ICE arrests alleged member of Cuba's Ministry of the Interior in South Florida
A man from Cuba who was allegedly a member of the Cuban Communist Party and a member of the Ministry of the Interior was taken into custody in Miami, immigration authorities announced Monday.
Daniel Morejon Garcia, 57, was 'administratively arrested' after an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, which 'centered on fraudulent claims he allegedly made when entering the country,' U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a news release.
HSI Miami shared photos on X Monday afternoon that showed Morejon Garcia handcuffed and placed in the back of a van. He has been processed and remains in ICE custody, the news release said.
In his immigration applications, Morejon Garcia allegedly omitted being a member of the Cuban Communist Party and his affiliation with the Ministry of Interior, according to ICE. Law enforcement during their investigation reviewed 'official Cuban government documents' and received 'credible source information' that Morejon Garcia did not disclose the affiliations.
He is accused of serving as the President of the National Defense Council in the Atermisa region and as a member of the Rapid Response Brigades, according to ICE, groups made up of 'civilians trained and organized by the government' that are intended to aid authorities during protests and social unrest.
In July 2021, thousands of Cubans gathered across the island in the largest protests the country had seen in decades. The protests included acts of vandalism, destruction of patrol cars, looting and police violently arresting protesters, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Morejon Garcia as a member of the Rapid Response Brigades was 'activated' by the government and allegedly assaulted protesters during the 2021 protest, according to ICE.
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Associated Press
4 minutes ago
- Associated Press
ICE is using no-bid contracts, boosting big firms, to get more detention beds
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Leavenworth, Kansas, occupies a mythic space in American crime, its name alone evoking a short hand for serving hard time. The federal penitentiary housed gangsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly — in a building so storied that it inspired the term 'the big house.' Now Kansas' oldest city could soon be detaining far less famous people, migrants swept up in President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations of those living in the U.S. illegally. The federal government has signed a deal with the private prison firm CoreCivic Corp. to reopen a 1,033-bed prison in Leavenworth as part of a surge of contracts U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued without seeking competitive bids. ICE has cited a 'compelling urgency' for thousands more detention beds, and its efforts have sent profit estimates soaring for politically connected private companies, including CoreCivic, based in the Nashville, Tennessee, area and another giant firm, the Geo Group Inc., headquartered in southern Florida. That push faces resistance. Leavenworth filed a lawsuit against CoreCivic after it tried to reopen without city officials signing off on the deal, quoting a federal judge's past description of the now-shuttered prison as 'a hell hole.' The case in Leavenworth serves as another test of the limits of the Republican president's unusually aggressive tactics to force migrant removals. To get more detention beds, the Trump administration has modified dozens of existing agreements with contractors and used no-bid contracts. One pays $73 million to a company led by former federal immigration officials for 'immigration enforcement support teams' to handle administrative tasks, such as helping coordinate removals, triaging complaints or telling ICE if someone is a risk to community safety. Just last week , Geo Group announced that ICE modified a contract for an existing detention center in southeastern Georgia so that the company could reopen an idle prison on adjacent land to hold 1,868 migrants — and earn $66 million in annual revenue. 'Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity and demand for our services as we are seeing right now,' said CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger during an earnings call last month with shareholders. A tax-cutting and budget reconciliation measure approved last month by the House includes $45 billion over four years for immigrant detention, a threefold spending increase. The Senate is now considering that legislation. Declaring an emergency to expedite contracts When Trump started his second term in January, CoreCivic and Geo had around 20 idle facilities, partly because of sentencing reforms that reduced prison populations. But the Trump administration wants to more than double the existing 41,000 beds for detaining migrants to at least 100,000 beds and — if private prison executives' predictions are accurate — possibly to more than 150,000. ICE declared a national emergency on the U.S. border with Mexico as part of its justification for authorizing nine five-year contracts for a combined 10,312 beds without 'Full and Open Competition.' Only three of the nine potential facilities were listed in ICE's document: Leavenworth, a 2,560-bed CoreCivic-owned facility in California City, California, and an 1,800-bed Geo-owned prison in Baldwin, Michigan. The agreement for the Leavenworth facility hasn't been released, nor have documents for the other two sites. CoreCivic and Geo Group officials said last month on earnings calls that ICE used what are known as letter contracts, meant to speed things up when time is critical. Charles Tiefer, a contract expert and professor emeritus of law at the University of Baltimore Law School, said letter contracts normally are reserved for minor matters, not the big changes he sees ICE making to previous agreements. 