The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Trump administration have imposed roughly 21,500 fines totaling $6.1 billion on noncitizens who have ignored removal orders. Critics argued that such policies place undue pressure on individuals to leave the country and use misleading incentives that complicate compliance. Meanwhile, DHS and the Treasury Department are actively enforcing the collections while also offering voluntary-departure programs.
DHS rules allow daily fines and limit appeals if noncitizens don’t respond within 15 days. Collections have included tax reporting, private agencies, and refund garnishments.
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A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official stated, “It’s an easy choice: Leave voluntarily and receive a $1,000 check, or stay and wait till you are fined $1,000 a day, arrested, and deported without a possibility to return legally.”
Atta girl, Kristi “Bimbo #2” Noem: Compound their misery by fleecing them and stealing their hard-earned saving!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/dhs-announces-6b-in-fines-for-noncitizens/ss-AA1LZgUK
Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia has learned where the Department of Homeland Security has decided to deport him next.
In an email obtained by Fox News, lawyers for the DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement informed Abrego Garcia’s legal team on Friday that his new intended destination is the tiny African nation of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland.
Ridiculing Abrego Garcia’s legal claim of fear of persecution or torture—a core asylum principle—in many of the nations the government has considered deporting him to, the DHS wrote on social media that “Homie is afraid of the entire western hemisphere”.
The derisory use of the term “homie” sparked outrage on social media.
Abrego Garcia, who is currently in ICE custody in Virginia, became the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in March after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
The government admitted to an “administrative error” following his return from the Central American nation, but is still intent on removing him from the U.S. over charges of human smuggling.
His lawyers claim such charges are a “preposterous and vindictive” punishment for challenging ICE policy.
Eswatini is the fourth potential destination for Abrego Garcia, who was taken into ICE custody for a second time on Aug. 25, and prepared for processing to Uganda.
A federal judge blocked the plan, accepting his lawyers’ concerns over fear of persecution or torture, ruling that it is “absolutely forbidden” to remove Abrego Garcia from the U.S. until further legal processing can be carried out. However, the DHS has stated it is not buying his legal defense.
“That claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries,” the legal letter reads.
“Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa.”
The letter does not elaborate on how the DHS chose the country for Abrego Garcia’s intended removal.
The Daily Beast has contacted the DHS for comment.
DHS boss Kristi Noem has made it a personal mission to see Abrego Garcia deported. She has previously claimed her department is going after “the worst of the worst” and, in August, claimed the man is a “monster.”
“This illegal alien… is a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator,” Noem wrote on social media.
Abrego Garcia’s legal team has repeatedly denied all these allegations, including the often-trotted out line about his membership of the notorious MS-13 gang. Multiple judges have said there is no evidence to suggest he is gang-affiliated, while noting he has no prior criminal history.
In April, President Donald Trump insisted that Abrego Garcia had the gang name tattooed on his knuckles, challenging a reporter in an interview that an image of Abrego Garcia’s hand with “MS-13″ clearly superimposed over it was real.
At roughly 120 miles long and 80 miles wide, Eswatini is one of the smallest nations in Africa. It is the last absolute monarchy on the continent, and has a population of 1.2 million people. The country, which is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique, changed its name from Swaziland in 2018 to avoid confusion with Switzerland.
Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, says the Trump administration is “weaponizing the immigration system in a manner that is completely unconstitutional.”
A normally raucous, colorful parade to mark Mexican Independence Day in Chicago turned quiet and nervous on Saturday as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled he intended to ramp up deportations in the nation’s third-largest city.
In a break from traditional celebrations, twirling folklorico dancers decked in glimmering jewelry and billowing, multi-colored dresses distributed “know your rights” pamphlets to sparse crowds in the city’s historically Mexican Pilsen neighborhood. Horses wore the colors of Mexico’s flag in their tails, while their riders wore neon-orange whistles around their necks in case they needed to alert attendees of Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents. Along the sidelines, volunteers also kept watch for ICE.
“This place would normally be packed,” Eddie Chavez, a lifelong Pilsen resident, said while waving a Mexican flag in a lone row of lawn chairs along the parade route. “Now it’s empty, like a ghost town.”
Trump alluded to immigration raids in Chicago in a Truth Social post that echoed the movie Apocalypse Now.
“I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” his post said, opens new tab, above an image of Trump in a military uniform juxtaposed against flames and Chicago’s skyline. “Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War.”
Illinois Govornor JB Pritzker, a Democrat and vocal critic of Trump, said on Tuesday he believed ICE raids would coincide with Mexican Independence day festivals scheduled for this weekend and next weekend. Some Mexican festivals in the Chicago area were postponed or canceled, opens new tab amid fears of immigration raids.
