ReportWire

Tag: DHS

  • Trump Urges House To Vote Quickly To End The Partial Government Shutdown – KXL

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump implored the House on Monday to end the partial government shutdown, but neither Republicans nor Democrats appeared ready to quickly approve the federal funding package he brokered with the Senate without first debating their own demands over immigration enforcement operations.

    Democrats are refusing to provide the votes House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to push the package forward as they try to rein in the Trump administration’s deportation operations after the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis. That’s forcing Johnson to rely on his slim GOP majority, which has its own complaints about the package, to fall in line behind Trump’s deal with Senate Democrats.

    Voting is expected to begin as soon as Tuesday, which would be day four of the partial shutdown. The Pentagon, Homeland Security and other agencies saw their funding lapse Saturday. And while many operations at those departments are deemed essential, and still functioning, some workers may go without pay or be furloughed.

    “We need to get the Government open, and I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill, and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY,” the president wrote on social media.

    “There can be NO CHANGES at this time,” Trump insisted. “We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown.”

    The stalemate points to difficult days ahead as Johnson relies on Trump to help muscle the package to passage.

    The president struck a deal last week with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in which Homeland Security would only be funded temporarily, though Feb. 13, as Congress debates changes to immigration enforcement operations. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the package with the rest of the government funding ahead of Saturday’s deadline.

    Democrats demand changes to ICE
    House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear Monday that his side sees no reason to help Johnson push the bill forward in a procedural step, something that the majority party typically handles on its own.

    With Johnson facing unrest from his own Republican ranks, Jeffries is seizing the leverage it provides Democrats to demand changes to immigration operations.

    “On rare occasions have we stepped in to deal with Republican dysfunction,” Jeffries said at the Capitol.

    Democrats are demanding restraints on Immigration and Customs Enforcement that go beyond $20 million for body cameras that already is in the bill. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that officers on the ground in Minneapolis, including ICE, will be immediately issued body-worn cameras, and the program would be expanded nationwide as funding is available.

    But Democrats are pressing for more. They want to require that federal immigration agents unmask — noting that few, if any, other law enforcement agencies routinely mask themselves in the U.S. — and they want officers to rely on judicial, rather than administrative, warrants in their operations.

    They also want an end to roving patrols, amid other changes.

    Jeffries said the administration needs to begin negotiations now, not over the next two weeks, on changes to immigration enforcement operations.

    Certain Democrats, however, are splintering with the leader, and pushing for quicker passage of the funding package to avoid government disruptions.

    Republicans launch their own demands
    At the same time, House Republicans, with some allies in the Senate, are making their own demands, as they work to support Trump’s clampdown on immigrants in the U.S.

    The House Freedom Caucus has insisted on fuller funding for Homeland Security while certain Republicans pushed to include the SAVE Act, a longshot Trump priority that would require proof of citizenship before Americans are eligible to participate in elections and vote. Critics say it would disenfranchise millions of voters.

    Late Monday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., dropped her demand to attach the voting bill to the funding package after she and Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., met with Trump at the White House. She posted afterward that it would be better to try to advance that bill separately through the Senate, and keep the government open.

    The development was seen as helping Johnson push ahead.

    “Obviously the president really wants this,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said at the Capitol.

    “We always work ’til the midnight hour to get the votes,” Scalise said. “You never start the process with everybody on board. You work through it.”

    Workers without pay if partial government shutdown drags on
    Meanwhile, a number of federal agencies are snared in the funding standoff after the government went into a partial shutdown over the weekend.

    Defense, health, transportation and housing are among those that were given shutdown guidance by the administration, though many operations are deemed essential and services are not necessarily interrupted. Workers could go without pay if the impasse drags on. Some could be furloughed.

    Lawmakers from both parties are increasingly concerned the closure will disrupt the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which they rely on to help constituents after deadly snowstorms and other disasters.

    This is the second time in a matter of months that federal government operations have been disrupted as lawmakers use the annual funding process as leverage to extract policy changes. Last fall, Democrats sparked what became the longest federal shutdown in history, 43 days, as they protested the expiration of health insurance tax breaks.

    That shutdown ended with a promise to vote on proposals to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. But with GOP opposition, Democrats were unable to achieve their goal of keeping the subsidies in place. Insurance premiums spiked in the new year for millions of people.

    Trump tries to prevent another long shutdown
    Trump is already working on an immigration deal to ensure the shutdown doesn’t drag on.

    Johnson said he was in the Oval Office last week when Trump, along with border czar Tom Homan, spoke with Schumer of New York as they discussed the immigration changes.

    Body cameras, which are already provided for in the package, and an end to the roving patrols by immigration agents are areas of potential agreement, Johnson said.

    But Johnson drew a line at other Democratic demands. He said he does not think that requiring immigration officers to remove their masks would have support from Republicans because it could lead to problems if their personal images and private information is posted online by protesters.

    And Senate Majority Leader John Thune tapped the brakes on the demand from Democrats to require judicial warrants for officers’ searches, saying it’s likely to be a part of the negotiations ahead.

    “It’s going to be very difficult to reach agreement in two weeks,” Thune said at the Capitol.

    Democrats, however, said the immigration operations are out of control, and must end in Minneapolis and other cities.

    Growing numbers of lawmakers are also calling for Noem to be fired or impeached.

    Jordan Vawter

    Source link

  • Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

    Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

    The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope

    This 13 page document lays out DHS policy for use of force. Now these rules apply to Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and Secret Service and make it clear what protocols agents should follow before any use of force is applied. And while it’s easy to look back and replay video over and over after the fact, experts we talked to told us agents need to rely on these policies and training, especially in critical moments. Unfortunately, It, it’s for me as *** field office director, this all of this is very um upsetting. Darius Reeves, *** former ICE field office director, spent nearly 20 years with ICE and Homeland Security, *** time when he says their operations were not drawing public attention. No one had any idea about ICE. We were very professional, we were very clean, and this is. There are far too many US citizens being involved. What troubles Reeves now isn’t just the outcome of recent encounters, but whether ICE and Border Patrol are following their own use of force and de-escalation policies. When is use of force an option? If it’s an immediate Imminent threat. The National Investigative Unit reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s use of force policy alongside video from the two recent killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good and talked with experts including Reeves. DHS policy is clear officers should attempt de-escalation, issue verbal commands, reassess when resistance stops, and discontinue force once an incident is under control. Video from the encounter involving 30 seven-year-old Alex Preddy shows in the minute before the shooting, Preddy is recording from *** distance. Agents push *** woman who grabs onto Preddy. He’s then pushed. An agent pushes another woman near Preddy, who then steps in with an open hand up, then turns away from the agent as he’s sprayed with *** chemical. They continually sprayed him even when his back was to them, and then everybody piles on. Based on the video we’ve seen, in your opinion. Was deadly force used correctly on Alex Peretti? Absolutely not. The second case involving Renee Good raises *** different policy question. DHS rules place strict limits on the use of deadly force in and around vehicles. Mark Brown used to train ICE agents and explains the strict rules. The general practice was that They went away from shooting in the moving vehicles. Reeves and Brown add that incidents need to be carefully examined afterward to prevent future violations. Are we debriefing every day after, you know, to see, OK, what are we doing for our own accountability? This is *** major travesty, um. And you, you’re going to have to stick to the policy. The DHS policy states that every agent must be trained in use of force and de-escalation policies at least once *** year, and every 2 years they must conduct less than lethal force training. The policy we reviewed was last updated in 2023. Reporting in Washington, I’m national investigative correspondent John Cardinelli.

    Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

    The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope

    Updated: 10:27 AM PST Jan 31, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policiesA federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.”Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —

    A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.

    Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policies

    A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.

    Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

    It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”

    The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.

    The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.

    “Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.

    U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.

    Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

    Source link

  • Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

    Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

    The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope

    This 13 page document lays out DHS policy for use of force. Now these rules apply to Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and Secret Service and make it clear what protocols agents should follow before any use of force is applied. And while it’s easy to look back and replay video over and over after the fact, experts we talked to told us agents need to rely on these policies and training, especially in critical moments. Unfortunately, It, it’s for me as *** field office director, this all of this is very um upsetting. Darius Reeves, *** former ICE field office director, spent nearly 20 years with ICE and Homeland Security, *** time when he says their operations were not drawing public attention. No one had any idea about ICE. We were very professional, we were very clean, and this is. There are far too many US citizens being involved. What troubles Reeves now isn’t just the outcome of recent encounters, but whether ICE and Border Patrol are following their own use of force and de-escalation policies. When is use of force an option? If it’s an immediate Imminent threat. The National Investigative Unit reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s use of force policy alongside video from the two recent killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good and talked with experts including Reeves. DHS policy is clear officers should attempt de-escalation, issue verbal commands, reassess when resistance stops, and discontinue force once an incident is under control. Video from the encounter involving 30 seven-year-old Alex Preddy shows in the minute before the shooting, Preddy is recording from *** distance. Agents push *** woman who grabs onto Preddy. He’s then pushed. An agent pushes another woman near Preddy, who then steps in with an open hand up, then turns away from the agent as he’s sprayed with *** chemical. They continually sprayed him even when his back was to them, and then everybody piles on. Based on the video we’ve seen, in your opinion. Was deadly force used correctly on Alex Peretti? Absolutely not. The second case involving Renee Good raises *** different policy question. DHS rules place strict limits on the use of deadly force in and around vehicles. Mark Brown used to train ICE agents and explains the strict rules. The general practice was that They went away from shooting in the moving vehicles. Reeves and Brown add that incidents need to be carefully examined afterward to prevent future violations. Are we debriefing every day after, you know, to see, OK, what are we doing for our own accountability? This is *** major travesty, um. And you, you’re going to have to stick to the policy. The DHS policy states that every agent must be trained in use of force and de-escalation policies at least once *** year, and every 2 years they must conduct less than lethal force training. The policy we reviewed was last updated in 2023. Reporting in Washington, I’m national investigative correspondent John Cardinelli.

    Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

    The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope

    Updated: 1:27 PM EST Jan 31, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policiesA federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.”Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —

    A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.

    Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policies

    A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.

    Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

    It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”

    The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.

    The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.

    “Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.

    U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.

    Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

    Source link

  • Johnson signs order directing CPD to investigate federal immigration agents’ alleged misconduct

    CHICAGO (WLS) — Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday morning, directing Chicago police to investigate any alleged illegal activity by federal immigration agents.

    During the signing, Johnson said the city must prepare for federal agents to potentially return to Chicago in the spring.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    Under the “ICE On Notice” order, if CPD personnel observe or receive reports of alleged violations of state or local law by federal agents, they must:

    • Document federal enforcement activities in accordance with CPD policy;


    • Ensure that any body camera footage captured during the incident – including footage of any use of force, detentions, injuries, or other enforcement activity – is
      preserved;


    • Seek to identify the federal supervisory officer on scene, attempt to verify the supervisory officer’s name and badge number, and record the credential verification using body-cameras-including any refusal to comply;


    • Complete a report on any violation of state or local law by federal agents consistent with CPD policy;


    • Immediately summon emergency medical services and render aid to any injured person on the scene

    CPD must also provide any evidence of alleged felony violations to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the order states. Additionally, CPD must share data on federal immigration officers’ alleged legal violations with the pubic.

    Johnson’s office says his executive order makes Chicago “the first city in the nation to leverage local authority to pursue legal accountability for misconduct by federal immigration agents.”

    “Nobody is above the law. There is no such thing as ‘absolute immunity’ in America,” Johnson said in a statement. “The lawlessness of Trump’s militarized immigration agents puts the lives and well-being of every Chicagoan in immediate danger. With today’s order, we are putting ICE on notice in our city. Chicago will not sit idly by while Trump floods federal agents into our communities and terrorizes our residents.”

    Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

    WLS

    Source link

  • Report card for the City’s snow removal effort?

    Saturday, January 31, 2026 4:45PM

    6abc Studios (WPVI) — Host Brian Taff and the Panel will speak about the possibility of Federal ICE agents coming to Philadelphia, Senator John Fetterman’s stance on DHS funding, Governor Shapiro’s ambition to run for President as he debuts his new book, Republican Challenger Stacy Garrity gets an endorsement from President Trump and what’s the report card for Philadelphia’s snow removal effort. Get the Inside Story with Melissa Robbins, Larry Platt, Christine Flowers and Guy Ciarrocchi.

    Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.

    Brian Taff

    Source link

  • Judge set to hear arguments on Minnesota’s immigration crackdown after fatal shootings

    A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially added to their original request. They’re trying to restore the state of affairs that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.The hearing is set for Monday morning in federal court in Minneapolis. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to personally attend.They’re asking that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Menendez order federal law enforcement agencies to reduce the numbers of officers and agents in Minnesota to levels before the surge, while allowing them to continue to enforce immigration laws within a long list of proposed limits.Justice Department attorneys have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous” and said “Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement.” They asked the judge to reject the request or at least stay her order pending an anticipated appeal.Ellison said at a news conference Sunday that he and the cities filed their lawsuit because of “the unprecedented nature of this surge. It is a novel abuse of the Constitution that we’re looking at right now. No one can remember a time when we’ve seen something like this.”It wasn’t clear ahead of the hearing when the judge might rule.The case also has implications for other states that have been or could be targets of intensive federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.”If left unchecked, the federal government will no doubt be emboldened to continue its unlawful conduct in Minnesota and to repeat it elsewhere,” the attorneys general wrote.Menendez is the same judge who ruled in a separate case on Jan. 16 that federal officers in Minnesota can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including people who are following and observing agents.An appeals court temporarily suspended that ruling three days before Saturday’s shooting. But the plaintiffs in that case, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, asked the appeals court late Saturday for an emergency order lifting the stay in light of Pretti’s killing. The Justice Department argued in a reply filed Sunday that the stay should remain in place, calling the injunction unworkable and overly broad.In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, late Saturday issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting. Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty asked for the order to try to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday afternoon in federal court in St. Paul.“The fact that anyone would ever think that an agent of the federal government might even think about doing such a thing was completely unforeseeable only a few weeks ago,” Ellison told reporters. “But now, this is what we have to do.”

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.

    The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.

    Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially added to their original request. They’re trying to restore the state of affairs that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.

    The hearing is set for Monday morning in federal court in Minneapolis. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to personally attend.

    They’re asking that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Menendez order federal law enforcement agencies to reduce the numbers of officers and agents in Minnesota to levels before the surge, while allowing them to continue to enforce immigration laws within a long list of proposed limits.

    Justice Department attorneys have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous” and said “Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement.” They asked the judge to reject the request or at least stay her order pending an anticipated appeal.

    Ellison said at a news conference Sunday that he and the cities filed their lawsuit because of “the unprecedented nature of this surge. It is a novel abuse of the Constitution that we’re looking at right now. No one can remember a time when we’ve seen something like this.”

    It wasn’t clear ahead of the hearing when the judge might rule.

    The case also has implications for other states that have been or could be targets of intensive federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.

    “If left unchecked, the federal government will no doubt be emboldened to continue its unlawful conduct in Minnesota and to repeat it elsewhere,” the attorneys general wrote.

    Menendez is the same judge who ruled in a separate case on Jan. 16 that federal officers in Minnesota can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including people who are following and observing agents.

    An appeals court temporarily suspended that ruling three days before Saturday’s shooting. But the plaintiffs in that case, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, asked the appeals court late Saturday for an emergency order lifting the stay in light of Pretti’s killing. The Justice Department argued in a reply filed Sunday that the stay should remain in place, calling the injunction unworkable and overly broad.

    In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, late Saturday issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting. Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty asked for the order to try to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday afternoon in federal court in St. Paul.

    “The fact that anyone would ever think that an agent of the federal government might even think about doing such a thing was completely unforeseeable only a few weeks ago,” Ellison told reporters. “But now, this is what we have to do.”

    Source link

  • Federal Agents Kill ICU Nurse in Minneapolis

    A man who was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis Saturday was an Intensive Care Unit nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, family members have confirmed. Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old, Illinois-born US citizen, was a Boy Scout who grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, his father, Michael Pretti told the Associated Press. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street,” the senior Pretti said. “He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”

    According to local broadcast station KTTC, Pretti was shot at around 9 a.m. local time in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis. Video of the incident (warning: the video is graphic) shows a man being wrestled to the ground by a crowd of masked men in tactical gear. At least one of the men appear to shoot the man once he was on the ground.

    Via X, the Department of Homeland Security claims that the man had “a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and “two magazines” in his possession. “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots,” the DHS said of the incident.

    Minnesota is an open carry state, which means that a properly permitted person is allowed to have a visible firearm in their possession in most public places. According to Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara, Pretti was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.” According to the AP, he had no history of criminal activity.

