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  • Recording immigration agents: Legal do’s and don’ts

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    A federal agent in Minnesota grabbed a woman’s phone as it recorded him approaching her Jan. 9, two days after a federal agent shot a U.S. citizen. “Have y’all not learned from the past couple of days?” the agent asked the woman. 

    Weeks later in Maine, a woman let her phone camera roll as an agent filmed her license plate and told her her name would be added to a database and she was now considered a domestic terrorist.

    “For videotaping you?” the woman asked. “Are you crazy?”

    And on Jan. 29, a Minnesota driver with a dash cam filmed masked immigration agents as they swerved in front of her car, got out of their vehicle and pulled their guns. 

    What are the rules around filming immigration agents in public?

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz encouraged the state’s residents to record agents to create a record of evidence. Bystanders’ video footage has been critical in painting fuller pictures of what happened in agent’s confrontations with civilians, including the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is overseeing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, said recording on-duty immigration agents is an act of violence. The department’s spokesperson also called videoing officers “doxing,” a “federal crime and a felony.”

    After immigration agents fatally shot Pretti, bystander video from multiple angles challenged Noem’s statements that Pretti had brandished his gun at immigration agents before he was killed. 

    The incidents reveal tension between the public’s First Amendment protections and what law enforcement officers see as obstruction. 

    A federal judge in January ruled against DHS’ attempt to dismiss a case brought by journalists who say the department infringed on their constitutional rights while they were covering immigration enforcement in California. The judge said the journalists had established that DHS has a policy considering filming immigration agents as unlawful civil unrest.

    We spoke to five legal experts about bystanders’ rights when recording immigration agents. 

    “Knowing your rights is paramount. Reminding officers of your rights is important. Standing on your rights is a personal decision,” Kevin Goldberg, vice president at Freedom Forum, a First Amendment rights advocacy group, said.

    Federal Bureau of Prisons officers threaten Associated Press video journalist Mark Vancleave with arrest on Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP)

    Is it legal to record immigration officials?

    Yes. Recording in public is allowed under the First Amendment. 

    A few states require bystanders to stay a certain distance away from first responders. For example, under Florida’s Halo Law, people are required to stay at least 25 feet away from law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical responders.

    Some buffer-zone laws, such as one in Indiana, have been struck down in federal courts. 

    What does it mean to obstruct law enforcement?

    Even though it’s legal to record law enforcement officers in public, it is not legal to obstruct their activities. 

    Obstructing law enforcement generally requires physical action under federal law, legal experts said, such as standing between an officer and the person they’re trying to arrest. An obstruction must impede officers from carrying out their duties, which is why filming or yelling doesn’t count, Rachel Moran, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, said.

    Immigration agents have accused several bystanders who record them of obstruction. 

    In many cases agents approach people who are in their cars recording agents. Agents tell the bystanders that this is their one warning and if they continue to follow the agent they will be arrested for obstructing.  

    Goldberg said, “Holding up a camera at an appropriate distance and filming should not inhibit any law enforcement officials from doing their jobs unless they think they’re doing something wrong.”

    A federal judge ruled Jan. 16 that following federal agents “at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop.”

    An appeals court temporarily paused that order.

    “Following a police car or ICE vehicle on a public road is not obstructing,” Jessica West, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said. “Blocking a car in to prevent it from moving in the direction it was headed, might be considered obstructing.”

    Moran agreed, she said the only way following an ICE officer could rise to the level of obstruction would be if a person yelled threats at an officer or drove so close to them “that the agents reasonably believed they were in danger of getting hit.” 

    People’s rights to observe and record law enforcement officers don’t change when someone is in a car, Goldberg said. However, because cars take up more space they can increase the likelihood of an obstruction in small spaces.

    “People are allowed to drive cars on public roads. People are allowed to film from public spaces. But all rules of the road must be followed,” Goldberg said.

    Federal agent brandishing a firearm approaches activists for following agent vehicles Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP)

    Who decides obstruction? 

    The decision about whether someone is obstructing law enforcement can be subjective. 

    First, a law enforcement officer must determine that there is probable cause — meaning, it’s more likely than not — that someone physically obstructed their actions, West said. Once that’s determined, the officer can make an arrest.

    A judge or a grand jury reviews the evidence and decides whether to charge the person. If charged, a judge or jury decides whether to convict.

    “Courts have given a lot of deference to law enforcement officials and so that is something that anyone who’s recording should be aware of,” Goldberg said.

    However, several grand juries have recently refused to indict cases related to impeding or assaulting immigration officers. Other cases have been dismissed.

    Can immigration agents take an observer’s phone or legally compel them to stop recording? 

    Immigration agents cannot legally compel somebody to stop recording so long as the person is not obstructing their work. They may tell observers to step back for safety reasons. 

    There have been recent cases of agents acting unconstitutionally by yelling at people to stop recording or knocking phones out of people’s hands.

    “It can be scary to maintain your rights when an agent is threatening you so ultimately it is the choice of the person recording whether to continue doing that and risk retaliation by the government,” Moran said.

    Agents also can’t take phones without arresting people.

    “It is a violation of civil rights to confiscate someone’s phone or other recording device if they are merely recording and not actively interfering with or obstructing law enforcement activities,” Timothy Zick, a constitutional law professor at William and Mary, said.

    Legal experts recommend disabling Face ID as that might make it easier for officers to unlock a phone.

    To search a person’s phone, agents need a warrant signed by a judge.

    Is recording law enforcement officers doxing and, if so, is that illegal? 

