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USA Today
a day ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Nude photos for cash? Immigrants go to new lengths to raise funds to cover legal fees
Immigrants and their families are going online to raise funds to defend against their deportation, from GoFundMe to OnlyFans. In a photo on a former model from Colombia smiles under a white visor as she sunbathes in South Florida. But the snapshot, taken poolside months ago, is far from her current reality: She's locked up in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. The cost of deportation defense can run into the thousands of dollars, and a growing number of immigrant families are resorting to online fundraising to make ends meet. A USA TODAY analysis of fundraising efforts of one of the nation's largest crowdsourcing sites, found dozens of campaigns that have raised more than $1.8 million since President Donald Trump took office, the majority in the past two months. Public generosity to the fundraisers appears to be growing as the president's mass deportation campaign has intensified. Organizers raised $1.7 million in June and July on GoFundMe, compared with about $141,000 in April and May – in step with ICE's expanding immigration enforcement. Before June, many of the fundraisers with the keyword "ICE" were campaigns related to ice hockey, ice cream and the ice bucket challenge, which raises money for ALS patients. GoFundMe declined to discuss the increase with USA TODAY or provide in-house data on immigration-related fundraisers. A spokeswoman said GoFundMe had internally verified 15 campaigns related to immigration detention, meaning both the organizers and beneficiaries have been vetted. didn't respond to a request for comment regarding immigration detention-related accounts. The Colombian woman's page explicitly centers on her ICE detention, playing on the "before" and "after" of her circumstances. USA TODAY spoke with her by video call to the ICE facility where she is detained and, separately, with her husband by cellphone. They requested anonymity out of fear their fundraising effort could impact her upcoming immigration bond hearing. In mid-July, her American-born husband was preparing to drive 14 hours overnight to surprise her at the Louisiana detention facility, where detained women are allowed one, two-hour visit per week. In a video call with USA TODAY, she cradled the phone receiver in front of rows of gray bunks and women moving around in sweats. The cherry-red polish she had on her nails when she was arrested had nearly grown out. Pleas for money answered online To the Department of Homeland Security, detained immigrants are "criminal illegal aliens" to be removed. DHS touts immigrant arrests on its social media pages, with mugshots and candid photos of serious criminal offenders. In reality, the majority of those arrested are not hardened criminals, according to data analysis by immigration researcher Austin Kocher. Federal agents are staking out courthouses to arrest people pursuing legal immigration pathways; raiding farms, racetracks, construction sites and restaurants; and detaining people pulled over by local law enforcement for traffic violations. ICE has prioritized for detention anyone in the United States without lawful status, to include people who have applied to remain legally or who entered under programs that were legal during the Biden administration. 'We look forward to USA Today reporting on fundraising for American victims and our brave law enforcement who are facing a 830% increase in assaults against them,' said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in an emailed statement. More: ICE agents hurt as assaults surge 700% amid aggressive enforcement One of the vetted GoFundMe organizers, 22-year-old Joanna Martinez, posted her family's story to in May after ICE detained her father. José Martinez crossed the border from Mexico nearly 30 years ago, without permission; he has no criminal record. He was on his way to put up drywall in Charlotte, North Carolina, she said, when ICE pulled him over. He spent a month in ICE detention; the $3,665 raised on the site helped post his $4,000 bail. But the family still faces thousands of dollars in legal expenses for his application for legal residency. "I still wake up in the middle of the night crying, worried," she said. "Will this happen again?" The Colombian woman is among those who do face criminal charges. Though she came legally to the United States on a tourist visa and is pursuing legal residency through her spouse, according to their account, she was charged with for driving under the influence in June and turned over to ICE. Still, the pleas for monetary assistance by her and others, chronicle the financial emergencies of family members of missing caregivers and absent providers. Some of the 94 GoFundMe campaigns launched since April have garnered donations in the double-digits; others are well into six-figure