    The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, a lobbying group that opposes gun restrictions, has issued a statement critical of the DHS’s characterization of the shooting victim. “Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,” chair Bryan Strawser said. “These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed, and they must be respected and protected at all times.”

    At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz took issue with the DHS account of the homicide. “Thank God we have video because, according to DHS, these seven heroic guys took on an onslaught of a battalion against them or something,” Walz said. “It’s nonsense, people. It is nonsense, and it’s lies … The American public knows, and this needs to be the event that says enough.”

    As of 4 p.m. local time, protestors have continued to gather in the area to protest today’s homicide, which is the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis in recent weeks. On January 7, Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent while seated in her SUV; on January 15 agents shot a man in the leg, reportedly after a car chase.

    Complicating the issue are federal officials that are reportedly blocking a local investigation into the slaying. Speaking with CNN, O’Hara says that “federal officials [have] attempted to prevent local police from accessing the scene.” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans confirmed the conflict between agencies, saying that even with a search warrant, federal officials denied them access, and has refused to provide investigators with the names of the federal agents involved in the shooting.

    “I attempted to contact the individual that I was told was the overall commander at the scene, and I have not received a call back from them,” Evans said at a Saturday news conference.

    Eve Batey

    Source link

  • Vancouver City Council Denounces Federal Immigration Enforcement Practices – KXL

    VANCOUVER, WA – The Vancouver City Council on Tuesday issued a sweeping Public Declaration on Community Harm, Public Safety, and Human Dignity, formally denouncing the conduct of federal immigration enforcement agencies operating under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    The declaration outlines the City’s position that certain federal immigration enforcement practices have caused harm to community members, undermined public trust, and threatened the safety and dignity of residents. In adopting the statement, councilmembers affirmed their intention to respond to what they described as a crisis using the full force of the City’s legal authority.

    According to the declaration, the City views aggressive or opaque enforcement actions as creating fear among immigrant communities, discouraging residents from accessing essential services or cooperating with local authorities. The council emphasized that these outcomes run counter to local public safety goals and the City’s commitment to human rights and community well-being.

    The document also signals Vancouver’s intent to review and, where permissible, limit cooperation between city agencies and federal immigration enforcement bodies. City leaders indicated that any such actions would be guided by existing law, with an emphasis on protecting civil liberties while maintaining public safety.

    Councilmembers framed the declaration as both a policy statement and a call to action, underscoring the City’s responsibility to advocate for residents affected by federal enforcement practices. The declaration does not alter federal authority but asserts the City’s stance and its willingness to use legal tools available at the municipal level to mitigate local impacts.

    City officials said the declaration reflects ongoing concerns raised by residents and community organizations and reaffirmed Vancouver’s commitment to dignity, safety, and equal treatment for all who live and work in the city.

    More about:

    Tim Lantz

    Source link

  • As ICE cracks down harder, support for abolishing ICE surges

    Donald Trump was reelected to the presidency in 2024 after pledging to carry out the “largest deportation operation in American history.” In the first year of his second term, he followed through on his promise, weaponizing the agencies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and deploying thousands of federal troops into major U.S. cities like an occupying army.

    Earlier this month, the death of Renee Good at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross brought overly aggressive federal law enforcement into public view. As a result, more Americans than ever now think we should get rid of it.

    “More Americans now support the abolishment of ICE, in a major change since July and in Donald Trump’s first presidency,” Forbes‘ Mike Stunson wrote last week, “as the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal officer has led to a wave of backlash against the agency.”

    Stunson cited a January 2026 poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov, which found that 46 percent of respondents support abolishing ICE, with 43 percent opposed. The same poll found 50 percent felt Good’s shooting was “not justified,” while only 30 percent said it was justified.

    A separate poll by Civiqs found 43 percent of respondents support ending ICE, with 49 percent opposed. Notably, though, this represents a dramatic shift since only a few months ago. In September 2024, only 19 percent supported, and 66 percent opposed, abolishing the agency.

    It was also the highest number in favor of abolition, and the lowest number against, since Civiqs began asking the question in July 2018, when the #AbolishICE movement began in earnest. (At that time, respondents favored keeping the agency intact by a 2–to–1 margin.)

    And an Associated Press/NORC poll shows 61 percent of Americans now oppose Trump’s handling of immigration; as recently as March 2025, respondents were evenly split.

    The reason for the shift is clear: Americans are suddenly confronted with the reality of what ICE is doing, and they don’t like what they see.

    “Trump has deployed 3,000 federal officers and agents to Minneapolis this month, the largest operation in DHS history,” Nick Miroff wrote last week in The Atlantic. “Many of the ICE officers and Border Patrol agents are outfitted in tactical gear and wear body armor and masks, and they’re using the technological tools that the department acquired to protect the country’s borders: surveillance drones, facial-recognition apps, phone-cracking software. Powered by billions of dollars in new funding, they are making immigration arrests and grabbing protesters who try to stop them.”

    In August 2025, ICE announced a major recruitment push, offering perks like a $90,000 salary and a signing bonus of as much as $50,000. DHS recently announced that in just four months, ICE more than doubled its ranks, from 10,000 to 22,000.

    Those numbers may not be accurate: NOTUS‘ Jackie Llanos writes that according to the government’s official employment statistics, since Trump took office in January 2025, ICE “has hired 7,114 employees” but 1,746 have left in the same period, “placing the net growth of employees at 5,368.”

    Still, a 50 percent increase in one year is substantial. And such a quick expansion doesn’t come without tradeoffs: “ICE reduced training requirements to meet hiring targets,” Military.com reports, “though the agency has not been transparent about the criteria used to determine which recruits qualified for abbreviated training pipelines or how those changes were evaluated internally.”

    For example, NBC News’ Julia Ainsley reports that due to a technical glitch, about 200 recruits with no law enforcement experience were placed in a fast-tracked training process for experienced officers.

    The results are plain to see: ICE officers assaulting U.S. citizens, smashing windows and dragging them from their cars, going door-to-door without a warrant or even reasonable suspicion. In October, ProPublica reported ICE had arrested at least 170 Americans—in many cases using considerable force—including some who were detained for multiple days without being allowed to contact their families or an attorney.

    Ross was apparently even recording Good with his cellphone when he pulled his weapon and shot her. Soon after her death, media outlets released the footage; the shooting is not depicted, but afterward, someone can be heard saying, “Fucking bitch.”

    Social media is full of videos of ICE raids gone wrong, but the government has also saturated the internet with footage of its own.

    “During President Donald Trump’s second term, ICE’s public affairs arm has rapidly transformed into an influencer-style media machine, churning out flashy videos of tactical operations and immigration raids,” The Washington Post reported last month. Citing internal chat logs, the Post added that this team “coordinate[s] with the White House” to generate “brash content showing immigrants being chased, grabbed and detained” with “video edits that might help legitimize the administration’s aggressive stance.”

    “In President Trump’s second term, content is governing and governing is content,” added NPR.

    This may explain why Ross was filming Good when he drew his gun and shot her: to create content for social media.

    And much of that content is distasteful: Last month, on its official X account, Trump’s DHS “publicly announce[d] its dream to somehow eliminate 100 million people, the majority of whom would need to be citizens to hit that number, whose ancestry is seen as ‘third world,’” writes Reason‘s Brian Doherty.

    And in recent months, the DHS and ICE have posted recruitment ads with white nationalist imagery—including an Instagram post two days after Good’s death that used a song popular with neo-Nazis.

    It’s clear the more that Americans are exposed to ICE and its methods and tactics, the less they think the agency should continue to exist. And this is not an extreme position: Both ICE and the DHS are quite new, established in the early 2000s.

    And it’s not like either was without controversy, even in the aftermath of 9/11. “There were fears at the time of DHS’s founding, including on the political right, that the government was creating an authoritarian monster,” The Atlantic‘s Miroff added. “The United States had never had the kind of all-encompassing domestic-security apparatus common in autocracies, whose interior departments function as political police. DHS skeptics worried that civil liberties would be vulnerable to abuse if the government began assembling national databases and an expanded federal police force.”

    And yet, that’s exactly what happened. “ICE has routinely shown itself to be an overreaching and unaccountable agency,” Fiona Harrigan wrote in the December 2024 issue of Reason. “Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology found that ICE has scanned the driver’s license photos of one in three American adults and could access the driver’s license data of three in four American adults.”

    “ICE’s current powers and central deportation mission are neither appropriately sized nor easily reformed,” Harrigan added. “It would be much better for the government to extend an olive branch to nonviolent undocumented immigrants, reassign ICE’s useful functions elsewhere, and let the agency go once and for all.”

