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Tag: ice agent

  • Brevard family races clock to stop dad’s deportation decades after coming from Cuba legally

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    For the past five months, a Brevard County woman has been doing everything she can to get her father back home to Palm Bay.”He’s just completely and emotionally spent,” Sheena Allende-Smith said.Her father, 58-year-old Jose Manuel Allende, came to the United States legally from Cuba through the Freedom Flights, a large-scale operation that brought hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the U.S. He has an American driver’s license and a Social Security card.However, a decades-old criminal history and lack of citizenship led to a deportation order.WESH 2 first told you about his case in September, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him in his driveway.Initially, he was held at “Alligator Alcatraz” for more than two weeks. Allende-Smith said ICE agents threw away her father’s dentures when he arrived, and he has not been able to get a replacement while detained.”‘Alligator Alcatraz’ has 24-hour LED lights on, so there’s no way to know what time of day it is,” Allende-Smith said. “There’s no way to know if it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner because they’re feeding you the same foods for every single meal.”Her father is now being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.”He is not allowed outside at FDC. ICE rents the 11th floor from the federal prison, and they are not allowed recreation time,” Allende-Smith said. “They are not allowed outdoor time.”Allende-Smith said she hired an attorney, and they were able to secure a motion to stay.”Which means the deportation order is removed from his record. We also got a motion to reopen his case approved. That included 375 pages of records — 20 years of tax returns, medical records, proof that he owns a business, proof that he owns his home and letters from the community,” Allende-Smith said.She said he should have been released by now, but he remains in custody.”He is now in legal status because they removed the deportation order and granted the motion to reopen his case,” Allende-Smith said. “We applied for his green card, and it’s pending. He can’t complete the green card process as long as he’s being detained. The judge says it’s not his jurisdiction. Homeland Security says they’re detaining him. Then the judge says if they continue detaining him, we’re deporting him April 6 if he’s not released by then.”The family is now up against the clock, hiring a federal attorney and working to obtain a signature for his release.”My dad is a good man. Of course, every daughter says that about their father, but I really mean it. My father is a man of faith, and he has helped this community so much, quietly. He has helped so many people — elderly, veterans, disabled. He’s done work on their houses for free,” Allende-Smith said. “There’s no reason for him to be there.”

    PALM BAY, Fla. —

    For the past five months, a Brevard County woman has been doing everything she can to get her father back home to Palm Bay.

    “He’s just completely and emotionally spent,” Sheena Allende-Smith said.

    Her father, 58-year-old Jose Manuel Allende, came to the United States legally from Cuba through the Freedom Flights, a large-scale operation that brought hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the U.S. He has an American driver’s license and a Social Security card.

    However, a decades-old criminal history and lack of citizenship led to a deportation order.

    WESH 2 first told you about his case in September, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him in his driveway.

    Initially, he was held at “Alligator Alcatraz” for more than two weeks. Allende-Smith said ICE agents threw away her father’s dentures when he arrived, and he has not been able to get a replacement while detained.

    “‘Alligator Alcatraz’ has 24-hour LED lights on, so there’s no way to know what time of day it is,” Allende-Smith said. “There’s no way to know if it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner because they’re feeding you the same foods for every single meal.”

    Her father is now being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.

    “He is not allowed outside at FDC. ICE rents the 11th floor from the federal prison, and they are not allowed recreation time,” Allende-Smith said. “They are not allowed outdoor time.”

    Allende-Smith said she hired an attorney, and they were able to secure a motion to stay.

    “Which means the deportation order is removed from his record. We also got a motion to reopen his case approved. That included 375 pages of records — 20 years of tax returns, medical records, proof that he owns a business, proof that he owns his home and letters from the community,” Allende-Smith said.

    She said he should have been released by now, but he remains in custody.

    “He is now in legal status because they removed the deportation order and granted the motion to reopen his case,” Allende-Smith said. “We applied for his green card, and it’s pending. He can’t complete the green card process as long as he’s being detained. The judge says it’s not his jurisdiction. Homeland Security says they’re detaining him. Then the judge says if they continue detaining him, we’re deporting him April 6 if he’s not released by then.”

    The family is now up against the clock, hiring a federal attorney and working to obtain a signature for his release.

    “My dad is a good man. Of course, every daughter says that about their father, but I really mean it. My father is a man of faith, and he has helped this community so much, quietly. He has helped so many people — elderly, veterans, disabled. He’s done work on their houses for free,” Allende-Smith said. “There’s no reason for him to be there.”

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  • ICE claim that a man shattered his skull running into wall triggers tension at a Minnesota hospital

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    MINNEAPOLIS — Intensive care nurses immediately doubted the word of federal immigration officers when they arrived at a Minneapolis hospital with a Mexican immigrant who had broken bones in his face and skull.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents initially claimed Alberto Castañeda Mondragón had tried to flee while handcuffed and “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall,” according to court documents filed by a lawyer seeking his release.

    But staff members at Hennepin County Medical Center determined that could not possibly account for the fractures and bleeding throughout the 31-year-old’s brain, said three nurses familiar with the case.

    “It was laughable, if there was something to laugh about,” said one of the nurses, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss patient care. “There was no way this person ran headfirst into a wall.”

    The explanation from ICE is an example of recent run-ins between immigration officers and health care workers that have contributed to mounting friction at Minneapolis hospitals. Workers at the Hennepin County facility say ICE officers have restrained patients in defiance of hospital rules and stayed at their sides for days. The agents have also lingered around the campus and pressed people for proof of citizenship.

    Since the start of Operation Metro Surge, President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, ICE officers have become such a fixture at the hospital that administrators issued new protocols for how employees should engage with them. Some employees complain that they have been intimidated to the point that they avoid crossing paths with agents while at work and use encrypted communications to guard against any electronic eavesdropping.

    Similar operations have been carried out by federal agents in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities, where opponents have criticized what they say are overly aggressive tactics. It’s not clear how many people have required hospital care while in detention.

    Injuries appeared inconsistent with ICE account

    The AP interviewed a doctor and five nurses who work at HCMC, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about Castañeda Mondragón’s case. AP also consulted with an outside physician, and they all affirmed that his injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall or running into a wall.

    ICE’s account of how he was hurt evolved during the time that federal officers were at his bedside. At least one ICE officer told caregivers that Castañeda Mondragón “got his (expletive) rocked” after his Jan. 8 arrest near a St. Paul shopping center, the court filings and a hospital staff member said. His arrest happened a day after the first of two fatal shootings in Minneapolis by immigration officers.

    The situation reached a head when ICE insisted on using handcuffs to shackle his ankles to the bed, prompting a heated encounter with hospital staff, according to the court records and the hospital employees familiar with the incident.

    At the time, Castañeda Mondragón was so disoriented he did not know what year it was and could not recall how he was injured, one of the nurses said. ICE officers believed he was attempting to escape after he got up and took a few steps.

    “We were basically trying to explain to ICE that this is how someone with a traumatic brain injury is – they’re impulsive,” the nurse said. “We didn’t think he was making a run for the door.”

    Security responded to the scene, followed by the hospital’s CEO and attorney, who huddled in a doctor’s office to discuss options for dealing with ICE, the nurse said.

    “We eventually agreed with ICE that we would have a nursing assistant sit with the patient to prevent him from leaving,” the nurse said. “They agreed a little while later to take the shackles off.”

    The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries. A deportation officer skirted the issue in the court documents, saying that during the intake process at an ICE detention center, it was determined he “had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment.”

    Gregorio Castañeda Mondragón said his older brother is from Veracruz, Mexico, and worked as a roofer. He has a 10-year-old daughter living in his hometown he helps support.

    According to his lawyers, Alberto Castañeda Mondragón entered the U.S. in 2022 with valid immigration documents. Minnesota incorporation filings show he founded a company called Castañeda Mondragón the following year with an address listed in St. Paul.

    He appears to have no criminal record. His lawyers told a court that Castañeda Mondragón was racially profiled during the crackdown, and that officers determined only after his arrest that he had overstayed his visa.

    “He was a brown-skinned, Latino Spanish speaker at a location immigration agents arbitrarily decided to target,” his lawyers wrote in a petition seeking his release from ICE custody.

    Hours after arrest, immigrant has eight skull fractures

    Castañeda Mondragón was initially taken to an ICE processing center at the edge of Minneapolis. Court records include an arrest warrant signed upon his arrival by an ICE officer, not an immigration judge.

    About four hours after his arrest, he was taken to a hospital emergency room in suburban Edina with swelling and bruising around his right eye and bleeding. A CT scan revealed at least eight skull fractures and life-threatening hemorrhages in at least five areas of his brain, according to court documents. He was then transferred to HCMC.

    Castañeda Mondragón was alert and speaking, telling staff he was “dragged and mistreated by federal agents,” though his condition quickly deteriorated, the documents show.

    The following week, a Jan. 16 court filing described his condition as minimally responsive and communicative, disoriented and heavily sedated.

    AP shared the details of Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries with Dr. Lindsey C. Thomas, a board-certified forensic pathologist who worked as a medical examiner in Minnesota for more than 30 years. She agreed with the assessment of hospital staff.

    “I am pretty sure a person could not get these kinds of extensive injuries from running into a wall,” Thomas said, adding that she would need to see the CT scans to make a more definitive finding.

    “I almost think one doesn’t have to be a physician to conclude that a person can’t get skull fractures on both the right and left sides of their head and from front to back by running themselves into a wall,” she said.

    ICE officers stay with hospitalized detainees for days

    ICE officers have entered the hospital with seriously injured detainees and stayed at their bedside day after day, staffers said. The crackdown has been unsettling to hospital employees, who said ICE agents have been seen loitering on hospital grounds and asking patients and employees for proof of citizenship.

    Hospital staff members said they were uncomfortable with the presence of armed agents they did not trust and who appeared to be untrained.

    The nurses interviewed by AP said they felt intimidated by ICE’s presence in the critical care unit and had even been told to avoid a certain bathroom to minimize encounters with officers. They said staff members are using an encrypted messaging app to compare notes and share information out of fear that the government might be monitoring their communications.

    The hospital reminded employees that ICE officers are not permitted to access patients or protected information without a warrant or court order.

    “Patients under federal custody are first and foremost patients,” hospital officials wrote in a bulletin outlining new protocols. The hospital’s written policy also states that no shackles or other restraints should be used unless medically necessary.

    “We have our policies, but ICE personnel as federal officers don’t necessarily comply with those, and that introduces tension,” said a doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment for the hospital.

    Hospital spokeswoman Alisa Harris said ICE agents “have not entered our facilities looking for individuals.”

    On Saturday, more than two weeks after Castañeda Mondragón was arrested, a U.S. District Court judge ordered him released from ICE custody.

    “We are encouraged by the court’s order, which affirms that the rule of law applies to all people, in every corner of our country, including federal officers,” said Jeanette Boerner, director of Hennepin County Adult Representation Services, which filed the lawsuit on Castañeda Mondragón’s behalf.

