Latest news with #AlternativetoDetention
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Perfect storm as Trump's mass deportation drive collides with city of immigrants
This weekend, tensions boiled over in the Los Angeles area after a week of immigration sweeps in the region sparked violent protests against the Trump administration and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. President Donald Trump's decision to send 700 US Marines and 2,000 National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area to support the federal response to the unrest has opened a volatile chapter in his mass deportation campaign. The location of the raids and subsequent protests – a liberal-leaning city in a state controlled by Democrats – also gave the White House an ideal public foil as it seeks to show progress on removing illegal immigrants and instilling law and order. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and prominent critic of the president, wrote on X that the troop deployment was a "deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President". The raids in America's second-biggest city are unfolding against the backdrop of an aggressive push to raise arrest and deportation numbers, as the administration has been disappointed with its current pace. ICE has ramped up its enforcement actions in recent weeks as it faces pressure to show progress on Trump's signature policy initiative. The agency arrested 2,200 people on 4 June, according to NBC News, a record for a single day. The network reported that hundreds of those arrested were enrolled in a programme known as Alternative to Detention, which allows for the release and monitoring of individuals not deemed an immediate threat. Live updates from LA protests LA's unrest in maps and pictures White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the man widely seen as the intellectual architect of the deportation policy, has repeatedly said the White House hopes that ICE can scale up to 3,000 arrests a day, up from 660 or so during the first 100 days of Trump's presidency. "President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day," Miller told Fox News in late May. Yet for much of the first 100 days of the administration, deportations were on par with, and at times below, those recorded during the last year of Joe Biden's presidency. The White House stopped publishing daily deportation figures early in 2020. "I'm not satisfied with the numbers," the administration's border tsar, Tom Homan, told reporters at the White House at the end of May. "We need to increase." Homan added that the Trump administration had "increased the teams a lot" and that "we expect a fast increase in the number of arrests". Several senior ICE officials - including Kenneth Genalo, its top deportation official - have left their roles at the agency in recent months. In February, ICE also moved two top officials overseeing deportations, as well as the agency's acting director, Caleb Vitello. At the time of the more recent reshuffle, the agency characterised the move as organisational realignments that will "help ICE achieve President Trump and the American people's mandate of arresting and deporting illegal aliens and making American communities safe". How LA erupted over a rumour Everything we know about the protests Analysis: A political fight Trump is eager to have The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release that the immigrants detained in the recent Los Angeles raids included individuals convicted of sex crimes, burglary, and drug related charges, among other offences. Local immigration advocates and community members, however, say that families have been torn apart and nonviolent immigrants detained. At a rally on Monday, Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said that a Friday raid at a warehouse in the Fashion District "was not about public safety, it was a fear driven, state violence designed to silence, to intimidate, to disappear". While opinion polls show that Trump's immigration policies are popular with a majority of Americans, some of his backers have expressed concern about tactics. The co-founder of Latinas for Trump, for example, Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia, wrote on X that "this is not what we voted for". "I understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens, but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings - in many cases, with credible fear of persecution claims - all driven by a Miller-like desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal," she added. Federal authorities have conducted more frequent immigration raids across the US, in states that lean both towards Democrats and Republicans. Some Republican-controlled states, like Tennessee, have assisted federal authorities. "California was willing to resist," said John Acevedo, an associate dean at Emory Law School, who studies free speech and protests in the US. Images of violence and resistance on the streets of Los Angeles gave Trump a catalyst for the deployment of the National Guard. "For his base, it does quite a bit. It shows he's serious, and allows them to show he will use all means necessary to enforce his [immigration] rules," Prof Acevedo said. Protesters in Los Angeles - which calls itself a sanctuary city, meaning it limits co-operation with federal immigration enforcement - did not relish the role they believed the administration had chosen for their city. "This is my people, you know, I'm fighting for