Tag: ice

Portland to Issue Land Use Violation Notice Against ICE Building

The City of Portland announced it will issue a land use violation notice against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building as it accused the agency of holding detainees in a manner that does not “comply with the conditions of the site’s land use approval.”

“Federal government records from a 10-month period show more than two dozen detention policy violations of the facility’s land use conditions of approval with the city, which does not allow detainees to be kept overnight or held for more than 12 hours,” Oregon’s largest city said in a statement on Wednesday.

The city said it will issue the notice, which also references what it calls a second violation regarding boarded-up windows, on Thursday.

Landowners have 30 days after receiving a notice of violation to correct the issue. A fine can be issued if there is “substantial evidence of violation,” the city said Wednesday. The city’s permitting bureau can also initiate a “reconsideration” of a land use approval by scheduling a hearing at least 60 days after a notice is given, the city said. Decisions from the hearings officer can be appealed to the City Council.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Epoch Times’ requests for comment Thursday.

The ICE building has been the site of nightly protests and clashes, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said earlier this summer. Criminals and “antifa-affiliated groups” have attempted to dox, or reveal, the personal information of ICE officers in the city and in Oregon, the department said.

Keep reading

What Is ICE Doing With This Israeli Spyware Firm?

The deployment of Paragon’s Graphite spyware was a major scandal in Italy. Earlier this year, the messaging app WhatsApp revealed that 90 journalists and civil society figures had been targeted by the military-grade surveillance tech, which gives “total access” to a victim’s messages. The Italian government admitted to spying on refugee rights activists, and Paragon cancelled its contract with the government almost immediately after the story broke.

Now the same software may be coming to America—and again with an immigration focus. Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security quietly lifted a stop-work order on a $2 million contract that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had with Paragon for a “fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance, and training.”

The deal was first signed by the Biden administration, and it was frozen in October 2024, less than a week after Wired broke the news of the contract. An administration official later insisted to Wired that, rather than reacting to bad publicity, they were reviewing the contract to comply with President Joe Biden’s order to ensure that commercial spyware use by the U.S. government “does not undermine democracy, civil rights and civil liberties.”

The details of that review—or even the contract itself—were never publicly disclosed. But the results are clear: ICE now has a green light to use whatever software Paragon was offering. (Neither Paragon nor ICE responded to requests for comment from The Guardian.)

The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, dedicated to researching electronic surveillance, found that Graphite targeted users through a “zero-click exploit.” By adding someone to a WhatsApp group in a certain way, Graphite can force their phones to read an infected PDF file without the user’s input. In other words, a cyberattack can be disguised as a spam text—and works even if victims ignore it.

After discovering the vulnerability with the Citizen Lab’s help, WhatsApp said in a statement that it was “constantly working to stay ahead of threats” and “build new layers of protection into WhatsApp.”

Paragon was co-founded by Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister and general in charge of military intelligence, and Ehud Schneorson, a former head of Unit 8200, the Israeli equivalent of the National Security Agency. Last year, an American private equity firm bought Paragon for $500 million with the intention of merging it into RED Lattice, a firm connected to former U.S. intelligence officials. Paragon has positioned itself as a more ethical alternative to NSO Group, a spyware company similarly run by Unit 8200 veterans.

In 2021, NSO Group suffered a series of scandals after it was revealed that its Pegasus spyware was sold to police states around the world and was possibly used to spy on journalists who were murdered. NSO Group accused the media of running a “vicious and slanderous campaign” and promised to “thoroughly investigate any credible proof of misuse.” The Biden administration hit NSO Group with economic sanctions in response.

Around the time that the Pegasus scandal was breaking, a Paragon executive boasted to Forbes that their company would only deal with customers who “abide by international norms and respect fundamental rights and freedoms.”

Keep reading

ICE Reactivates Contract With Israeli-linked Spyware Firm Paragon

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reactivated a $2 million spyware contract with Paragon Solutions, an Israeli-founded firm now owned by a U.S. private equity group. The move lifts a Biden-era freeze and signals a deeper embrace of invasive surveillance tools in domestic immigration enforcement.

