Tag Archives: Trump Administration

News Nation: Report: 14K federal workers, including USCIS, assisting ICE

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The Cato Institute says over 14,500 federal law enforcement officers from other agencies are working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to facilitate raids and make arrests nationwide, including new special agents from USCIS.

The Cato Institute this week reported that ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is receiving assistance from nearly 17,000 non-ERO agents, according to data given to the nonprofit organization.

That includes diverting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees to help with ICE raids.

The Department of Homeland Security this week announced a new class of USCIS employees had been “newly minted” as special agents to work with ICE.

USCIS personnel will have the authority “to investigate and enforce civil and criminal violations of the immigration laws within the jurisdiction of USCIS. These authorities include, but are not limited to, the issuance and execution of warrants, the arrest of individuals, and carrying of firearms,” according to a notice posted Friday in the Federal Register.

This includes ordering expedited removals. USCIS says it plans to recruit and train special agents for these roles.

“As (Homeland Security) Secretary Noem delegated lawful authorities to expand the agency’s law enforcement capabilities, this rule allows us to fulfill our critical mission. This historic moment will better address immigration crimes, hold those that perpetrate immigration fraud accountable, and act as a force multiplier for DHS and our federal law enforcement partners, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement.

Edlow says this will allow his agency to handle investigations from start to finish, instead of referring some cases to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ERO agents.

The Cato Institute reports that other federal employees diverted to ICE ERO include:

  • ICE HSI: 6,198
  • FBI: 2,840
  • Drug Enforcement Administration: 2,181
  • Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives: 1,778
  • U.S. Marshals Service: 650
  • Border Patrol: 335
  • Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations: 288
  • Department of State – Diplomatic Security: 93
  • CBP Air and Marine Operations: 68
  • Department of Defense: 35
  • IRS: 20
  • Bureau of Prisons: 11
  • U.S. Secret Service: 1

In addition, state and local law enforcement agencies have teamed up with ICE part of the 287(g) program. Cato reports that over 8,500 officers are contributing to ICE operations.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is opposed to arming USCIS personnel to become an arresting arm.

“The Trump Administration has transformed USCIS into an enforcement agency, weaponizing the immigration system against American families, asylum seekers, and businesses. What’s worse, this rule states they now plan to arm potentially hundreds of agents at USCIS,” AILA President Jeff Joseph said.

“Congress established USCIS after 9/11 to process legal immigration applications. Enforcement actions were left to other agencies to ensure that immigrants felt safe submitting their personal information and appearing for interviews. The administration’s continued attacks on those who are following the rules and going through legal channels will only serve to push people further into the shadows. Their aim of driving people out of the country shows a shocking disregard for the value and contributions that immigrants make to America,” Johnson said.

Report: 14K federal workers, including USCIS, assisting ICE
A national nonprofit says over 14,500 federal criminal law enforcement officers from other agencies are working with Immigration Customs Enforcement agents to facilitate ICE raids and make arrests …

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/report-14k-federal-workers-including-uscis-assisting-ice

Associated Press: Legal aid group sues to preemptively block U.S. from deporting a dozen Honduran children

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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.

Legal aid group sues to preemptively block U.S. from deporting a dozen Honduran children
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.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-children-trump-deportations-guatemala-honduras-70c0912b3ee8c1038e793974b7141d67

CNN: Immigration raid at New York business left workers terrified and slowed production, co-owner says

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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.”

Immigration raid at New York business left workers terrified and slowed production, co-owner says | CNN
When Lenny Schmidt arrived at his family-run nutrition bar manufacturing business in upstate New York Thursday morning, federal immigration agents were already there.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/06/us/cato-new-york-immigration-raid-business-owner-hnk

CNN: Florida’s new immigrant detention site dubbed ‘Deportation Depot’ is now taking detainees, officials say

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Florida has opened its second immigration detention site, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” amid an ongoing legal battle over its controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.

The facility is at a temporarily closed state prison, the Baker Correctional Institution, which is housing 117 detainees with the capacity to hold 1,500 people, according to the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis. It is about 45 miles west of Jacksonville near the Osceola National Forest.

“Deportation Depot” opened a day after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a judge’s order requiring the state and federal government to shut down “Alligator Alcatraz,” located deep in the marshy wetlands of the Everglades.

The facility, wrapped in tall, wire fencing, is made up of a number of a squat, single-story buildings. Guard towers are positioned strategically around the campus and, out front, a Humvee is parked next to a white pop-up tent.

Other states have announced similar sites to supplement what the Trump administration has described as limited capacity in immigration detention centers nationwide. “Deportation Depot” is part of that equation and just one part of the Florida governor’s push for an expansion of the state’s detention centers to hold immigrants.

