Tag: ice

Cuban immigrant’s death at ICE facility ruled a homicide, autopsy report says

A Cuban immigrant’s death at a Texas immigration detention facility has been ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy report from El Paso County.

Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died in ICE custody on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In the autopsy report, Adam Gonzalez, the deputy medical examiner for El Paso County, determined that Campos died from “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

Attorneys for the Campos family filed an emergency petition on Tuesday to prevent alleged witnesses to the death from being deported. The petition, which was granted by a federal judge, cites reports alleging that guards at the facility choked and asphyxiated Campos.

“The two witnesses appear to have unique knowledge and independent eyewitness testimony of the events at issue,” the petition states. The family’s attorneys told ABC News they intend to obtain formal testimony from both individuals.

In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said Campos was pronounced dead after “experiencing medical distress.” 

Keep reading

ICE Tells Legal Observer, ‘We Have a Nice Little Database, and Now You’re Considered a Domestic Terrorist’

Video taken this morning in Maine shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer taking pictures of a legal observer’s car. When she asks why he’s doing that, he says, “Because we have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”

The video is the latest example of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) labeling anyone who engages in First Amendment–protected activity opposing the Trump administration’s mass deportation program as a “domestic terrorist” and suggesting they’ll be subject to federal investigations.

The DHS did not immediately respond to request for comment on the scope of the database mentioned by the officer or whether it considers protected First Amendment activity to be conduct that warrants inclusion on the database.

Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported today that an unnamed federal law enforcement official told him that DHS “has ordered immigration officers to gather identifying information about anyone filming them.”

In September, President Donald Trump issued a memo ordering federal law enforcement to focus on ideologies that are allegedly fueling “domestic terrorism.” These include “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender,” as well as opposition to “foundational American principles (e.g., support for law enforcement and border control).”

As Reason‘s Joe Lancaster wrote at the time, the memo was “an assault on the First Amendment” that listed protected free speech “as evidence of criminality that requires federal intervention.”

And since the Trump administration’s deportation campaign began last year, DHS officials have repeatedly insisted that following and recording federal immigration agents in public is a violation of a federal statute that makes it a crime to assault or impede law enforcement officers.

There have been dozens of recorded instances of ICE and Border Patrol officers harassing, assaulting, and detaining people for filming and following them, even though there is a well-established First Amendment right to record and observe the police.

For example, today Slate published the first-person account of Brandon Sigüenza, a Minneapolis man who was volunteering with a local group that monitors and records ICE activity. Federal immigration officers surrounded his car, smashed out his windows, roughly arrested him, and detained him for hours.

Sigüenza also submitted a sworn declaration describing his experiences in a civil rights lawsuit challenging the DHS’ actions in Minneapolis.

Keep reading

Anti-ICE MN Church Storming Mob Leaders Arrested

Federal authorities have arrested multiple anti-ICE agitators following the disruption of a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday, marking a significant escalation in the federal response to coordinated attacks on places of worship.

Bondi identified Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly as suspects connected to the incident at Cities Church in St. Paul.

The arrests stem from a Sunday incident in which dozens of activists stormed the church during a service, confronting congregants and clergy while the service was underway.

“Minutes ago at my direction, HSI and FBI agents executed an arrest in Minnesota,” Bondi wrote on X.

“So far, we have arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, who allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

Bondi announced a second arrest shortly afterward.

Keep reading

JD Vance Deflates Media’s ‘ICE Detained a 5-Year-Old’ Story in Under 90 Seconds

Vice President of the United States JD Vance rejected what he described as a misleading media report claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a five-year-old child, saying the facts show the child was never arrested and was instead with his father, an illegal alien who fled from authorities.

Vance addressed the claim while defending immigration enforcement and criticizing narratives that he said distort routine law enforcement actions to undermine ICE operations.

“The fact that we’re standing behind law enforcement, and I’m proud of the fact that we’re enforcing the country’s laws,” Vance said.

Keep reading

NYPD Detectives Denied Treatment At Hospital After Being ‘Mistaken For ICE’

NYPD detectives say they were treated with disrespect at a Brooklyn hospital after going to the emergency room for medical care following an on-the-job incident.

Police officials said the detectives arrived at NYU Langone Health in Cobble Hill but were confronted by security guards who questioned their identities and why they were there.

Sources told Eyewitness News the detectives were in plainclothes and explained that one of them needed treatment for a minor injury sustained during a scuffle with a suspect. Despite that explanation, they were allegedly detained, and one detective was initially refused entry because he was carrying his service weapon.

The encounter quickly angered union leaders.

“No individual-especially NYPD Detectives injured in the line of duty-should ever be subjected to such treatment,” the detectives’ union said in a statement.

The detectives, who were not identified, believe hospital staff may have mistaken them for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and initially tried to turn them away.

ICE agents often wear tactical gear marked “Police” but do not always display badges or other identification. NYPD detectives, even when in plainclothes, carry gold shields.

