Latest news with #SecuringOurBorders
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Homeland Security stonewalling info on noncitizen DNA collection operation, lawsuit alleges
The Trump administration has been turning to DNA technology to help find and arrest immigrants, including children, but immigration advocates say it has been slow to spell out how it's using and overseeing the genetic information. Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday after trying to get records about the data collection program since last summer, during the Biden administration. The plaintiffs are the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology, part of the Georgetown University Law School that focuses on privacy and surveillance law and policy; the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and Americans for Immigrant Justice, both immigrant rights groups. The groups describe in their lawsuit their back-and-forth with DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since they originally requested information about their DNA collection from noncitizens on Aug. 1, 2024. Since 2020, DHS has expanded its DNA collection program and increased DNA contributions to the FBI's database, CODIS, by 5,000%, becoming the largest contributor, according to the Georgetown center. The DNA database of the FBI can be accessed by police across the country for criminal investigations, the plaintiff groups said in a statement. Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at the Georgetown center, said in a statement that DHS is expanding its database by "collecting DNA from people accused of no crime and while operating with none of the constraints that are supposed to be in place before the government compels someone to give over their most sensitive personal information." He said Americans deserve more visibility on the program and said DHS's lack of transparency is unacceptable. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Daniel Melo, senior staff attorney with Amica's Immigration Impact Lab, told NBC News that previous administrations have also collected DNA. A 2005 law mandated federal agencies collect DNA from people in custody, including noncitizens. Prior to 2020, the Justice Department had told DHS that its immigration enforcement and border agents did not have to routinely collect DNA from every noncitizen it detained, Melo said. The Biden administration adopted rules requiring full compliance with the 2005 law, but whistleblowers and a government watchdog complained compliance was uneven. The "Securing Our Borders" executive order signed by President Donald Trump requires the attorney general and the DHS to fulfill requirements on DNA collection from noncitizens mandated in the 2005 law. Privacy and civil rights groups have long had issues with the government's DNA collection program. Melo said the public should be concerned whether people are being advised of their rights and how the information is being collected and used. "This information could tentatively be used in all sorts of ways to map full communities, to basically build a more intricate web of surveillance around noncitizen communities," Melo said. He said if DHS can continue to collect the DNA of noncitizens, essentially "experimenting" on them, "then they are able to refine these technologies and deploy them in new and interesting and probably really dangerous and scary ways on the rest of us." Emily Tucker, the Georgetown center's executive director, said in a statement that "it is a mistake to think of DHS' DNA collection program as 'immigration enforcement.'" "Trump is using immigration powers to justify the activities of his militarized federal police force because there is so little institutional or judicial oversight or accountability for executive enforcement actions that invoke 'immigration authority," she said in a statement. "This program is one part of a massive surveillance dragnet that sweeps in information about everyone. They will use it for deportation, but they will also use it to intimidate, silence, and target anyone they perceive as the enemy.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Homeland Security stonewalling info on non-citizen DNA collection operation, lawsuit alleges
The Trump administration has been turning to DNA technology to help find and arrest immigrants, including children, but immigration advocates say it has been slow to spell out how it's using and overseeing the genetic information. Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday after trying to get records about the data collection program since last summer, during the Biden administration. The plaintiffs are the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology, part of the Georgetown University Law School that focuses on privacy and surveillance law and policy; the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and Americans for Immigrant Justice, both immigrant rights groups. The groups describe in their lawsuit their back-and-forth with DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since they originally requested information about their DNA collection from noncitizens on Aug. 1, 2024. Since 2020, DHS has expanded its DNA collection program and increased DNA contributions to the FBI's database, CODIS, by 5,000%, becoming the largest contributor, according to the Georgetown center. The DNA database of the FBI can be accessed by police across the country for criminal investigations, the plaintiff groups said in a statement. Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at the Georgetown center, said in a statement that DHS is expanding its database by "collecting DNA from people accused of no crime and while operating with none of the constraints that are supposed to be in place before the government compels someone to give over their most sensitive personal information." He said Americans deserve more visibility on the program and said DHS's lack of transparency is unacceptable. NBC News has contacted DHS for comment. Daniel Melo, senior staff attorney with Amica's Immigration Impact Lab, told NBC News that previous administrations have also collected DNA. A 2005 law mandated federal agencies collect DNA from people in custody, including noncitizens. Prior to 2020, the Justice Department had told DHS that its immigration enforcement and border agents did not have to routinely collect DNA from every noncitizen it detained, Melo said. The Biden administration adopted rules requiring full compliance with the 2005 law, but whistleblowers and a government watchdog complained compliance was uneven. The "Securing Our Borders" executive order signed by President Donald Trump requires the attorney general and the DHS to fulfill requirements on DNA collection from noncitizens mandated in the 2005 law. 