    Homeland Security officials have said that recording immigration agents is a form of doxing, which means publicly identifying or publishing private information about a person, especially as a form of punishment or revenge. (However, DHS’s social media profiles include several videos and photos of immigration agents conducting enforcement operations.)

    Legal experts agreed that recording an immigration agent in public is not considered doxing.

    “It is not doxing to film something that is happening in public, even though somebody would rather not have that information public,” Goldberg said. “Even if someone is masked to hide their identity.”

    Doxing often refers to publishing personal information, such as home or email addresses, phone numbers or private financial information, without someone’s consent.

    Some states have anti-doxing laws that hinge on whether there was an intention to harass or harm someone. ​

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  • US appeals court says Secretary Noem’s decision to end protections for Venezuelans in US was illegal

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    A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the Trump administration acted illegally when it ended legal protections that gave hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela permission to live and work in the United States.A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her authority when she ended temporary protected status for Venezuelans.The decision, however, will not have any immediate practical effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in October allowed Noem’s decision to take effect pending a final decision by the justices.An email late Wednesday night to the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.The 9th Circuit panel also upheld the lower court’s finding that Noem exceeded her authority when she decided to end TPS early for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti.A federal judge in Washington is expected to rule any day now on a request to pause the termination of TPS for Haiti while a separate lawsuit challenging it proceeds. The country’s TPS designation is scheduled to end on Feb. 3.Ninth Circuit Judges Kim Wardlaw, Salvador Mendoza, Jr. and Anthony Johnstone said in Wednesday’s ruling that the TPS legislation passed by Congress did not give the secretary the power to vacate an existing TPS designation. All three judges were nominated by Democratic presidents.“The statute contains numerous procedural safeguards that ensure individuals with TPS enjoy predictability and stability during periods of extraordinary and temporary conditions in their home country,” Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, wrote for the panel.Wardlaw said Noem’s “unlawful actions have had real and significant consequences” for Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States who rely on TPS.“The record is replete with examples of hard-working, contributing members of society — who are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and partners of U.S. citizens, pay taxes, and have no criminal records — who have been deported or detained after losing their TPS,” she wrote.Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, authorized by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, allows the Homeland Security secretary to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country.Designations are granted for terms of six, 12 or 18 months, and extensions can be granted so long as conditions remain dire. The status prevents holders from being deported and allows them to work, but it does not give them a path to citizenship.In ending the protections, Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow immigrants from the two countries to stay on for what is a temporary program.Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.Haiti was first designated for TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people, and left more than 1 million homeless. Haitians face widespread hunger and gang violence.Mendoza wrote separately that there was “ample evidence of racial and national origin animus” that reinforced the lower court’s conclusion that Noem’s decisions were “preordained and her reasoning pretextual.”“It is clear that the Secretary’s vacatur actions were not actually grounded in substantive policy considerations or genuine differences with respect to the prior administration’s TPS procedures, but were instead rooted in a stereotype-based diagnosis of immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti as dangerous criminals or mentally unwell,” he wrote.Attorneys for the government have argued the secretary has clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program and those decisions are not subject to judicial review. They have also denied that her actions were motived by racial animus.

    A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the Trump administration acted illegally when it ended legal protections that gave hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela permission to live and work in the United States.

    A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her authority when she ended temporary protected status for Venezuelans.

    The decision, however, will not have any immediate practical effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in October allowed Noem’s decision to take effect pending a final decision by the justices.

    An email late Wednesday night to the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

    The 9th Circuit panel also upheld the lower court’s finding that Noem exceeded her authority when she decided to end TPS early for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti.

    A federal judge in Washington is expected to rule any day now on a request to pause the termination of TPS for Haiti while a separate lawsuit challenging it proceeds. The country’s TPS designation is scheduled to end on Feb. 3.

    Ninth Circuit Judges Kim Wardlaw, Salvador Mendoza, Jr. and Anthony Johnstone said in Wednesday’s ruling that the TPS legislation passed by Congress did not give the secretary the power to vacate an existing TPS designation. All three judges were nominated by Democratic presidents.

    “The statute contains numerous procedural safeguards that ensure individuals with TPS enjoy predictability and stability during periods of extraordinary and temporary conditions in their home country,” Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, wrote for the panel.

    Wardlaw said Noem’s “unlawful actions have had real and significant consequences” for Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States who rely on TPS.

    “The record is replete with examples of hard-working, contributing members of society — who are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and partners of U.S. citizens, pay taxes, and have no criminal records — who have been deported or detained after losing their TPS,” she wrote.

    Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, authorized by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, allows the Homeland Security secretary to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country.

    Designations are granted for terms of six, 12 or 18 months, and extensions can be granted so long as conditions remain dire. The status prevents holders from being deported and allows them to work, but it does not give them a path to citizenship.

    In ending the protections, Noem said that conditions in both Haiti and Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the national interest to allow immigrants from the two countries to stay on for what is a temporary program.

    Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. The country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.

    Haiti was first designated for TPS in 2010 after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people, and left more than 1 million homeless. Haitians face widespread hunger and gang violence.

    Mendoza wrote separately that there was “ample evidence of racial and national origin animus” that reinforced the lower court’s conclusion that Noem’s decisions were “preordained and her reasoning pretextual.”

    “It is clear that the Secretary’s vacatur actions were not actually grounded in substantive policy considerations or genuine differences with respect to the prior administration’s TPS procedures, but were instead rooted in a stereotype-based diagnosis of immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti as dangerous criminals or mentally unwell,” he wrote.