territory. A California mother of two whose youngest is still in high school has raised $6,721 in a week. A married Vermont homebuilder who co-owns a business has collected $36,975 since June 18. An Oregon vineyard manager whose expertise in grape-growing is renowned: $150,804 since June 14. In his blurb, Bryant Magaña described the "most painful and confusing time" of his life, after his Mexican wife Yocari was detained during her interview for a green card. "What seemed like a very important and exciting day for both of us, because we were so close to obtaining my wife's legal status, turned into one of our worst nightmares when she was detained by ICE," he said in a campaign that had raised $3,643 as of July 14. Luma Mufleh, chief executive of Kentucky-based Fugees Family, said she hesitated before hitting "send" on a campaign to raise funds for a Bowling Green student who, despite having lawful status, was detained by ICE shortly after his high school graduation. The nonprofit assists student refugees. "I wasn't sure people would support it," she said. "We're raising money in a community that went 60% for Trump. I didn't want the backlash." But the opposite happened: "Within 48 hours we raised $20,000, the bulk of that was from small donors," she said, and the student was released from ICE detention after more than two weeks. Falling in love, hoping to stay The Colombian woman met her husband when he was in a relationship and visiting her country. His parents were raised there and his grandmother is still a resident. The two kept in touch and years later, by then both divorced, they reconnected when she traveled on a tourist visa to South Florida. "One thing led to another and now we're married," he told USA TODAY. This is what freedom looked like before I was detained and locked up. Flowing river, silent nature, "She is beautiful. She likes to look at everything on the bright side. She has a strong belief in God and spirituality. She brought me a lot of peace with that sort of mentality and that sort of attitude," he said. Marrying her "was an easy choice," he said. Deciding to upload scantily clad and nude photos and videos they took as part of their own intimacy was harder. Her OnlyFans handle, @BlondeOnBond, features photos of a voluptuous woman in a skimpy bikini and the tagline: "The Blonde that Shouldn't Get Deported." It has generated a handful of subscriptions, he said. But it hasn't yet drawn in what many of the GoFundMe campaigns have. "I've been hesitant about it because I don't know where it's going to lead, but I'm trying to do anything to come up with the money," he said. Driving Uber full-time was enough for daily expenses, but not for the rapidly escalating cost of legal immigration defense. He estimates he has already spent $15,000, including the cost of her legal residency petition and attorneys to defend her from deportation. "Sometimes I am filled with faith and I think everything is going to turn out okay," the woman told USA TODAY in the video call. But then other times I lose heart." In a photo posted to her accounts, she sits at the edge of a rushing river in a green two-piece bathing suit. The picture is meant to be sexy, but her words are wistful: "This is what freedom looked like before I was detained and locked up." Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ice arrests of migrants with no criminal history surging under Trump
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency has exponentially increased the arrest and detention of immigrants without any criminal history since the second Trump administration took office, a data analysis by the Guardian shows. The information sharply contradicts Donald Trump's claims the authorities are targeting 'criminals' for deportation as part of his aggressive anti-immigration agenda. According to numbers gathered from Ice and the Vera Institute of Justice, after Trump returned to the White House in late January there was a steep surge in arrests of immigrants, in general. One of the sharpest increases in arrest numbers has been of immigrants with pending charges, who have not yet been convicted of any crimes. But the biggest increase has been people with no charges at all. Between early January, right before the inauguration, and June, there has been an 807% increase in the arrest of immigrants with no criminal record. The Department of Homeland Security and top White House officials continue to claim that Ice is targeting 'criminals' and 'criminal illegal aliens'. But the Ice data shows the agency is not just targeting those with criminal records. Being undocumented in the US is a civil infraction, not a criminal offense. 'The group of people arrested with only immigration violations used to be very, very small,' said Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University. 