
Deaf, mute and terrified: ICE arrests DACA recipient and ships him to Texas
Confused and frightened, Javier Diaz Santana jumped over the wall behind the car wash in the San Gabriel Valley. Years earlier, a vehicle had run over Diaz's foot while he worked there, and it was a struggle for him to run. He made it about a block. His foot throbbed with pain.
He saw two white SUVs on the street and realized what was unfolding. His workplace was being raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, like so many other businesses and neighborhoods in Los Angeles over the past week.
Breathless, Diaz stopped. One of the vehicles pulled over, blocking his way. Masked, armed men exited, yelling. He tried to understand. He couldn't see a badge. One had a vest with the letters 'HSI' — Homeland Security Investigations, an arm within ICE.
One seemed to be demanding something. Diaz gestured at his ears.
He could not hear. And he couldn't speak.
Diaz, 32, is deaf and mute. He thought that presenting his Real ID driver's license would keep him safe. He has legal permission to be here. He came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was about 5 years old and had been granted permission to work more than a decade ago under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He has no criminal history.
He took his wallet from his pocket. An agent grabbed it and wouldn't give it back.
Diaz took out his phone so he could type a message about his disability. They took that too. Then they cuffed his hands and shoved him into the SUV. He had no way to communicate.
'I was shocked at what was happening to me,' Diaz said through an American Sign Language interpreter. 'I'm Mexican, I know you can tell I'm Mexican, but I don't know what you're catching me for. I was scared. I felt fear. What does that mean? I'm Mexican and you're going to throw me out of the country?
'They just drove off, and I'm gone. There's no communication,' he said. 'I didn't understand why.'
And so began a surreal near month Diaz never could have imagined taking place in the United States. He was sent to an immigration detention center in El Paso, where he spent weeks unable to communicate with his attorney or his family. At times, Diaz received paperwork in Spanish — a language he cannot read.
His experience raises serious questions, beyond whether people who are in this country with legal protection should be seized and detained by immigration agents. If ICE is going to apprehend people with disabilities, shouldn't agents follow federal law and make the required accommodations available?
In a statement, an unidentified senior Department of Homeland Security official said medical staff provided Diaz 'with a communications board and an American Sign Language interpreter.'
The statement ignored the fact that Diaz has DACA protection provided by the government. After the Times followed up again about that protection, a senior DHS official said in an email, 'Deferred action does not confer any form of legal status in this country.'
'The facts are this individual is an illegal alien. This Administration is not going to ignore the rule of law,' the original statement read.
'The United States is offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,' DHS continued. 'We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.'
In another case this month, a federal judge ruled that the government had to provide a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter to a deaf immigrant who has been detained in San Diego County since February. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, a George W. Bush appointee, reportedly called it 'common sense that a person has a right to communicate.'
Diaz was released July 8. He is one of an unknown number of immigrants with permission to live and work in the U.S. who have been caught in the dragnet of President Trump's deportation campaign.
Diaz's attorney, Roxana V. Muro, said she has another client who remains detained after being picked up outside a Home Depot despite showing his work permit.
'They really just don't care if they have a work permit, if they have DACA, if they have [Temporary Protected Status] — they detain,' Muro said. 'They're just engaging in racial profiling. It's nothing but that. They don't care whether you stand and produce documents or run.'
Diaz, she said, 'was working lawfully, doing everything right, everything he was supposed to be doing.'
Diaz arrived in the U.S. as a child. His parents had struggled to get him the services he needed in Mexico, they hoped he would have a better life here.
The family moved to South L.A., where Diaz, an older brother and his parents squeezed into a two-bedroom apartment with three relatives. They were fixtures in the complex. Neighbors became close friends, at times celebrating the New Year, birthdays and other holidays together.
Diaz thrived. He attended Marlton School, which specialized in teaching students from kindergarten through 12th grade who are deaf and hard of hearing. He ran track and was a right winger on the soccer team. He graduated in 2011.
His brother Miguel, who is nine years younger, attended the same school to learn ASL so the siblings could communicate. Diaz cannot read or write in Spanish and relies on Miguel, 23, to be his voice. Their mother knows some sign language; their father speaks in Spanish into Google Translate and then shows Diaz the English translation.
Diaz came to the attention of immigration officials in 2013, when an asylum application was filed on his behalf. The application triggered removal proceedings.
But under the Obama administration, the federal government used a procedure called administrative closure to help clear immigration court backlog by temporarily removing some cases from the docket so resources could be focused on higher-priority cases.
Diaz's case was administratively closed. At about the same time, he received DACA protection.
He was hired at the car wash in Temple City in 2020. He worked six days a week, hosing down cars, soaping them up and vacuuming inside. He loved that it was fast paced. His co-workers knew him as 'el mudo,' the mute.
He built a community there. Sometimes he'd pack an extra ham sandwich to bring to his good friend and co-worker Bryan, who asked to only be identified by his first name because of his immigration case. Bryan did not use sign language, but the two formed their own method of communication. At the end of each shift, Bryan would twirl his fingers, his way of signaling to Diaz that he'd see him tomorrow.