    Attorneys for the government have argued the secretary has clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program and those decisions are not subject to judicial review. They have also denied that her actions were motived by racial animus.

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  • House Democrats challenge new Homeland Security order limiting lawmaker visits to immigration facilities

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    WASHINGTON — Twelve House Democrats who last year sued the Trump administration over a policy limiting congressional oversight of immigrant detention facilities returned to federal court Monday to challenge a second, new policy imposing further limits on such unannounced visits.

    In December, those members of Congress won their lawsuit challenging a Department of Homeland Security policy from June that required a week’s notice from lawmakers before an oversight visit. Now they’re accusing Homeland Security of having “secretly reimposed” the requirement last week.

    In a Jan. 8 memorandum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote that “Facility visit requests must be made a minimum of seven (7) calendar days in advance. Any requests to shorten that time must be approved by me.”

    The lawmakers who challenged the policies are led by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and include five members from California: Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), Raul Ruiz (D-Indio) and Norma Torres (D-Pomona).

    Last summer, as immigration raids spread through Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California, many Democrats including those named in the lawsuit were denied entry to local detention facilities. Before then, unannounced inspections had been a common, long-standing practice under congressional oversight powers.

    “The duplicate notice policy is a transparent attempt by DHS to again subvert Congress’s will…and this Court’s stay of DHS’s oversight visit policy,” the plaintiffs wrote in a federal court motion Monday requesting an emergency hearing.

    On Saturday, three days after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, three members of Congress from Minnesota attempted to conduct an oversight visit of an ICE facility near Minneapolis. They were denied access.

    Afterward, lawyers for Homeland Security notified the lawmakers and the court of the new policy, according to the court filing.

    In a joint statement, the plaintiffs wrote that “rather than complying with the law, the Department of Homeland Security is attempting to get around this order by re-imposing the same unlawful policy.”

    “This is unacceptable,” they said. “Oversight is a core responsibility of Members of Congress, and a constitutional duty we do not take lightly. It is not something the executive branch can turn on or off at will.”

    Congress has stipulated in yearly appropriations packages since 2020 that funds may not be used to prevent a member of Congress “from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens.”

    That language formed the basis of the decision last month by U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, who found that lawmakers cannot be denied entry for visits “unless and until” the government could show that no appropriations money was being used to operate detention facilities.

    In her policy memorandum, Noem wrote that funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which supplied roughly $170 billion toward immigration and border enforcement, are not subject to the limitations of the yearly appropriations law.

    “ICE must ensure that this policy is implemented and enforced exclusively with money appropriated by OBBBA,” Noem said.

    Noem said the new policy is justified because unannounced visits pull ICE officers away from their normal duties. “Moreover, there is an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts, all of which creates a chaotic environment with heightened emotions,” she wrote.

    The lawmakers, in the court filing, argued it’s clear that the new policy violates the law.

    “It is practically impossible that the development, promulgation, communication, and implementation of this policy has been, and will be, accomplished — as required — without using a single dollar of annually appropriated funds,” they wrote.

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    Andrea Castillo

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  • While celebrating Maduro’s capture, Venezuelan immigrants worry about deportation

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    WASHINGTON — After President Trump ordered strikes that led to the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, celebrations erupted in Venezuelan communities across the U.S.

    But for many of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants facing possible deportation, their relief and joy were cut by the fear about what comes next from an administration that has zeroed in on Venezuelans as a target.

    “Many of us asked ourselves, ‘What’s going to happen with us now?’” said A.G., a 39-year-old in Tennessee who asked to be identified by her initials because she lacks legal status. Even so, Maduro’s ouster gave her a lot of hope for her mother country.

    Venezuelans began fleeing in droves in 2014 as economic collapse led to widespread food and medicine shortages, as well as political repression. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans are now living outside the country — including 1.2 million in the U.S.

    Venezuelans migrants walk toward Bucaramanga, Colombia, in 2019.

    (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)

    A.G. and her now-18-year-old son arrived at the southern border in 2019. Since then, she said, they have built a good life — they own a transport company with delivery trucks, pay taxes and follow the law.

    Maduro’s fall left her with mixed feelings.

    “He’s obviously a dictator, many people have died because of him and he refused to give up power, but the reason that they entered Venezuela, for me what President Trump did was illegal,” she said. “Innocent people died because of the bombs. I’m asking God that it all be for good reason.”

    Dozens of Venezuelans and others were killed in the U.S. invasion — more than 100, a government official said — including civilians.

    The Trump administration is framing its Venezuela operation as an opportunity for Venezuelans like A.G. “Now, they can return to the country they love and rebuild its future,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser.

    Katie Blankenship, a Miami-based attorney with Sanctuary of the South who has represented many Venezuelans facing deportation, sees a less promising future.

    “We’re going to see increased targeting of Venezuelans to force them to leave the U.S. into a political and socioeconomic environment that’s likely only more destabilized and subject to more abuse,” she said.

    The Venezuelan community in the U.S. swelled, in part, because the Biden administration expanded pathways for them to enter the country.

    Volunteer help a Venezuelan immigrant at the storage units

    Volunteer help a Venezuelan immigrant at the storage units from a volunteer-run program that distributes donations to recently arrived Venezuelan immigrants in need, in Miami, Fla., in 2023.