DeSantis is doubling down on his plans to build a third detention site in Florida’s panhandle, which he has called “Panhandle Pokey,” along with another facility at a Florida National Guard training center known as Camp Blanding, roughly 30 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

Other proposed immigration facilities include Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer” and Louisiana’s “Camp 57,” located at the country’s largest maximum-security prison. The Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola, is an 18,000-acre facility situated an hour north of Baton Rouge.

The new detention facilities are emerging as the White House continues to push authorities to make at least 3,000 immigration-related arrests per day as part of the administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Many detainees have so far been sent to Guantanamo Bay or deported to El Salvador’s CECOT mega prison.

Back in Florida, “Deportation Depot” was announced in August just before a federal judge placed a preliminary injunction on “Alligator Alcatraz” that would have effectively shut that site down.

Since a federal appeals court stayed the lower court’s order to force the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state has said it will continue transporting detainees out of there.

The ruling was a major blow to environmental groups, who filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to block operations and construction at the site until environmental laws are followed.

The Everglades site had been the subject of intense criticism for its treatment of migrants who had been confined there amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals, prompting members of Congress and state representatives that witnessed the conditions to demand its immediate closure.

Florida’s new immigrant detention site dubbed ‘Deportation Depot’ is now taking detainees, officials say | CNN
Florida has opened its second immigration detention site, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” amid an ongoing legal battle over its controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/us/deportation-depot-florida-open

Money Talks News: Foreign Students Face New Reality: 6,000 Visas Revoked for Law Breaking

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Foreign Students Face New Reality: 6,000 Visas Revoked for Law Breaking
Over 6,000 international students have had their visas revoked for criminal violations and overstays as Trump administration increases immigration enforcement.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/foreign-students-face-new-reality-6-000-visas-revoked-for-law-breaking/vi-AA1LRsYP

“Between 200 and 300 students lost visas over [so called] terrorism support allegations.”

Supporting the Palestinians — especially the Gazans who are being abused and slaughtered by the thousands — is a constitutional right protected by the First Amendment. So much for the “Land of the Free”.

MSNBC: Trump gets a Qatari $400M jet and he cancels airline refunds for you

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Trump gets a Qatari $400M jet and he cancels airline refunds for you
After the Trump administration announced it is dropping a Biden-era plan that would have required airlines to compensate stranded air travelers for flight delays, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) joins MSNBC’s Ali Velshi to discuss an administration that Rep. Cohen says has given benefits to the “biggest corporations in America” while also giving “unbelievable tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-gets-a-qatari-400m-jet-and-he-cancels-airline-refunds-for-you/vi-AA1LZmWR

Kansas City Star: Trump Border Czar Threatens Deportation Despite Order

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Border Czar Tom Homan has noted that the administration plans to deport Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant with alleged gang affiliations. Homan labeled Garcia a “significant public safety threat” due to his connections with MS-13 and past human trafficking charges. The action has been proposed despite a court ruling that temporarily blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation to allow for a hearing.

Homan said, “I’m giving you my word. He will be deported from this country. I got my teeth in this thing. I’m not letting it go.” He added, “Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador wasn’t a mistake.”

Homan stated, “I don’t accept the term ‘error’ in Abrego Garcia.” He added, “There was an oversight, there was a withholding order.”

Homan added, “But the facts surrounding the withholding order had changed. He is now a terrorist, and the gang he was fearing, from being removed from El Salvador, no longer exists.”

Homan expressed confidence in proceeding with the deportation despite legal challenges. Judge Xinis ruled that the process should be paused pending an evidentiary hearing.

Department of Justice (DOJ) documents linked Abrego Garcia to MS-13 and highlighted domestic abuse allegations from his estranged wife. The Trump administration has questioned the validity of Abrego Garcia’s asylum claims, arguing that he has not provided sufficient evidence of persecution.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I will tell you what the president of El Salvador told you in the Oval Office: El Salvador does not intend to smuggle a designated foreign terrorist back into the United States.”

Leavitt added, “He is an El Salvadoran national. That is his home country. That is where he belongs.”

Trump Border Czar Threatens Deportation Despite Order

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-border-czar-threatens-deportation-despite-order/ss-AA1LYNpC

Mirror US: Trump warned Pentagon name change makes US a ‘laughing stock’ to both allies and enemies

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The President aims to lean into ‘warrior ethos’ after having campaigned on promises of ‘uniting forces to end the endless foreign wars’

The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War after President Donald Trump first floated the idea on Monday, according to a Fox News report. A White House official confirmed the plan to The Mirror US on Thursday.

The decision marks a stark U-turn from the president’s campaign promises in 2024 to pursue peace, and from his frequent criticisms of former President Joe Biden for driving the U.S. “closer to World War III than anybody can imagine.”

