Newsweek: NYC mayoral candidate arrested by ICE says agents feel overworked

New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander has told Newsweek that ICE agents expressed feeling “overworked” shortly after detaining him at a downtown court earlier this week.

“I talked to the ICE agents afterward, and it’s clear to me they are being overworked,” Lander said in an interview on June 19.

“I asked what their shifts were. And they say, we really don’t have shifts anymore,” he added.

Poor crybabies should get respectable jobs.

Lander and other critics called the arrest further evidence of what they described as a drift toward authoritarianism by the Trump administration.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Newsweek: “Like many Democrat politicians before him, Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander seems to think obstructing federal law enforcement is his ticket to fame. Unfortunately, it’s just his ticket to being arrested.”

More often than not, these bogus “obstructing” charges are dropped. They are nothing more than harassment.

In response for comment to the suggestion ICE agents are being overworked, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: “Under Secretary [Bimbo #2] Noem, we are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe.”

Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true. Arresting and deporting non-criminal aliens does nothing to make America safe.

https://www.newsweek.com/brad-lander-ice-agents-2088020

Guardian: Outrage as DHS moves to restrict lawmaker visits to detention centers

The US Department of Homeland Security is now requiring lawmakers to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.

The guidance comes after a slew of tense visits from Democratic lawmakers to detention centers amid Donald Trump’s crackdowns in immigrant communities across the country. Many Democratic lawmakers in recent weeks have either been turned away, arrested or manhandled by law enforcement officers at the facilities, leading to public condemnation towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (Ice) handling of such visits.

Lawmakers are allowed to access DHS facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” for inspections and are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility”, according to the 2024 Federal Appropriations Act.

Previous language surrounding lawmaker visits to such facilities said that “Ice will comply with the law and accommodate members seeking to visit/tour an Ice detention facility for the purpose of conducting oversight,” CNN reported.

In response to the updated guidance, Mississippi’s Democratic representative and the ranking member of the House committee on homeland security, Bennie Thompson, condemned what he called the attempt by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to “block oversight on Ice”.

“Kristi Noem’s new policy to block congressional oversight of Ice facilities is not only unprecedented, it is an affront to the constitution and federal law. Noem is now not only attempting to restrict when members can visit, but completely blocking access to Ice field offices – even if members schedule visits in advance,” Thompson said.

“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny member visits to Ice offices across the country, which are holding migrants – and sometimes even US citizens – for days at a time. They are therefore detention facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time. DHS pretending otherwise is simply their latest lie.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/dhs-immigration-detention-center-visits-new-guidance

Slate: Trump Promises to Keep Terrorizing Blue Cities. It Might Come Back to Haunt Him.

Donald Trump won the presidency in part on promises to deport immigrants who have criminal records and lack permanent legal status. But his earliest executive orders—trying to undo birthright citizenship, suspending critical refugee programs—made clear he wants to attack immigrants with permanent legal status too. In our series Who Gets to Be American This Week?, we’ll track the Trump administration’s attempts to exclude an ever-growing number of people from the American experiment.

President Donald Trump’s immigration raids have disrupted life in Los Angeles in a way the mayor is comparing to COVID; they’ve created a climate of fear that’s driving people into hiding and hurting local businesses. This week, the president promised to expand those raids in blue cities, all in a futile attempt to hit 1 million deportations by the end of the year. After suggesting last week that ICE would stop targeting the agriculture and hotel industries, which disproportionately rely on immigrant labor, the administration also walked back that guidance.

And a troubling trend is emerging: As Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts get more aggressive and reckless, several elected officials who attempted to conduct oversight or question what is being done have been arrested.

“Overwhelmingly, Americans do not want ICE raids that focus on those without criminal records. That’s why polls show that Trump is losing voter approval on these key issues,” Mukherjee said.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/06/donald-trump-brad-lander-ice-raid-los-angeles.html

CNN: DHS issues new guidance for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities after tense confrontations

After a spate of tense encounters involving lawmakers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, the Department of Homeland Security is asking members of Congress to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.

Under the annual appropriations act, lawmakers are allowed to enter any DHS facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” to inspect them as part of their oversight duties. The act outlines that they are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility.”

The agency’s new memo also seeks to differentiate ICE field offices from detention facilities, noting that “ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities” and therefore do not fall under the appropriations act provision.  

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, called the move “unprecedented” and an “affront to the Constitution and Federal law.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/19/politics/dhs-ice-visits-congress-lawmakers

Western Journal: Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate

You almost wish Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would make congressional Democrats write it 100 times on the Capitol Hill blackboard: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are not for photo opportunities.”

However, she has issued guidance that works just as well: On Wednesday, the DHS released new restrictions that bar lawmakers from turning ICE facility visits into spectacles, including advance notice of the visit and limits on the detainees they can meet with individually.

The new DHS guidelines require lawmakers to give ICE field offices 72 hours notice and their staff to give 24 hours notice before any visits.

Furthermore, if they want to meet with any of the inmates, they have to provide a list of who they want to speak to or give 48 hours notice to allow for the creation of a sign-up list for detainees who want to speak to lawmakers.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi was the go-to guy for the freakout du jour when it came to DHS’ new visitation guidelines.

“There is no valid or legal reason for denying Member access to ICE facilities and DHS’s ever-changing justifications prove this,” said Thompson, who apparently lacks access to social media or this show on cable that airs 24 hours a day that some people like to call “the news.”