    (Eva Marie Uzcategui / Los Angeles Times)

    One of those programs allowed more than 117,000 Venezuelans to purchase flights directly to the U.S. and stay for two years if they had a U.S.-based financial sponsor and passed a background check. Other Venezuelans entered legally at land ports of entry after scheduling interviews with border officers.

    By the end of the Biden administration, more than 600,000 Venezuelans had protection from deportation under Temporary Protected Status, a program used by both Republican and Democratic administrations for immigrants who cannot return home because of armed conflict, natural disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

    On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly referred to Venezuelan immigrants as criminals, singling them out more than any other nationality — in 64% of speeches, an Axios analysis showed. He has said repeatedly, without evidence that Venezuela emptied its prisons and mental institutions to flood the U.S. with immigrants.

    One of Trump’s first acts as president was to designate the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. Within two months, he invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport 252 Venezuelan men accused of being Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador, where they were imprisoned and tortured despite many having no criminal histories in the U.S. or Latin America.

    Later, the Trump administration stripped away protections for Venezuelans with financial sponsors and TPS, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling the latter “contrary to the national interest.”

    In a September Federal Register Notice, Noem said that TPS for Venezuelans undercut the administration’s foreign policy objectives because one result of allowing Venezuelans in the U.S. was “relieving pressure on Maduro’s regime to enact domestic reforms and facilitate safe return conditions.” In other words, if Venezuelans returned home, that would pressure the government to enact reforms.

    Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry at a news conference

    Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, along with U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, left, and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, right, participates in a news conference near Camp 57 at Angola prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary and America’s largest maximum-security prison farm, to announce the opening of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that will house immigrants convicted of crimes in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, on Sept. 3, 2025.

    (Matthew Hilton / AFP via Getty Images)

    The administration has offered contrasting assessments of conditions in Venezuela. Noem wrote that although certain adverse conditions continue, “there are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime.”

    Throughout the year, though, the State Department continued to reissue an “extreme danger” travel advisory for Venezuela, urging Americans to leave the country immediately.

    Conditions for Venezuelans in the U.S. grew more complicated after a man from Afghanistan was accused of shooting two National Guard members in November; in response, the administration froze the immigration cases of people from 39 countries, including Venezuela, that the administration considers “high-risk.” That means anyone who applied for asylum, a visa, a green card or any other benefit remains in limbo indefinitely.

    After a panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act in September, the Justice Department appealed. In a support brief filed in December, the Justice Department cited escalating tensions with Venezuela.

    David Smilde, a Tulane University sociologist and expert on Venezuelan politics, said that invading Venezuela could justify renewed use of the Alien Enemies Act.

    The law says the president can invoke the Alien Enemies Act not only in times of “declared war,” but also when a foreign government threatens or carries out an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” against the U.S.

    “Now it will be difficult, I think, for the court to say, ‘No, you can’t use this,’” Smilde said.

    With U.S. officials promising improved conditions in Venezuela and encouraging citizens to return, Smilde said, they could invoke the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport undocumented immigrants who don’t leave willingly.

    “There’s several layers to this,” he said, “and none of it looks very good for Venezuelan immigrants.”

    a man wearing an American flag shirt embraces a woman in a church

    This couple from Venezuela shared their story of why they left their three children back in their home country and spoke of the the experiences of their travel to the United States at the Parkside Community Church in Sacramento on June 16, 2023.

    (Jose Luis Villegas / For The Times)

    Jose, a 28-year-old Venezuelan living east of Los Angeles, fled Venezuela in 2015 after being imprisoned and beaten for criticizing the government. He lived in Colombia and Peru before illegally crossing the U.S. border in 2022, and now has a pending asylum application. Jose asked to be identified by his middle name out of fear of retaliation by the U.S. government.

    The news this week that an ICE agent had shot and killed a woman in Minnesota heightened his anxiety.

    “You come here because supposedly this is a country with freedom of expression, and there is more safety, but with this government, now you’re afraid you’ll get killed,” he said. “And that was a U.S. citizen. Imagine what they could do to me?”

    People visit a memorial for Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.

    People visit a memorial for Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.

    (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

    Jose qualifies for a work permit based on his pending asylum, but his application for one is frozen because of the executive order following the National Guard shooting.

    The news of Maduro’s arrest was bittersweet, Jose said, because his mother and grandmother didn’t live to witness that day. He said his mother died last year of kidney failure due to lack of medical care, leaving him as the primary breadwinner for his two young sisters who remain in Venezuela with their father, who is disabled.

    Still, he said he’s happy with what Trump has done in Venezuela.

    “People are saying he’s stealing our petroleum,” he said, “but for 25 years, Cuba, China and Iran have been stealing the petroleum and it didn’t improve our lives.”

    Many Venezuelans were encouraged by news that Venezuela would release a “significant number” of political prisoners as a peace gesture.

    For Jose, that’s not enough. Venezuela’s government ordered police to search for anyone involved in promoting or supporting the attack by U.S. forces, leading to detentions of journalists and civilians.

    “Venezuela remains the same,” he said. “The same disgrace, the same poverty and the same government repression.”

    A.G. said she was heartened to hear Noem say Sunday on Fox News that every Venezeulan who had TPS “has the opportunity to apply for refugee status and that evaluation will go forward.” But the administration quickly backtracked and said that was not the case.

    Instead, Noem and other administration officials have doubled down on the notion that Venezuelans without permanent lawful status should leave. Noem told Fox News that there are no plans to pause deportation flights despite the political uncertainty in Venezuela.

    Tragesser, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman, said the agency’s posture hasn’t changed.

