Tag: dhs

DHS debunks Dodgers’ claim that ICE attempted a raid at stadium on game day

The Department of Homeland Security poured cold water on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ claim that there was an attempted Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at their stadium on Thursday.

The reigning World Series champs’ official X account claimed that ICE agents had requested access to the Dodger Stadium parking lot Thursday morning, with the team touting that it had denied the agents entry — in the wake of Los Angeles being ground zero of resistance against the Trump administration’s immigration raids.

DHS officials, however, said that the team’s grandstanding was irrelevant because there was never an operation in the works at the stadium.

“This had nothing to do with the Dodgers,” the agency wrote on X. “CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.”

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“I Am Senator Alex Padilla!”: Democrat Lawmaker Deported From DHS Press Conference, Placed In Handcuffs

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was physically removed from a DHS press conference and placed in handcuffs on Thursday, after reportedly lunging at Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference in Los Angeles.

As Axios reports;

In a video posted to X by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, Padilla was seen being grabbed and pushed out of the press conference while saying he had “questions for the secretary.”

  • “I am Senator Alex Padilla,” Padilla said in the video. He was then grabbed by multiple men and shoved out of the room.
  • Further video showed Padilla being handcuffed and detained in the hallway outside the room.
  • “He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information,” Padilla’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

Noem subsequently said she would contact Padilla and “try to have a conversation,” NBC News reported.

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ANOTHER HOAX: DHS Releases Footage of Agents Arresting “Violent Rioter who Punched a CBP Officer” After ICE Agents Falsely Accused of Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Hit-and-Run, and Fleeing the Scene

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday released footage of agents arresting Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho, a Los Angeles rioter accused of punching a Border Patrol agent. 

Before DHS released the footage, agents were accused by the leftist media of assaulting the driver of a vehicle with a deadly weapon and hit-and-run after ICE agents “fled the scene.” Local police apparently investigated the incident.

Newsweek reported,

Authorities are investigating a Wednesday morning crash in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood as a possible assault with a deadly weapon involving federal agents who allegedly fled the scene, according to KABC.

Many details about the incident remained unreleased to the public as of Wednesday afternoon. Police have not confirmed which agency the involved agents represent or whether their presence in Los Angeles has anything to do with the ongoing protests over President Donald Trump‘s immigration policy.

The incident occurred around 10:47 a.m. local time in the 3700 block of Whittier Boulevard, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told KABC. No serious injuries were reported.

Local ABC7 parroted the narrative that ICE agents were involved in the “accident” and “fled the scene” on live TV.

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Department Of Homeland Security Q-9 Reaper Drones Are Orbiting Over Los Angeles

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been flying its Predator B drones, also known by their military designation as MQ-9 Reapers, over Los Angeles as part of the U.S. government’s response to the unrest there, the agency confirmed to us on Wednesday. The flights are in response to protests that escalated to violence on multiple occasions, following a massive operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last Friday.

Persistent aerial surveillance like this has long been controversial, with civil rights advocates saying it violates the right to privacy and undermines the Constitution. At the same time, the fact that a drone is doing it largely evokes a uniquely upsetting response. While using the Reapers over urban locales is rare, it’s not unprecedented, and manned platforms do this kind of work every day across the country.

CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) “MQ-9 Predators are supporting our federal law enforcement partners in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with aerial support of their operations,” spokesman John Mennell told us Wednesday afternoon in response to our query earlier this week. “Additionally, they are providing officer safety surveillance when requested by officers. AMO is not engaged in the surveillance of First Amendment activities.”

CBP had been mum about the issue for days, even though open-source reporting on social media had already presented compelling evidence of the drones’ orbits. On June 9, user @Aeroscout on X posted air traffic control (ATC) audio stating that two “Q-9s” – call signs TROY 703 and TROY 701, had passed each other in airspace over Yuma, Arizona, as one was replacing the other over Los Angeles. @Aeroscout had previously posted ATC audio of TROY 701 checking in on Los Angeles Center Sector 09. A short time later, Alaska Flight 1020 was given a traffic advisory for “drone traffic.”

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Snarky fashion influencer who regularly mocks Trump, Vance’s outfits admits he’s in US illegally, DHS responds

A snarky fashion influencer who regularly mocks President Trump’s outfits has posted a now-viral confessional about being in the US illegally — with the Department of Homeland Security signaling it is aware and zeroing in on the critic.

Derek Guy disclosed his “lack of legal immigration” in an X post seen nearly 5 million times as he criticized the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.

The fashion enthusiast, who boasts millions of followers on Instagram and X, admitted he came to the US as a baby — via Canada — after his parents fled Vietnam following the Tet Offensive.

“I’m still unsure whether we technically broke an immigration law. The border between Canada and the United States was pretty porous (as it is today, for the most part). But either way, since I came here without legal documentation, I eventually fell into the category of being an undocumented immigrant,” he wrote.

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Kristi Noem shuts down controversial TSA watchlist program, calls for Congressional probe

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday ended an expensive and controversial watchlist program, overseen by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), that she claimed failed to “stop a single terrorist attack.”

Republicans have accused the program of targeting the Biden administration’s political opponents, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, while caving to Democratic influence by keeping some elites off the list. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said TSA will continue its own vetting functions, including verifying the identities of travelers through REAL ID, but that the Quiet Skies program will close.