It is also only the latest sign of how far the federal government’s surveillance apparatus has grown under the banner of “immigration enforcement.” ICE has become one of its most powerful nodes — a conduit through which cutting-edge spyware, data analytics, and AI-driven tools are deployed inside U.S. borders.

Contract Reborn

On September 1, journalist Jack Poulson, citing the official procurement note, reported that ICE quietly lifted a stop-work order on the Paragon contract. The order had been in place since October 2024, after the Biden administration paused the deal under Executive Order 14093. That order barred agencies from buying foreign spyware tied to human rights abuses.

Paragon

Paragon is an Israeli spyware company founded in 2019 by veterans of Israel’s cyberwarfare Unit 8200, the equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Among the early backers is Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a longtime political heavyweight and known associate of Jeffrey Epstein. From the start, it marketed itself as the “ethical” alternative to Pegasus, another notorious Israeli spyware.

Citizen Lab reports that by 2021 Paragon had launched a U.S. subsidiary and staffed it with former CIA, Air Force, and defense contractor officials. That gave it a foothold in Washington. Within two years, ICE had signed a $2 million contract for its spyware; U.S. Special Operations Command disclosed more than $11 million in related purchases.

In late 2024, ownership shifted. All shares in Paragon Israel were transferred to Paragon Parent Inc., a new Delaware corporation. The deal, reportedly led by Florida-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, was valued at $500 million up front, with another $400 million tied to performance goals. Soon after, Paragon was folded into REDLattice, a Virginia contractor already known for offensive cyber tools. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings show REDLattice’s parent company then added ex-CIA and U.S. Army chiefs to its board.

Once Paragon became “American-owned,” ICE lifted the freeze on its spyware contract. In effect, the U.S. government blocked the deal when the company was Israeli but allowed it once Americans — many with intelligence and military ties — took control. The spyware itself did not change, only the ownership structure, and it is far from clear how much influence Israeli intelligence veterans still wield inside the company.

Graphite

Graphite is Paragon’s flagship spyware. Unlike Pegasus, which can take full control of a phone, Graphite focuses on breaking in to encrypted messaging apps. It can pull data from WhatsApp, Signal, and iMessage without seizing the entire device.

Investigators have shown that Graphite often relies on “zero-click” exploits. These attacks require no action from the target. Once inside, the spyware extracts texts, call logs, photos, videos, and even microphone input. All of it is sent to remote servers controlled by the operator. Citizen Lab’s forensic report from this June confirmed the tool had been deployed against journalists in Europe. Their devices were fully updated yet still compromised until Apple patched the flaw in iOS 18.3.1.

This technical profile explains why Graphite is so attractive to governments. It is stealthy, precise, and hard to detect. But its use has raised alarms well beyond Israel and the United States.

Keep reading

Trump gives green light for $2m ICE deal with notorious Israeli spyware company

The Trump administration appears to have unfrozen a stalled $2 million Biden-era contract with Paragon Solutions (US) Inc., a spyware company founded in Israel whose products have been accused of facilitating the surveillance of journalists and activists.

On Saturday, a public procurement database showed that a stop work order on the September 2024 deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been lifted, technology journalist Jack Poulson reported on his All-Source Intelligence Substack.

The deal does not specify what ICE will be getting as part of the deal, beyond describing an agreement for a “fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance, and training.”

An individual who answered a phone number listed for Paragon on the contract declined to comment.

Keep reading

Chicago Mayor’s Order to Resist ICE: “Protecting Chicago Initiative” Makes the City More Dangerous

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday, August 30, 2025, called the “Protecting Chicago Initiative,” in response to anticipated federal immigration raids and the possible deployment of the National Guard by the Trump administration.

Ironically, he believes he is protecting Chicago by sheltering illegal aliens, including those with criminal histories, and by refusing to support law enforcement efforts. How this makes the city safer remains unclear.

The order prohibits the Chicago Police Department from assisting federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement, including patrols, traffic stops, and checkpoints, and bars collaboration with military personnel on local police duties. It also requires federal officers to follow municipal policies, such as banning the use of masks to conceal identities.

The directive further instructs city departments to “pursue all available legal and legislative avenues to resist coordinated efforts from the federal government” that may infringe on the rights of Chicago residents.

