Tag Archives: Texas

Huffington Post: 6-Year-Old With Leukemia In Immigration Detention After Family’s Arrest At Courthouse: Lawsuit

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Attorneys for the boy, his mother and 9-year-old sister said they are seeking asylum and were summarily arrested despite appearing for their scheduled immigration court hearing.

A mother and her two young children — one a 6-year-old boy with leukemia — were detained by immigration officers after going to a routine immigration court proceeding in Los Angeles. Now, the family is suing the Trump administration while being detained at a facility in Texas.

According to court documents obtained by HuffPost, the family, whose names are not included in the suit, has been in the U.S. for seven months seeking asylum from Honduras. They entered the country lawfully and were granted parole as they sought asylum. However, when they arrived at the courthouse on the day and time directed, their case was dismissed, and they were detained by people, presumably federal agents, in plainclothes. 

“There were men waiting for them in civilian clothing. The [immigration officers] detained the family for many hours, and it was a terrifying time for the two children and their mother,” Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, told Texas Public Radio.

“They were crying in fear. One of the agents at one point lifted up his shirt, which displayed the gun that he was carrying,” Mukherjee added. “The 6-year-old boy was terrified to see the gun. He urinated on himself and wet all his clothing. No one offered him a change of clothing for many hours.”

6-Year-Old With Leukemia In Immigration Detention After Family’s Arrest At Courthouse: Lawsuit
Attorneys for the boy, his mother and 9-year-old sister said they are seeking asylum and were summarily arrested despite appearing for their scheduled immigration court hearing.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/family-detained-ice-suing-trump-administration_n_685da99fe4b073fdc1d4cc76

NY Post: Border czar Tom Homan tells ‘Pod Force One’ he’s living apart from his wife over death threats

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Border czar Tom Homan has revealed that he’s living away from his wife because of death threats he’s receiving.

“I spent a lot of time with my boys growing up, but as I got more and more — climbed the ladder of what I’ve done with ICE director and now back — I don’t see my family very much,” Homan told Post columnist Miranda Devine during an interview airing Wednesday on her new podcast, “Pod Force One.”

Glad to hear that the piece of human detritus is experiencing at least a little bit of the fear and anxienty that he and his cronies inflict on thousands of American immigrants.

Exclusive | Border czar Tom Homan tells ‘Pod Force One’ he’s living apart from his wife over death threats
“I see her as much as I can, but the death threats against me and my family are outrageous,” Homan told Post columnist Miranda Devine on her new podcast “Pod Force One.”

https://nypost.com/2025/06/25/us-news/border-czar-tom-homan-tells-pod-force-one-he-lives-apart-from-wife-over-death-threats

Spectrum News: Syracuse mother, four children detained by ICE

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A mother and her four children, three of them born in the U.S., complied with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement order to report for detainment, reporting to the Syracuse ICE office early Tuesday morning.

The woman and her kids, ages 13, 10, 9 and 6, are being sent to Texas, according to their La Vid Verdadera pastor, Paul Reynoso. He says ICE arrested her husband at their Syracuse home last Friday.

The detainment letter arrived just one day later.

The family brought legal filings from their attorneys, but immigration officials said they must still report.

According to the pastor, three of the children were born in the U.S. and attend Syracuse City Schools. 

“We offered to keep the children with us, but she decided to keep the family together,” Reynoso said. “That’s good. The family should stay together.”

Reynoso says the family, originally from Guatemala, has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade. ICE reportedly told them they’ll be housed in a hotel together and provided for during detainment.

Syracuse mother, four children detained by ICE
The woman and her kids, ages 13, 10, 9 and 6, are being sent to Texas, according to their pastor.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2025/06/24/syracuse-mother-children-ice-detainment

MSNBC: Conditions at some ICE facilities are already horrendous — and they may soon get worse

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As the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts continue, multiple lawmakers and immigrant rights groups are alleging that conditions at various Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are “inhumane” and “unsanitary.”

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., sounded the alarm last week in a video, stating she was deeply disturbed by what she saw during her visit to the Adelanto ICE facility, where many people swept up in recent immigration raids around Los Angeles have been brought.

Chu said the detainees she spoke with at the facility were “not the criminals that [President Donald] Trump says that he’s trying to get out of this country,” noting that some of those detained simply had expired documents.