    “USCIS encourages all Venezuelans unlawfully in the U.S. to use the CBP Home app for help with a safe and orderly return to their country,” he said.

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    Andrea Castillo

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  • Protests against ICE planned across the US after shootings in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon

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    Protesters against immigration enforcement actions took to the streets in cities and towns across the country on Saturday after a federal officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis and another shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.Video above: Protesters and counterprotesters clash in Minneapolis day after ICE shootingThe demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation. President Donald Trump’s administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers. Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to get out of his comfort zone and attend a Saturday protest in Durham, North Carolina, because of what he called the “horrifying” killing in Minneapolis.”We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”Video below: Protests intensify after ICE shooting of Renee GoodIndivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states. Many were dubbed “ICE Out for Good” using the acronym for the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Indivisible and its local chapters organized protests in all 50 states last year.In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups called for a demonstration at Powderhorn Park, a large green space about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot on Wednesday. They said the rally and march would celebrate Good’s life and call for an “end to deadly terror on our streets.”Protests held in the neighborhood have so far been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown. On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as people threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested.The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part. Some officers moved in after abruptly pulling out of Louisiana, where they were part of another operation that started last month and was expected to last until February. Associated Press writer Allen Breed contributed to this report from Durham, North Carolina.

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    Protesters against immigration enforcement actions took to the streets in cities and towns across the country on Saturday after a federal officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis and another shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.

    Video above: Protesters and counterprotesters clash in Minneapolis day after ICE shooting

    The demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation. President Donald Trump’s administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers.

    Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to get out of his comfort zone and attend a Saturday protest in Durham, North Carolina, because of what he called the “horrifying” killing in Minneapolis.

    “We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”

    Video below: Protests intensify after ICE shooting of Renee Good

    Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states. Many were dubbed “ICE Out for Good” using the acronym for the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Indivisible and its local chapters organized protests in all 50 states last year.

    In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups called for a demonstration at Powderhorn Park, a large green space about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot on Wednesday. They said the rally and march would celebrate Good’s life and call for an “end to deadly terror on our streets.”

    Protests held in the neighborhood have so far been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.

    NurPhoto

    In St. Paul, Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz and First Lady Gwen Walz join a moment of silence with clergy and demonstrators at the Minnesota State Capitol during a vigil urging accountability and compassion after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman this week.

    On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as people threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested.

    The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part.

    Some officers moved in after abruptly pulling out of Louisiana, where they were part of another operation that started last month and was expected to last until February.

    Associated Press writer Allen Breed contributed to this report from Durham, North Carolina.

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  • Graphic: New video shows confrontation between ICE officer, Renee Good before fatal shooting

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    A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.Warning: The video above may be graphic to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.Video below: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds press conference FridaySirens blaring in the background, he approaches Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:”That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.”U.S. citizen, former f—ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.”Other officers at the scene are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f—ing car.” Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.”F—— b—,” someone at the scene says.A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.Homeland Security says video shows self-defenseVice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.“Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.“Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.“If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said. Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful. Prosecutor asks for video and evidenceMeanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing.She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vice President JD Vance declared.Video above: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis”We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.””On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said.”I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested outside a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, banging on pots and drums and carrying signs that said, “ICE Out” and “Don’t Shoot.”Video below: Minnesota law enforcement blocked from federal investigation into deadly ICE shooting Shooting in PortlandThe Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custodyDHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.The biggest crackdown yetThe Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, with protests planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.A deadly encounter seen from multiple anglesNoem, Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.Several bystanders captured video of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Ross.Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assault. ___Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.

    Warning: The video above may be graphic to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

    The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.

    The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.

    Video below: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds press conference Friday

    Sirens blaring in the background, he approaches Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:

    “That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.

    “U.S. citizen, former f—ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.”

    Other officers at the scene are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f—ing car.” Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.

    The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.

    “F—— b—,” someone at the scene says.

    A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.

    Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.

    Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.

    Homeland Security says video shows self-defense

    Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.

    “Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”

    Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.

    “Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.

    The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.

    “If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said.

    Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

    Prosecutor asks for video and evidence

    Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing.

    She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vice President JD Vance declared.

    Video above: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis

    “We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”

    Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.

    Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”

    “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said.

    “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.

    The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.

    On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested outside a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, banging on pots and drums and carrying signs that said, “ICE Out” and “Don’t Shoot.”

    Video below: Minnesota law enforcement blocked from federal investigation into deadly ICE shooting

    Shooting in Portland

    The Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custody

    DHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.

    Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.

    The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.

    The biggest crackdown yet

    The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.

    The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.

    Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, with protests planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.

    A deadly encounter seen from multiple angles

    Noem, Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

    Several bystanders captured video of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”

    The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.

    Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Ross.

    Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assault.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

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  • Minnesota governor says state must play a role in investigation after ICE agent fatally shoots woman

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    Minnesota must play a role in investigating the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Gov. Tim Walz insisted Thursday, pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to keep the investigation solely in federal hands.A day after the unidentified ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good as she tried to drive away on a snowy Minneapolis street, tensions remained high, with dozens of protesters venting their outrage outside of a federal facility that’s serving as a hub for the administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major city.Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of the crackdowns in other cities, walked along the long line of officers, looking at the crowd as protesters yelled at him, including a man who shouted, “Border Patrol should be along the border!” Many activists tried to converse with the officers and persuade them that the job they were doing was wrong.“We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said as demonstrators shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” and other slogans at a line of Border Patrol officers, who responded with tear gas and pepper spray. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.Vice President JD Vance weighed in Thursday, saying the shooting was justified and that Good was a “victim of left-wing ideology.”“I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it is a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said, noting that the officer who killed her was injured while making an arrest last June.But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying video of the shooting shows the self-defense argument to be “garbage.” Video below: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis An immigration crackdown quickly turns deadlyThe shooting happened on Day 2 of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which the Department of Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers taking part, and Noem said they have already made more than 1,500 arrests.It provoked an immediate response in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of people turning up to the scene to vent their outrage at the ICE officers and the school district later canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to an immigration crackdown under Trump — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as anti-immigration enforcement protests took place or were expected Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.Video above: Witness describes Minneapolis shooting involving ICE officerWho will investigate?On Thursday, the Minnesota agency that investigates officer-involved shootings said it was informed that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department would not work with the department, effectively ending any role for the state to determine if crimes were committed. Noem said the state has no jurisdiction.“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Drew Evans, the bureau’s superintendent, said.Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very, very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.Noem, he said, was “judge, jury and basically executioner” during her public comments about the confrontation.“People in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem — have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” the governor said.Frey, the mayor, told The Associated Press: “We want to make sure that there is a check on this administration to ensure that this investigation is done for justice, not for the sake of a cover-up.”Video above: Kristi Noem questioned on ICE shootingA deadly encounter seen from several anglesSeveral bystanders captured footage of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.The videos show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.Graphic video shows woman shot by ICE agent in MinneapolisIt isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.The mayor said he’s working with community leaders to try to keep any protests peaceful.“The top thing that this Trump administration is looking for is an excuse to come in with militarized force, to further occupy our streets, to cause more chaos, to have this kind of civil war on the streets of America in a Democratically run city,” Frey told the AP. “We cannot give them what they want.” ___Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski, Giovanna Dell’Orto and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Michael Biesecker In Washington, Jim Mustian in New York and Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa contributed.

    MINNEAPOLIS —

    Minnesota must play a role in investigating the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Gov. Tim Walz insisted Thursday, pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to keep the investigation solely in federal hands.

    A day after the unidentified ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good as she tried to drive away on a snowy Minneapolis street, tensions remained high, with dozens of protesters venting their outrage outside of a federal facility that’s serving as a hub for the administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major city.

    Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of the crackdowns in other cities, walked along the long line of officers, looking at the crowd as protesters yelled at him, including a man who shouted, “Border Patrol should be along the border!” Many activists tried to converse with the officers and persuade them that the job they were doing was wrong.

    “We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said as demonstrators shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” and other slogans at a line of Border Patrol officers, who responded with tear gas and pepper spray. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

    Vice President JD Vance weighed in Thursday, saying the shooting was justified and that Good was a “victim of left-wing ideology.”

    “I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it is a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said, noting that the officer who killed her was injured while making an arrest last June.

    But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying video of the shooting shows the self-defense argument to be “garbage.”

    Video below: VP Vance addresses, answers questions on ICE shooting in Minneapolis

    An immigration crackdown quickly turns deadly

    The shooting happened on Day 2 of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which the Department of Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers taking part, and Noem said they have already made more than 1,500 arrests.

    It provoked an immediate response in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of people turning up to the scene to vent their outrage at the ICE officers and the school district later canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.

    Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to an immigration crackdown under Trump — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as anti-immigration enforcement protests took place or were expected Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

    Video above: Witness describes Minneapolis shooting involving ICE officer

    Who will investigate?

    On Thursday, the Minnesota agency that investigates officer-involved shootings said it was informed that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department would not work with the department, effectively ending any role for the state to determine if crimes were committed. Noem said the state has no jurisdiction.

    “Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Drew Evans, the bureau’s superintendent, said.

    Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.

    Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very, very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.

    Noem, he said, was “judge, jury and basically executioner” during her public comments about the confrontation.

    “People in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem — have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” the governor said.

    Frey, the mayor, told The Associated Press: “We want to make sure that there is a check on this administration to ensure that this investigation is done for justice, not for the sake of a cover-up.”

    Video above: Kristi Noem questioned on ICE shooting


    A deadly encounter seen from several angles

    Several bystanders captured footage of Good’s killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.

    The videos show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

    Graphic video shows woman shot by ICE agent in Minneapolis

    It isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.

    The mayor said he’s working with community leaders to try to keep any protests peaceful.

    “The top thing that this Trump administration is looking for is an excuse to come in with militarized force, to further occupy our streets, to cause more chaos, to have this kind of civil war on the streets of America in a Democratically run city,” Frey told the AP. “We cannot give them what they want.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski, Giovanna Dell’Orto and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Michael Biesecker In Washington, Jim Mustian in New York and Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa contributed.

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  • DHS Deploys 2K Federal Agents To Minneapolis Area To Carry Out ‘Largest Immigration Operation Ever’ – KXL

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    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears before the House Committee on Homeland Security on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has launched what officials describe as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, preparing to deploy as many as 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area for a sweeping crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.

    The deployment, which began over the weekend, represents one of the largest single-city mobilizations of Department of Homeland Security personnel in years, according to a person briefed on the operation. The surge dramatically expands the federal law enforcement footprint in Minnesota amid heightened political and community tensions.

    The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

    Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons said during an interview with Newsmax that the agency was carrying out its “largest immigration operation ever,” though he did not specify how many officers were involved.