us," said Maria Gutierrez, a Mexican-American who protested for two days in Paramount, a city in LA County that saw protests after residents spotted ICE agents in the area. The unrest there involved looting and at least one car burning. Authorities used rubber bullets and tear gas. She said there are some protesting in LA, including those in the nearby city of Compton, that share a belief that they were protecting the city from immigration enforcement and saw the Trump administration's threats as a challenge. Ms Gutierrez believed undocumented immigrants who commit violent offences should be targeted, but not those who she believes work hard and aspire to a better life. "This is our city. We're angry, we know how to protect ourselves and this isn't going to scare us," she said. But the community is not united in support for the protests that have captured national attention. Juan, who lives near Paramount, came to the US illegally and later became a citizen, but supports ICE's actions. "ICE agents have a job to do, just like you and I," said Juan, who asked the BBC to withhold his last name given the federal operations in the area. He said he worked for years as a day labourer, but gained citizenship and has four children who graduated from college. "It's hard," he said. "I have family who don't have papers, too. "But you can't really fight it if you're here and you're not supposed to be." "A crime is a crime," he said.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
5 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
US arrests 2,200 immigrants in a day as Trump govt intensifies crackdown
On Tuesday, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out the largest single-day operation in its history, detaining more than 2,200 individuals. According to a NBC News report, the arrests were made as the agency faces intensified pressure from the White House to rapidly increase arrests. The people who have been arrested were listed in ICE's Alternative to Detention (ATD) programme. Under the programme, undocumented migrants who are deemed not to be a threat to public safety are released, but are kept under supervision through ankle monitors, smartphone apps, or other geolocating programmes, along with check-ins at ICE facilities. According to immigration attorneys cited in the report, ICE sent a mass text message that reached numerous individuals enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) programme. The message asked people to show up at ICE offices ahead of their scheduled appointments. However, they were arrested when they showed up. The report added that at least seven people who came for check-ins at New York's ICE office were handcuffed and sent away in unmarked cars. Citing an immigration attorney, representing the family of a 30-year-old Colombian man who was taken away, said that the man had gone to every ICE appointment, adding that 'He was, you know, very cooperative with all of the requirements that were made of him.' An ICE spokesperson, commenting on the arrests of immigrants wearing ankle monitors who had appeared for scheduled appointments, told NBC News, 'Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.' The White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, allegedly threatened ICE leaders in a meeting of firing away senior officials, if the agency does not start making 3,000 arrests per day. Ever since US President Donald Trump returned to office for his second term, his administration has intensified the crackdown on immigrants living in the US. From introducing a self-deportation app to sending scores of immigrants back to their home country, the Trump administration, while calling out his predecessor Joe Biden's 'open border' policy, has vowed to continue the crackdown on immigrants, citing national security risks.
Mint
5 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
US arrests record number of immigrants in single day: How ICE uses SMS ploy to detain 2,200 people
Amid pressure from the White House, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday arrested more than 2,200 people, the maximum arrests in a single day in its history, reported NBC News. Some of the undocumented immigrants were told in a mass text message ICE had sent them to show up ahead of their schedule for check-ins at ICE offices, only to be arrested when they arrived, the report said, citing immigration attorneys. Hundreds of the people who were arrested had been enrolled in ICE's Alternative to Detention (ATD) programme, as per the report. Under the ATD programme, the undocumented immigrants are released if they are deemed not threat to public safety. But the ICE keeps a track of them through ankle monitors, smartphone apps or other geolocating programmes, along with periodic check-ins at ICE facilities. On the issue of arresting immigrants with ankle monitors, the ICE spokesperson said: 'Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.' In May, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, had threatened to sack senior ICE officials if the agency does not start making 3,000 arrests per day, said the media report. According to ICE data, over 20,000 ankle monitors were in use by ICE as of late May. As many as 98.5 per cent of people on ATD appear for their check-ins, making them easy targets as ICE moves to increase its arrest numbers, according to the data. The ICE has boosted its manpower by drawing on over 5,000 employees from other federal law enforcement agencies to increase arrests as part of a new nationwide crackdown, reported NBC News. It is to be noted that every arrest does not lead to a deportation, particularly when immigrants have pending asylum claims or appeals.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Early check-in but no check out: How ICE arrests record number of illegal immigrants on single day? Here's a hint