'The data reflects the fact that Ice is in the community, arresting an awful lot of people who don't have criminal histories. It doesn't reflect what the agency has claimed they're doing, which is going after the hardened criminals first, which I don't think the data supports.' Ice is certainly arresting people with criminal records, but the administration has not published data on what crimes people have been convicted of. Detailed statistics on arrestees is not available for 2025, but between October 2022 and November 2024, 78% of people arrested by the agency had a misdemeanor conviction or no conviction at all. Only 21% of people over that two year time period had a felony criminal conviction, a Guardian analysis of monthly Ice enforcement and removal operations shows. It is impossible to know how many people arrested since January have a felony criminal conviction because the government has not released that data. The sharpest increase in non-criminal arrests is following a late-May meeting, in which Trump administration officials yelled at top Ice officials, ordering them to arrest more immigrants. During that meeting, DHS secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller ordered Ice to arrest at least 3,000 people per day, which would be 1 million per year. Trump ran on a campaign of engaging in 'mass deportations' and since he took office his administration has escalated its tactics to meet that goal. As the Guardian reported this month, on 31 May, top Ice managers instructed officers throughout the country to 'turn the creative knob up to 11' to increase arrests. The internal Ice emails reviewed by the Guardian show officers were told to interview and potentially arrest 'collaterals', meaning people coincidentally present during an arrest. In the past, Ice typically targeted immigrants with arrest warrants. Now more people without any criminal history are being swept up in the dragnet. And the Trump White House has ordered an increase in the number of officials engaging in immigration enforcement operations. Special agents from various federal law enforcement agencies – including the FBI, the DEA, the ATF and Homeland Security Investigations – have been delegated to perform immigration enforcement work. There has also been an increase in the number of local jurisdictions deputized by Ice to carry out immigration enforcement work. The increase in immigration arrests has led to a rise in the number of people detained in Ice facilities nationwide. Kocher has been documenting these numbers closely, and tracked that as of 1 June, there were 51,302 people detained in immigration jails – the highest number since 2019. According to Kocher, the Trump administration has increased the number of people in detention so quickly that it is challenging to provide meaningful oversight. 'We know that these facilities are overcrowded, they're over capacity for what they are designed for,' said Kocher. 'Practically speaking, it means people are sleeping on the floor, they may not be getting enough food, they're almost certainly not getting adequate medical care.' In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security told the Guardian that 'since the beginning of President Trump's second term, we have arrested over 236,000 illegal aliens and have deported over 207,000'. However, according to the government's own data, since October, 186,000 people have been booked into immigration detention for the first time. DHS did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the discrepancy between the government data and the numbers the Trump administration is publicizing. Kocher said, in response to the discrepancy in the numbers: 'I think they're being dishonest and un-transparent because they are counting things in ways they have never been counted before to favor their political agenda and the perception they are trying to send to the base.' For advocates, one of the most outrageous steps has been the practice of engaging in arrests at immigration courts around the country. Asylum seekers going through the lengthy legal process of requesting to stay in the US have been targeted by immigration officials. After government attorneys dismiss their cases, Ice officials waiting in hallways or lobbies have arrested asylum seekers. Organizations are challenging the Trump administration's increasing efforts to arrest people at immigration courts. Last week, Innovation Law Lab, a legal organization that represents immigrants in civil rights cases, filed a suit against the Trump administration in Oregon to block the practice of courthouse arrests. On June 11, some Republican members of congress wrote to Ice expressing concern, saying, in part: 'There are levels of priority that must be considered when it comes to immigration enforcement.' The letter was sent to Todd Lyons, acting director of Ice, from Texas representative Tony Gonzales, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, and five other members of the GOP group. 'Every minute that we spend pursuing an individual with a clean record is a minute less that we dedicate to apprehending terrorists or cartel operatives,' the letter said.
