Gregory Bovino, the controversial Border Patrol leader who helped oversee the immigration surge in Minnesota, allegedly used language offensive to the Jewish federal officials on a recent call, multiple sources familiar with the call told CBS News.
The call, which was held on Jan. 12, five days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, involved multiple federal officials who were trying to coordinate a Saturday meeting to discuss issues related to the massive deployment of federal immigration agents in the area. Bovino was told on the call that Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, an Orthodox Jew, could not attend that meeting because he observes the Sabbath.
Bovino allegedly responded with audible frustration that Rosen was not available for the Saturday meeting, sources familiar with the planning call said. One of them recounted that Bovino replied, “Do Orthodox criminals also take off on Saturday?”
That source said Bovino also used the phrase “chosen people” in a disparaging manner.
Another source briefed on the conversation described Bovino’s alleged remarks as an “antisemitic rant.” The New York Times first reported Bovino’s alleged comments.
Reports of Bovino’s conduct on the call were relayed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and others in the Department of Justice, as well as the White House, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Department of Homeland Security, the White House and the Department of Justice have not yet responded to a request for comment.
Bovino’s remarks contributed to a growing unease between federal immigration officials and some Minnesota-based federal prosecutors, as ICE and Border Patrol officers have engaged in a widening surge of raids and arrests, and thousands took to the streets in protest in reaction, sources told CBS News.
Bovino’s sometimes brusque manner had raised concerns previously. The former Border Patrol “commander-at-large” ran afoul of a federal judge in Chicago during deportation operations there in October. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, whose injunction limited federal immigration agents’ use of force in Chicago, criticized what she called Bovino’s “cute” responses about clashes between agents and protesters.
She wrote in her opinion, “Bovino appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing ‘cute’ responses to the Plaintiffs’ counsel’s questions or outright lying.” In November, an appeals court paused Ellis’ injunction.
Bovino was reassigned and relieved of his command in Minneapolis earlier this week after an intense backlash over how top U.S. officials, including Bovino, responded to the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by two Customs and Border Protection officers.
On the same day that Pretti was shot, Bovino said of him that “this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” a reference to the fact that Pretti was armed with a handgun when he was killed. Some of Bovino’s claims about Pretti were soon contradicted by witnesses and video from the scene. And within several days, the government submitted a report to Congress about the case that contained no mention of Pretti ever reaching for his firearm during the skirmish with CBP agents.
Bovino is being reassigned to his old job at California’s El Centro sector, where he served as the chief agent before the Trump administration deployed him to major American cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago, to lead sweeping immigration roundups.
The alleged comments from Bovino come at a time when the Trump administration has sought to make countering antisemitism one of its primary policy goals.
Since last year, the Justice Department and the Department of Education launched dozens of civil rights probes into whether college campuses failed to adequately protect Jewish students during protests over the war in Gaza in 2023.
After weeks of chaotic clashes, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official has reportedly sent a memo ordering agents not to engage with protesters.
Mary, a lifelong Minneapolis resident and owner of Thrifty Nifty, says this isn’t the city she grew up in.
“I’m in fear for my life because I don’t know if they’re going to be coming for us next,” she said.
“I do not want to hear that everything’s been done here has been perfect. Nothing’s ever perfect. Anything can be improved on. And what we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient by the book,” Homan said.
Reuters reports one of those changes is a memo headlined “DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS.”
“It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands,” the memo reportedly reads.
“I believe they’re still going to be around and still going to be terrorizing us,” Mary said.
Mary’s skepticism is shared by many of her neighbors, like this group, who are watching out for ICE in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood.
“I really don’t trust anything that they’re saying about any of this,” said a man who is part of a neighborhood watch, vigilantly watching for ICE. “Everything they’re doing is just intimidation and repression tactics to try to get us to stand out of their way, but we’re not going to do that, because we know what they’re doing is wrong.”
With the future uncertain, neighbors say they’re banding together. They say they aren’t letting their guard down, despite indications of drawdowns from the federal government.
“I think we all need to come together more closer. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is; it’s about love and family,” Mary said.
The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents on Saturday has further escalated tensions in Minneapolis, a city now at the center of America’s heated battle over immigration enforcement.
Pretti’s killing occurred less than three weeks after Renee Good, another Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
A total of 3,000 ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents are now operating in the city, a force that is roughly five times the size of the Minneapolis Police Department, which has about 600 officers. A top ICE official said Sunday that federal agents had carried out roughly 3,400 arrests in the area, though he did not say how many arrestees had criminal records.
Here’s a look at how the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis has unfolded, and the major events that have placed the Midwestern city in the national and global spotlight.
Dec. 1: ICE launches crackdown in Minneapolis area
ICE launched “Operation Metro Surge” in the Minneapolis area in the first week of December, the latest in a string of Trump administration immigration crackdowns targeting Democratic communities. CBS News reported at the time that ICE planned to target, in part, those with deportation orders, including Somali immigrants, a population President Trump has harshly criticized.
Minnesota had drawn nationwide attention due to a litany of fraud schemes that allegedly bilked billions of dollars from the state’s federally funded public assistance programs. Mr. Trump attacked state officials over the fraud scandals — and zeroed in on the fact that most of the dozens charged in the schemes were of Somali descent.
The state has the nation’s largest Somali American population, the vast majority of them U.S. citizens, either by birth or through naturalization, according to census data.
Dec. 26: Viral video alleges fraud in Minnesota day cares
In a now-viral YouTube video posted the day after Christmas, conservative influencer Nick Shirley visited nearly a dozen day care facilities in the Minneapolis area that he alleged were receiving taxpayer money but not providing any services. The video, which has racked up nearly 4 million views on YouTube, was amplified by Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
State investigators later visited several of the day care centers highlighted in his video, and said nine of them were “operating as expected.” Eight of the facilities had children present during the inspection, and a ninth was not yet open for the day, the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families said. One of the centers closed in early January.
Dec. 29: ICE dispatches agents to visit Minneapolis-area businesses
Days after the Shirley video was posted, agents from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations branch were dispatched to conduct site visits to several dozen Minneapolis businesses. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they were overseeing a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.”
Jan. 5: Thousands of additional federal agents are deployed
Roughly a week after the Shirley video, CBS News first reported that the Trump administration would be deploying an additional 2,000 federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently called the deployment the largest operation in its history.
Federal agents stand guard as protestors gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 8, 2026.
Octavio JONES /AFP via Getty Images
The reinforcements included Border Patrol agents, including commander Gregory Bovino, who had previously led sweeping and controversial immigration enforcement operations in Charlotte, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Videos of the incident appear to show Good’s car was approached by multiple ICE officers, one of whom stepped in front of her vehicle. Good backed up, turned her wheel and began to drive her car forward, and the officer in front of the SUV, identified as Jonathan Ross, fired multiple shots.
Renee Good is seen in an image from cellphone video recorded by an ICE officer shortly before the shooting that killed her on Jan. 7, 2026.
Mr. Trump and members of his administration accused Good of intentionally hitting and trying to run over the agent, in what Noem described as an “act of domestic terrorism” that left the officer injured. Lawyers representing Good’s family have said Good and her partner were observing ICE operations. Analysis of video from the scene suggested Good may have been trying to steer away from the officers, not towards them.
