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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US police officer resigns after wrongfully arresting undocumented teen
A Georgia police officer resigned from his job on Friday after erroneously pulling over a teenager, causing her to spend more than two weeks in a federal immigration jail, and leaving her facing deportation. The officer, Leslie O'Neal, was employed at the police department in Dalton, a small city more than an hour north of Atlanta. His arrest of college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal not only led to a domino effect that could lead to her deportation – it also engendered anger and criticism, especially given the circumstances of her immigration-related detention. Though Dalton's municipal government did not provide any information about why O'Neal resigned, his wife posted his resignation letter on Facebook, which said he believed the local police department did not adequately defend him. Related: US citizen detained by immigration officials who dismissed his Real ID as fake 'The department's silence in the face of widespread defamation has not only made my position personally untenable but has also created an environment where I can no longer effectively carry out my duties within the city of Dalton without fear of further backlash from the community,' O'Neal wrote in the letter. On 5 May, O'Neal pulled Arias-Cristobal over in Dalton. The officer accused her of improperly making a false turn – but those charges were later dropped after the police force admitted to mistaking her car for another. The damage, though, was done by the time Arias-Cristobal's charges were dismissed. The 19-year-old – who is undocumented and was driving with a Mexican license – was brought to the US from Mexico in 2007, when she was just four. The timing of her having been taken to the US barely missed the deadline for her to qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), a program initiated during Barack Obama's presidency that provided children in her situation some protections from deportation. After O'Neal arrested her, local authorities contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the federal agency that detains and deports immigrants. Ice agents then transferred her to an immigration jail in the state. 'I cannot go to jail,' Arias-Cristobal said during the arrest, according to dash-cam footage. 'I have my finals next week. My family depends on this.' Arias-Cristobal's plight captured national attention, with many supporting her and calling for her release. Others – including the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene – agitated for Arias-Cristobal to be deported. 'In Mexico, today, there's over 1.6 million United States of America citizens, living and thriving in Mexico, and I'm sure she and her family will be able to do the same,' Greene said during an interview with Tennessee's Local 3 News. 'But it's important for our nation, for our sovereignty, for us to uphold the law. And this is what we have to do.' The White House's attempts to engage in 'mass deportations' during Donald Trump's second presidency has led to an increase in arrests throughout the country. Immigration enforcement operations have been aided by local jurisdictions that partner with Ice, under what are known as 287(g) contracts. These contracts deputize local officials to carry out immigration enforcement arrests, collaborating closely with Ice. The Whitfield county sheriff's office, which runs the local jail for people arrested in Dalton, has a 287(g) contract with Ice. Additionally, a law signed last year by Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, requires local law enforcement, in the entire state, to apply to enter into 287(g) contracts with Ice. Immigration advocacy organizations have called that law 'disastrous'. The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, for instance, said it would lead to 'racial profiling, terrorize immigrant communities and waste local resources'. Related: Disabled people detained by Ice sound alarm over overcrowded jails Arias-Cristobal's father, José Arias-Tovar, had also been detained by Ice weeks earlier after another traffic stop for speeding. He bonded out of Ice detention on 16 May. Five days later, Arias-Cristobal paid a $1,500 bond, leading to her release. She was home with her family by Thursday evening. 'We're going to keep working on her case to try to keep her here permanently,' Arias-Cristobal's attorney, Dustin Baxter, told local TV station WSB-TV. Arias-Cristobal's arrest has prompted some to rally for her release, whether in person or online. Her advocates have criticized Ice and the local police department for how they have handled her case. A GoFundMe campaign launched for her legal defense has raised more than $90,000. The jail where Arias-Cristobal was detained before she bonded out is known as the Stewart detention center. It is a run privately in Lumpkin, Georgia, by CoreCivic under a contract with Ice and for years has been accused of violating rights and maintaining horrific conditions. • This article was amended on 25 May 2025 to include reference to officer O'Neal's resignation letter.
