Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

CBS News: Border agents directed to stop deportations under Trump’s asylum ban, sources say

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U.S. border agents have been directed to stop deporting migrants under President Trump’s ban on asylum claims, following a federal court order that said the measure could not be used to completely suspend humanitarian protections for asylum-seekers, two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News.

The move effectively lifts a sweeping policy that had closed the American asylum system to those entering the U.S. illegally or without proper documents. It’s a measure the second Trump administration has credited for a steep drop in illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, where officials last month reported the lowest monthly level of migrant apprehensions on record.

Mr. Trump’s asylum crackdown was unprecedented in scope. The proclamation underpinning it, issued just hours after he returned to the White House in January, gave U.S. border officials the power to summarily deport migrants without allowing them to request asylum, a right enshrined in American law for decades. 

Mr. Trump said the extraordinary action was necessary due to what he called an “invasion” of migrants under the Biden administration, which faced record levels of illegal crossings at the southern border until it too restricted asylum last year. 

On Friday, a federal appeals court lifted its pause on a lower judge’s ruling that found Mr. Trump’s decree violated U.S. asylum laws. While the appellate court narrowed the lower court’s order, saying Mr. Trump’s proclamation could be used to pause access to the asylum system, it also ruled the U.S. government could not disregard other laws that bar officials from deporting migrants to places where they could be tortured or persecuted.

Those laws require the U.S. to grant legal protections — known as “withholding of removal” and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture — to migrants who prove they would likely face persecution or torture if deported to their home countries. Unlike asylum, those protections do not allow recipients to get permanent U.S. residency or protect them from being deported to a third party country.

Officials at Customs and Border Protection were instructed this weekend to halt deportations under Mr. Trump’s proclamation and to process migrants under U.S. immigration law, which affords foreigners on American soil the right to request humanitarian refuge, the two DHS officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss an internal directive.

CBP officials received instructions to process migrants through different mechanisms, including through a fast-track deportation procedure known as expedited removal, according to the DHS officials. While expedited removal allows for relatively quick deportations, migrants processed under the policy are also allowed to apply for asylum if they convince officials that their fears of being harmed if deported are credible.

For months, U.S. border agents had been using Mr. Trump’s asylum ban to swiftly deport those crossing into the country illegally to Mexico, their home countries and, in some cases, third party nations that had agreed to accept them. Internally, officials have dubbed those deportations “212(f) repatriations,” in reference to the legal authority Mr. Trump invoked in his proclamation.

While the lifting of Mr. Trump’s order may reopen the U.S. asylum system, those caught crossing the southern border illegally will likely remain detained while officials vet their claims. The Trump administration has largely stopped the practice of releasing migrants into the U.S. while they await their court dates, limiting releases to cases involving extraordinary circumstances. 

The Justice Department could also try to get Friday’s court order suspended by the Supreme Court, in a bid to revive Mr. Trump’s asylum ban.

In a statement to CBS News late Monday, CBP said Friday’s court order affirmed “the President’s authority to deny asylum to aliens participating in an invasion into the United States.”

CBP said the Trump administration is “committed to ensuring that aliens illegally entering the United States face consequences for their criminal actions.”

“This includes prosecution to the fullest extent of the law and rapid removal from the United States,” the agency added. “CBP will continue to process illegal/inadmissible aliens consistent with law, including mandatory detention and expedited removal.”  

After soaring to record levels in late 2023, illegal border crossings dropped sharply in former President Biden’s last year office, following increased efforts by Mexico to interdict U.S.-bound migrants and an order issued by Biden in June 2024 to restrict access to the American asylum system. But they have plunged even further since Mr. Trump took office for a second time.

In July, Border Patrol encountered just 4,600 migrants along the southern border, the lowest monthly tally ever publicly reported by the agency. It’s also a figure the Biden administration recorded in 24 hours on many days.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-agents-directed-to-stop-deportations-under-trumps-asylum-ban-after-court-order

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

Raw Story: GOP trolled as planes circle major cities with three-word taunt

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Some daring pilots took to the friendly skies over the capitals of Democratic-led states Monday with a three-word taunt meant to troll President Donald Trump and Texas Republicans, according to HuffPost.