    Roughly three-quarters of the personnel are expected to come from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which carries out immigration arrests and deportations, the person said. The operation also includes agents from Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative arm, which typically focuses on fraud and cross-border criminal networks. HSI agents were going door-to-door in the Twin Cities area investigating allegations of fraud, human smuggling and unlawful employment practices, Lyons said.

    The HSI agents are largely expected to concentrate on identifying suspected fraud, while deportation officers will conduct arrests of immigrants accused of violating immigration law, according to the person briefed on the operation. Specialized tactical units are also expected to be involved.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and accompanied ICE officers during at least one arrest. In a video posted on the social media platform X, Noem is seen wearing a tactical vest and knit cap as agents arrest a man in St. Paul. In the video, she tells the man, whose hands are cuffed behind his back, “You will be held accountable for your crimes.”

    The Department of Homeland Security said in a news release that the man arrested was from Ecuador and that he was wanted in Ecuador and Connecticut on charges including murder and sexual assault.

    When asked how many officers and agents had been deployed to Minnesota, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin declined to provide a figure, citing officer safety. She said DHS had surged law enforcement resources to the state and had already made more than 1,000 arrests of people it described as killers, rapists, child sexual offenders and gang members.

    The operation also includes personnel from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including Commander Gregory Bovino, whose role in previous federal operations in other cities has drawn scrutiny from local officials and civil rights advocates, the person familiar with the deployment said.

    Federal authorities began increasing immigration arrests in the Minneapolis area late last year. Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel announced last week that federal agencies were intensifying operations in Minnesota, with an emphasis on fraud investigations.

    President Donald Trump has repeatedly linked his administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota to fraud cases involving federal nutrition and pandemic aid programs, many of which have involved defendants with roots in Somalia.

    The person with information about the current operation cautioned that its scope and duration could shift in the coming days as it develops.

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

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

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


    Carlos Gonzalez

    TNS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Jacqueline Charles

    Miami Herald

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

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    Jacqueline Charles

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  • Nearly $1.1B to be spent on ‘Smart Wall’ at California border under ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

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    CONCERNING HER FIRING. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCED IT’S PLANNING TO BUILD NEW SECTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN BORDER WALL. THE NEW BARRIERS WOULD EXTEND NEARLY TEN MILES ALONG THE SAN DIEGO MEXICO BORDER. KCRA 3’S ANDREA FLORES HAS BEEN COVERING THE SOUTHERN BORDER FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS. UNDER THE BIDEN AND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. SHE JOINS US WITH WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BORDER SAFETY AND HOW IT’S GETTING FUNDED. SO THE NEW WALL SYSTEM IS BEING FUNDED BY THE SO-CALLED BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT, AND IT GIVES CBP MORE THAN $46 BILLION THROUGH 2029 FOR CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS. SO THIS IS VIDEO FROM KCRA 3’S TIME AT THE BORDER. THIS WAS BACK IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR WHEN THOUSANDS OF MILITARY TROOPS WERE SENT TO THE AREA TO ASSIST CBP WITH SURVEILLANCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE. NOW, THE PROPOSED BARRIERS WOULD BE BUILT NEAR THE TECATE AND OTAY MESA PORTS OF ENTRY. CBP SAYS IT PLANS TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN NEARLY TEN MILES OF BORDER WALL. IT ALSO PLANS TO ADD NEARLY 52 MILES OF IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE ALONG EXISTING BARRIERS, INCLUDING SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS, ACCESS PATROL ROADS AND ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS. BUT IMMIGRATION ADVOCATES LIKE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE, WHO WE SPOKE WITH BACK IN APRIL, OPPOSES THE PLAN, SAYING THIS WOULD DIVERT MIGRATION FLOWS INTO MORE DANGEROUS AREAS WITH POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION SAYS APPREHENSIONS ARE DOWN IN THE SAN DIEGO SECTOR. LAST MONTH, THEY RECORDED 715 ENCOUNTERS. THAT’S A 95% DECREASE FROM AUGUST OF 2024. WE DID REACH OUT TO CBP FOR AN INTERVIEW ON WHEN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS NEW AREA OF THE BORDER WALL WOULD BEGIN

    Nearly $1.1B to be spent on ‘Smart Wall’ at California border under ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

    Updated: 11:19 PM PDT Oct 13, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have awarded $4.5 billion in new contracts under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” for Smart Wall construction along the southwest border.At least 10 new construction contracts will add 230 miles of barriers and nearly 400 miles of technology, delivering on the Trump Administration’s promise to secure the border.(Video Above: Trump administration announces plans to build new sections of southern border wall)“For years, Washington talked about border security but failed to deliver. This president changed that,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border.”The Smart Wall is a border security system that combines steel barriers, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lights, cameras, and advanced detection technology to give Border Patrol agents the best tools in the world to stop illegal traffic. The technology additions will further secure the existing wall in areas where the Biden administration’s policies canceled contracts to do so, according to a joint statement by DHS and CBP.The 10 contracts, awarded between Sept. 15 and 30, are the very first to be funded by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. They also include minimal prior year funding from fiscal year 2021 wall appropriations. That funding was on hold during the Biden administration, according to the release.To expedite the construction of the Smart Wall, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also issued two new waivers for approximately nine miles of Smart Wall in CBP’s San Diego sector and approximately 30 miles of new Smart Wall in New Mexico within the El Paso sector.Contracts in California include:San Diego 1 Project – Awarded to BCCG Joint Venture for $483,486,600 for the construction of approximately nine miles of new Smart Wall and approximately 52 miles of system attributes in USBP’s San Diego Sector in California.El Centro 1 Project – Awarded to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. for $574,000,000 for the construction of approximately eight miles of new primary Smart Wall and the installation of approximately 63 miles of system attributes in USBP’s El Centro and San Diego Sectors in California.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have awarded $4.5 billion in new contracts under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” for Smart Wall construction along the southwest border.