“We’re scared, but we’re here,” said Isabel Garcia, a dancer in Saturday’s parade wearing a marigold-yellow dress and multi-colored ribbons and flowers in her hair.
“We’re Mexican. We have to celebrate, and they’re not going to stop us.”
ICE has not responded to requests for comment on whether it sent more agents to Chicago, and residents said they had not seen significantly stepped-up immigration enforcement so far.
A large protest against ICE was expected later on Saturday in Chicago, after thousands turned out for a Labor Day protest on Monday.
Trump last month deployed National Guard troops to Washington, saying they would “re-establish law, order, and public safety.” In addition to Chicago, he has suggested the possibility of deploying troops to Democratic-run Baltimore in Maryland.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/chicago-ice-fears-turn-mexican-parade-into-ghost-town-2025-09-06
ICE has reportedly arrested two dozen individuals for suspected federal immigration law violations, with advocacy groups claiming the number is as high as 26. Critics argued that officers surveilled workers prior to the detentions. ICE stated that some of those arrested have criminal histories, including seven with final orders of removal. The arrests occurred during a targeted operation, though officials have not disclosed the specific locations.
Advocacy groups have criticized the timing and tactics, calling them disruptive and harmful to local communities. ICE stated, “ICE remains dedicated to upholding the immigration system’s integrity while prioritizing the removals of aliens who undermine the safety and security of the United States.”
ICE said the operation followed an investigation identifying multiple alleged immigration law violators. The agency has declined to release full identities and charges.
Advocacy groups reported that the detained workers were traveling to a Mount Nittany Medical Center construction site. The groups have trained volunteers to monitor ICE activity and called for greater transparency on the arrests.
Centre County Rapid Response Network representatives jointly stated, “A main focus of CCRRN is protecting the constitutional right to due process. If we take this right away from some, we run the risk of taking it away from all.”
The representatives added, “Due process appears to be eroding, and unless we all have these rights, eventually many of us may not have them. We have a duty to care for all segments of our population, believing that unless all are safe, none are safe.”
Pennsylvania State Police initially said troopers had no involvement in the Centre County ICE activity. They later clarified that troopers stopped nearby but left after being told operations were underway.
The Rapid Response Network claimed the arrests have harmed public safety perceptions among immigrant and nonimmigrant residents. The group called for more information on due process and detention conditions.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/two-dozen-arrested-in-sweeping-ice-operation/ar-AA1M155w
A legal aid group has sued to preemptively block any efforts by the U.S. government to deport a dozen Honduran children, saying it had “credible” information that such plans were quietly in the works.
The Arizona-based Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP) on Friday added Honduran children to a lawsuit filed last weekend that resulted in a judge temporarily blocking the deportation of dozens of migrant children to their native Guatemala.
In a statement, the organization said it had received reports that the U.S. government will “imminently move forward with a plan to illegally remove Honduran children in government custody as soon as this weekend, in direct violation of their right to seek protection in the United States and despite ongoing litigation that blocked similar attempted extra-legal removals for children from Guatemala.”
FIRRP did not immediately provide The Associated Press with details about what information it had received about the possible deportation of Honduran children. The amendment to the organization’s lawsuit is sealed in federal court. The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to email requests for comment on Friday and Saturday.
The Justice Department on Saturday provided what is perhaps its most detailed account of a chaotic Labor Day weekend involving the attempted deportation of 76 Guatemalan children. Its timeline was part of a request to lift a temporary hold on their removal.
Over Labor Day weekend, the Trump administration attempted to remove Guatemalan children who had come to the U.S. alone and were living in shelters or with foster care families in the U.S.
Advocates who represent migrant children in court filed lawsuits across the country seeking to stop the government from removing the children, and on Sunday a federal judge stepped in to order that the kids stay in the U.S. for at least two weeks.
The government initially identified 457 Guatemalan children for possible deportation, according to Saturday’s filing. None could have a pending asylum screening or claim, resulting in the removal of 91. They had to have parents or legal guardians in Guatemala and be at least 10 years old.
In the end, 327 children were found eligible for deportation, including 76 who boarded planes early Sunday in what the government described as a first phase, according to a statement by Angie Salazar, acting director of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. All 76 were at least 14 years old and “self-reported” that they had a parent or legal guardian in Guatemala but none in the United States.
The Justice Department said no planes took off, despite a comment by one of its attorneys in court Sunday that one may have but returned.
