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The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Inside the ICE offices where morale is ‘miserable' and the deportation push has become ‘mission impossible'
Outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, President Donald Trump showers 'heroic' agents with praise. Inside, that adoration is nowhere to be found. Trump has hailed ICE agents as brave, determined and 'the toughest people you'll ever meet.' They are, after all, tasked with carrying out one of his key policy goals: mass deportations. Campaigning for his second term, Trump promised to execute 'the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America." Since taking office, the president has made it a goal to deport 1 million people per year. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has demanded 3,000 arrests per day. ICE raids have since disrupted the country. Despite Trump casting a bright light on the immigration enforcement agency, the reality inside ICE offices is very dark. With high expectations, shifting priorities and a heightened fear of losing their job, morale is low and the pressure is high, officials told The Atlantic. 'It's miserable,' a career ICE official told the magazine, characterizing the task as 'mission impossible.' Another former investigative agent told the magazine: 'Morale is in the crapper.' The ex-official added: 'Even those that are gung ho about the mission aren't happy with how they are asking to execute it—the quotas and the shift to the low-hanging fruit to make the numbers.' Although the administration pledged to arrest 'the worst of the worst,' data last month shows ICE has arrested just a small fraction of those convicted of serious crimes, such as murder and sexual assault. For example, of the 13,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who were convicted of murder, the agency had arrested just 752 of them from October 1 to May 31. Instead, data suggests the agency has arrested a large portion of non-criminals since Trump took office. Of the arrests from Trump's inauguration through early May, 44 percent had a criminal conviction, 34 percent had pending charges and 23 percent had no criminal history, ABC News reported. After Memorial Day, the portion of non-criminal arrests spiked; 30 percent of those arrested had criminal convictions, 26 percent faced pending charges, while 44 percent had no criminal history. Then there's the plain-clothes arrests, including of international students in the U.S. for college, that There's a notable shift in priorities from trying to keep the nation safe to being quota-driven, some officials said. 'No drug cases, no human trafficking, no child exploitation,' a veteran agent told The Atlantic. 'It's infuriating.' The agent is considering quitting rather than having to continue 'arresting gardeners.' Some have actually quit. Adam Boyd, an attorney who resigned from the agency's legal department in June, said he left because of the change in mission. 'It became a contest of how many deportations could be reported to Stephen Miller by December,' Boyd told The Atlantic. 'I had to make a moral decision,' Boyd continued. 'We still need good attorneys at ICE. There are drug traffickers and national-security threats and human-rights violators in our country who need to be dealt with. But we are now focusing on numbers over all else.' Others fear losing their jobs, seeing as there have been two major shakeups in the span of a few months. Two top officials were removed from their posts in February; two directors at the agency were ousted from their leadership roles in May. That same month, Miller imposed his 3,000-arrests-per-day quota. The staff shakeups combined with lofty goals have put agents on edge. 'No one is saying, 'This is not obtainable,'' one official told the magazine, referring to Miller's quota. 'The answer is just to keep banging the field'— an agency term for rank-and-file officers — 'and tell the field they suck. It's just not a good atmosphere.' Still, the Trump administration has maintained that morale is sky-high. 'After four years of not being allowed to do their jobs, the brave men and women at ICE are excited to be able to do their jobs again,' Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, ICE's parent agency, told the outlet. Last week, Congress passed Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' his sweeping legislation that includes a massive funding — $165 billion — for the Department of Homeland Security. It allocates $45 billion for immigration detention centers and roughly $30 billion to hire more agents. 'One of the most exciting parts of the 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT' is that it includes ALL of the Funding and Resources that ICE needs to carry out the Largest Mass Deportation Operation in History,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'Our Brave ICE Officers, who are under daily violent assault, will finally have the tools and support that they need.' The newly passed legislation also provides money for 'well-deserved bonuses,' a White House spokesperson told The Atlantic. That allegedly includes $10,000 annual bonuses for ICE personnel. Working in the agency has always come with some amount of pressure, some officials told the magazine, but the Trump administration has brought new challenges. John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director for part of President Barack Obama's second term, told The Atlantic that employees voiced concerns common in most workplaces, such as getting paid for overtime work. The concerns now are a bit different. ICE attracted people who 'like the mission of getting bad guys off the street,' Sandweg said. Now, the agency is'no longer about the quality of the apprehensions' but about quantity. A former official during the Biden administration told The Atlantic that the agents were appreciated, which 'went a long way.' 'Giving people leave, recognizing them for small stuff, that kind of thing. It went a long way,' the ex-official said. 'Now I think you have an issue where the administration has come in very aggressive and people are really not happy, because of the perception that the administration doesn't give a shit about them.'