    “Leaving immigration restrictions more to the states would bring us closer to the Constitution’s original meaning,” agrees George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin. “We may not be able to fully restore the original meaning of the Constitution on this score. But abolishing ICE and shifting more law enforcement resources to state and local governments would bring us closer to it. It would also simultaneously curtail ICE abuses and reduce crime.”

    The U.S. went nearly its entire existence without ICE; it could do so again. And the more that Americans become familiar with the agency and see what it does, the more they seem to agree.

    Joe Lancaster

    Source link

  • Judge restricts federal officers’ use of tear gas during protests in Minneapolis

    In a ruling on Friday, a judge restricted federal officers from detaining or using tear gas against peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities in Minneapolis, where demonstrations over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown are expected to continue this weekend. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement responding to the preliminary injunction, “D.H.S. is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”ICE’s tactics have faced criticism from Democratic leaders, like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.”What we’re seeing on our streets is unnecessary abuses of force. This is an invasion for the sake of creating chaos by our own federal government,” Frey said on Friday.Both Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are reportedly under investigation. The Justice Department is looking into whether Frey and Walz impeded law enforcement through past public statements, according to the Associated Press. “Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a social media post on Friday.”A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a separate post, which didn’t explicitly mention the probe. The warning comes as Minneapolis braces for another weekend of demonstrations. Clashes with protesters have escalated following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in a highly contested incident last week. “While peaceful expression is protected, any actions that harm people, destroy property, or jeopardize public safety will not be tolerated,” Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Friday. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump warned that he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Minneapolis in response to protests. “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday.Trump appeared to walk back that threat, at least for now, while speaking to reporters Friday. “I don’t think there is any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I would use it,” Trump said.Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison has said that he would challenge the use of the 19th-century law in court if necessary. He’s already suing to try to stop the recent surge in immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities. DHS says officers have arrested more than 2,500 people as part of its “Metro Surge” operation to date.

    In a ruling on Friday, a judge restricted federal officers from detaining or using tear gas against peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities in Minneapolis, where demonstrations over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown are expected to continue this weekend.

    Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement responding to the preliminary injunction, “D.H.S. is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

    ICE’s tactics have faced criticism from Democratic leaders, like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

    “What we’re seeing on our streets is unnecessary abuses of force. This is an invasion for the sake of creating chaos by our own federal government,” Frey said on Friday.

    Both Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are reportedly under investigation. The Justice Department is looking into whether Frey and Walz impeded law enforcement through past public statements, according to the Associated Press.

    “Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a social media post on Friday.

    “A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a separate post, which didn’t explicitly mention the probe.

    The warning comes as Minneapolis braces for another weekend of demonstrations. Clashes with protesters have escalated following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in a highly contested incident last week.

    “While peaceful expression is protected, any actions that harm people, destroy property, or jeopardize public safety will not be tolerated,” Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Friday.

    Earlier this week, President Donald Trump warned that he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Minneapolis in response to protests.

    “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday.

    Trump appeared to walk back that threat, at least for now, while speaking to reporters Friday.

    “I don’t think there is any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I would use it,” Trump said.

    Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison has said that he would challenge the use of the 19th-century law in court if necessary. He’s already suing to try to stop the recent surge in immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities. DHS says officers have arrested more than 2,500 people as part of its “Metro Surge” operation to date.

    Source link

  • Latest shooting is 17th time immigration officials have fired at civilians in Trump’s second term

    I urge anyone that is at the scene to leave immediately. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara urging protesters to go home Wednesday night amid clashes with law enforcement after *** federal officer shot *** man in the leg. The Department of Homeland Security said the subject, *** Venezuelan man who was in the country illegally, fled in his vehicle during *** targeted traffic stop, then crashed into *** parked car and fled on foot. When the officer caught up to him, he allegedly resisted arrest. DHS said two other individuals attacked the officer with *** snow shovel and *** broom handle. During the struggle, the federal agent discharged his weapon, striking one adult male. Tensions rose as protesters gathered at the scene, with *** crowd following agents through the neighborhood. Agents launched pepper balls and what sounded like flashbangs. Smoke hung in the air as officers deployed tear gas canisters, with *** member of the crowd apparently throwing one of the canisters back at agents while still demanding ICE leave the city. Officials, including the mayor, are asking the public to remain peaceful. We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos. For those that have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping. I’m Reed Binion reporting.

    Federal immigration officials have fired gunshots at people in at least 17 different incidents since President Donald Trump began his second term nearly a year ago. In the latest incident, a federal officer shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis on Jan. 14 after he was attacked with a snow shovel and broom handle, according to Homeland Security. Federal officers were conducting a traffic stop, DHS said, when the man crashed into a parked car and fled on foot. As the man and the officer were in a struggle on the ground, two people from a nearby apartment came out with the shovel and broom, according to DHS reports.The latest shooting comes a week after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good less than 10 miles away, sparking widespread protests and fear in the city.A Get the Facts Data Team analysis of data collected by The Trace has found that four people have been killed and at least eight have been injured in the 17 shooting incidents.The number of incidents is likely an undercount, according to The Trace, as not all shootings are publicly reported. Also, others have been killed during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown beyond those killed by guns.Most of the shooting incidents have been in the Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis areas.PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=

    Federal immigration officials have fired gunshots at people in at least 17 different incidents since President Donald Trump began his second term nearly a year ago.

    In the latest incident, a federal officer shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis on Jan. 14 after he was attacked with a snow shovel and broom handle, according to Homeland Security.

    Federal officers were conducting a traffic stop, DHS said, when the man crashed into a parked car and fled on foot. As the man and the officer were in a struggle on the ground, two people from a nearby apartment came out with the shovel and broom, according to DHS reports.

    The latest shooting comes a week after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good less than 10 miles away, sparking widespread protests and fear in the city.

    A Get the Facts Data Team analysis of data collected by The Trace has found that four people have been killed and at least eight have been injured in the 17 shooting incidents.

    The number of incidents is likely an undercount, according to The Trace, as not all shootings are publicly reported. Also, others have been killed during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown beyond those killed by guns.

    Most of the shooting incidents have been in the Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis areas.

    Source link

  • Has ICE agent training been reduced to 47 days?

    The fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jan. 7 brought more scrutiny on Trump-era training requirements. 

    On CNN’s “State of the Union” Jan. 11, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told anchor Jake Tapper the Trump administration had shortened ICE agents’ training time while scaling up its hiring. 

    “Remember we’re beefing up ICE 10,000 more agents,” Warner said. “They are not getting the traditional five months training. Literally, Jake, the training for the ICE agents now is 47 days. Why 47 days? Because Donald Trump is the 47th president.”

    He also used this figure Jan. 8 when talking to a liberal commentator and Jan. 12 on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

    Other lawmakers, social media posts and journalists repeated the same line in the days after ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good. 

    The Trump administration has confirmed to multiple news organizations it shortened the duration of immigration agent training, while taking issue with some outlets’ framing and declining to answer follow-up questions. Neither ICE nor DHS responded to PolitiFact’s queries. We were unable to confirm whether the number of training days is connected to Trump’s status as the 47th president.

    Ross had been a deportation officer with the agency since 2015, The Associated Press reported, so he was subject to earlier, longer training standards. 

    Warner, who did not respond to PolitiFact, said on CNN that the investigation into Good’s killing needed to be completed before people reached conclusions.  

    When Tapper pointed out to Warner that the ICE agent who shot Good “had at least 10 years experience,” Warner said, “So be it, and again that’s why there ought to be an investigation.” 

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement trainees practice shooting a handgun at the indoor firing range at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Brunswick, Ga. on Aug. 21, 2025. (AP)

    Trump’s ICE shortened training, but reports vary on how much

    The training talking point stems from The Atlantic August story “Fast Times at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” Reporter Nick Miroff wrote that training for new deportation officers had been reduced from about five months to 47 days, citing three unnamed officials. 

    “Administration officials have cut that time roughly in half, partly by eliminating Spanish-language courses,” the report said. “Academy training was shortened to 47 days, three officials told me, the number picked because Trump is the 47th president. DHS officials said the training will run six days a week for eight weeks.” 

    A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that The Atlantic’s reporting was “false,” because training is eight weeks. The Examiner story, however, cited ICE acting director Todd Lyons as confirming an eight-week training schedule of six work days per week. That amounts to 48 training days.