    To the surprise of some who treated him, Castañeda Mondragón was discharged from the hospital Tuesday. A hospital spokeswoman said she had no information about him.

    The Justice Department filed court documents this week affirming Castañeda Mondragón is no longer in custody. Prosecutors did not respond to a request for comment on the man’s injuries.

    Castañeda Mondragón has no family in Minnesota and coworkers have taken him in, the man’s brother said. He has significant memory loss and a long recovery ahead. He won’t be able to work for the foreseeable future, and his friends and family worry about paying for his care.

    “He still doesn’t remember things that happened. I think (he remembers) 20% of the 100% he had,” said Gregorio Castañeda Mondragón, who lives in Mexico. “It’s sad that instead of having good memories of the United States, you’re left with a bad taste in your mouth about that country because they’re treating them like animals.”

    ___

    Mustian reported from New York, and Biesecker reported from Washington.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Sarah Raza in Minneapolis, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed.

    Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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    AP

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  • LAPD’s relationship with federal authorities under scrutiny as criticism of ICE grows

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    After the recent shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, some police chiefs have joined the mounting criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration blitz.

    One voice missing from the fray: LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.

    This week, the chief reiterated that the department has a close working relationship with federal law enforcement, and said he would not order his officers to enforce a new state law — currently being challenged as unconstitutional — that prohibits the use of face coverings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents.

    Top police brass nationwide rarely criticize their federal partners, relying on collaboration to investigate gangs, extremist groups and other major criminals — while also counting on millions in funding from Washington each year.

    McDonnell and the LAPD have found themselves in an especially tough position, longtime department observers say. The city has been roiled by immigration raids and protests, and local leaders, including Mayor Karen Bass, have blasted the White House. But with the World Cup and Olympics coming soon — events that will require coordination with the feds — the chief has been choosing his words carefully.

    Over the past year, McDonnell has fallen back on the message that the LAPD has a long-standing policy of not getting involved in civil immigration enforcement. Unlike his counterparts in Minneapolis, Portland and Philadelphia, he has largely avoided public comment on the tactics used by federal agents, saving his strongest criticism for protesters accused of vandalism or violence.

    In a radio interview last spring, the chief said that “it’s critical that in a city as big, a city that’s as big a target for terrorism as Los Angeles, that we have a very close working relationship with federal, state and local partners.” He boasted that the LAPD had “best relationship in the nation in that regard.”

    McDonnell stood beside FBI Director Kash Patel on an airport tarmac last week to announce the capture of a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of trafficking tons of cocaine through Los Angeles. Then, at a news conference Thursday in which city officials touted historically low homicide totals, McDonnell said LAPD officials were as “disturbed” as everyone else by events in other parts of the country, alluding to Pretti’s shooting without mentioning him by name. He said the department would continue to work closely with federal agencies on non-immigration matters.

    Explaining his stance on not enforcing the mask ban, McDonnell said he wouldn’t risk asking his officers to approach “another armed agency creating conflict for something that” amounted to a misdemeanor offense.

    “It’s not a good policy decision and it wasn’t well thought out in my opinion,” he said.

    Elsewhere, law enforcement leaders, civil rights advocates and other legal experts have decried how ICE agents and other federal officers have been flouting best practices when making street arrests, conducting crowd control and maintaining public safety amid mass protests.

    After a shooting by agents of two people being sought for arrest in Portland, Ore., in mid-January, the city’s chief of police gave a tearful news conference saying he had sought to understand Latino residents “through your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger.”

    Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal set off a social media firestorm after she referred to ICE agents as “made-up, fake, wannabe law enforcement.”

    In Minneapolis, where the Trump administration has deployed 3,000 federal agents, police Chief Brian O’Hara reportedly warned his officers in private that they would lose their jobs if they failed to intervene when federal agents use force. And in a news conference this week, New Orleans’ police superintendent questioned ICE’s arrest of one of the agency’s recruits.

    The second-guessing has also spread to smaller cities like Helena, Mont., whose city’s police chief pulled his officers out of a regional drug task force over its decision to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents.

    Over the weekend, the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the nation’s largest and most influential police chief group, called on the White House to convene local, state and federal law enforcement partners for “policy-level discussions aimed at identifying a constructive path forward.”

    McDonnell’s backers argue that the role of chief is apolitical, though many of his predecessors became national voices that shaped public safety policy. Speaking out, the chief’s supporters say, risks inviting backlash from the White House and could also affect the long pipeline of federal money the department relies on, for instance, to help fund de-escalation training for officers.

    Assemblyman Mark González (D-Los Angeles) was among those who opposed McDonnell over his willingness to work with ICE while serving as Los Angeles County sheriff, but said he now considers him a “great partner” who has supported recent anti-crime legislation.

    So he said was disappointed by McDonnell’s unwillingness to call out racial profiling and excessive force by federal agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere.

    “We have to trust in a chief who is able to say ICE engaging and detaining 5-year-old kids and detaining flower vendors is not what this system was set up to do,” said González, the Assembly’s majority whip. “It would help when you’d have law enforcement back up a community that they serve.”

    Inside the LAPD, top officials have supported McDonnell’s balancing act, suggesting that promises by officials in other cities to detain ICE agents rang hollow.

    “Have you seen them arrest any? No,” said Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton.

    LAPD officers serve on nearly three dozen task forces with federal officials, where they share information and resources to track down criminals, said Hamilton, the department’s chief of detectives. Cooperating with federal partners is essential to tasks including combating “human trafficking on Figueroa” and dismantling international theft rings, he said. As part of these investigations, both sides pool intelligence — arrangements that some privacy rights groups warn are now being exploited in the government’s immigration crackdown.

    Hamilton said that “there’s nothing occurring right now that’s going to affect our relationship with the federal government across the board.”

    Art Acevedo, a former chief in Houston and Miami, said that for any big-city chief, taking an official position on an issue as divisive as immigration can be complicated.

    Being seen as coming out against President Trump comes with “some political risks,” he said.

    But chiefs in immigrant-rich cities like Houston and L.A. must weigh that against the potentially irreparable damage to community trust from failing to condemn the recent raids, he said.

    “When you don’t speak out, the old adage that silence is deafening is absolutely true. You end up losing the public and you end up putting your own people at risk,” he said. “The truth is that when you are police chief you have a bully pulpit, and what you say or fail to say is important.”

    Those with experience on the federal side of the issue said it cuts both ways.

    John Sandweg, the former director of ICE under President Obama, said that federal authorities need local cops and the public to feed them info and support operations, but the immigration agency’s “zero tolerance” approach was putting such cooperation “in jeopardy.”

    “Ideally, in a perfect world, ICE is able to work within immigrant communities to identify the really bad actors,” he said. “But when you have this zero tolerance, when the quantity of arrests matters far more than the quality of arrests, you eliminate any ability to have that cooperation.”

    Times staff writers Brittny Mejia, Ruben Vives and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    Libor Jany

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  • Obamas condemn federal immigration agents’ conduct: ‘This has to stop’

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    Former President Obama and Michelle Obama called on Americans to recognize the dangers of the increasingly violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement crack-downs in the wake of the deadly shooting of an ICU nurse in Minneapolis.

    “The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy,” the Obamas wrote in a lengthy statement posted on social media. “It should also be a wake up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”

    Pretti, a 37-year-old Department of Veterans Affairs nurse, was seen using his cellphone to record ICE members deploying Saturday morning in a snowy Minneapolis neighborhood. Witness videos show federal immigration agents shoving a woman and Pretti coming to her assistance. He was then pushed and doused with a chemical spray, then tackled to the ground. He was shot 10 times.

    On Sunday, demonstrations occurred across the country to protest the tactics of federal immigration agents and comments by President Trump and others in his administration. Several administration officials seemed to blame Pretti for his death because he was carrying a weapon during a protest.

    Minneapolis police said Pretti had a license to carry a concealed weapon; gun rights groups have decried some administration rhetoric and called for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Pretti’s death.

    Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara on Sunday almost begged for calm for his city that has witnessed hundreds of ICE agents moving in. O’Hara told CBS News “this is not sustainable,” and that his officers were stretched thin trying to contain “all of this chaos.”

    “This has to stop,” the Obamas wrote.

    “Federal law enforcement and immigration agents have a tough job,” the Obamas wrote. “But Americans expect them to carry out their duties in a lawful, accountable way, and to work with, rather than against, state and local officials to ensure public safety.

    “That’s not what we’re seeing in Minnesota. In fact, we’re seeing the opposite,” the former first couple wrote.

    On Sunday, protests grew as people watched cellphone video captured by bystanders of Pretti’s shooting.

    Pretti’s parents, Susan and Michael Pretti, in a statement reported by the Associated Press, described their son as “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.”

    His shooting comes less than three weeks after an ICE agent shot an unarmed mother, Renee Nicole Good, in another Minneapolis neighborhood. The agency said she was attempting to harm an ICE agent although video of the incident appears to show her turning the wheel of her SUV away from the agent when he shot her in the face.

    “For weeks now, people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city,” the Obamas wrote, describing such methods as “unprecedented tactics.”

    “The President and current administration officials seem eager to escalate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shootings of Mr. Pretti and Renee Good that aren’t informed by any serious investigation — and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence,” the Obamas wrote.

    They called on Trump administration officials to “reconsider their approach” and work constructively with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other state and local authorities “to avert more chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement goals.”

    “In the meantime, every American should support and draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country,” the Obamas wrote. “They are a timely reminder that ultimately it’s up to each of us as citizens to speak out against injustice, protect our basic freedoms, and hold our government accountable.”

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    Meg James

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  • ICE agent who killed L.A. man accused of child abuse, racism in court filings

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    The off-duty federal immigration agent who shot and killed a Los Angeles man on New Year’s Eve allegedly whipped his sons with a belt and made racist and homophobic remarks in the past, according to documents obtained by The Times.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer Brian Palacios shot Keith Porter Jr. late on Dec. 31 at a Northridge apartment complex, according to a sworn declaration submitted by attorney Michelle Diaz in a custody dispute between Palacios’ girlfriend and her ex-husband, which was made public Thursday.

    The document alleges that Palacios is the shooter “based on information and belief,” citing records and testimony identifying him as an ICE agent who lives in the complex.

    A review of court transcripts, proof of service documents and motions related to the custody battle shows Palacios is an ICE agent and confirms that he lives in a unit at the Village Pointe Apartments. The unit number reflects an apartment that is just a short distance from the location where neighbors say Porter was killed.

    Stacie Halpern, an attorney representing Palacios, said her client acted in self-defense the night that Porterwas killed. She denied that he had ever made racist remarks and provided reports from the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services and Los Angeles police that deemed the child abuse allegations to be “unfounded.”

    No one answered the door at the apartment listed for Palacios on Friday. An LAPD spokesman declined to comment and a DCFS spokeswoman said she was barred from discussing the case by state law.

