Latest news with #ICE
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Zohran Mamdani 'needs to be deported': Republicans over NYC mayoral candidate's anti-ICE stance
Calls for the deportation of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani are growing louder among Republicans. While Mamdani himself has vowed to expel the 'fascist' US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out from the city properties. President Donald Trump's Border Czar Tom Homan warned against it, saying, 'Good luck with that.' New York mayoral candidate, State Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) speaks to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025 in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. (AFP) 'It's game on,' Homan told Fox News, a day after Mamdani declared victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens and a Democratic socialist, had made immigration reform a central part of his campaign. His platform promises to 'kick the fascist ICE out' and strengthen New York's sanctuary city protections by cutting off cooperation with federal agents, boosting legal aid, and safeguarding immigrants' data. 'Zohran Mamdani will fight Trump's attempts to gouge the working class and deliver a city where everyone can afford a dignified life,' reads a statement on his campaign website. Homan responded by saying Mamdani's proposals carry no legal weight. 'Good luck with that, federal law trumps him every day, every hour of every minute,' Homan said. 'We're going to be in New York City, matter of fact, because it's a sanctuary city and President Trump made it clear a week and a half ago — we're going to double down and triple down on sanctuary cities.' According to Homan, ICE operations will increase in New York due to concerns about public safety and national security. He said more agents would be deployed and worksite enforcement would be expanded 'tenfold.' Homan also compared New York to Florida, claiming that cooperation with ICE is smoother in Republican-led states. 'We don't have that problem in Florida, where the sheriffs work with us,' he said. 'So we're going to double up and triple up on New York.' He added, 'Not only are we going to send more agents to the neighborhood, we are going to increase worksite enforcement tenfold.' 'Little Muhammad' needs to be deported In the latest, Tennessee Republican Congressman Andy Ogles ignited a political firestorm this week after referring to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as 'little Muhammad' and calling for his deportation. 'He needs to be DEPORTED,' Ogles wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 'Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalisation proceedings.' In the same post, Ogles labeled Mamdani 'an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York.' The congressman escalated his rhetoric with a formal letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging the Department of Justice to investigate whether Mamdani gained U.S. citizenship through fraud. He cited a 2017 rap lyric by Mamdani referencing the 'Holy Land Five' — individuals who led a Muslim charity shut down for illegally funding Hamas in 2008. Curbing ICE, Mamdani's one of many plans for New York While his pledge to remove ICE from city facilities has drawn national attention, it is just one part of a broader agenda. Mamdani's campaign also promises to establish city-run grocery stores, freeze rent hikes in rent-stabilised apartments, and make city buses free for all. He says these proposals would be funded through a $10 billion tax increase on large businesses and wealthy residents. Since 2021, Zohran Mamdani has served as a state assemblyman representing Astoria, Queens. His recent win in the Democratic mayoral primary suggests growing public support for his progressive platform in New York City.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Mahmoud Khalil details detainment during son's birth: It ‘got me in the heart'
Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for 104 days, in a Friday interview on MSNBC recounted what it was like to miss the birth of his first son. 'I lost, like, one of the divine moments with — with my wife and — and son. I mean, the first time was literally, like, 3:30 a.m., moments after, like, the delivery. I just heard him crying,' Khalil said in an excerpt of an interview airing Saturday on MSNBC's 'The Weekend: Primetime.' 'And — and that literally, like, got me in the heart. And I think it's — it's just unbelievable that someone had the cruelty to take that moment from — from me,' Khalil said. Khalil was released on June 20 from ICE detention after his March arrest. He is a lawful resident of the U.S. with a green card and served as one of the lead negotiators of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University while in school. He was not charged with a crime. 'My priority now is to get back to my wife and son,' Khalil told reporters after his release. His arrest was the first of several foreign students the Trump administration detained in its crackdown on campus protests. Khalil and his wife's son was born in May. His wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said that returning to an empty apartment after the birth of their son was one of the most difficult moments for her. 'We walked into the apartment. And it was just — it was, like, quiet. And — and it's not how I imagined walking into my apartment with my new baby. I don't know. I think all the emotions kind of hit me at that point. I just — I just wanted him to be there,' she said about her husband. Last week, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release, saying he was not a flight risk nor a danger to community. However, the case is still being litigated after the administration appealed the ruling the same day. 'There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner — and, of course, that would be unconstitutional,' wrote Farbiarz in his ruling. As a condition for his release, Khalil's travel is restricted to New York, Michigan, Washington, New Jersey and Louisiana for family visits, court appearances and interactions with Congress.