“To be clear, there is no agency or department that is ‘too busy’ for oversight. If ICE has nothing to hide, DHS must make its facilities available,” he said via a statement.

“Kristi Noem’s new policy to block congressional oversight of ICE facilities is not only unprecedented, it is an affront to the Constitution and Federal law. Noem is now not only attempting to restrict when Members can visit, but completely blocking access to ICE Field Offices — even if Members schedule visits in advance. No matter how much she and [President] Trump want to force us to live under their authoritarian rule, ICE is not above oversight and the Department must follow the law,” he added.

“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country, which are holding migrants — and sometimes even U.S. citizens — for days at a time. They are therefore detention facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time. DHS pretending otherwise is simply their latest lie.”

NBC News: A teen with no criminal background was deported by ICE, leaving his community aghast

Emerson Colindres’ soccer coach says his case is an example of how those getting taken by ICE “are your friends and neighbors … and then one day they’re just gone.”

For 19-year-old Emerson Colindres, it was supposed to be a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It turned out to be a trap. He never returned home.

Colindres, who came to the United States with his family more than a decade ago to escape the violence in their native Honduras, was detained by ICE on June 4, just days after the talented student and soccer player graduated high school in Cincinnati. Colindres, whose teammates said was one of the greatest players they met on the field, dreamed of continuing his sports career and hoped to attend a university. He did not have a criminal record, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

In the span of two weeks, Colindres went from celebrating his graduation to being detained by ICE to then being deported to a country where he has not lived since he was 8 years old.

So much for the American dream — f*ck*ng ICE *ssh*l*s!

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-deports-teen-soccer-star-graduation-rcna212566

Mediaite: ‘Disgusting’: Republican Senator Rips Federal Agents Who ‘Wrestled’ U.S. Senator to the Floor, Urges Civility From Politicians

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, denouncing federal agents detaining and wrestling Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) to the floor as “disgusting” – while also urging leaders to act with restraint and civility instead of trying to “trend on social media by getting in somebody’s face.”

Problem is, our Grifter-in-Chief and his band of sycophants thrive on insulting and diminishing others. Unless Trump is impeached or kicks the bucket, these behaviors will be par for the course until 2029.

MSNBC: Trump overplayed his hand in L.A. Now he’s going to try it in Chicago and New York City

The president announced he’ll look to deport more immigrants from America’s biggest cities.

President Donald Trump sought to use Los Angeles as a test case for his most dramatic efforts to date to fulfill his campaign promise to carry out the largest deportation in U.S. history. The results show he may have overplayed his hand.

After immigration officials carried out a series of sweeps in Los Angeles, crowds began to gather, leading to protests and, in some cases, clashes with police. Trump sent in the National Guard over the objection of the governor, then the Marines. A California senator was removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press event when he tried to ask questions.

So what did Americans think of all this? Roughly half said Trump has “gone too far” with the arrests of immigrants and disapprove of his handling of the protests, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

True to form, Trump is now doubling down. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, he wrote that he will be directing ICE to “expand efforts to detain and deport” undocumented immigrants in “America’s largest cities,” specifically naming Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.

Even if Trump wanted to carry out mass deportations at the scale he’s promised, the logistics are nearly impossible.

If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again!

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-deportations-chicago-new-york-project-47-rcna213240

Poeple: Trump Claims People Taken into ICE Custody Are Dangerous. But Only 10% Have Violent Crime Convictions: Report

A new CNN report based on government data found that more than 75 percent of those detained had no record beyond traffic or immigration offenses

  • A new CNN report shows less than 10% of people taken into custody by ICE have serious criminal offenses
  • Most people detained by ICE merely have traffic or immigration-related offenses
  • The new report on ICE data comes as Donald Trump and his administration casts immigrants as “barbaric” and “violent criminals” without evidence to back their claims

The “deporting only criminals” lie has been refuted over and over, yet King Donald’s regime continue to repeat it ad nauseum.

https://people.com/trump-ice-raids-only-ten-percent-violent-criminal-convictions-11756096

Mediaite: Top NYC Democrat Goes Off After Being Released Following ICE Arrest: Not Going to Allow Trump to ‘Wreck the Rule of Law’

New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was defiant in his message to President Donald Trump on Tuesday following his arrest by ICE agents.

Hours earlier, Lander attended immigration court hearings to support the migrants attending their scheduled hearings. The comptroller intended to walk out of court with them to ensure they weren’t detained. He claimed he had done so multiple times in the past without incident.

This time, however, the scene quickly turned chaotic. As Lander locked arms with a man and tried leaving with him, ICE agents surrounded them and separated the two. Moments later, Lander tried to do the same with another man who’d just attended his immigration hearing. This time, agents also placed Lander in handcuffs. He was detained several hours.

Around 3:15 p.m. ET, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrived at the facility where Lander was detained. Roughly an hour later, Lander emerged from the building with and was met with cheers.

The Department of Homeland Security accused Lander of assaulting an agent, but video footage of the incident clearly showed the comptroller simply held onto the men the agents tried to detain. He maintained at the presser that he just wanted the agents to provide him with a warrant authorizing the arrests.

Lander also confirmed that the charges against him had been dropped.

Another Democrat in handcuffs, phony charges later dropped.

Welcome to King Donald’s fascist Amerika!