Diaz was normally off Fridays. But on June 12, a Thursday, he'd gotten two flat tires and hadn't been able to work his regular shift. His boss asked him if he could work the next day. So he went in.
That morning, everyone at the car wash was on high alert. They had heard ICE was in the area. News of raids had been circulating for a week.
Diaz noticed that fewer people had shown up to work when he started his shift about 8 a.m. His boss wrote a message asking if he was documented. Diaz wrote back that he had DACA protection.
A co-worker pointed out the white SUVs nearby. They told Diaz the vehicles belonged to ICE.
Diaz had just finished his 30-minute lunch break and was walking over to wash a car. Grainy surveillance footage reviewed by The Times captured what happened next.
Five people in blue work shirts bearing the car wash's logo made a beeline for the wall and appeared to use a bench to jump over. Someone gestured for Diaz to run. He couldn't hear the shouts of 'migra.'
He walked a few steps, put a hand on his head, appearing confused. He jogged to the wall and pulled himself over, dropping out of sight.
After he landed, Diaz felt pain shoot through his foot. He scaled a few more walls in backyards before running out onto Sultana Avenue. Agents spotted him and blocked his path.
Diaz motioned that he couldn't hear. The agents took his phone and cuffed his hands in front of him, tight enough to bruise. They did not explain why he was under arrest or say why he was being taken.
'I signal to them I can't hear, and they just go ahead and cuff me. They're very forceful,' he said. 'They don't care. They don't care if you understand. They just cuffed me. There's no explanation as to what's going on, no one told me anything.'
He sat in the SUV. An officer showed Diaz his phone, where he had typed a question: What country are you from? Diaz couldn't answer.
'I can't sign with my hands cuffed,' Diaz said. 'They took my power.'
When he was eventually transported to downtown L.A., he saw protesters and the National Guard. He was shackled around the waist and held in what he likened to a jail.
Diaz struggled to quantify how many others were waiting with him, saying 'it was a lot more than I can think.' There were three big groups of people, he recalled.
Bryan was there, too. His friend gestured with his hands, trying to calm Diaz, who feared he wouldn't hear his name called. Bryan gestured at his own ears, telling him that he was listening for him.
But then Bryan's name was called, and he was moved into another room. He flagged down an officer and explained he was trying to help his friend, who cannot hear or speak.
'That has nothing to do with you,' he said the officer responded. He didn't see Diaz again.
An agent with a badge around his neck approached Diaz, who motioned that he couldn't hear. The agent wrote on a piece of paper in Spanish. He removed the cuffs and Diaz wrote back that he only knew English. Another agent asked Diaz when he entered the country.
'I don't remember, I was a baby, I don't know that story exactly,' he said. 'I couldn't give them those details.'
They asked if he had a green card. Diaz wrote no.
'I thought they were going to ask me, 'Do you have DACA,'' he said. They never did.
He thought they would check his wallet. His mother had taken his current work authorization card, which expires in October, so she could help him renew his permit. But his license was there.
Diaz was finger printed and photographed, still in his work uniform. Inside the detention center, there was a bathroom, but no shower and no space to sleep.
Despite so many people around him, Diaz said, he felt alone.
Diaz's family was desperate to find him. His mother, Maria, had gotten a call from a relative telling her the car wash had been hit by ICE.
The family shared their locations on their phones, and Miguel zoomed in on his brother's, the detention center in downtown L.A. Miguel grabbed Diaz's work permit and headed there.
But he was turned away with no information. The family couldn't find Diaz on the ICE locator.
Maria feared her middle son, a slight 5-foot-5, would be deported to Mexico, where he wouldn't be able to read signs. Life was already hard there; what would it be like for Diaz, she wondered. He doesn't know Mexican Sign Language.
'I'm never going to see him again,' Maria thought.
The family called Muro's office that day and spoke with an assistant. The immigration firm was booked out with appointments two months in advance. But when the raids began, Muro instructed her staff to screen those detained to see if they could help or refer them out.
That evening, she learned of Diaz's case. She called the family.
After learning Miguel had had no luck finding his brother downtown, Muro drove to an ICE office in San Bernardino. An officer in the parking lot gave her the phone number and email address for a supervisor at the B-18 detention center where Diaz was being held.
She called. It was around 7:30 p.m. No one answered. So she sent an email.
'Help DEAF MUTE CLIENT DETAINED WITH DACA,' the subject line read. She attached Diaz's current work permit, which had been issued by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.
'Since he had DACA, under any other period of time in my time practicing, this would have been somewhat easy,' Muro said. 'You show up with the DACA approval notices and talk to a supervisor and I'm almost certain he would have been released.'
The supervisor responded, saying he would look into it.
By June 15, Diaz was on a plane to Texas. It was his first time flying.
He spent the trip in handcuffs.
When Diaz arrived at a detention center in El Paso, he changed out of his work uniform and into a blue shirt and pants. Officers kept him in a cell by himself.
