Latest news with #immigration-related
Online Citizen
08-07-2025
- Online Citizen
Two men found hiding in car boot at Woodlands Checkpoint in alleged illegal exit attempt
Two Malaysian men were caught attempting to leave Singapore illegally by hiding in the boot of a car at Woodlands Checkpoint, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) revealed on 8 July 2025. The discovery occurred at around 3am on 6 July, when ICA officers directed a Malaysian-registered car for further checks. The vehicle was driven by a 20-year-old Malaysian man. Officers found two other Malaysian men, aged 30 and 31, concealed in the vehicle's boot. Neither man possessed any travel documents. All three individuals were arrested and charged in court last Saturday. According to ICA, the agency takes a serious view of illegal immigration-related offences and will not hesitate to prosecute offenders. Those convicted of attempting to leave Singapore illegally may face fines of up to S$2,000, up to six months' imprisonment, or both. Drivers who transport prohibited immigrants face between two and five years' jail and a minimum of three strokes of the cane. Offenders convicted of illegal entry face up to six months' jail and a minimum of three strokes of the cane. ICA stated that vehicles used in such offences may be forfeited. Senior Assistant Commissioner Maran Subrahmaniyan, commander of Woodlands Checkpoint, commended his team for their vigilance, stating that ICA remains committed to securing Singapore's borders through thorough checks.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander released after arrest by immigration officers inside court
New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was released from federal custody Tuesday afternoon, hours after he was arrested by officers at immigration court in Manhattan after he tried to escort a migrant whom officers were attempting to arrest. His arrest is the latest involving a Democratic politician in an immigration-related incident. Lander, who is running in a crowded Democratic mayoral primary set to take place next week, had been monitoring immigration court activity in the past few days, walking alongside migrants as they exited their court appointments in response to reports that the migrants were being taken into custody by federal agents following court appearances. Lander, an elected government official in New York City for more than a decade walked out of Federal Plaza, where the New York ICE field office is located, nearly four hours after his arrest accompanied by his wife and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who joined a throng of supporters – including several of the other mayoral candidates – gathered outside the complex as news of his arrest spread. 'I'm gonna sleep in my bed tonight, safe with my family,' Lander said to reporters and a crowd of supporters. 'I'm grateful to hear that the charges are not being brought, but if they are, I've got a lawyer. I don't have to worry about my due process rights.' Lander's arrest is the latest example of the national political unrest over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Last month, the Department of Justice charged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver with assaulting federal law enforcement during a chaotic melee that erupted outside an ICE detention facility in New Jersey. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested but prosecutors dropped a federal trespassing charge. Following his release, Lander said he wanted to bring attention to the dozens of migrants in New York City who are showing up to court proceedings only to be taken into custody by federal agents after their cases are dismissed. Lander said migrants were being 'stripped' of their due process rights, often appearing in court without legal representation and with limited understanding that they would be subject to arrest after their court hearing. 'Before today I had walked four families out – all of whom were afraid that they were going to be detained by ICE agents,' Lander said. 'And yet they were able to walk out of the building, even though they had had their cases dismissed and are subject to expedited removal, but were nonetheless able to get out of that building and at least get back to their kids, get back to their families, try to figure out what's next.' The Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary accused Lander of blocking the work of law enforcement. 'New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers face a 413% increase in assaults against them—it is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences,' DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. Hochul, who was inside the federal court building while Lander remained in custody initially responded to news of his arrest, calling it 'bullsh*t.' 'We're a far better country than what we're experiencing,' Hochul told reporters. 'This is New York. This is New York, land of immigrants. We're proud of them.' In the lead up to his arrest, multiple videos show Lander standing next to a man locking arms with him as officers approached. After the officers asked Lander to step aside to arrest the man, a scuffle broke out between the officers, Lander and other bystanders who tried to block the arrest. 'You don't have a judicial warrant,' Lander can be heard saying to the officers. The videos show Lander holding on to the man as officers struggled and ultimately moved in to arrest him. At one point, an officer puts his arm up to Lander's neck, shoving him against a wall and placing him in handcuffs. 'While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,' Dora Pekec, Lander's campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. As he was placed in handcuffs, Lander could be heard telling federal officers: 'You don't have the authority to arrest US citizens, I'm not obstructing. I'm standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.' A spokesperson for the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said they are investigating. 'The safety and security of official proceedings, government officials, law enforcement officers, and all members of the public who participate in them is a core focus of our Office. The Department of Justice will prosecute violations of federal law.' Federal law prohibits assaults on law enforcement and other public officials, destruction of property and obstruction of official proceedings, the spokesperson added. State Attorney General Letitia James, an ally of Lander who has endorsed his mayoral campaign, told CNN Tuesday that Lander did not assault any officers and she believes officers are arresting migrants at courts because they are under pressure to meet arrest quotas. 'It wasn't performative,' James said. 'He had no intentions of getting arrested. All that he was doing as he has done in the past, was to escort an individual.' Lander, who said he was not charged with any crime, said he would 'let the case play out,' and denied the arrest was an orchestrated stunt in the last days before the election. 'I did not come today expecting to be arrested,' Lander said, adding that he felt he had failed because the migrant he had sought to escort out of the building on Tuesday had ultimately been taken into custody by federal officers. This story has been updated with additional details.
