Latest news with #CBP
UPI
an hour ago
- Health
- UPI
U.S. border officials: Our work balances 'enforcement with empathy'
U.S. Customs and Border Protection since 2019 has partnered with the Global Medical Relief Fund, a New York-based nonprofit, to provide humanitarian assistance and medical relief to children in over 64 nations. File Photo (2024) by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo July 29 (UPI) -- In a time when many Americans disapprove of current U.S. immigration efforts, officials at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday pointed out that CBP does more than protect Americans from illegal activity at the nation's borders. Since 2010, the New York office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has partnered with the nonprofit Global Medical Relief Fund to provide assistance in a series of humanitarian acts and medical relief to children in over 64 nations. "U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for protecting the country," Frank Russo, field director of the CBP's New York office, noted in a statement. But border agency officials spoke of a "commitment" to "balancing enforcement with empathy." On Tuesday, the federal government revealed that last year in June three young adult victims of violent attacks in Tanzania linked to tribal and ritualistic beliefs "were able to receive urgent medical care and prosthetics in the United States" due to CBP and GMRF working hand-in-hand. The three young African natives born albino were, according to officials, "targeted and mutilated due to superstitions that their body parts bring good luck." They were lifted to the United States and stayed on Staten Island at GMRF's Dare to Dream House in New York for children getting medical treatment. The Staten Island-based GMF sees support from a network of international embassies and medical entities such as Shriners Children's in Philadelphia. Officials noted that whole the three albino survivors had since aged out of pediatric care, private medical company Med East had stepped-up to provide new prosthetics for the Tanzanian natives at no cost. Russo reportedly visited the group. On Tuesday he called the CBP job "incredibly challenging." GMRF claims 500 children in 59 countries have been helped by their work with at 1 million "lives changed." However, the "commitment" by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to balance empathy and enforcement arrived as other federal law enforcement agencies, particularly U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has seen a barrage of criticism. ICE has faced waves of public backlash and negative media attention, including recent attempts on the lives of ICE agents in the Trump administration's bid to curtail illegal immigration due to what many say has been unprofessional behavior and other questionable acts. But Russo says efforts like CBP's work with Global Medical Relief Fund are "immensely rewarding and demonstrate the humanitarian side of what we do." Meanwhile, the two entities on August 17 are set to welcome others via Dubai in the Middle East on a flight that will bring medical care and critical supplies in the area of prosthetic body parts.
Refinery29
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Refinery29
In Puerto Rico, Immigrants Are Being Tracked, Detained & Deported — But Communities Are Fighting Back
Dominican-born Aracelys Terrero Mota went to register her small business in the municipal office of Cabo Rojo in Puerto Rico on June 5. She gave her passport, visa, and migration and work permits — all updated and in good order. As a domestic violence survivor, she is legally protected under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to work and live on the archipelago, the place she's called home for 21 years. But when she left the office, she was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. According to the executive director of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Annette Martinez-Orabona, Terrero disappeared from the system and was held in various detention centers in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico. After protests and demands from human rights organizations and activists, she was returned to Puerto Rico on June 28. 'My soul cried, and even my heart ached. … It was like a horrible nightmare,' Terrero told Telemundo Puerto Rico in Spanish. Terrero's immigration case — drawing outcry and attention from thousands of Puerto Ricans and fellow migrants across the archipelago via social media and the press — has become the most visible in Puerto Rico, but her experience isn't a solitary one. As the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on immigrants through controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, arrests, and deportations, agents in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, have followed suit — disproportionately impacting Dominican migrants on the island. In fact, as of June 2025, 500 people have been detained in Puerto Rico, and nearly three-quarters of those arrested are from the Dominican Republic. 