Latest news with #ICE
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- General
- Daily Mail
ICE storms nation's wealthiest island retreat to arrest dozens of illegal migrants…but governor is appalled
ICE agents stormed the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard and arrested 40 illegal immigrants - but a blue state governor slammed the effort as 'disturbing.' Immigration agents successfully apprehended at least one MS-13 gang member and one child sex offender during the bust, according Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde. 'ICE and our federal partners made a strong stand for prioritizing public safety by arresting and removing illegal aliens from our New England neighborhoods,' she said. 'Operations like this highlight the strong alliances that ICE shares with our fellow law enforcement partners.' Even White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted 'Bye bye!' on X along with a waving hand emoji as a response to an image of migrants being shackled and transported via boat. But Massachusetts ' Democratic Governor Maura Healey demanded 'answers' and 'clarification' from ICE about the covert operation. Healey told the Boston Herald it was 'very disturbing, needless to say, to wake up to news about that activity on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.' Healey questioned whether ICE officials genuinely targeted criminals like they said, noting: 'It's one thing to go after and target those who have committed crimes, who are here unlawfully. 'It's concerning when we see people, moms and dads, being ripped away from families. Neighbors, coworkers taken away, literally it looks like, on the way to job sites in Nantucket and on the Vineyard.' 'Local police chiefs have zero information about what's happening in their communities. We at the state level have zero information about what's happening in communities. 'And that needs to change. We need to get answers. We need to get clarification from ICE.' Healey's comments sparked immediate and furious backlash from Trump administration DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. She told Fox News that local authorities were notified about the operation. 'Before the Governor criticizes our brave law enforcement, she should get her facts straight—apparently, she is the one with "zero information,"' McLaughlin said. 'What we find "disturbing" and "concerning" is politicians like Massachusetts Gov. Healey fighting to protect criminal illegal aliens. 'Our ICE officers will continue putting their lives and safety on the line to arrest murderers, kidnappers, and pedophiles that were let into our country by the Biden administration's open border policies.' Trump returned to the White House after campaigning with a pledge to conduct the largest mass deportation scheme in American history. The affluent and tight-knit pro-Democrat area of Martha's Vineyard was inundated with 50 migrants in 2022 after Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planeloads of immigrants to the island. In response, authorities activated the National Guard in response, declaring the situation a 'humanitarian crisis.' Then in April 2024, it emerged that some of those migrants who cooperated with the sheriff were able to apply for U-nonimmigrant status and three of them have since received 'bona fide determinations.' That meant that the trio of Venezuelan migrants were given permission to work legally in the country and be protected from deportation. The U-nonimmigrant status, known as U-visa, is set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Migrants granted a U-visa are eligible to work in the United States, then can apply for a Green Card after having a U-visa for three years. There is a 10,000 limit on the number of U-visas issued each year and there are thousands of applicants on a waiting list.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Who is Maria Bonilla? Mom of 4 detained by ICE after 24 years in US
A woman who has been living in the United States for over two decades was arrested by federal immigration agents at a downtown courtroom in Atlanta. Maria Bonilla was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 8 at the Atlanta Immigration Court. Her daughter said the arrest happened because of a problem with her immigration paperwork. Maria is still in custody, as per a Newsweek report. "She came not knowing how to read or write, and to this day, she cannot do either due to never having had an education, even when she was a little girl," Magali Bonilla said. Maria came to the US from El Salvador in 2001 when she was 17 years old. For the past 10 years, she had been checking in regularly with immigration officials. Her daughter said Maria was once jailed for driving without a license. She currently has a work permit. Maria is now being held at Stewart Detention Center, one of the largest immigration jails in the US. It is run by a private company called CoreCivic. On the day she was detained, Maria went to immigration court with her daughters. Magali said she was taken because of paperwork problems caused by mixed advice from her lawyer. "My sister and I always go with her to every reporting date she has," she said. "I was with my mother when they were taking her fingerprints and DNA, and shortly after, we got separated. "The lawyers had said that she did not need a passport, but she sent them pictures many times of her passport, and the passport was in the checklist, and it was needed in the paperwork." After Maria was taken, immigration officers told the family to bring her actual passport and send in a new form. The family said the new form was accepted, but Maria is still not home. The Bonilla family is heartbroken over the separation. This happened during President Donald Trump's strict immigration rules. The White House has said that people living in the US without legal papers are considered 'criminals.' Maria has four children: Araceli Anahi Bonilla (22), Magali Avigail Bonilla (21), Henrin Alexander Bonilla Bonilla (17), and Tatiana Jaqueline Bonilla (15). Magali said the situation has been very hard on the family. "My siblings took it hard, and I had to take a semester off from school due to having to work more hours and help my younger siblings," she said. "I was about to enter nursing school, but because of this happening, I have to put a hold on my studies. Also Read: Are you an Indian studying in US? Breaking these 4 rules could cost you your visa "My brother recently also had a graduation, but due to our mother not being there, it did not feel real because she was at my older sister's and my graduation. No family should be going through such a heartbreak." Before she was detained, Maria worked at Gold Creek as a tender cutter. The local community has started a GoFundMe to help the family with legal costs. Other people at Stewart Detention Center are helping Maria talk to a lawyer, since she cannot read or write. "No one should have a time limit on talking and visiting their mother," Magali said. "It has been extremely hard seeing my mom through a glass window and talking to her through a phone like she was a criminal. It is just hard."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- General
- Yahoo
Federal judge says effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil likely unconstitutional
