ReportWire

Tag: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

  • ICE takes 5-year-old boy and his father after using boy as

    [ad_1]

    School district officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, say their sense of security is shaken and their hearts shattered after four students from the district were recently taken by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    The Columbia Heights Public School District says two children were taken on Tuesday, including a 17-year-old boy on his way to school. He was removed from his car and taken away.

    Then in the afternoon, 5-year-old Liam Ramos was taken with his father while in their driveway after just arriving home from his preschool classroom. School officials say the child was used as bait to knock on the door and ask to be let in, letting officers see if anyone else was home.

    “Why detain a 5-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal,” said Superintendent Zena Stenvik.

    The Department of Homeland Security later said that the child was not targeted by ICE, but was “abandoned” by his father. It said his father fled federal agents as they approached his vehicle, leaving the child. DHS said the father, whom they described as an illegal alien from Ecuador, was later taken into custody as other ICE officers stayed with the child. 

    School officials say there was an adult there who offered to take the child, but ICE did not allow that. 

    Federal officials said on Thursday that the boy and his father are together at an immigration processing center in Dilley, Texas.

    An attorney for the Ramos family, Marc Prokosch, and the school district deny that Liam was abandoned by his father.

    Prokosch said Liam and his father entered the U.S. legally from Ecuador and Liam’s father doesn’t appear to have a criminal record.

    The Ecuadorian government said its consulate in Minneapolis contacted ICE as soon as it got word that Liam was being held, adding that it is “monitoring the situation of the child in order to safeguard their safety and well-being.”

    Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old student in fourth grade was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school with her mother. During the arrest, the child called her father on the phone to tell her that ICE agents were bringing her to school. The father then came to the school to find out that both his daughter and wife had been taken.

    School officials say both children and their parents are being held in a detention center in Texas. They say Liam Ramos’ family is following U.S. legal parameters and has an active asylum case with no order of deportation.

    The school officials also said they don’t know what happened. They want the public to get involved as this is happening to students all across the state of Minnesota. 

    “We are asking to please reach out to your congressional representative to ask for an immediate and peaceful resolution to this occupation,” Stenvik said. “Please help us and other schools to again be a safe place where all belong and all succeed.”

    The district also has an immigration lawyer to help figure out how to get the students back to Minnesota.

    Meanwhile, district officials say ICE continues to hang out around their schools — keeping kids, parents and staff on edge.

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Reg Chapman

    Source link

  • In Minneapolis, Vice President JD Vance says

    [ad_1]

    Vice President JD Vance on Thursday during a visit to Minneapolis blamed a “failure of cooperation” by local and state authorities for rising tensions and chaotic moments during the ongoing federal immigration crackdown in the state. 

    “I guarantee we’re going to do the best to be professional, to respect people’s rights, to not do anything that we don’t have to do in order to enforce immigration laws,” Vance said. “But it would make our lives a lot easier, it would make our officers a lot safer, and it would make Minneapolis much less chaotic if we had a little bit of cooperation from the state and local officials with that.”

    His visit comes amid “Operation Metro Surge,” which began late last month. An influx of 3,000 federal agents from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been in the state over the last few weeks in what authorities have called the largest immigration operation ever.

    Vance said Thursday that many of those officers are not even doing targeted immigration enforcement, but instead are stepping in to protect ICE officers from clashes with protestors. He claimed that local authorities, including police officers, are being told to “stand down” when these agents phone 911 for help.

    “They’re doing force protection, so that if a rioter tries to ruin the life or assault an ICE officer, they’re actually protected,” he said. “Now, why doesn’t it make more sense for the local cops to get involved in that situation? Why not just have the mayor or the local officials tell the police officers, ‘You know what? If an ICE officer is being assaulted by a far-left agitator, you are invited. You should actually help him.’”

    The Minneapolis Police Department told WCCO it “receives and processes numerous 911 reports of ICE activity throughout the city each day.”

    “The presence of protestors alone is not sufficient reason for MPD to respond where ICE activity is occurring,” a spokesperson for the department said.

    A spokesperson for St. Paul Police said they respond to 911 calls for help whether it’s a resident or a federal agent, but noted the city’s separation ordinance does not allow officers to enforce immigration law themselves.  

    Tensions are high between the agents and residents as the crackdown continues. Protests grew after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7. 

    An altercation after an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan migrant in the leg last week turned violent. Multiple U.S. citizens have said they have been detained and released without charges, including a 23-year-old woman who was held for two days.  

    Vance acknowledged that there have been “mistakes” during the operation, but did not go into specifics.

    “Whenever you have a law enforcement operation, even if 99.99% of the guys do everything perfectly, you’re going to have people that make mistakes,” Vance said

    Before making remarks to reporters and taking questions, the vice president said he met with local business leaders, ICE agents and local law enforcement to “tone down the temperature” and “reduce the chaos.”

    Walz in a post on social media said he welcomed that effort but that “actions speak louder than words.”

    “Take the show of force off the streets and partner with the state on targeted enforcement of violent offenders instead of random, aggressive confrontation,” he said. 

    Responding to a reporter’s question, Vance said he did not think the Insurrection Act — which President Trump last week threatened to invoke to quell protests — is necessary at this time.

    “The president could change his mind. Of course, things could get worse, but right now, we think that federal law enforcement officers can do the job of federal law enforcement,” he said.

    Earlier this week, local police chiefs during a news conference shared their concerns about some tactics used by immigration agents and called for more oversight after receiving complaints from residents about “civil rights violations in our streets.”

    Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said some officers of color in his department had been targeted by ICE while off duty. He shared one story of one female officer who had been stopped while driving and that agents “boxed her in” with guns drawn and “demanded her paperwork” despite being a U.S. citizen.  

    Only when she said she was a police officer did they back down without an apology, Bruley said. 

    Vance said accusations of racial profiling are concerning, but said there needs to be more fact-finding if the incident actually occurred. He said he wouldn’t “prejudge” people based on a social media story.

