ReportWire

Tag: Immigrants

  • Do Federal Officials Really Have “Absolute Immunity”?

    On Saturday, agents with U.S. Border Patrol killed a man named Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the second person who has been shot dead by federal personnel in Minneapolis since President Donald Trump launched an immigration-enforcement operation in the city earlier this month. After the first killing, of a woman named Renee Good, who was shot behind the wheel of her car by an ICE agent, federal officials made clear that they had little interest in conducting an impartial investigation into the circumstances of her death. During a press conference, Vice-President J. D. Vance said that federal officials have “absolute immunity” in performing their duties. In the aftermath of Pretti’s death, which has prompted even some Republican officeholders to call for an investigation, state officials have accused the federal government of blocking access to the scene of the shooting. Multiple members of the Trump Administration have called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and falsely described what occurred when he was gunned down, which was captured on video. On Saturday night, a federal judge ordered the government not to destroy or alter evidence after a lawsuit was filed by Minnesota authorities.

    To talk about what state officials can and cannot do to investigate and prosecute crimes allegedly committed by federal officials, I spoke by phone with Steve Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown who writes a newsletter on legal issues called “One First.” During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed why the law on these questions is so unsettled, how the Trump Administration could try to sabotage potential state actions, and how the Supreme Court might view future cases that feature a clash between executive power and states’ rights.

    Tell me if this is helpful—there are two different ways it can be difficult for states to investigate or prosecute federal officials. One of them has to do with the law itself as defined by the courts, and the second has to do with the Trump Administration trying to throw up every roadblock it can. Those seem like different things.

    I think that’s very helpful. There’s both the question of whether the law would allow a prosecution and whether as a matter of pure logistics, the prosecution is viable. We haven’t usually had to worry about the second one, but we certainly have to worry about it right now.

    So then let’s start with the first one, which relates to why it could be complicated for state officials to charge federal officers with crimes in a state such as Minnesota. What is the primary legal roadblock?

    The primary legal roadblock is the doctrine that’s become known as supremacy-clause immunity. This is a not-very-well-developed idea dating back to an 1890 Supreme Court decision, which basically says that federal officers are immune from the consequences of state law for actions they’re performing in the legitimate exercise of their federal duties. And the idea, which I think is actually relatively uncontroversial, is that federal officers who are lawfully acting within their federal duties are necessarily acting in a way that has to override contrary state laws. It’s analogous in that respect to the doctrine that’s generally known as preëmption—that valid federal laws will always displace valid state laws.

    So the idea here, in the best case, is that if federal officials are trying to enforce desegregation at a school in the South in the nineteen-fifties, for instance, then state and local officials cannot mess with them?

    That’s exactly right. You can’t prosecute federal officers for trespassing, for example, for enforcing a court order on a public school in the civil-rights era.

    Was the thinking behind the decision so high-minded, though, back in 1890?

    Actually, it was. So, the 1890 decision is this remarkably colorful case about the attempted assassination of Justice Stephen Field, and the question was whether his bodyguard, who was a deputy U.S. marshal, could be prosecuted by California for the murder of the Justice’s would-be assassin. And that was a context where I don’t think it’s especially surprising that the Supreme Court was of the view that the federal officer was immune from prosecution under state law for protecting one of their colleagues.

    What other decisions have come up about these questions since 1890?

    The biggest problem is that there really haven’t been that many cases, and virtually none that have gone back to the Supreme Court. Most of the development of the doctrine has actually been in lower courts. And one of the things I think is unhelpful is that, even when lower courts held in at least some of these cases that prosecutions could go forward, they were often dropped by the prosecutors before they produced a verdict. So we actually have a very, very tiny number of examples of successful state prosecutions of federal officers in American history. Of course, one might also say we don’t have that many examples in American history of what’s been happening in Minneapolis over the past three weeks.

    Has the Supreme Court ruled that Congress needs to provide authorization for states to go after federal officials? Am I understanding that correctly?

    The Supreme Court has never said that. There are other contexts in which the Supreme Court has said that Congress needs to specifically authorize, for example, [civil] damages suits before federal officers can be sued for violating the Constitution. But we’ve never quite had that ruling in the context of criminal prosecutions. And that’s because these cases have been so few and far between.

    The real development in case law has been trying to figure out exactly where the line is between the officer who was immunized because he was acting in good faith and the officer who went too far and should have known that he was going too far. There is a 2006 ruling in the federal appeals court in Denver, which was written by Michael McConnell, a very highly regarded and pretty right-of-center federal appeals judge. And McConnell says you can prosecute federal officers if it wasn’t necessary and reasonable for the officer, in the carrying out of their federal duties, to do what they did.

    And that ruling has held?

    I think the best that can be said is it’s the law of the Tenth Circuit right now. Minnesota is in the Eighth Circuit. So we’re in a place where there’s no obvious binding authority on this issue for state or local prosecutors.

    But let’s say that state or local prosecutors in Minnesota decide that that’s a good standard that you laid out from McConnell. Could you potentially have a situation where the question of whether what the federal officials were doing was “necessary and reasonable” would go to court?

    Isaac Chotiner

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  • Revisiting Minnesota’s “Open House” Exhibition in the Age of ICE

    Twenty years ago this week, the Minnesota History Center, in Minneapolis’s twin city, St. Paul, launched an interactive exhibition called “Open House: If These Walls Could Talk.” It was the most elaborate show the museum had ever attempted. Five thousand Minnesotans came out in the frigid January cold on opening weekend to see an actual house that had been reconstructed inside the museum, like a ship in a bottle. Successive generations of Americans—more than fifty families, across more than a century—had lived in the house, at 470 Hopkins Street, wave after wave of newcomers and immigrants, travellers who made Minnesota, and the U.S., their home. The exhibition told their story as the story of America. It won awards, broke records, and changed how museums tell stories. It is also an archive of a lost America.

    This weekend, on the streets of Minneapolis, masked agents of the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency shot and killed another American, a thirty-seven-year-old nurse, Alex Pretti. He, like the poet Renee Good, who was shot and killed by ICE earlier this month, was among thousands of Minnesotans who have taken to the streets, even amid brutally cold temperatures and a howling snowstorm, to protect immigrants in their state from assault, arrest, separation from their families, and deportation. U.S. immigration policy had become a travesty under the Biden Administration. But nothing about repairing that policy justifies the Trump Administration’s savage, vengeful, and unconstitutional “surge” deployment of ICE agents in American cities, their lawless, masked and wanton violence, or their immunity from prosecution. All over the Twin Cities, immigrants, whether they’re in the U.S. legally or not, have been hiding in their houses, afraid to leave, afraid, even, to peer out a window. Is America still home?

    “Open House” was spearheaded by the Minnesota History Center curator Benjamin Filene, who is now the deputy director of public history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. “The original idea was that we should do an exhibit about immigration,” Filene says. But he and the design team wanted to put visitors into an actual place and allow them to hear actual voices of actual people. He decided that place should be a house: a container of families and stories and artifacts. He found the house, which is still standing, in a neighborhood called Railroad Island. “No one famous ever slept there,” Filene says. Only ordinary Minnesotans slept there, and sleep there still, if there is still sleep to be had.

    Filene and his colleagues tracked down and interviewed everyone they could find who had lived at 470 Hopkins, or who was descended from anyone who lived there, across more than a century. They recorded oral histories; they fabricated period rooms. And then, inside the museum, they built a reimagined version of the house, in which each room featured the furnishings, and the stories, of a different generation of immigrants and newcomers. Two Germans, Albert and Henriette Schumacher, built the house in 1888. You could meet them, and hear their stories, in the sitting room. Then came waves of railroad workers—Scandinavian, Irish, especially—renting rooms in an ever-altering house, subdivided into two units, then three; even the house number changed.. Filene found them in city directories: James Doyle, depot foreman, Northern Pacific Railroad; Frank Appleton, night watchman. Harry and Eva Levey: Mother tongue: Jewish. In the kitchen, if you opened up the oven, you could listen to Michelina Frascone, who immigrated from Naples, in 1931, at the age of eleven, talk about raising seventy-five chickens in the basement. Frascone’s father had worked on the railroad for ten years to save up the money to bring Michelina and her mother to America. Then came the Rust Belt migrants, African Americans who had moved to the Twin Cities from Gary and Chicago and Detroit in the nineteen-eighties, and, finally, the Hmong refugees who had fled postwar Laos, some of whom were still living in the house when its near replica opened in the museum, two miles away.

    Every room in the house had interactive features triggered by motion. When you sat down at the dining-room table, Michelina Frascone started telling you the story of her uncle, Filomeno Cocchiarella, who had to go out on Thanksgiving night to repair the railroad tracks. “Please don’t go,” she’d begged him—and he’d got sideswiped, and killed, by a train. In the bedroom, when you sat down on the bed, you heard a man of Scandinavian descent who had married an Italian woman tell the story of how, one night, the bed collapsed—and, as he was telling it, the bed suddenly buckled beneath you. Pang Toua Yang and his wife, Mai Vang, who appeared on a television in the living room, told the story of fleeing Laos with their six children, crossing the Mekong River, and spending years in Thai refugee camps until, four years later, they arrived in Minnesota. Their daughter appeared in the exhibition, too; she became a go-getter realtor, selling homes to more new Americans.

    Jill Lepore

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  • Want to start a business? Work on your personal finances first – MoneySense

    For many immigrants, the idea of launching a business is part of the dream of independence and success. After all, the entrepreneurial drive runs deep—in a recent TD survey, half of newcomers said they were interested in starting a business even though 62% said they lacked enough information about financial products that support business owners. 

    That gap between ambition and readiness isn’t surprising. Building a business without first securing your personal financial footing can leave you vulnerable, however, not just to economic uncertainty, but to stress and burnout.

    In this article, I explore why it’s important to establish personal financial stability before launching a business, and offer actionable advice for newcomers who want to build a resilient financial base first.

    Why personal finances matter before starting a business

    When you’re self‑employed or running a business, your income can fluctuate wildly, especially in the early years. Without a solid foundation—such as savings, manageable debt levels, and an established credit history—you may find yourself tapping expensive forms of credit or compromising your long‑term goals just to keep your business afloat.

    And newcomers already face financial challenges: more than half (55%) report having difficulty managing their finances since arriving in Canada, with many struggling to understand the Canadian financial system.

    This isn’t just about money; it’s about confidence. The same survey found many newcomers lack a clear understanding of how Canadian banking, investing, and personal financial planning work, which contributes to anxiety about taking big financial steps like starting a business. 

    Without confidence in your own personal finances, it’s easy to delay business plans indefinitely or, worse, launch prematurely without the cushion you need to weather the early uncertainty of entrepreneurship.