Representative Image Immigration and Customs Enforcement made a new record by conducting its largest single-day operation, apprehending over 2,200 individuals, NBC reported citing an ICE spokesperson. This surge in arrests comes amid White House directives to substantially increase enforcement activities. Several sources confirmed that many detainees were participants in ICE's Alternative to Detention (ATD) programme, which monitors non-threatening undocumented immigrants through electronic devices and regular check-ins at ICE facilities. Immigration lawyers nationwide reported that ICE employed a new strategy, sending mass text messages to ATD participants requesting early check-ins, resulting in arrests upon arrival. On Wednesday, an NBC News reporter witnessed seven individuals being arrested during check-ins at a New York City ICE office. Among them was a 30-year-old Colombian man, whose distraught wife and daughter watched as masked officers led him away in handcuffs. Margaret Cargioli, directing attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Centre, emphasised that her client had been fully compliant with all ICE requirements and attended every appointment. Outside the immigration office, Veronica Navarrete observed anxious immigrants contemplating whether to attend their scheduled appointments, noting their difficult position between potential arrest or automatic deportation for missing check-ins. Regarding the arrests of monitored immigrants, an ICE spokesperson stated these individuals had received final removal orders from immigration judges and failed to comply. However, when lawyers contested this claim, citing clients without such orders, the spokesperson provided no immediate response. Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, reportedly issued an ultimatum to ICE leadership, demanding 3,000 daily arrests or face dismissal, according to sources present at the meeting. The remaining paragraphs continue with the same factual, straightforward tone, maintaining the original information while avoiding metaphorical language and keeping quoted text intact.
NDTV
5 days ago
- General
- NDTV
US Arrests Record Number Of Immigrants In A Single Day In Its History: Report
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Amid a crackdown on immigrants, ICE arrested over 2,200 people in a single day, targeting those in its Alternative to Detention program. Critics argue many were compliant and lacked final removal orders, raising concerns about widespread intimidation. Amid reports of top Trump aides Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem instructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to seek to arrest 3,000 people a day, the department has made the most immigrant arrests in a single day in its history. On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained more than 2,200 people, according to a report by the NBC News. The people who have been arrested had been enrolled in ICE's Alternative to Detention (ATD) programme. Under this programme, undocumented immigrants who are not threats to public safety are kept under supervision through ankle monitors, smartphone apps or other geolocating programs, along with check-ins at ICE facilities. Now, immigrants on ATD had been asked to show up at an ICE office, ahead of schedule, through a mass text message. However, when they arrived, they were arrested. Seven people who had come in for check-ins were later seen in handcuffs and were put in unmarked cars. One of the detainees among these was a 30-year-old Colombian man. Margaret Cargioli, the directing attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, who represents the family, said that the man had gone 'to every single [ICE] appointment. He was, you know, very cooperative with all of the requirements that were made of him.' The situation stands at the possibility of immigrants taken into custody if they show up at an ICE facility and an automatic deportation if immigrants miss an appointment. An ICE spokesperson said, 'Those arrested had executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order.' However, multiple lawyers said that their clients did not have final orders of removal and still got arrested. While Trump has promised to deport 'millions', former ICE officials say that hitting that target will not be possible for ICE. According to ICE data, 20,000 ankle monitors were in use by ICE, and 98.5% of people on ATF appear for their check-ins, making them easy targets for ICE arrests as they try to ramp up numbers. 'People are now increasingly afraid and intimidated because of the way that ICE is executing these kinds of enforcement priorities on such a widespread, indiscriminate and mass scale', Greg Chen, senior director of government relations said. Moreover ICE has drawn in 5,000 employees from other federal law enforcement agencies to increase arrests. Jason Houser, who was chief of staff at ICE during the Biden administration, said that ''ICE arresting people already on Alternatives to Detention is bureaucratic theater', as these individuals are vetted, complying and are in custody supervision, and also mostly have legal status.