    “Is it a concern? Absolutely. The first thing we have to figure out is whether it happened or not, and then if it happened, whether there is a good explanation or a bad explanation,” the vice president explained. “Of course, if somebody violated the law, if somebody racially profiled, if somebody violated the rights of one of our fellow citizens — that is something we will take very seriously. What I also would say is that many of the most viral stories of the past couple of weeks have turned out to be, at best, partially true.”

    The Columbia Heights School District on Wednesday said a 5-year-old student detained alongside his father was used as “bait” to lure other family members out of the home, sparking outrage. 

    DHS said the child was “abandoned” by his father, whom they described as an illegal immigrant from Ecuador. Both are now detained in Texas. An attorney for the family said they have an active case seeking asylum.

    Vance addressed the incident, which is gaining widespread attention, and said he saw the headlines on the way to Minneapolis. His initial reaction was that it was “terrible,” and he questioned, “How did we arrest a five-year-old?” But then claimed the story lacked context.

    “When they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran. So the story is that ice detained a five-year-old. Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death? Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?” he said.

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Caroline Cummings

    Source link

  • Vance acknowledges Minnesota Department of Corrections cooperating with ICE

    [ad_1]

    Minneapolis — In his visit to Minnesota Thursday, Vice President JD Vance appeared to acknowledge that the Minnesota Department of Corrections, overseen by Gov. Tim Walz, was cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    “Look, if I was going to list the five agencies locally and statewide I’m most worried about, I wouldn’t put the Department of Corrections on that list,” Vance said in a news conference when asked by CBS News if the state was cooperating. “I think that while there are certain things we’d like to see more from them, they’ve hardly been the worst offenders.”

    His acknowledgement came after he implored state leaders to help deescalate the situation in Minneapolis.

    “What I do think that we can do is working with state and local officials, we can make the worst moments of chaos, much less common, and all they’ve got to do is meet us halfway,” Vance said in a news conference.

    A top Homeland Security official echoed Vance’s appeal – asking local authorities to turn over dangerous criminals.

    “Please honor our immigration detainers that we’ve lodged against criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota in the state’s jails in prison,” Marcus Charles, the head of ICE’s deportation branch, said Thursday in a separate news conference.

    But in an interview with CBS News Wednesday, Paul Schnell, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said that is exactly what is happening.

    “As they approach their release date, several weeks before, our staff coordinates directly with the local ICE office,” Schnell said. “Staff do this on a routine basis. They make arrangements for the transfer of custody of that individual.”

    Charles also later acknowledged that the Minnesota Department of Corrections has been cooperating with the federal government to notify ICE when undocumented criminals are released from state facilities, but argued county officials don’t always.

    “We pick individuals up from the state, it’s the counties that do not honor our detainers,” Charles said. 

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • The difference between administrative and judicial warrants

    [ad_1]


    The difference between administrative and judicial warrants – CBS News









































    Watch CBS News



    CBS News has obtained a memo telling ICE agents that they can forcefully enter a home without a judicial warrant in certain instances. CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson joins with analysis.

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • VP JD Vance to discuss “restoring law and order in Minnesota” in Thursday’s visit

    [ad_1]

    Vice President JD Vance will be in Minneapolis on Thursday for a roundtable with local leaders and community members amid the federal government’s immigration crackdown in the state. Follow live updates on the ICE surge here.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Death of Cuban immigrant in ICE custody in Texas ruled a homicide, autopsy finds

    [ad_1]

    A Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died after guards held him down and he stopped breathing, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday that ruled the death a homicide.

    Geraldo Lunas Campos died Jan. 3 following an altercation with guards. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 55-year-old father of four was attempting suicide and the staff tried to save him.

    But a witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.

    His death was one of at least three reported in little more than a month at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent facility in the desert on the grounds of Fort Bliss, an Army base.

    The autopsy report by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office found Lunas Campos’ body showed signs of a struggle, including abrasions on his chest and knees. He also had hemorrhages on his neck. The deputy medical examiner, Dr. Adam Gonzalez. determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.

    The report said witnesses saw Lunas Campos “become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement.” It did not elaborate on what happened during the struggle but cited evidence of injuries to his neck, head and torso associated with physical restraint. The report also noted the presence of petechial hemorrhages — tiny blood spots from burst capillaries that can be associated with intense strain or injury — in the eyelids and skin of the neck.

    Dr. Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy report for the AP, said the presence of petechiae in the eyes support the conclusion that asphyxia caused the death. Those injuries suggest pressure on the body and are often associated with such deaths, he said.

    He said the contusions on Lunas Campos’ body may reflect physical restraint and the neck injuries were consistent with a hand or knee on the neck.

    The autopsy also found the presence of prescription antidepressant and antihistamine medications, adding that Lunas Campos had a history of bipolar disorder and anxiety. It made no mention of him attempting suicide.

    ICE’s initial account of the death, which included no mention of an altercation with guards, said Lunas Campos had become disruptive and staff moved him into a cellblock where detainees are held away from others.

    “While in segregation, staff observed him in distress and contacted on-site medical personnel for assistance,” the agency said in its Jan. 9 statement. “Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services.”

    Lunas Campos was pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.

    Last Thursday, after Lunas Campos’ family was first informed the death was likely to be ruled a homicide, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin amended the government’s account, saying he had attempted suicide and guards tried to help him.

    “Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” she said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”

    After the final autopsy report was released Wednesday, McLaughlin issued a statement emphasizing that Lunas Campos was “a criminal illegal alien and convicted child sex predator.”

    New York court records show Lunas Campos was convicted in 2003 of sexual contact with a person under 11, a felony for which he was sentenced to one year in jail and placed on the state’s sex offender registry. Lunas Campos was also sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervision in 2009 after being convicted of attempting to sell a controlled substance, according to the New York corrections records. He completed the sentence in January 2017.