    A personal perspective

    When my family and I moved to Canada, we were ambitious and optimistic. I had entrepreneurial experience from overseas, and I dreamed of building something meaningful here. But our first priority wasn’t launching a business, it was laying down a foundation: understanding the Canadian banking system, building credit, creating an emergency fund, and learning how taxes and retirement plans work here.

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    In those first years, I had to learn lessons the hard way. I was frustrated when my Canadian credit history didn’t reflect my financial past. Even with my background, I was initially approved for a low-limit credit card and had to slowly build trust with financial institutions. Over time, as my credit improved and I understood tax planning better, I gained the necessary confidence and structure to consider business ownership.

    That foundation gave me stability. When I finally did start my business, I could focus on growth, not survival.

    Compare the best bank accounts for side hustles

    7 ways newcomers can build their financial foundations 

    Here’s a practical road map to help you build a financial base you can be confident in before you make the jump into entrepreneurship.

    1. Create a personal emergency fund

    Before your income becomes unpredictable, save for at least one year of basic living expenses. If possible, aim for two. There are mixed messages out there on what the ideal rainy-day fund should be; some say three to six months but, as a serial entrepreneur, I always recommend erring on the side of caution. This fund offers breathing room when things are uncertain, and it prevents you from turning to high‑interest debt.

    2. Build and monitor your credit score

    A strong credit history is often needed for both personal and business finance. In Canada, newcomers frequently find it hard to build credit, even when they understand its importance before arriving here. In fact, according to the survey I quoted earlier, 79% of newcomers who applied for credit said it was difficult to start building a credit history. 

    Start small, use a secured credit card responsibly, pay off balances each month, and regularly check your credit reports. This will help when you eventually need business financing or better loan terms.

    Vickram Agarwal

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  • From Selma to Minneapolis

    On March 16, 1965, a thirty-nine-year-old woman named Viola Liuzzo got into a late-model Oldsmobile and drove eight hundred miles from her home in Detroit, Michigan, to Selma, Alabama. Days earlier, following the Bloody Sunday protests, where voting-rights demonstrators had been tear-gassed and beaten, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had issued an appeal to people of conscience across the country to come to Alabama and participate in what had already become one of the most consequential theatres in the movement for equality. Liuzzo, a white woman who’d been born in Pennsylvania, moved to Michigan, where she eventually married an official with the Teamsters and became active in the Detroit N.A.A.C.P. She told her family and friends that she felt compelled to do something about the situation in Alabama, arranged child care for her five children, and drove south.

    On March 25th, the third attempt at marching from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital, proved successful, and King delivered one of his least noted but most significant speeches on the ways in which disenfranchising Black voters had been key to gutting interracial progressive politics across the South. “Racial segregation,” King pointed out, “did not come about as a natural result of hatred between the races immediately after the Civil War.” Rather, he argued, it had evolved as part of a larger campaign to destroy the nascent alliance between former slaves and dispossessed whites that emerged during Reconstruction. Afterward, Liuzzo, who’d volunteered to transport activists between the two cities, drove toward Montgomery with Leroy Moton, a nineteen-year-old Black organizer. They never made it. Liuzzo’s car was intercepted by one carrying four men associated with the Ku Klux Klan. Bullets were fired into Liuzzo’s car, killing her. Moton, covered in Liuzzo’s blood, pretended to be dead, then set off to find help after the men departed.

    The murder sent shock waves through the movement and across the nation. The civil-rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner had been murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the previous summer, and that February, Jimmie Lee Jackson, a twenty-six-year-old marcher, was fatally shot by an Alabama state trooper after a voting-rights demonstration. Two weeks before Liuzzo was attacked, the Reverend James Reeb, a Unitarian minister and a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from Boston who also volunteered in the voting-rights campaign, had been beaten to death. Nonetheless, Liuzzo’s death—and, specifically, the fact that the movement’s antagonists were willing to kill a white woman—pointed to a broader conclusion. Forces arrayed against the movement did not simply represent a threat to African Americans, as was the popular perception. They were a mortal danger to anyone who disagreed with them, regardless of the person’s race, background, or gender.

    Recent events have given renewed pertinence to the circumstances of Viola Liuzzo’s death. In Minneapolis, on January 7th, Renee Good, a thirty-seven-year-old poet and mother of three from Colorado, was killed by Jonathan Ross, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fired at her car as she attempted to drive away. Good, who had just dropped her youngest child off at school, had been attempting to block the street as part of a protest against a sweeping ICE crackdown that has besieged Minneapolis for weeks. Superficially, the circumstances of the two deaths, separated by more than sixty years, bore some resemblance: two white women of similar age, both moved by conscience to come to the defense of vulnerable communities, both killed in their vehicles amid a much larger societal conflict playing out around them.

    Yet the more disturbing similarities lie in what happened after their deaths, and in what they conveyed about the crises in which they occurred. Liuzzo’s funeral, in Detroit, drew the leaders of the movement, including King and Roy Wilkins, the executive secretary of the N.A.A.C.P., as well as luminaries from organized labor, such as Walter Reuther and Jimmy Hoffa. Nonetheless, J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I. immediately launched a smear campaign against Liuzzo, falsely alleging that physical evidence suggested that she had used heroin shortly before her death and implying that she’d been drawn to Alabama not by deeply held principles but by the prospect of sex with Black men. The Bureau was likely attempting to distract the public from the fact that one of the four men in the car when Liuzzo was killed was an “undercover agent”—a paid informant—who had evidently done nothing to prevent her death. Hoover may have decided that, if Liuzzo’s character could be sufficiently impugned, then any potential backlash to the Bureau’s connection to an incident involving the murder of a married white mother could be avoided.

    Jelani Cobb

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  • Queens mother weeps for return of her teenage son taken by ICE – who threatened to deport her, too – amNewYork

    Gina Vega wipes tears from her eyes and she pleads for the return of her beloved son detained by ICE.

    Photo by Dean Moses

    Gina Vega sat weeping in the living room of her basement apartment in Queens. It was eerily empty and quiet; the sound of her teenage son within its walls had vanished after he was detained by ICE last year, leaving her alone with her own despair.

    The Ecuadorian mother wiped away tears from her eyes as she thought of her 18-year-old boy, whom she has not seen in more than two months. Despite the overwhelming sense of anguish, she is fighting for his release from an immigration detention center in Virginia.

    Jorge David Delgado Videla was detained on Nov. 5 inside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, after arriving with his mother for what they believed to be a routine ICE check-in on the fifth floor.

    “They told me to take Jorge’s things and go,” Vega recalled. “I haven’t seen him since then. They said to be grateful they weren’t detaining me, too.”

    While homeland security officials continue to claim that ICE is apprehending “the worst of the worst,” meaning violent criminals, Videla has only one misdemeanor arrest to his name.

    Videla was arrested by the NYPD in August after he got into an argument with a man in the Flushing train station. According to Vega, the stranger began yelling at Videla, and they got into a verbal confrontation.

    Although the fight never got physical, the pair were arrested and charged with menacing, a misdemeanor offense. It was only months later when ICE sent a letter demanding that he appear at the fateful check-in.

    Detained Queens teen’s mom: ‘He is not meant to be locked up’

    Vega escorted Videla inside 26 Federal Plaza when an ICE agent suddenly pointed to the student and took him to another room, where they announced they would be taking fingerprints and photographs. It would be the last time she saw him.

    The female ICE agent then returned with Videla’s belt and headphones and said they would call her later. ICE agents then confiscated her passport as well, without explanation.

    Both Vega and her son had applied for asylum in the United States after escaping a threat from an Ecuadorian gang, “Los choneros or Aguilas,” that had unsuccessfully tried to recruit the teenager two years prior. Videla’s friends lost their lives to the same gang. He had been attending the Pan American International High School and had been scheduled to graduate in July 2026.

    Mother Queens ICE detainment son
    Gina Vega sat in the living room of her basement apartment in Queens. It was eerily empty and quiet; the sound of her teenage son within its walls had vanished after he was detained by ICE, leaving her alone with her own despair.Photo by Dean Moses

    That same afternoon of his detention, Vega received a call from her son confirming what she feared: that ICE was holding him against his will indefinitely. With a friend’s help, she later learned that her son had been transferred out of the Big Apple to another detention center in Virginia.

    Videla’s detainment on the fifth floor comes after amNewYork made a special report last year, outlining the rise of immigrant arrests in that particular area of 26 Federal Plaza. Access is restricted on the fifth floor, with all detainment activity taking place out of sight of the press and the public. 

    According to Vega, Videla is now being held in a cell with people much older than him, despite only being 18 years old. Detention officials allow him limited recreational time and access to a gym, but he refuses most meals and eats only instant noodles that the center’s staff provides.

    “He cries. He says he is not meant to be locked up; he is not a criminal. He asks why they keep him locked up,” Vega said, sharing what she has learned through the infrequent calls with her son.

    Mother Queens ICE detainment son
    Gina Vega shows a photograph of herself and her son Jorge David Delgado Videla.Photo by Dean Moses

    Since his detainment, ICE offered him a “voluntary departure” to Mexico even though he is of Ecuadorian descent and has no ties to Mexico. A court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20, at which it will be determined whether he will face deportation.

    Other family members also spoke to amNewYork in defense of the young man.

    Jorge’s aunt, Yadira, describes her nephew as a calm, respectful person who always helps others. She also railed that the detention has been horrific for his mother since he is also the breadwinner for the family.

    “It’s very hard for his mother,” Yadira said. “She’s depressed because he is her only companion here. Every day we pray for strength – that he can stay here and start his life again.”