'Sweeps in information about everyone' Privacy and civil rights groups have long had issues with the government's DNA collection program. Melo said the public should be concerned whether people are being advised of their rights and how the information is being collected and used. "This information could tentatively be used in all sorts of ways to map full communities, to basically build a more intricate web of surveillance around noncitizen communities," Melo said. He said if DHS can continue to collect the DNA of noncitizens, essentially "experimenting" on them, "then they are able to refine these technologies and deploy them in new and interesting and probably really dangerous and scary ways on the rest of us." Emily Tucker, the Georgetown center's executive director, said in a statement that "it is a mistake to think of DHS' DNA collection program as 'immigration enforcement.'" "Trump is using immigration powers to justify the activities of his militarized federal police force because there is so little institutional or judicial oversight or accountability for executive enforcement actions that invoke 'immigration authority," she said in a statement. "This program is one part of a massive surveillance dragnet that sweeps in information about everyone. They will use it for deportation, but they will also use it to intimidate, silence, and target anyone they perceive as the enemy.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Border Patrol begins filling 7 'vulnerable gaps' in border wall near Yuma
The U.S. Border Patrol has begun erecting new 30-foot wall panels along a stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border in the agency's Yuma sector. Construction crews are filling seven 'vulnerable gaps' in the border wall system, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Those gaps were set to be filled years ago during President Donald Trump's first term, but President Joe Biden's administration canceled the contracts drawn up to do so. The gaps are in a remote desert area south of Wellton, Arizona. The exact number of miles to be completed remains unclear. This latest border wall construction project is in response to Trump's executive order titled 'Securing Our Borders,' signed on his first day back in the White House. The executive order directs Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to 'deploy and construct temporary and permanent physical barriers to ensure complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.' Noem announced that new border wall construction would begin during a visit to Nogales on March 16. "Everybody, I'm here in Arizona, and right at this spot you can see where the border wall ends," Noem said in a video shared to X. "As of today, we're starting seven new miles of construction. We're going to continue to make America safe again." The seven miles are an extension of the border wall in Hidalgo County, Texas, where a $70 million contract was awarded to Granite Construction Co., a California-based company, to build within the U.S. Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector. This was the first contract awarded during the second Trump administration. The Arizona-Mexico border was the site of several wall construction projects under the first Trump administration. Between 2017 and 2021, the administration constructed 458 miles of fencing, most of which replaced existing structures. About 226 miles of pedestrian fencing were erected on federal lands in Arizona. In 2019, the Trump administration began replacing existing border fence with 18-to-30-foot bollard-style fencing in an area 107 miles long, stretching east of Wellton to Andrade, California. The new border wall fence was finished at the end of 2020, according to a 2021 news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The number of migrant apprehensions for individuals caught crossing illegally between ports of entry has continued to drop significantly in the first month since Trump returned to office. Across the southern border, Border Patrol agents reported 8,326 apprehensions for the entire month of February. That is a drop of 71% from January, when agents logged about 29,000 arrests, according to the CBP open data portal. Border Patrol agents in the Yuma sector reported apprehending 243 individuals found crossing the border between ports of entry last month. The latest figure represents an approximately 95% drop in apprehensions in this sector from February 2024. The decrease in apprehensions in this sector has been trending since last summer, when agents reported 5,321 arrests in May 2024 and then 3,519 the next month. Have any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona? Reach the reporter at rromeroruiz@ Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @raphaeldelag. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Border Patrol begins filling gaps in border wall near Yuma
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fact Check: ICE detained Canadian 'American Pie' actor Jasmine Mooney for 12 days
Claim: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Canadian actor Jasmine Mooney — who had a role in an "American Pie" movie — for 12 days in early 2025. Rating: In March 2025, a rumor circulated online that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian former actor, for 12 days. Mooney's story spread in social media posts and articles detailing the poor conditions in which she was purportedly detained. Many people online noted she played a small role in the "American Pie" series of teen comedies. ICE indeed detained Mooney for almost two weeks. Evidence for the claim's truth included Mooney's firsthand accounts from during and after her detention and statements from ICE and the Canadian government acknowledging the detention. As such, we rate this claim true. We reached out to the White House to learn more about Mooney's detention and will update this story when we get more information. An ICE spokesperson acknowledged over email that the agency had detained Mooney. The spokesperson did not, however, respond to our questions about the processing issues in Mooney's case, particularly her claim that numerous ICE agents