    “ICE takes seriously the health and safety of all those detained in our custody,” McLaughlin said Wednesday, adding that the agency was investigating the death. DHS has not responded to questions about whether any outside law enforcement agency was also investigating.

    It was not immediately clear whether the guards present when Lunas Campos died were government employees or those of a private contractor.

    A final determination of homicide by the medical examiner would typically be critical in determining whether any guards are held criminally or civilly liable. The fact that Lunas Campos died on an Army base could limit state and local officials’ legal jurisdiction to investigate.

    Lunas Campos was among the first detainees sent to Camp Montana East, arriving in September after ICE arrested him in Rochester, New York, where he lived for more than two decades. He was legally admitted to the U.S. in 1996, part of a wave of Cuban immigrants seeking to reach Florida by boat.

    ICE said he was picked up in July as part of a planned immigration enforcement operation due to criminal convictions that made him eligible for removal.

    In addition to Lunas Campos, ICE announced that on Dec. 3 an immigrant from Guatemala held in Camp East Montana died after being transferred to a El Paso hospital for care. While the cause of death was still pending, the agency said Francisco Gaspar-Andres, 48, was suspected to have died of liver and kidney failure.

    On Sunday, ICE announced that Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old immigrant from Nicaragua, died at Camp East Montana on Jan. 14 of a “presumed suicide.” The agency said Diaz was detained by ICE earlier this month during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

    Unlike with the two prior deaths, Diaz’s body wasn’t sent to the county medical examiner in El Paso.

    The government awarded Acquisition Logistics a $1.24 billion contract to build and operate Camp East Montana, which opened in August of last year. 

    A house in suburban Richmond, Virginia, is listed as the headquarters of Acquisition Logistics and has no public record of running a detention facility before this one. 

    In an interview with CBS News in September, Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, who had been inside the facility twice at that point, described it as a “giant tent city.”

    “There are hard floors. There are walls that go up, probably about three-quarters of the way to the ceiling,” she said at the time.

    Escobar said she saw about 1,500 people inside during one visit.

    McLaughlin said Wednesday that the autopsy for Diaz is being performed at the Army medical center at Fort Bliss. DHS again did not respond to questions about whether any agency other than ICE will investigate the death.

    Escobar on Wednesday called on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons to brief Congress about the recent deaths.

    “DHS must preserve all evidence — including halting their effort to deport the witnesses,” Escobar said Wednesday. “I reiterate my call for Camp East Montana to be shut down and for the contract with the corporation running it to be terminated.”

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee detained by immigration agents at LAX Airport, team confirms

    [ad_1]

    San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday. 

    Lee, 27, who was born in Japan but is of South Korean descent, was detained for “forgetting documents in Korea,” the office of former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi confirmed. 

    “Our office is actively working with the Giants organization, our Congressional partners and federal liaisons to resolve this situation and secure Mr. Lee’s release expeditiously,” a statement from Pelosi’s office said. 

    CBS LA has reached out to CBP and the Department of Homeland Security for a statement on the matter, but has not yet heard back.

    A spokesperson for the Giants said that Lee has since been released from detainment after he experienced a “brief travel issue at LAX due to a paperwork issue.”

    “The matter was quickly clarified with the appropriate authorities, and he has since been cleared to continue his travel,” the team’s spokesperson said. “We appreciate the professionalism of all parties involved.”

    Lee signed with the Giants ahead of the 2024 Major League Baseball season. His six-year, $113 million deal, the most ever for a Korean-born position player, ended his seven-year tenure in the KBO League, South Korea’s premier baseball organization. During that span, all of which he spent with the Kiwoom Heroes, Lee won Rookie of the Year, 2022 MVP, five Golden Glove Awards and was named to six KBO All-Star games. 

    He has also represented South Korea in several international baseball tournaments, including the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He is expected to represent his home country again for the upcoming 2026 WBC. 

    The Giants are slated to begin Spring Training for the 2026 season in February in Scottsdale, Arizona. San Francisco is also scheduled to kick off the regular season on March 25 with the year’s first regular-season game when they host the New York Yankees at Oracle Park. 

    In 187 big league games, Lee is hitting .265 with 10 homers, 63 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases. 

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • An immigration lawyer has been working around the clock since ICE detentions began

    [ad_1]

    ICE’s Operation Metro Surge started in the Twin Cities metro area nearly two months ago. The Trump Administration says they’ve arrested at least 3,000 immigrants in Minnesota. But federal officials have released only limited information about those who have been detained.

    When WCCO looked at cases online, most filed recently are habeas corpus, which an attorney clarifies means someone is in federal custody who maybe shouldn’t be.

    “Not a single one of my clients detained has a criminal record and all of them were in a process of some kind,” said immigration lawyer Carrie Peltier.

    Peltier says she’s been working nonstop for the past year.

    “It’s by choice in-part,” she added. “You really connect with your clients and you feel terrible for what they’re going through. And think if I don’t answer the phone, then who will answer the phone?”

    Others WCCO spoke to in her field say the same.

    On Minnesota’s federal court website there’s a portal showing all of the cases that have been filed. The list refreshes every 15 minutes and is growing hour by hour.

    Peltier says her name is on five of the filings posted in the last week. Many filings on behalf of those seeking asylum from countries where they didn’t feel safe.

    “They’re afraid and don’t understand what’s happening because they’re doing everything they’re told to do,” said Peltier.

    Now, they’re at the mercy of the court system.

    “The judges are for sure struggling to keep up, that’s pretty clear,” said Peltier. “However, the government is responding with a one paragraph statement.”

    Which she adds, impacts how the judges are sorting through these cases.

    “So there’s not a lot that the judges have to sort through and sift through each time, they’ve done the analysis. So when the government gives a non response response, they can just grant the motion,” Peltier told WCCO. “Sometimes people can’t empathize with a problem until it happens to them, but I wish it weren’t the case.”

    Peltier told WCCO right now, many of the clients she works with are staying home as much as possible for their safety.

