Latest news with #18thCenturyAlienEnemiesAct
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Migrant arrested over letter threatening to assassinate Trump
An undocumented US immigrant has been arrested after he sent a handwritten letter to the government saying he planned to assassinate President Donald Trump, officials said. The man, 54-year-old Ramon Morales-Reyes, said in the letter he would "shoot your precious president in is [sic] head" before self-deporting back to his native country of Mexico. He is now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention in Wisconsin with deportation proceedings pending, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. Reyes had a criminal record including multiple arrests and attempts to enter the US illegally, the DHS said in a statement. The BBC could not find a lawyer for Reyes for comment. "Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. Homeland security officials said authorities received the letter from Reyes on 21 May. They included a copy of the letter in a press release. Written in blue ink on lined-paper, the letter said: "We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans." "You have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump gets what he has coming to him." The final line of the letter said: "I will see him at one of his big rallies." Reyes was arrested a day after the letter was received. According to officials, he had attempted to enter the US illegally nine times between 1998 and 2005, and had been arrested for a felony hit and run. After vowing to use the US military to carry out mass deportations during his election campaign, Trump's administration has aggressively pursued undocumented migrants. Reyes' mention of self-deporting in his letter appears to be a reference to a DHS announcement of $1,000 (£751) bonuses and paid travel for people who leave the US voluntarily. Some of Trump's methods, including using the 18th Century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants his administration accuses of gang activity, have been blocked by the courts. He's also called for an additional 20,000 DHS officers to enforce his deportation policies. In her statement, Noem noted that this latest threat against President Trump comes less than a year after a gunman attempted to assassinate him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. She also referenced a recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey in which he posted images of sea shells on a beach spelling '8-6-4-7'. The message was interpreted by some as a call to assassinate Trump, the 47th president. Comey denied the allegations and took down the post. "All politicians and members of the media should take notice of these repeated attempts on President Trump's life and tone down their rhetoric," Noem said. As Comey social media post triggers a row, what does '86' mean? Trump slams 'Taco' acronym given to tariff flip-flops Musk 'disappointed' by Trump's tax and spending bill
New York Post
14-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Tren de Aragua gangbangers at ICE facility barricade themselves, threaten to take hostages after spelling out SOS in prison yard
Nearly two dozen Tren de Aragua gangbangers in an ICE detention center in Texas have barricaded themselves and threatened to take hostages in a major uprising — days after migrants spelled out SOS in the prison yard. Members of the Venezuelan gang threatened to hold ICE officers captive and injure them on April 26 as they barricaded the doors of their unit with their cots, covered surveillance cameras, blocked windows, and flooded it by clogging the toilets, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The takeover attempt lasted for 'several hours,' with the detainees ignoring the orders of ICE agents. Advertisement 3 The entrance to the Bluebonnet Detention Center. Getty Images Alleged Tren de Aragua gangbangers were seen begging to be sent home by flashing a banner reading 'Help, we want to be deported. We are not terrorists. SOS' to a drone overhead this week at the same facility. And just weeks before, another group of migrants were seen by a Reuters drone forming the letters 'SOS' at the Texas detention center. In response to the uprising, DHS is asking the Supreme Court to allow deportations to resume under the 18th Century Alien Enemies Act, which was blocked after the Trump administration deported dozens of alleged gangbangers to El Salvador without giving them a hearing. Advertisement 3 An exterior shot of the detention center is seen. Getty Images 'Keeping these foreign terrorists in ICE facilities poses a serious threat to ICE officers, staff, and other detainees,' said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. 'The media repeated these TdA gang members' false sob stories, but the truth is these are members of a foreign terrorist organization that rape, maim, and murder for sport,' she added. The group was set to be deported to El Salvador's hellhole CECOT prison, but the the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration's effort to use the Alien Enemies Act to kick them out of the country. Advertisement In the earlier drone footage, alleged Tren de Aragua members Diover Millan, 24, and Jeferson Daniel Escalona Hernandez, 19, were seen in the detention facility yard. Escalona Hernandez was nabbed in January after he was arrested in Texas for evading arrest in a vehicle and ended up at Guantanamo Bay, where the Trump administration opened a migrant detention center, before being moved to the facility in the Lone Star State. Escalona Hernandez had 'self admitted' to being a Tren de Aragua member, according to DHS. Advertisement 3 In an aerial view, inmates form an S.O.S. while displaying a banner saying 'Help we want to be deported we are not terrorists, S.O.S.' Getty Images He denied having any gang affiliation and said he volunteered to get deported home, but was denied permission to do so, in a phone interview with Reuters from the detention center. The alleged gangbangers said he believed the feds linked him to the gang after viewing photos on his phone of him making hand signals that are popular in Venezuela. 'They're making false accusations about me,' he said. 'I don't belong to any gang.' 'I fear for my life here,' he said. 'I want to go to Venezuela.' The feds also tagged Millan as a member of Tren de Aragua after he was let go by the Biden administration at the border and later collared by ICE, according to DHS.
