Tag: ice

Immigration Detention Facilities At Maximum Capacity: ICE Official

U.S. immigration detention facilities have reached capacity at about 47,600 beds, a top-level U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official said on March 12 in a call with reporters.

The federal government is now seeking more bed space for detained illegal immigrants, added the official, who requested anonymity as a condition of the call.

ICE is now expanding its capacity with support from the Department of Defense, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Currently, ICE has funding to support an average bed space of more than 41,500 detainees, the official said, adding that ICE is working with lawmakers to obtain more funding to increase capacity.

Throughout the 2024 campaign and after taking office, President Donald Trump vowed that there would be a mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Trump said that such a move is needed after the high volume of illegal immigration under the previous administration.

Trump issued executive orders targeting illegal immigration and bolstering security along the U.S.–Mexico border. He has directed ICE agents to step up enforcement actions across major U.S. cities, with top officials including border czar Tom Homan saying they are targeting illegal immigrants with criminal histories or who are a threat to public safety.

Orders and directives that the administration has carried out include declaring a national emergency along the southern U.S. border, halting some refugee admissions, ending the previous “catch and release” policy, requiring people who are seeking asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico while waiting for court hearings, limiting the temporary protected status of people from certain countries, declining to recognize birthright citizenship, and other measures.

The number of encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border has dropped significantly since Trump took office in January, according to recent data.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed to challenge Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship, and several judges have blocked the order. On March 11, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court’s block of the order and denied a motion from the Department of Justice’s legal team to immediately overturn the district court’s ruling.

Another directive that has been challenged in court is Trump’s decision to send some illegal immigrants to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit to block transfers to the base, which had been used to house terrorism suspects following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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New York Blocks ICE From Detaining Illegal Immigrant Accused Of Subway Murder

An illegal immigrant accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York subway station remains protected under the city’s sanctuary policies, sparking outrage from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. She criticized New York officials for refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, allowing dangerous individuals to remain in the country.

Noem visited the subway station where the brutal attack took place, blaming city leaders for policies that prioritize illegal immigrants over law-abiding residents. She pointed out that the suspect first crossed the border illegally in 2018, was deported under President Donald Trump, but later reentered the country and took advantage of New York’s lax immigration policies.

The suspect had been living in New York for over a year, receiving assistance from programs that provide shelter and food for illegal immigrants. Noem stated that these sanctuary protections make the city a safe haven for criminals, increasing risks for everyday citizens.

Despite a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain the suspect, the New York City Department of Corrections refused to comply, allowing him to remain in local custody. Noem called the decision a failure of leadership, saying both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are responsible for endangering public safety.

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DHS Chief Kristi Noem Says Leakers of ICE Raids Identified – Face Up to 10 Years in Federal Prison Each

DHS Chief Kristi Noem said her investigators have identified two leakers within the Department of Homeland Security and are preparing to refer them to the Justice Department for felony prosecutions.

“These individuals face up to 10 years in federal prison,” Noem said.

“We will find and root out all leakers. They will face prison time and we will get justice for the American people,” Noem warned.

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Report: ICE Detains Venezuelan Colonel Accused of Torturing Dissidents

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Rafael Jose Quero Silva, a Venezuelan ex-military official living in the U.S. accused of repressing and torturing students protesting against socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, El Nuevo Herald reported on Sunday.

Quero Silva, a former colonel in Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) and commander of GNB’s Detachment 47, was reportedly under FBI investigation on accusations of committing human rights violations against Venezuelan dissidents protesting the Maduro regime in the Venezuelan state of Lara between 2013 and 2017.

At the time of writing, ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System listed Quero Silva as in custody at ICE’s Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, Florida.

“Two victims reported him to the FBI. I also denounced him, I spoke with FBI agents and they were investigating him,” José Antonio Colina, a retired Venezuelan serviceman and political exile, told El Nuevo Herald, a Florida-based Spanish-language newspaper, on Sunday.

Colina, who leads a group known as Venezuelans Persecuted Politically in Exile (VEPPEX), said that Quero Silva moved to America with his wife and children and that “presumptively” his father-in-law also resides in the U.S. through an “investor’s visa.”

Colina further asserted that Quero Silva was subject to immigration proceedings. He added that he thought it was “pathetic” that an alleged human rights violator would “hide” in the United States after supporting the Venezuelan socialist regime.

Quero Silva moved to the U.S. and requested political asylum alongside his family at some point in 2017, Voice of America (VOA) reported on Monday citing Venezuelan news outlets. Venezuelan politicians and representatives of civil rights organizations accused Quero Silva repressing and torturing dissidents in the Venezuelan state of Lara during two waves of protests between 2013 and 2014.

Venezuela underwent a period of protests in mid-2013 after late dictator Hugo Chávez died from an undisclosed type of cancer in March 2013. Chávez’s death automatically prompted a snap election in April 2013 that current dictator Nicolás Maduro “won” by a roughly 1.5-percent vote difference. Prior to his death, Chávez appointed Maduro as his vice president in late 2012. This effectively allowed Maduro to assume the interim presidency of Venezuela from the moment of his predecessor’s death.

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Congressional Reporter for Vanity Fair Leaks Planned ICE Raids in DC Suburbs, Warns Targets to Avoid Highways

Pablo Manriquez, Congressional reporter for Vanity Fair, posted leaked information on ICE raids planned for the D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia this week, along with a warning to targets to stay off the highways in the area.