'I think that a letter contract is a pathetic way to make big important contracts,' he said. A Kansas prison town becomes a priority CoreCivic's Leavenworth facility quickly became a priority for ICE and the company because of its central location. Leavenworth, with 37,000 residents, is only 10 miles (16 kilometers) to the west of the Kansas City International Airport. The facility would hold men and women and is within ICE's area of operations for Chicago, 420 miles (676 kilometers) to the northeast. 'That would mean that people targeted in the Chicago area and in Illinois would end up going to this facility down in Kansas,' said Jesse Franzblau, a senior policy analyst for the National Immigrant Justice Center. Prisons have long been an important part of Leavenworth's economy, employing hundreds of workers to guard prisoners held in two military facilities, the nation's first federal penitentiary, a Kansas correctional facility and a county jail within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of city hall. Resistance from Trump country The Leavenworth area's politics might have been expected to help CoreCivic. Trump carried its county by more than 20 percentage points in each of his three campaigns for president. But skeptical city officials argue that CoreCivic needs a special use permit to reopen its facility. CoreCivic disagrees, saying that it doesn't because it never abandoned the facility and that the permitting process would take too long. Leavenworth sued the company to force it to get one, and a state-court judge last week issued an order requiring it. An attorney for the city, Joe Hatley, said the legal fight indicates how much ill will CoreCivic generated when it held criminal suspects there for trials in federal court for the U.S. Marshals Service. In late 2021, CoreCivic stopped housing pretrial detainees in its Leavenworth facility after then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to curb the use of private prisons. In the months before the closure, the American Civil Liberties Union and federal public defenders detailed stabbings, suicides, a homicide and inmate rights violations in a letter to the White House. CoreCivic responded at the time that the claims were 'false and defamatory.' Vacancies among correctional officers were as high as 23%, according to a Department of Justice report from 2017. 'It was just mayhem,' recalled William Rogers, who worked as a guard at the CoreCivic facility in Leavenworth from 2016 through 2020. He said repeated assaults sent him to the emergency room three times, including once after a blow to the head that required 14 staples. The critics have included a federal judge When Leavenworth sued CoreCivic, it opened its lawsuit with a quote from U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson — an appointee of President George W. Bush, a Republican — who said of the prison: 'The only way I could describe it frankly, what's going on at CoreCivic right now is it's an absolute hell hole.' The city's lawsuit described detainees locked in showers as punishment. It said that sheets and towels from the facility clogged up the wastewater system and that CoreCivic impeded the city police force's ability to investigate sexual assaults and other violent crimes. The facility had no inmates when CoreCivic gave reporters a tour earlier this year, and it looked scrubbed top to bottom and the smell of disinfectant hung in the air. One unit for inmates had a painting on one wall featuring a covered wagon. During the tour, when asked about the allegations of past problems, Misty Mackey, a longtime CoreCivic employee who was tapped to serve as warden there, apologized for past employees' experiences and said the company officials 'do our best to make sure that we learn from different situations.' ICE moves quickly across the CoreCivic's Leavenworth prison, other once-shuttered facilities could come online near major immigrant population centers, from New York to Los Angeles, to help Trump fulfill his deportation plans. ICE wants to reopen existing facilities because it's faster than building new ones, said Marcela Hernandez, the organizing director for the Detention Watch Network, which has organized nationwide protests against ICE detention. Counties often lease out jail space for immigrant detention, but ICE said some jurisdictions have passed ordinances barring that. ICE has used contract modifications to reopen shuttered lockups like the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall Facility in Newark, New Jersey, and a 2,500-bed facility in Dilley, Texas, offering no explanations why new, competitively bid contracts weren't sought. The Newark facility, with its own history of problems, resumed intakes May 1, and disorder broke out at the facility Thursday night. