Latest news with #ICE-led
Mint
a day ago
- Politics
- Mint
Stun Grenades, Armored Trucks in ICE Raids Spur Tensions
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to round up migrants and it's using increasingly aggressive tactics. In scenes from Los Angeles to Massachusetts, agents outfitted with bullet-resistant vests and often displaying military-style rifles are shown in social media videos and photos being escorted along city streets by armored vehicles. A clip from Rhode Island shows an agent standing in a truck's open hatch, manning a rifle. Teams of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed heavily armed and helmeted officers to make arrests Friday around LA. In the downtown Fashion District, according to video posted to X, agents holding riot shields moved through the area on an armored vehicle, while others fired multiple flash-bang grenades as protesters gathered along their path. It's at least the second time in the last week that such tools were deployed to disperse protesters. LA Mayor Karen Bass and other elected officials denounced the raids and the use of force. 'These tactics sow terror in our communities disrupt basic principals of safety in our city,' Bass, a Democrat, said in a statement. The Service Employees International Union said its California president, David Huerta, was injured and arrested during one of the operations. The union said Huerta is a US citizen. ICE didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Nationwide the ICE-led operations, often joined by other federal agents and local law enforcement, have coincided with an increase in arrests of people for running afoul of immigration laws. ICE reported more than 1,600 daily apprehensions, eclipsing 2,200 a day over two days earlier this week. That's more than double the 630 average of recent weeks and a roughly 450% increase over typical numbers during former President Joe Biden's last year in office. The latest figures are still short of the administration's goal, but the White House is moving forward with efforts to remove legal obstacles to deportations while ramping up prison capacity and enforcement capability. In the meantime, it's deploying social-media videos with quick edits and throbbing techno beats, made-for-TV moments to get attention. 'This is not normal,' said David Shirk, a political science professor and expert on US-Mexico border issues at the University of San Diego. 'It is a response to what has been a long-standing problem that is greatly exaggerated and intended to convey a sense of shock and awe.' Critics have long decried the increasing militarization of US police forces, which took off after equipment used in the Iraq war was handed over to state and local forces. In the case of ICE's immigration raids, Shirk and others say the tactics aren't only over the top, they risk further inflaming already tense situations, making it more dangerous for the targets, bystanders and the agents themselves. They say the raids are disproportionate to the threat and seem designed to maximize optics for US President Donald Trump and his supporters, while demonizing migrants who lack legal status but are otherwise law abiding. ICE officials are unapologetic about the shows of force, saying agents must take maximum precautions to protect themselves from dangerous gang members and other criminals. And if the high-profile raids encourage other migrants without documentation to leave, all the better. In social media posts, ICE routinely urges people to avoid arrest by self-deporting. In San Diego last week, an operation targeting workers at the popular Italian restaurant Buona Forchetta included agents dressed in camouflage, helmeted and masked, and some carrying rifles. It drew as many as 250 spontaneous protesters who shouted abuse at the agents. Eventually officials deployed stun grenades to disperse the crowd. The agency declined to specify the exact number of arrests or detail any criminal records of those taken into custody. 'The officers took appropriate action and followed their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary,' Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security department, said in a statement. 'In large part due to protests like this, our ICE officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults while carrying out arrests.' Operations across Massachusetts over the past month resulted in the arrests of nearly 1,500 people for immigration violations, more than half of whom the government said had criminal records in the US or abroad. Heavily armed and masked officers were involved in many of the apprehensions. In raids in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard last month, about 40 people were arrested and moved out of the area on a Coast Guard patrol boat. In February, agents in Phoenix used an armored vehicle equipped with a battering ram when they arrested a 61-year-old man. At the time, the agency described the arrest as part of a routine operation and said the man had been deported several times and had multiple criminal convictions. 'The more police dress up in military gear and arm themselves with military equipment, the more likely they are to see themselves as at war with people, and that is not what we want,' said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project manager for policing at the American Civil Liberties Union. An expanded show of force by policing agencies can 'lead to unnecessary violence that leads to unnecessary harm,' she added. Todd Lyons, the acting head of ICE, this week defended agents' actions, including wearing masks, saying it was for their protection as the public grows increasingly hostile toward their work. 