Diaz said he received pen and paper, on which he would ask to go to the bathroom. He had never felt more isolated. At times he cried and wondered if his family was crying too.
He spent most of the time sleeping, tossing and turning on the hard bunk bed. Sometimes he joined other detainees watching TV. There were no subtitles.
'Day would come and it was the same thing,' he recalled. 'Morning, afternoon, evening, I was isolated.'
Diaz saw people who were scared. Like many, he prayed.
'For God to help me and to save me,' he said. 'I just wanted to be safe.'
Although the ICE locator showed Diaz in El Paso, Muro struggled to find him, even when she provided the facility with his 'alien registration number,' assigned to noncitizens. It wasn't until she provided a variation of his name that they were able to track him down. She sent proof of Diaz's DACA protection, but he remained detained.
Muro learned that the government in May had filed a motion to revive Diaz's administratively closed case.
In recent months, Muro said she's received 40 motions from the government that involved reopening administratively closed cases. At least one involved someone who was already granted lawful permanent residency. Diaz's case, she said, had yet to be put back on the court calendar.
Muro tried to find a way to connect with Diaz as he was detained in Texas. The supervisor told her the facility did not have text telephone devices, used by people with hearing or speech disabilities to send and receive text messages.
Muro saw her client for the first time on Webex at his bond hearing on July 2. During the hearing in El Paso, Diaz, hunched over, hair disheveled, turned toward the camera to watch an interpreter explain the proceedings.
He said it was the first time in weeks someone communicated with him using sign language. Other than acknowledging when the judge asked questions, Diaz kept his hands clasped in his lap.
Muro told the judge that Diaz's removal case had been administratively closed in 2013. She said he has DACA protection, that it was just renewed and would not expire until 2027.
A Department of Homeland Security lawyer who sat at a table near Diaz said that an addendum in Diaz's arrest record in Texas acknowledged that he had DACA. She added that Diaz's case remained administratively closed, which appeared to puzzle the judge.
'I never have had that before, where I have a bond request on an admin closed case,' the judge said. 'This is the first time.'
The government lawyer explained that Diaz had been picked up during 'an at-large operation by ERO and HSI,' both arms of ICE. The judge questioned whether he even had jurisdiction to grant bond.
'You do have jurisdiction. He should not even be detained,' Muro said. 'He was lawfully working at the Temple City Car Wash when ICE raided the car wash. I can discuss the illegal arrest later.'
The judge asked if Diaz had any criminal history. The government lawyer said no.
'There's no evidence in the record that would suggest that you are a danger,' the judge told Diaz.
Muro told the judge her client was not a flight risk and had maintained his DACA over the years. The judge set bond at the minimum — $1,500.
He gave Homeland Security the discretion to monitor Diaz but said the agency was not required to do so.
'Good luck,' the judge told Diaz. 'I hope that everything works out for you.'
The following day, Diaz was finally able to talk to Muro and his family. His mother cried. He felt like crying too.
His brother told him he would soon be released. Diaz asked if his brother had retrieved his car. Miguel assured him he had.
Someone had even scrawled a plea to traffic enforcement officers on the burgundy 2005 Toyota Camry: 'The owner of this car was detained by ICE this morning. A hard working man working everyday at the carwash. I hope he is released or his family picks up his vehicle. Please don't issue a ticket.'
On July 8, a Tuesday, an agent signaled Diaz to get up from his bed. He wrote to Diaz that his bond had been paid and he could leave. Twenty-five days had passed since his arrest. It was his mother's birthday.
'Finally, I'm free,' he thought. But before he left, the officers put a black monitor on his left ankle.
Diaz didn't know what the monitor was or why it had been attached to his ankle. The officers handed him a sheet of paper with instructions on the device. It was in Spanish.
Miguel and a cousin bought flights to El Paso. Diaz waited in a shelter. When they came to pick him up, Miguel was given his brother's belongings, including his wallet. The Real ID was no longer inside.
Expenses kept stacking up. They rented a hotel. Because they couldn't fly without Diaz's ID, Miguel scrambled to rent a car.
Miguel noticed a change in his brother, who often smiled and laughed, but now seemed reserved. Diaz would ask permission to eat. To use the restroom. To shower.
'I knew he had a fear,' Miguel said. 'I think he felt he had to be a certain type of way.'
Diaz's cousin and brother took turns driving the more than 11 hours back to L.A. Diaz anxiously checked the ankle monitor.
They passed through New Mexico. Then Arizona. Diaz, who had never before left the state of California, marveled at the $2 gas.
But he also realized that people noticed the ankle monitor. His heart raced.
'They didn't call the police or anything, but I know they were looking at me,' he said.
He did not start to calm down until they reached California.
As night fell, Diaz's father, Miguel Sr., clutched his phone outside the apartment, watching his son's location draw nearer with each minute.
'Vienen en San Pedro,' Miguel Sr. announced. They were on a nearby street. And he still called his son to make sure they were almost home. 'Ya mero llegas verdad?'
'Ya estoy en la esquina,' Miguel Jr. said. They were around the corner.