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat who previously was arrested there and accused of trespassing, cited reports of a possible uprising, and the Department of Homeland Security confirmed four escapes. The contract modification for Dilley, which was built to hold families and resumed operations in March, calls its units 'neighborhoods' and gives them names like Brown Bear and Blue Butterfly. The financial details for the Newark and Dilley contract modifications are blacked out in online copies, as they for more than 50 other agreements ICE has signed since Trump took office. ICE didn't respond to a request for comment. From idle prisons to a 'gold rush' Private prison executives are forecasting hundreds of millions of dollars in new ICE profits. Since Trump's reelection in November, CoreCivic's stock has risen in price by 56% and Geo's by 73%. 'It's the gold rush,' Michael A. Hallett, a professor of criminal justice at the University of North Florida who studies private prisons. 'All of a sudden, demand is spiraling. And when you're the only provider that can meet demand, you can pretty much set your terms.' Geo's former lobbyist Pam Bondi is now the U.S. attorney general. It anticipates that all of its idle prisons will be activated this year, its executive chairman, George Zoley, told shareholders. CoreCivic, which along with Geo donated millions of dollars to largely GOP candidates at all levels of government and national political groups, is equally optimistic. It began daily talks with the Trump administration immediately after the election in November, said Hininger. CoreCivic officials said ICE's letter contracts provide initial funding to begin reopening facilities while the company negotiates a longer-term deal. The Leavenworth deal is worth $4.2 million a month to the company, it disclosed in a court filing. Tiefer, who served on an independent commission established to study government contracting for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said ICE is 'placing a very dicey long-term bet' because of its past problems and said ICE is giving CoreCivic 'the keys to the treasury' without competition. But financial analysts on company earnings calls have been delighted. When CoreCivic announced its letter contracts, Joe Gomes, of the financial services firm Noble Capital Markets, responded with, 'Great news.' 'Are you hiding any more of them on us?' he asked. ___ Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan. Associated Press writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Morgan Lee, in Santa Fe, N.M., contributed reporting.
Axios
26 minutes ago
- Axios
ICE's cash crisis deepens amid immigration crackdown
President Trump 's immigration crackdown is burning through cash so quickly that the agency charged with arresting, detaining and removing unauthorized immigrants could run out of money next month. Why it matters: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already $1 billion over budget by one estimate, with more than three months left in the fiscal year. That's alarmed lawmakers in both parties — and raised the possibility of Trump clawing funds from agencies to feed ICE. Lawmakers say ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is at risk of violating U.S. law if it continues to spend at its current pace. That's added urgency to calls for Congress to pass Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which could direct an extra $75 billion or so to ICE over the next five years. It's also led some lawmakers to accuse DHS and ICE of wasting money. "Trump's DHS is spending like drunken sailors," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the DHS appropriations subcommittee. Zoom in: ICE's funding crisis is being fueled by Trump's team demanding that agents arrest 3,000 immigrants a day — an unprecedented pace ICE is still trying to reach. Its detention facilities — about 41,000 beds — are far past capacity as DHS continues to seek more detention space in the U.S. and abroad. The intrigue: If Trump's big bill isn't passed soon, he could use his authority to declare a national emergency to redirect money to ICE from elsewhere in the government — similar to what he did in 2020 to divert nearly $4 billion in Pentagon funds to his border wall project. "I have a feeling they're going to grant themselves an exception apportionment, use the life and safety exception, and just keep burning money," a former federal budget official told Axios. "You could imagine a new emergency declaration that pertains to interior enforcement that would trigger the same kind of emergency personnel mobilization statutes," said Chris Marisola, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center and a former lawyer for the Defense Department. "These statutory authorities authorizing the president to declare emergencies" ... unlock "a whole host of other authorities for these departments and agencies [that] are often written incredibly broadly and invest a lot of discretion in the president," Marisola added. The White House has been trying to stretch its authority over the federal budget in various ways. Besides vastly overspending DHS's budget, Trump's Office of Management and Budget has stopped publicly disclosing the money it's dispersing across the government. The administration also has had other agencies hold up money Congress appropriated for various programs. Driving the news: DHS recently shifted around almost $500 million within its accounts to help support its immigration operations. But the agency asked appropriators for at least $2 billion more to meet the agency's needs by the end of September, as Axios reported in March. Lawmakers who oversee DHS's appropriations say it could run out of money as soon as July, causing it to violate the Antideficiency Act. The law bans agencies from obligating or spending federal funds that haven't been approved by Congress. Agency officials theoretically could face criminal charges and fines for violations, but no one has been charged before. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), the top Republican on the House's DHS appropriations subcommittee, expressed concern during a May hearing that DHS will break the law by overspending if it doesn't get help soon. "We're watching what goes on" with budget talks in the Senate, "because if there's much of a hiccup in that, those concerns are all capital 'C' concerns," Amodei (R-Nev.) told Axios. What they're saying: "They are spending likely in the neighborhood of a billion dollars more at ICE than we authorized, and that's patently illegal," Murphy said. "They cannot invent money. They cannot print money. They don't have the money to spend that they're spending." "I hope it doesn't happen," Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), another member of the DHS subcommittee, said when asked whether the agency could reach the end of the fiscal year in violation of the Antideficiency Act. "I hope we'll get them some money by then." Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), the DHS subcommittee chair in that chamber, said it's a "work in progress" to get DHS the funding it needs to "make good on the promises to the American people." DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Axios that "Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem's leadership, DHS is rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and is reprioritizing appropriated dollars."
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
The Supreme Court Decision That Gives Trump Cover for National ICE Raids
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Something more than tear gas residue and smoke from burning Waymos hung over the Los Angeles streets hit by anti-ICE protests over the past week: a landmark Supreme Court decision from just over a decade ago. The Trump administration has argued that sanctuary jurisdictions like California, and L.A. specifically, are getting in the way of immigration enforcement, and that states and cities should be helping federal agents carrying out their work. That argument is, perhaps ironically, based on a Supreme Court precedent affirmed during the Obama administration. In 2012, the high court ruled in Arizona v. United States that it was the federal government's supreme responsibility to enforce immigration laws, and it superceded state and local law enforcement. "It has been interpreted, I have to say, remarkably consistently, by circuits from the Fifth Circuit to the Ninth Circuit, with some variations, to strike down or affirm district court decisions striking down state laws that have been viewed as attempts by the states to enforce immigration law," Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council, told Newsweek. "Arizona's holdings are, in many ways, very clear." Left: American flags are seen during a protest outside the US Supreme Court over President Donald Trump's move to end birthright citizenship as the court hears arguments over the order in Washington, DC, on May... Left: American flags are seen during a protest outside the US Supreme Court over President Donald Trump's move to end birthright citizenship as the court hears arguments over the order in Washington, DC, on May 15, 2025. Right: Protesters march through downtown Los Angeles as demonstrations continue after a series of immigration raids began last Friday on June 13, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. Center: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to sign a series of bills related to California's vehicle emissions standards during an event in the East Room of the White House on June 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. More Spencer Platt/DREW ANGERER/AFP/What Did Arizona v United States Do? The Supreme Court of 2012 heard arguments around Arizona's attempt to enact a controversial new law – SB 1070, or better known as the "show your papers" law – which would have given state and local police the power to do immigration enforcement independent of the federal government. Arizona's Republican lawmakers had pushed for the law a high number of illegal immigrants ended up in the state. The legislation was challenged, and the case made its way to the Supreme Court. Justices struck down three provisions of the law: one that had allowed Arizona law enforcement to arrest immigrants without a warrant, another that made it a state crime to not carry federal registration documents, and a third made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to seek work. Police were still allowed to ask to see documentation if they suspected an individual was in the country illegally. The decision cemented immigration enforcement powers as the sole purview of the federal government. It has been used to block other states' moves in recent years to take on immigration enforcement, such as in Texas and Oklahoma. "The Government of the United States has broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority opinion, which has been used to strike down multiple attempts by states to go their own way either by enforcing — or choosing not to enforce — federal immigration law. Does Arizona Give Trump Free Reign? As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents came up against protestors in Los Angeles over the past week, the federal government's