'I am sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I'm not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, and their family's lives on the line, because people don't like what immigration enforcement is,' Lyons said during a press conference. He cited incidents of people identifying agents and then harassing them and their family members online, sometimes posting children's photos and other private information. The agency has made tens of thousands of arrests and deported tens of thousands of foreigners since Trump took office. But top administration aren't happy with the pace. In a tense meeting last month with dozens of top ICE officials Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump and an architect of the the administration's hardline policies, said arrests should average a minimum of 3,000 a day. Many of those senior agents and officers left the meeting worried they would lose their jobs if the quota isn't met, according to a person familiar with the private discussion. The growing frequency of operations — and the gear agents are toting — can be unsettling to community members who aren't accustomed to such broad enforcement operations, according to Jerry Robinette, a former ICE agent who led the agency's Homeland Security Investigations office in San Antonio until he retired in 2012. 'They are in areas where people aren't used to seeing them and some folks are taken aback by what they are seeing, taken aback by the show of force,' said Robinette, adding that it's hard to second guess the show of force in San Diego without more details. 'Without knowing what the underlying crime that they were concerned about, its really hard to say this was an overkill.' Robinette and others said raids involving heavily armed and helmeted agents aren't unheard of in HSI operations. He said a more robust presence is often used in cases involving serious criminal organizations, including drug trafficking networks. In Warwick, Rhode Island, last month, a heavily armed contingent of officers was deployed to arrest a Guatemalan man who had evaded arrest during an April traffic stop. In that incident, according to federal court records, the suspect flailed about and wiggled away from arresting officers, leading one to twist her ankle and ultimately fracture her leg. The suspect was charged with assault, resisting and impeding a law enforcement officer after his May arrest. He is being held in federal custody, court records show. In San Diego, there's been no clarity on who was targeted by the ICE raid at the Italian restaurant. The tactics raised alarms from local officials. 'Militarized immigration raids in our neighborhoods erode trust, destabilize families and undermine the constitutional right to due process,' County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said in a statement posted to X. City Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera posted a photo of the restaurant raid to Instagram and wrote the word 'terrorists' over the image. Others have described ICE agents as a 'gestapo.' Lyons, in an interview with Fox News, said such descriptions of his officers were 'just plain disgusting.' Elo-Rivera said he stands by his comments, and described the show of force as unnecessary and intended to instill fear. 'It would scare anyone who saw them,' Elo-Rivera said. 'Nobody is safer as a result of the Trump administration attempting to enforce immigration laws.' (Adds details of Los Angeles raids from third paragraph.) More stories like this are available on
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New ICE deportation operation and possible dwarf planet discovery: Morning Rundown
A sweeping new ICE operation shows how Donald Trump's focus on immigration is reshaping federal law enforcement. Higher steel tariffs kick in. A potential new dwarf planet is identified. And food maker Campbell's says more people are reaching for pantry staples over snacks. Here's what to know today. The Trump administration's largest immigration crackdown yet is underway, but the reallocation of personnel from other federal law enforcement agencies in order to carry out 'Operation At Large' is causing tension among some officials who feel they've been taken off core national security missions. The new ICE-led initiative is a response to frustration from White House chief of staff Stephen Miller over what he saw as numbers of arrests and deportations of unauthorized immigrants that were too low. Miller is so frustrated, two sources said, that he has berated and threatened to fire senior ICE officials if they did not begin detaining 3,000 migrants a day. He also threatened to fire leaders of field offices posting the bottom 10% of arrest numbers monthly. This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. According to the operation plan, the initiative calls on help from thousands of personnel, including: → 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from Homeland Security Investigations, which generally investigates transnational crimes; → 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the DEA; → 500 employees from Customs and Border Protection; and → 250 IRS agents, some of whom may be used to provide tax information on the whereabouts of immigrants using tax information, and others who would have the authority to make arrests. The operation is the latest example of how President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations is reshaping federal law enforcement, leaving less time and attention for other types of criminal investigations. Now, FBI agents are joining in on immigration-related law enforcement operations, which at one time would have been unusual. DOJ teams focused on other issues are being disbanded so members can dedicate their time to immigration and other administration priorities. Federal courts are regularly seeing misdemeanor cases for border crossings, a rarity in recent years. And federal cases without immigration components have stalled or are moving more slowly. 