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Frankie McLister

    Source link

  • Internal memo authorizes ICE to enter homes without judicial warrants in some cases

    [ad_1]

    A newly disclosed whistleblower complaint indicates that Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorized its officers to enter homes without judicial warrants in the cases of people with deportation orders, a sweeping reversal of longstanding rules.

    Historically, ICE has told its officers that they could not rely on administrative immigration warrants — signed by officials at the agency, not judges — to enter people’s homes, due to constitutional protections against warrantless searches.

    But a May 2025 memo disclosed Wednesday by two U.S. government whistleblowers gave ICE officers permission to use those administrative immigration warrants to enter residences by force to arrest unauthorized immigrants who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge or court.

    The directive, signed by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, says, “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”

    Lyons’ memo empowered ICE officers to use the “necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence” if the targets of operations do not allow them inside. 

    Before any forced entry, ICE officers should knock on the residence’s door and identify themselves. The memo also directed officers to conduct such operations targeting those with deportation orders after 6 a.m. and before 10 p.m.

    Asked about the previously undisclosed directive, which was reported by The Associated Press earlier Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said those affected by the memo had been given “full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge.”

    “The officers issuing these administrative warrants also have found probable cause,” McLaughlin argued in her statement. “For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement.”

    The directive is likely to trigger legal challenges, as the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been long interpreted to largely prohibit searches and seizures without judicial warrants, including in the immigration context.

    According to the whistleblower complaint, which was shared with Congress, Lyons’ memo has not been shared widely within the agency but has been used to train ICE officers. 

    “The whistleblowers assert that this is a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment,” said Whistleblower Aid, the non-profit representing the whistleblowers. “This disclosure is particularly timely and relevant given recent news reports of ICE officers breaking into homes, including those of U.S. citizens, without a judicial warrant and forcibly removing the residents.”

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Camilo Montoya-Galvez

    Source link

  • Internal memo authorizes ICE to enter homes without judicial warrants in some cases

    [ad_1]

    A newly disclosed whistleblower complaint indicates that Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorized its officers to enter homes without judicial warrants in the cases of people with deportation orders, a sweeping reversal of longstanding rules.

    Historically, ICE has told its officers that they could not rely on administrative immigration warrants — signed by officials at the agency, not judges — to enter people’s homes, due to constitutional protections against warrantless searches.

    But a May 2025 memo disclosed Wednesday by two U.S. government whistleblowers gave ICE officers permission to use those administrative immigration warrants to enter residences by force to arrest unauthorized immigrants who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge or court.

    The directive, signed by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, says, “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”

    Lyons’ memo empowered ICE officers to use the “necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence” if the targets of operations do not allow them inside. 

    Before any forced entry, ICE officers should knock on the residence’s door and identify themselves. The memo also directed officers to conduct such operations targeting those with deportation orders after 6 a.m. and before 10 p.m.

    Asked about the previously undisclosed directive, which was reported by The Associated Press earlier Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said those affected by the memo had been given “full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge.”

    “The officers issuing these administrative warrants also have found probable cause,” McLaughlin argued in her statement. “For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement.”

    The directive is likely to trigger legal challenges, as the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been long interpreted to largely prohibit searches and seizures without judicial warrants, including in the immigration context.

    According to the whistleblower complaint, which was shared with Congress, Lyons’ memo has not been shared widely within the agency but has been used to train ICE officers. 

    “The whistleblowers assert that this is a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment,” said Whistleblower Aid, the non-profit representing the whistleblowers. “This disclosure is particularly timely and relevant given recent news reports of ICE officers breaking into homes, including those of U.S. citizens, without a judicial warrant and forcibly removing the residents.”

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Man detained after being shot in the leg by ICE in north Minneapolis is granted conditional release

    [ad_1]


    Two men detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appeared in federal court hearings Wednesday, including the Venezuelan national who was shot in the leg by ICE agents last week in north Minneapolis.

    The shooting last Wednesday led to a tense standoff between protesters and federal agents at the scene, near North Sixth Street and North 24th Avenue. Less than an hour before the shooting, Walz gave a rare primetime address in which he called on Mr. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “end this occupation” of federal immigration enforcement agents.

    The Department of Homeland Security says multiple people were attacking the agents with shovels and brooms, and that’s why they shot. But in federal court in St. Paul, a different story about what happened that night came forth, one that began with an ICE officer scanning the plates on Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna’s car.

    He testified he was driving for DoorDash at the time.

    The ICE officer says the plates came back to another person who the officer believed was in the country illegally. That’s when a chase began. It’s also when Aljorna called Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who told him to come to his apartment in north Minneapolis.

    That’s where the officer says the chase stopped.

    Aljorna then ran from the car. That’s when he says the officer chased him and the two struggled on the ground. Sosa-Celis says he pulled Aljorna away from the officer and they ran to the house. As they tried to shut the door, they say the officer fired at them from about 10 feet away. Sosa-Celis was hit in the leg.

    The officer claimed that, during the struggle, he was being hit by shovels and brooms.

    In court Wednesday, the FBI agent who testified about that night says many people were interviewed and no one was able to corroborate the officer’s story that he was hit while on the ground.

    Both Aljorna and Sosa-Celis were granted conditional release, but the decision has been stayed until noon Thursday. They do have ICE detainers, so it’s likely they will end up in ICE custody again.

    In:

    [ad_2]

    Adam Duxter

    Source link

  • After Minneapolis, Dems confront political vulnerabilities to battle Trump on immigration, furor over ICE

    [ad_1]

    Democrats had planned to campaign in the midterm elections on affordability and health care, two issues where Americans are particularly unhappy with President Donald Trump. But the aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, including the killing of Renee Good during a confrontation with federal agents, has scrambled the party’s playbook.

    Now Democrats are trying to translate visceral outrage into political strategy, even though there’s little consensus on how to press forward on issues where the party has recently struggled to earn voters’ trust.