Hours later, Mayor Jacob Frey sharply criticized ICE, telling the agency: “Get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”
Jan. 13: Prosecutors resign as they face pressure over Renee Good investigation
At least six career prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office resigned, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, as the office faced pressure to treat the investigation of Renee Good’s shooting as a case of assault on a federal officer as opposed to a civil rights case. At least six Justice Department prosecutors, most of them supervisors in the Civil Rights Division, said they were leaving the department soon after they learned there would not be a civil rights investigation into Good’s shooting.
An FBI supervisor in the Minneapolis field office’s public corruption squad later resigned, too, partly over pressure to “discontinue” the investigation of Good’s shooting, a source told CBS News.
Separately, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension withdrew from a probe into the shooting, saying the Justice Department had blocked state investigators from accessing evidence.
Jan. 15: ICE officer shoots man in leg during alleged shovel attack
Exactly a week after the killing of Good, DHS said another ICE officer shot a Venezuelan migrant he was trying to arrest in Minneapolis. The department said the migrant and two other Venezuelan men attacked the ICE officer with a snow shovel and broom handle. The officer, DHS said, shot the original target of the operation in the leg following a confrontation.
The Venezuelan man suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was later charged by the Justice Department and accused of assaulting the ICE officer, alongside another migrant involved in the altercation.
Jan. 15: Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act in Minneapolis
As protests over the immigration operations continued to flare, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if state officials didn’t “stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E.”
If the president decides to invoke the law, it could set the stage for the military to be deployed onto the streets of Minneapolis over the objections of state and local officials.
Later that week, some 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska were placed on standby for a possible deployment to Minnesota, a defense official told CBS News.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has weighed working with the Pentagon on a smaller scale in Minnesota, calling for military lawyers and forensic accountants to assist with fraud investigations in the state.
Jan. 16: Judge blocks agents from arresting or using pepper spray on peaceful protesters
A federal judge blocked DHS agents from arresting or using pepper spray and nonlethal munitions on peaceful protesters in Minnesota, after a lawsuit alleged federal agents “violently subdued” demonstrations against immigration enforcement.
Border Patrol agents deploy tear gas as they clash with people in a residential neighborhood on Jan. 12, 2026 in Minneapolis.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
The government has denied using excessively heavy-handed tactics, with Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin saying the agency “is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
Jan. 16: Justice Department probes Frey, Walz and other Minnesota officials over alleged obstruction of immigration agents
On Jan. 16, CBS News disclosed a Justice Department investigation into allegations that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local officials had conspired to impede federal immigration agents.
Walz and Frey denounced the probe, calling it political intimidation.
A week later, the Justice Department subpoenaed the offices of Walz, Frey and other top state and local officials, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Jan. 18: Anti-ICE protesters disrupt church service, triggering Justice Department crackdown
A group of protesters angry over ICE’s presence in Minnesota entered a church in St. Paul on Jan. 18, disrupting a Sunday service. The protesters said they focused on Cities Church because a man listed as pastor at the church also appeared to work for ICE.
The protest, which prompted families with children and other congregants to leave the church, was widely condemned by conservatives and the Trump administration, which quickly vowed to launch a criminal investigation. The Justice Department also said it would bring charges against former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who was present in the church at the time. Lemon said he was reporting on the protest.
Three people were arrested on federal charges several days after the protest, but a federal magistrate judge refused to sign arrest warrants for five other people, including Lemon, sources told CBS News. Federal prosecutors asked an appeals court to order the lower court to issue the remaining arrest warrants, but a panel of appellate judges declined that request.
Jan. 18: U.S. citizen detained by ICE at gunpoint
Immigration agents forced their way into a house in St. Paul, Minnesota, and detained ChongLy “Scott” Thao — a Hmong American and U.S. citizen — at gunpoint without a warrant, The Associated Press reported.
Images of 56-year-old Thao being led out of his home in handcuffs, wearing only underwear, Crocs and a blanket draped over his shoulders in the snow, provoked anger toward ICE and renewed questions about the agency’s tactics. Thao was later released.
Image taken from video obtained by Reuters shows ChongLy “Scott” Thao being led from his home in St. Paul, Minnesota, by immigration agents on Jan. 18, 2026.. Thao, a U.S. citizen, was later released.
Reuters
DHS described the incident at Thao’s home as a “targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders who it said lived at the same address, and alleged Thao matched the description of the suspect. Thao’s family has strongly disputed the claim that the suspects lived there.
A day later, two whistleblowers revealed ICE had quietly issued a memo in May 2025 authorizing its officers to forcibly enter people’s homes, without a judicial warrant, during operations targeting those with deportation orders. The directive marked a seismic shift from longstanding rules meant to comply with the Fourth Amendment, which has long been interpreted to mean law enforcement can’t enter private property without a judge’s warrant.
Jan. 20: ICE takes 5-year-old boy into custody with his father
On Jan. 20, a team of ICE officers in Minneapolis took into custody a man from Ecuador and his 5-year-old son, Liam Conejo Ramos. Videos and photos of the incident — depicting Liam wearing a blue bunny hat and his school backpack — garnered national attention, triggering questions about who the Trump administration was targeting in its mass deportation effort.
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after arriving home from preschool no Jan. 20, 2026, in a Minneapolis suburb.
Ali Daniels / AP
Dueling narratives of the incident quickly materialized. Federal officials said ICE targeted the man’s father — not Liam — and accused him of being in the U.S. illegally. According to their version of events, Liam’s father tried to flee ICE and abandoned Liam in a car in the process. After arresting the father, the agency said ICE officers attempted to get Liam’s mother to take him but she refused to do so.
People who have spoken to the mother said she was scared to open the door to ICE, fearing she too would get arrested. Advocates and school officials accused ICE of trying to use Liam as bait — a claim ICE has denied.
Liam and his father are currently being held at a family detention center overseen by ICE in Texas. CBS News reported they have pending immigration cases and can’t be legally deported for now.
Jan. 24: Alex Pretti fatally shot by Border Patrol agents
Just weeks after Renee Good’s shooting, a second person was shot and killed by immigration agents: Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who worked as an ICU nurse.
Videos of the incident show Pretti standing in the middle of a Minneapolis street holding up his phone toward immigration agents. After he and several others were pushed back, he was wrestled to the ground by a group of agents and appeared to struggle as they tried to bring his arms behind his back. He was then shot multiple times.
A screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters shows a federal officer pinning down a man, identified as Alex Pretti, before he was fatally shot in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, 2026.
VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS
Noem alleged that Pretti “approached” officers with a handgun and “reacted violently” when officers tried to disarm him, forcing the agent to fire “defensive shots.” Videos reviewed by CBS News do not show Pretti with a gun in his hand before the shooting, and one video from immediately beforehand, when officers were struggling with Pretti, appears to show an agent reaching into the scrum empty-handed and emerging with a gun. Local police officials have said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.
The Trump administration has defended the officer, with Bovino accusing Pretti, without citing evidence,of trying to “massacre law enforcement” during an operation to pursue a man who was in the country illegally and wanted for domestic assault. Local politicians have condemned the shooting, with Walz calling it “sickening.”
“These tactics are very obviously not safe, and it is generating a lot of outrage and fear in the community,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” adding that even if an investigation ultimately finds the shooting was lawful, it may not matter “because there is so much outrage and concern around what is happening in the city.”
In sub-zero temperatures, marchers protest the federal surge in immigration enforcement operations in downtown Minneapolis on Jan. 23, 2026.
Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images
Jan. 24: Bondi makes three demands to “bring back law and order”
In a three-page letter, Bondi pressed Walz to let the federal government review Minnesota’s voter rolls and welfare data, and to give ICE greater access to jails in the state.
“I am confident that these simple steps will help bring back law and order to Minnesota and improve the lives of Americans,” Bondi wrote in her letter to the governor Saturday, which accused state officials of “anti-law enforcement rhetoric” and “putting federal agents in danger.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon rejected the request, calling it “an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law.”
The Trump administration has long pushed authorities in Minnesota to cooperate more extensively with ICE’s requests to detain people and to let federal agents go into detention facilities. State corrections officials say they already cooperate with ICE, but cooperation varies at the county level.
In a Truth Social post a day later, Mr. Trump also called on local law enforcement to assist ICE, urging Walz, Frey and Democratic officials nationwide to “formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.”
Jan. 25: Minneapolis police chief says, “This is not sustainable”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said “people have had enough” and urged leaders to “come together and figure this out.”
“This is the third shooting now in less than three weeks,” he said in an interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year, recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds and hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn’t shoot anyone. And now this is the second American citizen that’s been killed, it’s the third shooting within three weeks.”
“This is not sustainable” for the city’s 600 officers, O’Hara said. “This is taking an enormous toll trying to manage all of this chaos on top of having to be the police department for a major city. It’s too much.”
Jan. 26: Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, some agents to leave Minneapolis, sources say
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and some of his green-uniformed agents are expected to soon leave the Minneapolis area, sources familiar with the move tell CBS News.
One of the sources said Bovino was relieved of his command in Minneapolis and is expected to return to California’s El Centro sector, where he served as the chief agent before the Trump administration deployed him to major American cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago.
The development follows intense backlash over how top federal officials, including Bovino, responded to the Pretti’s shooting. Bovino, citing no evidence, suggested over the weekend that Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents. Some of the claims by Bovino and other officials were contradicted by witnesses and video from the scene.
News of Bovino’s impending departure came hours after President Trump said Tom Homan, the White House border czar, would be heading to Minnesota.
Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino continued to defend the actions of federal agents during a news conference on Sunday in the deadly shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in south Minneapolis on Saturday. CBS News’ Lilia Luciano and Nicole Sganga have more.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says “people have had enough” after Border Patrol shooting – CBS News
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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told CBS News “this is not sustainable” after a fatal shooting by a Border Patrol agent amid a weekslong immigation crackdown in the city.
Videos and witnesses of fatal Minneapolis shooting at odds with Trump administration’s statements – CBS News
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Videos and eyewitness accounts of a Border Patrol agent’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis are differing from Trump administration statements. Lana Zak has the latest.
Officials in Portland, Oregon, answered questions from reporters after two people were shot and wounded by Border Patrol agents, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
A planned immigration crackdown by federal agents has been canceled for the entire Bay Area for now, Mayor Barbara Lee of Oakland said Friday.
“I spoke with Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, who confirmed through her communications with ICE that Border Patrol operations are cancelled for the greater Bay Area – which includes Oakland – at this time,” Lee said in a statement obtained by CBS News Bay Area.
A spokesperson with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office told CBS News Bay Area that Sanchez spoke with ICE Thursday afternoon, who stated that the operations were cancelled at this time.
So far, there’s been no confirmation from the Department of Homeland Security.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was among the tech leaders who asked the president to reconsider, Mr. Trump said. Benioff had previously urged the president to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to address public safety, comments which he later apologized for.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials told CBS News that Border Patrol agents would stage at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda for a planned operation. Border patrol commander Gregory Bovino, one of the most visible faces of the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown, was expected to be involved.
Following reports of the crackdown, protesters gathered outside Coast Guard Island early Thursday morning, with demonstrators attempting to block vehicles from entering the island. The day-long protest ended late Thursday after a U-Haul truck attempted to back into a line of U.S. Coast Guard and law enforcement, which led to Coast Guard security personnel opening fire at the truck.
The driver of the truck was wounded in the stomach and was being held for a mental health evaluation, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. Meanwhile, two civilians who were injured are expected to survive, while a bystander struck by a fragment was treated at a hospital and released.
Lee also issued a statement about the shooting incident at Coast Guard Island, saying “The Oakland Police Department is assisting the Alameda Police Department in securing the perimeter of the scene. The FBI is the lead agency investigating the incident, and I will continue to gather available information as it becomes accessible.”
Officers opened fire Thursday evening at a vehicle backing into a line of police outside the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, site of a day-long protest against what was originally planned as an immigration enforcement surge in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A KPIX photographer at the scene captured video showing a U-Haul truck reversing toward the base entranceand law enforcement firing their weapons at the vehicle. Photographer Rick Villaroman said the U-Haul had been parked outside the base for the better part of the day until it inexplicably began to reverse quickly toward officers blocking off the gate.
“He just hit the gas and sped towards them,” Villaroman said. “And that’s when they opened fire. About 20 to 30 rounds.”
Driver takes off after shooting, then returns
The driver fled after the shooting, and it was unclear if anyone was hurt or detained in the incident. There was no immediate update from police in Oakland, where the entrance to the bridge crossing to Coast Guard Base Alameda is located, or from the California Highway Patrol, which had officers in riot gear facing protesters for hours Thursday.
Officers open fire on a U-Haul truck backing into a line of police outside the gate of Coast Guard Station Alameda on Oct. 23, 2025.
KPIX
The driver stopped backing up when the gunfire erupted and then drove away from the police line, stopping briefly before driving away and then returning to the scene shortly after.
“The driver of the U-Haul came back, parked it down this street here, and walked out and left,” Villaroman said.
Witnesses said the truck also struck two bystanders. There was no immediate confirmation of any injuries.
Villaroman said he inspected the abandoned vehicle and saw multiple bullet holes but no blood in the cabin.
The protesters who were still at the base largely cleared out after the shooting, he said.
Coast Guard base was to be Border Patrol staging area
The base was to have been the staging area for a planned immigration enforcement surge by Border Patrol agents in the San Francisco Bay Area. President Trump later said the planned surge in San Francisco had been called off, but it wasn’t clear whether other Bay Area cities could see a ramp-up of activity by federal agents.
Protesters began gathering outside the base entrance early Thursday morning ahead of the anticipated immigration enforcement crackdown in San Francisco, with some demonstrators attempting to block vehicles going through the gates. The gathering turned into a day-long standoff between CHP officers and protesters who were later joined by 100 to 200 more demonstrators who marched from a rally in Oakland’s Fruitvale District to the base, also known as Coast Guard Island, an artificial island in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda.
U.S. officials told CBS News on Wednesday that the Trump administration had planned to expand its nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration to the Bay Area and that Border Patrol agents would stage at the base, located roughly 15 miles from San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens – including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists – in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. “As it does every day, DHS law enforcement will enforce the laws of our nation.”
Mr. Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that the enforcement action in San Francisco was canceled following a conversation with Mayor Daniel Lurie and calls from tech leaders, citing the city’s progress in addressing crime.
Despite the announcement, protesters remained outside the entrance to the base Thursday afternoon. Additional protests and rallies were held in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
Smoke grenades, flash bang devices deployed at protest
Protesters began to arrive at Coast Guard Island around 6 a.m., blocking the entrance to the island. Shortly after 7 a.m., a CBS News Bay Area crew spotted a Coast Guard vehicle drive past the crowd and then fire flash bangs and smoke grenades to disperse it.