who kept her in detention ignored her offer to buy her own ticket back to Canada. The ICE spokesperson sent us the following statement: Jasmine Mooney was detained March 3 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for not having legal documentation to be in the United States. Mooney was processed in accordance with the "Securing Our Borders" Executive Order dated January 21. All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the U.S., regardless of nationality. That order, one of many President Donald Trump signed during the first days of his second term, read in part: "The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate actions to detain, to the fullest extent permitted by law, aliens apprehended for violations of immigration law until their successful removal from the United States." Per Mooney's own account, she used to act in film and television. According to entertainment news site Deadline, her credits included the 2009 direct-to-video "American Pie Presents: The Book of Love" (a spinoff of the original "American Pie" series), "Kid Cannabis" and episodes of "Loudermilk" and "iZombie." We found the same credits on an IMDb profile under Mooney's name. Mooney's case gained widespread attention after she spoke to a reporter with San Diego's KGTV in early March 2025, while she was still in ICE custody. After her interview gained attention on March 12, ICE released her and she returned to Canada on March 15. Mooney spoke to the media when she reentered Canada through Vancouver, and shared her experiences in a Medium article that was partially republished by The Guardian. On March 13, KGTV shared video footage of Mooney participating in the interview from the detention center: In a statement to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, expressed concern about Mooney's detention and urged the Canadian government to get her back through diplomatic channels. He also said this incident added to Canadians' anxieties about their neighbor. "The nature of our relationship is so fraught right now that this case makes us all wonder, what about our relatives who are working in the States?" he said. Mooney was in the process of reapplying for a work visa and had traveled to San Diego because her immigration lawyer was based there, according to an article in The Guardian in which she described her 12-day experience of being transferred between three detention centers with poor conditions: There was no explanation, no warning. One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the US. The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an ICE detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer. [...] Thirty of us shared one room. We were given one Styrofoam cup for water and one plastic spoon that we had to reuse for every meal. I eventually had to start trying to eat and, sure enough, I got sick. None of the uniforms fit, and everyone had men's shoes on. The towels they gave us to shower were hand towels. They wouldn't give us more blankets. The fluorescent lights shined on us 24/7. Everything felt like it was meant to break you. Nothing was explained to us. I wasn't given a phone call. We were locked in a room, no daylight, with no idea when we would get out. Footage from Canadian outlet Global News showed Mooney embracing friends and family on her return to Canada after her release from ICE detention in mid-March. Speaking to media, she said she would not "wish" the experience of being detained on anyone: Mooney added that she did not understand what had led to her detention, and admitted she had previous visa problems. She described her full visa process in her article in The Guardian. "Canadian Speaks out in Tearful Video Call from ICE Detention." ABC 10 News, 13 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. Canadian Woman Detained by ICE Describes near 2-Week Ordeal. Global News, 17 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. "Canadian Woman Put in Chains, Detained by ICE after Entering San Diego Border." ABC 10 News San Diego KGTV, 13 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. "I Do Not Wish It upon Anyone": BC Woman Detained for 12 Days at US Border Details Ordeal. Global News, 17 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. "Jasmine Mooney | Actress." IMDb, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. Mooney, Jasmine. "I'm the Canadian Who Was Detained by Ice for Two Weeks. It Felt like I Had Been Kidnapped." The Guardian, 19 Mar. 2025. target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. Mukhtar, Ahmad "Canadian Jasmine Mooney Detained by ICE for Days after Trying to Enter U.S. from Mexico, Her Mom Says - CBS News." 14 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. Owen, Brenna. "B.C. Woman Returns Home after Being Detained by U.S. Immigration Officials." CBC News, 16 Mar. 2025. target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. "Securing Our Borders." The White House, 21 Jan. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. Tapp, Tom. "'American Pie' Actress Jasmine Mooney Describes 'Deeply Disturbing' 12-Day Detention At I.C.E. Facilities." Deadline, 17 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. Vigdor, Neil. "Canadian Who Was in an 'American Pie' Video Says ICE Held Her for 12 Days." The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2025. target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025. "You're Not a Criminal, But You're Going to Jail: My ICE Detention Story as a Canadian Citizen." Medium, 19 Mar. 2025, target="blank"> Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.
The Independent
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘Inhumane': Canadian actor detained for 12 days by ICE
Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actor known for American Pie Presents: The Book of Love and Loudermilk, is home after being detained for 12 days by ICE. She was arrested at the San Ysidro crossing, on the US-Mexico border, on March 3 for lacking proper documentation while attempting to renew her work visa. The 35-year-old described her experience as 'inhumane' and psychologically disturbing, saying she slept on a mat with no pillow or blanket and wasn't given proper food. She expressed regret over attempting to enter the country with an incomplete visa application, saying she wouldn't have gone if she'd known the potential consequences. ICE confirmed her detainment, citing President Donald Trump 's "Securing Our Borders" executive order.