    Some Democrats want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a proposal that echoes “defund the police” rhetoric from Trump’s first term, and impeach administration officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

    Others have taken a different approach, introducing legislation intended to curb alleged abuses by federal agents. But those ideas have been criticized by activists as insufficient, and there is mounting pressure to obstruct funding for deportations.

    “We’re Democrats. I’m sure we’re going to have 50 different ideas and 50 different ways to say it,” said Chuck Rocha, a party strategist who is advising several House and Senate candidates on immigration this year.

    If Democrats fail to strike the right balance, they could imperil their efforts to retake control of Congress and statehouses around the country. They could also hamper a chance to rebuild credibility with voters whose dissatisfaction with border enforcement under Democratic President Joe Biden helped return Trump, a Republican, to the White House.

    Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress and Biden’s former domestic policy adviser, believes the party can thread the needle.

    “It’s not too much to ask that we have a government that can produce a secure border, that can deport people who are not legally here, and that can also respect people’s civil and human rights,” she told The Associated Press. “This country has done that before, and it can do it again.”

    Immigration crackdowns have spread from city to city since Trump took office, but the latest operation in Minnesota has generated some of the most intense controversy.

    Good, 37, was fatally shot by a federal agent earlier this month, prompting protests and angry responses from local Democratic leaders. Administration officials accused Good of trying to hit an agent with her car, an explanation that has been widely disputed based on videos circulating online.

    “I think the party is very unified in our disdain and concern of the actions certainly of DHS and ICE,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “We should campaign on fairness and due process for all people,” Garcia added, “which is being violated every single day by ICE and DHS. We should be aggressive in that posture.”

    But pushing back on the administration requires Democrats to step onto difficult political terrain.

    About 4 in 10 U.S. adults trusted Republicans more to handle immigration, according to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll from September, higher than about 3 in 10 who said the same about Democrats. On the issue of crime, Republicans also held the advantage. About 44% thought Republicans were better, compared with 22% for the Democrats.

    Republicans feel confident that their intertwined messages on crime and immigration will resonate with voters in the midterms. They frequently highlight violent criminals detained or deported, downplaying examples of nonviolent migrants who have been swept up.

    “If Democrats want to make 2026 a referendum on which party stands for strong immigration policies and protecting public safety, we will take that fight any day of the week,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar.

    Some Democrats are more interested in using the issue as a way to pivot back to core messages about health care and the cost of living.

    “I want everybody to understand, the cuts to your health care are what’s paying for ICE to be doing this,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said last week. “The cuts to your health care are what’s paying for this.”

    Democratic strategists have circulated the clip as an example of a potentially effective pitch, particularly after Trump slashed funding for some safety net programs during his first year in office.

    The president’s approval may be slipping on the issue of immigration.

    His approval rating on the issue has fallen since the start of his term, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling, from 49% in March to 38% in January.

    Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Hispanic civil rights group in the U.S., said crackdowns have hurt Trump politically.

    “Republican members of Congress are really uncomfortable with these agencies and their existing tactics, because they know it’s going to hurt them back at home come election cycle,” he said.

    Proaño said he had been disappointed with how Democrats had accommodated the Trump administration on immigration in the last year, but he praised changes in the party’s strategy since Good’s death was captured on video.

    “I think everyone just gasped at that, and I think there has been a marked shift since then,” he said.

    Some people who have vocally supported Trump in the past, like podcast host Joe Rogan, have expressed reservations.

    “Are we really going to be the Gestapo?” he asked recently.

    But Trump has not shown any sign of backing down. The administration has ramped up the number of federal agents deployed to Minnesota and the Justice Department issued subpoenas to the state’s Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded enforcement operations.

    Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, who used to lead the party in his home state of Minnesota, said “there’s a lot of pain and anguish.”

    “It’s heartbreaking,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s chilling to think that this is the United States of America, what is supposed to be a beacon for democracy and freedom.”

    [ad_2]

    CBS Minnesota

    Source link

  • DOJ subpoenas Walz, Frey, Her and others in probe alleging immigration obstruction

    [ad_1]

    U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino held a new conference Tuesday afternoon in Minneapolis where he defended the work and actions of federal agents in Minnesota in Operation Metro Surge.

    Bovino also accused Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, of “collusion and corruption” with what he calls “anarchist protestors.” 

    “Let me be clear from the start that public safety in Minneapolis is not negotiable,” Bovino said. “Our operations are lawful, they’re targeted and they’re focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community. They’re not random, and they are not political. They are about removing criminals who are actively harming Minneapolis neighborhoods.”

    Bovino shared photos of three men he said were arrested in the past day — respectively from Honduras, Guatemala and Laos — whom he called “repeat offenders with serious criminal histories.” All three men, he said, have been charged or arrested sexual abuse-related crimes. The commander also accused the news media of underreporting on “the worst of the worst.”

    “It’s very interesting that I haven’t seen this individual or many others like him reported on very much by the local news media or the state news media. That’s, that’s, that’s interesting,” he said.

    Bovino said recent actions by the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have led to the arrests of 10,000 people in Minneapolis and Minnesota, and have halted illegal border crossings. (WCCO is working to verify the number of arrests.) 

    “Illegal crossings have dropped to record lows. Catch and release has ended. Consequences have been restored,” Bovino said. “Because the border is now secure, law enforcement can do its job more effectively. Agents are no longer tied up processing and releasing, releasing individuals into the interior, individuals that we just talked about. They can focus on who is coming into this country and just as importantly identifying and removing those who should not be here — and that shift matters.”

    Also on hand for Tuesday’s conference was Marcos Charles, executive associate director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who said federal officers have arrested “113 illegal aliens” in the state over the past holiday weekend. Charles also claimed Minnesota has “released nearly 500 criminal aliens” instead of “turning them over to ICE” since Mr. Trump took office exactly one year ago Tuesday.  