    Mother Queens ICE detainment son
    Gina Vega is pleading for the return of her son.Photo by Dean Moses

    By Dean Moses and Florencia Arozarena

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  • Protesters gather outside Orlando City Hall after ICE fatally shoots Minneapolis woman

    Protesters gather outside Orlando City Hall after ICE fatally shoots Minneapolis woman

    AND THERE HAVE BEEN PROTESTS ERUPTING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AFTER THIS. THIS IS A LOOK AT DEMONSTRATIONS IN LOUISIANA AND NEW YORK. AND EVEN HERE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. THE GROUP ORLANDO, 5150, RALLIED OUTSIDE OF ORLANDO CITY HALL TONIGHT PROTESTING THE MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING. WESH 2’S TONY ATKINS IS THERE LIVE RIGHT NOW? TONY. THE GROUP ORGANIZED A PROTEST JUST HOURS BEFORE IT HAPPENED. YEAH. JESSE. TONIGHT THEY CALLED IT AN EMERGENCY PROTEST. ABOUT FOUR DOZEN DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED OUTSIDE CITY HALL HERE. IN RESPONSE TO THAT ICE INVOLVED SHOOTING. THAT HAPPENED MORE THAN 1500 MILES NORTH IN MINNESOTA. COCO TRUMP AND I HAVE GOT TO GO. HEY, HEY! HO HO. A GROUP OF DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED OUTSIDE ORLANDO CITY HALL DECRYING ICE AND ITS PRESENCE OVER THE COURSE OF THE PAST YEAR. TRUMP AND THE BILLIONAIRE CRONIES WILL STOP AT NOTHING FROM USING ICE AS A SWORD AGAINST THE WORKING CLASS. THE UPROAR COMES AFTER A 37 YEAR OLD WOMAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY AN ICE AGENT DURING A PROTEST WEDNESDAY. THE NEWS, EMOTIONAL FOR PASTOR SARAH ROBINSON, WHO JOINED THE ORLANDO DEMONSTRATION. YOU KNOW, IT’S THE REASON I BECAME A PASTOR. NO. KNOW I STAIN OUR STREETS TO LOVE PEOPLE. WELL, THERE’S NO PEACE TO CARE FOR OUR COMMUNITIES, TO MAKE THRIVING. FLOURISHING COMMUNITIES. WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW IS SO ANTITHETICAL TO THAT. STAND UP. FIGHT BACK. WEDNESDAY’S PROTEST WAS ORGANIZED 2.5 HOURS BEFORE IT HAPPENED IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO. ORGANIZERS CALLING IT AN EMERGENCY PROTEST. THIS PERSON WAS SHOT AT POINT BLANK RANGE IN A HIGHLY STRESSFUL SITUATION, AND THE ICE AGENTS HAD NO JUSTIFICATION WHATSOEVER FOR THIS KILLING. EVERYONE IS HERE BECAUSE OF THEIR LOVE FOR OTHERS. THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE. AND THIS IS OUR LOVE. OUT LOUD. AND ORGANIZERS SAY THEY’RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO DEMONSTRATE AS THEY CONTINUE TO PUSH FOR CHANGE FOLLOWING THIS DEADLY SHOOTING. I’M COVERING ORANGE COUNTY LIVE IN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO AT CITY HALL. TONY ATKINS WESH TWO NEWS. ALL RIGHT, TONY, THANK YOU. NOW, THIS SHOOTING, EXPERTS SAY, WILL HAVE IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT NATIONWIDE. THOSE ARE YET TO BE SEEN. OF COURSE, WE’RE GOING TO CONTINUE FOLLOWING ALL OF THIS

    Protesters gather outside Orlando City Hall after ICE fatally shoots Minneapolis woman

    Updated: 10:21 PM EST Jan 7, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A protest was organized outside of Orlando City Hall at approximately 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, where people gathered to repudiate the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.Groups including Orlando 50501, The Family Support Network, the Immigrants Are Welcomed Here Coalition and the Hope Community Center, will be there.>> This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is released.

    ORLANDO, Fla. —

    A protest was organized outside of Orlando City Hall at approximately 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, where people gathered to repudiate the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

    Groups including Orlando 50501, The Family Support Network, the Immigrants Are Welcomed Here Coalition and the Hope Community Center, will be there.

    >> This is a developing story and will be updated as new information is released.

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  • Venezuelan singer-songwriter looks to the future for the US and his former homeland – WTOP News

    For a singer-songwriter who came to the United States from Venezuela seven years ago, the news that the U.S. had removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power was welcome news.

    For a singer-songwriter who came to the U.S. from Venezuela seven years ago, the news that the U.S. had removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power was welcome news.

    Jonathan Acosta, who made his home in Virginia, told WTOP in an interview that when he initially heard the news, he was overjoyed.

    “The reaction was something like, ‘Oh, my God, we got it,’” Acosta said.

    He explained that, in his eyes, Maduro was a dictator.

    Acosta said there had been many human rights abuses under the Maduro regime. Maduro has also been accused of stealing elections.

    “We don’t have a regular government, a conventional government, a normal government in Venezuela,” he said.

    When he appeared in court to face charges of conspiracy and drug trafficking, Maduro said he was “captured” and pleaded not guilty.

    Some Venezuelans living in the U.S., as well as Americans, have been critical of the military action and the lack of consultation with Congress before President Donald Trump’s administration deployed U.S. forces into Venezuela.

    Acosta said if he were asked whether he would prefer Venezuela to be aligned with Russia, China or the U.S., “My response for you is very clear. I prefer the United States.”

    At the same time, Acosta said it’s disheartening to see how Venezuelan immigrants as a whole have been portrayed as gang members and criminals.

    “It’s true that Tren de Aragua came from Venezuela. That is true,” he said, while noting the majority of Venezuelan immigrants “are good people … working very hard.”

    Acosta has performed locally, including at the Kennedy Center, and sang the national anthem at a Washington Wizards game in September 2024. He described that experience as important, because he felt he represented Venezuelans and the Hispanic community to a broad audience.

    “I was singing to say ‘thank you’ to the United States,” he said of the experience.

    Acosta has released a new album called “Americano Somos,” a nod to the cultures of North America, Central America and South America. The music spotlights what Acosta said he wants listeners to recognize, that all residents of the continents are Americans.

    “With the music, we can bring hope, esperanza,” Acosta said. “That is my work, my job now.”

    Kate Ryan

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  • What does Maduro’s capture mean for Venezuelans in the U.S.? We answer your questions

    A man wipes his tears as members of the Venezuelan exile community gather in prayer during Sunday Mass led by Reverend Israel Mago, one day after the United States attacked Venezuela and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Sunday, January 4, 2026, in Doral, Florida.

    A man wipes his tears as members of the Venezuelan exile community gather in prayer during Sunday Mass led by Reverend Israel Mago, one day after the United States attacked Venezuela and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Sunday, January 4, 2026, in Doral, Florida.


    Carl Juste

    cjuste@miamiherald.com

    During a national television appearance on Sunday morning, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. who lost deportation protections under the Trump administration have the opportunity to apply for refugee status.

    “We need to make sure that our programs actually mean something, and that we’re following the law,” Noem said during an interview on Fox News.

    In the wake of the United States’s capture of Venezuela strongman Nicolás Maduro, the remarks generated confusion among Venezuelan immigrants. But even before the U.S. government carried out the dramatic military operation Saturday, Venezuelan immigrants were already living in vast uncertainty as high-profile targets of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

    The Trump administration has stripped over 600,000 Venezuelans of their work permits and deportation protections under Temporary Protected Status. He has also invoked an 18th Century law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador; ended a parole program that legally brought over 117,000 Venezuelans to the United States, and arrested asylum seekers at their court hearings.

    What’s next for Venezuelan immigrants in the United States? Here are answers to some key questions:

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said “every individual that was under TPS has the opportunity to apply for refugee status.” What does that mean?

    In a word: unclear.

    Under federal law, individuals must be located outside the United States to become part of the U.S. Refugee Program. They must also be referred by someone else for their applications to be considered.

    President Trump’s administration set a historically low cap of 7,500 refugees nationally for fiscal year 2026, down from 125,000 in fiscal year 2025 under President Joe Biden. Trump also directed the 2026 admissions to be largely allocated to Afrikaners from South Africa.

    The Department of Homeland Security rejected interpretations that Noem’s comments mean that the over half-a-million Venezuelans that lost TPS would now be considered for refugee admissions.

    “This is not what Secretary Noem said. President Trump is bringing stability to Venezuela and bringing to justice an illegitimate Narco Terrorist dictator who stole from his own people,” the agency said on social media. “Secretary Noem ended Temporary Protected Status for more than 500,000 Venezuelans, and now they can go home to a country they love.”

    Many former TPS recipients from Venezuela have pending asylum cases. And if a former TPS recipient had not applied for asylum, they might still have some time. Having TPS status stops the clock on the requirement to file for asylum within a year of arriving to the United States as long as the one-year-clock has not expired.

    But the Trump administration has made it harder for immigrants to apply for asylum, even asking immigration judges to close people’s cases in court and then arresting them after their hearing.

    “She made [the remarks] in the narrowest possible way. Anyone can apply for anything but there are no plans to grant them asylum,” said David Bier, director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute.

    The administration stripped over 600,000 Venezuelans of protections and work permits under Temporary Protected Status. What happens to them now?

    For now, nothing changes.

    The Trump administration stripped hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans from their immigration relief under TPS, which is granted to people already in the United States who came from countries in turmoil. The administration said that conditions like healthcare and crime had improved in Venezuela, making it possible for Venezuelans to return home. But they noted that regardless of conditions, Venezuela’s TPS designation was not in the best interest of the United States.

    For many former TPS holders, their only remaining pathway to stay in the United States is seeking asylum. But some experts think that it will be harder now for Venezuelan immigrants to claim asylum based on a claim of political persecution.

    “They have no status and the administration will argue that now that Maduro is gone, their persecution claims are invalid,” Bier said.

    What will happen to U.S. deportation flights to Venezuela?

    Between February and November 2025, the U.S. conducted 73 deportation flights to Venezuela, sending back 13,656 of its nationals, according to Human Rights First, which tracks removal flights.

    But the United States unilaterally suspended deportation flights to the South American country in mid-December, according to Venezuela’s government. That could soon change as part of any negotiations between Washington and Caracas.

    “Expect an increase in deportation flights to Venezuela as a condition that the U.S. will require Delcy Rodriguez to meet,” said Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council, in reference to Maduro’s vice president, who the Venezuelan Supreme Court ordered to be interim president. “These regular deportation flights have been one of the few points of cooperation with Venezuela over the course of the last year.”

    The U.S. used the Alien Enemies Act last year to deport to El Salvador hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members. Could the administration try to invoke the act again?

    In March 2025 Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act against alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, saying they were trying to invade the United States. He sent about 250 Venezuelans to CECOT, a notorious prison in El Salvador. Public records later showed most of the men deported did not have criminal records in the U.S. and they were later sent back to Venezuela.

    The Washington Post has reported that Stephen Miller, White House senior advisor to Trump, has said that “a strong reaction from Caracas could provide the pretext to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants from the United States.”

    However, to invoke the Alien Enemies Act the United States would have to declare war against Venezuela. After the U.S. attack on Caracas, Trump and other officials have emphasized that no further military operations are planned. However, Trump did say the United States is “ready to stage a second and much larger attack.” although he mentioned it won’t likely be needed. And Congress has not voted on or approved a declaration of war.

    “They could try to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, but they are simultaneously arguing that we aren’t at war with Venezuela, so legally and politically, it wouldn’t make sense,” Bier said.

    This story was originally published January 4, 2026 at 5:10 PM.

    Syra Ortiz Blanes

    el Nuevo Herald

    Syra Ortiz Blanes covers immigration for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. Previously, she was the Puerto Rico and Spanish Caribbean reporter for the Heralds through Report for America.

