Latest news with #illegalalien
Fox News
17-07-2025
- Fox News
Mexican woman in US illegally charged with faking her own ICE ‘kidnapping'
A Mexican illegal alien living in Los Angeles was charged with orchestrating her own fake ICE "kidnapping" to generate sympathy and solicit donations, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, a resident of South Los Angeles, was charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, the DOJ said. Calderon had been living in the U.S. based on a federal law enforcement parole that expired in 2023. She is in federal custody after she allegedly faked her kidnapping. This comes after local outlet KTLA reported on a news conference held by Calderon's "loved ones and attorneys," who claimed she had been "kidnapped" by uniformed men in unmarked cars June 25. The outlet reported that a woman identified as an attorney named Stephano Medina claimed Calderon was cornered in a Jack in the Box parking lot in Los Angeles by men who did not identify themselves but were possibly bounty hunters. Medina claimed Calderon was taken to the border and presented to an "ICE staffer," who demanded she sign self-deportation paperwork. Medina said that when Calderon refused to sign the paperwork, she was taken to a warehouse until she agreed to sign the document. Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the criminal complaint against Calderon, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. An affidavit filed with the complaint alleges that Calderon and others "planned a hoax kidnapping" for their benefit, "including their own pecuniary gain." The affidavit said that Calderon's daughter set up a GoFundMe page to raise $4,500 after her mother was "taken by masked men in an unmarked vehicle." The daughter filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department, which notified Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of Calderon's supposed kidnapping. HSI determined Calderon was not in DHS custody and, out of concern for her safety, the agency launched its own investigation to find her. During the investigation, HSI noticed several irregularities, including that the phone calls to loved ones that Calderon had supposedly made via borrowed phones were made from her cell phone, intentionally masked to appear as an unknown number. According to the affidavit, video surveillance of Calderon's alleged forced abduction further showed her calmly leaving the Jack in the Box parking lot and getting into a nearby sedan. Despite the video showing a marked LAPD car in the vicinity, Calderon did not make any attempts to alert officers that she was in danger. The affidavit states that "when confronted with true information that contradicted their kidnapping story," Calderon and others lied to federal agents and "attempted to thwart law enforcement efforts" by keeping her whereabouts from law enforcement. According to a DOJ statement, HSI agents tracked Calderon down July 5 in a shopping plaza parking lot in Bakersfield, California. The statement said Calderon continued to claim she was taken by masked men and held in custody with others. She is in U.S. immigration custody and is facing a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy and up to five years for false statements if convicted of the charges. Commenting on the charges, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli thanked HSI and "all federal agents facing unprecedented levels of assaults" for "providing cool heads and professionalism during these difficult times." Essayli said "dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are 'kidnapping' illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents." HSI Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang also decried the scheme, saying, "My office invested valuable time and resources working this alleged kidnapping investigation only to discover that it was a hoax. "Diverting critical law enforcement resources is not only reckless and irresponsible, but it also endangers the community," Wang added. "The real cost of a fraud like this is the amount of fentanyl not seized, child predators not removed from the communities and human trafficking victims not rescued because law enforcement redirected resources to recover the defendant. "We want to assure the public that allegations of criminal activity will be thoroughly investigated by HSI and our law enforcement partners and that those who engage in fraud and deception will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Fox News
17-07-2025
- Fox News
ICE agent dragged for nearly a block by Honduran migrant attempting to escape federal custody: authorities
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was dragged for nearly a block in Oklahoma by an illegal alien from Honduras attempting to escape federal custody, authorities said. Jose Melgar-Rivas, 34, of Honduras, has since been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer resulting in bodily injury, U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester of the Western District of Oklahoma announced Wednesday. ICE agents pulled over a vehicle in Oklahoma City Tuesday, and Melgar-Rivas, a Honduran national and an ICE fugitive, refused the officer's demands to exit the vehicle, court documents say. A struggle ensued as officers attempted to remove him, and Melgar-Rivas shifted the vehicle into drive and fled, according to a complaint. An ICE officer became trapped in a door of the vehicle as it accelerated. The officer was dragged on a road for nearly a block as Melgar-Rivas tried to escape, the complaint says. The officer ultimately freed himself and sustained multiple injuries. ICE said its Enforcement and Removal Operations agents from Dallas were involved in the incident. The agency shared two photos showing the injured agent's scraped, bloodied upper thigh and a bruised and bandaged arm. Melgar-Rivas was arrested several hours later, prosecutors said. ICE also shared a photo with an agent holding each arm of a handcuffed Melgar-Rivas once he was taken into