'We are currently being persecuted, rounded up, deported, and there have even been deaths,' José Rodríguez, president of the Dominican Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico, told Somos. The committee was born during the late 1980s and early '90s, when there was an uptick of Dominicans leaving their island to find better employment opportunities in Puerto Rico. In 1997, Dominican migrant Rafael Herrera was beaten to death by a Puerto Rican police officer during a drug bust. In 2009, police struck and handcuffed undocumented Dominican immigrant Franklin Cáceres Osorio before throwing him from a two-story building and leaving him to die. Most recently, on March 28, Dominican worker Antonio Báez climbed onto the roof of the warehouse where he was employed — about 30 to 35 feet high — to avoid arrest during an ICE inspection. While attempting to hide, he fell and died. Dominicans make up one of the largest immigrant populations in Puerto Rico. But despite having lived on the sister island for generations and contributing significantly to its social and economic fabric, the community has increasingly been targeted by state-sanctioned xenophobia and anti-Blackness — sentiments that have been emboldened under President Donald Trump and Puerto Rican Governor Jenniffer González's anti-immigration rhetoric and policy. ' "There are people hiding out of fear." ' For instance, in 2013, then-governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, a Democrat from the pro-commonwealth status party in Puerto Rico, approved Law 97, which allowed for people without official immigration status to obtain a driver's license. 'That's one of the achievements we've had, and close to 20,000 people have that license — before New York and a lot of other states,' Rodríguez said. However, in the last year, González, a Republican and Trump ally from the island's pro-statehood party, and her government has used it to betray the entire undocumented population in Puerto Rico. In June, both the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) and ICE confirmed private data had been shared between the two agencies for several months. ICE subpoenaed the Puerto Rican government for the information, and it quietly did as it was told, without public hearing or warning beforehand. ICE proceeded to use the data to detain people in their homes. Now in Barrio Obrero, a San Juan neighborhood known for its Dominican population, people are afraid — to stay inside or leave their homes. 'There are many people who live in fear. There are many people who do not want to leave their homes, who find it difficult to get to work,' a pro-immigrant organizer in Puerto Rico, who preferred to stay anonymous, told Somos. 'It's dangerous. People are coming here as if it's the Nazi times. There are people hiding out of fear.' This fear is deliberate and strategic. González and her pro-statehood party have aligned themselves closely with Trump and his hardline immigration policies, pressuring local institutions to follow suit or face consequences. In January, González warned that public workers and Puerto Rican agencies refusing to cooperate with ICE or attempting to block raids could jeopardize federal funding. But that claim doesn't hold up. Sanctuary cities and counties across the U.S. have successfully challenged similar threats in court, affirming that federal funds cannot be withheld on that basis. If Puerto Rico's government chose to, it could adopt sanctuary policies just as states like California and New York have. For now, however, only two municipalities — Aguadilla and Hormigueros — have declared themselves sanctuaries. ' "We know and we recognize that anti-Black racism is what it perpetuates." Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón ' As González's government preys on immigrant communities, it also proposed an extension to the controversial Act 60, which allows 'investors' — often white, wealthy, and American — to come to Puerto Rico and take advantage of tax incentives, until 2055. This extension was approved on June 25, just days before Terrero returned to Puerto Rico after being illegally detained. Even more, like in the U.S., where Puerto Ricans, who are born U.S. citizens, have been detained during immigration raids, Afro-Boricuas in their homeland have also been targeted and racially profiled by ICE agents. 'We know and we recognize that anti-Black racism is what it perpetuates,' Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón, founder of the popular Black Puerto Rican magazine Revista Étnica, told Somos. 'This is not the first time this has happened. This is a pattern that keeps repeating itself to benefit a few, to generate power for a few. [They want to] take away what belongs to us and what is ours. [To] tell our people, our neighbors, to the caribeños, any other person who wants to come here to live and have opportunities for a dignified life, that they can't be here." While much of the government is actively participating in its own colonialism, many Puerto Ricans have been pushing back, speaking out, and protesting against escalating raids and deportations, which is also impacting Haitian and South American migrants. ' "What the Puerto Rican government hasn't done for the community, the Puerto Rican people are doing." José Rodríguez ' 'In many ways, Puerto Rico is a safe haven in the Caribe,' Antonetty Lebrón said. Her publication has been attempting to keep it that way, directly supporting immigrant communities through reporting immigration news, sharing educational tools, and leading mutual aid efforts. Like them, other grassroots community organizations like Taller Salud, Centro de Apoyo Mutuo, Brigada Solidaria del Oeste, Enlace Volunteering Group, and more have been expanding their focus to support immigrants. On social media, even Bad Bunny has spoken out about the raids, recording and posting an Instagram Story showing ICE agents in unmarked RAV4s on Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina. 'Instead of leaving the people alone and working," he's heard criticizing the agents. 'What the Puerto Rican government hasn't done for the community, the Puerto Rican people are doing,' Rodríguez said. 'I go out running in the morning, and sometimes I have to stop to talk to people in their cars, or they honk and yell, 'we are with you.' That has never been seen before.'