Manriquez posted about the raids and gave advice to targets on how to evade capture:

“ICE RAIDS are planned for Monday & Tuesday in Northern Virginia, per multiple sources who tell us ICE has obtained between 75 and 100 judicial warrants.”

“NOTE: Judicial warrants mean ICE can go into your homes, so plan accordingly.”

“NOTE: Remember that state police have been deputized to help ICE, so highways, etc, are unsafe.”

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IRS Won’t Reveal Addresses of Illegal Aliens After Request from ICE Officials

IRS officials have decided to conceal the home addresses of some 700,000 people suspected of being in the United States illegally, according to a report from the Washington Post.

The decision came on a request from immigration enforcement officials for those locations, and it was the IRS “rebuffing” attempts by the administration of President Donald Trump to gain access to that information for his crackdown on illegals.

The report noted that the Internal Revenue Service had promised “undocumented immigrants” over the years that it would protect their information and it would be safe for them to file income tax documents “without fear of being deported.”

And the IRS said the law doesn’t allow the release of personal information, even to another government agency.

AT the time, the IRS claimed, “There is no authorization under this provision to share tax data with ICE.”

The report said an estimated one-half of the 11 million illegal aliens in the country file income tax returns, filing with individual taxpayer numbers, or ITINs, as they are ineligible for Social Security numbers.

The report credited this population with paying billions of dollars in federal taxes.

The report said the Washington Post got access to a memo in which Department of Homeland Security officials asked the IRS to link the names with a last known address, phone number or email, and the request was a followup to a DHS request weeks ago that would let immigration officials turn over a list of names to the IRS in order to get home addresses.

The publication said five anonymous people familiar with the scenario made those claims.

Then this week a memo asked the IRS “to deploy dozens of highly skilled IRS auditors and criminal investigators to launch probes of businesses suspected of hiring immigrants not authorized to work in the United States,” the report said.

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ICE Raids Texas Bakery: 8 Illegal Aliens Arrested, Owners Charged for Harboring and Aiding Illegals

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Abby’s Bakery in South Texas, arresting eight illegal aliens and slapping the bakery’s owners with charges of harboring and abetting criminals.

The bakery owners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, admitted to knowingly hiring and sheltering illegal aliens—an act that flouts federal law and contributes to the ongoing border crisis.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) confirmed that the pair was charged with bringing in and harboring aliens and aiding and abetting the harboring of aliens, offenses that carry serious penalties under U.S. law.

Yet, rather than report them to authorities or comply with federal employment laws, they chose to harbor them, even providing shelter for some of the individuals on their own property.

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Biden Hangover Part 2: NYPD Does The Meme, Arrests Illegals At Anti-ICE Protest

The idea had been percolating online for a week or more: why wouldn’t law enforcement officers simply show up at a rally supporting illegal aliens? Logically, there would likely be plenty of undocumented individuals present.

Turns out, the illegals turned out. So did the NYPD.

The difference between Trump’s first term and this one? Instead of chuckling and saying “That’s a good idea,” concerned parties emboldened by the Trump mandate are taking action.

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Jackson Newspaper Gives Community A Heads-Up During Active ICE Investigation

A local newspaper announced an immigration arrest operation while it was ongoing Friday in Jackson Hole using information from a local sheriff, prompting some to criticize both entities over safety and security concerns.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reported Friday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were active in the area that day, trying to execute 17 warrants on specific people in Teton County.

Spanish-language instructions on how to read the story in Spanish preceded the body of the online story.

The news about ICE was “according to Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr, who spoke with the News&Guide before noon Friday,” the outlet wrote, adding that Carr said ICE was still in the community at that time, but that he did not want to assist or impede it.

Though the story leads with Carr as its primary source, the sheriff told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that the Guide called him, and he merely confirmed to the outlet what others had told its reporters about the operation, which was becoming visible in the community.

Carr said he also wanted to give community members clarity about the “targeted” nature of the operation.

“I just confirmed (the information),” said Carr, adding that he didn’t seek to endanger federal agents by exposing their operation. “I fully support the mission of ICE to remove criminals out of our community.”

But he acknowledged that rumors about the operation can stir fears in Jackson.

“My goal was just to let the public know, ‘Yes, they’re here but they’re here for targeted individuals and it was not any sort of widespread roundup,” said Carr.

The sheriff confirmed that he was the person who told the Guide that ICE was executing 17 warrants, but he said he told the paper that information was “unconfirmed.”

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Tom Homan Confirms ICE Operation Leak Points to the FBI — Criminal Investigation Underway: “Not Only Will This Person Lose Their Job and Lose Their Pension, They’re Going to Go to Jail”

Tom Homan confirmed that a series of leaks related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations may have originated within the FBI.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation set to take place in Los Angeles, targeting thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal records, was leaked to the far-left press.

According to the leaked documents, the raid—dubbed Operation Compliance—was designed to be one of the largest immigration enforcement efforts in recent years, targeting primarily individuals with outstanding deportation orders, criminal convictions, and known gang affiliations.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem openly criticized the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and appeared to accuse the agency of leaking sensitive information concerning impending “large-scale” immigration raids.

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