Protesters gathering outside the entrance to Coast Guard Island in Alameda on Oct. 23, 2025, ahead of the expected arrival of Customs and Border Protection agents.
CBS
At least two people were seen being detained at the site.
One demonstrator appeared to have been hit by a piece of shrapnel or a projectile — a minister who was part of a group of interfaith leaders taking part.
The minister, identified as Jorge Bautista, spoke to reporters after the incident.
“I obviously was shot with whatever that Border Patrol had,” said Bautista, who is a pastor at an Oakland church. “And I came to say we came in peace, and he didn’t care. There’s nothing else to say — he wanted to cause harm to me.”
“It’s clear that we’re here to be on the side of love,” Bautista added. “Because it is our responsibility to express love and be on the side of peace and to make sure that no families are being harassed and threatened with their lives.”
“They stopped at the crowd, and then got out and said they were going to drive through us if we didn’t move, they weren’t going to stop once they started, and they started pushing through,” said one Alameda resident who didn’t to give her name. “They ran over one gentleman’s foot, another person got pushed off.”
“They have the right to come out here and walk around, (and) so do I,” said one man wearing a MAGA hat who also didn’t share his name.
“We are not here to be violent, but if we are being aggressed, what do you do?” remarked Oakland resident Kendra Ferguson.
Officers opened fire Thursday evening at a vehicle backing into a line of police outside the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, site of a day-long protest against what was originally planned as an immigration enforcement surge in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It was unclear if anyone was hurt or detained in the incident.
A KPIX crew at the scene showed a U-Haul truck reversing toward the base entrance when law enforcement fired their weapons at the vehicle.
Witnesses said the truck struck two bystanders and then fled.
This is a breaking news update. Original story follows below.
Protesters gathered outside the entrance to Coast Guard Base Alameda Thursday ahead of an anticipated surge in President Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the San Francisco Bay Area.
After an initial turnout early Thursday morning with protesters attempting to block vehicles going through the base gates, the gathering turned into a day-long standoff between California Highway Patrol officers in riot gear and protesters. Thursday afternoon, another large group of protesters marched from a rally in Oakland’s Fruitvale District to the base, also known as Coast Guard Island, an artificial island in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda.
U.S. officials told CBS News on Wednesday that the Trump administration planned to expand its nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration to the Bay Area, and that Border Patrol agents would stage at the base, located roughly 15 miles from San Francisco.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens – including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists – in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. “As it does every day, DHS law enforcement will enforce the laws of our nation.”
Despite the announcement from Mr. Trump, protesters remained outside the entrance to the base Thursday afternoon. Additional protests were planned in San Francisco and San Jose. It was not clear whether other Bay Area cities would see an increase in immigration enforcement.
Protesters began to arrive at Coast Guard Island around 6 a.m., blocking the entrance to the island. Shortly after 7 a.m., a CBS News Bay Area crew spotted a Coast Guard vehicle drive past the crowd and then fire flash bangs and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd.
Protesters gathering outside the entrance to Coast Guard Island in Alameda on Oct. 23, 2025, ahead of the expected arrival of Customs and Border Protection agents.
CBS
At least two people were seen being detained at the site. One person appeared to be hit by a piece of shrapnel or a projectile, a minister who was part of a group of interfaith leaders protesting.
The minister, identified as Jorge Bautista, spoke to reporters after the incident.
“I obviously was shot with whatever that Border Patrol had,” said Bautista, who is a pastor at an Oakland church. “And I came to say we came in peace, and he didn’t care. There’s nothing else to say, he wanted to cause harm to me.”
“It’s clear that we’re here to be on the side of love,” Bautista added. “Because it is our responsibility to express love and be on the side of peace and to make sure that no families are being harassed and threatened with their lives.”
“They stopped at the crowd, and then got out and said they were going to drive through us if we didn’t move, they weren’t going to stop once they started, and they started pushing through,” said one Alameda resident who did not share her name. “They ran over one gentleman’s foot, another person got pushed off.”
“They have the right to come out here and walk around, so do I,” said one man wearing a MAGA hat who also did not share his name.
“We are not here to be violent, but if we are being aggressed, what do you do?” said Oakland resident Kendra Ferguson.
Hurricane Debby brought more than powerful winds and storm surge to Florida — packages of cocaine worth more than $1 million also made landfall, officials said, marking the latest in a string of recent discoveries of drugs along Florida shores.
Debby, which slammed into the state as a Category 1 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, washed the drugs ashore in the Florida Keys, U.S. Border Patrol acting chief patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II wrote on social media.
“Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys,” Briggs wrote, posting two images of the packages.
“Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys,” U.S. Border Patrol acting chief patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II wrote on social media.
U.S. Border Patrol acting chief patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II
Briggs said the trove of drugs, which has a street value of more than $1 million, was found by a good Samaritan who contacted the authorities.
Cocaine has been found on numerous occasions on and near the shores of Florida, which is not far from Caribbean transit hubs for drugs being trafficked from South America to the U.S. and Europe.
In June, recreational boaters off the coast of the Florida Keys found 65 pounds of cocaine floating in the ocean, Briggs said.
Earlier that month, divers found 25 kilograms of cocaine about 100 feet underwater off Key West. The very next day, the same amount of suspected cocaine was found washed up on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
In May, a beachgoer found about $1 million worth of cocaine washed up along the Florida Keys, CBS News Miami reported.
In 2023, packages of cocaine worth more than $100,000 washed up on several Florida beaches. Also last year, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, while on a fishing trip with her family, reeled in 70 pounds of cocaine.
In 2019, bricks of cocaine were discovered on two beaches after Hurricane Dorian lashed the Florida coast.
Stephen Smith is a managing editor for CBSNews.com based in New York. A Washington, D.C. native, Steve was previously an editorial producer for the Washington Post, and has also worked in Los Angeles, Boston and Tokyo.
Washington — In an exclusive interview with CBS News, U.S. Border Patrol chief Jason Owens called the situation at the southern border a “national security threat,” expressing concern about tens of thousands of migrants who have evaded apprehension and entered the country surreptitiously over the past five months.
Owens said Border Patrol is “closing in” on recording one million apprehensions of migrants in between ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2024 fiscal year, which started in October. For the third consecutive year, his agency is on track to record two million apprehensions by the time the fiscal year ends at the end of September, Owens added.
“That number is a large number, but what’s keeping me up at night is the 140,000 known got-aways,” Owens said in his first exclusive interview as Border Patrol chief, referring to migrants who are detected by cameras and sensors crossing into the U.S. illegally, but not apprehended.
“Why are they risking their lives and crossing in areas where we can’t get to?” Owens asked. “Why are they hiding? What do they have to hide? What are they bringing in? What is their intent? Where are they coming from? We simply don’t know the answers to those questions. Those things for us are what represent the threat to our communities.”
The situation, Owens added, amounts to “a national security threat.”
“Border security is a big piece of national security,” he said. “And if we don’t know who is coming into our country, and we don’t know what their intent is, that is a threat and they’re exploiting a vulnerability that’s on our border right now.”
Still, Owens agreed that the vast majority of migrants coming to the U.S. border are “good people.”