    Cmdr. Greg Bovino

    WCCO


    “ICE currently has more than 1,360 immigration detainers on illegal aliens in Minnesota jails and prisons, and we’re calling on Gov. [Tim] Walz and Mayor [Jacob] Frey to turn these criminal illegal aliens directly over to ICE to keep Minnesota residents in our community safe,” Charles said. “If local officials, including those in the Twin Cities, don’t want to arrest, don’t want ICE to arrest criminal aliens that are at large in their communities, the best solution is to turn them over to us in a safe, controlled setting like a jail or prison instead of releasing them back onto the street to victimize our neighborhoods.”  

    Bovino compared the current operation and Operation Catahoula Crunch, recently carried out in Louisiana, by the number of federal law enforcement members who said have been victims of violence by protesters. He said one attack occurred in Louisiana, while he’s “lost count” of the attacks in Minnesota.

    “These anarchists that are intent on creating violence for law enforcement, you know, I see a lot of this, that mirrors what happened in 2020 here, right here in this city, when they decided to try to burn the city down,” Bovino said, referencing the unrest in the Twin Cities following the murder of George Floyd. “It’s that same type of rhetoric, that same type of support by these elected officials, so that’s very different than what I just witnessed in Louisiana.”

    Bovino said that “everything” federal officers do in Minnesota “every day is legal, ethical, moral, well-grounded in law.”

    “I would impugn upon these police chiefs and anyone else elected representatives, and you have to remember many of these police chiefs do work for the Mayor Freys of the world that, turn over those illegal aliens, those criminal illegal aliens,” Bovino said.

    When pressed by a journalist about “ordinary citizens … getting swept up” in Operation Metro Surge, as opposed to criminals, Bovino described those arrestees as “agitators,” “rioters” and “anarchists.”

    “There’s no need for that violence that we see against law enforcement, and again it seems that the only end of it, the only people that are really dialing down that rhetoric is the federal law enforcement entities that just want to conduct legal, ethical and lawful law enforcement missions in this city to take out those violent criminals, bad people and bad things,” he said.

    When asked if ICE officer Jonathan Ross — who fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month in south Minneapolis — is on administrative leave, Bovino would only say the agent is at home recovering.

    Both Bovino and Charles indicated there is no end date for this operation.

    [ad_2]

    WCCO Staff

    Source link

  • U.S. citizen detained by ICE at gunpoint in underwear in frigid conditions later asks,

    [ad_1]

    St. Paul, Minn. — Federal immigration agents forced open a door and detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press.

    ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law woke him up from a nap Sunday afternoon and said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St. Paul. He told her not to open it. Masked agents then forced their way in and pointed guns at the family, yelling at them, Thao recalled.

    “I was shaking,” he said. “They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door.”

    ChongLy “Scott” Thao, a U.S. citizen, sits for a photo at his St. Paul, Minn. home on Jan. 19, 2026, the day after federal agents broke open his door and detained him without a warrant.

    Jack Brook / AP


    Amid a massive surge of federal agents into the Twin Cities, immigration authorities are facing backlash from residents and local leaders for warrantless arrests, aggressive clashes with protestors and the fatal shooting of mother of three Renee Good.

    “ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing,” St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Hmong American, said in a statement about Thao’s arrest. “They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”

    Thao, who has been a U.S. citizen for decades, said that as he was being detained, he asked his daughter-in-law to find his identification but the agents told him they didn’t want to see it.

    Instead, as his 4-year-old grandson watched and cried, Thao was led out in handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear with just a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

    Videos captured the scene, which included people blowing whistles and horns and neighbors screaming at the more than a dozen gun-toting agents to leave Thao’s family alone.

    “It is heartbreaking. It is infuriating to see U.S. citizens, and this gentleman was a U.S. citizen, ripped out of his house without a shirt on, without a coat, without pants, wearing his boxers and Crocs. I don’t know how anyone could watch that happen to anyone,” Mark Goldberg told CBS News Minnesota.

    Goldberg was alerted about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation through a community network.

    “Less than five minutes. It all happens very, very quickly, and almost looked like military precision,” Goldberg said. 

    Thao said agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and made him get out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him. He was asked for his ID, which agents earlier prevented him from retrieving.

    Agents eventually realized that he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said, and an hour or two later, they brought him back to his house. There they made him show his ID and then left without apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door, Thao said.

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the ICE operation at Thao’s home as a “targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders.

    ICE offers reason for raid, which is then challenged

    “The US citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation,” DHS said. “The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets.”

    Thao’s family said in a statement that it “categorically disputes” the DHS account and “strongly objects to DHS’s attempt to publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims.”

    Thao told the AP that only he, his son and daughter-in-law and his grandson live at the rental home. Neither they nor the property’s owner are listed in the Minnesota sex offender registry. The nearest sex offender listed as living in the zip code is more than two blocks away.

    DHS did not respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking the identities of the “two convicted sex offenders” or why the agency believed they were present in Thao’s home.

    Thao’s son, Chris Thao, said ICE agents stopped him while he was driving to work before they went to detain his father. He said he was driving a car he borrowed from his cousin’s boyfriend. Court records show that the boyfriend shares the first name of another Asian man who has been convicted of a sex offense. Chris Thao said the two people are not the same.

    The family said they are particularly upset by ChongLy Thao’s treatment at the hands of the U.S. government because his mother had to flee to the U.S. from Laos when communists took over in the 1970s since she had supported American covert operations in the country and her life was in danger.

    Thao’s adopted mother, Choua Thao, was a nurse who treated CIA-backed Hmong soldiers in the U.S. government’s “Secret War” from 1961 to 1975 against the communists, according to the Hmong Nurses Association website.

    Choua Thao, who passed away in late December, “treated countless civilians and American soldiers, working closely with U.S. personnel,” her daughter-in-law Louansee Moua wrote on an online fundraising page for the family.

    ChongLy Thao says he’s planning to file a civil rights lawsuit against DHS and no longer feels secure to sleep in his home.