    At least 10 new construction contracts will add 230 miles of barriers and nearly 400 miles of technology, delivering on the Trump Administration’s promise to secure the border.

    (Video Above: Trump administration announces plans to build new sections of southern border wall)

    “For years, Washington talked about border security but failed to deliver. This president changed that,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border.”

    The Smart Wall is a border security system that combines steel barriers, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lights, cameras, and advanced detection technology to give Border Patrol agents the best tools in the world to stop illegal traffic. The technology additions will further secure the existing wall in areas where the Biden administration’s policies canceled contracts to do so, according to a joint statement by DHS and CBP.

    The 10 contracts, awarded between Sept. 15 and 30, are the very first to be funded by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. They also include minimal prior year funding from fiscal year 2021 wall appropriations. That funding was on hold during the Biden administration, according to the release.

    To expedite the construction of the Smart Wall, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also issued two new waivers for approximately nine miles of Smart Wall in CBP’s San Diego sector and approximately 30 miles of new Smart Wall in New Mexico within the El Paso sector.

    Contracts in California include:

    • San Diego 1 Project – Awarded to BCCG Joint Venture for $483,486,600 for the construction of approximately nine miles of new Smart Wall and approximately 52 miles of system attributes in USBP’s San Diego Sector in California.
    • El Centro 1 Project – Awarded to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. for $574,000,000 for the construction of approximately eight miles of new primary Smart Wall and the installation of approximately 63 miles of system attributes in USBP’s El Centro and San Diego Sectors in California.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Supreme Court says again Trump may cancel temporary protections for Venezuelans granted under Biden

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    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has ruled for a second time that the Trump administration may cancel the “temporary protected status” given to about 600,000 Venezuelans under the Biden administration.

    The move, advocates for the Venezuelans said, means thousands of lawfully present individuals could lose their jobs, be detained in immigration facilities and deported to a country that the U.S. government considers unsafe to visit.

    The high court granted an emergency appeal from Trump’s lawyers and set aside decisions of U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

    “Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties’ legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here,” the court said in an unsigned order.

    Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have denied the appeal.

    Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. “I view today’s decision as yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket,” she wrote. “Because, respectfully, I cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference with cases pending in the lower courts while lives hang in the balance, I dissent.”

    Last month, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had overstepped her legal authority by canceling the legal protection.

    Her decision “threw the future of these Venezuelan citizens into disarray and exposed them to substantial risk of wrongful removal, separation from their families and loss of employment,” the panel wrote.

    But Trump’s lawyers said the law bars judges from reviewing these decisions by U.S. immigration officials.

    Congress authorized this protected status for people who are already in the United States but cannot return home because their native countries are not safe.

    The Biden administration offered the protections to Venezuelans because of the political and economic collapse brought about by the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro.

    Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary under Biden, granted the protected status to groups of Venezuelans in 2021 and 2023, totaling about 607,000 people.

    Mayorkas extended it again in January, three days before Trump was sworn in. That same month, Noem decided to reverse the extension, which was set to expire for both groups of Venezuelans in October 2026.

    Shortly after, Noem announced the termination of protections for the 2023 group by April.

    In March, Chen issued an order temporarily pausing Noem’s repeal, which the Supreme Court set aside in May with only Jackson in dissent.

    The San Francisco judge then held a hearing on the issue and concluded Noem’s repeal violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it was arbitrary and and not justified.

    He said his earlier order imposing a temporary pause did not prevent him from ruling on the legality of the repeal, and the 9th Circuit agreed.

    The approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who had TPS through the 2023 designation saw their legal status restored. Many reapplied for work authorization, said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, and a counsel for the plaintiffs.

    In the meantime, Noem announced the cancellation of the 2021 designation, effective Nov. 7.

    Trump’s solicitor general, D. John Sauer, went back to the Supreme Court in September and urged the justices to set aside the second order from Chen.

    “This case is familiar to the Court and involves the increasingly familiar and untenable phenomenon of lower courts disregarding this Court’s orders on the emergency docket,” he said.

    The Supreme Court’s decision once again reverses the legal status of the 2023 group and cements the end of legal protections for the 2021 group next month.

    In a further complication, the Supreme Court’s previous decision said that anyone who had already received documents verifying their TPS status or employment authorization through next year is entitled to keep it.

    That, Arulanantham said, “creates another totally bizarre situation, where there are some people who will have TPS through October 2026 as they’re supposed to because the Supreme Court says if you already got a document it can’t be canceled. Which to me just underscores how arbitrary and irrational the whole situation is.”

    Advocates for the Venezuelans said the Trump administration has failed to show that their presence in the U.S. is an emergency requiring immediate court relief.

    In a brief filed Monday, attorneys for the National TPS Alliance argued the Supreme Court should deny the Trump administration’s request because Homeland Security officials acted outside the scope of their authority by revoking the TPS protections early.

    “Stripping the lawful immigration status of 600,000 people on 60 days’ notice is unprecedented,” Jessica Bansal, an attorney representing the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, wrote in a statement. “Doing it after promising an additional 18 months protection is illegal.”

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    David G. Savage, Andrea Castillo

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