The Guardian
14-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ice arrests of migrants with no criminal history surging under Trump
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency has exponentially increased the arrest and detention of immigrants without any criminal history since the second Trump administration took office, a data analysis by the Guardian shows. The information sharply contradicts Donald Trump's claims the authorities are targeting 'criminals' for deportation as part of his aggressive anti-immigration agenda. According to numbers gathered from Ice and the Vera Institute of Justice, after Trump returned to the White House in late January there was a steep surge in arrests of immigrants, in general. One of the sharpest increases in arrest numbers has been of immigrants with pending charges, who have not yet been convicted of any crimes. But the biggest increase has been people with no charges at all. Between early January, right before the inauguration, and June, there has been an 807% increase in the arrest of immigrants with no criminal record. The Department of Homeland Security and top White House officials continue to claim that Ice is targeting 'criminals' and 'criminal illegal aliens'. But the Ice data shows the agency is not just targeting those with criminal records. Being undocumented in the US is a civil infraction, not a criminal offense. 'The group of people arrested with only immigration violations used to be very, very small,' said Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University. 'The data reflects the fact that Ice is in the community, arresting an awful lot of people who don't have criminal histories. It doesn't reflect what the agency has claimed they're doing, which is going after the hardened criminals first, which I don't think the data supports.' Ice is certainly arresting people with criminal records, but the administration has not published data on what crimes people have been convicted of. Detailed statistics on arrestees is not available for 2025, but between October 2022 and November 2024, 78% of people arrested by the agency had a misdemeanor conviction or no conviction at all. Only 21% of people over that two year time period had a felony criminal conviction, a Guardian analysis of monthly Ice enforcement and removal operations shows. It is impossible to know how many people arrested since January have a felony criminal conviction because the government has not released that data. The sharpest increase in non-criminal arrests is following a late-May meeting, in which Trump administration officials yelled at top Ice officials, ordering them to arrest more immigrants. During that meeting, DHS secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller ordered Ice to arrest at least 3,000 people per day, which would be 1 million per year. Trump ran on a campaign of engaging in 'mass deportations' and since he took office his administration has escalated its tactics to meet that goal. As the Guardian reported this month, on 31 May, top Ice managers instructed officers throughout the country to 'turn the creative knob up to 11' to increase arrests. The internal Ice emails reviewed by the Guardian show officers were told to interview and potentially arrest 'collaterals', meaning people coincidentally present during an arrest. In the past, Ice typically targeted immigrants with arrest warrants. Now more people without any criminal history are being swept up in the dragnet. And the Trump White House has ordered an increase in the number of officials engaging in immigration enforcement operations. Special agents from various federal law enforcement agencies – including the FBI, the DEA, the ATF and Homeland Security Investigations – have been delegated to perform immigration enforcement work. There has also been an increase in the number of local jurisdictions deputized by Ice to carry out immigration enforcement work. The increase in immigration arrests has led to a rise in the number of people detained in Ice facilities nationwide. Kocher has been documenting these numbers closely, and tracked that as of 1 June, there were 51,302 people detained in immigration jails – the highest number since 2019. According to Kocher, the Trump administration has increased the number of people in detention so quickly that it is challenging to provide meaningful oversight. 'We know that these facilities are overcrowded, they're over capacity for what they are designed for,' said Kocher. 'Practically speaking, it means people are sleeping on the floor, they may not be getting enough food, they're almost certainly not getting adequate medical care.' In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security told the Guardian that 'since the beginning of President Trump's second term, we have arrested over 236,000 illegal aliens and have deported over 207,000'. However, according to the government's own data, since October, 186,000 people have been booked into immigration detention for the first time. DHS did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the discrepancy between the government data and the numbers the Trump administration is publicizing. Kocher said, in response to the discrepancy in the numbers: 'I think they're being dishonest and un-transparent because they are counting things in ways they have never been counted before to favor their political agenda and the perception they are trying to send to the base.' For advocates, one of the most outrageous steps has been the practice of engaging in arrests at immigration courts around the country. Asylum seekers going through the lengthy legal process of requesting to stay in the US have been targeted by immigration officials. After government attorneys dismiss their cases, Ice officials waiting in hallways or lobbies have arrested asylum seekers. Organizations are challenging the Trump administration's increasing efforts to arrest people at immigration courts. Last week, Innovation Law Lab, a legal organization that represents immigrants in civil rights cases, filed a suit against the Trump administration in Oregon to block the practice of courthouse arrests.