“It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration—weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends,” Noem said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of the traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans.” 

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Homeland Security hits back at claims ICE agent at Martha’s Vineyard has ‘white supremacist’ tattoo

The Department of Homeland Security has hit back at claims that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has a “white supremacist” tattoo after footage circulated online during an arrest operation in Martha’s Vineyard.

An ICE officer was spotted on the Massachusetts island last week with what appeared to be a Valknot tattoo, a Nordic symbol of the god Odin.

Charlie Giordano confronted the ICE agents and posted the footage on Instagram, the Martha’s Vineyard Times first reported.

“When reviewing the images I made of ‘ICE Agents’ on Martha’s Vineyard yesterday, I noticed several had the ‘Valknot’ tattooed on their arms,” Giordano posted on Instagram. “It’s a symbol often used by white supremacy groups.”

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin characterized the claim as a “smear” in a post on X Tuesday and said the officer was “a combat veteran.”

“His tattoo is a tribute to fallen warriors —a pretty common tattoo in the military among combat veterans who embrace the Nordic Viking warrior culture,” McLaughlin said.

“Attempting to smear this ICE officer and pretend his tattoo is meant to be a tribute to White Supremacy is false, pathetic, and insulting to veterans.”

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Feds bust fraud ring accused of stealing $47M in COVID, small business loans

For the second week in a row, the Department of Homeland Security carried out a dramatic, early-morning raid in Los Angeles targeting transnational organized crime rings. This week’s bust netted fourteen arrests from an Armenian fraud ring that investigators say stole $30 million in COVID relief and Small Business loans meant to help taxpaying Americans.

“If you are taking money from the government that doesn’t belong to you, your door could be the next one that we’re hitting,” said U.S. Attorney for California’s Central District, Bill Essayli.

Fox News was exclusively embedded with DHS in the multi-agency sting that included the IRS and the Small Business Administration.

Thirteen of the suspects are Armenian-born but have become naturalized. At least one of the suspects faces deportation.

“This is the police. We have a warrant. Come out with your hands up!” one officer’s voice echoed on a loudspeaker attached to an armored vehicle with agents inside. The special unit inside the armored vehicle first cut the chain on a gated driveway and then demanded one of the targeted suspects come out of his L.A.-area home in a sunrise bust.

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Trump’s $795M Data Power Play Sends Palantir Soaring 140%–But Here’s the Hidden Risk

Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) is riding a wave of government contracts as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to centralize and analyze federal data. Since Trump signed an executive order in March calling for more interagency data sharing, Palantir has quietly become the go-to vendor for building that digital infrastructure. The company has landed more than $113 million in new and extended federal contracts since Trump took office including a blockbuster $795 million deal with the Pentagon last week. Palantir’s Foundry platform is already in use at Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, and engineers were recently embedded at the IRS to begin building a unified, searchable database for taxpayer records. Talks are also underway with the Social Security Administration and Department of Education, suggesting more agencies could follow.

Investor enthusiasm hasn’t lagged. Since Trump’s re-election, Palantir shares have surged more than 140%, fueled by the prospect that the company may now become the digital backbone of the U.S. federal government. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)a Musk-led initiativehas been instrumental in Palantir’s rise, with several DOGE members having ties to Palantir or Peter Thiel-backed ventures. The company’s tools are now being used to connect data points ranging from immigration status and bank accounts to student loans and disability claims. In April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to track migrant movements in real time another sign of how fast the government is scaling its use of Foundry.

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America’s Next Top Migrant: White House Denies Noem Backing DHS Citizenship Game Show

The White House has denied a report that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is backing a proposal for a reality TV series that pits immigrants against each other for the grand prize: a fast-track to U.S. citizenship.

According to a 35-page pitch obtained by DailyMail.com, the Department of Homeland Security has been in contact with reality TV producer Rob Worsoff – known for Duck Dynasty and Millionaire Matchmaker – on a show called The American. The show would take a dozen pre-vetted immigrants on a cross-country journey aboard a train, competing in “cultural” challenges like assembling a Model T Ford in Detroit, rolling logs in Wisconsin, and digging clams in Maine.

Contestants would be greeted in New York City at Ellis Island by “a famous, naturalized American who was also born in another country,” the pitch reads, with names like Sofia Vergara, Ryan Reynolds, and Mila Kunis floated as possible hosts. Each contestant would receive a personalized baseball glove before hitting the rails aboard “The Citizen Ship.”

“Along the way, we will be reminded what it means to be American – through the eyes of the people who want it most,” Worsoff’s pitch says.

There’d be elimination rounds, dramatic town halls, and viewer voting tallied by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff – yes, actual DHS employees, according to the proposal. The live finale would see the train stop in Washington, D.C., with the winner sworn in on Capitol Hill as Thunderbird jets roar overhead. “There won’t be a dry eye within 10 miles!” the pitch promises.

Game show prizes? Think red-white-and-blue Americana: 1 million American Airlines points, a $10,000 Starbucks gift card, or a lifetime supply of 76 gasoline.

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’s top spokesperson, confirmed the department had a call with Worsoff last week. “I think it’s a good idea,” she said. Though she claimed Noem “is yet to be briefed,” DailyMail.com reports Noem supports the show and wants to move forward.

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