    Friends and advocates say Porter — a 43-year-old Compton native and father of two — was firing a gun into the air to celebrate the new year on the night of his death.

    Tricia McLaughlin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary of public affairs, initially said a suspected “active shooter” was killed following an exchange of gunfire with an off-duty ICE agent. In her statement, McLaughlin said the agent “bravely responded to an active shooter situation at his apartment complex.”

    McLaughlin did not address questions about the agent’s identity on Friday or the past allegations against him. Halpern said her client remained on-duty for ICE as of Friday afternoon.

    Los Angeles police said no one else was injured in the incident.

    Jamal Tooson, an attorney for Porter’s family, said in a statement: “Should this individual be confirmed as the person responsible for Keith’s death, based on his deeply disturbing past allegations it is unimaginable that any human being with a conscience on this earth could regard him as a hero.”

    Later on Friday, Tooson suggested the killing was a racially motivated hate crime and said he was considering asking for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to launch an independent investigation.

    A spokesperson for the L.A. County district attorney’s office said the incident is under investigation by the Justice System Integrity Division, which investigates killings by law enforcement officers.

    A meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission was packed last week with angry activists and residents, many of whom called for authorities to release the ICE agent’s name. Although the names of LAPD officers involved in fatal use-of-force incidents are normally made public within weeks, there is no such rule for federal agencies.

    The document filed this week sought to temporarily bar Palacios’ girlfriend from seeing her daughter from her first marriage, based on the potential danger posed by the ICE agent’s alleged involvement in the shooting. According to L.A. County court orders reviewed by The Times, a judge barred Palacios from having any contact with the children from his previous marriage last February. That order was upheld last June, even after DCFS and LAPD dismissed the abuse allegations, the county court filings show.

    “Palacios is presently prohibited by Court Order from being in the presence of the parties’ minor children because of his abusive conduct,” read the Thursday filing from Diaz, who represents the ex-husband of Palacios’ girlfriend. “There is a very valid concern that the stress of having shot and killed another man on 12/31/2025, and the ongoing aftermath, will materially and substantially impair Mother’s mental health, and impact her ability to provide a safe and stable parenting schedule for their youngest child.”

    The fatal New Year’s Eve incident follows several others in recent weeks in which ICE agents have used deadly force against U.S. citizens.

    Last week, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis woman Renee Nicole Good. President Trump and other federal officials have accused Good of obstructing immigration efforts and said she tried to hit Ross with her car, but cellphone video from the scene shows Good was trying to drive away and that Ross shot at her through the driver’s side window. The killing has drawn widespread condemnation and protests; Trump administration officials have staunchly defended the agent and accused Good of weaponizing her vehicle in “an act of domestic terrorism.”

    Unlike the Minnesota incident, which was captured on multiple videos, no recordings have surfaced from the confrontation that led to Porter’s killing.

    It remains unclear exactly what happened in Northridge around 10:40 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Palacios was off duty, so there is no body camera video. None of the building’s security cameras captured the shooting either, according to a message from the property management company.

    Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, told The Times that Porter was found in possession of a rifle.

    One of those officials said investigators also found evidence of two bullet impacts behind where the agent would have been standing at the time of the shooting, which would support federal authorities claims that he was fired upon by Porter. The official also said the agent identified himself as law enforcement before opening fire. Halpern also said Friday that there is evidence that Porter shot at Palacios during the encounter.

    Asked about those issues on Friday, Tooson maintained that no witnesses have come forward to corroborate claims that the agent faced any danger that night.

    Porter’s friends and family have argued he was firing a gun in the air to celebrate the new year. Los Angeles police officials have warned people against the practice for years, and doing so is a felony. Still, Porter’s supporters contend that the agent overreacted and should have waited for the LAPD to respond.

    Halpern said those outraged over the killing have been far too quick to dismiss the danger that Porter posed by shooting a gun in a dense residential area.

    “This person was shooting a firearm in his community. What goes up must come down,” she said, alluding to past incidents where celebratory gunshots have injured bystanders.

    Palacios had an “absolute right to self-defense,” she said.

    Last year, a Los Angeles County judge barred Palacios from being around his girlfriend’s children from a previous marriage in the wake of allegations that he had whipped his biological sons with a belt, according to a transcript of a 2025 hearing.

    Through an attorney, the children also accused Palacios of using homophobic slurs and making racist remarks about Black and Latino people, according to a court transcript. Palacios also referred to the children’s biological father as an “illegal alien,” according to the allegations contained in court records.

    Omar Escorcia, the ex-husband of Palacios’ girlfriend, told The Times that Palacios routinely made disparaging remarks about Latinos before and after custody hearings, referring to them as “wetbacks.” Halpern denied her client made any such comments.

    Escorcia also described an alleged incident in which Palacios showed up to a youth soccer game carrying a gun, which was visible to other parents and left several people upset and concerned for their kids’ safety.

    “What law enforcement officer who is mindful of gun safety, shows up to a children’s sporting event with a gun that is not holstered, but stuck in their waistband, and they’re holding a toddler?” asked Escorcia’s attorney, Diaz, according to a transcript of a 2025 court hearing. “There are all kinds of red flags here.”

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    James Queally, Libor Jany, Richard Winton

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  • Column: Trump celebrates our nation’s founding while imitating tyrant King George III

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    It’s a measure of President Trump’s lack of self-awareness — a superpower, really, for authoritarian demagogues like him who otherwise would shrink from their worst impulses — that he apparently doesn’t see the evident contradiction in his simultaneous support for protesters in Iran and damnation of those in his own country.

    For days, Trump has preened as the all-powerful protector of Iranian protesters against their nation’s repressive regime. (The supposedly “America First” president could strike their country at any moment, if he hasn’t already.) “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” he posted Tuesday. “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

    But what was on the way to Minneapolis, he’d posted just an hour earlier, was “RECKONING AND RETRIBUTION.” Its citizens — his citizens — were demonstrating in growing numbers against the paramilitary that Trump has created among Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, one of whom last week killed a woman there, Renee Nicole Good. Trump counterproductively increased the ICE deployment in the city, already more than triple the size of the Minneapolis police force.

    On Sunday night, Trump had justified Good’s slaying this way: “The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement.” This from the man who watched on TV for three hours on Jan. 6, 2021, as demonstrators at the U.S. Capitol disrespected law enforcement with chemical sprays, poles, planks, fists and bike racks. And he did nothing. Because they were pro-Trump protesters. Once back in office, he pardoned nearly 1,600 of them.

    On the fifth anniversary of that Trump-incited insurrection, last week, the White House website rewrote history to obscure what Americans saw in real time — a falsification that truly disrespected law enforcement. In Trump’s version, the heroic Capitol Police were the culprits for “aggressively” firing “tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber munitions into crowds of peaceful protestors.” Funny, not funny: That actually describes what ICE agents have been doing, as photos and numerous Americans’ videos on social media document, and not just in Minneapolis but in Chicago, Portland, Ore., Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans.

    The “No Kings” rallies last fall? Trump, ever the brander, led his sycophants choir in Congress in renaming those events as “Hate America rallies,” and the 7 million peaceful protesters nationwide who attended them as communists and Marxists.

    But here’s what makes the shameless contradictions in Trump’s stance on the right to protest even more nauseating in 2026: This is the year that the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the United States’ foundational act of anti-government protest.

    It’s Americans’ bad fortune that such a man as Trump, a wannabe king, is the presider in chief for the yearlong commemorations of the rebellion that ultimately threw off a real king who’d met protesters with force and retribution.

    Trump is so eager to be the semiquincentennial’s impresario that he’s already had the U.S. Mint produce a $1 coin with his likeness for the occasion. As if Americans needed a reminder that to Trump it’s all about him.

    But he should take the time to actually read the document that this celebration commemorates. If he were self-aware, he’d see that he resembles the king the founders were opposing, and that his actions parallel those the founders cited as grounds for breaking away.

    Their list of indictments of King George III include: “The establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.” Think of Trump’s dispatch of federal agents and National Guard troops into blue states and cities, and his threats to send the military, over the objections of their governors and mayors, state legislators and members of Congress.

    Then there’s this passage: The king has “sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people.” And this: “He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.” More: He is “protecting them … from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.”

    Protecting officers from the consequences of alleged murders? In an all but unprecedented break with usual protocols after a law enforcement action as controversial as Good’s killing, Trump’s administration refuses to cooperate with Minnesota local and state officials in simply investigating the ICE officer who shot Good three times, and is denying them access to evidence. Trump’s Justice Department — and he’s made it his Justice Department — has ruled out the usual civil rights probe. Instead, the administration continues to blame the victim, Good, and is investigating her and her partner in the hope of finding some ties to activist groups.

    Fortunately, there’s blowback, which truly does reflect the spirit of 1776.

    On Tuesday, at least six federal prosecutors resigned in protest and others in Minnesota and Washington reportedly are expediting plans to quit. Lawyers nationwide condemned White House henchman Stephen Miller for his false, provocative claims that ICE agents have immunity for their acts. Polls show that by wide margins Americans believe Good’s shooting was unjustified. Support for ICE continues to decline; pluralities of Americans now oppose it.

    But what has to worry Trump most of all: He’s lost Joe Rogan, uber-podcaster, especially to white males, and a past supporter. “You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching people up — many of which turn out to actually be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them,” Rogan said on air this week. “Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”

    Yes, it is. But as a consequence, protests are sure to continue, and build. What better year for that to be so: it’s not only the semiquincentennial but a midterm election year. As Trump likes to tell those he’s targeted — in Venezuela, Greenland and Iran — they can come around the easy way, or the hard way. The American people are giving him the same choice. He keeps choosing the hard way.

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    Jackie Calmes

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  • Lawsuits against ICE agents would be allowed under proposed California law

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    SACRAMENTO — A week after a Minnesota woman was fatally shot by a federal immigration officer, California legislators moved forward a bill that would make it easier for people to sue federal agents if they believe their constitutional rights were violated.

    A Senate committee passed Senate Bill 747 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which would provide Californians with a stronger ability to take legal action against federal law enforcement agents over excessive use of force, unlawful home searches, interfering with a right to protest and other violations.

    California law already allows such suits against state and local law enforcement officials.

    Successful civil suits against federal officers over constitutional rights are less common.

    Wiener, appearing before Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, said his bill has taken on new urgency in the wake of the death of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota, the 37-year-old mother of three who was shot while driving on a snowy Minneapolis street.

    Good was shot by an agent in self-defense, said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who alleged that Good tried to use her car as a weapon to run over the immigration officer.

    Good’s death outraged Democratic leaders across the country, who accuse federal officers of flouting laws in their efforts to deport thousands of undocumented immigrants. In New York, legislators are proposing legislation similar to the one proposed by Wiener that would allow state-level civil actions against federal officers.

    George Retes Jr., a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who was kept in federal custody for three days in July, described his ordeal at Tuesday’s committee hearing, and how immigration officers swarmed him during a raid in Camarillo.