Business Mayor
6 days ago
- Politics
- Business Mayor
US police officer resigns after wrongfully arresting undocumented teen
A Georgia police officer resigned from his job on Friday after erroneously pulling over a teenager, causing her to spend more than two weeks in a federal immigration jail, and leaving her facing deportation. The officer, Leslie O'Neal, was employed at the police department in Dalton, a small city more than an hour north of Atlanta. His arrest of college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal not only led to a domino effect that could lead to her deportation – it also engendered anger and criticism, especially given the circumstances of her immigration-related detention. Though Dalton's municipal government did not provide any information about why O'Neal resigned, his wife posted his resignation letter on Facebook, which said he believed the local police department did not adequately defend him. 'The department's silence in the face of widespread defamation has not only made my position personally untenable but has also created an environment where I can no longer effectively carry out my duties within the city of Dalton without fear of further backlash from the community,' O'Neal wrote in the letter. On 5 May, O'Neal pulled Arias-Cristobal over in Dalton. The officer accused her of improperly making a false turn – but those charges were later dropped after the police force admitted to mistaking her car for another. The damage, though, was done by the time Arias-Cristobal's charges were dismissed. The 19-year-old – who is undocumented and was driving with a Mexican license – was brought to the US from Mexico in 2007, when she was just four. The timing of her having been taken to the US barely missed the deadline for her to qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), a program initiated during Barack Obama's presidency that provided children in her situation some protections from deportation. After O'Neal arrested her, local authorities contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the federal agency that detains and deports immigrants. Ice agents then transferred her to an immigration jail in the state. 'I cannot go to jail,' Arias-Cristobal said during the arrest, according to dash-cam footage. 'I have my finals next week. My family depends on this.' Arias-Cristobal's plight captured national attention, with many supporting her and calling for her release. Others – including the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene – agitated for Arias-Cristobal to be deported. 'In Mexico, today, there's over 1.6 million United States of America citizens, living and thriving in Mexico, and I'm sure she and her family will be able to do the same,' Greene said during an interview with Tennessee's Local 3 News. 'But it's important for our nation, for our sovereignty, for us to uphold the law. And this is what we have to do.' The White House's attempts to engage in 'mass deportations' during Donald Trump's second presidency has led to an increase in arrests throughout the country. Immigration enforcement operations have been aided by local jurisdictions that partner with Ice, under what are known as 287(g) contracts. These contracts deputize local officials to carry out immigration enforcement arrests, collaborating closely with Ice. The Whitfield county sheriff's office, which runs the local jail for people arrested in Dalton, has a 287(g) contract with Ice. Additionally, a law signed last year by Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, requires local law enforcement, in the entire state, to apply to enter into 287(g) contracts with Ice. Immigration advocacy organizations have called that law 'disastrous'. The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, for instance, said it would lead to 'racial profiling, terrorize immigrant communities and waste local resources'. Arias-Cristobal's father, José Arias-Tovar, had also been detained by Ice weeks earlier after another traffic stop for speeding. He bonded out of Ice detention on 16 May. Five days later, Arias-Cristobal paid a $1,500 bond, leading to her release. She was home with her family by Thursday evening. 'We're going to keep working on her case to try to keep her here permanently,' Arias-Cristobal's attorney, Dustin Baxter, told local TV station WSB-TV. Arias-Cristobal's arrest has prompted some to rally for her release, whether in person or online. Her advocates have criticized Ice and the local police department for how they have handled her case. A GoFundMe campaign launched for her legal defense has raised more than $90,000. The jail where Arias-Cristobal was detained before she bonded out is known as the Stewart detention center. It is a run privately in Lumpkin, Georgia, by CoreCivic under a contract with Ice and for years has been accused of violating rights and maintaining horrific conditions.
The Guardian
18-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump immigration dragnet ensnares people at check-ins and court hearings
People attending recent mandatory immigration check-ins or court appearances have been escorted out in federal custody after the Trump administration allegedly tricked, lied to, or otherwise deceived them as part of its mass deportation campaign. Amid a blitz of immigration-related policy changes over the last few weeks, Donald Trump and his subordinates have greenlit the ability of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to conduct potential civil enforcement operations at courthouses, including in immigration courts. They have also reportedly set daily arrest quotas between at least 1,200 and 1,500 and gotten angry when agents have not consistently met those targets – pressure from the top that is probably incentivizing officers on the ground to go after the lowest-hanging fruit instead of people with serious criminal records. There's no lower-hanging fruit than immigrants following the rules, who reliably show up when they are called in for immigration check-ins or court dates. And, already, anecdotes from around the country demonstrate how Ice is setting traps for people to walk into as their family members look on, helpless. Attorneys in New York say dozens of their clients have been detained and deported after reporting for seemingly routine check-ins related to their immigration cases since Trump's electoral victory in November. Two of them, a mother and her young daughter, didn't even know they had lost their appeal to stay in the US when they arrived for their appointment. They