This raises the question of whether illegal immigrants should be considered residents, what rights they possess, and whether they are entitled to protection from federal law enforcement. No comparable program exists to shield American citizens who commit crimes from federal officers.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Mayor Brandon Johnson of suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome,” after Johnson called the administration “out-of-control” and accused the president of acting “outside the bounds of the Constitution.”

The mayor makes these claims, but immigration enforcement is not “outside the bounds of the Constitution,” and an administration enforcing existing laws is not “out of control.” What is out of control are Chicago’s illegal immigration and violent crime problems, precisely why stronger enforcement is needed.

Chicago has maintained sanctuary city policies for nearly 40 years, beginning with Mayor Harold Washington’s 1985 executive order. The current framework is the “Welcoming City Ordinance,” enacted in 2006, expanded in 2012, and tightened in 2021 to eliminate all cooperation with ICE. At the state level, Illinois passed the Trust Act in 2017, extending sanctuary protections statewide and prohibiting local officials from inquiring about immigration status or assisting in federal enforcement.

Illinois is home to about 500,000 illegal immigrants, including 30,000 DACA recipients and tens of thousands of recent arrivals. Since August 2022, roughly 51,000 migrants from the southern border have settled in Chicago, adding major costs for taxpayers.

Keep reading

Wisconsin Judge Charged With Helping Illegal Alien Evade ICE Rakes In Nearly $50K In Pay

Suspended while she faces charges for allegedly helping a violent illegal immigrant elude federal law enforcement officials, Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan continues to collect full pay and benefits on the backs of Badger State taxpayers. 

The Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge has raked in $48,997 in pay since the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan from the bench in late April, according to information obtained through an open records request by The Federalist. Dugan’s biweekly pay rate is $6,712, with an annual salary of $174,512, according to the Wisconsin Court System. 

Meanwhile, Dugan has established a legal defense fund to pay for a high-powered team of lawyers that includes former Solicitor General Paul Clement and former federal prosecutor Steve Biskupic. In its first three weeks, the fund had raised nearly $140,000, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dugan doesn’t have to report on who gave what until next year, the news outlet reported. 

“Judge Hannah Dugan deserves a full and aggressive defense,” states the fund website, which bills the federal felony charge against her as “the prosecution of America’s independent judiciary.”

‘Denied’

The judge insists that she is immune from prosecution, that she has the right to do as she pleases in her courtroom — apparently up to breaking the law. She argues that the charges should be dropped. 

U.S. Magistrate Nancy Joseph disagrees. Last month, Joseph found Dugan’s arguments “unconvincing” in recommending Dugan’s motion to dismiss the charges be denied. 

“It is well-established and undisputed that judges have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits for monetary damages when engaging in judicial acts. This, however, is not a civil case,” the magistrate wrote in her thorough, 37-page decision. “Accordingly, I recommend that Dugan’s motion to dismiss the indictment on judicial immunity grounds be denied.”

Dugan has been charged with felony obstruction and misdemeanor concealing an individual to prevent arrest. She is accused of aiding previously deported illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz’s brief escape from federal law enforcement officials in April while he was appearing in front of Dugan on battery charges. Dugan faces up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if found guilty. 

As The Federalist has reported, FBI agents arrested Dugan on April 25 at the courthouse, a week after the judge, according to the criminal complaint, misdirected federal agents, delaying them from apprehending Flores-Ruiz. The illegal immigrant was set to appear before Dugan for a pretrial conference on three misdemeanor counts of domestic battery. Flores-Ruiz is expected to be deported again after he serves a federal prison term for violating immigration law, Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate, WISN, reported. 

The criminal complaint states that Dugan was “visibly angry” in confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who appeared with an administrative warrant to take the illegal alien into custody. After sending the law enforcement officials to the chief judge’s office, Dugan escorted Flores-Ruiz and his legal counsel out of the courtroom through the “jury door,” which leads to a non-public area of the courthouse, according to the charges. 

Keep reading

Everything That’s Wrong With The Leftist Media In One (Now Deleted) Post…

After video of a man being detained by ICE Wednesday quickly circulated, one reporter suggested that it would never be revealed who he is or where he had been taken, only for all those details to emerge just minutes later, and completely humiliate the ‘journalist’.