Several planes were spotted over Albany, New York; Springfield, Illinois; and Annapolis, Maryland, while trailing banners that said simply, “Mess with Texas.”

Planes towing the message were also seen over Augusta, Maine; Trenton, New Jersey; and Sacramento, California, Politico reported.

The banners were a play on the Texas slogan, “Don’t Mess With Texas,” which is seen as a declaration of state pride.

But the “anonymous group of self-described democracy advocates” altered the slogan in a plea to lawmakers in Democratic states “to help fight what many view as a gerrymandering scheme going down in Texas that will help secure Republicans’ control in the U.S. House after the midterm elections in 2026.”

Some 56 Democratic lawmakers fled Texas for blue states to prevent a quorum as Republicans sought to vote for a redistricting map that could give the GOP up to five new congressional seats. The ploy was orchestrated by President Donald Trump, who told CNBC on Tuesday that Republicans “had the right” to the seats because he swept the state so soundly in the 2024 presidential elections.

The Democrats say they’re hunkered down for the long haul away from home, even as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton issued warrants for the arrests. Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) asked the FBI to get involved in the hunt in a letter to MAGA director Kash Patel.

https://www.rawstory.com/gerrymandering-2673861437

Inquisitr: ICE Arrests Plummet in Embarrassing Setback for Stephen Miller

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Despite pressure from White House policy strategist Stephen Miller to escalate migrant detentions, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recorded a 19 percent drop in daily arrests from June to July. This surprising downturn shows the limits of their aggressive immigration tactics.

According to the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), ICE booked an average of 990 arrests per day between July 1 and July 27. That’s down markedly from 1,224 arrests per day during June, representing a nearly 20 percent decline in a single month.

These figures bring into stark relief the discrepancy between on-the-ground performance and Miller’s high-pressure expectations. The former White House deputy chief of staff has relentlessly pushed for 3,000 arrests per day, an unprecedented rate intended to realize former President Trump’s plans for the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history. Instead, ICE is operating at roughly one-third the pace Miller demanded.

Miller, widely viewed as the architect behind many of Trump’s toughest immigration policies, allegedly threatened to fire ICE field office leaders whose offices ranked in the bottom 10 percent for arrest activity. Such aggressive oversight and internal pressure were intended to turbocharge enforcement, but the data shows the policy has not translated into scaled results.

The TRAC data signals potentially growing internal friction within ICE. Enforcement resources, legal constraints, staffing levels, and logistical complexities appear to be undermining Miller’s push for rapid, large-scale migrant arrests.

Whether administrative resistance, legal challenges, or operational capacity is at fault remains unclear, but the numbers do. A drop from 1,224 to 990 arrests per day means ICE detained roughly 7,758 fewer people in July than would have been expected under June’s pace, despite White House demands to ramp up enforcement.

Critics say the gap between Miller’s strategy and ICE’s actual output underscores a deeper disconnect within the immigration apparatus, between political directives from the top and the reality of enforcement on the ground. They argue this is a cautionary tale about over-reliance on high-intensity quotas that neglect operational feasibility and legal safeguards.

Supporters of Miller’s agenda argue that even the 990-per-day arrest rate in July signals a robust, no-exception enforcement posture, and the decline may reflect fewer available targets or improved border deterrence.

Still, the shortfall is stark. If ICE had met the 3,000-per-day benchmark for July, it would have booked around 90,000 arrests in the month. Instead, at its current pace, it would come in closer to 28,000 arrests total, missing the goal by a factor of more than three.

Even more, the drop comes at a critical time. As summer progresses and border crossings and migration patterns shift, policy advocates emphasize that maintaining, or increasing, enforcement momentum is crucial to sustaining broader deterrence goals.

From a political standpoint, the trend presents a public relations challenge for Miller. Suppose enforcement agencies cannot deliver on his demands. In that case, critics may question the realism of his approach to immigration control and the decision to push staff with threats instead of sustainable support.

