, the reply from Kim’s phone read: “Don’t worry about it.”

When Lee asked a CBP supervisor in a phone call if the Fifth and Sixth amendments — which establish rights to due process and the right to counsel — applied to Kim, the supervisor replied “no,” according to Lee.

“If the Constitution doesn’t apply to somebody who’s lived in this country for 35 years and is a green-card holder — and only left the country for a two-week vacation — that means [the government] is basically arguing that the Constitution doesn’t apply to anybody who’s been in this country for less time than him,” Lee said Monday.

Representatives for CBP and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about the supervisor’s alleged comment about Kim’s constitutional rights.

President Donald Trump has made aggressive immigration enforcement a signature of his second term, promising to root out violent criminals who are in the country without authorization. But the crackdowns have in practice swept up undocumented immigrants with little or no criminal history, as well as documented immigrants, like Kim, who hold valid visas or green cards.

Lee, the attorney, said that with no details from immigration officials or direct access to Kim, he and Kim’s family could only speculate on the reason he was detained, though Lee had believed it is probably tied to the 2011 drug charge. But immigration law has a long-established waiver process that allows officials to overlook certain minor crimes that would otherwise threaten a legal permanent resident’s status. Lee said Kim easily meets the criteria for a waiver.

“Why detain him when he’s got this waiver that is available to him?” Lee said.

Other foreign-born researchers detained by the Trump administration have included scholars accused of being “national security threats” because they expressed views opposing U.S. foreign policy toward Israel. In another case, a Russian-born researcher studying at Harvard University was charged for allegedly smuggling frog embryos into the country.

At Texas A&M, Kim’s primary research has focused on finding a vaccine for Lyme disease, which is caused by bacteria spread through tick bites. He began his doctoral studies there in summer 2021 after earning a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering from the university in 2007, Texas A&M said in a statement to The Post.

As Kim’s family waits for answers, his mother, Yehoon “Sharon” Lee, said she worries about his health and if he’s eating well — “mother’s concerns,” she said through an interpreter.

“I’m most concerned about his medical condition. He’s had asthma ever since he was younger,” Sharon Lee added. “I don’t know if he has enough medication. He carries an inhaler, but I don’t know if it’s enough, because he’s been there a week.”

Sharon Lee, 65, and her husband came to the U.S. on business visas in the 1980s, and she eventually became a naturalized citizen. But by then, Kim and his younger brother had aged out of the automatic citizenship benefit for minor children whose parents are naturalized. The brothers are legal permanent residents and have spent most of their lives in the United States.

“He’s a good son, very gentle,” Sharon Lee said of Tae Heung Kim, noting that he is a hard worker and known for checking on his neighbors. After his father died of cancer, Kim stepped up to help take care of his mother and the family’s doll-manufacturing business.

After more than three decades in the U.S., Sharon Lee said her son’s predicament has saddened and surprised her.

“I immigrated here to the States — I thought I understood it was a country of equal rights where the Constitution applies equally,” she said.

She still believes the U.S. is a country of opportunity and second chances. But she said vulnerable immigrants must learn about immigration law to protect themselves. In her son’s case, that was the hotline at the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, an advocacy group for Koreans and Asian Americans.

Eric Lee, Kim’s attorney, said there’s a dark irony to the Trump administration’s detention of someone like him.

“This is somebody whose research is going to save countless lives if allowed to continue — farmers who are at risk of getting Lyme disease,” Lee said. “Trump always talks about how much he loves the great farmers of America. Well, Tae is somebody who can save farmers’ lives.”

Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says
A Korean citizen studying in Texas on a green card was detained in San Francisco after a trip overseas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/29/korean-scientist-green-card-detained

Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scientist-on-green-card-detained-for-a-week-without-explanation-lawyer-says/ar-AA1JuESE