Latest news with #OperationAtLarge
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
ICE Hits New Migrant Arrest Record In Single Day: What To Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hit a record-breaking milestone this week, arresting more than 2,200 undocumented migrants in a single day. The arrests were made on Tuesday and come as the agency responds to increasing pressure from the White House to ramp un enforcement operations, according to NBC News. Newsweek has contacted ICE for comment outside of office hours. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers taking part in an operation in Silver Spring, Maryland, in January. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers taking part in an operation in Silver Spring, Maryland, in January. Alex Brandon/AP Why It Matters The spike in arrests comes just days after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller confirmed that President Donald Trump's administration will seek to triple the number of ICE arrests. Trump has vowed to carry out the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history. The White House has said it will go after the "worst of the worst", and said anyone living in the country illegally is a "criminal." What To Know The new detention figures represent roughly a 37 percent increase in daily arrests. Tod Lyons, ICE's acting director, said on Fox & Friends on Sunday that ICE was previously averaging around 1,6000 arrests per day. In the first 100 days of Trump's administration, federal immigration agents arrested 66,463 migrants without legal status and removed 65,682 individuals, according to ICE. ICE has deployed a new strategy of making arrests at immigration courthouses and scheduled immigration appointments. More than 1,500 migrants with criminal records were arrested on Monday in Massachusetts as a part of one of the largest operations carried out under the administration, according to ICE officials. What People Are Saying Miller told Fox News' Sean Hannity in May: "We are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day so we can get all of the Biden the illegals that were flooded into our country for four years out of our country." Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director of Detention Watch Network said in a statement shared with Newsweek: "'Operation At Large' is a hyper-militarized police state and an inflection point in the rising authoritarianism of Trump's regime. The operation doubles ICE's lock-up quota to a shocking 3,000 people a day, deepens interagency police collaboration including with the FBI, and once approved, will supercharge the already massive police force with up to 21,000 National Guard troops. "This authoritarian campaign will reportedly weaponize the IRS to target people using tax information and even grant them the unprecedented authority to make arrests. Everyone should be horrified. This is not a 'crackdown' – this is an affront on daily life." Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: "Arrests at immigration courts continue nationwide, and are getting even more arbitrary." What Happens Next The administration is expected to increase enforcement operations as it looks to remove millions of undocumented migrants as part of the GOP's flagship mass deportation policy.
NBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Meet the Press NOW — June 4
Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) respond to Elon Musk's criticism of President Donald Trump's agenda bill as the former head of DOGE encourages Republicans to 'kill the bill.' NBC News White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor reports on Trump's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid ongoing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Homeland Security Correspondent Julia Ainsley reports on a new ICE 'Operation At Large' that it is reshaping federal law enforcement.
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
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
A sweeping new ICE operation shows how Trump's focus on immigration is reshaping federal law enforcement
WASHINGTON — In mid-May, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, frustrated over what he saw as numbers of arrests and deportations of unauthorized immigrants that were too low, berated and threatened to fire senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials if they did not begin detaining 3,000 migrants a day, according to two sources who spoke to attendees. Miller also threatened to fire leaders of field offices posting the bottom 10% of arrest numbers monthly, the two sources said. Weeks later, ICE is launching the Trump administration's largest immigration crackdown. 'Operation At Large,' a nationwide, ICE-led plan already underway to ramp up arrests of unauthorized immigrants, includes more than 5,000 personnel from across federal law enforcement agencies and up to 21,000 National Guard troops, according to an operation plan described to NBC News by three sources with knowledge of the personnel allocations who detailed the previously unreported plans. Drawing those numbers from other law enforcement agencies, though, has been a source of tension among some officials, who feel they have been taken off other core national security missions, according to three additional law enforcement and military officials. It is the latest example of how President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations is reshaping federal law enforcement as officials shift resources toward immigration-related cases — including nonviolent administrative offenses — leaving less time and attention for other types of criminal investigations. The plan calls for using 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from Homeland Security Investigations, which generally investigates transnational crimes and is not typically involved in arresting noncriminal immigrants; 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration; and 500 employees from Customs and Border Protection. It also includes 250 IRS agents, some of whom may be used to provide information on the whereabouts of immigrants using tax information, while others would have the authority to make arrests, according to the operation plan. The Department of Homeland Security has also requested the use of 21,000 National Guard members to provide support in ICE operations, according to two additional sources familiar with the request, though that number has yet to be approved by the Defense Department or by governors who would be deploying their state's units, multiple sources cautioned. The White House referred questions about Miller's meeting with ICE leaders and about the ICE operation to DHS. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, 'Under Secretary Noem, we are delivering on President Trump's and the American people's mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe.' More than a dozen current and former law enforcement sources described other changes inside federal law enforcement driven by the Trump administration's focus on immigration. At the FBI, where it was once unusual for special agents to go on immigration-related law enforcement operations, according to multiple current and former law enforcement officials, field offices around the country have been ordered to assign significantly more agents to assist with ICE operations to arrest people on administrative immigration warrants. Misdemeanor cases for border crossings are regularly appearing in federal court, a rarity in recent years. Justice Department teams focused on other issues are being disbanded, with members being dispersed to teams focused on immigration and other administration priorities. And prosecutors say cases without immigration components have stalled or are moving more slowly, according to documents seen by NBC News and conversations with six current and former prosecutors and a senior FBI official, who described how immigration is now a central part of discussions around whether to pursue cases. 'Immigration status is now question No. 1 in terms of charging decisions,' an assistant U.S. attorney said. 'Is this person a documented immigrant? Is this person an undocumented immigrant? Is this person a citizen? Are they somehow deportable? What is their immigration status? And the answer to that question is now largely driving our charging decisions.' At least one U.S. attorney's office abandoned a potential federal prosecution of someone who prosecutors felt was dangerous because the case against the person lacked an immigration component, an email obtained by NBC News showed. The office instead left the case to state prosecutors. Reorganizing federal law enforcement to prioritize immigration could have sweeping long-term effects on the U.S. justice system. The Trump administration set early quotas for immigration arrests and has marshaled resources to go far beyond early statements about focusing only on deporting violent criminals, as well as invoking laws that have not previously been used for immigration enforcement, like the Alien Enemies Act. Prioritizing immigration also means shifting finite resources in ways that de-prioritize other cases. Last month, FBI field offices around the country shifted agents from other beats to immigration enforcement, according to current and former FBI officials and memos obtained by NBC News. A senior FBI official wrote in a memo to bureau managers that the Justice Department 'expects a significant increase in the number of agents participating in immigration enforcement operations.' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that 'immigration security is national security,' pointing to the Egyptian national accused of launching an antisemitic attack in Colorado on Sunday. The man entered the United States on a valid visa before he filed for asylum, after which the visa expired. Jackson argued the administration's moves to prioritize immigration enforcement will not carry an opportunity cost. 'Enforcing our immigration laws and removing illegal aliens is one big way President Trump is 'Making America Safe Again.' But the president can walk and chew gum at the same time,' Jackson continued. 'We're holding all criminals accountable, whether they're illegal aliens or American citizens. That's why nationwide murder rates have plummeted, fugitives from the FBI's most wanted list have been captured, and police officers are empowered to do their jobs, unlike under the Biden Administration's soft-on-crime regime.' (Falling murder rates predate the second Trump administration, with rates rising during and immediately after the Covid pandemic before dropping in each of 2022, 2023 and the first half of 2024, according to FBI data.) Still, federal law enforcement officials who spoke to NBC News said the increased focus on cases with an immigration angle is pulling resources from other law enforcement priorities. 'There is such a priority on making immigration arrests that it takes longer to get answers on anything else. Something that used to be resolved in a matter of days now takes weeks,' a law enforcement official said. The shift in resources affects not only the type of cases taken but also the type of personnel involved in immigration raids. The FBI is almost always the agency leading the charge in joint investigations, but it has traditionally avoided getting involved in enforcement operations that involve only immigration enforcement, current and former officials confirmed. Those operations, which are led by ICE, involve noncriminal administrative removal warrants for immigration offenses, not the type of criminal warrants the FBI typically serves, three officials said. Since Trump took office, the FBI has routinely joined ICE operations. Some FBI employees have received guidance to minimize the actions they take during immigration-related raids and, particularly, to avoid entering into homes when they join ICE operations, four current and former law enforcement officials said. The Trump administration is also deliberating over creating a task force led by a senior leader from the Department of Homeland Security and a senior leader from the Justice Department, according to an undated draft implementation guide reviewed by NBC News and a person familiar with the deliberations. It is unclear whether that version is the most current draft under consideration. The Homeland Security Task Force would work in the FBI and ICE field offices across the country to 'identify and target for prosecution transnational criminal organizations engaged in diverse criminal schemes,' the draft said. It continues: 'In addition to the prosecution of the above criminal violations, the mission of the HSTF is further to facilitate the removal of criminal aliens from the United States.' The draft plan raises questions about which additional federal resources could be pulled in solely to focus on immigration. It says the new task force would work with the National Counterterrorism Center, the U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon to 'assist with targeting and investigations.' Meanwhile, it is unclear whether or when the shifting resources and reorganization will result in the Trump administration's hitting its desired deportation numbers, like the 3,000-person daily quota Miller demanded in the mid-May meeting. ICE no longer posts comprehensive daily arrest statistics, but on social media, it has posted details of at least 350 arrests since May 26. 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.