    Syra Ortiz Blanes

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  • New York is the 8th state found to have improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants

    By JOSH FUNK

    New York is the eighth state found to routinely issue commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants that are valid long after they are no longer legally authorized to be in the country, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday, and he threatened to withhold $73 million in highway funds unless the system is fixed and any flawed licenses are revoked.

    Associated Press

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  • New York is the 8th state found to have improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants

    By JOSH FUNK

    New York is the eighth state found to routinely issue commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants that are valid long after they are no longer legally authorized to be in the country, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday, and he threatened to withhold $73 million in highway funds unless the system is fixed and any flawed licenses are revoked.

    Associated Press

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  • Suspect identified as 2 National Guard members remain in critical condition after targeted shooting near White House

    (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has identified the suspect involved in the Wednesday shooting of two National Guard members, who remain in critical condition.

    The suspect is Rahmanullah Lakamal, who came to the US from Afghanistan in 2021, DHS said in a statement late Wednesday. Officials said earlier the suspect is in custody.

    Multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told CNN the shooter’s initial identification matches a man from Washington state who applied for asylum in 2024, which was granted by the Trump administration earlier this year.

    The two guard members had been performing “high visibility patrols” near the White House before the suspect appeared, “raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard,” said Jeffery Carroll, the executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, during a news conference earlier Wednesday.

    Bowser and FBI Director Kash Patel said during the news conference the two guard members are in critical condition.

    DC Mayor Muriel Bowser described the attack as a “targeted shooting” in a post on X and said the two guard members shot were part of the West Virginia National Guard.

    “To the American public and the world, please send your prayers to those brave warriors who are in critical condition and their families,” Patel said during the news conference.

    Carroll added during the presser “there is no indication” that there is another suspect, adding that the suspect in custody was taken to an area hospital.

    The shooting took place near Farragut Square — a tourist-heavy area located near a busy transit center and the White House.

    A source familiar with the investigation told CNN earlier Wednesday that law enforcement officials are not tracking any other victims of the shooting beyond the two National Guard officers and the suspect.

    Three law enforcement sources told CNN that the suspect approached the guardsmen and appeared to target them, firing first at one of the guardsmen who was mere feet away.

    One source said the suspect then fired at the other guardsman, who tried to get behind a bus stop shelter. The source added that the suspect is not cooperating with investigators and had no identification on him at the time of his arrest.

    What we know about the shooting

    Video from the nearby Metro station showed the shooting as it happened, law enforcement officials told CNN.

    The gunman approached three National Guard members who appeared to not see him until he began shooting, striking one guard member and then another, the officials said.

    The gunman then stood over the first victim and appeared to try to fire another round. That’s when the third guard member returned fire at the alleged shooter, the sources said.

    A woman who was near the scene of the shooting told CNN she heard gunshots and then saw a “bunch of people” administering CPR to people who were on the ground.

    Two law enforcement sources said earlier Wednesday the suspect was detained and transported away from the scene on a stretcher.

    Authorities ran the fingerprints of the man in custody and that’s how they got the initial name, one law enforcement official told CNN.

    Investigators recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the attack on the National Guard members and are working to determine when and how the suspect obtained it, law enforcement officials told CNN.

    US law restricts firearms sales to people who aren’t citizens or legal permanent residents and it’s unclear whether the alleged gunman could have legally bought the handgun, the officials said.

    Prior to the Wednesday news conference, there were conflicting reports about the condition of the guardsman after West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey posted on social media — and later corrected — that the guardsmen were believed to be dead.

    Earlier in the day, DC Metropolitan Police said on X that the scene is secure and one suspect is in custody. They advised people to avoid the area.

    Joint Task Force — DC, the National Guard office responsible for organizing the Guard mission to Washington, DC, confirmed in a statement Wednesday afternoon that “several” of its members “were involved in a shooting near the Farragut West Metro Station,” adding that it is working with DC police and other “law enforcement agencies.”

    A police car blocks a street in Washington, DC, following a shooting on November 26. Credit: Joe Merkel / CNN via CNN Newsource

    Trump addresses nation and calls for re-examining Afghan immigrants

    President Donald Trump identified the suspect as an Afghan national in a video from Mar-a-Lago posted late Wednesday and blamed the Biden administration for allowing him into the country.

    “I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan — a hell hole on earth,” Trump said in the video, adding that the suspect “was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021.”

    “We’re not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn’t even be in our country,” Trump added. “We must now reexamine every single alien who’s entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”

    Following Trump’s remarks, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X that the processing of all immigration cases related to Afghan immigrants “is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

    The Trump administration was already in the process of re-interviewing Afghan migrants admitted to the US during the previous administration, CNN reported earlier this week. Trump officials have repeatedly argued that the previous administration didn’t sufficiently vet the people who entered the US.

    In his video, Trump also reiterated his request to deploy 500 more National Guardsmen to Washington, DC, in response to the shooting, which was shared by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier in the day.

    Shortly after the shooting, Trump weighed in on Truth Social, saying, “The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen … is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”

    Vice President JD Vance, during remarks at an event in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, called for prayers for the national guardsmen, who he said were in critical condition at the time.

    The shooting is “a somber reminder that soldiers whether they’re active duty, reserve or National Guard are soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” Vance added.

    National Guard troops in nation’s capital since August

    National Guard troops from multiple states have been in Washington, DC, for months as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-crime crackdown in the nation’s capital, which has since expanded to other cities across the country.

    Trump mobilized the National Guard in August and the troops were authorized to conduct law enforcement activities.

    CNN reported last month that National Guard troops will remain mobilized in the city at least through February.

    However, last week a federal judge halted the mobilization of the National Guard in Washington, DC, ruling that Trump and the Defense Department illegally deployed the troops.

    In her ruling, the judge said there were “more than 2,000 National Guard troops” every day in the city.

    The judge did not immediately order the National Guard to leave the city, allowing the Trump administration some time to file an appeal, which it did Tuesday.

    The administration earlier Wednesday asked a federal appeals court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order to remove the National Guard from Washington, DC.

    This story and headline have been updated with additional details.

    CNN’s John Miller contributed to this report.

    Zachary Cohen, Kaanita Iyer, Holmes Lybrand, Gabe Cohen, Evan Perez and CNN

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  • Democratic attorneys general sue to block USDA guidance that makes some immigrants ineligible for SNAP benefits

    (CNN) — A coalition of 21 attorneys general have sued to block new guidance from the US Department of Agriculture that declares some immigrants, including refugees and those granted asylum, ineligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the coalition of other Democratic attorneys general, said in a statement Wednesday that the Trump administration is illegally cutting off benefits for tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents.

    The USDA provided the new guidance to states narrowing SNAP eligibility last month, aligning with rollbacks of the program outlined in President Donald Trump’s domestic policy law that passed earlier this year.

    The attorneys general argue in the lawsuit that the memo goes beyond what the law prescribes since it would make anyone who entered the country through humanitarian protection programs permanently ineligible for SNAP benefits — also known as food stamps — even if they become legal residents.

    The group of attorneys general warn that the USDA’s guidance, which prompts a swift overhaul of eligibility systems, “threatens to destabilize SNAP nationwide,” and could put significant financial strain on states that would have to shoulder the cost of fines.

    The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Oregon to vacate and block the implementation of the USDA’s guidance.

    The filing comes just days after a federal judge in Virginia dismissed an indictment against James, whom President Donald Trump has viewed as a political opponent.

    A spokesperson for USDA declined to comment on “pending litigation.”

    This is a developing story and will be updated.

    Alison Main and CNN

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  • Trump administration threatens Pa. over driver’s licenses ‘illegally’ issued to immigrant truckers

    The U.S. Department of Transportation said this week it would withhold $75 million in federal funding from Pennsylvania if the state does not meet demands to address how it issues commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants.

    Michael Tanenbaum

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  • Federal Judge Holds Pivotal Hearing on Termination of TPS for 60,000 Immigrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua

    On Tuesday, Nov. 18, advocates, families, and community leaders gathered outside the Phillip Burton Federal Courthouse as a federal judge considered the legality of the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 60,000 longtime U.S. residents from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. The hearing in NTPSA II v. Noem marks a decisive moment for TPS holders, most of whom have lived in the United States for more than 25 years under humanitarian protection.

    Earlier this year, despite the district court’s ruling that the terminations were likely unlawful, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed protections issued by the district court and allowed the terminations to take effect, stripping tens of thousands of TPS holders of their lawful status and work authorization.

    At Tuesday’s hearing, the district court considered whether to issue a final judgment that would restore protections for these individuals while the case proceeds. The judge did not make a ruling on the parties’ summary judgment motions but indicated she intended to deny the government’s motion to dismiss the case.

    Outside the court, plaintiffs spoke about how their lives had been impacted by the TPS terminations.

    Inside the courtroom, attorneys presented documents and expert testimony showing that the decisions to end TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal were motivated by politics and bias rather than legal considerations.

    The judge questioned the government’s claims but did not specify when a ruling would be issued.

    Legal representatives emphasized their strong commitment to continuing the fight for TPS holders and their families. TPS recipients expressed fear and uncertainty due to the loss of lawful status, despite their decades-long contributions as workers, homeowners, parents, and vital members of their communities.

    Approximately 60,000 individuals, many of whom arrived in the U.S. in the 1990s, now face the threat of deportation and family separation, and most already are facing severe economic hardship. TPS holders are essential contributors to industries including construction, childcare, healthcare, and disaster recovery. Ending protections would destabilize families and weaken local economies across the country.

    “Families who have lived here legally for decades are now in limbo,” said Francis Garcia of the National TPS Alliance. “Today’s hearing is their chance at justice.”

    This case will determine not only the fate of thousands of TPS holders but also the strength of the United States’ humanitarian commitments and the rule of law. Advocates emphasized that the district court’s earlier findings were clear: the terminations were arbitrary, unlawful, and contrary to the purpose of the TPS program. They called on the court to restore TPS protections and urged Congress and the Trump administration to create a permanent legislative solution for all TPS holders.

    “We are here to defend our families and our futures,” said Jose Palma, closing the press conference. “TPS holders have built their lives in this country. Home is here, and we deserve stability and dignity.”

    The plaintiffs are the National TPS Alliance, which represents hundreds of thousands of TPS holders nationwide; and individual TPS holders from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Nepal who have lost their legal status due to DHS Secretary Noem’s TPS terminations. The plaintiffs are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Northern and Southern California, and Haitian Bridge Alliance.

    Atlanta Daily World

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  • Afghan man living in Lowell speaks about ICE detention

    LOWELL — When Ihsanullah Garay was delivering food on Sept. 14, he found himself struggling to find the Starbucks he was being sent to pick up from in Methuen.