    Retes, a contracted security guard at the farm that was raided, said he was brought to Port Hueneme Naval Base. Officials swabbed his cheek to obtain DNA, and then moved him to Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. He was not allowed to make a phone call or see an attorney, he said.

    “I did not resist, I did not impede or assault any agent,” Retes said.”What happened to me that day was not a misunderstanding. It was a violation of the Constitution by the very people sworn to uphold it.”

    He also accused Department of Homeland security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin of spreading false information about him to justify his detention. DHS said in a statement last year that Retes impeded their operation, which he denies.

    Retes has filed a tort claim against the U.S. government, a process that is rarely successful, said his attorney, Anya Bidwell.

    Lawsuits can also be brought through the Bivens doctrine, which refers to the 1971 Supreme Court ruling Bivens vs. Six Unknown Federal Agents that established that federal officials can be sued for monetary damages for constitutional violations. But in recent decades, the Supreme Court has repeatedly restricted the ability to sue under Bivens.

    Wiener’s bill, if passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would be retroactive to March 2025.

    “We’ve had enough of this terror campaign in our communities by ICE,” said Wiener at a news conference before the hearing. “We need the rule of law and we need accountability.”

    Weiner is running for the congressional seat held by former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

    Representatives for law enforcement agencies appeared at Tuesday’s hearing to ask for amendments to ensure that the bill wouldn’t lead to weakened protections for state and local officials.

    “We’re not opposed to the intent of the bill. We’re just concerned about the future and the unintended consequences for your California employees,” said David Mastagni, speaking on behalf of the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, which represents more than 85,000 public safety members.

    Wiener’s bill is the latest effort by the state Legislature to challenge President Trump’s immigration raids. Newsom last year signed legislation authored by Wiener that prohibits law enforcement officials, including federal immigration agents, from wearing masks, with some exceptions.

    The U.S. Department of Justice sued last year to block the law, and a hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday.

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    Dakota Smith

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  • Anti-ICE protests erupt across the country after shootings

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    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.

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  • Stephen A. Smith doubles down on calling ICE shooting in Minneapolis ‘completely justified’

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    Stephen A. Smith is arguably the most-well known sports commentator in the country. But the outspoken ESPN commentator’s perspective outside the sports arena has landed him in a firestorm.

    The furor is due to his pointed comments defending an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot a Minneapolis woman driving away from him.

    Just hours after the shooting on Wednesday, Smith said on his SiriusXM “Straight Shooter” talk show that although the killing of Renee Nicole Good was “completely unnecessary,” he added that the agent “from a lawful perspective” was “completely justified” in firing his gun at her.

    He also noted, “From a humanitarian perspective, however, why did he have to do that?”

    Smith’s comments about the agent being in harm’s way echoed the views of Deputy of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said Good engaged in an “act of domestic terrorism” by attacking officers and attempting to run them over with her vehicle.

    However, videos showing the incident from different angles indicate that the agent was not standing directly in front of Good’s vehicle when he opened fire on her. Local officials contend that Good posed no danger to ICE officers. A video posted by partisan media outlet Alpha News showed Good talking to agents before the shooting, saying, “I’m not mad at you.”

    The shooting has sparked major protests and accusations from local officials that the presence of ICE has been disruptive and escalated violence. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye condemned ICE, telling agents to “get the f— out of our city.”

    The incident, in turn, has put a harsher spotlight on Smith, raising questions on whether he was reckless or irresponsible in offering his views on Good’s shooting when he had no direct knowledge of what had transpired.

    An angered Smith appeared on his “Straight Shooter” show on YouTube on Friday, saying the full context of his comments had not been conveyed in media reports, specifically calling out the New York Post and media personality Keith Olbermann, while saying that people were trying to get him fired.

    He also doubled down on his contention that Good provoked the situation that led to her death, saying the ICE agent was in front of Good’s car and would have been run over had he not stepped out of the way.

    “In the moment when you are dealing with law enforcement officials, you obey their orders so you can get home safely,” he said. “Renee Good did not do that.”

    When reached for comment about his statements, a representative for Smith said his response was in Friday’s show.

    It’s not the first time Smith, who has suggested he’s interesting in going into politics, has sparked outside the sports universe. He and journalist Joy Reid publicly quarreled following her exit last year from MSNBC.

    He also faced backlash from Black media personalities and others when he accused Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas of using “street verbiage” in her frequent criticisms of President Trump.

    “The way that Jasmine Crockett chooses to express herself … Aren’t you there to try and get stuff done instead of just being an impediment? ‘I’m just going to go off about Trump, cuss him out every chance I get, say the most derogatory things imaginable, and that’s my day’s work?’ That ain’t work! Work is, this is the man in power. I know what his agenda is. Maybe I try to work with this man. I might get something out of it for my constituents.’ ”

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    Greg Braxton

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  • California Republicans are divided on Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, poll finds

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    Republicans in California have diverging opinions on President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, according to a study published by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute on Monday.

    The Trump administration has deployed a sweeping crackdown on immigration, launching ICE raids across the country and removing legal barriers in order to make deportations faster. The study found that while Democrats were largely consistent in their opposition to these immigration policies, Republican sentiment varied more, especially by age, gender and ethnicity.

    “At least some subset of Republicans are seeing that these immigration strategies are a step too far,” said G. Cristina Mora, a sociology professor and co-director of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which administered the poll. The polling data were collected from nearly 5,000 registered voters in mid-August. Just over 1,000 of those surveyed were registered Republicans.

    Latino Republicans, with whom Trump made historic gains during the 2024 elections, showed the highest levels of disagreement with the party’s aggressive stance on immigration. Young people from 18 to 29 and moderate women in the Republican Party also more significantly diverged from Trump’s policies.

    The majority of Republican respondents expressed approval of Trump’s immigration strategy overall. However, the study found respondents diverged more from Trump’s policies that ignore established legal processes, including due process, birthright citizenship and identification of federal agents.

    “On these legalistic issues, this is where you see some of the bigger breaks,” Mora said.

    Of those surveyed, 28% disapproved of the end of birthright citizenship, which Trump is pushing for, and 45% agreed that ICE agents should show clear identification. Four in 10 Republican respondents also support due process for detained immigrants.

    Young people, who make up about 15% of the party in California, were on average also more likely to break from Trump’s policies than older Republicans.

    The analysis also found that education level and region had almost no impact on respondents’ beliefs on immigration.

    Latinos and women were more likely to disagree with Trump on humanitarian issues than their demographic counterparts.

    Nearly 60% of moderate Republican women disagree with deporting longtime undocumented immigrants, compared with 47% of moderate men. 45% of women believe ICE raids unfairly target Latino communities.

    The political party was most split across racial lines when it came to immigration enforcement being expanded into hospitals and schools. Forty-four percent of Latinos disagreed with the practice, compared with 26% of white respondents, while 46% of Latino respondents disagreed with deporting immigrants who have resided in the country for a long time, compared with just 30% of their white counterparts.

    Trump had gained a significant Latino vote that helped him win reelection last year. Democratic candidates, however, made gains with Latino voters in elections earlier this month, indicating a possible shift away from the GOP.

    The data could indicate Latino Republicans “are somewhat disillusioned” by the Trump administration’s handling of immigration, Mora said. “Latinos aren’t just disagreeing on the issues that we think are about process and American legal fairness. They’re also disagreeing on just the idea that this is cruel.”

    Mora said the deluge of tense and sometimes violent encounters posted online could have an impact on Republican opinion surrounding immigration. A plainclothes agent pointed his gun at a female driver in Santa Ana last week, and two shootings involving ICE agents took place in Southern California late last month.

    “You now have several months of Latinos being able to log on to their social media and see every kind of video of Latinos being targeted with or without papers,” Mora said. “I have to believe that that is doing something to everybody, not just Latino Republicans or Latino Democrats.”

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    Itzel Luna

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  • FBI urges ICE agents to identify themselves after string of impersonators commit crimes

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    Ever since the Trump immigration raids began in Los Angeles in June, local leaders and community activists have criticized agents for sometimes making it difficult to identify them as federal law enforcement officials or refusing to identify themselves at all.

    Now, an unexpected new group has expressed its own concerns: the FBI.

    Citing a string of incidents in which masked criminals posing as immigration officers robbed and kidnapped victims, the FBI recently issued a memo suggesting agents clearly identify themselves while they’re in the field.

    The FBI explained its reasoning in a three-page document sent to police agencies across the country last month.

    In the memo, the FBI says that criminals impersonating law enforcement “damages trust” between them and the community and that law enforcement has an “opportunity” to better coordinate with their local, state and federal partners. It calls for informational campaigns to educate the public about impostors and for agents to show their identification when asked while out in the field.

    Undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens have been detained by masked people on city streets, in hospitals, courthouses, and outside schools and places of worship over the last several months. California has banned the use of masks among law enforcement agencies, but on Tuesday a cadre of masked agents gathered in an offsite Dodger Stadium parking lot while carrying out more raids.

    A man seeking asylum from Colombia is detained by federal agents as he attends his court hearing in immigration court in New York City.

    (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

    The FBI’s memo, obtained through a records request by the national security transparency nonprofit Property of the People, was prepared by the New York field office and first reported by Wired magazine. It details several instances where people impersonated immigration agents.

    In Florida, a man pretending to be an ICE agent kidnapped a woman who was in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. The suspect approached the woman on April 21, claimed he was there to pick her up and showed her his shirt that read ICE, the FBI said. The woman got in the suspect’s car and he drove her to an apartment complex, but she was able to escape.

    In August, three men in black clothing and wearing vests robbed a New York restaurant and stole from their ATM. The suspects also beat the employees and tied them up. One of the employees willingly surrendered to the suspects when they heard them identify themselves as immigration agents, the FBI said.

    The FBI also pointed to an April social media post where a man wearing a black jacket with an ICE patch stood outside a hardware store to intimidate day laborers. An image circulating on social media matching the description of the incident showed the man also wearing a red Trump hat.

    “I don’t know if there is federal law that requires a standard police uniform,” David Levine, a professor of law at UC San Francisco said. “It’s good practice to have a distinguishing uniform. Because when you have federal agents dressing as ruffians, with scarves over their faces and glasses in a paramilitary fashion, then it’s so much easier for people to impersonate them.”

    The FBI’s national press office did not respond to requests for comment, citing the government shutdown in an automated email response.

    U.S. Border Patrol march to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building

    U.S. Border Patrol march after a show of force outside the Japanese American National Museum where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a press conference on Aug. 14 in Los Angeles.

    (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

    The FBI’s memo arrives several months after masked agents descended on Los Angeles and other cities across the country at the behest of the Trump White House. Multiple undocumented immigrants have died while trying to flee masked agents during immigration raids, while others have come under gunfire in their vehicles and many more have been beaten by masked agents who did not immediately identify themselves.

    Levine says it’s a person’s constitutional right under the 4th Amendment to ask a masked, federal agent to identify themselves.