The incident comes amid heightened political tensions surrounding ICE enforcement in New York City.

Appearing on “The View” on Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said ICE should be abolished.

“We’re seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it’s doing is terrorizing people no matter their immigration status, no matter the facts of the law, no matter the facts of the case,” he said.

The mayor said Wednesday that he had not been aware of the hospital incident until asked about it by a reporter.

“That’s the first I’m hearing about it but it’s something I’ll follow up on,” he said.

Keep reading

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says

Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.

The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.

For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown.

Keep reading

Minnesota AG Ellison says anti-ICE protesters who stormed church didn’t violate FACE Act

Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison rejects remarks from the Department of Justice that the protesters who stormed a church over the weekend are in violation of the FACE Act.

Over the weekend, a group of anti-ICE protesters stormed St. Paul’s Cities Church during a morning service.

The protesters accused the church’s pastor, David Eastwood, of being the acting ICE field office director in Minnesota.

As a result of the protest, officials at the DOJ said that the protesters may have violated the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act.

Former CNN host Don Lemon was also at the church storming and he was put “on notice” by the Trump administration.

Ellison went on Lemon’s YouTube show and said the FACE Act is only for reproductive rights.

“And the FACE Act, by the way, is designed to protect the rights of people seeking reproductive rights… so that people for a religious reason cannot just use religion to break into women’s reproductive health centers,” Ellison said, according to Fox News.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, Harmeet Dhillon said on X that a house of worship is not a forum for protest.

Keep reading

CONFIRMED: Indictments Coming for Don Lemon After MN Church Stunt

Legal analyst Mike Davis accused the Biden Justice Department of politicizing and weaponizing federal law to target political opponents while shielding ideological allies, arguing that the same statutes previously used against Christians will now be applied to left-wing activists and media figures who disrupted church services.

Davis made the remarks during an exchange with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who asked Davis to outline how a case could be built against activists and media figures involved in the recent disruption of a Christian church service.

“Obviously you have been going hard in the paint on this because you have seen how this statute was weaponized by the Biden administration, and the left has absolutely no accountability here,” Johnson said.

“So why don’t we start from the get, and you can build off of what Harmeet said yesterday. How would you build out a case against these BLM terrorists and Don Lemon who stormed this church?”

Davis responded by pointing to what he described as a clear pattern of selective enforcement under the Biden-Harris administration.

“Well, I would use the Biden Justice Department playbook to build this case,” Davis said.

“Remember, under the Biden Justice Department with Attorney General Merrick Garland and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Christian Clark, three radicals, Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General for radicals, they politicized and weaponized the Justice Department to go after their political enemies and to protect their allies.”

Keep reading

Trump Threatens to Invoke Insurrection Act in Minnesota

Governor Tim Walz threatened to command the state National Guard to attack federal agents. “We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. I’ve issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard,” Walz said in a press event. “We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary. I remind you, a warning order is a heads-up for folks,” Walz said. “Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight.” Now, Washington is considering invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy US troops to Minnesota.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, ” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

We live in a world where states are openly defying the federal government, toying with the idea of separatism, as politics have become too divided for the states to remain united. The 1807 Insurrection Act permits US presidents to unilaterally deploy federal military personnel within the US to restore law and order.

Keep reading

Minnesota Transgender State Rep. Leigh Finke Calls on Anti-ICE Protestors to Storm More Churches

Minnesota transgender State Rep. Leigh Finke called on leftists to storm more churches in protest of ICE.

Far-left anti-ICE protestors stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday.

Former CNN host Don Lemon livestreamed the crime.

Parishioners and children were terrified as leftists, led by BLM activist Nikema Armstrong shouted down the pastor.

The Justice Department is currently investigating for potential violations of the federal FACE Act.

“The FACE Act is a long-standing federal statute that prohibits force, threats, obstruction, any kind of interference with a religious place of worship. And it carries criminal penalties and violations,” DOJ official Alina Habba said on Monday.

However, Leigh Finke said anti-ICE protestors must continue to storm churches until “ICE is out of our state.”

Full statement from Leigh Finke:

Yesterday protesters disrupted services at Cities Church in Saint Paul, where the leader of the local I.C.E. office also serves as pastor.

The protest has caused outrage, promises of retribution and prosecution, and the usual round of upset. But it has had me thinking for the past 24 hours of the actions of Act Up and WHAM, in 1989, who staged a die in and protest in St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. An action that similarly brought condemnation during a time when an out of control crisis was left to its destruction for far too long.

Actions like this—nonviolent resistance in the face of government inaction or oppression—are essential. And they must continue until I.C.E. is out of our state, the administration is out of the White House, and dignity and humanity for all of our neighbors is achieved.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day in America. Dr. King knew that injustice must be confronted. He knew the moral conscience of the nation must be made to hear the desperate plight of those who are suffering. He knew that the only way to achieve this at national scale was for people to rise up together in nonviolent revolution until all were free.

So did Act UP, and so do the people of Minneapolis. I.C.E. OUT

Keep reading