Latest news with #Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
ICE office evacuated after white powder is found
A federal office building in New York City was evacuated after employees found an envelope containing white powder. New York City firefighters received a call about the suspicious material at around 3.55pm, and fire crews and police officers soon rushed to the scene of 26 Federal Plaza, The Hill reports. The building houses the city's Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office as well as the Department of Homeland Security, though it is unclear if the suspicious envelope was directed at either office, CBS News reports. Officials quickly evacuated the building and there were no immediate reports of anyone feeling ill, according to NBC 4 New York. The federal building has been the site of several protests last week, after civil rights groups claimed detainees housed at the ICE facility are not provided with sufficient access to their lawyers or medications, and are forced to endure extreme temperatures. But the Department of Homeland Security has denied that the building is being used as a detention center and argued that allegations of overcrowding or poor conditions are 'categorically false.' 'It is a processing center where illegal aliens are briefly processed to be transferred to an ICE Detention Facility,' Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBS. 'All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.' 'As we arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the US, ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding,' she added. On Tuesday, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan announced he would block the Trump administration from using the federal building to hold migrants unless ICE improves the conditions. Those include delivering several items to the migrants held at the federal building, upon request, such as bedding mats, blankets, clean clothing, feminine hygiene products and necessary medications.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Buildings evacuated after alarming discovery inside New York City ICE office
A federal office building in New York City was evacuated after employees found an envelope containing white powder. New York City firefighters received a call about the suspicious material at around 3.55pm, and fire crews and police officers soon rushed to the scene of 26 Federal Plaza, The Hill reports. Officials quickly evacuated the building and there were no immediate reports of anyone feeling ill, according to NBC 4 New York. The building houses the city's Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office as well as the Department of Homeland Security, though it is unclear if the suspicious envelope was directed at either office, CBS News reports. Hazmat teams now remain at the building while test results are pending, and city officials are asking residents to avoid the area as the investigation continues.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's big bill is powering his mass deportations. Congress is starting to ask questions
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan visited Capitol Hill just weeks after Inauguration Day, with other administration officials and a singular message: They needed money for the White House's border security and mass deportation agenda. By summer, Congress delivered. The Republican Party's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts that Trump signed into law July 4 included what's arguably the biggest boost of funds yet to the Department of Homeland Security — nearly $170 billion, almost double its annual budget. The staggering sum is powering the nation's sweeping new Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, delivering gripping scenes of people being pulled off city streets and from job sites across the nation — the cornerstone of Trump's promise for the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. Homeland Security confirmed over the weekend ICE is working to set up detention sites at certain military bases. 'We're getting them out at record numbers,' Trump said at the White House bill signing ceremony. 'We have an obligation to, and we're doing it.' Money flows, and so do questions The crush of new money is setting off alarms in Congress and beyond, raising questions from lawmakers in both major political parties who are expected to provide oversight. The bill text provided general funding categories — almost $30 billion for ICE officers, $45 billion for detention facilities, $10 billion for the office of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — but few policy details or directives. Homeland Security recently announced $50,000 ICE hiring bonuses. And it's not just the big bill's fresh infusion of funds fueling the president's agenda of 1 million deportations a year. In the months since Trump took office, his administration has been shifting as much as $1 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other accounts to pay for immigration enforcement and deportation operations, lawmakers said. 'Your agency is out of control,' Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Noem during a Senate committee hearing in the spring. The senator warned that Homeland Security would 'go broke' by July. Noem quickly responded that she always lives within her budget. But Murphy said later in a letter to Homeland Security, objecting to its repurposing funds, that ICE was being directed to spend at an 'indefensible and unsustainable rate to build a mass deportation army,' often without approval from Congress. This past week, the new Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, along with a subcommittee chairman, Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, requested a briefing from Noem on the border security components of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, which included $46 billion over the next four years for Trump's long-sought U.S.-Mexico border wall. 'We write today to understand how the Department plans to outlay this funding to deliver a strong and secure homeland for years to come,' the GOP lawmakers said in a letter to the homeland security secretary, noting border apprehensions are at record lows. 'We respectfully request that you provide Committee staff with a briefing on the Department's plan to disburse OBBBA funding," they wrote, seeking a response by Aug. 22. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Associated Press the department is in daily discussions with the committee 'to honor all briefing requests including the spend plan for the funds allocated" through the new law. 'ICE is indeed pursuing all available options to expand bedspace capacity,' she said. 'This process does include housing detainees at certain military bases, including Fort Bliss.' Deportations move deep into communities All together, it's what observers on and off Capitol Hill see as a fundamental shift in immigration policy — enabling DHS to reach far beyond the U.S. southern border and deep into communities to conduct raids and stand up detention facilities as holding camps for immigrants. The Defense Department, the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies are being enlisted in what Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, calls a 'whole of government' approach. 'They're orienting this huge shift,' Bush-Joseph said, as deportation enforcement moves "inward." The flood of cash comes when Americans' views on immigration are shifting. Polling showed 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a 'good thing' for the country, having jumped substantially from 64% a year ago, according to Gallup. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now. At the same time, Trump's approval rating on immigration has slipped. According to a July AP-NORC poll, 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of immigration, down slightly from 49% in March. Americans are watching images of often masked officers arresting college students, people at Home Depot lots, parents, workers and a Tunisian musician. Stories abound of people being whisked off to detention facilities, often without allegations of wrongdoing beyond being unauthorized to remain in the U.S. A new era of detention centers Detention centers are being stood up, from 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida to the repurposed federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, and the proposed new 'Speedway Slammer' in Indiana. Flights are ferrying migrants not just home or to El Salvador's notorious mega-prison but far away to Africa and beyond. Homan has insisted in recent interviews those being detained and deported are the 'worst of the worst,' and he dismissed as 'garbage' the reports showing many of those being removed have not committed violations beyond their irregular immigration status. 'There's no safe haven here,' Homan said recently outside the White House. 'We're going to do exactly what President Trump has promised the American people he'd do.' Back in February, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Budget Committee, emerged from their private meeting saying Trump administration officials were 'begging for money.' As Graham got to work, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a leading deficit hawk, proposed an alternative border package, at $39 billion, a fraction of the size. But Paul's proposal was quickly dismissed. He was among a handful of GOP lawmakers who joined all Democrats in voting against the final tax and spending cuts bill.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Trump's big bill is powering his mass deportations. Congress is starting to ask questions
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan visited Capitol Hill just weeks after Inauguration Day, with other administration officials and a singular message: They needed money for the White House's border security and mass deportation agenda. By summer, Congress delivered. The Republican Party's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts that Trump signed into law July 4 included what's arguably the biggest boost of funds yet to the Department of Homeland Security — nearly $170 billion, almost double its annual budget. The staggering sum is powering the nation's sweeping new Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, delivering gripping scenes of people being pulled off city streets and from job sites across the nation — the cornerstone of Trump's promise for the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. Homeland Security confirmed over the weekend ICE is working to set up detention sites at certain military bases. 'We're getting them out at record numbers,' Trump said at the White House bill signing ceremony. 'We have an obligation to, and we're doing it.' Money flows, and so do questions The crush of new money is setting off alarms in Congress and beyond, raising questions from lawmakers in both major political parties who are expected to provide oversight. The bill text provided general funding categories — almost $30 billion for ICE officers, $45 billion for detention facilities, $10 billion for the office of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — but few policy details or directives. Homeland Security recently announced $50,000 ICE hiring bonuses. And it's not just the big bill's fresh infusion of funds fueling the president's agenda of 1 million deportations a year. In the months since Trump took office, his administration has been shifting as much as $1 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other accounts to pay for immigration enforcement and deportation operations, lawmakers said. 'Your agency is out of control,' Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Noem during a Senate committee hearing in the spring. The senator warned that Homeland Security would 'go broke' by July. Noem quickly responded that she always lives within her budget. But Murphy said later in a letter to Homeland Security, objecting to its repurposing funds, that ICE was being directed to spend at an 'indefensible and unsustainable rate to build a mass deportation army,' often without approval from Congress. This past week, the new Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, along with a subcommittee chairman, Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, requested a briefing from Noem on the border security components of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, which included $46 billion over the next four years for Trump's long-sought U.S.-Mexico border wall. 'We write today to understand how the Department plans to outlay this funding to deliver a strong and secure homeland for years to come,' the GOP lawmakers said in a letter to the homeland security secretary, noting border apprehensions are at record lows. 'We respectfully request that you provide Committee staff with a briefing on the Department's plan to disburse OBBBA funding,' they wrote, seeking a response by Aug. 22. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Associated Press the department is in daily discussions with the committee 'to honor all briefing requests including the spend plan for the funds allocated' through the new law. 'ICE is indeed pursuing all available options to expand bedspace capacity,' she said. 'This process does include housing detainees at certain military bases, including Fort Bliss.' Deportations move deep into communities All together, it's what observers on and off Capitol Hill see as a fundamental shift in immigration policy — enabling DHS to reach far beyond the U.S. southern border and deep into communities to conduct raids and stand up detention facilities as holding camps for immigrants. The Defense Department, the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies are being enlisted in what Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, calls a 'whole of government' approach. 'They're orienting this huge shift,' Bush-Joseph said, as deportation enforcement moves 'inward.' The flood of cash comes when Americans' views on immigration are shifting. Polling showed 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a 'good thing' for the country, having jumped substantially from 64% a year ago, according to Gallup. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now. At the same time, Trump's approval rating on immigration has slipped. According to a July AP-NORC poll, 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of immigration, down slightly from 49% in March. Americans are watching images of often masked officers arresting college students, people at Home Depot lots, parents, workers and a Tunisian musician. Stories abound of people being whisked off to detention facilities, often without allegations of wrongdoing beyond being unauthorized to remain in the U.S. A new era of detention centers Detention centers are being stood up, from 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida to the repurposed federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, and the proposed new 'Speedway Slammer' in Indiana. Flights are ferrying migrants not just home or to El Salvador's notorious mega-prison but far away to Africa and beyond. Homan has insisted in recent interviews those being detained and deported are the 'worst of the worst,' and he dismissed as 'garbage' the reports showing many of those being removed have not committed violations beyond their irregular immigration status. 'There's no safe haven here,' Homan said recently outside the White House. 'We're going to do exactly what President Trump has promised the American people he'd do.' Back in February, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Budget Committee, emerged from their private meeting saying Trump administration officials were 'begging for money.' As Graham got to work, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a leading deficit hawk, proposed an alternative border package, at $39 billion, a fraction of the size. But Paul's proposal was quickly dismissed. He was among a handful of GOP lawmakers who joined all Democrats in voting against the final tax and spending cuts bill.