    “It takes a cool head under a tense moment to ask someone, ‘What’s your name? I can’t see your badge? Can you identify yourself?’” Levine said. “It’s practically impossible to ask all of that when you’re being thrown to the ground. But you do have the right to ask.”

    There are plenty of examples of people impersonating law enforcement in California in recent years.

    In April 2018, Luis Flores-Mendoza of Santa Ana was sentenced to eight months in prison for posing as a federal immigration officer in an attempt to extort $5,000 from a woman, who reported him to the police. The following month, Matthew Ryan Johnston of Fontana was sentenced to two years in federal prison for impersonating an ICE agent. In 2023 and 2024, police in Southern California announced arrests in two separate cases where men were accused of impersonating police to conduct traffic stops.

    State officials have sounded the alarm as well because of the Trump administration’s approach.

    Earlier this year, after federal immigration raids in the Central Valley, two Fresno men were accused of posing as federal immigration agents and recording themselves harassing local businesses. The Fresno Police Department said the pair, who wore wigs and black tactical vests with letters deliberately covered up so they read “Police” and “ICE,” confronted people at nearly a dozen businesses. The department said the men appeared to have done it for social media purposes and declined to release their names.

    a man places a sign on part of a "No Ice" mural

    Raymond Cruz, 56, places a sign on part of a “No Ice” mural in Inglewood on July 1.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    In March, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta issued a warning to Californians about the rise of ICE impersonators and scammers looking to take “advantage of the fear and uncertainty created by Trump’s mass deportation policies. “

    “Let me be clear: If you seek to scam or otherwise take advantage of California’s immigrant communities, you will be held accountable,” Bonta said.

    In June, two additional local cases popped up that weren’t included on the FBI memo.

    In one, Huntington Park police arrested a man who they suspected of posing as a Border Patrol agent. Police said the man possessed an unlicensed handgun and copies of U.S. Homeland Security removal notices and a list of radio codes for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    Huntington Park Police Chief Cosme Lozano speaks as he joins officials in a press conference

    Huntington Park Police Chief Cosme Lozano speaks at a press conference after a 23-year-old man from Los Angeles was arrested by Huntington Park Police on suspicion of impersonating a law enforcement officer.

    (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

    In the other, police in Los Angeles County arrested a man driving a decommissioned police cruiser with control lights and a siren. Authorities allege he had cocaine, a forged Homeland Security investigator’s badge and a pellet gun in his car.

    In a statement, Property of the People Executive Director Ryan Shapiro said, “It’s rich the FBI thinks ICE has a PR problem in immigrant communities because of impersonators, while masked and militarized ICE agents are waging a daily campaign of terror against those very communities.”

    “Anyone caught impersonating a federal immigration agent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” a senior Homeland Security official said.

    “Anyone who comes into immediate contact with an individual whom they believe is impersonating an immigration officer, or any law enforcement officer, should immediately contact their local law enforcement agency,” the official said.

    Kash Patel, President Trump and Pam Bondi stand next to each other

    Kash Patel, director of the FBI, left, President Trump, center, and Pam Bondi, U.S. attorney general, during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 15.

    (Jo Lo Scalzo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    In a statement to The Times, the office of Mayor Karen Bass said it’s unacceptable for law enforcement officers to operate without properly identifying themselves.

    “The Mayor has been supportive of state legislation that would require immigration officers to identify themselves as well as make it a crime for law enforcement officers to wear a face covering while performing their duties, except for specific circumstances such as protection from hazardous smoke.”

    Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes MacArthur Park, Cypress Park and Pico Union, said the FBI’s memo simply confirms what locals have known all along, even as they create “confusion, fear, chaos and real danger.”

    “Now even the FBI, under an administration that has aggressively expanded unconstitutional immigration enforcement, has confirmed that when agents don’t clearly identify themselves, it opens the door for violent impersonators to prey on vulnerable families,” Hernandez said in a statement. “That’s exactly why I co-authored the council motion requiring the LAPD to verify the identity of anyone claiming to be a law enforcement officer, and to strengthen penalties for impersonating an officer. When even Trump’s FBI is warning that unidentified agents put us at risk, it’s a clear sign that this problem can’t be ignored any longer.”

    Still, not everyone thinks agents will heed the FBI’s advice. Even if agents were to begin identifying themselves during sweeps, the distrust stemming from the raids in the summer will stay with community members for some time, advocates say.

    “I don’t expect them to all of a sudden start walking around with no mask or start walking around and identifying themselves,” said Leo Martinez of VC Defensa, a coalition of local groups dedicated to protecting the immigrant and refugee populations of Ventura County. “More than anything, I think it’s a way for the FBI to put a little bit of distance between themselves and the ICE agents in the public relations sphere, but not really on the ground.”

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    Nathan Solis, Ruben Vives

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  • Commentary: Bodies are stacking up in Trump’s deportation deluge. It’s going to get worse

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    Like a teenager armed with their first smartphone, President Trump’s masked immigration enforcers love nothing more than to mug for friendly cameras.

    They gladly invite pseudo-filmmakers — some federal government workers, others conservative influencers or pro-Trump reporters — to embed during raids so they can capture every tamale lady agents slam onto the sidewalk, every protester they pelt with pepper balls, every tear gas canister used to clear away pesky activists. From that mayhem comes slickly produced videos that buttress the Trump administration’s claim that everyone involved in the push to boot illegal immigrants from the U.S. is a hero worthy of cinematic love.

    But not everything that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and its sister agencies do shows up in their approved rivers of reels.

    Their propagandists aren’t highlighting the story of Jaime Alanís García, a Mexican farmworker who fell 30 feet to his death in Camarillo this summer while trying to escape one of the largest immigration raids in Southern California in decades.

    They’re not making videos about 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe, an Orange County resident who moved to this country from Mexico as a 4-year-old and died in a Victorville hospital in September after spending weeks in ICE custody complaining about his health.

    They’re not addressing how ICE raids led to the deaths of Josué Castro Rivera and Carlos Roberto Montoya, Central American nationals run over and killed by highway traffic in Virginia and Monrovia while fleeing in terror. Or what happened to Silverio Villegas González, shot dead in his car as he tried to speed away from two ICE agents in suburban Chicago.

    Those men are just some of the 20-plus people who have died in 2025 while caught up in ICE’s machine — the deadliest year for the agency in two decades, per NPR.

    Publicly, the Department of Homeland Security has described those incidents as “tragic” while assigning blame to everything but itself. For instance, a Homeland Security official told the Associated Press that Castro Rivera’s death was “a direct result of every politician, activist and reporter who continue to spread propaganda and misinformation about ICE’s mission and ways to avoid detention” — whatever the hell that means.

    An ICE spokesperson asked for more time to respond to my request for comment, said “Thank you Sir” when I extended my deadline, then never got back to me. Whatever the response would’ve been, Trump’s deportation Leviathan looks like it’s about to get deadlier.

    As reported by my colleagues Andrea Castillo and Rachel Uranga, his administration plans to get rid of more than half of ICE’s field office directors due to grumblings from the White House that the deportations that have swamped large swaths of the United States all year haven’t happened faster and in larger numbers.

    Asked for comment, Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs, described The Times’ questions as “sensationalism” and added “only the media would describe standard agency personnel changes as a ‘massive shakeup.’”

    Agents are becoming more brazen as more of them get hired thanks to billions of dollars in new funds. In Oakland, one fired a chemical round into the face of a Christian pastor from just feet away. In Santa Ana, another pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at activists who had been trailing him from a distance in their car. In the Chicago area, a woman claimed a group of them fired pepper balls at her car even though her two young children were inside.

    La migra knows they can act with impunity because they have the full-throated backing of the White House. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller crowed on Fox News recently, “To all ICE officers: You have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties.”

    That’s not actually true, but when have facts mattered to this presidency if it gets in the way of its apocalyptic goals?

    Greg Bovino, El Centro Border Patrol sector chief, center, walks with federal agents near an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Ill.

    (Erin Hooley / Associated Press)

    Tasked with turning up the terror dial to 11 is Gregory Bovino, a longtime Border Patrol sector chief based out of El Centro, Calif., who started the year with a raid in Kern County so egregious that a federal judge slammed it as agents “walk[ing] up to people with brown skin and say[ing], ‘Give me your papers.’” A federal judge ordered him to check in with her every day for the foreseeable future after the Border Patrol tear-gassed a neighborhood in a Chicago suburb that was about to host its annual Halloween children’s parade (an appeals court has temporarily blocked the move).

    Bovino now reports directly to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and is expected to pick most of the ICE field office directors from Customs and Border Protection, the arm of the federal government that the Border Patrol belongs to. It logged 180 immigrant deaths under its purview for the 2023 fiscal year, the last year for which stats are publicly available and the third straight year that the number had increased.

    To put someone like Bovino in charge of executing Trump’s deportation plans is like gifting a gas refinery to an arsonist.

    He’s constantly trying to channel the conquering ethos of Wild West, complete with a strutting posse of agents — some with cowboy hats — following him everywhere, white horses trailed by American flags for photo ops and constant shout-outs to “Ma and Pa America” when speaking to the media. When asked by a CBS News reporter recently when his self-titled “Mean Green Machine” would end its Chicago campaign — one that has seen armed troops march through downtown and man boats on the Chicago River like they were patrolling Baghdad — Bovino replied, “When all the illegal aliens [self-deport] and/or we arrest ‘em all.”

    Such scorched-earth jibber-jabber underlines a deportation policy under which the possibility of death for those it pursues is baked into its foundation. ICE plans to hire dozens of healthcare workers — doctors, nurses, psychiatrists — in anticipation of Trump’s plans to build more detention camps, many slated for inhospitable locations like the so-called Alligator Alcatraz camp in the Florida Everglades. That was announced to the world on social media with an AI-generated image of grinning alligators wearing MAGA caps — as if the White House was salivating at the prospect of desperate people trying to escape only to find certain carnage.

    In his CBS News interview, Bovino described the force his team has used in Chicago — where someone was shot and killed, a pastors got hit with pepper balls from high above and the sound of windshields broken by immigration agents looking to snatch someone from their cars is now part of the Windy City’s soundtrack — as “exemplary.” The Border Patrol’s peewee Patton added he felt his guys used “the least amount of force necessary to accomplish the mission. If someone strays into a pepper ball, then that’s on them.”

    One shudders to think what Bovino thinks is excessive for la migra. With his powers now radically expanded, we’re about to find out.

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    Gustavo Arellano

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  • Immigration enforcement on North Side leads to tense confrontations, soft lockdowns at schools

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    CHICAGO (WLS) — Videos showed federal agents detaining people as immigration enforcement activity was reported across Chicago on Friday.

    At several North Side locations, federal agents making arrests were met by community members, and at least one encounter ended in a cloud of tear gas.

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

    Footage from West Town Friday morning showed a federal agent breaking the driver’s side window of a car and detaining a man inside near West Superior Street and North Paulina Street.

    ABC7 blurred his face because we do not know if he has been charged with any crimes.