“They are undergoing conditions that are inhumane, in my opinion. They were not able to change their underwear for 10 days,” Chu said in the video, adding: “They did not get a PIN number for the telephone. As a result, they cannot be in contact with any legal representative nor with their family members. This is not right.”

Conditions at some ICE facilities are already horrendous — and they may soon get worse
Democratic Rep. Judy Chu said detainees at a California facility “were not able to change their underwear for 10 days.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/conditions-at-some-ice-facilities-are-already-horrendous-and-they-may-soon-get-worse/ar-AA1HjnIs

Newsweek: ICE responds after beloved bagel house boss’ arrest sparks protests

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A manager of a New York bagel house was detained by federal immigration agents earlier this month, sparking outrage across the community.

Fernando Mejia, 41, who runs Port Washington’s Schmear Bagel & Cafe, was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside the business on June 12, the Long Island Press reported.

When contacted for comment by Newsweek, a spokesperson for ICE said: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement encountered Fernando Alberto Mejia-Flores, a Salvadorian national, during a daily routine law enforcement action in the vicinity of Port Washington, New York, June 12. Mejia-Flores was identified as a fugitive alien with a Final Order of Removal. ICE arrested him and transported him to an ICE processing facility in Central Islip, New York.”

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The American Immigration Council estimates that the president’s mass deportation policy could slap a one-time cost of $315 billion on the country.

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“Fernando was also recently hospitalized for medical issues, which make his sudden detention all the more dangerous to his well-being,” a post on GoFundMe reads. “His sudden detention has also left his family, including his 14-year-old daughter, emotionally devastated and facing immediate legal battles.”

ICE responds after beloved bagel house boss’ arrest sparks protests
Fernando Mejia who runs Port Washington’s Schmear Bagel & Cafe, was apprehended by ICE agents outside the business earlier this month.

https://www.newsweek.com/fernando-mejia-bagel-house-ice-immigration-2089381

Independent: Texas man returns from honeymoon alone after wife is arrested by ICE in US Virgin Islands

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Taahir Shaikh of Arlington says his wife, Ward Sakeik, was detained by ICE in February in St. Thomas

A recently-married Texas couple has spent over 120 days apart after the bride was detained by ICE during their honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands.

Taahir Shaikh of Arlington says his wife, Ward Sakeik, was detained by ICE in February in St. Thomas, despite having a pending green card application and documentation of her stateless status.

“She’s considered stateless, which essentially just means you’re born in a country that doesn’t give you birthright citizenship. And since she was a Palestinian refugee that was born in Saudi Arabia, they weren’t recognized as Saudi nationals,” Shaikh told NBC DFW.

Shaikh said Sakeik was just 8 years old when her family arrived in the U.S. on a visa. Although their asylum request was denied, her lack of citizenship meant the government couldn’t deport them. Instead, they were placed under an order of supervision and required to check in with immigration authorities once a year.

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Since then, Sakeik has graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington and now works as a wedding photographer. She has always complied with immigration rules for 14 years, Shaikh said.

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[Her husband] says they carefully chose to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands for their honeymoon, believing it wouldn’t jeopardize her pending immigration status.

ICE addressed Sakeik’s arrest in a statement to NBC DFW, writing, “The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE. She chose to leave the country and was then flagged by CBP trying to re-enter the U.S.

“The facts are she is in our country illegally. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.”

ICE concluded, “She had a final order of removal since 2011. Her appeal of the final order was dismissed by the Board of Immigration Appeals on February 12, 2014. She has exhausted her due process rights and all of her claims for relief have been denied by the courts.”

But as the government has already admitted, she has nowhere to go. Period. Stop. That should be the end of the story.

Texas man returns from honeymoon alone after wife detained by ICE
Taahir Shaikh of Arlington says his wife, Ward Sakeik, was detained by ICE in February in St. Thomas

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/wife-arrested-texas-ice-couple-b2774196.html

Newsweek: Anti-Trump Protests Update: ‘National Day of Action’ Planned for July 17

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Another round of national anti-Trump demonstrations is being planned across the U.S. for July 17 under the banner of Good Trouble Lives On, a reference to the late civil rights icon, Congressman John Lewis.

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Good Trouble Lives On demonstrations are being planned for dozens of American cities on July 17 including the likes of New York, Washington D.C, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco with attendees invited to “March in Peace, Act in Power.”

The name is a reference to Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and an advocate of peaceful protests, who famously called for “good trouble” during the civil rights era.