As Diaz shuffled toward the stairs leading to his apartment, his father bounded down. He held a blue poster the neighbors had made. It read: 'Welcome Home Javier.' Another poster delivered the same message, this time in sign language.
Diaz's eyes were blank, his arms heavy at his sides.
Miguel Sr. embraced his son. Neighbors cried as they hugged the man they had known since he was a boy. They patted his hair, which had grown long in detention. He hiked up his pants leg to display the ankle monitor.
His mother was waiting in the hallway of their small apartment. He reached for her, hugged her tight.
As he wiped away her tears, his own threatened to spill over.
Finally, he was home.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Hill
11 minutes ago
- The Hill
Epstein firestorm consumes House
Morning Report is The Hill's a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here or using the box below: In today's issue: ▪ Battle over interim US Attorney in NJ ▪ GOP eyes renaming opera house for Melania Trump ▪ Trump unveils Japan, Philippines trade deals House Republicans find themselves cornered by President Trump 's MAGA base, their own pledges of 'transparency' and by Democrats intent on making the most of the Jeffrey Epstein firestorm. The result: The House, embroiled in a rebellion, will flee Washington today and won't return until September. The majority on Tuesday was unable to push past the simmering controversy to take up a pending immigration bill or a rollback of Biden-era regulations because a key House panel customarily loyal to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was closing in on a vote on an Epstein-related measure. Johnson hopes that the upcoming August recess will provide time and 'space' for some kind of resolution. 'We're done being lectured on transparency,' the Speaker told reporters Tuesday, hitting what he called Democratic 'side shows.' Epstein, the disgraced New York financier and convicted sex offender who died in a jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, remains in the headlines more than two weeks after the Justice Department (DOJ) rocked MAGA World with a memo saying it had no additional Epstein files to share. The administration is still laboring to tamp down the controversy. The DOJ and Attorney General Pam Bondi, urged by Trump to release 'credible' investigatory information, asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case. Two federal judges on Tuesday told the DOJ they need more information. 'The court intends to resolve this motion expeditiously,' they wrote. Still, the administration's actions have also kept the story front and center. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday said he is seeking a meeting with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, who is serving a 20-year sentence following her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking and other crimes. Blanche said he planned to ask: 'What do you know?' Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the request to interview Maxwell 'sounds appropriate.' There was no indication the DOJ sought to speak with Maxwell, who is appealing her sentence to the Supreme Court, before issuing its July 7 memo saying an Epstein 'client list' was nonexistent and reaffirming he died by suicide. The DOJ last week urged the court to reject the appeal. Meanwhile, the White House has for days lashed out at a Wall Street Journal report that said Trump had contributed a 'bawdy' letter with his signature for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003, at the request of Maxwell, for inclusion with notes from other Epstein associates. Trump on Friday sued the Journal and its parent company while the White House banned the outlet from joining its press pool for Trump's trip to Scotland this weekend. ▪ The Hill: Trump fuels Epstein furor he wants to escape. ▪ Politico: Trump's lawsuit against the Journal raises a new constitutional question. The president is wielding lawsuits as both sword and shield. The president, who socialized with Epstein and Maxwell in the 1990s, has said he had no knowledge of criminal allegations during that period. Epstein's legal troubles began when he was accused of molesting a 15-year-old in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2005. He pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to two state felony prostitution charges and received a plea deal that was criticized as too lenient. Blanche on Tuesday made his announcement about seeking information from Maxwell within hours of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee vote to subpoena her to talk with lawmakers. During an unrelated hearing, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) moved to direct the panel to authorize and issue a subpoena for Maxwell to appear for a deposition. It passed by voice vote. 'I want justice for those thousands of young ladies who were abused, and I want the dirt bags of the world to know that we're not going to tolerate it,' Burchett said. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is expected to seek a subpoena 'as expeditiously as possible,' a spokesperson said. Comer told reporters he and his team would visit Maxwell in prison for a deposition when details and terms are worked out with her lawyers. The deputy attorney general, previously retained as one of Trump's personal defense lawyers, and Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, are friends, The Hill's Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee report in The Gavel newsletter later today. (Click here to sign up.) ' I know a lot of people that have worked with you, I know a lot of people who know you very well,' Blanche told Markus last year while appearing on his podcast. 'I now consider you a friend and someone who I know pretty well. You are by far the best out there, ' he said. There were no indications as of Tuesday, The New York Times reported, that the DOJ's outreach to Maxwell's attorney was tied to a pardon or a possible reduction in her time behind bars. Smart Take with Blake Burman You don't see bipartisanship often in this town, yet alone on immigration. However, a bipartisan effort, the DIGNITY Act, which proposes to grant legal status to some migrants without criminal records, is being relaunched to reform immigration laws. 'The hand that we've been dealt is, we have four decades of [a] broken immigration system in the United States,' Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) told me. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested last week that the measure hasn't been on the administration's radar. 