    Neighborhood residents confronted agents, shouting at them and blowing their whistles to alert the community as they detained the man, who was waiting for his pregnant wife outside of a community health center. Local elected officials and the community center say the man is in the country legally on a work permit and had a court date with immigration.

    SEE ALSO | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates

    Later, a mid-day confrontation pitted Lakeview neighbors and protesters against masked federal agents. The face-to-face encounter ended with volleys of tear gas sending the residential block spiraling into chaos.

    Courtney Conway was among dozens of residents who confronted agents near Lakewood and Henderson after a construction worker at a home was arrested.

    “My eyes were burning. It did not feel great. They still burn a bit today,” Conway said. “There were some neighbors bringing out water for us to flush out our eyes.”

    Doorbell camera video showed agents rolling up and workers, who’d been having lunch, running for cover. One closed and braced against a gate as agents tried to push through. Another was helped through a window to elude agents.

    The stepped up ICE activity on the North Side disrupting the school day at Burr Elementary and other schools as multiple arrests played out on nearby streets.

    CPS parents and 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack confirmed a handful of schools in the Bucktown-Wicker Park area were placed on soft lockdown. That meant no outdoor recess, in response to ICE arrests in the neighborhood.

    “The kids aren’t playing outside because there’s been a huge amount of ICE presence in the neighborhood, just driving up and down the streets, just kind of terrorizing the neighborhood,” CPS parent Nicole Van Haperbeke said. “Why? It’s a peaceful, beautiful Friday.”

    SEE ALSO | US House subcommittee hosts ‘shadow hearing’ in Chicago on immigration enforcement tactics

    ABC7 obtained multiple videos from Bucktown-Wicker Park residents showing arrests in and around the neighborhood. At least one showed a gardener who a resident says was hired to plant a tree in her backyard.

    “I just asked them not to arrest him,” Bucktown resident Donna Kirchman said. “I said, ‘Please leave him alone.’ And they didn’t. I believe they took his phone, and then they took him.”

    Heavily armed agents also arrested a man sitting in a vehicle, who witnesses said works at a nearby car dealership.

    “It’s terrifying, and we knew that they were going to come to Bucktown,” resident Laura Dufour said. “They’ve been all over the city.”

    Those agents were later seen driving around vehicles that had stopped and clipping a woman. Alderman Waguespack says he’s been inundated with messages and witnessed first-hand what he claimed were ICE agents driving dangerously in the neighborhood.

    “We saw them backing up into intersections where we’ve got daycare children walking across the street,” Waguespack said. “You’ve got mothers with strollers. You’ve got a fun run right up here at St. Mary’s, and they’re driving without stopping at stop signs, blowing through alleys.”

    In light of the school lockdowns Mayor Brandon Johnson is urging Governor JB Pritzker to allow for a remote option for CPS students. That’s something the state has to sign off on, but the governor says he’s opposed to that idea because of the impact it could have on the students’ education.

    SEE ALSO | Some Chicago Board of Education members call for CPS remote learning amid immigration operations

    Also, Laugh Factory posted on social media on Friday, saying the Lakeview comedy club’s night manager was detained by “masked federal agents outside of the club.” The business posted footage of the incident to its Facebook account.

    Chicago police said officers responded to a report of a battery in the area of Belmont Avenue and Broadway just before 9:20 a.m.

    Responding officers saw federal agents and two other individuals in a physical altercation, and a crowd had gathered in the area, police said.

    Police said officers worked to deescalate and conduct crowd control. CPD did not make any arrests and left the scene once the area was cleared.

    No further information about the incident from federal authorities was available.

    Multiple alderpersons on the North Side issued alerts about more reported ICE activity on Friday.

    Ald. Daniel La Spata, who represents the 1st Ward, said on Friday morning, there have been “numerous confirmed sightings of ICE” throughout the West Town community area, including neighborhoods surrounding Ukrainian Village, Wicker Park, and the Humboldt Park border.

    Ald. Timmy Knusden, who represents the 43rd Ward, said community members on Friday have “reported ICE sightings and suspected enforcement activity at the following locations:

    • Cleveland/Belden


    • 2600 N Racine


    • 440 W Belden


    • Reports of 2 unmarked SUVs driving north on Halsted with masked drivers


    • Lincoln/Racine/Diversey


    • Racine/Drummond


    • Lill/Seminary


    • Wrightwood/Racine”

    Wicker Park’s A.N. Pritzker School also said it was on soft lockdown Friday, and all after-school programs, with the exception of Wicker Park Kids and Apollo, were canceled.

    Tear gas was thrown at Henderson and Lakewood, in a community that had so far has avoided contact with ICE agents.

    “The tear gas was deployed by ice without warning and without my neighbors hear from doing anything to provoke that reaction no one was interfering with them they were just exercising the first amendment rights,” 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson said. “This is very disturbing.”

    Roaming bands of agents appeared to be targeting communities Friday where immigrants might be working.

    “No one gains, people already hurt and you kinda get to see that in real time,” neighborhood resident Donny Donoghue said.

    Earlier, protesters gathered outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview once again, as they have done every Friday now for several weeks.

    Friday’s demonstration has remained fairly contained to one corner as protesters keep within the safety zone, speaking out against the Trump’s administration’s operation “Midway Blitz” and the recent immigration crackdown in the Chicagoland area.

    “I believe that we are creating huge wounds, not only for the people who are being detained, but for the ICE officers who are doing these horrible things. I feel terrible for everybody,” said Mary Kelly, who lives in Oak Park.

    Messages left by ABC7 Chicago for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding the North Side operations were not returned.

    Immigration operations are also having an impact on the Asian community.

    The Chinese American Service League shared a video of federal agents detaining a man outside his home in Bridgeport on Thursday.

    CASL claims the father of two was not doing anything illegal. Witnesses say the agents did not present a warrant.

    DHS says gang member tried to ram agents with car, defends apparent tear gas use on protesters

    DHS said a Latin Kings gang member tried to ram agents with a car in Cicero, IL and defended the apparent use of tear gas during a Chicago protest.

    Meanwhile, ABC7 is getting more information from the DHS about recent violent run-ins with federal agents over the past few days.

    DHS says Wednesday was one of their most violent days on the job. At 26th and Ogden in Cicero, DHS claims a Latin Kings gang member tried to ram agents with his vehicle.

    Six people were arrested that day for impeding operations, and three undocumented immigrants were placed into custody.

    And there were more tense moments Thursday at the Little Village Discount Mall during an anti-ICE rally.

    Attorneys accused federal agents of violating a court order, which does not allow them to use riot control weapons unless facing an imminent threat and requires them to issue warnings first before deploying tear gas.

    A federal complaint is now taking aim at the man who led the charge. An image of Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino appears to show him throw tear gas “without justification,” according to the complaint.

    “Federal agents started acting aggressive, pushing protesters away… Again, it was all peaceful protesters,” said protester Kristian Armendariz.

    However, DHS says the group of about 75-100 people began firing commercial artillery shell fireworks at agents and throwing rocks, adding that Bovino was hit in the head.

    According to DHS, agents repeated multiple warnings to the crowd to back up, informing them that chemical agents would be deployed. The department stood by their agents’ actions, saying, “Agents properly used their training. The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public.”

    Bovino was set to appear in court on Nov. 5 to give a two-hour testimony, but now a federal judge has ordered more than double the time, five hours, to question Bovino after the incidents.

    Later Friday, Judge Sara Ellis also ordered Bovino to testify in-person on Tuesday during a status hearing.

    Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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    Stephanie Wade

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  • She lived through the L.A. riots and now is in Chicago. She says Trump is making up urban unrest

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    BROADVIEW, Ill. — The streets were quiet just a block from the ICE processing facility where the National Guard deployed Thursday to protect federal agents and property.

    Residents walked their dogs. Kids went to and from school. An Amazon delivery driver parked his van on the side of South 24th Street, turned on his hazard lights and dropped off a few packages — seemingly unhurried or concerned about the dozen people chanting and carrying signs outside the facility on South 25th street.

    Broadview, a suburb of roughly 8,000 people 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, has become a focal point in President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Illinois. It’s where in the last couple of weeks Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot a peacefully protesting Presbyterian pastor in the head with a pepper ball, and where dozens of protesters and journalists have been tear-gassed and hit with pepper balls.

    Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, 55, shook her head when asked about the military presence, and said the whole situation seemed unnecessary and overblown.

    Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson.

    (Mayor Katrina Thompson FB)

    “It’s calm in the city of Chicago. It’s no different than most major cities. Sure, it has issues. They all do. But they don’t call for the National Guard,” she said. “The last time I remember a National Guard coming in to a city was with Rodney King. But that was different. People were enraged. There were riots in the streets. People were looting shops and businesses. There is nothing like that happening here.”

    Thompson grew up in Inglewood and graduated from Inglewood High School in 1988. She was in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots and keenly remembers the rage, violence and fear.

    She’s adamant that what happened then has no comparison to what’s happening in Chicago now.

    This week, about 200 Texas National Guard troops and 300 Illinois National Guard troops were deployed to the Chicago area by Trump to protect federal agents and property from protesters. About 20 California National Guard troops were also pulled into political battle, deployed to provide “refresher training,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement. “These California National Guard soldiers will not be supporting the Federal Protection Mission in Illinois.”

    On Thursday afternoon, a federal judge in Chicago entered a 14-day temporary restraining order preventing the federalization and deployment of the National Guard in Illinois. U.S. District Judge April Perry said she had “seen no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in Illinois” and described the Trump administration’s version of events as “simply unreliable.” She said National Guard troops would “only add fuel to the fire.”

    In downtown Chicago, people are shopping. Going to work. On Wednesday night, after a protest had formed downtown near the Trump International Hotel & Tower, the streets were nearly deserted. A few young men were seen going into the Elephant & Castle pub near the Chicago Board of Trade building, while a happy-looking couple strolled along the Chicago Riverwalk, holding hands and giggling.

    Thompson said she is not interested in jumping into the national political fray and is focused on the things that are important to her constituents — such as making sure that the streets are clean, that Broadview’s police and firefighters have the resources and support they need, and that her residents feel safe.

    But Thompson did find herself in the spotlight last week when she denied Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem access to the Broadview Municipal Building’s bathroom.

    Thompson said that it was nothing personal, but that Noem showed up, unannounced, with a camera crew and a videographer.

    “She came with a whole bunch of military people dressed in their military gear. And I said I’m not letting you in here. We work here. We don’t know what your intent is. If she had good intentions, you know what professionals do? They call and make an appointment. They don’t show up unannounced with dozens of people carrying guns,” Thompson said.

    Thompson is also suing the federal government for erecting a fence around the ICE facility that she fears could prevent her first responders from getting inside should someone — detainee, ICE agent or government official — need help.

    “When we talk about people having strokes, every second matters,” she said. “If we can’t get to them, that person could be severely disabled for a lifetime, or lose their life because a decision was made — without consulting us — that that’s the way it should be.”