According to its downloadable “Host Toolkit” for organizers, the protests have three main goals. These are demanding an end to “the extreme crackdown on civil rights by the Trump administration,” “the attacks on Black and brown Americans, immigrants, trans people, and other communities,” and “the slashing of programs that working people rely on, including Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security.”

Good Trouble Lives On is being supported by a range of other groups including the 50501 Movement, which also helped organize the “No Kings” demonstrations.

Anti-Trump protests update: “National day of action” planned for July 17
There have been a series of national anti-Trump demonstrations since the president’s inauguration in January.

https://www.newsweek.com/anti-trump-protests-update-national-day-action-planned-july-17-2088233

Wall Street Journal: Trump Is Losing Political Ground on Immigration

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The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation program is testing the political bounds of what Americans will tolerate, spurring a backlash from voters and some Republicans and testing the administration’s resolve.

Federal officials in recent weeks have stepped up raids on worksites and farms, seeking to fulfill President Trump’s pledge of mass deportations. The move has sparked alarm in immigrant communities and street protests in Los Angeles and other cities. Last weekend, Trump directed that arrests be paused at farms and hotels, only to reverse the directive days later.

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Republican members of Congress from California, Texas and Florida have publicly urged the White House to give priority to deportations of criminals rather than migrants who have resided in the U.S. for long periods and have otherwise obeyed the law. The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R., Pa.), called the farm raids “just wrong.” The co-founder of Latinas for Trump, Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia, wrote on X that the administration’s actions were “unacceptable and inhumane” and “not what we voted for.”

“I may have voted for Trump, but I can’t stay silent about what’s happening with ICE in LA,” Ryan Garcia, a former interim lightweight boxing champion who endorsed Trump last year, wrote on X. “We can have borders without losing our humanity.”

Presidents of both parties have historically hesitated to pursue large-scale immigration enforcement in the country’s interior precisely because it tends to be politically unpopular. Trump’s push for deportations far from the border has begun to trigger a backlash in public opinion, with polls showing his approval rating on immigration and deportations—formerly one of his strongest issues—has now turned negative.

A Quinnipiac poll earlier this month found that just 43% approved of Trump’s performance on immigration while 54% disapproved. On deportations, 40% approved while 56% disapproved. In the polling average maintained by the analyst Nate Silver, Trump’s immigration policies were popular on a net basis until earlier this month—but are now more unpopular than popular by a 3-point margin. 

Trump Is Losing Political Ground on Immigration

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-is-losing-political-ground-on-immigration-20de43bc

Also here:

Trump Is Losing Political Ground on Immigration
The administration’s aggressive deportation push has alarmed voters, including some of the president’s supporters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-is-losing-political-ground-on-immigration/ar-AA1H5df5

Alternet: ‘Embarrassing boondoggle’: Trump’s ‘big beautiful wall’ is now on life support in Texas

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Long before President Donald Trump pushed the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, he called for a “big, beautiful wall” on the U.S./Mexico border. And of the four U.S. states that shared a border with Mexico, GOP-leaning Texas had the loudest and most vocal support for the wall.

But MSNBC’s Ja’han Jones, in his June 19 column, stresses that Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” now seems to be on life support in the Lone Star State.

“Texas appears to have quietly stopped funding its plans to construct its own border wall with Mexico, which could mark the end of an embarrassing boondoggle designed to bolster one of President Donald Trump’s early campaign slogans,” Jones explains. “For years, conservatives have framed the idea of a border wall as essential to immigration enforcement, despite a chorus of critics denouncing it as costly and ineffective. And Texas Republicans’ decision to defund the project seems like a tacit acknowledgment of that reality.”

‘Embarrassing boondoggle’: Trump’s ‘big beautiful wall’ is now on life support in Texas

https://www.alternet.org/trump-border-wall-texas-msnbc

Alternet: Karoline [Bimbo #1] Leavitt ‘rushes to soothe’ Trump as he rages over new polling

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President Donald Trump exploded over a new Fox News poll showing him upside down on approval. The poll — likely to connect with Fox-viewing Trump — reported 46 percent overall approval for his job performance as president and 54 percent disapproving.

Trump blasted the survey on Truth Social: “They are always wrong and anegative. It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews … . This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work.”

Aww … poor crybaby narcissist!

Karoline Leavitt ‘rushes to soothe’ Trump as he rages over new polling

https://www.alternet.org/news-politics/donald-trump-polling-fox-news