custody. "Ensuring the safety of law enforcement personnel in executing their lawful duties is paramount, and it remains a top priority of the Justice Department," Troester said in a statement. "Those who assault or interfere with members of law enforcement for simply doing their job enforcing the law must and will be held accountable." "Those who assault federal officers will face swift and stern accountability for their actions," Travis Pickard, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Dallas special agent in charge of North Texas and Oklahoma, added. "Violence and any threats of violence to a federal officer in the performance of their duties will result in an immediate and collaborative law enforcement response to track down the perpetrator." "Assaults on federal agents will not be tolerated by the FBI," FBI Oklahoma City acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Ogden said. "We will continue to aggressively support and defend our fellow public servants so they can safely carry out their sworn duties." The Department of Homeland Security has reported a 700% increase in assaults against ICE agents and other immigration enforcement officers in the first six months since President Donald Trump returned to office. The Trump administration has pledged to hold perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The Justice Department brought charges against more than a dozen defendants in the July 4 attack against an ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, where a police officer was shot in the neck defending the center holding prospective deportees. The FBI on Wednesday captured a Marine Corps reservist believed to have opened fire at the officer and correctional officers that night. Los Angeles has seen a rash of anti-ICE demonstrations since June, but the Pentagon this week removed about half of the 4,000 National Guard troops federalized to protect the city, arguing most "lawlessness" had subsided. Melgar-Rivas appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City and was ordered to be detained in federal custody pending further proceedings. Prosecutors say Melgar-Rivas faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the case is part of Operation Take Back America, "a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime."
Fox News
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Pulitzer-prize wining journalist compares Trump to a Superman supervillain because of his immigration policies
An editorial in The Hollywood Reporter co-written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist claims that Superman is an "illegal alien," and that the Man of Steel "wouldn't exist without birthright citizenship" while comparing President Donald Trump to a "supervillain." "When filmmaker James Gunn called his new 'Superman' film an immigrant story, critics accused him of politicizing Superman. But you can't politicize the truth. Superman has been an 'illegal alien' for 87 years—a fact we helped America remember when we launched our 2013 campaign, Superman Is an Immigrant," the column, written by Andrew Slack and Jose Antonio Vargas, claimed. Vargas was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings in the Washington Post. 'Superman' director James Gunn made headlines last week when he proclaimed that the figure was an "immigrant who came from other places," and that the movie would be political. Superman was created in 1938 by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster in Cleveland, Ohio, and depicts the story of Kal-El, the last son of the dying planet Krypton, whose parents save him from his planet's destruction by launching him in a spaceship that ultimately lands in Kansas. Kal El, an orphan, is given the name Clark Kent by his adoptive parents and ultimately grows up to become Superman. "Superman is the story of America, an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me, it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost," Gunn told The Sunday Times. Slack and Vargas defended Gunn by claiming that Superman has always been political, and pointed to past comics and radio plays in which Superman took on Hitler, the Ku Klux Klan, xenophobia and defended Ferguson protesters from riot police. The column also claimed that Superman could not exist without birthright citizenship, a policy that the Trump administration has targeted in its push to reign in America's dysfunctional immigration system. Birthright citizenship guarantees anyone born in the United States citizenship, and was adopted with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. "Today, that outsider would be deported. In fact, without birthright citizenship, Superman would never have existed at all. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, born in Cleveland to Jewish immigrant parents, would have been stripped of citizenship and deported to Nazi-controlled Europe—to face certain death in countries they'd never known. No Jerry and Joe means no Superman. No Superman means no superhero genre," the column stated. The Supreme Court issued a ruling restricting lower courts' ability to block Trump's executive order targeting birthright citizenship, but a federal court went on to file an injunction against the order – which would have deprived citizenship to some babies born on U.S. soil — shortly after. The Hollywood Reporter columnists, who previously launched the "Superman is an Immigrant" campaign in 2013, likened the president to a supervillain and claimed he was the basis for DC comics' portrayal of Lex Luthor in the '80's. "Of course, we couldn't have predicted Donald Trump—the man DC Comics literally used as their model to reboot Lex Luthor in 1986—waging war on the very immigrants Superman represents. In 2000, Luthor became president in the comics, complete with an anti-alien agenda. No one imagined the real President Trump would follow the same playbook," the column said. "Superman is America's conscience wearing a cape—and that terrifies critics because they're supporting a real-life supervillain."