CTV News
26-06-2025
- CTV News
Canadian man dies while under ICE custody in Florida
Watch 49-year-old Canadian man Johnny Noviello has died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida.
CTV News
26-06-2025
- CTV News
A Canadian has died in ICE custody, cause under investigation
A Canadian in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has died, according to the government agency. 'Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old citizen of Canada in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was pronounced deceased by the Miami Fire Rescue Department June 23 at 1:36 p.m.' reads a news release. 'The cause of death is still under investigation.' This is a breaking news story. More details to come.
Politico
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Navigating a possible Prop 187 moment
Presented by IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID — For years, Mike Madrid has been moonlighting as the Cassandra of Latino voters, warning Democrats that the once-reliable voting bloc was slipping out of their grasp. Now, after the 2024 election largely confirmed his thesis, Madrid, a Republican strategist who was a co-founder of the anti-Donald Trump Lincoln Project, says he wants to help politicians from both parties deliver what Latinos actually want. His newly launched initiative, 'Working Class Latino Project,' promotes focusing on economics — and veering away from the immigration-centric focus of many Latino politicians in the last few decades. There's some irony in the timing of this debut, just as immigration has surged back into the spotlight. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are now daily occurrences in Los Angeles, potentially galvanizing a whole new generation of Latinos a la those who were politically mobilized after the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 in 1994. Madrid acknowledged that backlash to Trump's immigration enforcement could cause some Latinos to return to the Democratic Party. But, he insists, the cost of living concerns that drove Latinos' rightward shift aren't going away. 'Even if this is a possible Prop 187 moment, shame on us if we are not simultaneously creating an economic agenda,' Madrid said. 'Because one of the lessons that needs to be learned by my generation is if you don't have an economic agenda, it can all go away with one election.' Madrid commissioned a poll after the November election that found blaring warning signs for Democrats. More than three-quarters of respondents said that California state government policies made prices much higher or somewhat higher. Well over half of respondents disapproved of how the government was addressing the economy. But that doesn't automatically mean an upside for Republicans; respondents weren't convinced the GOP understood their needs. To Madrid, the findings signaled a jump ball for both parties to make a better dollars-and-cents appeal to Latinos. Plans for the initiative include polling, crafting policy development and hosting a series of economic summits across the state to identify key economic issues that Latinos want to see addressed. He plans to work with a bipartisan group of Latino legislators, as well as pollster Mindy Romero of USC. The venture is backed by Business Roundtable, with funding from corporate interests such as energy companies and developers. The money source will almost certainly raise eyebrows from Democrats, especially progressives and allies of organized labor, who may see the project as a stalking horse for conservative policies. Madrid says the project 'isn't going to be anti-labor at all,' and notes that he's willing to buck either party's orthodoxy. 'If tariffs harm the Latino middle class, which they do, I will be very vocal about that, along with other restrictive regulatory measures like CEQA [on] the left,' he said. Assemblymember Juan Carrillo, a moderate Democrat from the Antelope Valley who is involved in the initiative, said some progressives may be skeptical of Madrid's message. But he said his party needs to be 'realistic' about the economic dissatisfaction of the state's largest plurality ethnic group. 'The worry that older Latinos will continue to go to the right, I think that we need to pay attention to what they're telling us,' said Carrillo. 'Those hardworking older Latinos like myself — I came here when I was 15 years old from Guadalajara. I came here and I worked hard, and that's all the Latinos are telling me that in my district, that we are not paying attention' to issues like economic opportunity and upward mobility. Madrid has been working with Latino lawmakers from both parties to get the initiative off the ground — a touchy prospect given the partisan self-segregation in the Capitol between the longstanding Latino Legislative Caucus (composed only of Democrats) and the new Hispanic Legislative Caucus (for Republicans). He had advised against forming an official bipartisan caucus, precisely because hot-button issues like immigration could be too toxic for such a group. And other issues — economic ones — aren't going anywhere. 