    The frequently asked questions page on ICE’s career website reflects the outdated training schedule, saying new deportation officers will complete almost five months of training — five weeks of language and 16 weeks of law enforcement.

    The AP in August reported the agency “cut Spanish-language requirements to reduce training by five weeks,” citing Caleb Vitello, who runs ICE training. Vitello told AP the Spanish-language training that was cut would be supplemented with translation technology services.

    News organizations and administration officials have reported training times shorter than 48 days in recent months:

    • An unnamed DHS official told NBC News in October that ICE had originally shortened its training from 13 to eight weeks before shortening it again to six weeks.

    • Government Executive, a news outlet that covers federal agencies, reported Jan. 5 that DHS has shortened ICE agent training from six months “to around six weeks.” 

    DHS has not offered clarity about new officer training since the Minneapolis shooting. A senior DHS official told People magazine Jan. 8, “Training to become an Enforcement and Removal Operations officer is 8 weeks long,” and declined to specify the number of days. 

    “The official did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for clarification, since eight weeks matches the timeframe that The Atlantic previously reported,” it reported. 

    Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement speaks to the press on the agility course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Brunswick, Ga. on Aug. 21, 2025. (AP)

    ICE officer who shot Good had 10 years experience, additional training 

    Having worked for ICE for a decade, Ross would have followed the previous 16-week training schedule and five-week language program. 

    Ross also received specialized training after being selected for ICE’s special response team, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told AP. 

    Before becoming an ICE agent, Ross served in the Indiana National Guard and was deployed to Iraq and also worked as a Border Patrol field intelligence officer.

    Our ruling

    Warner said immigration agents “are not getting the traditional five months training. … The training for the ICE agents now is 47 days.”

    News outlets and Homeland Security officials reported cuts to the length of ICE training during Trump’s second term, reducing it from about five months to six days a week for eight weeks. That’s 48 days of training over a 56-day period. (What it has to do with Trump’s status as 47th president is outside of the scope of this fact-check.) Ross, the ICE officer who shot and killed Good, had been with the department for about 10 years.

    Two news organizations have since reported that the duration of training was further reduced to about six weeks; spokespersons from DHS and ICE did not respond to our requests for confirmation.

    In the big picture, ICE officers’ training time has been significantly shortened to a period at or near what Warner cites. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it Mostly True.

    RELATED: Experts question Kristi Noem calling Renee Good a ‘domestic terrorist.’ Here’s what it means 

    RELATED: Viral AI images spur false claims about ICE agent in fatal Minneapolis shooting

    Source link

  • Anti-ICE protests erupt across the country after shootings

    Protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown erupted across the United States this weekend, including outside the White House, following two recent shootings involving immigration officers.A border officer wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday. In a separate event on Wednesday, an ICE agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, where thousands marched on Saturday. Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful after several protesters were arrested on Friday. The Trump administration insists that federal officers acted in self-defense in both shootings. The Department of Homeland Security is not backing down from what it has called its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. The agency highlighted the arrest of “criminal illegal aliens” in social media posts on Saturday. Meanwhile, the administration faces pushback from Democrats and certain Republicans on Capitol Hill. Critics are calling for a full, objective investigation into the Minneapolis shooting after state officials were left out of the probe.Some Democrats are calling to impeach DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, while others want to restrict funding for her department and add further restrictions on federal agents.Cellphone video below from the ICE agent who shot Renee Good shows the moments before and during the shooting. Viewer discretion is advised.

    WASHINGTON —

    Protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown erupted across the United States this weekend, including outside the White House, following two recent shootings involving immigration officers.

    A border officer wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday. In a separate event on Wednesday, an ICE agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, where thousands marched on Saturday.

    Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful after several protesters were arrested on Friday.

    The Trump administration insists that federal officers acted in self-defense in both shootings.

    The Department of Homeland Security is not backing down from what it has called its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. The agency highlighted the arrest of “criminal illegal aliens” in social media posts on Saturday.

    Meanwhile, the administration faces pushback from Democrats and certain Republicans on Capitol Hill. Critics are calling for a full, objective investigation into the Minneapolis shooting after state officials were left out of the probe.

    Some Democrats are calling to impeach DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, while others want to restrict funding for her department and add further restrictions on federal agents.

    Cellphone video below from the ICE agent who shot Renee Good shows the moments before and during the shooting. Viewer discretion is advised.

    Source link

  • DC Council committee recommends dissolving cooperation with ICE – WTOP News

    A D.C. Council committee recommends police end cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a day after an ICE agent reportedly shot a woman in Minneapolis.

    A D.C. Council committee is recommending the city’s police department end cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one day after officials say an ICE agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

    The recommendation also comes after council members heard testimony from dozens of residents in October.

    “I’m grieving for Minneapolis, and I’m also very worried that that could very easily happen here, with the heavy presence of ICE and other federal law enforcement,” Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau told WTOP.

    The Committee on Public Works and Operations heard from 53 witnesses who detailed accounts with ICE in the city.

    “We had countless testimony of people who observed men and women walking down the street being stopped, people on the way to work being pulled over,” Nadeau said. “They’re being taken and their vehicles are being left on the road, parents being taken in front of their children and the children being left behind.”

    The report from the Committee on Public Works and Operations recommends both the mayor and D.C. police chief end any cooperation with ICE. It also urges banning the use of masks by ICE agents and requiring badges and agency identification.

    The committee said tweaks to current laws are also needed.

    “We passed the Sanctuary Values Act in 2020; there should be no cooperation with ICE,” Nadeau said. “The chief found a loophole, found a way to cooperate. We’ve got to close that loophole.”

    ICE has said that its collaboration with D.C. police has assisted with the arrest of alleged criminals, including a Mexican national previously charged with sex crimes against a child.

    “MPD has the tools they need to go after someone who committed violence, sexual violence. They don’t need the civil enforcement folks at Homeland Security to back them up on that,” Nadeau said.

    Luke Lukert

    Source link

  • After legal setbacks, Trump says he’s dropping National Guard push in Chicago, other cities, for now

    CHICAGO — President Donald Trump said he’s dropping – for now – his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks hung up the effort.

    Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that he’s removing the Guard troops for now. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!” he wrote.

    Troops had already left Los Angeles after the president deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration. They had been sent to Chicago and Portland but were never on the streets as legal challenges played out.

    The video in the player above is from a previous report.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    The Supreme Court earlier this month refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area to support its immigration crackdown, a significant defeat for the president’s efforts to send troops to U.S. cities.

    The justices declined the Republican administration’s emergency request to overturn a ruling by U.S. District Judge April Perry that had blocked the deployment of troops. An appeals court also had refused to step in. The Supreme Court took more than two months to act.

    Three justices – Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch – publicly dissented.

    The high court order is not a final ruling but it could affect other lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s attempts to deploy the military in other Democratic-led cities.

    “At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the high court majority wrote.

    Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he agreed with the decision to keep the Chicago deployment blocked, but would have left the president more latitude to deploy troops in possible future scenarios.

    “The Supreme Court essentially has said two things here. It said that the president can federalize deploy the National Guard, but only if the U.S. military has the authority to enforce the laws in question in the first place and otherwise is unable to enforce them. And the Supreme Court is saying these are not the kinds of laws that the U.S. military is generally authorized to enforce,” said ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gill Soffer.

    The outcome is a rare Supreme Court setback for Trump, who had won repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office again in January. The conservative-dominated court has allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, move aggressively against immigrants and fire the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies.

    Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker applauded the decision as a win for the state and country.

    “American cities, suburbs, and communities should not have to faced masked federal agents asking for their papers, judging them for how they look or sound, and living in fear that President can deploy the military to their streets,” he said.

    White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, on the other hand, said the president had activated the National Guard to protect federal personnel and property from “violent rioters.”

    “Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda. The Administration will continue working day in and day out to safeguard the American public,” she said.

    Alito and Thomas said in their dissent that the court had no basis to reject Trump’s contention that the administration needed the troops to enforce immigration laws. Gorsuch said he would have narrowly sided with the government based on the declarations of federal law enforcement officials.

    The administration had initially sought the order to allow the deployment of troops from Illinois and Texas, but the Texas contingent of about 200 National Guard troops was later sent home from Chicago.

    The Trump administration has argued that the troops are needed “to protect federal personnel and property from violent resistance against the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”

    But Perry wrote that she found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois and no reason to believe the protests there had gotten in the way of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

    Perry had initially blocked the deployment for two weeks. But in October, she extended the order indefinitely while the Supreme Court reviewed the case.