'The president has made it very clear he will not support amnesty for illegal aliens in any way,' she said. While this measure has the support of several House Republicans, the White House made it clear the president has other priorities for his immigration agenda at the moment. Burman hosts 'The Hill' weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. 3 Things to Know Today The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to jettison a landmark 2009 ' endangerment finding ' that forms the climate basis for federal greenhouse gas emission limits on vehicles and power plants. Columbia University on Tuesday said it punished students it maintains were involved in pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year and in May. The university wants the Trump administration to restore $400 million in federal funding. Elon Musk may pivot back into the political realm, SpaceX warned investors. The SpaceX CEO split from Trump in recent months after serving as a senior adviser and then vowed to launch a new party. Leading the Day SHUTDOWN STRATEGY: Democrats remain divided over how hard to press their leverage with Trump and his GOP allies in a government funding bill that needs to pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown. Senate Democrats held a tense lunch meeting Tuesday to discuss their plan for how to vote on the first spending bill to reach the floor — the military construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill — as well as their strategy for how to handle the end-of-September government funding deadline. Some Democratic senators want Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to come out of the gate hard ahead of the September deadline and make it clear that the party will not accept another partisan stopgap, a bold stance that could raise the risk of a shutdown. Schumer didn't make his strategy clear on the Senate floor on Monday, instead accusing Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Republicans of being 'obedient' to Trump. 'It's hard to negotiate a budget with Republicans right now because they have demonstrated that they will cut a deal and then turn around and change the deal solely to benefit themselves,' said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). 'That's not a deal, that's like cutting a deal to buy a car, and then long after the price has been paid, the Republicans want to come and repossess the tires. It doesn't work that way.' ▪ Axios: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's push to overhaul government health programs is extending to the troubled U.S. organ donation system. SPECIAL COUNSEL?: Speaker Johnson said he is open to the idea of appointing a special counsel to probe alleged manufactured intelligence from former White House officials. His comments to the Christian Broadcasting Network come after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a report Friday alleging Obama-era officials manipulated intel related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. 'And I do expect that whether there's a special counsel appointed, which some are suggesting, and/or in conjunction with the House investigations, that we will get the answers and there will be accountability to the extent that we're able to do that,' Johnson said. In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for former President Obama dismissed Trump's 'ridiculous' accusation that Obama had committed 'treason' in 2016 by directing his administration to reveal Russian efforts to interfere in that year's presidential election. SANCTIONS: Republican lawmakers, with early support from Democrats, are moving forward to permanently repeal Syria sanctions legislation, in line with Trump's ambition to lift all sanctions on the country. But there's no clear way to passage. Lawmakers are growing squeamish in the wake of sectarian violence in the country and Israel's intervention against Damascus. While Trump has put his support behind Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, skeptical lawmakers are not so quick to brush over his terrorist past. The Washington Post reports that escalations of violence in Syria have led to a U.S. envoy reaffirming Washington's support for Syria's new government. (More on Syria below.) Where and When The House meets at 10 a.m. The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m. The president at 5 p.m. will address a Washington event focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and 'Winning the AI Race' hosted in Washington by the 'All‑In Podcast' and the Hill & Valley Forum. Trump will return to the White House in the evening. Zoom In COURTS: Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey since March and a former personal Trump lawyer, was not retained by a panel of the U.S. District Court on Tuesday. In a terse standing order, the court tapped lawyer Desiree Leigh Grace before the expiration of Habba's 120-day temporary term. The order signed by U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb, the district's chief judge, said it took effect Tuesday. Hours later, however, the Department of Justice took the bold move of announcing it had 'removed' Grace without announcing who would replace her. Grace was Habba's first assistant before district judges elevated her to the top job. Habba has been awaiting Senate confirmation. Previous Justice Departments have recognized that district judges have the authority to name a U.S. attorney if the president's nominee is not acted upon by the Senate within 120 days. ' This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President's core Article II powers,' Bondi wrote on social media platform X while announcing Grace's removal. Early in her interim term, Habba's leadership came under scrutiny following the arrests and charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) stemming from an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Although a trespassing count against Baraka was dropped, McIver is still fighting her criminal charges in court. She has pleaded not guilty. ▪ The New York Times: Democratic attorneys general from 21 states sued the Trump administration over its attempts to restrict access to federal health and safety net programs for immigrants without legal status. FEDERAL RESERVE: Trump has backed off of his threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — for now. The president appeared to reach a breaking point with Powell last week when he told Republican lawmakers he would likely be nixing the Fed chair 'soon.' But he has since backed off, while officials and outside voices have warned about the impacts to the markets. 'I think he's done a bad job, but he's going to be out pretty soon anyway,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. 