'There is such a priority on making immigration arrests that it takes longer to get answers on anything else,' a law enforcement official said. 'Something that used to be resolved in a matter of days now takes weeks.' Read the full story here. Trump's executive order raising steel tariffs from 25% to 50% is now in effect, giving one of the country's most storied industries a massive boost at the potential cost of a broader economic slowdown. Elon Musk called the GOP bill for Trump's agenda a 'disgusting abomination' for the legislation's proposal to add more than $2 trillion to the budget deficit. The White House wants congressional leaders to codify $9.4 billion budget cuts, mostly to foreign aid but also to cuts proposed by DOGE and to NPR and PBS. The Navy said it will rename the USNS Harvey Milk, the vessel named for the LGBTQ rights pioneer. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is pushing a 'more is more' approach when it comes to Democrats' response to the Trump administration, but some argue it's not a winning strategy. On a Saturday in mid-March in the tiny West Texas city of Seminole, Dr. Ben Edwards put on his scrubs and drove to a sheet metal building to treat children with measles. Red spots mottled his face; Edwards was sick with measles, too. An outbreak of the disease was swelling in Gaines County, a rural community with one of the lowest childhood vaccination rates in the country. For two weeks, lines of families had snaked around the building's parking lot, almost all belonging to the area's Mennonite community. Edwards handed out cod liver oil and prescribed steroid inhalers. And down the road at Seminole's only hospital, a waiting room made for measles patients often sat empty, and there was little demand for vaccines — the only proven way of preventing the disease. So two responses were in motion to deal with an extremely contagious disease — one grounded in science and evidence, and the other driven by distrust and propaganda and, for the first time in memory, backed by the federal government under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The story of Seminole in those critical months offers a look behind the battle lines, as well as a warning for a country increasingly fractured not just by politics but by competing realities. Read senior reporter Brandy Zadrozny's full story here. They set out to find 'Planet Nine' — and instead turned up a different resident in our cosmic backyard. Researchers at Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University said they have discovered a possible dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system. Measuring at an estimated 435 miles across, it's significantly smaller than Pluto, which measures nearly 1,500 miles across. And it's so far-flung that it takes around 25,000 years to complete one orbit around the sun. Researchers said they found the dwarf planet candidate by sifting through a huge data set from a telescope in Chile that was scanning the universe for evidence of dark energy. If confirmed, the object known as 2017 OF201 could be what research group leader Sihao Cheng called an 'extreme cousin' of Pluto. In the meantime, the search for 'Planet Nine,' a hypothetical planet larger than Earth that is thought to orbit beyond Neptune, is still on. Read the full story here. The wife and five children of the suspect accused of launching an antisemitic attack that injured 12 people in Boulder, Colorado, were taken into ICE custody, the White House said. Meanwhile, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who was burned during the attack spoke publicly for the first time since the incident. Ukraine's audacious 'Spiderweb' drone attack on Russian air bases highlights how both sides are increasingly turning to cheap, commercially available devices that can be converted into deadly weapons and have huge impacts on the war. A Washington state man is wanted on first-degree murder charges in the killings of his three daughters, who were found dead after they did not return from a planned visitation. The New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau a day after the team finished its deepest run in the NBA playoffs in decades. Campbell's expects one, NBC News producer Steve Kopack reports. The food maker says customers are shying away from snacks and prioritizing pantry basics, like condensed soup and mac-and-cheese, to save money. Consumers' economic outlooks have improved in recent weeks, but pessimism runs deep amid ongoing trade war uncertainty. And while inflation has cooled sharply, many shoppers are still adjusting to much higher costs. With restaurant menu prices still rising nearly twice as fast as those on grocery shelves, Campbell's is seeing people cook meals at home at the highest levels since the depths of the pandemic. — Rich Bellis, senior business editor It can be hard to find a foundation for rosacea-prone skin, so one NBC Select editor tried over 20 foundations from brands like Lancôme and Haus Labs to find the best options available. Plus, the Select team also found the best washable rugs for living rooms, bedrooms and even outdoor areas. Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week. Thanks for reading today's Morning Rundown. Today's newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you're a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here. This article was originally published on
NBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- NBC News
New ICE deportation operation and possible dwarf planet discovery: Morning Rundown
A sweeping new ICE operation shows how Donald Trump's focus on immigration is reshaping federal law enforcement. Higher steel tariffs kick in. A potential new dwarf planet is identified. And food maker Campbell's says more people are reaching for pantry staples over snacks. Here's what to know today. Trump's immigration crackdown is reshaping federal law enforcement The Trump administration's largest immigration crackdown yet is underway, but the reallocation of personnel from other federal law enforcement agencies in order to carry out 'Operation At Large' is causing tension among some officials who feel they've been taken off core national security missions. The new ICE-led initiative is a response to frustration from White House chief of staff Stephen Miller over what he saw as numbers of arrests and deportations of unauthorized immigrants that were too low. Miller is so frustrated, two sources said, that he has berated and threatened to fire senior ICE officials if they did not begin detaining 3,000 migrants a day. He also threatened to fire leaders of field offices posting the bottom 10% of arrest numbers monthly. This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. According to the operation plan, the initiative calls on help from thousands of personnel, including: → 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from Homeland Security Investigations, which generally investigates transnational crimes; → 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the DEA; → 500 employees from Customs and Border Protection; and → 250 IRS agents, some of whom may be used to provide tax information on the whereabouts of immigrants using tax information, and others who would have the authority to make arrests. The operation is the latest example of how President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations is reshaping federal law enforcement, leaving less time and attention for other types of criminal investigations. Now, FBI agents are joining in on immigration-related law enforcement operations, which at one time would have been unusual. DOJ teams focused on other issues are being disbanded so members can dedicate their time to immigration and other administration priorities. Federal courts are regularly seeing misdemeanor cases for border crossings, a rarity in recent years. And federal cases without immigration components have stalled or are moving more slowly. 'There is such a priority on making immigration arrests that it takes longer to get answers on anything else,' a law enforcement official said. 'Something that used to be resolved in a matter of days now takes weeks.' Trump's executive order raising steel tariffs from 25% to 50% is now in effect, giving one of the country's most storied industries a massive boost at the potential cost of a broader economic slowdown. Elon Musk called the GOP bill for Trump's agenda a 'disgusting abomination' for the legislation's proposal to add more than $2 trillion to the budget deficit. The White House wants congressional leaders to codify $9.4 billion budget cuts, mostly to foreign aid but also to cuts proposed by DOGE and to NPR and PBS. The Navy said it will rename the USNS Harvey Milk, the vessel named for the LGBTQ rights pioneer. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is pushing a 'more is more' approach when it comes to Democrats' response to the Trump administration, but some argue it's not a winning strategy. How measles tore through a remote West Texas city On a Saturday in mid-March in the tiny West Texas city of Seminole, Dr. Ben Edwards put on his scrubs and drove to a sheet metal building to treat children with measles. Red spots mottled his face; Edwards was sick with measles, too. An outbreak of the disease was swelling in Gaines County, a rural community with one of the lowest childhood vaccination rates in the country. For two weeks, lines of families had snaked around the building's parking lot, almost all belonging to the area's Mennonite community. Edwards handed out cod liver oil and prescribed steroid inhalers. And down the road at Seminole's only hospital, a waiting room made for measles patients often sat empty, and there was little demand for vaccines — the only proven way of preventing the disease. So two responses were in motion to deal with an extremely contagious disease — one grounded in science and evidence, and the other driven by distrust and propaganda and, for the first time in memory, backed by the federal government under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The story of Seminole in those critical months offers a look behind the battle lines, as well as a warning for a country increasingly fractured not just by politics but by competing realities. They set out to find 'Planet Nine' — and instead turned up a different resident in our cosmic backyard. Researchers at Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University