were deported the next day. For others in New York state, Ice check-ins now mean confiscated passports, ankle monitor requirements, and fingerprinting for kids. In neighboring New Jersey, non-citizens are being arrested at their appointments as well. And in Florida, family members and advocates have accused immigration enforcement officials of luring community members into a government contractor's office, supposedly to fix an issue with their monitoring device or to sign a paper, only to take them into custody. One of the people affected by these tactics was a Miami-Dade county middle school science teacher who had lived in the US since he was 13 years old and reportedly had Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) legal protections, which meant he should have been deprioritized for deportation. Despite that, he was arrested at his regular immigration appointment just before Trump was inaugurated and has since been returned to Honduras. Elsewhere, a father of four who had lived in the US for two decades and whose only infraction was a traffic stop was told at his 22 January check-in outside Cleveland, Ohio, that he had two weeks to buy a flight returning to Guatemala in February, or else Ice would track him down. And a week later, in an Ogden, Utah, court for relatively minor offenses, Ice was waiting for a man who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor of impaired driving. The man's wife and daughter had to stand by while they learned immigration agents would whisk their loved one away, and even the judge was regretful, saying he didn't know Ice would be there and using the word 'triste' – 'sad' in Spanish – to describe his remorse. From this flurry of reports, it's clear that the Trump administration is catching immigrants long in the US, many of whom have negligible or no criminal histories, in its dragnet of enhanced enforcement. By arresting people who actually report for required meetings and adjudications, officials are also in effect punishing them for not absconding. And while there has always been a risk of apprehension at Ice check-ins, it's a seemingly counterintuitive approach to improving immigration enforcement to harm those who regularly come forward as they are directed. Similar concerns exist around enforcement actions at court – and especially immigration courts. When non-citizens don't show up for their immigration proceedings, they are often ordered removed as a no-show. Yet, if word circulates that Ice agents are hanging around immigration court buildings, that may very well dissuade defendants, witnesses and family members from attending hearings based on fears they could become collateral damage during an operation, even if theyhave done nothing wrong except remain in the country without permission. This strategy targeting those who are complying with what Ice and the courts tell them to do also reveals a certain level of shortsightedness within the administration. Trump's voracious appetite for more and more immigration arrests may be somewhat sated for the moment if officers go after people who are the easiest to snag because they literally turn themselves in by appearing for check-ins and hearings. But immigrant communities are smart with strong networks, and soon people will hear about the dangers of attending. Then, Ice will probably lose that pipeline of detentions and deportations. Meanwhile, the country will be worse off when immigrants with legitimate pathways are prevented from pursuing them. And instead of the orderly immigration adjudication process ostensibly intended by these measures, more chaos is likely to ensue as fear takes hold. In the meantime, students are missing their science teacher. Children are saying goodbye to their fathers. And it's unclear that the US public is safer because of any of it.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illegal and unseen: Nine surprising facts about Indians in the US
Donald Trump has made the mass deportation of undocumented foreign nationals a key policy, with the US said to have identified about 18,000 Indian nationals it believes entered illegally. Last week Narendra Modi said India would take back its nationals who were in the US illegally, and also crack down on the "human trafficking ecosystem". "These are children of very ordinary families, and they are lured by big dreams and promises," he said during his visit to Washington. Now a new paper by Abby Budiman and Devesh Kapur from Johns Hopkins University has shed light on the numbers, demographics, entry methods, locations and trends relating to undocumented Indians over time. Here are some of the more striking findings. Unauthorised immigrants make up 3% of the US population and 22% of the foreign-born population. The number of undocumented Indians among them is contested however, with estimates varying widely due to differing calculation methods. Pew Research Center and Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) estimate some 700,000 people as of 2022, making them the third-largest group after Mexico and El Salvador. In contrast, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) puts the figure at 375,000, ranking India fifth among origin countries. The official government data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers yet another picture, reporting 220,000 unauthorised Indians in 2022. The vast differences in estimates highlight the uncertainty surrounding the true size of the undocumented Indian population, according to the study. Indian migrants make up only a small share of the overall unauthorised migrant population in the US. If Pew and CMS estimates are accurate, nearly one in four Indian immigrants in the US is undocumented - an unlikely scenario given migration patterns, the study says. (Indian immigrants are one of the fastest-growing groups in the US, surging from 600,000 in 1990 to 3.2 million in 2022.) The DHS estimated in 2022 that the undocumented Indian population in the US dropped 60% from its 2016 peak, falling from 560,000 to 220,000. How did the number of undocumented Indians drop so steeply from 2016 to 2022? Mr Kapur says the data doesn't provide a clear answer, but plausible explanations could be that some obtained legal status while others returned, particularly due to COVID-related hardships. However, this estimate doesn't reflect a 2023 surge in Indians at US borders, meaning the actual number could now be higher. Despite rising border encounters, US government estimates show no clear increase in the overall undocumented Indian population from