A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday said the federal government's detention of Mahmoud Khalil because of his pro-Palestinian advocacy at Columbia University is 'likely' unconstitutional — delivering a major blow to the Trump administration's crackdown on student protesters. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz did not rule on whether Khalil's free speech rights were violated, but said his lawyers were expected to succeed in their claim an obscure provision of immigration law as applied to Khalil was so vague as to be illegal. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. Khalil, 30, was arrested on March 8 in his Columbia-owned apartment after the federal government moved to revoke his green card based on a rarely used section of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that empowers the secretary of state to order someone deported if their presence is considered adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests. '(This) case, at least for now, is not about choosing between competing accounts of what happened at Columbia between 2023 and 2025. Or about whether the Petitioner's First Amendment rights are being violated,' Farbiaz wrote. 'Rather, the issue now before the Court has been this: does the Constitution allow the Secretary of State to use (the section) to try to remove the Petitioner from the United States? The Court's answer: likely not.' The Trump administration has framed support for Palestinians — which Khalil's grandparents were — as antisemitic and sympathetic to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Khalil, however, has denounced the harassment of Jews and denied furthering the activity of Hamas. While an immigration judge in Louisiana has found Khalil deportable based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination, his lawyers separately brought the federal court case to ask Farbiaz to weigh in on the constitutional issues at play. 'Our law asks about an 'ordinary person.' Would he know that (the provision) could be used against him based on his speech inside the United States, however odious it might allegedly have been?' the judge wrote. Again, Farbiarz answered no. Khalil was the first known international student to be taken into ICE detention as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on college protests. In the weeks that followed, multiple federal judges have moved to release student activists on bail. Khalil, however, remains in federal immigration custody in Louisiana, where he was forced to miss the birth of his first child and Columbia graduation. The court asked for more information in order to rule further on his request for bail and if not, his return to New Jersey. 'We will work as quickly as possible to provide the court the additional information it requested supporting our effort to free Mahmoud or otherwise return him to his wife and newborn son,' his legal team wrote in a statement. 'Every day Mahmoud spends languishing in an ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, is an affront to justice, and we won't stop working until he is free.' Farbiarz said Khalil's lawyers, however, were not likely to succeed on their argument against a second claim by the Trump administration, which has to do with the paperwork he filled out while applying for permanent residency. In doing so, he denied a motion for a preliminary injunction on the matter. The federal government has claimed Khalil omitted his prior work at United Nations Relief and Works Agency from the application. Farbiarz said he would issue an order later Wednesday outlining next steps. _____
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Trump tells US immigration officials to set target of 3,000 arrests a day
The Trump administration is telling immigration officials to ramp up arrests to 3,000 per day with a goal of more than 1 million a year, according to a person familiar with the discussions, a target that would significantly escalate the pace of detentions. The directive was delivered at a recent meeting led by senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. The tone of the discussion left some senior officials concerned they could be fired or relocated if the goals weren't met, according to the person. The meeting and new targets were reported earlier by Axios. 'We are committed to aggressively and efficiently removing illegal aliens from the United States, and ensuring our law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to do so,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement Wednesday. 'The safety of the American people depends upon it.' The Department of Homeland Security echoed that sentiment in its own statement, saying it was delivering on President Donald Trump's push 'to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe.' Trump has made sweeping immigration enforcement a cornerstone issue of his presidency, vowing to carry out the largest deportation effort in US history. But so far, the scale of arrests of migrants in the country illegally has remained largely in line with the prior administration. In the first 100 days of Trump's second term, which began in January, US Customs and Immigration Enforcement said it deported about 65,000 people. During the final stretch of the Biden administration, ICE arrested an average of 759 migrants a day, according to federal data from the Transactional Records Access Clearing House at Syracuse University. The new arrest target appears to be part of a broader strategy to accelerate removals. Earlier this year, the administration expanded the 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local law enforcement to carry out immigration arrests. ICE has also published contract offers worth as much as $45 billion to expand detention capacity at immigration jails. At the same time, the administration has deployed thousands of troops to the Southwest border, where crossings have plummeted in recent months to lows not seen since the 1960s.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Trump immigration officials set target of 3,000 arrests a day
In the first 100 days of Mr Trump's second term, US Customs and Immigration Enforcement said it deported about 65,000 people. PHOTO: AFP WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is telling immigration officials to ramp up arrests to 3,000 per day with a goal of more than 1 million a year, according to a person familiar with the discussions, a target that would significantly escalate the pace of detentions. The directive was delivered at a recent meeting led by senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. The tone of the discussion left some senior officials concerned they could be fired or relocated if the goals weren't met, according to the person. The meeting and new targets were reported earlier by Axios. 'We are committed to aggressively and efficiently removing illegal aliens from the United States, and ensuring our law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to do so,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement on May 28. 'The safety of the American people depends upon it.' The Department of Homeland Security echoed that sentiment in its own statement, saying it was delivering on US President Donald Trump's push 'to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe'. Mr Trump has made sweeping immigration enforcement a cornerstone issue of his presidency, vowing to carry out the largest deportation effort in US history. But so far, the scale of arrests of migrants in the country illegally has remained largely in line with the prior administration. In the first 100 days of Mr Trump's second term, which began in January, US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) said it deported about 65,000 people. During the final stretch of the Biden administration, ICE arrested an average of 759 migrants a day, according to federal data from the Transactional Records Access Clearing House at Syracuse University. The new arrest target appears to be part of a broader strategy to accelerate removals. Earlier in 2025, the administration expanded the 287(g) programme, which deputises state and local law enforcement to carry out immigration arrests. ICE has also published contract offers worth as much as US$45 billion (S$58.20 billion) to expand detention capacity at immigration jails. At the same time, the administration has deployed thousands of troops to the south-west border, where crossings have plummeted in recent months to lows not seen since the 1960s. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