Children who cross the border alone are generally transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which falls under the Health and Human Services Department. The children usually live in a network of shelters across the country that are overseen by the resettlement office until they are eventually released to a sponsor — usually a relative
Children began crossing the border alone in large numbers in 2014, peaking at 152,060 in the 2022 fiscal year. July’s arrest tally translates to an annual clip of 5,712 arrests, reflecting how illegal crossings have dropped to their lowest levels in six decades.
Guatemalans accounted for 32% of residents at government-run holding facilities last year, followed by Hondurans, Mexicans and El Salvadorans. A 2008 law requires children to appear before an immigration judge with an opportunity to pursue asylum, unless they are from Canada and Mexico. The vast majority are released from shelters to parents, legal guardians or immediate family while their cases wind through court.
Justice Department lawyers said federal law allows the Department of Health and Human Services to “repatriate” or “reunite” children by taking them out of the U.S., as long as the child hasn’t been a victim of “severe” human trafficking, is not at risk for becoming so if he or she is returned to their native country and does not face a “a credible fear” of persecution there. The child also cannot be “repatriated” if he or she has a pending asylum claim.
The FIRRP lawsuit was amended to include 12 children from Honduras who have expressed to the Florence Project that they do not want to return to Honduras, as well as four additional children from Guatemala who have come into government custody in Arizona since the suit was initially filed last week.
Some children have parents who are already in the United States.
The lawsuit demands that the government allow the children their legal right to present their cases to an immigration judge, to have access to legal counsel and to be placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child.
CBS News says that it will no longer edit interviews on its Sunday news show, “Face the Nation”, days after a complaint from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The broadcaster announced Friday it will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews, subject to national security or legal restrictions, on the show.
The decision comes after Secretary Noem claimed that CBS News had “shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth” when she appeared on August 31 to discuss Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant mistakenly deported to El Salvador who has become a high-profile case in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
Noem’s interview with “Face the Nation” was taped in advance. After it was aired, Noem claimed that an important section of the interview had been cut, and posted her full, unedited response on X.
In the full response, she made a series of unproven accusations about Abrego Garcia, alleging that he was a member of gang MS-13, a “wife-beater” and had solicited nude photos from minors. Abrego Garcia has denied the accusations against him.
In response to Noem’s accusations, CBS News said that four minutes of the secretary’s interview had been edited out for timing purposes.
On Friday, the network said it will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews on the show, meaning guests’ statements will not be edited, subject to legal or national security restrictions.
In a statement to The Independent, a CBS News spokesperson said: “In response to audience feedback over the past week, we have implemented a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews.
“Face the Nation will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions). This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online.”
The spokesperson did not comment on whether Noem’s complaint had affected the decision.
Noem’s unedited interview was posted on CBS News’ website and on its YouTube channel.
The broadcaster’s change in editing policy is likely to renew claims that CBS is capitulating to the Trump administration, after settling with the president over his “60 Minutes” lawsuit.
Trump had accused the network of “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” intended to “mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales” of the 2024 presidential election in favor of former vice president Kamala Harris after it aired different clips of her interview on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation.”
Trump repeatedly alleged that Harris’ interview was edited by CBS News at the direction of her campaign, which the network denied.
Ultimately, CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, agreed to pay $16 million to Trump to settle the lawsuit.
The new CBS News editing policy raises the possibility that it would allow guests to spread unchecked falsehoods on “Face the Nation”. However, hosts will still be able to fact-check or challenge claims made by interview subjects, an anonymous CBS News employee told the Associated Press.
When Lenny Schmidt arrived at his family-run nutrition bar manufacturing business in upstate New York Thursday morning, federal immigration agents were already there.
“The agents were swarming the plant,” he said. “There were probably over 100 of these agents, on four-wheelers, on foot, they had dogs.”
“They had surrounded the facility and forced their way through into the plant … using, I think, crowbars,” Schmidt, the company’s co-owner and vice president, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Friday.
By the end of the hourslong raid at Nutrition Bar Confectioners in Cato, a rural community about 30 miles northwest of Syracuse, dozens of employees had been detained.
The raid in Cato coincided with a similar operation in Ellabell, Georgia, where federal agents detained 475 workers, mostly Korean nationals suspected of living or working in the US illegally. It marked the largest sweep yet in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown at worksites, which has increasingly targeted industries like manufacturing and agriculture that often depend on immigrant labor.
At the New York facility, agents sealed the exits, halting production and corralling workers for questioning.
“They cornered all of our workers, seemingly targeting just the Hispanic employees, separated everybody … later on, they ended up escorting them into vans,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said his company, which has been operating since 1978, complies with all federal labor laws.
“We vet each person as best as we can in accordance with those laws and get the correct documentation to support this,” he said, adding that all his employees possessed the necessary documentation to legally work in the US.