superceding right to enforce immigration laws came back into focus. The White House, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE are acting on the president's orders, as well as the will of the American people who elected Trump in November. "America voted for mass deportations. Violent insurrectionists, and the politicians who enable them, are trying to overthrow the results of the election," Miller posted on X on Wednesday. Whether the Trump administration is embracing the "spirit" of the Arizona ruling is up for debate. A Federal agent holds the elevator door to detain a person, unseen, after an immigration hearing inside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 11, 2025 in New York City. A Federal agent holds the elevator door to detain a person, unseen, after an immigration hearing inside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 11, 2025 in New York ununiformed agents sweeping away immigrants without legal status but no other criminal record, or ICE detainees then being speedily deported without a day in court, are not necessarily methods Kennedy and the other justices in 2012 called for. "Federal officials, as an initial matter, must decide whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all," Kennedy wrote. "Discretion in the enforcement of immigration law embraces immediate human concerns. "Unauthorized workers trying to support their families, for example, likely pose less danger than alien smugglers or aliens who commit a serious crime," the justice wrote. "The equities of an individual case may turn on many factors, including whether the alien has children born in the United States, long ties to the community, or a record of distinguished military service." Immigration advocates, and many Democrats, have argued the White House is going after migrants such as those, rather than the criminals Trump said were the original focus of deportations. Winger said that the Arizona decision could be connected to the show of force from the administration, but that "it's not really about that". "Arizona is really, primarily, about the limits on states in enforcing their own laws," she told Newsweek. "But it is true that the Trump administration has used Arizona and, to a greater degree, the supremacy clause which is the foundation of the Arizona decision, to argue that states and localities that do not participate in federal immigration enforcement are violating the supremacy clause." Should Sanctuary Jurisdictions Work With ICE? (L-R) Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrive for a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the U.S. Capitol on June 12, 2025 in... (L-R) Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrive for a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the U.S. Capitol on June 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. MoreKennedy's 2012 majority opinion could also be linked to the clash between the current White House and Democratic states, counties, and cities which either proclaim to be, or have been branded as, sanctuary jurisdictions. On Thursday, Republicans in Congress called Democratic Governors JB Pritzker of Illinois, Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota to testify about their states' policies that prevent local law enforcement from working with federal agents on immigration enforcement. "Congress must confront this absurd reality: state and local officials are actively undermining federal immigration enforcement – even when it's aimed at making their own communities safer," House Oversight Committee Chair Republican Rep. James Comer said in his opening remarks. "It's time to determine what legislative action is needed to stop this subversion and restore the rule of law." The three governors, like Democratic mayors before them, repeatedly argued during the hearing that state and local police do cooperate with ICE when it comes to known immigrant criminals, but that it was not their responsibility to track illegal immigrants and make sure they were detained or deported. "You're putting a federal problem in our laps," Hochul said during the hearing, with Walz adding: "It's the federal government's job to secure the border." ICE has still been enforcing immigration laws in sanctuary jurisdictions, with large operations in Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles. Winger told Newsweek that while local officials cannot stop federal immigration enforcement in their jurisdictions, they are also protected from being forced to participate by the 10th Amendment, which ensures that any powers not specifically given to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved for the states. "Within those bounds it should be possible for the federal government to do its job," she said. "What's led to the conflict in Los Angeles is not really federal government enforcing immigration law, it's the manner in which they are doing it." For the Trump administration, that may be something to consider while exercising what it claims is a wide mandate on mass deportations. While the policy still sees broad support in polls, the methods by which ICE is operating are less popular. "The National Government has significant power to regulate immigration," Kennedy wrote in the 2012 Arizona opinion. "With power comes responsibility, and the sound exercise of national power over immigration depends on the Nation's meeting its responsibility to base its laws on a political will informed by searching, thoughtful, rational civic discourse."