    He asked the first people he saw for directions, a man and a woman sitting in a car. The man pointed Garay in the right direction, he told The Sun Monday morning, and Garay thanked him and started walking away. Then, the two people started asking Garay questions about his nationality, and where he was born. Garay is from Afghanistan, arriving in the U.S. in the spring of 2021 on a student visa to get a doctorate in finance.

    “I said, ‘Brother, this is not related to you. You helped me, I said thank you, that’s it,’” Garay said.

    Garay then tried to walk away, but he said the man shouted at him, and continued questioning Garay’s nationality, while Garay maintained that he was in the country legally.

    After more back and forth, Garay said the man finally identified himself as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, and ask him to produce identification, which Garay had in his car, along with an ID badge from a former job.

    Garay was soon placed in handcuffs, beginning a more than monthlong ordeal in ICE custody that brought him to three different ICE facilities in three states before he was released on bond last month. After he arrived back in Lowell, where he has been living with his cousin, Abdul Ahad Storay, Garay took some time to settle and work to get back on track with his ongoing treatment for brain cancer.

    On Monday, he sat down with The Sun in Storay’s computer store in Downtown Lowell to give his firsthand account of his experience.

    Garay said that when he was placed in handcuffs, he tried to explain his situation to the ICE agents, to no avail.

    “I said, ‘What are you doing? I have brain cancer. I have a work permit, I have Social Security, I have everything. What are you doing?’ He said nothing,” said Garay.

    Garay’s first stop was the ICE field office in Burlington, where many of those detained by the agency in Greater Lowell are being brought. Since the spring, allegations of extremely poor conditions inside the building have been made by detainees and their attorneys, as it is designed primarily as an office building, not a long-term detention facility.

    Garay could not speak much to the conditions inside, as he said he was only at the facility for roughly an hour before he was transferred to another facility in Rhode Island. In that short time, though, Garay said he was asked by ICE officials for proof that he has brain cancer, which he was able to show them through his MyChart app when they brought him his phone, which they had confiscated along with his ID and other belongings. When the ICE officials saw the medical documents, Garay said they seemed shocked he was telling the truth.

    While still in Burlington, Garay said he suffered a couple medical episodes which lasted about two minutes, though he was unsure whether these were seizures or something else stemming from his brain cancer.

    Garay spent about 28 days in the facility in Rhode Island, and at one point he said similar medical episodes would occur on a near nightly basis, bringing him to the point of needing a wheelchair to move around, but the medical care available at the facility was not sufficient, he said. After he was moved to Georgia, where he was given the Oct. 21 court hearing that resulted in his release, Garay said he experienced more of the same.

    “They have no neurosurgeon, they have no oncologist, they have no neurologist, nothing,” said Garay.

    Through all of this, Garay was missing key appointments in the course of his cancer treatment. He was supposed to start a new medication at a Sept. 24 appointment at Boston Medical Center, but he missed it while in custody and was not able to start the medication on time. Even after reaching out to his doctors, Garay said the medicine did not arrive before he was moved to Georgia. In the meantime, he said he was prescribed Keppra, an anti-seizure medication he was supposed to take in the morning and evening, but it was only ever brought to him for the night dose while he was in Rhode Island.

    In Georgia, Garay said he saw a slight improvement to that end, as they gave him both daily doses of the anti-seizure medication, though at that facility he still lacked the medical care he needed.

    After he was released on bond, the police brought Garay to the airport, where he was denied boarding because his identification had been taken by ICE in Massachusetts, despite reassurance from the police and ICE he would be allowed on the plane.

    After Storay called local police to help his cousin, Garay was brought to Jacksonville, Florida, where he got on a bus for the multi-day journey back north to Lowell.

    Now home, Garay is doing much better. He is able to walk around without the need for a wheelchair, and his cancer treatment is moving back on track after he met with his doctors at the end of October. His next appointment is an MRI at Boston Medical Center later this month, and he has multiple other appointments scheduled with his doctors before the end of the year.

    Still, his ICE ordeal continues with a court hearing on Dec. 11 in Georgia, but Garay and his attorneys are working on getting it moved up to Massachusetts. He hopes to remain in the U.S., not only because of his ongoing medical treatment, but also because both he and Storay, himself a U.S. citizen, would not be safe returning to Afghanistan, which fell back to Taliban control in 2021, months after Garay left the country.

    As his home country fell, and the U.S. completed the withdrawal of its military forces, Garay applied for asylum that August on top of his student visa, fearing what would happen to him if he were to return.

    “If the U.S. will give me nationality, I will accept it. If not, I will go somewhere else,” said Garay. “When the Taliban suddenly came, I had no choice but to apply for asylum.”

    Garay’s asylum case has been pending ever since. So when Temporary Protected Status was offered to Afghan citizens living in the U.S. the following spring after the Taliban retook control, Garay did not apply for TPS due to his open asylum case. TPS for Afghanistan was terminated in July this year.

    “They (ICE) told me my visa expired in September 2021. I asked them how this was possible when I came in April,” said Garay.

    Even without the Taliban, Garay said he could not return because Afghanistan lacks the medical infrastructure he needs to treat his cancer.

    Now that he is back in Lowell, Garay is looking for other work that is not food delivery.

    In addition to delivering food, Garay said he had been working at Lahey Hospital as a receptionist, but he left that job just a couple weeks before his arrest after they could not give him enough hours.

    Friends of Garay also left Afghanistan after he did, but some went to Canada, he said, and once there they asked him to join them.

    “I said no … I don’t want to be in some country illegally, so that is why I am here,” said Garay.

    Garay credited Storay for getting him back to Lowell.

    “He knows my situation. Nobody can even imagine my situation … He also knows what he has been spending on me. Only he knows,” said Garay.

    An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Friday. When previously asked about Garay’s case in October, ICE Boston spokesperson James Covington said in a statement Garay is “an illegal alien from Afghanistan,” and claimed he lawfully entered the U.S. in April 2021 with permission to remain until Sept. 7, 2021.

    “However, he violated the terms of his lawful admission when he refused to leave the country. Garay will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings,” Covington said in the Oct. 11 statement.

    In addition to Garay’s current work permit, Storay was also able to show The Sun Garay’s original student visa, which was issued in April 2021 and expired one year later, seven months after Covington claimed it did.

    Peter Currier

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  • HHS orders state Medicaid find immigrants in US illegally

    The Trump administration has ordered states to investigate certain individuals enrolled in Medicaid to determine whether they are ineligible because of their immigration status, with five states reporting they’ve together received more than 170,000 names — an “unprecedented” step by the federal government that ensnares the state-federal health program in the president’s immigration crackdown.

    Advocates say the push burdens states with duplicative verification checks and could lead people to lose coverage just for missing paperwork deadlines. But the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Mehmet Oz, said in a post on the social platform X on Oct. 31 that more than $1 billion “of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants” in five states and Washington, D.C.

    Medicaid’s overall spending topped $900 billion in fiscal year 2024.

    It wasn’t clear from Oz’s statement or an accompanying video over what period the spending happened, and CMS spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions, either for an earlier version of this article or after Oz’s statement was posted.

    Only U.S. citizens and some lawfully present immigrants are eligible for Medicaid, which covers low-income and disabled people and the closely related Children’s Health Insurance Program. Those without legal status are ineligible for federally funded health coverage, including Medicaid, Medicare, and plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

    Several states disputed Oz’s comments.

    “Our payments for coverage of undocumented individuals are in accordance with state and federal laws,” said Marc Williams, a spokesperson for Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy & Financing, which administers the state’s Medicaid program. “The $1.5 million number referenced by federal leaders today is based on an incorrect preliminary finding, and has been refuted with supporting data by our Department experts.”

    He added: “It is disappointing that the administration is announcing this number as final when it is clearly overstated and the conversations are very much in the education and discussion phase.”

    Illinois Medicaid officials blasted Oz’s comments.

    “Once again, the Trump administration is spreading misinformation about standard uses of Medicaid dollars,” said Illinois Medicaid spokesperson Melissa Kula. “This is not a reality show, and there is no conspiracy to circumvent federal law and provide ineligible individuals with Medicaid coverage. Dr. Oz should stop pushing conspiracy theories and focus on improving health care for the American people.”

    The Washington State Health Care Authority, which runs the state’s Medicaid program, was also blunt.

    “The numbers Dr. Oz posted on social media today are inaccurate,” said spokesperson Rachelle Alongi. “We were very surprised to see Dr. Oz’s post, especially considering we continue to work with CMS in good faith to answer their questions and clear up any confusion.”

    In August, CMS began sending states the names of people enrolled in Medicaid that the agency suspected might not be eligible, demanding state Medicaid agencies check their immigration status.

    KFF Health News in October reached out to Medicaid agencies in 10 states. Five provided the approximate number of names they had received from the Trump administration, with expectations of more to come: Colorado had been given about 45,000 names, Ohio 61,000, Pennsylvania 34,000, Texas 28,000, and Utah 8,000. More than 70 million people are enrolled in Medicaid.

    Most of those states declined to comment further. Medicaid agencies in California, Florida, Georgia, New York and South Carolina refused to say how many names they were ordered to review or did not respond.

    Oz said in his X post that California had misspent $1.3 billion on care for people not eligible for Medicaid, while Illinois spent $30 million, Oregon $5.4 million, Washington state $2.4 million, Washington, D.C., $2.1 million, and Colorado $1.5 million.

    “We notified the states, and many have begun refunding the money,” he said. “But what if we had never asked?”

    Washington, D.C.’s Medicaid director, Melisa Byrd, said CMS had identified administrative expenses for the district program that covers people regardless of immigration status that should not have been billed to the federal government and her agency has already fixed some of those areas. “We run a big program that is very complex and when mistakes or errors happen, we fix them,” she said.

    The program plans to pay $654,014 back to CMS by mid-November.

    All five states, plus Washington, D.C., are led by Democrats, and President Donald Trump didn’t win any of them in the 2024 election.

    In recent days, Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill began posting pictures on X of people he said are convicted criminals living in the U.S. without authorization who had received Medicaid benefits.

    O’Neill could not be reached for comment.

    “We are very concerned because this seems, frankly, to be a waste of state resources and furthers the administration’s anti-immigrant agenda,” said Ben D’Avanzo, senior health advocacy strategist with the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy group. “This duplicates what states already do,” he said.

    As part of the administration’s crackdown on people in the U.S. without authorization, President Donald Trump in February directed federal agencies to take action to ensure they are not obtaining benefits in violation of federal law.

    In June, advisers to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered CMS to share information about Medicaid enrollees with the Department of Homeland Security, drawing a lawsuit by some states alarmed that the administration would use the information for its deportation campaign against unauthorized residents.