Fox News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Twice-deported Honduran fugitive caught hiding on American soil
An illegal alien on the "Top 10 Most Wanted" list in Honduras has been arrested in New York after evading a 44-year prison sentence in his home country. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Olivin Martinez Coto was arrested on Long Island on Tuesday, where he was reportedly in hiding. Coto had been sentenced in Honduras for aggravated femicide, which ICE said is when someone kills a woman because she is a woman. He was also convicted of attempted homicide and forcible home invasion. "We've already deported him TWICE and he's NEVER entered the country legally," ICE wrote in a social media post. "He has no respect for our nation's immigration laws and isn't the least bit pleased about getting caught." ICE added that it did not know where Coto entered the U.S. the third time, and accused him of sneaking in. "We know only that it was sometime after his second removal on Feb. 27, 2019," ICE wrote. "We will continue to seek out, arrest and deport international fugitives. Let's set the record straight. THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A SAFE HAVEN FOR CRIMINAL ALIENS." When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he immediately began acting against criminal illegal aliens in the U.S., which has resulted in a drastic drop in illegal entries and daily encounters. White House border czar Tom Homan announced this week that southern border apprehensions in June were incredibly low and that nobody was released into the U.S. after being detained. "Total Border Patrol encounters for the entire month of June 2025 was 6,070. That is less than a single day under Biden," Homan posted to X on Tuesday, touting "the Trump effect." The report shows a 15% dip from March, and a major drop from when Joe Biden was president. In fact, in December 2023, there were an average of about 11,000 encounters each day. There were only 8,039 apprehensions on a national scale by Border Patrol, which is lower than the record set in March. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the first three days of June 2024 had over 11,000 apprehensions, with the southern border alone having over 7,000 apprehensions in the first two days of that month. Homan said the total number of encounters in June is less than half of a single day under Biden on several of the days in the month. "Also, none of the 6,070 were released into the U.S. ZERO. President Trump has created the most secure border in the history of the nation and the data proves it," Homan said. "We have never seen numbers this low. Never. God bless the men and women of the US Border Patrol and God bless the men and women of ICE. The interior arrests and consequences help to drive down illegal immigration. The TRUMP EFFECT keeps America winning."
Fox News
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
North Carolina school district to issue apology, pay $20K to student suspended over 'illegal alien' comment
The family of a North Carolina high school student suspended for using the term "illegal alien" is slated to receive a $20,000 payment and a public apology under a proposed settlement, according to The New York Post. The outlet reported Thursday that the settlement was reached to remove all references to racial bias from now-17-year-old Christian McGhee's record, provide compensation and issue a public apology "for the mischaracterization of racial bias." "The Proposed Settlement provides C.M. with monetary compensation intended to defray the costs of his new school, which is private and charges annual tuition," according to the document. The settlement is now pending a judge's approval. McGhee's lawyer, Liberty Justice Center attorney Dean McGee, told the Carolina Journal that a motion had been filed on Friday, asking the court to approve a settlement to resolve the matter. "Because Christian is a minor, a court hearing is required before the settlement can become final," he explained. "We'll have more to say after that hearing, but we're pleased to take this important step toward clearing our client's name." The teen received a three-day suspension last year after asking his teacher if a conversation in class was centered around "spaceship aliens" or "illegal aliens who need green cards" after he returned to the classroom from the restroom. A Latino student present in the class reportedly "joked" that he was going to "kick Christian's a--," leading the teacher to escalate the situation to the assistant principal. The comment was ultimately deemed racially insensitive by the school administration, which the family disputes, and prompted a year-long legal battle. McGhee and his family maintained his innocence throughout. McGhee's mother Leah, who was behind the legal push against the district, joined "Fox & Friends" last year to air some of her grievances concerning the matter. "Christian was suspended three days, out of school suspension. He missed several very important track meets, and, since that time, we have removed him from the school," McGhee told Fox News' Ainsley Earhardt. "We have asked the school to handle this privately for weeks. I have emailed the school board for four weeks. I've had no response from the school board, and since… we had no resolution, we had no other choice but to file a lawsuit and take this public." Dean McGee, the family's attorney, argued at the time that the United States government uses the term "illegal alien," which is clearly defined in Webster's Dictionary, and has no racial specification. The lawsuit centered on McGhee's First Amendment rights. Fox News Digital reached out to the Davidson County School District for comment on the proposed settlement, but did not immediately receive a response.