Looking ahead, ICE may attempt to recalibrate, temporarily increasing internal operations or focusing on more enforceable cases. But any future uptick will face scrutiny: Is the agency capable of scaling to match Miller’s specified targets, or was the strategy always out of sync with practical limitations?

In sum, the nearly 20 percent drop in ICE arrests from June to July marks a humbling moment for immigration hardliners. Despite intense pressure from Miller to meet ambitious quotas, the agency’s output fell sharply and well below the aggressive benchmarks laid out by the former deputy chief of staff.

Inquisitr: ICE Arrests Plummet in Embarrassing Setback for Stephen Miller

Raw Story: Supreme Court used wrong statute to make monumental birthright citizenship ruling: expert

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Conservative legal scholar Jack Goldsmith revealed that the U.S. Supreme Court relied on an incorrectly cited statute to justify its shocking birthright citizen ruling.

Goldsmith, a former United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel under the George W. Bush administration, wrote that the decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett contained a key error, as Slate legal reporter Mark Joseph Stern summarized.

“Justice Barrett’s opinion in the universal injunction case rests on an error: For the purposes of historical analysis, she looked at the wrong statute and got the relevant date wrong by nearly *a century,*” wrote Stern on Bluesky Tuesday.

Goldsmith’s analysis looked at 18 interim orders that deal specifically with President Donald Trump’s administration. Notably, he specified that the cases involving a kind of ban on universal injunctions came amid lower courts’ efforts to temporarily pause Trump’s executive orders from going into effect until after they can be litigated.

The ruling in June stated that injunctions should only affect those involved in legal challenges, and shouldn’t be applied over huge swathes of the public.

It specifically referred to injunctions involving challenges to Trump’s attempts to limit birthright citizenship — a Constitutional law that states anybody born in the U.S. is a citizen. It said injunctions could only affect individuals or groups involved in the legal action, not the nation as a whole.

“The Court stated that Section 11 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 ‘endowed federal courts with jurisdiction over ‘all suits . . . in equity,’ and still today . . . ‘is what authorizes the federal courts to issue equitable remedies,'” the article cites the ruling.

However, he noted, it appears the Court didn’t look at the text or context of Section 11 when making its ruling.

“The Court’s claim that equitable remedies are authorized by Section 11 and thus ‘must have a founding-era antecedent’ is novel,'” the article continues, meaning that it’s new or unusual. “It [is] also questionable since Section 11 cannot have authorized equitable remedies in CASA.”

That’s when Goldsmith drops the hammer, saying “Section 11 is a jurisdictional statute” and that the jurisdiction in the CASA case was “based on federal question jurisdiction and suits against the United States. Neither head of jurisdiction is mentioned in Section 11, because neither existed until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. And none of the three heads of subject matter jurisdiction in Section 11 has any legal connection to CASA.”

So, under the Supreme Court’s logic “that jurisdictional statutes authorize equitable remedies, it should have looked to the state of remedies beginning in 1875, when the federal question jurisdiction statute was enacted, not 1789.”

So it seems that Amy Coney Barrett is not much brighter than the fascist who nominated her in 2020.

Supreme Court used wrong statute to make monumental birthright citizenship ruling: expert

https://www.rawstory.com/supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett

NBC News: Immigration raid fears trigger Latino student absences, as experts warn of consequences

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Chronic absenteeism affects children’s health and outcomes, as well as classmates and school resources, experts say, as some districts try to stem families’ fears of going to school.

As the new school year approaches, the typical worries of getting supplies and organizing schedules are compounded for families of mixed immigration status: wondering whether or not to send their children to class due to fears of an immigration raid at the school.

“I’ve heard so many people ask what to do, whether to take them or not, because of all these fears,” Oreana, a mother of four children enrolled in schools in Phoenix, Arizona, told Noticias Telemundo.

The fact that places like churches and schools are no longer considered “sensitive” spaces from immigration enforcement actions “causes a lot of fear,” the Venezuelan woman said.

Up until late January, when President Donald Trump took office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s operations had been restricted in churches, schools and hospitals.