    In August, a federal judge ordered HHS to stop sharing the information with immigration authorities.

    State Medicaid agencies use databases maintained by the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security to verify enrollees’ immigration status.

    If states need to go back to individuals to reverify their citizenship or immigration status, it could lead some to fall off the rolls unnecessarily — for example, if they don’t see a letter requesting paperwork or fail to meet a deadline to respond.

    “I am not sure that evidence suggests there really is a need for this” extra verification, said Marian Jarlenski, a health policy professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.

    Oz made clear that the Trump administration disagrees.

    “Whether willful or not, the states’ conduct highlights a terrifying reality: American taxpayers have been footing the bill for illegal immigrants’ Medicaid coverage, despite many Democrats and the media insisting otherwise,” Oz said in his X post.

    In an August press release, CMS said it would ask states to verify eligibility for enrollees whose immigration status could not be confirmed via federal databases. “We expect states to take quick action and will monitor progress on a monthly basis,” the agency said.

    Leonardo Cuello, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, called the CMS order to states “unprecedented” in the Medicaid program’s 60-year history.

    He said the federal government may have been unable to verify certain individuals’ immigration status because names were misspelled or outdated, such as when a beneficiary is identified by their maiden instead of married name. The names may also include people helped by Emergency Medicaid, a program that covers the cost of hospital emergency services, including labor and delivery, for people regardless of immigration status.

    “CMS is conducting pointless immigration status reviews for people whose hospital bills were paid by Emergency Medicaid,” Cuello said.

    Oz noted in his post that federal law “does permit states to use Medicaid dollars for emergency treatment, regardless of patients’ citizenship or immigration status,” and that states can “legally build Medicaid programs for illegal immigrants using their own state tax dollars, so long as no federal tax dollars are used.”

    The states Oz mentioned all run their own such programs.

    The verification checks create an added burden for state Medicaid agencies that are already busy preparing to implement the tax and policy law Trump signed in July. The measure, which Republicans call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, makes many changes to Medicaid, including adding a work requirement in most states starting by 2027. The law also requires most states to more frequently check the eligibility of many adult Medicaid enrollees — at least twice a year.

    “I fear states may do unnecessary checks that create a burden for some enrollees who will lose health coverage who should not,” Cuello said. “It’s going to be a whole lot of work for CMS and states for very little pay dirt.”

    Cuello said the effort may have “greater political value than actual value.”

    Brandon Cwalina, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, which runs Medicaid in the state, said the state already requires every Medicaid applicant to verify their citizenship or, where applicable, their eligible immigration status.

    However, he said, the directive issued by CMS “constitutes a new process, and DHS is carefully reviewing the list in order to take appropriate actions.”

    Oz did not name Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2024, in his post.

    If a lawful resident does not have a Social Security number, the state confirms their legal status by checking a database from Homeland Security, as well as verifying specific immigration documents, he said.

    Other state Medicaid agencies said they also needed to regroup before reaching out to enrollees.

    “Our teams just received this notice and are working through a process by which we will perform these reviews,” Jennifer Strohecker, then Utah’s Medicaid director, told a state advisory board in August.

    Renuka Rayasam and Rae Ellen Bichell contributed reporting.

    This article first appeared on KFF Health News.

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  • ICE arrests Chicago man whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer: ‘He belongs with her’

    Ofelia Torres has spent almost every day of the past month at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where the 16-year-old Lake View High School student is fighting cancer.

    After a tough few weeks where the disease spread through her body and doctors inserted a drain in her abdomen to relieve fluid, the Torres family worked with her oncologist to arrange a short getaway over the weekend, where she and three of her closest friends could enjoy a Saturday of simple pleasures and normalcy before a scheduled return to the hospital and chemotherapy.

    The girls were getting their nails done as Ofelia’s father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was at work. 

    Hours later, he called his wife Sandibell Hidalgo from a number that came up on caller ID as “prison / jail.”

    “It’s me,” he said. “They got me.”

    In that moment, the Torres family experienced the pain of separation gripping hundreds of immigrant families across Chicago and the suburbs since Donald Trump’s administration last month launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” the president’s aggressive deportation plan.

    Now they’re fighting cancer and the United States government. Their attorney, Kalman Resnick, filed a petition in federal court to have him freed while Torres’ deportation case proceeds.

    His family needs him, they say.

    A photo of Ofelia Torres and her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, on display in the family’s living room in Chicago on Oct. 20, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

    Ruben Torres and Sandibell Hidalgo are parents of not only Ofelia, but also a 4-year-old son, Nathan. The father, a 40-year-old painter and home renovator, is the primary breadwinner in a household with carefully balanced child care responsibilities in their Portage Park bungalow. The mother often sleeps at the hospital while he takes care of their preschooler.

    “He will take Nathan to school every morning and make sure he leaves from work in time to pick him up and then comes home, gives him dinner and takes him to see us,” Hidalgo said in an interview at her home. “Every day, he was doing the same thing. I’m like, how am I going to be able to do this?”

    Resnick said he will try to prevent Torres’ deportation “on account of his many years of residence in the U.S., his good moral character, and the exceptional and extremely (unusual) hardships his children will experience if he were removed from the United States,” he wrote.

    In a statement, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin accused Maldonado of “habitual driving offenses” and said he backed into a government vehicle while attempting to flee. She called his legal filing “nothing more than a desperate Hail Mary attempt” to keep him in the country.

    Meanwhile, his wife sat in the living room of the family home Monday. Her husband renovated their bungalow basement. Medical instructions from Lurie on how to care for their daughter sat on a table nearby.

    “We came because this is a great country, because our lives were gonna be better,” Hidalgo said. “He belongs with her, and especially in this portion, because we don’t know if she’s gonna make it. She has Stage 4 cancer, she has it all over her bones. The treatment is so aggressive, that it will put her down for days. Her mental and spirit, it’s amazing, but her body is sometimes getting tired. Who knows how long the body’s gonna take it? So he deserves to be with her.”

    Ofelia told the Tribune her father instilled in her the value of independence. For her 15th birthday, he took her to the Chicago Cultural Center for traditional quinceanera photos but instead of spending money on a big party, he bought her a car.

    Torres carefully searched Facebook Marketplace listings looking for the perfect vehicle. When he saw a candidate, he meticulously inspected the vehicle and took it on test drives. 

    “He would examine every little corner of this car. Under the car, the wheels, this and that,” Ofelia said. “He’s like, this car, this car’s not good, this car’s not good. It wasn’t taken care of.”

    Eventually, they found a 2006 Ford Mustang with 39,000 miles on it that had been well cared for and largely kept in a garage.

    “My dad test drove it. He was like, this car, this is your car,” Ofelia said. “On my birthday, the day of my birthday, he bought me my car.”

    One day, Ofelia drove home with the top down as her dad was sitting on the stairs. He stared at her quietly and intently, she recalled. She asked if there was something on her face and he said no.

    Later, he told her, “that day that you came home with your car, I felt like I had done it. I made it in life. Everything I had done, everything I worked for, everything I sacrificed, everything I suffered, was worth it because that’s what I wanted to see.” 

    Growing up, he took Ofelia to boxing and karate classes. He would coach her on how to fight. “It just made me stronger and that was our bonding,” she said. 

    “His number one goal with raising at least me, was making sure that I never had to rely on anyone,” she said. “That once I moved out of the house, that I grew up, that I knew how to take care of myself. He wanted me to be an independent person.”

    While the family is close-knit and supports one another, Hidalgo said the father has taken his daughter’s health problems hard.

    “One thing he always says, especially when things don’t go right with the treatment or she has to go through a procedure and he sees all the pain that she’s going through. He says, why us? We’re not bad people. We don’t kill, we don’t steal. We’re just hard workers,” Hidalgo said. “We just came to this country to make our lives better and there’s people out there that do so bad in this world and nothing happens to them. Why us? Why are we going through this? My answer was, like, ‘God only knows.’”

    The family is well-known and beloved in their pockets of Chicago. Ofelia’s teacher, Valerie Wadycki, described her as a girl who donated nutrition shakes she didn’t like to a food pantry rather than throwing them away.

    Earlier this year, Ofelia did a research project for Wadycki about the cost of health care that spread her story further.

    Impressed by Ofelia’s interest in the subject, Wadycki introduced her to her friend, state Rep. Laura Faver Dias from Grayslake, who had an hourlong discussion with the teenager.

    “She is smart, funny, inquisitive, engaging. We just talked about state health care policy. We talked about her fears, our shared fears about what happens to Medicaid for her and her family as she is navigating cancer,” Dias recalled in an interview. “The hoops her mom has had to jump through to make sure they get the best care possible because they’re on Medicaid.”

    Dias introduced Torres to the family’s state representative, Will Guzzardi, who was inspired by the girl’s sharp mind.

    “This family is going through so much. They’re so strong,” Guzzardi said. “Ophelia is so brave.”

    Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, whose ward includes the high school, noted cancer patients need an ironclad support network.

    “As a father, I find it nearly impossible to put into words how horrific this situation is,” Martin said. “At a time when Ofelia and her family need their father the most, ICE has torn their family apart.”

    Over the weekend, Ofelia took to work fighting for her father. She made a video that has since been published on a GoFundMe page by her teacher about the situation.

    “I find it so unfair that hardworking immigrant families are being targeted because they were not born here,” Ofelia said in the recording.

    Speaking to the world, Ofelia said she was making the video “to spread awareness and remind the public that immigrants are humans with families and deserve to be treated with love and respect like anyone else.”

    Gregory Royal Pratt

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  • ICE’s use of full-body restraints during immigration deportations raises concerns

    The Nigerian man described being roused with other detainees in September in the middle of the night. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers clasped shackles on their hands and feet, he said, and told them they were being sent to Ghana, even though none of them was from there.

    When they asked to speak to their attorney, he said, the officers refused and straitjacketed the already-shackled men in full-body restraint suits called the WRAP, then loaded them onto a plane for the 16-hour-flight to West Africa.

    Referred to as “the burrito” or “the bag,” the WRAP has become a harrowing part of deportations for some immigrants.

    “It was just like a kidnapping,” the Nigerian man, who’s part of a federal lawsuit, told The Associated Press in an interview from the detainment camp in which he and other deportees were being held in Ghana. Like others placed in the restraints interviewed by the AP, he spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    The AP identified multiple examples of ICE using the black-and-yellow full-body restraint device, the WRAP, in deportations. Its use was described to the AP by five people who said they were restrained in the device, sometimes for hours, on ICE deportation flights dating to 2020. And witnesses and family members in four countries told the AP about its use on at least seven other people this year.