'Eight months, he'll be out.' Much like he does with his tariff threats — which has created the concept of the Wall Street 'TACO' trade, an acronym that stands for 'Trump Always Chickens Out' — he floated the idea of forcing Powell out and pulled back. ▪ The Hill: Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday defended the monetary independence of the Federal Reserve after getting caught in the crossfire between Trump and The Wall Street Journal. KENNEDY CENTER: House Republicans are pushing to rename the Kennedy Center's famed opera house to honor first lady Melania Trump. GOP members of the Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the interior, environment and related agencies annual spending bill that would rename the opera house in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the 'First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.' The move came months after Trump, in an unprecedented move that was met with criticism, overhauled the Kennedy Center's board and named himself as its chair after accusing the performing arts institution of being too 'woke.' TRUMP VS. SPORTS TEAMS: Sports teams are holding steady after Trump injected himself into the debate over their names, some of which were changed after Native American groups deemed them insensitive. The president has put pressure on the Washington Commanders to revert to their former name, the Redskins, upending what appeared to be a settled issue when he threatened to use the power of the presidency to hold up the Commanders' plans to build a new stadium in Washington, D.C. While it came as a surprise to local leaders and team officials, it was yet another instance of Trump wading into sports for political purposes. 'Sports is one of the many passions of this president, and he wants to see the name of that team changed,' Leavitt said Monday. 'I think you've seen the president gets involved in a lot of things that most presidents have not. He's a non-traditional president.' D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said her aim to bring the Commanders back to the nation's capital 'would not change despite' Trump's threat. The head of the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, meanwhile, said his team would not revert its name either. Trump posted on social media they should readopt their old name, the Cleveland Indians, which was changed after the 2021 season amid pressure from Native American groups. ▪ The Washington Post: What Trump can (and can't) do about the Commanders' name and the RFK Stadium deal. ROUNDUP: ▪ The Washington Post: NPR's news chief is leaving the company, days after federal funding cuts. ▪ The Hill: Virginia Republicans are raising alarm bells about the state of Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears's (R) campaign in the state's closely watched gubernatorial race. ▪ The Hill: State laws requiring the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms keep losing in court. But outside advocates believe supporters of laws in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas are actively trying to get the cases before the Supreme Court, where they stand a better chance. Elsewhere TRADE DEALS: Trump on Tuesday announced two new trade deals — with the Philippines and Japan — ahead of his Aug. 1 tariff deadline. Trump's trade deal with Japan would see the U.S. impose a 15 percent tariff on Japanese goods. Trump posted on Truth Social that Japan would invest $550 billion in projects in the U.S., without offering specifics, adding Japan would open its markets to U.S. automobiles, rice and other agricultural products. In an Oval Office meeting, Trump and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced a trade agreement for 19 percent tariffs on goods coming from the Philippines. American goods shipped there won't be charged a tariff. However, it was not immediately apparent whether the two leaders formally signed a document; similar to other recent trade agreement announcements, few details were revealed. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized Tuesday that next week's cutoff is a 'hard deadline' for countries that do not negotiate trade deals with the U.S., as businesses brace for Trump to impose tariff rates of between 20 percent and 50 percent. The administration has downplayed any negative repercussions from the tariffs while arguing they will bring back U.S. manufacturing. ▪ CNBC: How Europe's 'trade bazooka' could be a last resort against Trump's tariffs. ▪ The New York Times: The Trump administration said the Indonesian government had agreed to roll back multiple trade barriers that U.S. companies have complained about and make purchases of American oil, gas and farm products. ISRAEL: The U.S. will mediate a meeting between Israeli and Syrian officials on Thursday in an effort to reach security understandings regarding the situation in southern Syria, Axios reports. Last week, Israel bombed a convoy of Syrian army tanks that were heading to the city of Sweida to respond to violent clashes between a Druze militia and armed Bedouin tribesmen. Israel also launched strikes on Damascus. Leavitt confirmed Monday that Trump was unhappy with the Israeli airstrikes and called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to 'rectify' the situation. Meanwhile in Gaza, Israeli strikes continued while civilians, including children, died of starvation, Palestinian health officials said. Israel is pushing in an area that had largely been spared from heavy fighting during the 21-month war. ▪ CNN: 'We are watching our colleagues waste away': Aid workers, doctors, journalists risk starvation alongside people in Gaza. ▪ Time magazine: How Israel appears to be gambling with the Trump administration's patience. ▪ The New York Times: Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold another round of peace talks today in Istanbul, but the two countries have flatly rejected each other's demands. Opinion The lunacy of lawfare against the Fed, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Trump's Wall Street Journal lawsuit is as dangerous as it is unprecedented, by Austin Sarat, opinion contributor, The Hill. The Closer And finally… 🐍 Under the category of 'you can't make this up,' a man dressed as a pirate who was riding over the weekend on a Chicago-area train lost control of his ball python named Lucius, named after the slithery Harry Potter character Lucius Malfoy. Incredibly, the large snake burrowed inside the train's control panel, which resulted in a call to the Oak Park Fire Department in Illinois, which sent a well-equipped emergency team to the Harlem/Lake Green Line terminal to retrieve the reptile and chronicle the whole thing with photos. Check out the department's pictorial HERE (and don't miss the pirate).
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Latino tenants sued their landlord. A lawyer told them they would be "picked up by ICE."