    Outside the facility on Thursday, protesters were outnumbered roughly 4 to 1 by local, county and state law enforcement, as well as local and national media.

    Kate Madrigal, 37, a homemaker, said she had come several times to the site to protest. Her husband is a naturalized citizen and together they have four children.

    She said they live in fear that someone is going to take her husband or scare her kids, and she’s felt compelled to be bear witness and be present because “if my kids ask me what I did during this period to help, I want to tell them I was here. I did something.”

    Next to her were two other women who have also been showing up with sporadic visits — driving from Aurora when their work schedules allow.

    Jen Monaco and Maya Willis said they’ve also felt pulled to the site to keep an eye on the troops and show support for those being detained. Monaco said she often cleans up the debris left behind from the day before, and showed a reporter photos of rubber bullets, empty tear gas casements and spent pepper balls that she’d cleaned up.

    She said until the media showed up in force Thursday, ICE agents had been harassing, scaring, and shooting at protesters with these kinds of crowd control devices. Agents have also shoved and assaulted protesters, they said.

    Cook County sheriff’s police and the Illinois State Police were on scene, occasionally shouting into bullhorns when protesters or reporters crossed the concrete barriers that had been erected to create a protest zone or box.

    At one point, a white man wearing a sombrero, poncho and fake mustache walked around and through the small group of protesters, yelling racial slurs and taunting them. He said he was there to represent “Mexicans for ICE” before taking off his shirt and challenging another protester to a fight.

    The police moved him away but allowed him to continue calling out and chanting. A man in a Chicago Bears T-shirt egged him on and said the man looked like he worked out a lot.

    Two other women showed up around the same time, with wigs, and yelled curses at the ICE officials and National Guard troops on the other side of the new chain-link fence surrounding the facility.

    Thompson has instituted a curfew around the facility, allowing protests to occur only between f 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

    “We have business in the area and people need to get to work. We’ve got kids who need to get to school,” she said. “Let’s let them do what they need to do, and then you all can come in and protest.”

    But some protesters thought the curfew violated their right to free speech. Robert Held, a Chicago-based trust and estate lawyer, received a citation about 7:45 am for having come to the site before curfew was lifted.

    “I’m not going to pay it,” he said, suggesting he’d heard the violation could cost him $750. “The ordinance is invalidly based. It violates my 1st Amendment rights.”

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    Susanne Rust

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  • ICE in courts: Arrests of immigrants continue at Federal Plaza, leaving children in tears after families separated | amNewYork

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    ICE arrests continued in immigration court Wednesday, including an emotional family separation that left two children in tears amid a government shutdown, seeing court hearings briefly delayed.

    Photo by Dean Moses

    A day after roughing up reporters and hours after the federal government shut down, masked ICE agents continued their seizure operations Wednesday at 26 Federal Plaza — which included an emotional family separation that left two children in tears.

    The detainments came one day after a hectic scuffle inside 26 Federal Plaza that saw masked feds brutally shove press photographers, leaving one journalist hospitalized after suffering a serious injury from a fall.

    Tensions reached an all-time high on Oct. 1 as resolute members of the press continued to document ICE activity following the injury. While some of the agents expressed sorrow for the dramatic incident that made headlines, others doubled down, blaming the media.

    Despite the tension and the federal government shutdown, which indefinitely delayed scheduled hearings at immigration courts, business for the federal agents went on.

    A man is arrested without even seeing a judge.Photo by Dean Moses
    Photo by Dean Moses

    Judges initially did not hold court hearings during the early part of the morning. Immigrants arrived on the 12th floor only to be sent away, and although they did not see a judge, ICE agents waiting outside the court quickly whisked them away.

    “There is no due process,” one court observer said.

    Later, however, the courtrooms reopened, but the detainments continued. One man was pulled from his family and rushed down a hallway and out of sight. His two young sons were left howling in sorrow and weeping profusely as their mother guided them away, also crying. Another woman was likewise left in tears at the mere sight of the armed, masked men.

    Court observers could be seen taking her by the arms and guiding her to court as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

    A woman is left in tears at the sight of ICE.Photo by Dean Moses
    A child weeps after his father is taken by ICE.Photo by Dean Moses

    This all comes mere days after an ICE agent was suspended and then reinstated for shoving an Ecuadorian mother, Monica Moreta-Galarza, to the ground after she pleaded for mercy for her husband.

    As tensions escalate, Moreta-Galarza’s attorney, Lina Stillman, told amNewYork that she is recommending that those who have upcoming hearings not attend them alone.

    “I would say to them, don’t show up to court by themselves. The entire world is seeing what’s happening to these families because you guys are there. The reason this video went viral is that it’s outrageous.  This shouldn’t happen to anybody, this shouldn’t happen anywhere,” Stillman said.

    A man is arrested by ICE.Photo by Dean Moses

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    Dean Moses

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  • ICE agent drops gun, appears to point it at bystanders during arrest in Maryland: VIDEO

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    ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team

    Sunday, September 28, 2025 7:17PM

    ICE agent appears to point gun at bystanders during MD arrest: VIDEO

    Video shows an ICE agent dropping his gun before appearing to point it at bystanders during an arrest in Prince George’s County, MD.

    PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (WLS) — Video captured the moment an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent dropped his handgun during a struggle to make an arrest in Maryland.

    The agent then appears to point the gun at bystanders.

    The footage was shot on Wednesday in Prince George’s County.

    SEE ALSO | ICE officer seen pushing woman to the floor at NY immigration court relieved of duties, agency says

    In the video, you can see that when the officer drops his gun, he picks it up and appears to point it in the direction of bystanders.

    A Department of Homeland Security official says the man being arrested was resisting.

    Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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    WLS

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  • Feds indict three women for alleged ‘doxing’ of ICE agent in Los Angeles

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    Three women opposed to President Trump’s intense immigration raids in Los Angeles were indicted Friday on charges of illegally “doxing” a U.S. Customs and Immigration agent, authorities said.

    Ashleigh Brown, Cynthia Raygoza and Sandra Carmona Samane face charges of disclosing the personal information of a federal agent and conspiracy, according to an indictment unsealed late Friday.

    Brown, who is from Colorado and goes by the nickname “AK,” has been described as one of the founders of “ice_out_ofla” an Instagram page with more than 28,000 followers that plays a role in organizing demonstrations against immigration enforcement, according to the social media page and an email reviewed by The Times.

    According to the indictment, the three women followed an ICE agent from the federal building on 300 North Los Angeles Street in downtown L.A. to the agent’s residence in Baldwin Park.

    They live-streamed the entire event, according to the indictment. Once they arrived at the agent’s home, prosecutors allege the women got out and shouted “la migra lives here,” and “ICE lives on your street and you should know,” according to the indictment.

    “Our brave federal agents put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe,” Acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The conduct of these defendants are deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and their families. If you threaten, dox, or harm in any manner one of our agents or employees, you will face prosecution and prison time.”

    An attorney for Samane, 25, of Los Angeles, said she intends to plead not guilty at an arraignment next month and declined further comment.

    The Federal Public Defender’s Office, which is representing Brown, 38, of Aurora, Colo., did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Court records did not list an attorney for Raygoza, 37, of Riverside.

    Footage published to the ice_out_ofla Instagram page seemed to capture Brown’s arrest earlier this week. The video shows a man in green fatigues and body armor saying he has a warrant for her arrest, while reaching through what appears to be the shattered driver’s side window of her car. Brown asks what the warrant is for while the man can be seen holding a collapsible baton. Then the video cuts out.

    Posts on the Instagram page describe Brown as a “political prisoner.”

    A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles did not immediately respond to questions about whether the women specifically shouted out the agent’s address online or what the defendants specifically did to “incite the commission of a crime of violence against a federal agent,” as the indictment alleges.

    Federal law enforcement leaders have repeatedly expressed concern about the “doxing” of agents with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol as residents of Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities continue to protest the Trump administration’s sprawling deportation efforts.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to prosecute people for publishing agents’ personal information last month in response to fliers in Portland that called for people to collect intel on ICE.

    But the indictment returned Friday appeared to be the first prosecution related to such tactics.

    Critics of the Trump administration’s operations have expressed outrage over ICE and CBP agents wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves in public while hunting undocumented immigrants throughout Southern California.

    Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that forbids federal law enforcement from wearing masks while operating in California. The supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law, leading some legal experts to question whether state officials can actually enforce the legislation.

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    James Queally

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  • Illinois officials demand release of video in deadly shooting involving ICE officer in Franklin Park

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    FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. (WLS) — An Illinois congressman is among those who are calling for all video of the deadly shooting involving an ICE officer in the west suburbs to be released by federal officials.

    The shooting happened in Franklin Park on Friday.

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

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said its officers were conducting “targeted law enforcement activity,” and during a vehicle stop, a man, who ICE says was a suspect, resisted arrest and tried to drive his car into the arrest team.

    The man struck an officer, dragging him as he tried to flee the scene, ICE said. The officer shot the man, who was later identified as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez. The Department of Homeland Security described him as an undocumented immigrant with a criminal history of reckless driving.

    ICE said the man was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The officer suffered severe injuries and is stable, ICE and DHS said.

    Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García says all video of the incident should be released.

    “We want to know everything about what occurred and for all evidence to be put forward publicly so the public can make its own conclusions, but this was totally preventable, unnecessary and most tragic,” García said.

    Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has also called for transparency in the investigation into the shooting.

    ABC7 reached out to ICE for comment and to see if the officers involved were wearing cameras, but has not yet heard back yet.

    The family of Villegas-Gonzalez told ABC7 he was a father from Mexico, working at a restaurant in the Portage Park area, and has been in the United States for decades. His shooting death is sparking outrage.

    This deadly encounter came as ICE operations have ramped in the Chicago area within the last few weeks. Around 300 ICE agents are stationed just north of city.

    To the man’s girlfriend and stepdaughter, Villegas-Gonzalez was a working 38-year-old father of three from Mexico who’s lived in the United States for more than 20 years.

    Cellphone video obtained by ABC 7 showed the moment with ICE officers removed the man from his crashed car near Grand and Elder Lane.

    “He got a hole on his head and bleeding, so both men, they tried to help and cover with a band-aid, his neck,” witness Victoria Connolly said.

    Congressman García spoke at the scene Friday with other politicians, shortly after flying from the nation’s capital.

    “Look, without a doubt, there’s massive racial, ethnic profiling that’s taking place and it’s shameful,” García said.

    Governor Pritzker posted a statement to X Friday, saying, “I am aware of the troubling incident that has unfolded in Franklin Park. This is a developing situation and the people of Illinois deserve a full, factual accounting of what’s happened today to ensure transparency and accountability.”

    Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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  • Critics fault Supreme Court for allowing immigration stops that consider race and ethnicity

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    WASHINGTON — Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that U.S. Border Patrol agents violated the Constitution when they stopped a car on a freeway near San Clemente because its occupants appeared to be “of Mexican ancestry.”