    The AP found ICE has used the device despite internal concerns voiced in a 2023 report by the civil rights division of its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in part due to reports of deaths involving use of the WRAP by local law enforcement. And the AP has identified a dozen fatal cases in the last decade where local police or jailers around the U.S. used the WRAP and autopsies determined “restraint” played a role in the death.

    The WRAP is the subject of a growing number of federal lawsuits likening incorrect usage of the device to punishment and even torture, whether used in a jail or by immigration authorities during international flights. Among advocates’ concerns is that ICE is not tracking the WRAP’s use as required by federal law when officers use force.

    DHS has paid Safe Restraints Inc., the WRAP’s California-based maker, $268,523 since it started purchasing the devices in late 2015 during the Obama administration. Government purchasing records show the two Trump administrations have been responsible for about 91% of that spending. ICE would not provide AP with records documenting its use of the WRAP despite multiple requests, and it’s not clear how frequently it has been used in the current and prior administrations.

    The WRAP’s manufacturer says it intended the device is intended to be a lifesaver for law enforcement confronting erratic people who were physically attacking officers or harming themselves.

    But ICE officials have a much lower threshold for deploying the WRAP than the manufacturer advises, the AP found. Detainees interviewed by the AP said ICE officers used the restraints on them after they had been shackled. They said this was done to intimidate or punish them for asking to speak to their attorneys or expressing fear at being deported, often to places they fled due to violence and torture.

    The West African deportee described a terrifying, hourslong experience that left his legs swollen to the point where he walked with a limp.

    “They bundled me and my colleagues,” he said, “tied us up in a straitjacket.”

    ICE and DHS would not answer detailed questions from the AP and refused a request for the government’s policy for when and how to use the WRAP.

    “The use of restraints on detainees during deportation flights has been long standing, standard ICE protocol and an essential measure to ensure the safety and well-being of both detainees and the officers/agents accompanying them,” Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’ spokesperson, said in an email to AP. “Our practices align with those followed by other relevant authorities and is fully in line with established legal standards.”

    The agency would not specify those authorities or describe its practices.

    “The use of these devices is inhumane and incompatible with our nation’s fundamental values,” said Noah Baron, an attorney for the West African deportees.

    Charles Hammond, CEO of Safe Restraints Inc., said his Walnut Creek company has made a modified version of the device for ICE, with changes meant to allow people to be kept in it during flights and long bus trips.

    ICE’s version includes a ring on the front of the suit that allows a subject’s cuffed hands to be attached while still allowing for limited use to eat and drink, he said. In addition, the ICE version has “soft elbow cuffs,” Hammond said, which connect in the back so a person can move for proper circulation but can’t flip an elbow out to hit someone.

    An AP reporter recounted for Hammond some of the allegations made by people who had been placed in the WRAP for long flights. All of those interviewed by AP said their hands and feet were already restrained by chains. All denied fighting with officers, saying they were either crying or pleading against their deportation to countries they deemed dangerous.

    Hammond said that, if true that some people were not being violent and simply protesting verbally, putting them in the WRAP could be improper use.

    “That’s not the purpose of the WRAP. If (the deportee) is a current or potential risk to themselves, to officers, to staff, to the plane, restraints are justified. If it’s not, then restraints aren’t.”

    ‘Please help me’

    Juan Antonio Pineda said he was put into “a bag” in late September and driven by immigration officers to the Mexico border. It was black with yellow stripes and had straps that immobilized his body and connected over his shoulders — the WRAP.

    Pineda, who is from El Salvador, was in the U.S. legally, he said in a video from an ICE detention center in Arizona. On Sept. 3, he went to an appointment in Maryland to get permission for another year, his wife, Xiomara Ochoa, said in an interview from El Salvador. Instead, he was detained by ICE and told he’d be deported to Mexico, but the documents he was shown had someone else’s name, he said. Even so, he was sent to the Florence Service Processing Center detention facility in Arizona.

    Early morning on Wednesday, Sept. 24, he said officers tied his hands and legs, placed him into the “bag” and drove him four hours to the border. When he refused to sign the deportation papers, Pineda alleges officers broke his right arm and gave him a black eye before driving him back another four hours in the “bag.” The AP was unable to independently confirm how he was injured. Pineda’s video shows him with a cast on his arm and bruising on his face.

    The next day, Thursday, Sept. 25, they tied him up again, put him in the bag and drove him to the border, where Mexican immigration officials turned him away, he said.

    “Eight hours there and back and they don’t give me food or water or anything,” he said in the video, which his wife shared with the AP. “Please help me.”

    He was ultimately deported to Mexico, Ochoa said.

    ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the AP regarding Pineda’s case.

    In addition to the Nigerian man flown to Ghana, four others interviewed by AP said they were placed in the WRAP and carried onto deportation flights since the first Trump administration.

    As U.S. immigration officials move aggressively to meet the president’s deportation goals, advocates and attorneys for immigrants are echoing the concerns of the government’s own civil rights inquiry that ICE officers aren’t trained on how to use the restraints.

    “This should be a last resort type of restraint after they’ve already tried other things,” said Fatma Marouf, a Texas A&M law professor who has sued ICE over its use of the device. “Just being bound up like that can inflict a lot of psychological harm.”

    Some deportees said they were left in the WRAP for an entire fight. A lawsuit filed on behalf of the Nigerian man and four others currently detained in Dema Camp, Ghana, included the allegation from one that ICE left the restraint suit on him for 16 hours, only once undoing the lower part so he could use the bathroom.

    “No one should be put into a WRAP. I don’t even think they strap animals like that,” recalled a man who said he suffered a concussion and dislocated jaw being placed into the device in 2023 before a deportation flight to Cape Verde, an African island nation. AP’s review of his medical records confirmed he suffered those injuries in 2023.

    “It was the most painful thing I’ve been through,” said the man, adding he was restrained most of the 10-hour flight. “Forget the assault, forget the broken jaw. Just the WRAP itself was hurtful.”

    Also, the man said, the metal ring his cuffed hands were attached to — one of the ICE modifications to the WRAP designed to increase comfort — injured him. “When they slammed me face forward on the floor, that metal ring dug into my chest causing me bruising and pain, which was part of my injuries that I complained about.”

    ICE’s current use of the WRAP comes amid an unprecedented wave of masked federal immigration officers grabbing suspected immigrants off the street, and mounting accusations that the Trump administration has dehumanized them, including by subjecting them to cruel and unusual detention conditions.

    ICE’s use of the WRAP has continued despite a 2023 report by DHS’ Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, or CRCL, that raised serious concerns over the lack of policies governing its use.

    ICE agreed with the internal findings on some points, a then-DHS official involved in the review said, but challenged the notion that the WRAP should be classified as a “four-point restraint,” a designation that would place more limitations on its use. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the inquiry.

    DHS largely dismantled the office that produced the 2023 report earlier this year amid widespread government firings, calling it a roadblock to enforcement operations.

    “Without changes to the current training, and the lack of policy, CRCL has serious concerns about ICE’s continued use of the WRAP,” wrote the report’s authors, who cited a news article mentioning lawsuits claiming the device had led to deaths.

    Use by police and in jails

    Last year police officers in Virginia Beach, Virginia, placed Rolin Hill in the WRAP, saying he was being combative during an arrest at a convenience store. The officers left Hill in the device when they dropped him at the jail.

    Video from the jail shows deputies punching the WRAP-immobilized Hill in the head and back. He died in a hospital, and while the WRAP’s exact role is unknown, Hill’s death was ruled a homicide by “positional and mechanical asphyxia due to restraint with neck and torso compression.” Three deputies are now charged with murder, and five others were removed from their jobs.

    Also last year, in Missouri, prosecutors charged five jailers in the death of Othel Moore Jr., who according to an autopsy, asphyxiated in the WRAP. Jailhouse footage showed Moore, who’d also been sprayed with tear gas and placed in a “spit mask” covering his face, repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe.

    AP identified many of the other non-ICE cases involving the WRAP during an investigation into deaths after police subdued people with common tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop someone without killing them.

    While Hammond insists the WRAP has never been determined as the cause of death when used properly, the AP identified 43 times in which the WRAP was used by police or correctional officers in a case in which someone died. In 12 of those cases, the official autopsy determined that “restraint” played some role in the death.

    It was often impossible to determine the exact role the WRAP may have played, as deaths often involved the use of other potentially dangerous force on people who in several cases were high on methamphetamine.

    The WRAP first appeared in law enforcement in the late 1990s, presented as an alternative to tying a subject’s hands and feet together in a practice known as “hog-tying.” It first found widespread use in California jails and today is used by more than 1,800 departments and facilities around the country, according to the manufacturer, which says it has sold more than 10,000 devices.

    Many of these cases have drawn little media attention, such as the 2020 case of Alberto Pena, who was jailed on a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge after getting drunk and damaging the walls and doors at his parents’ home outside Rio Grande City, Texas. The 30-year-old became erratic on the way to the Starr County Jail, beating his own head against the inside of the patrol unit and, later, the wall of his cell.

    Deputies placed Pena in the WRAP for more than two hours, where he repeatedly cried out for help and complained he could not breathe. But he was left unattended in the device for significant periods of time, court records show, and no medical attention was provided for his self-inflicted head injuries.

    An autopsy ruled Pena’s death “accidental,” but a forensic pathologist hired by the family attributed Pena’s death in part to the WRAP’s “prolonged restraint” and said it “could have been averted” with proper medical care.

    “The WRAP should have never been used in this situation. It was a medical emergency, and he should have been taken to the hospital,” said Natasha Powers-Marakis, a former police officer and use of force expert who reviewed the case on behalf of Pena’s family as part of their wrongful death lawsuit against the county and officers who placed him in the device. The arresting officers had been told Pena suffered from bipolar disorder.

    The Starr County Sheriff’s Office has denied wrongdoing and maintained Pena did not require medical care. Robert Drinkard, an attorney for the county, told AP the use of the WRAP “was neither improper nor caused Mr. Pena’s tragic death.” He added that each deputy involved in placing Pena in the WRAP had been trained in its application.

    A federal judge recently dismissed the Pena family’s lawsuit, ruling the deputies were shielded from liability.

    ‘Carrying me like a corpse’

    In the context of an ICE deportation flight, the use of restraints like the WRAP can be justified, Hammond, the manufacturer’s CEO, argues.

    ICE officers have to ensure that they secure anyone who could pose a fight risk on a long flight, he said. Given the high stakes of a violent confrontation on an airplane, Hammond believes cases like those described to the AP can warrant the WRAP’s use, even if the person is already in chains.

    However, properly trained agents are supposed to loosen the straps and allow enough movement so the subject can eat and drink, as well as use the bathroom.