The Trump administration has defended its decision to allow immigration raids in formerly sensitive locations, such as schools. “ICE does not typically conduct immigration enforcement activities at schools or school buses,” the agency told NBC News in March, adding that an immigration action near a school would be from a “case-by-case determination.”

But fear of possible immigration raids in schools isn’t just coming from parents. This past weekend, the Los Angeles Teachers Union held a protest to demand that the district do more to protect students from immigrant families.

Last semester, uneasiness following immigration raids resulted in more students missing school, according to Thomas S. Dee, a specialist in the School of Education at Stanford University.

Dee published an analysis in June whose results indicate that “recent raids coincided with a 22 percent increase in daily student absences” in California’s Central Valley, an agricultural area that’s home to many immigrant farmworkers.

The school absences were especially notable among preschool and elementary students, he noted, an age when parents are more likely to take them to school.

“We saw, when the raids began, a sharp increase in student absences that was very distinctive from the typical patterns we’d see across the school year,” Dee said in an interview with Noticias Telemundo, “and in particular relative to those baselines that we’d seen in prior years.”

What the numbers show

Beyond California, states like Washington state and Illinois have seen similar situations in some school districts.

In the suburbs of Seattle, the impact is notorious in the Highline district, which operates nearly 30 schools. There, data shows that chronic absenteeism — missing more than 10% of a class period — rose to 48% for the school year that ended in July, reversing gains the district had made over the previous two years in reducing K-12 absentee rates.

In Chicago, high school educators also reported 20% lower attendance compared to the previous year.

But Hispanic K-12 students were already likely to accumulate more absences before Trump’s second term. Some factors include going to work at an earlier age to support the family, health-related reasons or having to care for a family member during school hours.

In Illinois, Hispanic students had the second-highest chronic absenteeism rate throughout 2024, at 33%, compared to 26% across all demographic groups, according to data from the State Board of Education. Noticias Telemundo contacted the board and Illinois districts to obtain updated data through June 2025, but didn’t receive a response.

The current situation adds to disruptions to schooling that have been taking place since the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in widespread academic delays.

“We’re in an environment where we’ve seen historic losses in student achievement, sustained increases in chronic absenteeism, as well as a notable increase in the mental health challenges that youth are facing,” Dee said. “And so I see these immigration raids as only adding to the already considerable challenges of academic recovery that schools are currently facing.”

Fewer resources, more anxiety

Being absent several times during a school year has a considerable impact on a student’s education.

“Such extensive absences lead not only to poor academic performance; they often lead to students dropping out of school. And the impact of dropping out of high school is profound,” the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) stated via email.

The association highlighted that earnings for those who don’t graduate from high school are considerably lower than for those who do.

The impact, experts have said, goes beyond the classroom.

“Attending school regularly is one of the most powerful predictors of long term health, well-being and success,” Josh Sharfstein of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, said at a conference in mid-June.

This is because absences can affect children’s emotional and intellectual development, as well as their education. For example, they can trigger anxiety disorders that further harm children’s well-being and further encourage school absences.

Several associations have launched a campaign calling for school absences to be considered a public health problem.

“When multiple students in a classroom are chronically absent, the churn in the classroom affects everyone, even peers who had good attendance. It makes it harder for teachers to teach and set classroom norms, as well as for students to connect with each other,” said Hedy Chang, executive director of the Attendance Works group, which is leading a campaign launched in June.

Chronic absenteeism due to fears of immigration raids can have a knock-on economic effect, according to Dee.

“This also has financial implications for school districts,” he said. California is one of a handful of states that bases aid, in part, on average daily attendance, according to Dee, so when fewer kids show, that means fewer resources.

“I would expect that to have pejorative economic consequences for these communities as well as for the financial viability of the school districts serving them,” Dee said.

In many districts, repeated offenses related to absenteeism can also lead to youth being sent to truancy court. There, penalties can range from paying fines to serving time in juvenile detention.

Latino, Black and Indigenous youth in the U.S. are already more frequently referred to truancy court than non-Hispanic white students, in part because the former demographic groups’ absences are more likely to be recorded as “unjustified or unexcused,” research shows.