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Fox News
Alleged ‘serial criminal' nabbed in Michigan traffic bust after Biden administration released him into US
United States Customs and Border Patrol caught an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member during a traffic stop near Detroit Wednesday. The traffic stop in Shelby Township by Maryville Station CBP officers was triggered by a fake license plate on a vehicle. CBP said the three people inside the car were all in the United States illegally, and one of them is Venezulean national Manuel Zavala-Lopez, an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member who entered the country during the Biden administration in May 2023 and was released, according to DHS. The group was named a foreign terrorist organization early on during President Donald Trump's second term, along with MS-13. Some of those alleged members have been sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador for detention. "Zavala-Lopez is a serial criminal who's traveled across the U.S. committing violent crimes. He has an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a felony assault charge in Denver, Colorado. He has also been charged with robbery resulting in physical injury, criminal possession of a weapon intent to use, assault, possession of stolen property and petty larceny in New York," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Thanks to our brave law enforcement, he is off the streets and will no longer be able to terrorize American citizens. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal." "The arrest of this Tren de Aragua gang member, who has a history of firearms and other criminal charges and was wanted on an active warrant out of Denver, Colorado, for failure to appear, removes another dangerous criminal illegal alien from our country and enhances public safety," Detroit Sector Chief Patrol Agent John R. Morris said in a statement. "This marks the second arrest of a gang member from a foreign terrorist organization this month and underscores the relentless efforts of our agents and law enforcement partners. These cases highlight the critical value of interagency cooperation in removing these criminal threats from our communities," Morris added. The 30-year-old, who is not named but had his mugshot disclosed by the agency, was previously charged with violent robbery as well as weapons and immigration violations, according to a news release. "This Tren de Aragua gang member, who had no business being in our country, let alone roaming the streets of Shelby Township, serves as our department's commitment to keeping our community safe and getting dangerous individuals like this out of our community," Lt. Mark Benedettini of the Shelby Township Police Department told Fox News Digital in an email. Traffic stops are considered a major aspect of border and immigration enforcement, and people and drugs are often caught as a result. Two Salvadoran nationals in the country illegally were also arrested by CBP in Detroit earlier this month, the agency announced July 10. Border Patrol agents responded after a call for extra help during an "altercation" at a motel in Sterling Heights. One of the men "admitted" to being a member of MS-13 and said he previously served 20 years behind bars in the Central American country for killing someone from a rival gang. "This is a major win for the U.S. Border Patrol and the safety of our communities," Detroit Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Javier Geronimo Jr. said in a statement at the time. "This arrest is a clear example of how agents and our law enforcement partners are protecting our towns by removing violent criminals from our country."
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
US imposes import restrictions on archaeological and ethnological materials from India
CHENNAI: The US has formally imposed import restrictions on certain archaeological and ethnological materials from India by amending the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now These curbs follow an agreement between the US and India under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act. Now US customs can detain and repatriate illegally exported Indian antiquities without the burden of individual provenance litigation. The import restrictions will be in place till July 26, 2029, as of now. The laborious and tedious legal and other processes involved in retrieving the stolen artefacts over the years had prompted non-profit organisations both in India and in the US to push for such restrictions. 'This is a historic moment in the legal protection of India's cultural heritage,' India Pride co-founder K Vijay Kumar told TOI. The agreement 'is a foundational pillar in India's evolving cultural diplomacy', he added. On July 26, 2024, India and the US signed a bilateral agreement to bar trade in archaeological material ranging in date from about 1.7 million years ago to 1770 CE, as well as certain categories of ethnological material dating from the 2nd century BCE to 1947 CE. 'The bilateral agreement, signed in 2024 under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention, reflects years of advocacy, diplomacy and public interest mobilisation,' said Vijay Kumar. 'This milestone would not have been possible without the steadfast efforts of the Cultural Antiquities Task Force, particularly the Antiquities Coalition,' he said. The archaeological materials include stone, ceramics, faience, and fired clay, metal, plaster, stucco, and unfired clay, paintings, ivory and bone, glass, paper, leather, birch bark, and palm-leaf, textiles, wood, shell, and other organic material, and human remains. The ethnological material includes architectural elements, religious and ceremonial Items and manuscripts.
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Time of India
Police dog helps catch passenger with unusual items stuffed in bags at US airport
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently caught a South Korean passenger with "unusual haul", attempting to bring it into the country. The traveller, intercepted at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport , had items including raw sea cucumbers (a type of marine animal) and blood-soaked frogs , along with a few unidentified objects, raising serious concerns. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category This was first discovered by K-9 Buckie, a specially trained police dog. CBP posted about the findings on July 26 on X, revealing that the items are now with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for identification. — CBP (@CBP) "Ribbit'ing discovery! CBP agriculture specialists and K9 Buckie at FlySEA uncovered an unusual haul from a passenger arriving from South Korea: bloody frogs, raw sea cucumbers, and other unidentified items. These items are now with the USFWS for identification," read the side note. Live Events CBP also posted two images, including the photo of the find and another featuring Buckie, an adorable yet sharp-nosed canine who helped CBP sniff out the suspicious items tucked away in the passenger's luggage. Buckie has become an internet sensation after the discovery. "Way to go, K9 Buckie!!! What is wrong with these people? I mean mentally. Bloody frogs and sea cucumbers. Who does that?" commented a user. "Why would anyone travel with that? What nefarious deeds were they up to?" wondered another. "Gross! What is wrong with these people and what diseases are they carrying around?!?" wrote a disgusted individual. Buckie received a lot of love from social media users. The common sentiment was, "Good boy, Buckie." A dog lover wrote, "Hope Buckie got a treat for his good work!"