Atlantic
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
12 Days in Trump's America
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Here's a fact that might surprise you: Only 12 days have passed since the catastrophic meltdown of the relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump—since the ousted Dogefather attempted to kill the president's signature legislation, endorsed his impeachment, and claimed that Trump appeared in the 'Epstein files.' That weird day of rubbernecking, alternatively terrifying and transfixing, was just June 5, but it feels like forever ago to me—largely because so much news has occurred since then. So much is happening that even Musk's attempted rapprochement with Trump, customized hat in hand, barely made a ripple. Let's review the tape. The next day, ICE officers began conducting raids in Los Angeles. As word of the raids spread, demonstrators filled the streets of Los Angeles to protest and confront federal agents. That evening, an important moment occurred in another immigration-related story: The executive branch announced both that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it had said would never return to the United States, was back on American soil, and that he was being charged with human smuggling. (He has pleaded not guilty.) The following day, June 7, protests became tenser in Los Angeles, and Trump federalized the California National Guard over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom, and despite local law-enforcement leaders saying it was unnecessary. As my colleague Tom Nichols wrote, that appeared to be a direct attempt to provoke unrest—and, as my colleague David Frum added, a way for the president to test how he could use emergency powers to seize control. These attempts to flex power also have the effect of encouraging more protest, though. Heavy-handed methods to suppress dissent are unpopular with many Americans. By the following weekend, the backlash would be very apparent. On Monday, June 9, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, announced that he was firing all 17 members of the CDC panel that guides federal vaccine recommendations—despite having previously promised a senator he wouldn't meddle with the committee. Kennedy's replacement members include multiple vaccine skeptics, as my colleague Nicholas Florko reported. In the evening, the Trump administration took another step toward domestic militarization in Los Angeles when the administration announced that it would send hundreds of Marines to the city. Tuesday, June 10, was a busy day. Trump traveled to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where he delivered a nakedly political speech before soldiers who jeered at Democrats, including former President Joe Biden. A later report indicated that soldiers who attended had been screened for their politics. Trump also announced that he would revert the names of several bases that had previously honored Confederate officers—though the Pentagon insists, unconvincingly, that the names actually honor other veterans with the same surnames. Elsewhere, Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, Trump's former personal lawyer, announced a dubious indictment against a Democratic member of Congress, and The New York Times reported that the EPA plans to drastically reduce limits on emissions of poisonous mercury. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before a Senate subcommittee, where he refused to answer questions about the planned acquisition of a 747 from Qatar and was unable to answer ones about the legal authority under which Marines were going to L.A. That evening, Trump attended a performance of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center, following his hostile takeover of the D.C. performing-arts venue. Vice President J. D. Vance had no idea what the plot was, and although the president claims to love the musical, he doesn't get it. Attendees booed him. On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office published estimates finding that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (yes, it's really called that) would impoverish the poorest Americans while making the richest ones richer. That afternoon, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was tackled and handcuffed when he interrupted a press conference by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. DHS claimed that Padilla hadn't identified himself, a statement easily debunked by video. A federal judge found Trump's federalization of the National Guard unlawful, though an appeals court has stayed the decision for now. That night, Washington time, Israel began strikes on Iran, targeting Iran's nuclear program and defense leaders. As The Atlantic reported, Trump tried and failed to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of the strikes, but once they'd begun, Trump embraced them. Meanwhile, his appointees at Voice of America 's parent agency suddenly realized that maybe this would be a good time to be able to communicate with Iranians and hurriedly recalled Farsi-language staffers who'd been placed on leave. The next day was Friday the 13th. Ironically, the day proved quiet. On Saturday, however, chaos returned. The