    “I don’t feel safe at all,” Thao said. “What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • DOJ calls claims in Minnesota lawsuit seeking immediate stop to ICE surge

    [ad_1]

    The U.S. Department of Justice says claims made in a lawsuit seeking an immediate stop to the surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota are “legally frivolous.”

    The federal agency made the remark in a memorandum filed with the U.S. District Court in Minnesota on Monday, which argued against a motion made by the state of Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul for a temporary injunction.

    While Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday, the judge said the issue was too important to wait.

    U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez is considering whether to grant an immediate temporary restraining order limiting ICE activities. She said last week she would not issue the temporary restraining order until she heard a response from the federal government.

    The lawsuit, filed late last week, argues the unprecedented surge of an estimated 3,000 federal agents is endangering citizens. It accuses ICE of violating the First and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  

    According to the memorandum, the DOJ argues the plaintiffs’ “Tenth Amendment and related claims have not a shred of legal support” and that their “motion should therefore be denied.” 

    “The Tenth Amendment at the heart of Plaintiffs’ claims is far different from the Tenth Amendment in the Constitution, which states only a ‘truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered,’” the memorandum said. “Among the powers the States did not retain at ratification is the power to veto federal action justified under one of the federal government’s enumerated powers.”

    The lawsuit alleges that federal law enforcement officers have “engaged in unlawful conduct” that harms residents and “infringes” on state and local police powers. The Justice Department pushed back, saying, “Defendants are in Minnesota to enforce federal immigration law, not to run (or close) schools or enforce Minnesota state law.”

    The lawsuit also alleges that DHS agents have conducted warrantless arrests, citing an instance on Dec. 5 when a federal agent entered a south Minneapolis restaurant without a warrant. When the general manager of the restaurant asked for it, the agent said, “We don’t need one.”  

    Menendez is the same judge who blocked the use of pepper spray, nonlethal munitions

    The notice of appeal comes days after Menendez blocked federal agents deployed to Minnesota, as part of the Trump administration’s immigration operations, from using pepper spray or nonlethal munitions on, or arresting, peaceful protesters in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. 

    The order also bars federal law enforcement from stopping or detaining drivers and passengers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” that people driving near protests are forcibly interfering with law enforcement operations. 

    On Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the order “a little ridiculous.” 

    “We only use those chemical agents when there’s violence happening and perpetuating and you need to be able to establish law and order to keep people safe,” Noem said. “So that judge’s order didn’t change anything for how we’re operating on the ground, because it’s basically telling us to do what we’ve already been doing.”

    Ashley Grams and

    Eric Henderson

    contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Most Americans say ICE makes communities less safe, CBS News poll finds

    [ad_1]

    CBS News polling shows the majority of Americans think ICE is making communities less safe. The new data comes in the wake of the deadly shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer and the mass protests in Minneapolis that have followed. CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto unpacks the findings.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • In freezing conditions, hundreds gather downtown to protest ICE

    [ad_1]

    Even on one of the coldest days of the winter, hundreds of protesters took to Chicago’s streets against ICE. 

    People rallied at the Chicago Water Tower on Michigan Avenue and marched to Trump Tower primarily to oppose the Trump administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the war in Gaza, aligning with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and adding onto a long list of demonstrations against the administration that ramped up in Chicago this fall with the federal immigration enforcement crackdown. 

    “We’re in very trying and perplexing and contradictory times,” Nino Brown, 34, who spoke at the rally with the anti-capitalist Party for Socialism and Liberation, said. “And if Dr. King were alive, I mean — he would brave, he would brave the conditions to make a political statement.” 

    Demonstrators passed out hand warmers and wrapped keffiyehs around their winter scarves as temperatures held stubbornly in the single digits and the wind chill brought the “feels like” temperature well below zero. 

    Despite the temperatures throughout the afternoon, the crowd at times stretched the length of a short city block and was loud enough to catch the attention of patrons inside the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and other downtown businesses, some of whom pulled out their phones to record the group passing down the closed-off roadway. The sidewalks were otherwise mostly clear as the cold and holiday seemed to keep downtown relatively quiet.  

    The Monday demonstration, endorsed by dozens of organizations, followed another protest at the west suburban Broadview ICE processing center Saturday, which was one of the first large-scale events to occur there since federal agents pulled back from their 64-day surge of immigration enforcement raids in and around Chicago. 

    A person argues with a man carrying a flag during a protest outside the Broadview ICE facility on Jan. 17, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

    Among marchers’ top concerns were the killings of Renee Good, the woman shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis about two weeks ago, and Silverio Villegas-González, the man shot by an ICE agent in Franklin Park in September. 

    In Good’s killing, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security quickly said the agent who killed Good was acting in self-defense, recalling claims from the agency in the aftermath of the two federal shootings in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. The Minneapolis shooting has prompted protests in Minnesota and across the country, including Chicago and its suburbs. 

    In addition to calls to abolish ICE, protesters rallied against Israel’s violence against Palestinians since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, and the Trump administration’s recent capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, among other issues. 

    Marcia Bernsten, 72, who said she’s attended many protests over the last two decades, said she felt like she was seeing some new faces at protests in recent weeks. 

    “It seems like the American people are beginning to wake up and realize this isn’t normal, and it’s our time to be in the street,” she said. “The situation is such that we have no choice but to be in the streets.” 

    Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, was the last speaker in the pre-march program, which lasted about 30 minutes. Overall, the group was standing outside or marching for about an hour and a half. 

    “This is what resistance looks like. I am thankful for the bravery of working people fighting against fascists, fighting against imperialism, fighting against poverty, racism and militarism,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Remember Martin Luther King Jr., because we gotta look at the past so that we can fight for the future.”

    [ad_2]

    Olivia Olander

    Source link

  • DOJ probing protesters group that disrupted services at church with ICE pastor

    [ad_1]

    Minneapolis — The Department of Justice said Sunday it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apparently serves as a pastor.