'Regardless of what's happening in LA, with the ICE raids and with the real need for immigration reform, people are still struggling to put gas in their cars,' said state Sen. Suzette Valladares, an Antelope Valley Republican also involved in the project. 'These economic issues are not going to go away, but are going to compound for working-class Latinos.' GOOD MORNING. Happy Thursday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as 'CA Playbook' in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@ and bjones@ or on X — @DustinGardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced. STATE CAPITOL BUDGET BRUISER — Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget negotiations with the Legislature are going down to the wire due to a clash over housing policy and labor protections. Newsom has made approval of the entire budget contingent on whether lawmakers approve a proposal to slash environmental reviews for many housing projects in urban areas. As Lindsey Holden wrote for California Playbook PM, many rank-and-file Democrats and their powerful union allies are fuming over a new minimum wage requirement for residential construction workers. Debate at the Capitol on Wednesday devolved into should-be allies angrily comparing Newsom's plans to Jim Crow, slavery and immigration raids, our Eric He, Jeremy B. White and Rachel Bluth write. Meanwhile, district attorneys and law enforcement groups say the budget deal between Newsom and legislative leaders is a 'slap in the face' because it doesn't set aside more funding to help counties fully implement tough-on-crime ballot measure Proposition 36, which Newsom opposed. Read more, also from Lindsey. FANTASY FEUD — Major operators in the online fantasy sports-wagering arena are upping their Sacramento messaging blitz ahead of a highly anticipated opinion from state Attorney General Rob Bonta on whether the sites are legally operating in California. Chatter about Bonta's forthcoming opinion has ramped up as industry insiders speculate where he will land on the legality of placing wagers on fantasy team lineups, an increasingly lucrative online industry. The decision could have national implications for fantasy sports, given the size of California's market and the legal gray area in which the sites often operate. The speculation escalated Wednesday night, when KCRA reported that Bonta was 'expected to deem all online fantasy sports platforms illegal in the state,' citing multiple unnamed sources. Fantasy sports platform operators argue that their sites shouldn't be considered traditional sports wagering because selecting players to create a fictional roster of athletes is a game of skill, not chance. But tribal communities — which spent tens of millions of dollars to defeat a 2022 measure to legalize sports gambling — are fighting the fantasy industry's growth. They want Bonta to declare it illegal in all forms. Bonta began reviewing the legality of fantasy leagues in 2023, after receiving a request from a lawmaker, former state Sen. Scott Wilk, who warned fantasy betting was proliferating and is more akin to a game of chance. SILICON VALLEY MAHAN REBOUNDS — Progressive Democrats are having a very good week after Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won the Democratic Party's primary for New York City mayor. But in the Bay Area, a different election Tuesday gave moderates cause to celebrate. In San Jose's special election for a City Council seat, moderate Anthony Tordillos trounced his labor-backed opponent by double digits. The outcome was a major coup for Mayor Matt Mahan, who has long battled with labor unions that loathe his brand of anti-establishment, centrist Democratic politics. Mahan endorsed Tordillos, chair of the Planning Commission, in the runoff against Gabby Chavez-Lopez, a progressive more closely aligned with unions. The outcome ensures that Mahan's moderate-aligned bloc will hold the majority on the City Council. Mahan, in an interview with Playbook, said he and Tordillos both represent a current of Silicon Valley leaders willing to challenge the status quo within liberal circles. 'People want elected leaders who are focused on results, not partisan or ideological battles,' Mahan said. Tordillos has backed some of Mahan's headline-grabbing policies, including his plan to tie city employees' pay raises to performance metrics. That said, he didn't support Mahan's much-debated plan to arrest homeless people who repeatedly refuse shelter. Nevertheless, Tuesday's outcome is a comeback of sorts for Mahan. In the first round of the council contest, Mahan's preferred candidate, Matthew Quevedo (his deputy chief of staff), narrowly finished in third place. Union leaders were quick to frame the outcome as a referendum on the mayor. But Mahan quickly moved to align himself with Tordillos in the runoff. Tordillos said the two, who share a background in tech, hit it off over their interest in using data to shape policy — as well as a sentiment that city government has been too dominated by ideology. 