“As President Trump said, our military should be focused on offense – not just defense – which is why he has prioritized warfighters at the Pentagon instead of DEI and woke ideology. Stay tuned!” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Reuters this week, referring to programs aimed at increasing diversity, equity and inclusion. The Trump administration has not revealed the reasons it believes the department’s name constitutes “woke ideology.” It comes after a lip reader revealed the chilling 3-word promise that Donald Trump whispered into Vladimir Putin’s ear at their Alaska summit.

The move follows a string of similar name-changing decisions by the Trump administration as a measure of projecting the president’s stance on specific policy issues. In January, Trump issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”. He also referred to his controversial July domestic spending bill as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which in recent days his administration has attempted to rebrand as the “working families tax cut.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also ordered the renaming of certain military vessels that previously bore the names of civil rights leaders, such as the USNS Harvey Milk. Last month, he renamed his conference room the “W.A.R. Room.” Hegseth has often proven to be concerned with the outward appearance of elements of his department, having even ordered a makeup studio to be installed inside the Pentagon and dictated which colors of nail polish are acceptable to be worn by Army soldiers.

Though restoring the name would require congressional action, the White House is reportedly exploring alternative methods to enact the change, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The decision to rename the Pentagon comes amid a broader push by Trump, Hegseth and their coalition to restore a “warrior ethos” to the federal government and America as a whole. It has included a purge of top military leaders whose views do not align with the president’s agenda.

“As Department of War, we won everything. We won everything,” Trump said last month, referring to the War Department established by Congress in 1789 to oversee the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. “I think we’re going to have to go back to that.”

The administration has also sought to ban transgender individuals from voluntarily joining the military and remove those who are currently serving on the basis of a claim that they are medically unfit. The claim has been described by civil rights groups as false and a representation of illegal discrimination, according to Reuters.

“This is so stupid and it’s going to make us a laughing stock in front of both our allies and our enemies,” one user wrote on X on Thursday.

Posturing the top defense department in the nation in a more aggressive and offensive direction is at odds with promises and statements made by Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump lobbed frequent criticisms at Biden for the fact that, during his presidency, Russia invaded Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas was ignited. “(Biden) will drive us into World War III, and we’re closer to World War III than anybody can imagine,” Trump said, according to CNN.

Last August, while endorsing anti-war former Democratic Rep. Tusli Gabbard at a National Guard conference in Detroit, Trump claimed both Democrats and Independents would vote for him because of his plan to end wars. “We’re uniting forces to end the endless foreign wars,” he said of Gabbard’s endorsement. “When I’m back in the White House, we will expel the warmongers, the profiteers … and we will restore world peace.”

“I am confident that his first task will be to do the work to walk us back from the brink of war,” Gabbard said. “We cannot be prosperous unless we are at peace.”

His decision in June to launch a missile attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities threw several of his most ardent, right-wing supporters into opposition, urging the president and his allies not to engage in foreign conflicts.

Trump, who claimed that he would solve the Russia-Ukraine war before taking office on Jan. 20,” had made little headway by early September in brokering peace between the two nations. He has also dubiously claimed that he has personally ended a handful of global wars during his second term.

“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into,” Trump said during his inaugural address. “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier.”

It comes after Ukraine warned that Putin has a hit list of FIVE countries that he wants to invade next.

Trump warned Pentagon rename makes US a ‘laughing stock’ to allies and enemies
The President aims to lean into ‘warrior ethos’ after having campaigned on promises of ‘uniting forces to end the endless foreign wars’

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/trump-warned-pentagon-name-change-1372151

Associated Press: Trump signs order to designate nations that hold Americans as sponsors of wrongful detention

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that would let the U.S. designate nations as state sponsors of wrongful detention, using the threat of associated sanctions to deter Americans from being detained abroad or taken hostage.

…. two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the order being signed cited China, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia as nations that could potentially face penalties under the new designation.

China, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia? Does anyone think those countries will give a hoot? This is just for show.

Trump signs order to designate nations that hold Americans as sponsors of wrongful detention
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that would let the U.S. designate nations as state sponsors of wrongful detention, using the threat of associated sanctions to deter Americans from being detained abroad or taken hostage.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-wrongful-detention-nations-executive-order-16b9533227d86592f6618506425324e8

Scripps News: Dozens detained after ICE raid targets workers at packaging plant in upstate New York

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Dozens detained after ICE raid targets workers at packaging plant in upstate New York
Communities have been left in distress after dozens of plant workers were detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents during raids in upstate New York Thursday. (Scripps News)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dozens-detained-after-ice-raid-targets-workers-at-packaging-plant-in-upstate-new-york/vi-AA1LYzWc