Boston Globe
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Number of local police joining ICE is surging
Overall, ICE initiated 514 new agreements with local law enforcement agencies across 40 states since January. Among the new partners are highway patrol troopers in Tennessee and officers with about 20 Florida agencies, who in recent weeks assisted ICE with the arrest of more than 1,300 people. 'It has been wonderful to see people jump in and be a part of it to make sure that we have not just the authorities that we need to go out there and to work, but also to have the local knowledge and the people in the community that really want to be a part of the solution,' Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. Advertisement ICE officials tout the expansion of the 287(g) Program — named for the section of law that allows the delegation of limited powers to local officers — as a 'force multiplier' to accelerate deportations and counter sanctuary policies that limit local cooperation with immigration agents. Advertisement But civil liberties experts and immigrant advocates warn such agreements come at a high cost to communities. Bringing on local partners at such a fast pace compounds the concerns, voiced by ICE's 'Local law enforcement in these jurisdictions have more authority to enforce immigration laws, but they don't necessarily know just by looking at someone walking down the street or pulling someone over whether they're an immigrant or not,' said Austin Kocher, a professor at Syracuse University who has tracked the 287(g) Program for 15 years. 'There are a lot of people in this country who are going to be affected by this expanded police power, maybe even who aren't immigrants, but who might get caught up in the system just because police think they're an immigrant or because they're conducting enforcement operations in places that affect U.S. citizens.' As of June 6, local and state police departments had signed 649 agreements to participate in the program, compared to the 135 agreements that were in place in January, according to ICE. An additional 79 applications were pending. A local police or sheriff's department may have multiple agreements with ICE. Over several days last month, the Tennessee Highway Patrol sent a surge of cruisers along the streets of south Nashville, pulling over drivers as ICE agents in unmarked vehicles with flashing lights waited next to them. They quickly drew the attention of passersby and activists who recorded video of the arrests. Advertisement Local leaders and immigrant advocates alleged the operation violated the civil rights of Nashville residents, noting it focused on areas where Latino immigrants live and involved far more traffic stops in a few hours than officers would typically do in an entire day. A majority of the 196 people arrested did not have prior criminal records, according to information released by ICE. The agency said 95 had criminal convictions or pending charges. Thirty-one had committed a felony by reentering the country illegally after being previously deported. 'What's clear today is that people who do not share our values of safety and community have the authority to cause deep community harm,' Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell said. O'Connell pressed ICE to release the names of everyone who had been arrested, prompting House Republicans to launch two congressional investigations into the mayor for allegedly creating a chilling effect on ICE's work in the city. Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said the action traumatized immigrant families. 'This operation — which was focused on a neighborhood with an established, vibrant immigrant population — reeks of racial profiling and unconstitutional discrimination,' said Sherman Luna, who fled Guatemala to the U.S. with her family following the kidnapping of her sister. Nashville and Davidson County governments, along with community nonprofits, But federal officials defended the operation and lambasted critics. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a news release, 'You would think all public officials would unite around DHS bringing violent criminal illegal aliens to justice and removing them from American communities. However, pro-open borders politicians — like Mayor O'Connell — would rather protect illegal aliens than American citizens.' DHS had included Nashville in a now-deleted list titled Advertisement It's unclear how many immigration-related arrests can be attributed to the 287(g) Program since Trump took office. ICE officials did not respond to Arizona Luminaria and ProPublica's request for those numbers. The agency issues monthly reports that selectively highlight arrests for violent crimes but don't provide arrest totals involving local police partners. Politics and power are driving the 287(g) Program's rapid expansion, according to Kocher. Republican-led states, including Florida, are passing laws requiring local police to sign on to the program. In conservative counties, it's popular to aid Trump's mass deportation effort. As a result, a large portion of new agencies signing 287(g) agreements are sheriff's offices, which run county jails. 