In her entire law career, Sarah McCracken has never seen anything like the email she received on June 25. McCracken, a tenants' rights lawyer at Tobener Ravenscroft, is currently representing a Latino family suing a landlord and real estate agent for illegal eviction after being kicked out of their Baldwin Park home last year. A few weeks after being served, amid a series of ICE raids primarily targeting Latino communities in L.A. County, Rod Fehlman, the lawyer who appeared to be representing the agent at the time, sent McCracken's team a series of emails disputing the lawsuit and urging them to drop the case. He ended the correspondence with this: "It is also interesting to note that your clients are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported prior to trial thanks to all the good work the Trump administration has done in regards to immigration in California." "It's racist," McCracken said. "Not only is it unethical and probably illegal, but it's just a really wild thing to say — especially since my clients are U.S. citizens." The comment arrived as ICE raises tensions between landlords and Latino tenants. According to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, ICE has been pressuring some landlords to report their tenants' immigration status. Bonta's office issued a consumer alert on Tuesday reminding landlords that "it is illegal in California to discriminate against tenants or to harass or retaliate against a tenant by disclosing their immigration status to law enforcement." Fehlman didn't respond to requests for comment, nor did the clients he seemed to be representing: real estate agent David Benavides and brokerage Majesty One Properties, Inc. Fehlman's role in the case is unclear; following requests for comment from The Times, Benavides and the brokerage responded to McCracken's complaint using a different law firm. But according to McCracken, Fehlman serves as the defendants' personal attorney and will likely still take part in the lawsuit in an advisory role. Evicted From 2018 to 2024, Yicenia Morales rented a two-bedroom condo in Baldwin Park, which she shared with her husband, three children and grandson. According to her wrongful eviction lawsuit filed in May, the house had a slew of problems: faulty electricity, leaks in the bathroom, bad ventilation, and a broken heater, air-conditioning unit and garage door. "There was a lot that needed to be fixed, but we accepted it because we were just happy to find a place to live," Morales said. The real problems started in 2024, when her landlord, Celia Ruiz, started asking the family to leave because she wanted to sell the property, which isn't a valid reason for eviction under California law or Baldwin Park's Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, the suit said. According to the lawsuit, Ruiz then changed her story, alleging that she wanted to move into the house herself, which would be a valid reason for eviction. According to the suit, Ruiz and her real estate agent, David Benavides of Majesty One Properties, constantly urged Morales and her family to leave. In September, the pressure mounted. Ruiz penned a handwritten note saying she needed the house back, and Benavides began calling them almost every day, the suit said. In November, assuming Ruiz needed to move back in, Morales left. But instead of moving in herself, Ruiz put the property on the market in January and sold it by March. "I really believed she needed the house for herself," Morales said. "I'm just tired of people taking advantage of others." Lawyer tactics Depending on your interpretation of California's Business and Professions Code, Fehlman's comment could be illegal, McCracken said. Section 6103.7 says lawyers can be suspended, disbarred or disciplined if they "report suspected immigration status or threaten to report suspected immigration status of a witness or party to a civil or administrative action." In addition, the State Bar of California bans lawyers from threatening to present criminal, administrative or disciplinary charges to obtain an advantage in a civil dispute. You could argue that Fehlman's email isn't a threat. He never said he'd call ICE himself, only claiming that Morales and her family "are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported." Morales and her entire family are all U.S. citizens. But she said she feels racially profiled because of her last name. "It's not fair for him to take advantage of that," she said. "I was born here. I have a birth certificate. I pay taxes." Just to be safe, Morales sent her birth certificates to McCracken's team. Even though she's a citizen, if Fehlman reports her to ICE, she still doesn't feel safe. Federal agents have arrested U.S. citizens during its recent raids across L.A, and a 2018 investigation by The Times found that ICE has arrested nearly 1,500 U.S. citizens since 2012, detaining some for years at a time. "I was already depressed over the eviction. Now I'm hurt, embarrassed and nervous as well. Will he really call ICE on us?" Morales said. McCracken said Fehlman's message is a byproduct of the current anti-immigrant political environment. Fehlman sent the email on June 25, the end of a jarring month that saw the agency arrest 2,031 people across seven counties in Southern California, 68% of which had no criminal convictions. "People seem to be emboldened to flout the law because they see people at the top doing it," she said. "It's totally unacceptable behavior." An ironic twist, she added, is that Fehlman's own client at the time was also Latino. "I don't know if Benavides was aware that his lawyer is making racially profiling comments, but I don't think he'd want to work with someone like that," McCracken said. The case is still in its early stages. Benavides and Majesty One Properties responded to the complaint on July 17, and McCracken's team hasn't officially served the landlord Ruiz yet because they've been unable to locate her. In the wake of the ICE comment, communication between McCracken and Fehlman halted. McCracken decided Fehlman's rant and possible threat didn't warrant a response, and Fehlman hasn't said anything else in the meantime. Her team is still deciding how they want to proceed in the wake of the comment, which could justify legal action. She called it a dangerous attempt to chill her client's speech and a failed attempt to intimidate her into dropping the case. But he took it way too far. "We're at a point in time where lawyers need to be upholding the rule of law," she said. "Especially in a time like this." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword


The Intercept
41 minutes ago
- The Intercept
Feds Criminalize Aiding Protests Against ICE