said they have discovered a possible dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system. Measuring at an estimated 435 miles across, it's significantly smaller than Pluto, which measures nearly 1,500 miles across. And it's so far-flung that it takes around 25,000 years to complete one orbit around the sun. Researchers said they found the dwarf planet candidate by sifting through a huge data set from a telescope in Chile that was scanning the universe for evidence of dark energy. If confirmed, the object known as 2017 OF201 could be what research group leader Sihao Cheng called an 'extreme cousin' of Pluto. In the meantime, the search for 'Planet Nine,' a hypothetical planet larger than Earth that is thought to orbit beyond Neptune, is still on. Read the full story here. The wife and five children of the suspect accused of launching an antisemitic attack that injured 12 people in Boulder, Colorado, were taken into ICE custody, the White House said. Meanwhile, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who was burned during the attack spoke publicly for the first time since the incident. Ukraine's audacious 'Spiderweb' drone attack on Russian air bases highlights how both sides are increasingly turning to cheap, commercially available devices that can be converted into deadly weapons and have huge impacts on the war. A Washington state man is wanted on first-degree murder charges in the killings of his three daughters, who were found dead after they did not return from a planned visitation. The New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau a day after the team finished its deepest run in the NBA playoffs in decades. Campbell's expects one, NBC News producer Steve Kopack reports. The food maker says customers are shying away from snacks and prioritizing pantry basics, like condensed soup and mac-and-cheese, to save money. Consumers' economic outlooks have improved in recent weeks, but pessimism runs deep amid ongoing trade war uncertainty. And while inflation has cooled sharply, many shoppers are still adjusting to much higher costs. With restaurant menu prices still rising nearly twice as fast as those on grocery shelves, Campbell's is seeing people cook meals at home at the highest levels since the depths of the pandemic. — Rich Bellis, senior business editor NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified It can be hard to find a foundation for rosacea-prone skin, so one NBC Select editor tried over 20 foundations from brands like Lancôme and Haus Labs to find the best options available. Plus, the Select team also found the best washable rugs for living rooms, bedrooms and even outdoor areas.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Yahoo
Chinese national living in Mass. among eight indicted in transnational elder fraud scheme, feds say
A Chinese national living in Massachusetts is among eight people with ties to China who have been indicted in a transnational elder fraud scheme that has victimized hundreds of people, federal officials said. Fangzheng Wang, 24, of Westborough, Massachusetts is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement on Friday. Wang was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations officers, ICE officials said. He remains in federal custody in Rhode Island. Wang is among eight people charged in a federal indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Providence for their roles in orchestrating and executing an elaborate transnational fraud and money laundering scheme targeting elderly citizens in the United States and Canada. The ICE-led investigation identified approximately 300 victims in at least 37 states who have been defrauded. At this time, victims are estimated to have suffered known losses exceeding $5 million. However, investigators have identified a bank account through which approximately $16 million in additional suspected fraud funds appear to have been laundered. According to the charging documents, members of the conspiracy sent pop-up messages to seniors' computers, often styled to appear as if they were originating from a well-known technology company. The messages contained various false claims, including that the victims' financial accounts had been compromised, that their computers had been hacked, or that the victims had been identified as the target of a criminal investigation. The pop-up message contained information that directed victims to call a 'live agent,' who informed the victims that their financial assets were at risk or could be garnished, but the agent could assist in protecting their assets. During a series of calls, victims were connected with others who falsely claimed to be 'representatives' of the victim's financial institutions or government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Reserve Bank. Those 'representatives' were, in fact, members of the elder fraud scheme, officials said. During these calls, some victims were instructed that, in order to protect their assets, they should initiate a transfer of their funds from their accounts via wire transfers and cryptocurrency transfers to accounts controlled by agencies the scammers purportedly represented. Other victims were told to withdraw their funds in cash, purchase gold bars and turn them over to a purported government courier who would come to their home for transfer to a secure government location. Still others were told to simply turn the cash over to a courier for safe keeping by the government. The indictment also charges: Nanjun Song 