'Sheriff's offices are elected,' Kocher said. 'Many of them are more than happy to do this, right? But regardless, it's also a public visibility electoral thing.' The expansion is not, however, driven by money. In fact, many expenses associated with the federal partnership, such as officer salaries, overtime and transportation, are covered by local agencies and taxpayers, per the agreements. Local departments can participate in three ways. The jail enforcement and warrant service officer models limit local agencies' immigration powers to people already being held in local jails and state prisons for other charges. The task force model extends that authority to community policing. The Obama administration Advertisement The Trump administration's decision to resurrect them has drawn sharp criticism. Immigration advocates say it erodes communities' trust in police, violates constitutional rights and shifts the focus of enforcement from immigrants charged with violent crimes to those who've committed minor offenses. They also note it comes as the Trump administration has None of the agreements allow local officers to act on their own. They must be supervised or directed by ICE. Local officers are also supposed to receive 40 hours of online training to participate in task force agreements. However, a 2021 Participation in the 287(g) Program is strongest in the Southeast, where entire states like Florida are mandating full cooperation with ICE. There were 277 agreements in Florida alone as of June 6, according to ICE's online database. But as quickly as it has taken hold in the Southeast, the expansion has so far missed the country's biggest cities and counties, home to large immigrant populations. Doris Marie Provine, an emeritus professor at Arizona State University and lead author of 'Policing Immigrants: Local Law Enforcement on the Front Lines,' attributed big cities' reluctance, in part, to concerns about the costs to police departments and taxpayers. 'From local law enforcement's perspective, it's an unfunded mandate,' Provine said. 'There has been much more interest in community policing than there was 20 years ago, and that is very directly in conflict with turning local police into immigration officers.' Advertisement Since the 287(g) Program first ramped up nearly 20 years ago, it has faced repeated accusations of racial profiling and of creating a chilling effect among immigrant communities, who may be reluctant to report crimes. Two Justice Department investigations alleged that enforcement under 287(g) agreements led to constitutional violations in North Carolina and Arizona. ICE subsequently pulled their agreements. In North Carolina's Alamance County, the DOJ found in 2012, six years after the sheriff signed a 287(g) agreement, that the sheriff's office engaged 'in a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing against Latinos.' A federal judge In 2013, a federal judge in Arizona reaffirmed the DOJ's findings and Trump pardoned Arpaio in 2017 of federal contempt charges for disregarding the judge's ruling. New Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan has declined to pursue new 287(g) agreements, citing the court's ongoing scrutiny of the department to ensure officers comply with the 2013 ruling. The cost to taxpayers for the ongoing effort to root out racial profiling in the department had surpassed $300 million as of March. Sheridan said he values the 287(g) Program but agreed with the judge's finding that community enforcement under the county's agreement was 'racially biased.' ICE did not respond to a request for comment about its monitoring of local agencies for potential civil rights violations. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: 'ICE's 287(g) Program is playing a critical role in fulfilling President Trump's promise to deport criminal illegal aliens and keep America safe. Dangerous criminal illegals with lengthy criminal records who pose a risk to the American people are detained all the time thanks to partnerships with local law enforcement officers.' In an In highlighting ICE's push for greater collaboration with local law enforcement, Homan rebuffed a common criticism of the 287(g) Program — that allowing police to enforce immigration laws erodes trust between communities and local officers. 'I'm sick and tired of hearing the talking point, 'Well, we're a welcoming community, we're a sanctuary city because we want victims and witnesses of a crime that live in the immigrant community to feel safe coming to law enforcement to report that crime,'' Homan told Arizona lawmakers. 'That is a bunch of garbage. A victim and witness of crime don't want the bad guy back out there either.' ICE is seeking more funding to expand 287(g) agreements and its detention and deportation capacity. During an 'We would much rather partner with a sheriff's department or a state corrections agency, someone that's in a state where an individual is arrested that we don't have to transport all around the country due to lack of bed space,' Lyons said.