    The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview has been the site of tense protests, where federal agents have previously used tear gas and other chemical agents on protesters and journalists.

    Last month, authorities arrested 21 protesters and said four officers were injured outside the Broadview facility. Local authorities made the arrests.

    The Illinois case is just one of several legal battles over National Guard deployments.

    “Every one of these cases, when they come down, can have an impact on other cases, even if they’re not technically binding in another jurisdiction on a different set of facts. And they’re usually not. Nevertheless, the principles behind them will apply. And since this is the Supreme Court ruling here, it’s very consequential. And other courts are going to have to follow its lead,” Soffer said.

    Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul says the court’s ruling could affect other lawsuits challenging the president’s attempt to deploy the military in other Democrat-led cities.

    “We went first before the Supreme Court on this. And so this is an important case not only for the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, but for the country at large,” Raoul said.

    District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing to halt the deployments of more than 2,000 guardsmen in the nation’s capital. Forty-five states have entered filings in federal court in that case, with 23 supporting the administration’s actions and 22 supporting the attorney general’s lawsuit.

    More than 2,200 troops from several Republican-led states remain in Washington, although the crime emergency Trump declared in August ended a month later.

    A federal judge in Oregon has permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there, and all 200 troops from California were being sent home from Oregon, an official said.

    A state court in Tennessee ruled in favor of Democratic officials who sued to stop the ongoing Guard deployment in Memphis, which Trump has called a replica of his crackdown on Washington, D.C.

    In California, a judge in September said deployment in the Los Angeles area was illegal. By that point, just 300 of the thousands of troops sent there remained, and the judge did not order them to leave.

    The Trump administration has appealed the California and Oregon rulings to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    “There’s really no reason to think the government is going to throw up its hands. This is a preliminary ruling. It doesn’t dispose of the case. The government will continue to work this out, I’m sure. Or fight it out on appeal and work its way through the system,” Soffer said.

    The Defense department says outside of Illinois, the president has deployed Guard members to Tennessee, Oregon, California and the nation’s capital. But troops are only actively on the streets in Memphis, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker issued a statement on the ruling, saying, “Today is a big win for Illinois and American democracy. I am glad the Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump did not have the authority to deploy the federalized guard in Illinois. This is an important step in curbing the Trump Administration’s consistent abuse of power and slowing Trump’s march toward authoritarianism.

    American cities, suburbs, and communities should not have to faced masked federal agents asking for their papers, judging them for how they look or sound, and living in fear that President can deploy the military to their streets. The brave men and women of our National Guard should never be used for political theater and deserve to be with their families and communities, especially during the holidays, and ready to serve overseas or at home when called upon during times of immense need.

    While we welcome this ruling, we also are clear-eyed that the Trump Administration’s pursuit for unchecked power is continuing across the country. Illinois will remain vigilant, defend the rights of our people, and stand up to further abuses of authority by Donald Trump and his cronies.”

    White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson issued a statement, saying, “The President promised the American people he would work tirelessly to enforce our immigration laws and protect federal personnel from violent rioters. He activated the National Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers, and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property. Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda. The Administration will continue working day in and day out to safeguard the American public.”

    Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a statement, saying, “We welcome the Supreme Court’s ruling to block the deployment of National Guard personnel to the streets of Chicago, rebuking President Trump’s attempts to militarize and demonize our city.

    I’ve maintained that these threats are unconstitutional from the very beginning. I am encouraged that the Supreme Court shares this view.

    This decision doesn’t just protect Chicago-but protect cities around the country who have been threatened by Trump’s campaign against immigrants and Democratic-led cities.

    We moved swiftly to challenge any deployment in court the moment the president first made his threats. My administration will maintain our commitment to protecting Chicagoans from federal overreach and continue to ensure Donald Trump is held accountable before the law.”

    A Department of Justice spokesperson issued a statement, saying, “The National Guard has been instrumental in President Trump’s historic efforts to reduce crime and protect federal law enforcement as they execute their duties. This Department of Justice remains committed to enforcing our criminal laws and reversing the prior administration’s trend of crime and decline in America’s major cities.”

    Illinois state Rep. and Chairman of the Illinois Freedom Caucus Chris Miller told ABC7 in a statement, “The only people the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of today are illegal immigrants and criminals. JB Pritzker and the Democrats have allowed crime and illegal immigration to rob our citizens of their safety, and their tax dollars. The federal government should intervene by any means necessary. In light of the Christmas season, I would be glad to gift the ‘Republican’ justices in favor of this decision with a spine. I’m sure Santa can get it there by December 25th!”

    Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this story.

    ABC7’s Cate Cauguiran contributed to this report.

    Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    AP

    Source link

  • To ‘protect Americans’: Trump administration imposes new visa process

    The Trump administration is changing how H-1B work visas are awarded.

    The Trump administration is changing how H-1B work visas are awarded.

    Via U.S. State Department

    With the stated goal of “protecting American workers,” the Trump administration has imposed a new visa process that will affect thousands of foreign nationals.

    The new system will affect H-1B visa applications for professionals, which are capped annually at 65,000 visas, with an additional 20,000 reserved for workers holding advanced degrees from U.S. institutions.

    According to USCIS, the change modifies the rules governing visa selection to prioritize applicants who are “more highly skilled and higher paid,” in an effort to better protect wages, working conditions, and opportunities for U.S. workers.

    The policy replaces the current random lottery with a selection process that gives greater weight to skills and salary levels. “The existing random selection process was exploited and abused by U.S. employers seeking to hire foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” said USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragresser.

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also released a statement Tuesday outlining changes to the application process under the widely used H-1B work visa program.

    The measure was announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through a “final rule” published in the Federal Register. The final rule is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 27, 2026, and will apply to H-1B visa registrations subject to the annual cap for fiscal year 2027, the agency said.

    The change is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to tighten oversight of work visa programs. Through an executive order, the president previously raised the fee for sponsoring an H-1B visa to $100,000, up from about $5,000 or less.

    The move also comes amid renewed scrutiny of other immigration programs, including the Diversity Visa Program, which was recently suspended following a shooting at Brown University in which a Portuguese national was named as the primary suspect.

    Trump had previously sought to end the so-called “visa lottery” program during his first term in 2017.

    The Diversity Visa Program allows thousands of applicants from countries with low immigration rates to the United States to legally enter the country and obtain permanent residency if they meet eligibility requirements.

    This story was originally published December 27, 2025 at 8:44 PM.

    Maykel Gonzalez

    Source link

  • Symposit Acquires HumanLink, LLC to Launch Dedicated Security Operations Training and Human Factors Engineering Division


    FAIRFAX, Va., December 9, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Symposit, LLC (“Symposit”), an 8(a)-certified national security, IT, and AI logistics solutions firm, today announced the acquisition of HumanLink, LLC (“HumanLink”), a human-factors engineering consultancy specializing in aviation and transportation security training and implementation. The acquisition strengthens Symposit’s offerings in national security, cybersecurity, and training by integrating HumanLink’s deep expertise in Human Factors Engineering (HFE), performance, and data analysis.

    Founder and CEO of HumanLink, Bonnie Kudrick, will lead Symposit’s security training division. The former DHS executive brings over three decades of delivering human-performance-centric solutions across the commercial and federal security, aviation, and transportation domains, including at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and Lockheed Martin.

    “We are thrilled to welcome Bonnie Kudrick and the HumanLink team to Symposit, amplifying and expanding on our ability to support federal and state customers in national security solutions,” said Bobby Bermudez, CEO of Symposit. “Customers like CBP, Department of State, and TSA need rapid responses and cutting-edge technology to help their workforce do their jobs more efficiently, identify threats faster, and expand safety processes for security professionals and the general population.”

    By acquiring HumanLink and formally launching a dedicated HFE training division, Symposit elevates its ability to deliver end-to-end solutions that not only meet system and network requirements but also optimize the people-system interface for safer, higher-performing operations.

    Bonnie Kudrick added, “Joining forces with Symposit enables us to deliver our human factors training and methodology to federal customers for greater security impact and effectiveness. The alignment between Symposit’s systems and network engineering capabilities and our human-performance focus means we can deliver comprehensive solutions that address technology, processes, and people that make holistic improvements in worker welfare, security training performance, threat detection, and customer experience.”