day began with news of an alleged assassin killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and injuring another and his wife. Although the man's motivations have not yet been fully explained, the attacks are the latest in a string of incidents of political violence during the Trump era. One major factor is that the president has repeatedly and directly urged violence against his political adversaries, as Brian Klaas wrote. Republican members of Congress rushed to baselessly insist the shooter was a leftist. Saturday was also Trump's birthday and the day chosen (supposedly coincidentally) for a big military parade in Washington, D.C. The parade was sparsely attended. Far more popular were the protests against Trump in cities across the country, which observers estimated saw attendance in the millions. That would make them some of the largest protests in American history. These enormous demonstrations against Trump were closely connected to what occurred in the days before. This kind of chaos wears on people. Whenever Trump does something provocative, such as the Los Angeles escalation, during the middle of an already negative news cycle, some pundits are quick to label it an attempt at distraction. Perhaps that's the goal, consciously or not, but it's not politically effective, and a big reason is that the distraction is almost always politically damaging. If you shift public attention from one unpopular thing to another, you're not gaining anything. And a growing pile of data shows that Trump's actions in Los Angeles are unpopular, just as he is personally unpopular; the One Big Beautiful Bill is unpopular; and Americans disapprove of his handling of most issues. A stretch of news like this is no longer unprecedented. During his first term in office, Trump had several of these disastrous runs of jaw-dropping news. Voters hated it. His approval rating cratered early and never recovered. Republicans lost big in the 2018 midterm elections; Trump lost in 2020; and the GOP underperformed in 2022, all of which pointed to the existence of an anti-MAGA majority in the electorate. Trump was able to win in 2024 only after four years out of office, and with the help of serious inflation and a faltering, denialist incumbent. Trump's ambitions and the danger he poses may have expanded in his second term, but in many ways he's the same old Trump—and voters still don't like it. The tyrant test Putin isn't actually enjoying this. Alexandra Petri: 'My super-special 79th was not super special.' After a 43-hour manhunt, the suspect accused of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife was apprehended yesterday and appeared in federal court this afternoon. Israeli strikes hit the headquarters of Iran's state broadcaster in the middle of a broadcast. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to rule out targeting Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Authorities said yesterday that a man believed to be part of a peacekeeping team shot and killed a bystander at a 'No Kings' protest in Salt Lake City on Saturday. The bystander was near a man who was also shot after brandishing a rifle at the protest, according to officials. Dispatches Evening Read Yes I Will Read Ulysses Yes By Eric Bulson When Richard Ellmann's James Joyce hit the shelves in 1959, the sheer size of the book (842 pages, 100 longer than Ulysses) was as dazzling as the degree of detail. Joyce, who had been dead for 18 years, vividly inhabited its chapters, getting drunk, going blind, spending money, spiting enemies, cogitating, and, of course, creating a series of works that immediately made literary history. Moving briskly across the first half of the 20th century (not just a single day in Dublin), Ellmann spun a tale about the formation of a writer whose name could be mentioned in the same breath as Homer's without irony … You also need charm, lots of it, to make a biography like James Joyce happen. More From The Atlantic Lie to me. Jason Anthony reports on the world's hardest bluffing game. Listen. Miley Cyrus and Addison Rae are taking their music very seriously, with different results, Spencer Kornhaber writes. Play our daily crossword. P.S. William Langewiesche, a member of the pantheon of Atlantic greats, died yesterday at just 70 years old. The New York Times called him ' the Steve McQueen of journalism.' He wrote for the magazine for many years, and his last article here, from 2019, was a definitive exploration of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Langewiesche was a second-generation pilot and second-generation author—his father, Wolfgang, wrote the canonical flying manual Stick and Rudder —and many of his most notable works were careful dissections of aircraft-related disasters, as well as other catastrophes. My personal favorites are probably ' A Sea Story,' about a 1994 ferry sinking in the Baltic Sea, and ' The Human Factor,' a Vanity Fair essay about the crash of Air France Flight 447. Beware before clicking, though: Once you start reading a Langewiesche piece, you're unlikely to be able to stop. — David
Chicago Tribune
06-05-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Did a British woman accused of drug trafficking try to use ICE to flee the country?