27, of Brooklyn, New York, a Chinese national who has allegedly overstayed a B2 visa, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. ICE Homeland Security Investigations Las Vegas arrested the defendant. He is detained in federal custody in Rhode Island. Jirui Liu, 23, of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, a citizen of China and Canada, whose U.S. visa has expired, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. HSI Providence arrested the defendant with assistance from the Connecticut State Police and Narragansett Police Department. He is detained in federal custody in Rhode Island. Xiang Li, 37, of Flushing, New York, a Chinese national and with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. HSI Providence with HSI New York and the New York City Police Department arrested the defendant. He was detained in New York and is being transferred to Rhode Island. Xuehai Sun, 37, of Flushing New York, a Chinese national, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. HSI Providence with HSI New York and the NYPD arrested the defendant and he appeared that day in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Cynthia Jia Sun, 25, of Houston, Texas, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. HSI Houston with the Texas Department of Public Safety and is in federal custody in Houston arrested the defendant. She is awaiting transfer to Rhode Island. Zhenyang Xin, 25, of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, a Chinese national, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. An arrest warrant has been issued for the defendant. Wing Kit Ho, 22, of Markham, Ontario, Canada, a Canadian citizen born in Hong Kong, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. An arrest warrant has been issued for the defendant. HSI Providence and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation led the investigation with assistance from HSI New England, HSI New York, HSI Houston, and HSI Los Angeles, Narragansett Police, East Providence Police, the Texas Department of Public Safety, New York Police, and Connecticut State Police. The U.S. Attorney's Offices in the Eastern District of New York and Southern District of Texas also assisted with the investigation. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Yahoo
Colorado DA says ICE raids could impact success of some criminal court cases
BRIGHTON, Colo. (KDVR) — Seventeenth Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason said he has growing concerns that enhanced U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations may impact his office's ability to successfully prosecute some cases. Mason said some people have already called his office asking if they have to give some personal information. He said federal laws should be enforced and that criminal undocumented immigrants should be deported. But, Mason said the problem is when you have huge ICE raids, fear grows among the undocumented community and they can be less likely to report crimes. 'My largest concern about these enhanced immigration raids that we are seeing and that we have seen is its impact on my ability to keep this community safe,' Mason said. 'Numerous public threats' prompt ICE raid targeting multiple locations, metro Denver gang members Mason said some witnesses and victims may fear giving important testimony in criminal cases in Broomfield and Adams counties. He said that is because of the recent enhanced ICE raids that unfolded in the Denver metro. 'We have already had victims call us and say, 'Is it safe for me to give you my address? Is it safe for me to come to court today?' And if a victim is afraid about giving their address to the district attorney's office and we can't get in touch with them, then we are not going to have their cooperation on a criminal case,' Mason said. Mason said indiscriminate raids can stir fears, which can make the community less safe. 'If a victim or a witness to a crime is afraid to show up across the street at the Adams County Courthouse and doesn't come to court, I can't prove the case, and if that leads to dismissing cases or sweetheart deals on cases because our evidence has changed, then that impacts the safety of this community,' Mason said. Mason said he fully supports deporting violent undocumented criminal immigrants. During the ICE-led raids across the Denver metro, there were several reports of agents going door to door asking people for their documentation. The Denver Department of Homeland Security Investigations acting special agent in charge said at the time, the raids were a targeted enforcement operation, but at the time, he did not know if there were collateral arrests. What happens to migrants after they are taken into ICE custody? FOX31 also spoke to ICE Denver's retired field office director who said some laws keep ICE agents from going to courthouses. He added there are also different kinds of visas that undocumented witnesses can apply for that would help protect them. 'So, there are these different things that people who are not here in a lawful status can apply for if they are going to be in court that would give them a pass to be here permanently,' retired ICE Denver Field Office Director John Fabbricatore said. Still, Mason is concerned there will be undocumented immigrants who will stay away from the courthouse out of fear. Mason said no cases have been impacted yet because of the raids. He stressed the DA's office has no role in federal immigration enforcement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