Preventive strategies

In response to long-standing concerns about truancy, there are strategies to combat absenteeism.

“There are many steps districts, schools, families and community partners can take to improve attendance,” said Chang, of Attendance Works.

At a Connecticut school where attendance fell early in the year due to fears of immigration raids, truancy was successfully curbed toward the end of the semester with measures such as directly contacting families and developing contingency plans.

These strategies include reaching out to community leaders, such as local church figures or food bank workers, who have contact with certain families to help encourage them to continue sending their children to school.

Another strategy that school principals belonging to NASSP say has helped is maintaining close contact with students — for example, calling their families’ homes to check on them.

Experts hope that these kinds of measures can help address the issue of absences in students of mixed immigration status who are afraid of potential immigration raids.

“In some districts, we’ve heard from students who can’t attend classes regularly right now for reasons like fear of raids, and they’ve been offered virtual learning,” Dee said. “I think educators need to be more aware of the challenges their students are currently facing due to these issues.”

For now, with protests like the one the teachers’ union held in Los Angeles, additional options are being explored, such as a districtwide campaign to educate parents about the importance of sharing an emergency contact with school administrators in case a parent is deported while the child is at school.

In the Highline school district in Washington state, communications manager Tove Tupper said in an email they’re “committed to protecting the rights and dignity of all students, families, and staff” and ensure all students “have a right to a public education, as protected by law,” regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

Immigration raid fears trigger Latino student absences as experts warn of consequences
Chronic absenteeism affects children’s health and outcomes, as well as classmates and school resources, experts say, as some districts try to stem families’ fears of going to school.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/fear-immigration-raids-latino-student-absences-school-ice-rcna223093

Tag24 News: South Park claps back after Homeland Security uses their art style to recruit ICE agents

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The hit satirical show South Park recently responded after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used an image from the show to recruit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

On Tuesday, South Park shared an X post teasing an upcoming episode, which appears to show Mr. Mackay, a teacher at South Park Elementary, working as an ICE agent after losing his job – and posing with a character that resembles DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

Hours later, DHS shared a post of an image of ICE agents drawn in the iconic South Park animation style, along with a link to a recruitment website.

In response, the South Park team shared the DHS post, along wThe back and forth comes as the show has received increased media attention after airing the season premiere of their 27th season last week, which heavily mocked President Donald Trump on a number of issues.

The White House reacted by claiming the show hasn’t been “relevant for over 20 years,” and the episode was “a desperate attempt for attention.”

DHS seems to be taking a different strategy – in a statement to Newsweek, the agency thanked South Park for “drawing attention” to ICE recruitment with the new episode, which will air Wednesday night.ith the caption, “Wait, so we ARE relevant?” and “#eatabagofd***s.”

“We are calling on patriotic Americans to help us remove murderers, gang members, pedophiles, and other violent criminals from our country,” DHS added.

South Park claps back after Homeland Security uses their art style to recruit ICE agents

https://www.tag24.com/entertainment/tv/south-park-claps-back-after-homeland-security-uses-their-art-style-to-recruit-ice-agents-3409748

Latin Times: ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Could Be Shut Down, But Not Due To Its Harsh Conditions For Migrants

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A judge is set to hear arguments to decide whether to halt operations due to environmental concerns

The Florida migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” could potentially be shut down due to environmental concerns, with a judge set to hear arguments on the matter on Wednesday.

ABC News detailed that there will be an evidentiary hearing over whether to block operations at the facility because construction allegedly by passed the environmental impact studies required by the federal government.

The outlet added that the hearing will be limited to environmental issues, but testimonies are also expected to further illustrate conditions at the facility. Plaintiffs are alleging that operations are endangering the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Big Cypress Area, considered ecologically sensitive and protected. They hold threatened species including the Everglade snail kite, the Florida panther, wood stork and the Florida bonneted bat.

The Miccosukee Indian Tribe, which has leased land next to Alligator Alcatraz, joined the lawsuit last month, claiming that it threatens to damage tribal villages.