“I think the migrants that we encounter, that are turning themselves in, yes, I think they absolutely are, by and large, good people,” Owens said. “I wish they would choose the right way to come into our country and not start off on the wrong foot by breaking our laws.”
While a “very small amount” of those apprehended at the southern border are serious criminals, such as convicted gang members or sexual offenders, Owens said most migrants are surrendering themselves to Border Patrol agents to escape poverty or violence in their home countries.
“They’re coming across because they’re either fleeing terrible conditions, or they’re economic migrants looking for a better way of life,” he said.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics show a tiny fraction of migrants processed by Border Patrol have criminal records in the U.S. — or other countries that share information with American officials — and an even smaller percentage have been convicted of serious crimes. Available data and studies also suggest that migrants in the U.S. illegally do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native born Americans.
Still, top law enforcement officials, including FBI director Christopher Wray, have voiced concerns about criminal actors, including potential terrorists, exploiting the unprecedented levels of migration along the U.S. southern border over the past three years.
In both fiscal years 2022 and 2023, Border Patrol reported over two million apprehensions of migrants who crossed the southern border illegally, both all-time highs.
Owens said the extraordinary flow of people into the U.S. is mainly driven by cartels.
Asked if the cartels were setting “the rules of engagement” at the southern border, Owens said, “yes, they absolutely are.”
A career official who has spent more than 25 years in Border Patrol, Owens assumed the top position at the agency in June 2023 following the retirement of Raul Ortiz. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called Owens a “talented, selfless, and inspiring leader” when his promotion was announced.
In his interview with CBS News at CBP headquarters in Washington, Owens also called for tougher immigration policies to reduce the number of migrants arriving to the southern border.
“I’m talking about jail time. I’m talking about being removed from the country and I’m talking about being banned from being able to come back because you chose to come in the illegal way instead of the established lawful pathways that we set for you,” he said.
This past week both President Biden and former President Trump visited the southern border in Texas. There’s no denying immigration has become one of the most important and contentious issues in the presidential campaign. And there’s no better example of that than the high stakes fight between the state of Texas and the federal government. Three years ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched “Operation Lone Star,” deploying thousands of police and soldiers and miles of barriers to deter record numbers of illegal crossings. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that immigration is the job of the federal government. But rarely has a state so aggressively challenged that authority. In January, Gov. Abbott ordered his state National Guard to block the federal government’s Border Patrol fromShelby Park, a dusty stretch of border along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. To understand why, you need to see what happened there in December.
We were on the banks of the river before dawn with soldiers from the Texas National Guard… we heard the cries of people before we could see their faces. It wasn’t until we moved closer that we realized how many people had just crossed from Mexico
The soldiers told them it was dangerous to cross here.
“Help us,” they begged. Some of the women cried — “we have children.”
Migrants at the border are confronted by wire.
60 Minutes
We heard groans… and found this young man twisting in the wire…. he kept going….
“Stay calm,” they told each other, as families pushed their children through.
Nearly everyone we saw made it across …and into the United States.
Thousands of people a day crossed here in late December — a record for this section of the Texas border. There were so many people… the U.S. Border Patrol had to transform Shelby Park into an open air holding center…
Weeks later once the surge died down, Gov. Abbott ordered his Texas National Guard to block the federal government’s Border Patrol from entering the park without permission. Gov. Abbott argued the federal government had failed to fulfill its obligation to the states — and in that some heard echoes of Texas’ history of rebellion and threats of secession.
Cecilia Vega: I can’t believe, Governor, I’m gonna ask you this question, but I’m– I’m gonna ask you: Do you believe that Texas has the right to secede? Is that what we’re talkin’ about here?
Gov. Greg Abbott: Those are false narratives. What Texas and the United States have the right to do– and that’s to enforce the law.
Cecilia Vega: You heard the argument against what you’re doing out here. Each state can’t control its own border policy. You’re looking at a completely chaotic system. That’s the job of the federal government–
Gov. Greg Abbott: We are not imposing a Texas border policy. Texas, very simply, is enforcing the laws– that– are the policy of the United States Congress.
Cecilia Vega: What gives you the authority to tell the U.S. Border Patrol what to do?
Gov. Greg Abbott: For one, as governor of the state of Texas, I have– the authority to control ingress and egress– to any land in the state of Texas. For another, this land we’re on right now was used by the federal government to further illegal activity, and I wanted to put a stop to it.
Gov. Abbott
60 Minutes
We went behind the guarded gates of Shelby Park in January — shortly after Gov. Abbott had taken control.
Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez showed us where state national guardsmen were installing fresh razor wire barriers along the river.
Cecilia Vega: Help me understand at the heart of this, why Texas has a problem with the Border Patrol coming into process migrants in this park.
Lt. Christopher Olivarez: The issue is trying to prevent another influx, because when Border Patrol is here setting up a processing center, it’s gonna attract, it’s gonna encourage more migrants to cross the river because they know where to go.
It’s one of many spots along the Texas border where coils of sharp wire have been going up ever since Gov. Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021. Since then, thousands of migrants have been arrested and detained on trespassing charges.
State troopers have cracked down on human smuggling rings.
And the state has spent more than $150 million sending migrants on buses to cities like New York and Chicago, turning the trouble at the border into a political and financial headache for Democratic mayors.
Once the site of ballgames and flea markets, Shelby Park is now Gov. Abbott’s model of what the Texas border can be…
Gov. Greg Abbott: Where we are right now, there used to be 3,000 or 4,000 people crossing illegally a day. For the past three days, there’s an average of just three people crossing the border illegally.
Raul Ortiz: You don’t just plant a flag just to plant a flag. It’s gotta be strategic and it’s gotta make sense.
Raul Ortiz served as chief of the U.S. Border Patrol under President Biden and deputy chief under President Trump. He retired last year.
Raul Ortiz: When agencies are making a decision based upon politics or whether they’re gonna get media coverage, hey, we’re gonna put all our personnel in this two-mile stretch. What about the other 200 miles?
Raul Ortiz served as chief of the U.S. Border Patrol under President Biden and deputy chief under President Trump. He retired last year.
60 Minutes
In our interview, Ortiz criticized Gov. Abbott for not cooperating with the Border Patrol and playing politics with immigration. But he also expressed frustration with President Biden.
Raul Ortiz: I’ve never had one conversation with the president. Or the vice president, for that matter. And so I was the chief of the border patrol. I commanded 21,000 people. That’s a problem.
Cecilia Vega: I just saw 50 people today who had just crossed the border illegally. So something’s not working.
Raul Ortiz: We need to make sure that Central America, South America, Mexico, that those regions understand that if you pay a smuggler and you cross in between the ports of entry and you do not have a legitimate claim to some sort of asylum benefit, you’re gonna be sent back.
Cecilia Vega: Do you believe that the White House has sent mixed messages to migrants?
Raul Ortiz: Yeah, most definitely.
We spoke with Ortiz in an area just four miles south of Shelby Park. The ground was littered with wet clothes that migrants had changed out of and left behind after crossing the river.
Cecilia Vega: Does all of this tell you that people are still crossing this river right here?
Raul Ortiz: Oh, yeah, the guides or the smugglers will bring the migrants over. This all very calculated by the cartels that control these areas on the Mexican side.
Clothing is left behind by migrants.