    The acquisition of HumanLink allows Symposit to meet increasing demand for security screener training and performance across aviation and transportation environments. Symposit’s Human Factors Engineering Division will add human-system research, interface analysis, workflow optimization, training design, and risk mitigation to the organization’s capabilities. These combined solutions enhance Symposit’s competitive advantage and reinforce its position as a full-lifecycle partner for federal agencies, transportation operators, and private-sector clients seeking comprehensive solutions that unite technology, processes, and human performance.

    About Symposit: Symposit is a mission-centric technology and advisory company with federal and commercial clients across infrastructure, aviation, homeland security, and transportation. As an 8(a)-certified firm, Symposit delivers low time-to-value solutions in cloud architecture, cybersecurity, systems/network engineering, advisory services, security training, and human factors engineering. Symposit’s track record includes secure deployments in aviation environments, mission-critical federal systems support, infrastructure risk mitigation, and rapid-turn technology enablement. www.symposit.com

    Source: Symposit, LLC

    Source link

  • Trump says Haiti no longer meets requirements for TPS. Haitians have to leave

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem concluded that Haiti no longer meets the ‘statutory requirements for TPS.’

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem concluded that Haiti no longer meets the ‘statutory requirements for TPS.’


    Carlos Gonzalez

    TNS

    The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced the end of temporary immigration protections for Haitians, adding them to a growing list of immigrant groups seeing their protected status revoked by the Trump administration.

    The decision, which becomes effective on Feb. 3, 2026, could affect more than a half million Haitians living in the U.S. under what is known as Temporary Protected Status. The designation was granted to Haiti after a string of natural and political disasters, starting with a catastrophic earthquake in 2010 that left the country and economy in ruins.

    Barring potential legal delays from lawsuits, Haitians now will face returning to an unstable country facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises as criminal gangs control all major roads in and out of the capital of Port-au-Prince, and aggressively spread their terror to other regions.

    DHS in its Federal Register notice acknowledged that “certain conditions in Haiti remain concerning.” But despite that, and the escalating violence “that has ‘engulfed’ Port-au-Prince‘, Secretary Kristi Noem “has determined that there are no extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti that prevent Haitian nationals (or aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) from returning in safety,” the agency wrote.

    “Moreover, even if the Department found that there existed conditions that were extraordinary and temporary that prevented Haitian nationals,” the agency added, “from returning in safety, termination of Temporary Protected Status of Haiti is still required because it is contrary to the national interest of the United States to permit Haitian nationals …to remain temporarily in the United States.”

    As of 11:59 p.m. February 3, 2026, all Haitian nationals who have been granted TPS, will lose the status and must leave.

    “After consulting with interagency partners, Secretary Noem concluded that Haiti no longer meets the statutory requirements for TPS,” the agency wrote in its announcement.

    “This decision was based on a review conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, input from relevant U.S. government agencies, and an analysis indicating that allowing Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is inconsistent with U.S. national interests.”

    The numbers paint a terrible picture in Haiti. A record 5.7 million people — 51% of the total population — are currently experiencing acute levels of hunger, with children increasingly at risk for malnutrition, the World Food Program recently warned. Meanwhile, as many as 1 in 4 Haitians, 2.7 million people, are forced to live in gang-controlled neighborhoods, more than 1.4 million are internally displaced, according to the United Nations. Rape, kidnapping and gang-related killings, all over 4,000 this year, are daily realities of life.

    DHS said that the data indicates parts of the country are suitable to return to. That isn’t entirely true.

    Even in communities, where armed groups are not yet visibly a problem, the situation is critical. The northern port city of Cap-Haïtien, which until this month offered the only access for international flights amid an ongoing U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ban on U.S. carriers, is bursting at the seams. The southern regions are also struggling to recover from Hurricane Melissa.

    The storm’s recent passage unleashed widespread disruption and compounded existing problems with food and transportation, even though the country dodged a direct hit. At least 43 deaths were reported, mostly in the south, which is today completely cut off from the north and capital by road due to the presence of gangs that on Sunday once more forced the suspension of flights after firing on a domestic airline as it landed at the Port-au-Prince airport.

    “Many households rely on unsafe water sources and lack access to basic sanitation, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks,” the U.N. said about the situation in southern Haiti. “Health facilities are under-equipped, financially inaccessible for many, and unable to provide mental health support. As a result, preventable illnesses and malnutrition are on the rise, particularly among children and pregnant women. Vulnerable groups — including women, girls, and youth — face heightened protection risks, including exploitation and violence.”

    Though DHS previously announced the end of Haiti’s designation as of Feb. 3, the law requires the secretary to review country conditions at least 60 days before the expiration of TPS to determine whether the country continues to meet the conditions for designation.

    “Based on the Department’s review, the Secretary has determined that while the current situation in Haiti is concerning, the United States must prioritize its national interests and permitting Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to the U.S. national interest,” the notice said.

    The administration’s decision isn’t surprising. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has moved to rollback immigration protections for Haitians and others, and ended TPS protections for millions of migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Syria, Nepal, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Burma, Somalia and Myanmar.

    The agency’s order, issued a day before the Thanksgiving holiday, was blunt: “If you are an alien who is currently a beneficiary of TPS for Haiti, you should prepare to depart if you have no other lawful basis for remaining in the United States.”

    But advocates for Haitians in the U.S. called the move poorly-timed and cruel.

    “If Haiti doesn’t warrant TPS, which country does?” said Guerline Jozef, co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a San Diego immigrant rights group. “For this news to come on the eve of Thanksgiving is devastating.”

    Jozef pointed out that Washington has acknowledged both in recent communiqués and actions the crisis plaguing Haiti, which has been mired by repeated crises since its first designation. Among them: a deadly Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and a 7.2 earthquake in in 2021, five weeks after its president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in the middle of the night.

    In justifying its decision, DHS quoted U.N. Secretary General António Guterres’s comments in August that “there are emerging signals of hope.” But in that same meeting, he also warned that they were in “a perfect storm” of suffering as state authority crumbled across Haiti and lawlessness and gang brutality paralyze daily life.

    In May, the Trump administration designated a powerful coalition of gangs, Viv Ansanm, and another group, Gran Grif, as Foreign Terrorists Organizations. In September, the U.S.’s new ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, led an aggressive push at the U.N. Security Council for support for a new Gang Suppression Force to help in the fight against terrorist gangs. Despite DHS’ highlight of these decisions, little has improved in Haiti since the steps were taken. In fact, the situation has worsened.

    The deployment of the first contingent of the 5,500-GSF is still uncertain even as the U.S. pushes for general elections, which last took place in 2016, and last week gangs escalated their attacks. The latter, led the State Department on Monday to revoke the visa of a member of the ruling presidential council, Fritz Alphonse Jean. Jean has vehemently denied the accusations, and in a scathing press conference on Tuesday accused the U.S. of threatening him and others because they want to fire the prime minister over “incompetence.”

    A State Department spokesperson, responding to a Miami Herald inquiry about Jean’s claims, said “We will not comment on or speculate about private diplomatic discussions or unverified reports.”

    In another recent example reflecting conditions in Haiti: Over the weekend, a group of members of Congress, mostly Republicans, visited the Dominican Republic after canceling plans to travel to Port-au-Prince amid safety and logistics concerns.

    “It makes absolutely no sense for the U.S. to terminate TPS for Haiti at this critical time, where the admiration has acknowledged the ongoing political crisis in Haiti to the point of having a Level 4 ‘Do not travel’ warning to the country,” Jozef said. “They must protect the Haitian who have called the U.S. home for over a decade, those who are already here, who have families, who have businesses in their adoptive communities.”

    It’s not the first time the administration has tried to revoke TPS for Haitians. Soon after taking office this year, Trump attempted to rollback an extension given under the Biden administration. The decision was overridden by a New York federal judge, who said Noem had no authority to shorten the designation. The decision was part of a lawsuit spearheaded by a group of lawyers that, included Miami immigration attorney Ira Kurzban.

    The suit was amended earlier this year to prevent the administration from ending the designation. Kurzban, who also successfully sued DHS during the first Trump administration after it sought to revoke TPS for Haitians, said the administration’s rationale for ending TPS is based on “outright lies.”

    “Haiti is in political and economic turmoil due in large measure to U.S. foreign policy, including by the current administration. The reasons offered to terminate TPS are frivolous and include mischaracterizations and outright lies,” he said.

    “They are a product of Trump, [Vice President JD] Vance and Sec. Noem’s actions that demonstrate hatred of Haitians and racism toward Black refugees.”

    This story was originally published November 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM.

    Jacqueline Charles

    Miami Herald

    Jacqueline Charles has reported on Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean for the Miami Herald for over a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she was awarded a 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize — the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas.