'Residents don't feel like the status quo is doing enough,' Tordillos said, citing the city's response to housing, homelessness and affordability problems. INFLUENCE WATCH OIL MONEY — Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra received a $39,200 contribution from Chevron for his 2026 campaign for governor. It appears to be the oil company's first contribution to a candidate for governor since Jerry Brown in 2014, as Rob Pyers of Target Book observed. Becerra's contribution is likely to raise eyebrows among climate hawks in the Democratic Party. But his Chevron money pales in comparison with fellow gubernatorial hopeful Antonio Villaraigosa's pivot toward the oil industry. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the former LA mayor has accepted at least $176,000 in contributions from people with ties to the industry. CLIMATE AND ENERGY THIS WAY OR THE HIGHWAY — The ongoing brawl between labor and environmental groups over highway expansion is back on with a new wrinkle. Read last night's California Climate on why affordability — and not pollution — will be front and center when the two sides face off Thursday over $600 million in funding for six projects. TOP TALKERS STAYING PUT — Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Maria S. Salinas expressed concern in a Q&A with the LA Times for the city's small businesses amid the upheaval and ICE raids. Salinas said fears around recent enforcement actions in Los Angeles County — where immigrants account for 35 percent of the county's more than 10 million people — have caused both workers and consumers to stay home. 'When people are afraid to go out, they stay away from local stores and aren't going out to eat at their local restaurants. You see the emptiness in the local neighborhoods,' Salinas said. IN A CORNER — Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, in a post on X, encouraged the state to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Education after the agency concluded that California violated Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in school sports according to their gender identity. In the post, Kiley called on the state to reverse the policy, restore medals and apologize to female athletes before it loses funding. Now, the state Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation have 10 days to change the policies or 'risk imminent enforcement action.' California officials said the state 'believes all students should have the opportunity to learn and play at school, and we have consistently applied existing law in support of students' rights to do so,' as NBC News reported. AROUND THE STATE — A new bill calls for creating a new regional agency for homelessness programming in Sacramento County and would effectively replace the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. (The Sacramento Bee) — A federal judge ruled that Los Angeles officials failed to follow a settlement agreement that would create more shelter for homeless people. (LAist) — Five former baseball players at the University of San Francisco filed a lawsuit claiming that the school failed to 'to adopt and enforce policies' prohibiting abuse allegedly by two ex-coaches. (San Francisco Chronicle) PLAYBOOKERS PEOPLE MOVES — Emily Cohen has been named CEO at United Contractors (UCON). She currently serves as UCON's executive VP and has been with the organization for over 15 years. — Jason Rzepka is joining the firm RALLY as senior director, effective mid-July. Rzepka, a veteran strategic comms pro, was most recently president and founder of WRIT LARGE. — Lisa M. Magorien has joined the law firm Seyfarth Shaw in Los Angeles (Century City), as a partner in its labor and employment practice. She was previously a partner at Lagasse Branch Bell & Kinkead, LLP. BIRTHDAYS — David Bocarsly at the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California … Robert Gonzalez at Teamsters Local 1932 … Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech … Mark McGrath at Creative Artists Agency … Lynwood City Councilmember Juan Muñoz-Guevara (favorite treat: tres leches cake or a Paloma cocktail) … OpenAI's Elizabeth Wilner … Merit's Trevor Cornwell … BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Wednesday): Dennis Cuevas-Romero at the California Primary Care Association … Hunter Bishop WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO's California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.
Sky News AU
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Democrat politician ‘summoned mob' to unleash riots on Los Angeles
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer discusses how a Democrat assemblyman "summoned a mob" to riot in Los Angeles in response to Trump's deportation raids. A battalion of roughly 700 US Marines has been deployed to Los Angeles as anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots continue. According to Fox News, citing a senior defence official, the Marines will be tasked with protecting federal personnel and property.