    A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the protest’s organizers, shows a group of people interrupting services at the Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.” The 37-year-old mother of three was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month amid a surge in federal immigration enforcement activities.

    The protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, also leads the local ICE field office overseeing the operations that have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests.

    Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her agency is investigating federal civil rights violations “by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.”

    “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!” she said on social media.

    Attorney General Pam Bondi also weighed in on social media, saying she’s “been in constant communication with (Dhillon) today over these events which @TheJusticeDept is investigating at my direction. Any violation of federal law will be prosecuted.”

    Bondi added that she “just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law. If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails.”

    Nekima Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, dismissed the potential DOJ investigation as a sham and a distraction from federal agents’ actions in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

    “When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me,” said Armstrong, who added she is an ordained reverend. “If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and the need to check their hearts.”

    The website of St. Paul-based Cities Church lists David Easterwood as a pastor, and his personal information appears to match that of the David Easterwood identified in court filings as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Easterwood appeared alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a Minneapolis press conference last October.

    Cities Church did not respond to a phone call or emailed request for comment Sunday evening, and Easterwood’s personal contact information could not immediately be located.

    Easterwood did not lead the part of the service that was livestreamed, and it was unclear if he was present at the church Sunday.

    In a Jan. 5 court filing, Easterwood defended ICE’s tactics in Minnesota such as swapping license plates and spraying protesters with chemical irritants. He wrote that federal agents were experiencing increased threats and aggression and crowd control devices like flash-bang grenades were important to protect against violent attacks. He testified that he was unaware of agents “knowingly targeting or retaliating against peaceful protesters or legal observers with less lethal munitions and/or crowd control devices.”

    “Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency stated. “They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.”

    Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars-Doty said that the DOJ’s prosecution was misguided.

    “If you got a head — a leader in a church — that is leading and orchestrating ICE raids, my God, what has the world come to?” Cullars-Doty said. “We can’t sit back idly and watch people go and be led astray.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Man arrested by ICE in Minneapolis dies while under federal agency’s custody in Texas

    [ad_1]

    A 36-year-old man who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis died while in federal custody in Texas on Wednesday, according to the agency. 

    Security personnel found Victor Manuel Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room at Camp East Montana in El Paso, according to ICE. 

    El Paso Emergency Medical Services were notified at 3:35 p.m. local time and were at the site attempting life-saving measures 10 minutes later, the federal agency said. Diaz died at 4:09 p.m.

    “He died of a presumed suicide,” ICE said in a statement. “However, the official cause of his death remains under investigation.” 

    Diaz was arrested by federal officers on Jan. 6. According to federal officials, he was a Nicaraguan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico on March 26, 2024. He was encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents that same day. 

    “After processing, he was served a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released on parole pending his court date,” the federal agency said.

    According to federal officials, an immigration judge ordered Diaz be removed from the country last August. 

    The federal agency says it provides “comprehensive medical care” to people in custody at its detention facilities, including “medical, dental and mental health intake screenings within the first 12 hours” of their arrival. 

    The Department of Homeland Security on Friday also confirmed the death of a Mexican citizen in a detention facility in Georgia. Heber Sanchez Domínguez, 34, had been in ICE custody for six days and was awaiting a hearing when he was discovered “hanging by the neck and unresponsive in his sleeping quarters,” according to DHS.

    Herber was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. Federal officials said the cause of his death is under investigation.

    According to DHS data, at least 15 people died while in ICE custody last year.

    As of Thursday, ICE was holding about 73,000 individuals facing deportation in its custody across the U.S., the highest level recorded by the agency and an 84% increase from the same time in 2025, when its detention population was just below 40,000, according to internal Department of Homeland Security data obtained by CBS News.

    The Trump administration has said it’s working to be able to detain upwards of 100,000 immigration detainees at any given time, as part of its government-wide effort to carry out a deportation crackdown of unprecedented proportions.  

    Camilo Montoya-Galvez

    contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Nick Lentz

    Source link

  • Man arrested by ICE in Minneapolis dies while under federal agency’s custody in Texas

    [ad_1]

    A 36-year-old man who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis died while in federal custody in Texas on Wednesday, according to the agency. 

    Security personnel found Victor Manuel Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room at Camp East Montana in El Paso, according to ICE. 

    El Paso Emergency Medical Services were notified at 3:35 p.m. local time and were at the site attempting life-saving measures 10 minutes later, the federal agency said. Diaz died at 4:09 p.m.

    “He died of a presumed suicide,” ICE said in a statement. “However, the official cause of his death remains under investigation.” 

    Diaz was arrested by federal officers on Jan. 6. According to federal officials, he was a Nicaraguan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico on March 26, 2024. He was encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents that same day. 

    “After processing, he was served a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released on parole pending his court date,” the federal agency said.

    According to federal officials, an immigration judge ordered Diaz be removed from the country last August. 

    The federal agency says it provides “comprehensive medical care” to people in custody at its detention facilities, including “medical, dental and mental health intake screenings within the first 12 hours” of their arrival. 

    The Department of Homeland Security on Friday also confirmed the death of a Mexican citizen in a detention facility in Georgia. Heber Sanchez Domínguez, 34, had been in ICE custody for six days and was awaiting a hearing when he was discovered “hanging by the neck and unresponsive in his sleeping quarters,” according to DHS.

    Herber was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. Federal officials said the cause of his death is under investigation.

    According to DHS data, at least 15 people died while in ICE custody last year.

    As of Thursday, ICE was holding about 73,000 individuals facing deportation in its custody across the U.S., the highest level recorded by the agency and an 84% increase from the same time in 2025, when its detention population was just below 40,000, according to internal Department of Homeland Security data obtained by CBS News.

    The Trump administration has said it’s working to be able to detain upwards of 100,000 immigration detainees at any given time, as part of its government-wide effort to carry out a deportation crackdown of unprecedented proportions.  

    Camilo Montoya-Galvez

    contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link