    The 4th Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches, the justices said then, and a motorist’s “Mexican appearance” does not justify stopping them to ask about their immigration status.

    But the court sounded a decidedly different note on Monday when it ruled for the Trump administration and cleared the way for stopping and questioning Latinos who may be here illegally. By a 6-3 vote, the justices set aside a Los Angeles judge’s temporary restraining order that barred agents from stopping people based in part on their race or apparent ethnicity.

    “Apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. “However, it can be a relevant factor when considered along with other salient factors.”

    Critics of the ruling said it had opened the door for authorizing racial and ethnic bias.

    UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham called it “shocking and appalling. I don’t know of any recent decision like this that authorized racial discrimination.”

    Arulanantham noted that Kavanaugh’s writings speak for the justice alone, and that the full court did not explain its ruling on a case that came through its emergency docket.

    By contrast, he and others pointed out that the court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. prohibited the use of race or ethnicity as a factor in college admissions.

    “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Roberts wrote for a 6-3 majority in 2023. That decision struck down the affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

    “Today, the Supreme Court took a step in a badly wrong direction,” Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor, wrote on the Volokh Conspiracy blog. “It makes no sense to conclude that racial and ethnic discrimination is generally unconstitutional, yet also that its use is ‘reasonable’ under the 4th Amendment.”

    Reports had already emerged before the decision of ICE agents confronting U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents before they have been able to prove their status, compelling many to begin carrying documentation around at all times.

    In New York on Monday, one man outside a federal court was pushed by ICE agents before being able to show them his identification. He was let go.

    Asked by The Times to respond to increasing concern among U.S. citizens they could be swept up in expanded ICE raids as a result of the ruling, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that individuals should not be worried.

    She added that immigration agents conduct targeted operations with the use of law enforcement intelligence.

    “The Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s right to stop individuals in Los Angeles to briefly question them regarding their legal status, because the law allows this, and this has been the practice of the federal government for decades,” Leavitt said. “The Immigration and Nationality Act states that immigration officers can briefly stop an individual to question them about their immigration status, if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the individual is illegally present in the United States. And reasonable suspicion is not just based on race — it’s based on a totality of the circumstances.”

    On X, the House Homeland Security Committee Democrats responded to Leavitt’s comments, writing: “ICE has jailed U.S. citizens. The Trump Admin is defending racial profiling. Nobody is safe when ‘looking Hispanic’ is treated as probable cause.”

    Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent pointed out that nearly half of the residents of Greater Los Angeles are Latino and can speak Spanish.

    “Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground and handcuffed because of their looks, their accents, and the fact that they make a living by doing manual labor,” she wrote. “Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”

    At issue in the case was the meaning of “reasonable suspicion.”

    For decades, the court has said police and federal agents may stop and question someone if they see something specific that suggests they may be violating the law.

    But the two sides disagreed over whether agents may stop people because they appear to be Latinos and work as day laborers, at car washes or other low-wage jobs.

    President Trump’s lawyers as well as Kavanaugh said agents may make stops based on the “totality of the circumstances” and that may include where people work as well as their ethnicity. They also pointed to the data that suggests about 10% of the people in the Los Angeles area are illegally in the United States.

    Tom Homan, the White House border advisor, said that the legal standard of reasonable suspicion “has a group of factors you must take into consideration,” adding, “racial profiling is not happening at all.”

    It is a “false narrative being pushed,” Homan told MSNBC in an interview, praising the Supreme Court decision. “We don’t arrest somebody or detain somebody without reasonable suspicion.”

    Times staff writer Andrea Castillo, in Washington, contributed to this report.

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    David G. Savage, Michael Wilner

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  • Texas, Florida hit with far more ICE arrests than California. But that’s not the whole story

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    Ever since federal immigration raids ramped up across California, triggering fierce protests that prompted President Trump to deploy troops to Los Angeles, the state has emerged as the symbolic battleground of the administration’s deportation campaign.

    But even as arrests soared, California was not the epicenter of Trump’s anti-immigrant project.

    In the first five months of Trump’s second term, California lagged behind the staunchly red states of Texas and Florida in the total arrests. According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement data from the Deportation Data Project, Texas reported 26,341 arrests — nearly a quarter of all ICE arrests nationally — followed by 12,982 in Florida and 8,460 in California.

    Even in June, when masked federal immigration agents swept through L.A., jumping out of vehicles to snatch people from bus stops, car washes and parking lots, California saw 3,391 undocumented immigrants arrested — more than Florida, but still only about half as many as Texas.

    When factoring in population, California drops to 27th in the nation, with 217 arrests per million residents — about a quarter of Texas’ 864 arrests per million and less than half of a whole slew of states including Florida, Arkansas, Utah, Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Nevada.

    The data, released after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the government, excludes arrests made after June 26 and lacks identifying state details in 5% of cases. Nevertheless, it provides the most detailed look yet of national ICE operations.

    Immigration experts say it is not surprising that California — home to the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the nation and the birthplace of the Chicano movement — lags behind Republican states in the total number of arrests or arrests as a percentage of the population.

    “The numbers are secondary to the performative politics of the moment,” said Austin Kocher, a geographer and research assistant professor at Syracuse University who specializes in immigration enforcement.

    Part of the reason Republican-dominated states have higher arrest numbers — particularly when measured against population — is they have a longer history of working directly with ICE, and a stronger interest in collaboration. In red states from Texas to Mississippi, local law enforcement officers routinely cooperate with federal agents, either by taking on ICE duties through so-called 287(g) agreements or by identifying undocumented immigrants who are incarcerated and letting ICE into their jails and prisons.

    Indeed, data show that just 7% of ICE arrests made this year in California were made through the Criminal Alien Program, an initiative that requests that local law enforcement identify undocumented immigrants in federal, state and local prisons and jails.

    That’s significantly lower than the 55% of arrests in Texas and 46% in Florida made through prisons or jails. And other conservative states with smaller populations relied on the program even more heavily: 75% of ICE arrests in Alabama and 71% in Indiana took place via prisons and jails.

    “State cooperation has been an important buffer in ICE arrests and ICE operations in general for years,” said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a Sacramento-based senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “We’ve seen that states are not only willing to cooperate with ICE, but are proactively now establishing 287(g) agreements with their local law enforcement, are naturally going to cast a wider net of enforcement in the boundaries of that state.”

    While California considers only some criminal offenses, such as serious felonies, significant enough to share information with ICE; Texas and Florida are more likely to report offenses that may not be as severe, such as minor traffic infractions.

    Still, even if fewer people were arrested in California than other states, it also witnessed one of the most dramatic increases in arrests in the country.

    California ranked 30th in ICE arrests per million in February. By June, the state had climbed to 10th place.

    ICE arrested around 8,460 immigrants across California between Jan. 20 and June 26, a 212% increase compared with the five months before Trump took office. That contrasts with a 159% increase nationally for the same period.

    Much of ICE’s activity in California was hyper-focused on Greater Los Angeles: About 60% of ICE arrests in the state took place in the seven counties in and around L.A. during Trump’s first five months in office. The number of arrests in the Los Angeles area soared from 463 in January to 2,185 in June — a 372% spike, second only to New York’s 432% increase.

    Even if California is not seeing the largest numbers of arrests, experts say, the dramatic increase in captures stands out from other places because of the lack of official cooperation and public hostility toward immigration agents.

    “A smaller increase in a place that has very little cooperation is, in a way, more significant than seeing an increase in areas that have lots and lots of cooperation,” Kocher said.

    ICE agents, Kocher said, have to work much harder to arrest immigrants in places like L.A. or California that define themselves as “sanctuary” jurisdictions and limit their cooperation with federal immigration agents.

    “They really had to go out of their way,” he said.

    Trump administration officials have long argued that sanctuary jurisdictions give them no choice but to round up people on the streets.

    Not long after Trump won the 2024 election and the L.A. City Council voted unanimously to block any city resources from being used for immigration enforcement, incoming border enforcement advisor Tom Homan threatened an onslaught.

    “If I’ve got to send twice as many officers to L.A. because we’re not getting any assistance, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Homan told Newsmax.

    With limited cooperation from California jails, ICE agents went out into communities, rounding up people they suspected of being undocumented on street corners and at factories and farms.

    That shift in tactics meant that immigrants with criminal convictions no longer made up the bulk of California ICE arrests. While about 66% of immigrants arrested in the first four months of the year had criminal convictions, that percentage fell to 30% in June.

    The sweeping nature of the arrests drew immediate criticism as racial profiling and spawned robust community condemnation.

    Some immigration experts and community activists cite the organized resistance in L.A. as another reason the numbers of ICE arrests were lower in California than in Texas and even lower than dozens of states by percentage of population.

    “The reason is the resistance, organized resistance: the people who literally went to war with them in Paramount, in Compton, in Bell and Huntington Park,” said Ron Gochez, a member of Unión del Barrio Los Angeles, an independent political group that patrols neighborhoods to alert residents of immigration sweeps.

    “They’ve been chased out in the different neighborhoods where we organize,” he said. “We’ve been able to mobilize the community to surround the agents when they come to kidnap people.”

    In L.A., activists patrolled the streets from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days a week, Gochez said. They faced off with ICE agents in Home Depot parking lots and at warehouses and farms.

    “We were doing everything that we could to try to keep up with the intensity of the military assault,” Gochez said. “The resistance was strong. … We’ve been able, on numerous occasions, to successfully defend the communities and drive them out of our community.”

    The protests prompted Trump to deploy the National Guard and Marines in June, with the stated purpose of protecting federal buildings and personnel. But the administration’s ability to ratchet up arrests hit a roadblock on July 11. That’s when a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking immigration agents in Southern and Central California from targeting people based on race, language, vocation or location without reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. illegally.

    That decision was upheld last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But on Thursday, the Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court to lift the temporary ban on its patrols, arguing that it “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop.”

    The order led to a significant drop in arrests across Los Angeles last month. But this week, federal agents carried out a series of raids at Home Depots from Westlake to Van Nuys.

    Trump administration officials have indicated that the July ruling and arrest slowdown do not signal a permanent change in tactics.

    “Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the communities and more work site enforcement,” Homan told reporters two weeks after the court blocked roving patrols. “Why is that? Because they won’t let one agent arrest one bad guy in the jail.”

    U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, who has been leading operations in California, posted a fast-moving video on X that spliced L.A. Mayor Karen Bass telling reporters that “this experiment that was practiced on the city of Los Angeles failed” with video showing him grinning. Then, as a frenetic drum and bass mix kicked in, federal agents jump out of a van and chase people.

    “When you’re faced with opposition to law and order, what do you do?” Bovino wrote. “Improvise, adapt, and overcome!”

    Clearly, the Trump administration is willing to expend significant resources to make California a political battleground and test case, Ruiz Soto said. The question is, at what economic and political cost?

    “If they really wanted to scale up and ramp up their deportations,” Ruiz Soto said, “they could go to other places, do it more more safely, more quickly and more efficiently.”

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    Jenny Jarvie, Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee

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