“The hasty transformation of the Site into a mass detention facility, which includes the installation of housing units, construction of sanitation and food services systems, industrial high-intensity lighting infrastructure, diesel power generators, substantial fill material altering the natural terrain, and provision of transportation logistics (including apparent planned use of the runway to receive and deport detainees) poses clear environmental impacts,” reads a passage of the lawsuit.

Florida Department of Emergency Management executive director Kevin Guthrie, named as a defendant in the case, said the state is not subjected to the required regulations. He added that the environmental impact is low because the location was already an active airfield.

Advocates are also calling for the facility to be shut down as they decry “unlivable” conditions that include mosquitoe-ridden units and lights being on all the time.

“Detention conditions are unlivable,” Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a press conference in late July, as reported by NBC News.

In another passage of the conference, Rafael Collado, an inmate being held there, said through his wife’s mobile phone that the place is “like a dog cage.” He added that poor sanitation and floodwater from recent storms led him to get fungus on his feet.

Collado went on to claim detainees are stripped naked when moved between cells and that he has no schedule to take blood pressure medication. He was then told by a guard to end the call.

Juan Palma, another detainee, told the outlet that he feels like his life is in danger. He added he feels in a constant “state of torture.”

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Could Be Shut Down, But Not Due To Its Harsh Conditions For Migrants
The Florida migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” could be shut down due to environmental concerns

https://www.latintimes.com/alligator-alcatraz-could-shut-down-not-due-its-harsh-conditions-migrants-588047

Newsweek: DACA recipient detained by ICE at airport before boarding domestic flight

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Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and longtime immigration activist, was detained by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents on Sunday at El Paso International Airport as she prepared to board a domestic flight.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek via email on Wednesday that CBP arrested Santiago, a migrant from Mexico, because of a criminal history that included charges for trespassing and possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations,” McLaughlin 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.”

Santiago will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Why It Matters

Santiago’s detention has sparked concern among advocates as it highlights the fragility of legal protections for DACA recipients, often known as “Dreamers.” DACA provides work authorization and temporary protection from deportation, but it does not confer legal status.

Recent detentions of DACA recipients—including Santiago’s—raise pressing questions about the program’s limits, particularly under intensified immigration enforcement. The incident comes amid continued debate over the fate of DACA and its beneficiaries, as legal and policy battles play out across the U.S.

President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to remove millions of migrants without legal status to fulfill his campaign pledge of mass deportations, with White House officials like White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller previously referencing a daily goal of at least 3,000 arrests. The claimed quota has been met with legal action.

What To Know

Santiago, a member of the Movimiento Cosecha advocacy group, had reportedly presented a valid DACA work authorization card when taken into custody.

Around 4 a.m. local time on Sunday, she was approached and detained by two agents as she was about to board her flight. Despite presenting her DACA work authorization card, agents took her into custody and transferred her to a federal immigration processing facility in El Paso, according to Border Report.

An ICE official told Newsweek via email that this was not Santiago’s first brush with immigration officials, saying she first entered illegally in May 2005 near the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso. On August 31, 2020, she was charged with two drug offenses that remain pending.

Santiago has DACA status, which is set to expire April 29, 2026.

“It’s important to note that DHS officials can take enforcement actions against illegal aliens with criminal records,” the official said. “ICE officials served Santiago with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge.”

Her supporters, including Movimiento Cosecha, have mobilized a response through social media and organized a GoFundMe campaign that, as of Wednesday morning, had raised more than $56,700 for Santiago’s legal defense of a goal of $70,000. She has received more than 1,200 donations.

Activists dispute the grounds for her detention, arguing that she has legal protection under DACA and is an integral part of her community after more than a decade of activism. They said Santiago had made “such a profound and powerful impact on so many loved friends and community members from Florida to Texas and beyond,” notably aiding the immigrant community and families in El Paso.

“Now, we need to show up for her,” the GoFundMe page said. “Immigrant communities have been targeted for decades, and the Trump administration is taking these fascist tactics to unprecedented levels. This unexpected and cruel detainment will likely result in high legal fees alongside immeasurable emotional impact on her and her family.