The footage shows the guy trying to get away from ICE in DC, but being detained and then crying and whining like a baby.

Miami Herald ‘investigative journalist’ Julie Brown published a post whinging that “his crying…hits me in the gut.”

“We will probably never be told who he is, why he was stopped or if he was here illegally,” she added.

She soon got an answer as an NBC reporter revealed that ICE confirmed the guy’s name, that he was illegally here from Mexico and had been previously arrested and charged with sexual battery against a 13 year-old-child.

Ms Brown instantly deleted her previous post.

Keep reading

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Demands End to ICE Raids that Captured Illegal Alien Child Molester Working at Car Wash

Los Angeles, California, Mayor Karen Bass (D) is demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) end all worksite raids “at fruit stands and car washes” in the sanctuary city, just as agents arrested an illegal alien convicted child molester at an Orange County, California, car wash.

This week, Bass posted on X that ICE raids “at fruit stands and car washes must end,” calling such raids “un-American” and declaring that she “will never accept these tactics as a new normal.”

United States Border Patrol agents arrested illegal alien Claudio Reyes-Vasquez during a targeted operation at Chapman Car Wash in Orange County, just an hour outside of Los Angeles.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials called Reyes-Vasquez “one of the worst of the worst,” noting that he had been arrested for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old and had an active federal warrant for his arrest after violating his probation.

Most significantly, perhaps, Reyes-Vasquez has a criminal record going back to 1990 — having been convicted of molesting a child, beating his spouse, two DUIs, battery, petty theft, and illegal reentry.

Keep reading

Far-Left Anarchist Group Formed During BLM Riots Behind Texas ICE Shooting Ambush

Suspects arrested in connection with a brazen attack on a Texas ICE detention facility have been linked to a secretive far-left Antifa anarchist group that emerged after meeting during the violent Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

The group, which included transgender activists, allegedly orchestrated a military-style ambush that left one police officer wounded on July 4 at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.

During the attack, which authorities have called a coordinated ambush, a group of assailants dressed in black military-style clothing opened fire on ICE agents. One officer was shot in the neck.

Following an intensive investigation, 11 individuals were arrested, facing serious charges including attempted murder of federal officers, discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and obstruction of justice for trying to conceal evidence, according to a report from the New York Post.

Leading the suspects is Benjamin Hanil Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, who was charged with three counts of attempted murder and three counts of discharging a firearm. Song is accused of purchasing four firearms used in the attack and hosting weekly training sessions focused on close-quarters combat and large-scale gunfights. He was apprehended in Dallas after a weeklong manhunt.

Among the other suspects are Autumn Hill and Meagan Morris, both identified as transgender.

The group initially focused on “social justice” demonstrations, the far-left extremists later shifted their attention to targeting ICE enforcement operations. It’s unclear exactly how many of the attackers were core members, but the group operated out of Dallas and attracted young, impressionable leftists.

Corey Lyon, a libertarian who attended some of the sessions but later cut ties with Song, told The Post, “The people that were showing up to learn from him — a lot were very young, naïve leftists.”

“They were scared. And Ben was offering them a solution for their fear.”

Keep reading

Reed College investigates security chief for giving FBI info on anti-ICE alum

Reed College’s director of community safety is under internal investigation for helping the FBI locate a recent graduate who allegedly threw a rock at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, according to an open letter from its president to the campus community.

The private Portland, Oregon college’s actions have raised questions about student privacy as well as the college’s actions against its safety officer.

Gary Granger is still listed as the community safety director on the college’s website. However, an email that The Fix sent to Granger on Friday was returned with an automated response stating he is “currently out of the office.”

The college’s President Audrey Bilger announced an investigation into Granger’s actions after he gave information to the FBI “apparently without a subpoena or warrant,” according to her July 29 statement.

“Reed has established protocols and values, and we are initiating an investigation into this action and its impact on our standards and our community,” Bilger wrote. “Reed prioritizes the privacy and rights of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and all members of our community.”

She also wrote she understands concerns voiced by students and alumni about the incident, and “the college is treating this matter with the seriousness it warrants. Reed maintains clear policies and provides regular training to ensure that information is managed responsibly and in alignment with legal requirements and institutional values.”

Keep reading