Last year, 29-year-old Kimberly Hall was arrested at O'Hare International Airport with 21 bundles of cocaine after traveling from Mexico, according to court records, in a case that was splashed across her hometown British tabloids. Now, as the United Kingdom citizen faces felony drug charges, she is entangled in an immigration-related fight with the state's attorney's office as she seeks release from the Cook County Jail while awaiting trial. Prosecutors say that, while initially released on electronic monitoring, she sought out federal immigration authorities in an attempt to get deported and evade trial. She was very nearly able to pull it off, according to prosecutors. Her attorney, though, in court documents countered that she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after simply asking questions about how to obtain authorization to find work. In a recently-filed request for her release, her attorney argued that a Cook County judge improperly detained her, reasoning that the Trump administration is 'wildly unpredictable.' 'It's abnormal. That's what caused this whole fiasco,' said Hall's attorney, Brandon Carter, of ICE's attempt to deport Hall. 'From my understanding, the prosecution was barely able to keep her here.' The unusual dispute will next week go before a judge, who will hear arguments about whether Hall should remain jailed. Hall's trouble started when she flew from Cancún, Mexico to the United Kingdom with a connection through O'Hare, court records say. She was arrested on Aug. 19 while trying to clear customs. Customs officers searched her bag and found the bundles, weighing around 43 kilograms, or nearly 100 pounds, according to court documents. It had an estimated street value of around $6.2 million. Hall, who gave an address in a town in Northern England, admitted she agreed to deliver the bags to someone in Manchester, the documents say. Carter said Hall was under duress when she was caught with the bags, having been threatened with violence after meeting some 'shady figures' in Mexico. 'Kimberly is obviously a very small fish in a grander scheme of things,' he said. Prosecutors sought to keep her jailed, arguing in a petition that she is a flight risk as a foreigner with no connection to Cook County. A Cook County judge, though, denied the petition and instead ordered her to electronic monitoring and to surrender her passport. In September, a grand jury returned an indictment that charged her with two serious class X felonies, controlled substance trafficking and possession with intent to deliver. Then, in February, the state's attorney's office filed an emergency motion to get the case on the judge's calendar. In the motion, prosecutors said Hall was taken into ICE custody and was scheduled for deportation. Asking a judge again to jail Hall, prosecutors said that while on electronic monitoring, Hall 'presented herself to Immigration and Customs intending to be removed to the United Kingdom to avoid prosecution.' This time, a judge ordered her detained. In the order granting the detention petition, Judge Michael McHale wrote that Hall was 'almost successful in her attempt' and had a departure flight scheduled before authorities alerted immigration. But last week, Hall's attorney filed a motion asking for her to be released, arguing that she did not seek out immigration authorities with the intent to be expelled from the country. Instead, the motion said, she was looking for information about obtaining employment. 'The kiosk official saw the electronic monitoring device on Ms. Hall and assumed it was from ICE and instructed her to go to their office in the same building,' the motion said. 'When she spoke to an ICE official she was arrested and placed in custody.' Usually, Carter said, defendants with pending cases that encounter immigration authorities will be put on an immigration hold so that the immigration issue can be handled after the case is resolved. Officials obtained a writ from the Department of Homeland Security that said the government will no longer try to deport Hall while she has a pending case, the motion said. The motion argues that the judge didn't detain Hall because she was dangerous or a flight risk, but rather because of the unpredictability of the current administration on immigration matters. 'In this city there are thousands of undocumented people, some of whom have pending criminal cases but they get pretrial release,' he said. 'So if you want to use that logic, anybody who has questionable immigration status with a pending criminal case can be denied pretrial release. I think that's definitely improper.' The parties will argue the motion on May 16.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Marijuana billboard ban, towing rules stripped from Senate's BMV bill, but advance in House
From left: Rep. Bob Morris questions Rep. Jim Pressel about towing regulations on the House floor on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle) A finance-focused Senate panel excised a billboard-specific ban on marijuana advertising and regulations on towing services from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles's legislation Thursday morning — hours before the House advanced tweaked versions. Commercial driver's license (CDL) reciprocity also got the ax, with lawmakers citing immigration-related fears. Appropriations Committee chair Sen. Ryan Mishler, said the marijuana and towing provisions were nixed — just a week after both were inserted — because they weren't germane to the underlying agency bill. The edits were accepted by consent. But both ideas advanced in the House that same afternoon. Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, commandeered Senate Bill 73 in a Monday committee hearing for amendments outlawing all marijuana advertising and regulating towing. He made further changes on the House floor Thursday — despite opposition from fellow Republicans — setting up a contentious vote as soon as next week. Lawmakers cited illegal immigration as they scrapped a provision allowing CDL holders from other states to get Indiana CDLs without the written or skills exams. 'There are other states in our union that hand out driver's licenses like candy,' said amendment author Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis. '… I'm fine if they follow the Indiana process to get a license. I am not fine if that process is California's or New York's or name your other state's process, and I wanted to ensure that I didn't have a non-citizen getting a license.' Freeman promised to undo the change 'if this needs to go back in.' Pressel said CDL requirements are federal, describing them as another layer of standards that lie atop state mandates. He resisted the amendment, but added, 'This is not a hill I'm going to die on. If you all would like to take it out, I'm okay with that.' The committee adopted the changes by consent. But some expressed hesitation. CDL holder Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond noted the tests take 'a lot of time and money.' Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said her district is a major logistics hub, and would benefit from reciprocity. She instructed her colleagues to 'get this figured out.' The committee advanced Senate Bill 1390 — sans deletions — on a 12-1 vote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