60 Minutes
About seven miles north of Shelby Park… we came upon this group of migrants who had just crossed the Rio Grande — and were being picked up by the Border Patrol.
This mother and her two sons took buses from El Salvador. She told us the soldiers on the U.S. side of the border weren’t much of a deterrent– she feared the cartels in Mexico more…..
“Sometimes they kidnap you and expect payment,” she said.
Cecilia Vega: The reality is people are still gonna find a way to get in no matter how much manpower you have out here, no much– how much wire you put up—
Gov. Greg Abbott: Disagree completely, because
Cecilia Vega: You do?
Gov. Greg Abbott: Yeah, ’cause– in Texas, anyway– we’re gonna be barricading every area where people are crossing– until we get every area to have like this area is right now.
Cecilia Vega: Texas is going to barricade every area? What do you mean?
Gov. Greg Abbott: Every area where the cartels use as a crossing we intend to be barricading.
Cecilia Vega: Border’s gonna look like a war zone.
Gov. Greg Abbott: It is a war zone.
Over the past three years, the Biden administration has carried out 4 million expulsions and deportations – more than the Trump administration. But it has also allowed a record 3 million people to remain in the country for years while their immigration cases are heard. And the Border Patrol estimates another 1.6 million people have entered the country illegally without getting caught.
This past week, former President Trump visited Shelby Park with Gov. Abbott…
On the same day, President Biden was also at the Texas border in Brownsville.
President Biden says that if Republicans were serious about securing the border they would not have rejected a bipartisan immigration deal in the senate last month after former President Trump opposed it. That deal would have increased funding for the Border Patrol and required the president to expel all migrants crossing illegally during surges like the one at Shelby Park in December.
The latest battle between Texas and Washington concerns a new law Gov. Abbott signed authorizing Texas’ more than 2,700 law enforcement agencies to arrest migrants for illegally crossing the border. Texas judges could then order migrants to return to Mexico or serve time– bypassing the federal immigration system entirely.
Critics of the law say it is so broadly written it fails to define when authorities can stop someone.
We asked Lt. Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety, or “DPS,” about the concern that immigrants and people of color could be subjected to racial profiling.
Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Olivarez
60 Minutes
Lt. Christopher Olivarez: I can tell you that our troopers are not gonna be stopping cars and checking for immigration status. They’re not.
Cecilia Vega: But this law is not just written for DPS.
Lt. Christopher Olivarez: Right. It’s a Texas law.
Cecilia Vega: The reality is, this is going to be carried out far from the border.
Lt. Christopher Olivarez: Absolutely.
Cecilia Vega: So couldn’t you get caught up in it? You’re Latino. Couldn’t I get caught up in it?
Lt. Christopher Olivarez: That’s not the case. They have to develop probable cause in order to stop a car. You can’t just go interview every single person in that car, ask ’em for immigration status. But of course, yeah, there could be some issues where maybe some other agency outside of a border area– could take that into account.
Cecilia Vega: Does that make you nervous?
Lt. Christopher Olivarez: It’s probable– it’s probable, it’s probable because there’s a lot of agencies here in Texas that operate, right? But I would think that every chief at a police agency would have to implement some type of policy and procedure to actually enforce this new law.
This past week, a federal judge temporarily stopped the new law from taking effect while it’s being challenged in court. The Department of Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing Texas, arguing the law interferes with the federal government’s authority over immigration. But Gov. Abbott argues Texas is being invaded and has the right to defend itself. That idea has resonated with militias and groups opposed to illegal immigration… some joined a convoy last month and descended on the Eagle Pass area.
Cecilia Vega: Everyone, I think, agrees that the immigration system right now is completely broken and there’s a lot of blame to go around. But do you really, truly believe that “invasion” is the right word to be using here?
Gov. Greg Abbott: Invasion is the word that’s used in the United States Constitution, “invasion” or “imminent danger.” I use ’em both. And we are in imminent danger because of what the drug cartels do every single day, because of the known and unknown terrorists who cross every single day.
Cecilia Vega: So, the convoys and militia have heard the language, and they’ve started to come to the point that migrants have had to be relocated from some locations for their own safety. Are you not concerned about violence happening because of language like the word invasion?
Gov. Greg Abbott: There’s no language that would spur violence, but I’ll be clear about this: We don’t want violence of any type.
Cecilia Vega: How does this end?
Gov. Greg Abbott: Oh, it ends very simply, and that’s with a president of the United States who will actually fulfill his oath of office and enforce the laws of the United States of America. And that means denying illegal entry into our country.
Cecilia Vega: Do you want to be Trump’s running mate?
Gov. Greg Abbott: No.
Cecilia Vega: What if he asks you?
Gov. Greg Abbott: Listen, I love being governor of Texas. I can best aid him in my role by being a great governor of Texas.
So far, the governor has committed more than $11 billion to Operation Lone Star. Over the last three years, the percentage of people entering Texas illegally has dropped, while rising in other border states. Abbott’s critics say that has more to do with other factors like crack-downs on migration in parts of Mexico.
There are still more than a million illegal border crossings in Texas every year.
There are also at least a dozen lawsuits being fought between Texas and the federal government over immigration issues. All that infighting worries former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz….
Raul Ortiz: The National Guardsmen– even, to some degree, the border patrol agents have become pawns in this political game between the two sides.
Cecilia Vega: Who’s winning?
Raul Ortiz: The cartels, the criminal organizations, that’s who’s winnin’ in all of this. They’re sittin’ back reapin’ all the benefits while they watch the state of Texas and Washington D.C. go at it.
Produced by Andy Court. Associate producer, Annabelle Hanflig and Camilo Montoya-Galvez. Broadcast associate, Katie Jahns. Edited by Robert Zimet.
The number of migrants arriving at the southern border is unprecedented. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded two-and-a-half million instances of detaining or turning away people attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico.
So what’s the fastest growing group among them? Chinese migrants. Yes, you heard that right…Chinese. We saw large groups, including many from the middle class, come through a 4-foot gap at the end of a border fence 60 miles east of San Diego.
The illegal entryway is a new route for those hoping to live in America.
Just after sunrise, we saw the first group of migrants make their way from Mexico…through a gap between the 30 foot steel border fence and rocks.
Ducking under a bit of razor wire and into the United States.
We were surprised to see the number of people coming through from China…nearly 7,000 miles away.
Our cameras, and at one point this armed Border Patrol agent standing 25 feet away…. did not deter them.
60 Minutes
This man, a college graduate, told us he hoped to find work in Los angeles. He said his trip from China took 40 days.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What countries did you go through?
College grad: Thailand, Morocco, Ecuador … Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica …Nicaragua.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Jeez.
Thirty minutes later, a smuggler’s SUV raced along the border fence and dropped another group at the same spot. And 30 minutes after that…. another group.
Over four days, we witnessed nearly 600 migrants – adults and children- pass through this hole and onto U.S. soil…unchecked. We saw people from India, Vietnam and Afghanistan. Many of the Chinese migrants who came through will end up asking for political asylum.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Did you travel by yourself or with family or friends?
Migrant no. 2: Eh No. Just me.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Just you.
Migrant no. 2: Yeah.
The gap is a global destination…littered with travel documents from around the world.
Travel documents from around the world have been left on the ground at the border gap.
60 Minutes
With the help of a translator, we learned a little about the Chinese migrants coming through.
We also met a banker and small business owners.