    Jacqueline Charles

    Source link

  • OR AG, District Attorneys Demand DHS End Unlawful Use Of Force – KXL

    Oregon Attorney Dan Rayfield. File image.

    SALEM, OR – Oregon Attorney General, Democrat Dan Rayfield, is being joined by three Portland area district attorneys in an attempt to pressure the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security regarding the federal response to ICE protests.

    In a letter, Rayfield, Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton, and Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth are demanding the end of what they call “unlawful and reckless actions by federal officers operating in Oregon.”

    The group point to what they believe is a months-long pattern of excessive force by DHS personnel — including incidents where federal officers used munitions that struck Portland Police Bureau officers and Oregon State Police officers, and tear-gas deployments that endangered residents and other law enforcement. Oregon officials have also documented the same trend outside of Portland, where federal agents have escalated basic encounters into volatile situations that put residents, officers and bystanders at risk.

    “It doesn’t matter who you are, you have to follow the law and our Constitution,” wrote Rayfield. “We are asking the federal government to take reasonable steps towards prevention and de-escalation. We are putting them on notice that we are watching and will hold them accountable if they do not follow the law.”

    “Law enforcement, federal or local, has a responsibility to accomplish their mission while ensuring everyone’s safety,” said Vasquez. “Gratuitous force has no place at any level of law enforcement.”

    “I am proud to join my fellow Portland area district attorneys and the Oregon Attorney General in a combined effort to protect the rights of Oregonians,” said Barton.  “Pursuant to Oregon law, state and local law enforcement officials are not involved with federal immigration matters.  However, when we hear concerning reports of excessive use of force and accounts of Oregonians who feel unsafe in their own communities, we are obligated to speak up.”

    “I am deeply concerned by the tactics federal agents are using in their immigration arrests,” added Wentworth. “If these tactics were used by local law enforcement to apprehend non-violent offenders, there would be public outrage and rightfully so.”

    One specific example given in the letter is the October 2025 case of federal agents in an unmarked van who reportedly stopped a group of teenagers at gunpoint at a Dutch Bros drive-thru in Hillsboro, prompting multiple 911 calls from concerned community members. Another example given was the case of a 17-year-old high school student and U.S. citizen who arrested by federal agents in McMinnville.  In that instance, the agents allegedly broke a car window to get to the teen while he was on his lunch break from school.

    In the letter, Rayfield, Vasquez, Barton, and Wentworth claim that federal officers repeatedly used disproportionate and unjustified force against other, local law-enforcement personnel.

    “These are not normal circumstances,” the letter states. “The volume and severity of force used by DHS officers in Oregon over the last six months has eroded trust, jeopardized public safety, and undermined the cooperative relationships that effective law enforcement depends on.”

    More about:

    Tim Lantz

    Source link

  • DHS plans to deploy 250 border agents to Louisiana in major immigration sweep, AP sources say

    Around 250 federal border agents are set to descend on New Orleans in the coming weeks for a two-month immigration crackdown dubbed “Swamp Sweep” that aims to arrest roughly 5,000 people across southeast Louisiana and into Mississippi, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and three people familiar with the operation.The deployment, which is expected to begin in earnest on Dec. 1, marks the latest escalation in a series of rapid-fire immigration crackdowns unfolding nationwide — from Chicago to Los Angeles to Charlotte, North Carolina — as the Trump administration moves aggressively to fulfill the president’s campaign promise of mass deportations.In Louisiana, the operation is unfolding on the home turf of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a close Trump ally who has moved to align state policy with the White House’s enforcement agenda. But, as seen in other blue cities situated in Republican-led states, increased federal enforcement presence could set up a collision with officials in liberal New Orleans who have long resisted federal sweeps.Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander tapped to run the Louisiana sweep, has become the administration’s go-to architect for large-scale immigration crackdowns — and a magnet for criticism over the tactics used in them. His selection to oversee “Swamp Sweep” signals that the administration views Louisiana as a major enforcement priority for the Trump administration.The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the operation. “For the safety and security of law enforcement we’re not going to telegraph potential operations,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.In Chicago, Bovino drew a rare public rebuke from a federal judge who said he misled the court about the threats posed by protesters and deployed tear gas and pepper balls without justification during a chaotic confrontation downtown. His teams also oversaw aggressive arrest operations in Los Angeles and more recently in Charlotte, where Border Patrol officials have touted dozens of arrests across North Carolina this week after a surging immigration crackdown that has included federal agents scouring churches, grocery stores and apartment complexes.Planning documents reviewed by the AP show Border Patrol teams preparing to fan out across neighborhoods and commercial hubs throughout southeast Louisiana, stretching from New Orleans through Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes and as far north as Baton Rouge, with additional activity planned in southeastern Mississippi.Agents are expected to arrive in New Orleans on Friday to begin staging equipment and vehicles before the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the people familiar with the operation. They are scheduled to return toward the end of the month, with the full sweep beginning in early December. The people familiar with the matter could not publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.To support an operation of that scale, federal officials are securing a network of staging sites: A portion of the FBI’s New Orleans field office has been designated as a command post, while a naval base five miles south of the city will store vehicles, equipment and thousands of pounds of “less lethal” munitions like tear gas and pepper balls, the people said. Homeland Security has also asked to use the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans for up to 90 days beginning this weekend, according to documents reviewed by the AP.Once “Swamp Sweep” begins, Louisiana will become a major testing ground for the administration’s expanding deportation strategy, and a focal point in the widening rift between federal authorities intent on carrying out large-scale arrests and city officials who have long resisted them.__Associated Press journalists Elliot Spagat and Mike Balsamo contributed to this report.

    Around 250 federal border agents are set to descend on New Orleans in the coming weeks for a two-month immigration crackdown dubbed “Swamp Sweep” that aims to arrest roughly 5,000 people across southeast Louisiana and into Mississippi, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and three people familiar with the operation.

    The deployment, which is expected to begin in earnest on Dec. 1, marks the latest escalation in a series of rapid-fire immigration crackdowns unfolding nationwide — from Chicago to Los Angeles to Charlotte, North Carolina — as the Trump administration moves aggressively to fulfill the president’s campaign promise of mass deportations.

    In Louisiana, the operation is unfolding on the home turf of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a close Trump ally who has moved to align state policy with the White House’s enforcement agenda. But, as seen in other blue cities situated in Republican-led states, increased federal enforcement presence could set up a collision with officials in liberal New Orleans who have long resisted federal sweeps.

    Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander tapped to run the Louisiana sweep, has become the administration’s go-to architect for large-scale immigration crackdowns — and a magnet for criticism over the tactics used in them. His selection to oversee “Swamp Sweep” signals that the administration views Louisiana as a major enforcement priority for the Trump administration.

    The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the operation. “For the safety and security of law enforcement we’re not going to telegraph potential operations,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

    In Chicago, Bovino drew a rare public rebuke from a federal judge who said he misled the court about the threats posed by protesters and deployed tear gas and pepper balls without justification during a chaotic confrontation downtown. His teams also oversaw aggressive arrest operations in Los Angeles and more recently in Charlotte, where Border Patrol officials have touted dozens of arrests across North Carolina this week after a surging immigration crackdown that has included federal agents scouring churches, grocery stores and apartment complexes.

    Planning documents reviewed by the AP show Border Patrol teams preparing to fan out across neighborhoods and commercial hubs throughout southeast Louisiana, stretching from New Orleans through Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes and as far north as Baton Rouge, with additional activity planned in southeastern Mississippi.

    Agents are expected to arrive in New Orleans on Friday to begin staging equipment and vehicles before the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the people familiar with the operation. They are scheduled to return toward the end of the month, with the full sweep beginning in early December. The people familiar with the matter could not publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

    To support an operation of that scale, federal officials are securing a network of staging sites: A portion of the FBI’s New Orleans field office has been designated as a command post, while a naval base five miles south of the city will store vehicles, equipment and thousands of pounds of “less lethal” munitions like tear gas and pepper balls, the people said. Homeland Security has also asked to use the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans for up to 90 days beginning this weekend, according to documents reviewed by the AP.

    Once “Swamp Sweep” begins, Louisiana will become a major testing ground for the administration’s expanding deportation strategy, and a focal point in the widening rift between federal authorities intent on carrying out large-scale arrests and city officials who have long resisted them.

    __

    Associated Press journalists Elliot Spagat and Mike Balsamo contributed to this report.

    Source link