    “With the WRAP, when it is used properly, it’s a shorter fight, which is good for everybody. It prioritizes breathing, which is good for everybody. And you have no more fight and can provide medical care or mental health care or de-escalation efforts,” Hammond said.

    Those placed in one of Hammond’s restraint suits, however, recount the experience as traumatic.

    One of these people was first put into five-point shackles when he became dizzy and tripped while ascending the stairs to board the ICE flight to Cameroon in November 2020. The officer mistook his stumbling as resistance, he said. Immediately, camouflage-clad ICE officers quickly pushed him to the tarmac and onto a WRAP device, he said.

    Soon, he felt the straps cinching around his legs and upper body.

    “They bundled me like a log of wood from all the sides, and they were just carrying me like a corpse,” he said.

    Another man interviewed by the AP said ICE officers put him in the WRAP after he initially resisted efforts to move him onto a deportation flight in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 2020. He’d fled political violence and persecution in his native Cameroon, and was afraid to go back. He said officers took him out of his cell in front of the other detainees and put him in the WRAP, leaving him for hours in view of the others as a warning to them not to speak up.

    “I told him, ‘I can’t breathe,’ ” the man said. “He responded, ‘I don’t care; I’m doing my job.’ ”

    Dearen and Pineda reported from Los Angeles and Mustian from New York. AP journalists Ope Adetayo in Abuja, Ghana; Obed Lamy in Indianapolis; and Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed to this report. Dan Lawton also contributed.


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  • The Conflict on the Streets of Chicago

    There is plenty of antagonism between ICE agents and anti-ICE protesters. But it is hard to conclude that the protesters’ resistance constitutes a rebellion or an insurrection. To many Chicagoans, the warlike atmosphere is the result of the increasing aggression of the federal government. Worthington, among others, has speculated that Trump is looking for a reason to put Chicago in an even tighter vise than it’s already in. “Sometimes I wonder if what the Trump Administration is doing is looking for cities that they know aren’t going to just take it lying down,” he said. “Part of me wonders if they’re not testing out, first, what they can get away with in different places, and, second, how they can provoke and escalate it to a point where we have a serious national crisis on our hands.”

    One day at Broadview, Worthington met Rachel Cohen, a Harvard-trained lawyer who, last March, quit her job at the prestigious firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, just before its leaders cut a deal with the Trump Administration. Since March, Cohen has grown a sizable social-media following for posts that combine organizing rhetoric and legal and political analysis. In her videos, she argues passionately and clearly, with the occasional expletive. In a post about Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s filing against Trump, to block the deployment of the National Guard, she says, “This complaint is fucking incredible; let’s go through it.” In another, she describes Trump’s legal strategy this way: he “loves to just do whatever the fuck he wants as things are litigated.” Cohen agrees with Worthington that the Trump Administration is looking for a pretext. “ICE has come to Broadview and escalated very intentionally,” she told me. “I’ve been hit directly with pepper pellets. Everyone I know who has been there consistently has had some form of really dramatic brutality against them by ICE agents.”

    Conservatives and liberals alike have criticized certain tactics used by protesters—who, in some cases, have taunted officers, tried to block federal vehicles from exiting the Broadview facility, or chased federal agents in their own vehicles, honking their horns to warn that ICE is present. In an interview on NewsNation, the conservative anchor Leland Vittert asked Cohen, “Just from a political standpoint, do you really think that everybody wearing pink painters masks and trying to throw themselves on police cars and standing out there chanting is gonna help your cause?” (Cohen shot back that his question implied he was fine with federal agents tear-gassing protesters.) An editorial in the Chicago Tribune criticized protesters who have physically prevented ICE agents from doing their jobs, saying, “These militant activists are imperiling the far greater number of peaceful protesters striving mightily to make their voices heard without breaking the law.” Cohen told me, “It seems that many people are really determined to dismiss protest tactics that are disruptive, and I think that’s a real shame, because disruptive protest tactics and working within the system need to go hand in hand. I do know that if you give up entirely on working within the system, you guarantee that work within the system will fail.”

    At the U.S. District Court in downtown Chicago, immigration attorneys like Jennifer Peyton and Khiabett Osuna, of Kriezelman Burton & Associates, work within the system to vigorously defend the rights of their clients. They both told me that they’re spending “one thousand per cent” of their time these days representing immigrants who’ve been detained during the current operation. Peyton was, until recently, a judge for the Chicago Immigration Court; Bondi fired her in early July. The termination e-mail that Peyton received didn’t provide a reason for her firing, but she has speculated that it could be because she was on a conservative-watchdog list for opposing Trump’s agenda. After her firing, Peyton accepted a position as partner at Kriezelman Burton. She has since been suing Bondi and Noem for unlawfully initiating the removal of her clients. “To be able to name Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi as defendants, it’s the best fucking feeling in the world,” she told me.

    Osuna is Peyton’s junior colleague, and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She said that many migrants who call her don’t have a case, and it’s painful to tell them that. “Yes, of course it’s about trying to get them legal relief,” she told me, but it’s also about saying to them, “I’m sorry this is happening to you. You should not be treated this way. You might not be granted asylum, but you have a right to tell your story. I’m gonna walk with you every damn step of the way.” She can successfully intervene in some cases where her clients have been unlawfully detained, and she can help them remain in the Chicago area instead of getting sent somewhere such as Texas. She told me that, these days, she’s focussed on trying to buy her clients time—time to be with their families, to sleep in their own beds, and to get their documents together, and time for either their life circumstances or American immigration policy to change.

    Geraldo Cadava

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  • Fact-checking Rick Scott on ACA subsidies and abortion

    U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Democrats have shuttered the federal government over hyper-partisan issues: abortion and immigration.

    “Democrats are shutting down the government and harming American families because they want to waste another trillion of your dollars on liberal priorities like health care for illegal aliens and funding for free abortions,” Scott posted Oct. 2 on X. He reshared a post by anti-abortion nonprofit group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

    Democrats aren’t seeking to fund health care for immigrants in the U.S. illegally. We previously rated that False. Immigrants in the country illegally are largely ineligible for federally funded health care. 

    Scott’s other point, about federal funding for free abortions, is also wrong. Federal law prohibits federal funds for abortions, and Democrats’ Sept. 17 proposal to temporarily extend government funding wouldn’t change this. The discussion is centered around a fight over a longstanding process in some Affordable Care Act plans that separates federal funds from money paid by patients for abortion care coverage.

    The Democratic proposal to temporarily fund the government calls for extending pandemic-era enhanced ACA subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Without congressional action, researchers estimate insurance premiums will rise by more than 114% on average for enrollees who use subsidies, leading to an estimated 3.8 million more people becoming uninsured over the next 10 years.

    Democrats also seek to roll back about $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts in Republicans’ tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law in July. The Democrats’ legislation would restore access to certain health care programs for some legal immigrants who will lose access under the Republican law.

    Because some state Affordable Care Act insurance plans cover abortion,anti-abortion advocates say the enhanced federal subsidies Democrats support indirectly fund abortion. But the ACA requires that insurers segregate insurance premiums from enrollees so that money for abortion is separated from federal funds.

    “The ACA is very clear in the statute and there is nothing in it that provides ‘free’ abortions using federal dollars,” Alina Salganicoff, a senior vice president and director of the Women’s Health Policy Program at KFF, a health care think tank, told PolitiFact. “Non-federal funds are to be collected by the plans and segregated to be used exclusively to pay for abortions. Federal funds are not used to subsidize tax credits or abortion coverage in any way.”

    PolitiFact contacted Scott’s office but did not hear back.

    Democrats’ proposal doesn’t include funding for free abortions

    Since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has barred using federal funds for abortions — except in cases or rape, incest or to save the life of the pregnant woman —including via Medicaid, Medicare and other federal insurance providers. Congress enacts the amendment annually and it’s attached as a rider to annual appropriations bills to ensure government money doesn’t go toward abortions. The restrictions apply to the subsidies that Democrats seek to extend.

    Anti-abortion groups and some Republican lawmakers have pushed to prohibit subsidies’ use in insurance plans that include abortion coverage, and seek to attach the Hyde Amendment to any ACA subsidy extension. Democrats cite the ACA process to separate taxpayer funds and accuse Republicans of using the debate to expand nationwide restrictions on abortion coverage.

    Section 1303 of the health law stipulates that insurers must deposit insurance premiums for abortion services into a separate account and charge each enrollee $1 per month to pay for covered abortion services.

    Anti-abortion advocates say the money is fungible, meaning that once insurance providers have collected it, they can spend it on anything, including abortion.

    Health policy experts say this argument is flawed. The ACA had the same process in place since its 2010 enactment. Then-President Barack Obama issued an executive order that year affirming that the funding restrictions spelled out in the Hyde Amendment apply to Section 1303.

    Sign up for PolitiFact texts

    In 2014, the first year of the federal health care marketplace, a Government Accountability Office report found mixed compliance for the process to separate the funding, and Health and Human Services issued additional guidance instructing insurers how to comply. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion access, HHS reiterated that ACA coverage of abortion services is subject to state law.

    “This is not something new that Democrats are proposing,” said Katie Keith, a Georgetown University health policy researcher and Affordable Care Act expert. “This framework has been in place since the ACA was enacted, and for more than a decade since the marketplace opened.”

    The 2010 law allows states to bar health care plans from covering abortions, which 25 states have done. Twelve states have laws that require marketplace plans to include abortion coverage, while the remainder neither require nor prohibit abortion coverage in ACA plans.

    Research has also found that the ACA’s required monthly minimum of $1 per member for abortion services “exceeds the cost of abortions that plans are paying for with those funds,” KFF wrote in September. For example, one report found that Maryland ACA plans had $25 million in unspent funds from policyholder payments for abortion coverage.

    “Democrats are not touching abortion coverage at all right now,” Keith said. “They are talking about extending the status quo and preventing a premium spike for millions of Americans. When COVID-era ACA extensions were put in place it had nothing to do with abortion then — and it still has nothing to do with abortion now.”

    Our ruling

    Scott said Democrats shut down the government because they are seeking to use taxpayer money on “health care for illegal aliens and funding for free abortions.”

    This distorts the Democratic shutdown proposal on two fronts. 

    Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are largely ineligible for federally funded health care; the Democrats’ proposal would restore access to certain health care programs for some legal immigrants who stand to lose access.

    Democrats also are not seeking funding for free abortions. Federal law prohibits federal funds to be used for abortions except in cases or rape, incest or to save the life of the pregnant woman. The ACA  requires non-federal funds to be collected by insurance plans and segregated into separate accounts to be used exclusively for abortion services.

    We rate Scott’s statement False.

    PolitiFact staff writer Maria Ramirez Uribe contributed to this report.

    RELATED: Republicans falsely tie shutdown to Democrats wanting health care for immigrants illegally in the US

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