Some of the migrants made a grueling journey through Central America with dusty backpacks…but we noticed middle class migrants from China arriving with rolling bags. They told us they took flights all the way to Mexico.
Some flew from China to Ecuador, because it doesn’t require a visa for Chinese nationals. Then, took flights to Tijuana, Mexico.
The migrants told us they connected with smugglers, or what they call snake heads, in Tijuana.
And they each paid them about $400 for the hour-long drive that ended here…at the gap…
Sharyn Alfonsi: Why did you decide to come to the United States?
Female migrant/Translator speaking English: Oh, it’s hard to live there … hard to find jobs.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What did you do? Did you work in China?
Female migrant/Translator speaking English: She worked in the factory but now it’s hard to work in the factory.
She said it was…and that she sold her house to cover the $14,000 cost of her trip to the U.S.
60 Minutes
Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended crossing illegally from Mexico into the U.S.…that’s 50 times more than two years earlier.
Many of the migrants told us they made the journey to escape China’s increasingly repressive political climate and sluggish economy.
This 37-year-old woman said China’s COVID lockdown destroyed her child care business. She left her two young children with family at home.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And why did you decide to come to the United States?
37-year-old female migrant/translator speaking English: Many reasons.
Sharyn Alfonsi: For work or?
37-year-old female migrant/translator speaking English: Not … not entirely.
We wondered how all of these migrants…knew about this particular entryway into California.
The answer was in their hands.
Translator: TikTok, TikTok.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Oh you learned on TikTok.
TikTok is a social media platform created in China. The posts we found had step-by-step instructions for hiring smugglers and detailed directions to that hole we visited.
We were struck by just how orderly and routine it all seemed. The migrants walked about a half mile down a dirt road and waited in line for U.S. Border Patrol to arrive so they could surrender.
The land they are waiting on is owned by 75-year-old Jerry Shuster, a retiree.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The whole world seems to know there’s a way in. And it’s on your property.
Jerry Shuster and Sharyn Alfonsi
60 Minutes
Jerry Shuster: They’re all doing this. They’re all doing this. when they come over here, they come with the suitcases. They come prepared with the computers just like they got off on a Norwegian cruise ship yesterday.
Shuster owns 17 acres…just north of the border fence and a quarter mile outside of Jacumba Hot Springs, California. Population 540.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You’re an immigrant yourself.
Jerry Shuster: Yes.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Where did you come from?
Jerry Shuster: I come from Yugoslavia. And I left Yugoslavia, I went to Austria. I stayed there eight month. And I knock on this door. I didn’t bust the door down to come over here.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You came through the front door.
Jerry Shuster: I came through the front door.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And what do you think about this?
Jerry Shuster: They– they don’t care. They– they– they– they come through the hole like they’re comin’ to their own country over here. And nobody do nothin’ about it.
Shuster says it all started in May. He went to investigate some smoke coming from his property and found migrants burning trees to stay warm.
Today, his property looks like a messy moonscape…littered with the trash and tents migrants have left behind.
Tents have been left behind on Jerry Shuster’s property
60 Minutes
Sharyn Alfonsi: Have you ever just yelled, “Get outta here?”
Jerry Shuster: Well, they say—I uh – it was, like, four month ago, there was eight guys start– knocking my trees and start burning my– my– my trees on the other side. So I told ’em, “Please, don’t do that. Please don’t do–” and they start surrounding me. I went home, and I got my gun, and I shoot in the air. They arrest me.
Sharyn Alfonsi: They arrested you?
Jerry Shuster: Yeah, they arrest me.
Sharyn Alfonsi: On your property?
Jerry Shuster: Yeah, on my property. Yeah, just because. I ask ’em not to burn the trees, not to knock the fences. And they– they arrested me. They put me in a police car. I’m just protecting my own land.
Shuster wasn’t charged – but his gun was confiscated.
Sharyn Alfonsi: If you had to guess, how many migrants do you think you’ve seen come through here?
Jerry Shuster: Maybe 3,000—a week.
Sharyn Alfonsi: 3,000 a week?
Jerry Shuster: I would say that, yes. Because this is ongoing deal.
About two hours after these migrants arrived, we saw the Border Patrol pull up, broadcasting recorded instructions in Mandarin.
The migrants were driven to a detention facility near San Diego…where they are given background checks. Some are interviewed. Typically – within 72 hours – they are released into the United States and can begin the process of filing an asylum claim.
Jacqueline Arellano has volunteered on the border for eight years offering humanitarian aid to migrants.
Jacqueline Arellano: So I’m a– native Spanish speaker. I have been able to rely on being bilingual in doing this work for the duration that I have been doing it. And in this past year, I mean, there’s been times that I’ve come to the sites and not spoken to a single Spanish speaker.
She relies on translation apps to communicate with Chinese migrants.
Sharyn Alfonsi: These people want to be picked up by border patrol. Why isn’t this happening at a port of entry?
Jacqueline Arellano: That would definitely be the ideal situation. And people would much prefer to do so. It would definitely be much safer and more efficient. Unfortunately, there are barriers to people being able to seek asylum at a port of entry.
One barrier is the phone app called “CBP One”.
Asylum seekers are supposed to use the app to make an appointment to enter the U.S. through a legal border crossing…
Volunteers who work with migrants told us there is still a three to four month wait to secure an appointment at a border crossing.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So is this a shortcut?
Jacqueline Arellano: It’s really, like, the only one that they have. I don’t even know that they would consider it a shortcut.
For years, millions of Chinese entered the U.S. with a visa that allowed them to visit, work or study. But in the last few years, those visas have been increasingly difficult to secure as tensions between the two countries have grown.
In 2016, the U.S. granted 2.2 million temporary visas to Chinese nationals. In 2022, it was just 160,000.
Tammy Lin is an immigration attorney and has worked with clients from China for nearly two decades.
Sharyn Alfonsi: if someone’s not granted asylum here, will China then say, “Okay, yes, we’ll take them back”?
Tammy Lin: I haven’t seen that happen, really. I– I think– even back to 2008– a lot of the Chinese nationals that had failed asylum cases weren’t able to get passports– to be put on the plane to be sent back. So we can’t send you back.
Based on our review of data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement – there are at least 36,000 Chinese who have been ordered by U.S. courts to leave the country. But China is notorious for not taking back its citizens and the U.S. can’t force China to accept them.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So, then, what happens if they have a failed claim but they can’t go back to China?
Tammy Lin: That’s a very good question. They’re stuck in this limbo.
According to the Department of Justice, last year 55% of Chinese migrants were granted asylum. compared to 14% for every other nationality.
With the odds in their favor, and a phone to guide them, there’s little to discourage more Chinese migrants from coming through the gap near Jerry Shuster’s place.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Have you said to anybody, “Hey, there’s this giant hole. They’re comin’ through. How ’bout patching that up?”
Jerry Shuster: They know that thing is there. And– we– we all been tellin’ ’em, “Hey, when this thing gonna quit over here? you gotta call Washington D.C.” That’s what they say.
So, we did. U.S. Customs and Border Protection told us their agents don’t have authority to stop people from coming through gaps like this one and can only arrest them after they’ve entered illegally.
As for closing that gap, they said it is on their priority list. But would require money from Congress.
Produced by Guy Campanile. Associate Producer, Lucy Hatcher. Broadcast associate, Erin DuCharme. Edited by Craig Crawford.