the US financial year (FY) 2020 to 2022, according to the study. Encounters refer to instances where non-citizens are stopped by US authorities while attempting to cross the country's borders with Mexico or Canada. Visa overstays by Indians have remained steady at 1.5% since 2016. The number of Indian recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) has also declined from 2,600 in 2017 to 1,600 in 2024. The Daca programme protects migrants who came to the US as children. To sum up: the undocumented Indian population grew both in numbers and as a share of all unauthorised migrants, rising from 0.8% in 1990 to 3.9% in 2015 before dropping to 2% in 2022. The US has two main land borders. The southern border along the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas bordering Mexico sees the most migrant crossings. Then there's the US-Canada border spanning 11 states. Before 2010, encounters involving Indians at the two borders were minimal, never exceeding 1,000. Since 2010, nearly all encounters involving Indians occurred along the US-Mexico southern border. In FY 2024, encounters of Indian nationals on the northern border surged to 36% of all Indian crossings, up from just 4% the previous year. Canada had become a more accessible entry point for Indians, with a shorter visitor visa processing times than US. Also, there was a surge in attempted border crossings from 2021 onwards, and the encounters at the Mexico border peaked in 2023. "This is not specific to Indians. It is part of a larger surge of migrants trying to come into the US after Biden was elected. It is as if there was a high tide of migrants and Indians were a part of it," Mr Kapur told me. The study finds that the states with the largest Indian immigrant populations -California (112,000), Texas (61,000), New Jersey (55,000), New York (43,000) and Illinois (31,000) - also have the highest numbers of unauthorised Indian immigrants. Indians make up a significant share of the total unauthorised population in Ohio (16%), Michigan (14%), New Jersey (12%) and Pennsylvania (11%). Meanwhile, states where more than 20% of Indian immigrants are unauthorised include Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia, Wisconsin and California. "We expect this because it's easier to blend in and find work in an ethnic business - like a Gujarati working for a Gujarati-American or a Punjabi/Sikh in a similar setup," Mr Kapur told me. The US immigration system allows people who are detained at the border who fear persecution in their home countries to undergo credible "fear screenings". Those who pass can seek asylum in court, leading to a rise in asylum applications alongside rising border apprehensions. Administrative data doesn't reveal the exact demographics of Indian asylum seekers, but court records on spoken languages provide some insight. Punjabi-speakers from India have dominated Indian asylum claims since 2001. After Punjabi, Indian asylum seekers spoke Hindi (14%), English (8%) and Gujarati (7%). They have filed 66% of asylum cases from FY 2001–2022, suggesting Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana as key migrant sources. Punjabi speakers from India also had the highest asylum approval rate (63%), followed by Hindi speakers (58%). In contrast, only a quarter of Gujarati speakers' cases were approved. US data collected by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows Indian asylum requests in the US have skyrocketed. The requests jumped tenfold in just two years, rising from about 5,000 in 2021 to over 51,000 in 2023. While this spike is most dramatic in the US, similar trends are seen in Canada, the UK and Australia, where Indians are among the largest asylum-seeking groups, the study says. Mr Kapur believes this is "largely a way to game the asylum system rather than an objective fear of persecution, as processing takes years". Given the large number of Punjabi-speakers who seek asylum, it's unclear what has changed in the northern Indian state ruled by the Congress party (2017-22) and latterly the Aam Aadmi Party (2022–present) to drive this surge. Under Trump's second presidency, asylum requests are set to plummet. Within his first week, a key app for migrants was shut down and removed from app stores, cancelling nearly 300,000 pending appointments, including asylum cases already in progress. US data shows most Indian asylum seekers are Punjabi and Gujarati - groups from India's wealthier states, better able to afford high migration costs. In contrast, Indian Muslims and marginalised communities and people from conflict zones like the regions affected by Maoist violence and Kashmir, rarely seek asylum, the study says. So most Indian asylum seekers are economic migrants, not from the country's poorest or conflict-hit regions. The arduous journey to the US - whether via Latin America or as "fake" students in Canada - costs 30-100 times India's per capita income, making it accessible only to those with assets to sell or pledge, the study says. Not surprisingly, Punjab and Gujarat - top origin states for unauthorised Indians - are among India's wealthier regions, where land values far exceed returns from farming. "Even illegality takes a lot of money to pursue," the study says. While rising asylum claims may seem linked to "democratic backsliding" in India, correlation isn't causation, the authors say . Punjab and Gujarat have long histories of emigration, with migrants heading not just to the US but also the UK, Canada and Australia. Remittances - India received an estimated $120bn in 2023 - fuel aspirations for a better life, driven not by poverty but "relative deprivation", as families seek to match the success of others abroad, the study says. A parallel industry of agents and brokers in India has cashed in on this demand. The Indian government, says the study, "has looked the other way, likely because the issue of illegal migration is much more a burden for receiving than sending countries". Between 2009 and 2024, around 16,000 Indians were deported, according to India's ministry of external affairs. These deportations averaged 750 per year under Obama, 1,550 under Trump's first term, and 900 under Biden. Indian migrant removals spiked between FY 2023 and 2024, but the peak was in 2020 with nearly 2,300 deportations. US military plane carrying deported Indians lands in Punjab Why Indians are risking it all to chase the American Dream H-1B: Visa row under Trump fuels anxiety for Indian dreamers Trump's citizenship order leaves expecting Indian immigrant parents in limbo