ICE told CNN affiliate WSTM the raid was a “court-authorized enforcement operation,” but did not provide further details. Employees told WSTM that around 60 workers were detained. CNN has reached out to the agency for details.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul sharply condemned the raid, calling it a cruel disruption to immigrant families.
“What they did was shatter hard-working families who are simply trying to build a life here, just like millions of immigrants before them,” the governor said.
‘Everyone got scared’
The operation began around 9 a.m., according to a Guatemalan worker who has been working on the production line for two years. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the worker described the mounting panic as agents surrounded the building and gathered up to 70 workers – many from Guatemala and Nicaragua – into the lunchroom, where the entire workforce was questioned.
“They surrounded the building. Everyone got scared.”
The worker, a legal US resident, said ICE agents neither showed warrants nor explained the reason for the raid.
“They went straight to the workers,” the employee said. “They asked what country we were from, if we had permission to be in the US. They demanded papers.”
After showing his identification card, the worker was released within half an hour, but others, including coworkers with valid work permits, were taken into custody, he said.
CNN contacted the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find out if the detainees had valid work permits and awaits a response.
Some employees who were released from detention returned to the plant almost immediately, Schmidt said.
“It’s heartbreaking … some of them came back to work. I remember seeing somebody punching the clock and I walked up to him and I couldn’t believe my eyes. So I shook his hand and gave him a hug,” he said.
Production at the plant came to a standstill during the raid, but Schmidt said operations have resumed – though at reduced capacity.
“It’s going to slow us down probably half speed or just less until we get hopefully some of these workers back,” Schmidt said, adding they will also start the hiring process for new workers this weekend.
“What makes us successful is having these wonderful workers,” he said. “We hope and pray for our workers to be safe and to return home to their families and, hopefully, back to work.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/us/cato-new-york-immigration-raid-business-owner-hnk
A Massachusetts mother of four and longtime U.S. resident has been released from immigration custody after being detained earlier this month at Boston Logan International Airport over a decades-old marijuana conviction. Knewz.com has learned that Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, 42, had traveled to Mexico with her family on vacation and was stopped by Customs and Border Protection upon reentry despite holding a recently renewed green card.
On August 11, Rosa returned to the United States with her husband and children. Her husband, Marcel Rosa, said he handed over the family’s passports and his wife’s green card before officers escorted her into a private room. She was then held at Logan Airport for four days. According to her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, she was denied access to a phone, her medications and basic hygiene. “She has diabetes, high blood pressure, mental health issues,” Pomerleau told Newsweek. He added that she was twice hospitalized in those first days of detention. After that period, Rosa was transferred to a detention facility in Maine. “She was in such poor condition that she could barely walk or function,” Pomerleau said.
Pomerleau said he was never given an official explanation for Rosa’s detention, but he believes it stemmed from a 2003 misdemeanor possession charge for a small amount of marijuana. “At most, it could have possibly been a 2003 possession charge for a small amount of marijuana, which was pardoned fully and unconditionally by the governor of Massachusetts. The records were sealed, which means they never would have even had access to them without gaining special permission from the court.” Pomerleau later challenged the old conviction in Roxbury district court, arguing that Rosa did not receive adequate legal counsel when she entered her plea two decades earlier. The judge and prosecutor agreed, vacating the conviction and dismissing the case.
Pomerleau filed an emergency motion demanding Rosa’s release, noting she had never been served with a notice to appear. Later that day, she was freed. Her husband described her detention as devastating for the family. In a GoFundMe post, he wrote, “Jemmy is a valid green card holder who was born in Peru and came to the U.S. at the age of 9. No reason for the arrest has been given. She has been held without receiving proper medical care. … Jemmy is very selfless, constantly trying to help out family and friends. Everything’s about the kids with her.” The fundraiser has collected more than $12,500 for legal expenses. Pomerleau said her case illustrates the risks many legal immigrants face under current enforcement policies. “There needs to be fundamental change. Hopefully our case sheds light on the travesty of justice,” he said.
Rosa’s case unfolded against the backdrop of an immigration administration crackdown that has swept up immigrants with legal status as well as undocumented residents. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement, “A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention and/or may be asked to provide additional documentation to be set up for an immigration hearing.” However, Pomerleau criticized the government’s actions, saying, “What is happening now is unprecedented. It’s an assault on the rule of law and due process.” Massachusetts Congressman Stephen Lynch said the episode raised “red flags in terms of the delay and what services are available to her as a legal permanent resident.”
https://knewz.com/cbp-officers-detain-mom-with-green-card-over-marijuana-conviction-from-decades-ago