U.S. Border Patrol processed more than 302,000 migrants at the southern border in December, a monthly record high. However, U.S. officials have seen a notable drop in daily illegal crossings so far in January. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports from Eagle Pass, Texas.
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Negotiations are continuing between Republican Senate leaders and the White House regarding a possible border security deal. However, Republicans acknowledged Thursday that the calculus on such a deal may have changed given former President Donald Trump’s status in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Scott MacFarlane has the latest.
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Republicans have blamed President Biden for a surge in migrant crossings at the southern border. But Mr. Biden pointed the finger at the GOP blocking a funding bill that would have provided billions for border security. Weijia Jiang reports.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, blamed President Biden for the migrant crisis, saying Wednesday that the president has the authority to significantly reduce the record number of border crossings without action from Congress.
“On his first day in office, President Biden came in and issued executive orders that began this chaos,” Johnson told “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan in an interview in Eagle Pass, Texas. “Remain in Mexico is one of them.”
The Remain in Mexico policy, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols, was implemented by the Trump administration in early 2019 to deter migration to the U.S.-Mexico border. It required migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to wait in Mexico until their court dates.
Mr. Biden ended the policy soon after taking office, saying it was inhumane. After months of legal battles, federal courts ordered the government to reinstate it. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 that the Biden administration had the authority to end the program and it is no longer being implemented.
A senior administration official told CBS News nothing is completely off the table, but added the administration needs Mexico’s help with the hemispheric-wide crisis and it is not going to “stuff things down their throats.”
The Mexican government has issued statements rejecting any proposed revival of Remain in Mexico.
Johnson also said the Biden administration “could end catch and release.”
When asked about the need for logistical and financial support at the border that can only be provided through acts of Congress, Johnson said a top U.S. Border Patrol official told him the situation was comparable to an open fire hydrant.
“He said, ‘I don’t need more buckets, I need the flow to be turned off.’ And the way you do that is with policy changes,” Johnson said. “We’re just asking the White House to apply common sense, and they seem to be completely uninterested in doing so.”
There’s recently been a sharp drop in the number of migrants being processed at the border after arrivals hit a record high in December and strained resources in some communities across the U.S.
The White House and a bipartisan group of senators have been negotiating a package that would make substantial changes to immigration and border security laws. The negotiations come as Republicans demand harsher policies in exchange for more aid to Ukraine.
Watch more of Margaret Brennan’s interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday on “Face the Nation” at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at cbsnews.com and is based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
An intricate network of American gun smugglers, some as far north as Alaska, have been helping to move millions of weapons across the southern border and into the hands of drug cartel members. Adam Yamaguchi takes an in-depth look at how these guns are being moved.
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Washington — U.S. Border Patrol agents separated migrant children as young as 8 from their parents for several days this summer to avoid overcrowding in a short-term holding facility, an independent federal court monitor said Friday, raising concerns about the physiological impact of such separations.
Dr. Paul Wise, the federal court monitor, said he learned during two visits to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection tent facility in Donna, Texas, last month that migrant boys and girls had been separated from their parents and held away from their families, in a different part of the site, for as many as four days.
Wise, a pediatrician, said Border Patrol officials told him the children and parents were separated for operational reasons, namely to prevent overcrowding in pods housing families. The separated children, Wise added, were kept in pods typically reserved for unaccompanied minors that had more space.
Most of the migrant children interviewed by Wise and his colleague indicated not knowing of “any protocols that would allow them to request a visit with their parents,” he wrote in a 71-page report filed in the federal district court in Los Angeles. Wise’s visits to the Donna facility occurred on Aug. 11 and Aug. 30.
“Separated children included girls separated from mothers and boys separated from their fathers,” Wise wrote. “None of the interviewed children had visited with their parents since they were separated, including children who had been separated for 4 days.”
Wise noted the separations could adversely affect children’s mental health. The interviews with separated children at the Donna site, he wrote, “revealed significant emotional distress related to separation, including sustained crying and disorientation” stemming from their inability to communicate with their parents.
“Separating a child from a parent can be profoundly traumatic for children and can have lasting, harmful effects,” he wrote. “While the risk of these effects is elevated among tender aged children and can vary based on a variety of factors, the potential that separating a child and parent while in CBP custody will have serious, deleterious effects remains substantial for all children.”
Border Patrol, a CBP agency, is typically supposed to house migrants for no longer than three days before transporting them to another federal agency, deporting them or releasing them with a court notice or check-in appointments.
A CBP official said the separations described in Friday’s report were “significantly different than previous policies of separating families.”
“The health and safety of individuals in our custody, our workforce, and communities we serve is paramount,” CBP said in a statement to CBS News. “DHS and CBP prioritize keeping families together at every step of the immigration process and have policies and protocols to that end. CBP is reviewing the report, and remains committed to the care of individuals in CBP custody.”
The report’s findings illustrate the operational and humanitarian challenges faced by Border Patrol due to a recent spike in migrant crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border. While illegal border crossings there dropped to a two-year low in June, they have increased sharply in recent weeks, driven in part by record arrivals of families traveling with minor children.
The Biden administration, which promised to build a more “humane” system for processing migrants, has sought to manage migration by expanding opportunities for migrants to enter the country legally, while imposing stricter asylum rules for those who enter the country unlawfully. But it has struggled to reduce illegal crossings amid mass displacement in the Western Hemisphere, and its strategy has garnered criticism from Republicans who see it as too lenient, and from progressives, who say it relies too heavily on Trump-like policies, such as the limits on asylum.
Appointed by the L.A.-based federal judge overseeing the decades-old Flores court settlement, which governs the care of migrant children in U.S. custody, Wise is charged with ensuring Border Patrol facilities are complying with the agreement and providing basic services to minors.
In his report Friday, Wise said the separations he documented at the Donna tent complex raise “important concerns regarding CBP compliance with the Settlement as well as for the general and potentially long-term well-being of the children affected by this custodial policy.”
But Wise said the Flores agreement gives Border Patrol some “discretion” to separate families if there’s an “operational need.” He also stressed that the separations he described Friday were markedly different from those that occurred under the Trump administration’s infamous “zero tolerance” policy.
Under the “zero tolerance” policy, the Trump administration systematically and forcibly separated thousands of migrant children from their families to deter migration by prosecuting the parents for crossing into the U.S. illegally. The policy ended in 2018 due to massive public uproar and a court ruling.
“The separations observed in the (Texas’ Rio Grande Valley) pertained only to the families’ time in custody, as parents and children were reunited upon their release from custody,” Wise noted.
While Wise said in his report that Border Patrol denied separating children younger than 8 from their parents, he noted that lawyers representing migrant youth in the Flores case reported separations involving younger minors.
One of those lawyers, Neha Desai, said she recognized that Border Patrol is facing “significant space constraints,” but added that “family separation cannot be the solution.”
“We were horrified to learn several weeks ago that family separation is occurring routinely within CBP,” said Desai, a lawyer at the National Center for Youth Law. “Dr. Wise’s report not only confirms what we learned, but demonstrates that the separations are taking place in a more widespread and ongoing manner than we realized.”
Citing visits to several holding facilities, Wise said he found that Border Patrol was generally complying with its obligation to provide basic necessities to children in its custody, including food, water, showers and medical services. But he noted that young children were receiving adult meals and that some families were not being provided sleeping mats while in custody.