“We are asking for support for her legal funds and post-release care and healing. Please give what you can to ensure that Xotchil has the resources needed to fight for her case, her ability to stay in the U.S. with her family and community, and can take the time needed to recover from this traumatic experience after she is released.”

Newsweek has contacted the page’s organizer, Lagartija del Sol, for comment.

A separate petition on ActionNetwork.org has garnered more than 3,200 signatures calling for her release.

Organizers have scheduled a protest for August 6 at the ICE detention facility in El Paso demanding Santiago’s release, according to KVIA.

What People Are Saying

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek via email on Wednesday: “Illegal aliens 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. 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 the American dream.”

Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago, in a statement posted on her GoFundMe page by Lagartija del Sol: “I love everyone and thank you so much for walking with me in so many ways, for thinking of my well being and for reminding me of importance of organized struggle and lightening up my spirit.”

What Happens Next

Santiago remains in federal immigration custody as legal proceedings continue. Her supporters are coordinating with her legal team to challenge her removal and demand her release.

The broader legal future for DACA recipients remains uncertain amid ongoing court battles and evolving immigration policies.

DACA recipient detained by ICE at airport before boarding domestic flight
A DHS official said the community activist’s criminal history included charges for trespassing and narcotics possession.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detained-daca-recipient-boarding-domestic-flight-immigration-dreamers-2109675

Raw Story: Tulsi Gabbard under fire after ‘desperate and irresponsible’ move to override CIA

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Two former CIA officials are concerned about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her eagerness to release top secret information that could compromise sources and methods for agents.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Gabbard’s indiscriminate way of releasing classified documents regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election angered many career intelligence experts. Gabbard published the information with minimal redactions.

“Gabbard, with the blessing of President Donald Trump, overrode arguments from the CIA and other intelligence agencies that more of the document should remain classified to obscure U.S. spy agencies’ sources and methods, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like others interviewed for this report, because of the matter’s sensitivity,” said the report.

While CIA Director John Ratcliffe has been supportive of the release of information, those who actually work in intelligence have concerns about the release, but also that the characterization of the evidence is false. Gabbard and Trump claimed that their evidence proved that Russia did not hack the 2016 election votes. However, that was never part of the allegations. Russians hacked the Democratic and Republican Party servers and leaked information from the former. Russian-funded content farms generated scores of memes and posts spreading conspiracies about Hillary Clinton while being supportive of Trump.

“Multiple independent reviews, including an exhaustive bipartisan probe by the Senate Intelligence Committee, have found that Putin intervened in part to help Trump,” characterized the Post.

The investigation documents contain multiple references to human sources that detail Putin’s plans. Those sources are among the “most closely guarded secrets,” the report said. “After the report was completed in 2020, it was considered so sensitive that it remained in storage at the CIA rather than on Capitol Hill.”

Larry Pfeiffer, a former senior CIA and White House official, revealed on an episode of the “SpyTalk” podcast that the report had “sources and methods” that “could easily” be “inferred in almost every instance.”

“I don’t know if I’ve seen a document of that sensitivity so lightly redacted,” he said of the release from Gabbard.

The report released went through multiple reviews, but the once-secret document was “circulating” among Trump administration staff. Gabbard was the one who wanted to release as much as possible.

Gabbard “has greater declassification authority than all other intelligence elements and is not required to get their approval prior to release,” said one person familiar with the process when speaking to the Post.

Trump then decided there would be “minimal redactions and no edits,” the person added.

Sen. Mark. Warner (D-VA) called Gabbard’s release of the report “desperate and irresponsible,” and said it threatens some of the Intelligence community’s “most sensitive sources and methods” it uses to spy on Russia and keep Americans safe.

“And in doing so, Director Gabbard is sending a chilling message to our allies and assets around the world: the United States can no longer be trusted to protect the intelligence you share with us,” he warned.

Tulsi Gabbard under fire after ‘desperate and irresponsible’ move to override CIA

https://www.rawstory.com/tulsi-gabbard-2673864250