Speaking on Fox News last week, a top official from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency was expanding its dragnet for arrests. 'I think we all know that criminals tend to hang out with criminals,' ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said. 'And so when we start to build a case, we're going to be going after everyone that's around them. Because these criminals tend to hang out with like-minded people who also happen to be criminals.' The pledge to broaden arrests came as an immigration sweep that sowed fear across the Los Angeles area has been met by a growing protest movement to stop the raids and arrests. 'This appears to be a targeted, political attack on resistance to a military incursion on our communities.' In addition to arresting hundreds of immigrants across Southern California, the government is targeting a mounting number of people who are responding to the raids or helping protests. Some of those targeted have provided supplies to protesters or tried to identify ICE agents conducting raids in masks and plain clothes. The remarks from Sheahan, the ICE official, came three days after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop indiscriminate ICE raids in LA. In the order, Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong condemned the administration's use of a person's characteristics — like their appearance, accent, or occupation — as a basis for arrest. 'Roving patrols' operating without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers violated the Fourth and the Fifth Amendments, the judge wrote. 'What the federal government would have this Court believe — in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case — is that none of this is actually happening.' Now, those accused of helping the anti-ICE movement are facing prosecution or investigation. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted a man after he handed out face shields to people protesting ICE in Los Angeles two days after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard. Alejandro Orellana, 29, pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to aid and abet civil disorders. According to a grand jury indictment, the face shields were 'advertised as designed to protect from chemical splashes and flying debris.' 'Alejandro Orellana's arrest for distributing supplies is an outrageous violation of civil rights and should be a wakeup call to people everywhere,' said California attorney Thomas Harvey. 'This appears to be a targeted, political attack on resistance to a military incursion on our communities,' Harvey said. 'Distributing supplies to protesters is not a crime. It's a critical role to help keep people safe — especially in the face of some of the most violent police repression I've seen since the Ferguson uprising.' In Orellana's case, an agent from the FBI made a claim similar to the one the ICE deputy would later make to Fox News — that it was assigning criminality to people based on assumptions, not on evidence. The agent claimed in an affidavit that wearing such gear like the face shields, designed to protect against law enforcement using pepper spray or tear gas, 'is not common amongst non-violent, peaceful protesters.' Instead, he argued, the face shield was 'the kind of item used by violent agitators to enable them to resist law enforcement and to engage in violence and/or vandalism during a civil disorder.' Read our complete coverage As part of expanding its definitions of criminal activity to include forms of protest responding to ICE, the government ramped up its efforts to investigate people suspected of providing identifying information about ICE agents. On July 11, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem released a statement condemning 'anarchists and rioters' in Portland who posted flyers with identifying information about ICE agents and said the department would prosecute 'those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law.' Last month, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced a bill that would make identifying ICE officers a federal crime. In another case in May, ICE agents raided the home of a family in Irvine, California, on a criminal search warrant. They were investigating the source of flyers that had been posted around LA earlier this year with identifying information about ICE officers. The government suspected the family's son was responsible. Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., issued a statement after the May raid saying he was 'deeply concerned' with news of the raid and had asked federal law enforcement for more information. Min's office did not respond to questions about whether they had yet received any such information. Several of the efforts to further criminalize protest flyers or mutual aid have also been used against pro-Palestine student protesters, Cop City activists in Georgia, and people providing water to migrants. Police charged protesters opposing the construction of the so-called Cop City police training facility with felonies for posting flyers in 2023, The Intercept reported. The activists had posted flyers in a neighborhood where a police officer lived, naming him and alleging that he was connected to the killing earlier that year of Manuel 'Tortuguita' Terán. Police shot Tortuguita 57 times, killing the activist during a multiagency raid on the Atlanta Forest protest encampment. In 2023, prosecutors brought charges under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law against 61 activists for their participation in organizing bail funds for Cop City protesters. Prosecutors dropped charges against three of the activists last year, and others are still awaiting trial. In a slew of other high-profile cases, elected officials have been arrested for aiding migrants being pursued for arrest by ICE agents. Earlier this year, the FBI arrested a judge accused of helping a man use an alternate exit from a courtroom when ICE agents were waiting outside the main door. 'It should be terrifying to every person that the U.S.' In Arizona in 2018, prosecutors famously slapped humanitarian volunteers offering food, shelter, and water to migrants in the desert with federal criminal charges. Border Patrol targeted their faith-based group as a criminal organization. In 2005, activists with the same group faced criminal charges for transporting migrants to receive medical care; the charges were later dismissed. 'It should be terrifying to every person that the U.S., which has long held political prisoners, is ramping up its oppressive tactics,' said Harvey, the California attorney. 'And now, with the new funding, ICE will have more money than any policing force in U.S. history to build a gulag system filled with localized versions of 'Alligator Alcatrazes' to cage immigrants and political dissidents.'