CBS News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Aurora woman visits husband at ICE detention facility, learns he was sent for deportation
An Aurora wife and mother is speaking out after learning her husband could be deported in the coming days, following a visit to the Aurora ICE detention center. "His life is on the line," said Alexandria Dowell, "and we have a daughter. She cannot see her dad anymore. What does that mean for us?" Ariel Cruz Penton and Alexandria Dowell with their daughter Alexandria Dowell Dowell, 27, met her husband, 34-year-old Ariel Cruz Penton, when she was vacationing in Miami roughly four years ago. Penton had already been living and working in the U.S. after fleeing Cuba as a political refugee. "My husband came to the U.S. about seven years ago. When he came to the border, he presented himself and pleaded political asylum," said Dowell. Penton's attorney, Carlos Dantes, tells CBS Colorado that federal agents coerced the Cuban migrant into signing documents that he didn't know would end his right to humanitarian parole after entering the U.S. That parole would've given him temporary permission to stay in the U.S., which is required under the Cuban Adjustment Act, while he filed for an asylum claim. Under this act, Dantes says his client would have eventually been granted residency. Instead, he received a deportation order. CBS Dowell says they have been actively fighting to reopen his case and get him a green card. They also filed for citizenship through their marriage nearly a year and a half ago. "We had our immigration meeting about three weeks prior to him being detained, and then we even had another one scheduled in the books," she said. "So, we had every reason to believe that we were going to be okay." Their worst nightmare became a reality on June 10. On the same date, thousands took to the streets across the country in anti-ICE demonstrations, and federal agents detained Penton while working. "I don't know if they were following him, how they found him, but three unmarked cars just came up, cornered their cars in, had him get out of the car and arrested him. And it makes no sense why someone with no criminal background or even a speeding ticket would need that much force to be taken and detained," said Dowell. "He works really hard, we pay our taxes, we also own a home and we're a family. We're married, I'm U.S. born, our daughter is U.S. born, so we have everything on paper that should help us through this process, and yet the system has failed us." "We are waiting to speak to another deportation officer, and seeing if we can get a hearing as soon as possible," said Dantes. On Friday, June 27, Dowell took CBS Colorado with her on her family's visit to the detention center to meet and speak with her husband. However, she was not prepared to find out Penton was not only removed from the facility that morning, but that he was already being scheduled for deportation. Ariel Cruz Penton and his daughter Alexandria Dowell "What am I going to do? That's my husband," said Dowell. "But I can't do anything, and I have to be strong for my daughter." Neither Dowell nor Dantes were notified about his removal from the facility, and it wasn't until after calling multiple detention facilities and Penton's detention officer, they finally learned he was sent to El Paso and is already on the list to be deported. "Him being detained is a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong set of documents," said Dantes. "Even though there is a petition on her behalf for him. But what we're seeing right now is that none of this matters." All the emotions Dowell has worked to suppress over the last few weeks have now reached a tipping point. "They said he'll be out of the U.S. today or tomorrow, and I'm like, where? He's a political refugee; you can't just take him. He's waiting for his credible fear interview," said Dowell. We asked ICE numerous questions about Penton's case, including why he was detained and why loved ones were not notified about his removal from the facility on Friday. A spokesperson told us they would need more time to answer those questions. "I just wish I could see him again," said Dowell. Dowell hopes her story will show others the reality of families like hers who are being ripped apart. "It feels like no one is safe at this point, and that's the scary part," said Dowell. Dowell and Dantes are still looking for ways to prevent Penton from being deported, especially to Cuba.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Federal agents blast way into California home of woman and small children
Federal agents blasted their way into a residential home in Huntington Park, California, on Friday. Security-camera video obtained by the local NBC station showed border patrol agents setting up an explosive device near the door of the house and then detonating it – causing a window to be shattered. Around a dozen armed agents in full tactical gear then charged toward the home. Jenny Ramirez, who lives in the house with her boyfriend and one-year-old and six-year-old children, told NBC through tears that it was one of the loudest explosions she heard in her life. 'I told them, 'You guys didn't have to do this, you scared by son, my baby,'' Ramirez said. Ramirez said she was not given any warning from the authorities that they wanted to enter her home and that everyone who lives there is a US citizen. The raid comes as federal agents have ramped up immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and across southern California over the last few weeks. Huntington Park is in Los Angeles county. Immigrants have been swept up in raids at court houses, restaurants and straight off the street. Some of the people targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) have been US citizens. In one incident, Ice agents detained a Honduran woman seeking asylum and her children, one of which was a six-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with leukemia. The agents who raided Ramirez's home in Huntington Park on Friday also reportedly sent a drone into the house after setting off the explosive device. The agents told Ramirez that they were searching for her boyfriend, but did not tell her why, according to NBC. Ramirez told the news station that he was involved in a vehicle collision with a truck carrying federal agents last week. She said it was an accident and unintentional. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection told NBC: 'Jorge Sierra-Hernandez was arrested because he rammed his car into a CBP vehicle, causing significant damage and obstructed the work of our agents and officers during course of a law enforcement operation.' The spokesperson said agents were 'assaulted' during this incident and 'additional rioters threw rocks and other objects at our personnel'. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately return the Guardian's request for comment. In a separate incident in Huntington Park on Friday, a man was arrested for apparently impersonating an Ice agent, according to another report by the local NBC station. Police said they arrested the man after he parked in a disabled zone. In his vehicle, they allegedly found a firearm and documents that appeared to be from Homeland Security Investigations and CBP. The man was arrested over possession of an allegedly unregistered firearm and later released on bail.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans tells ICE don't waste resources on immigrants with no criminal record
Gabe Evans tells ICE not to waste resources on immigrants with no criminal record Gabe Evans tells ICE not to waste resources on immigrants with no criminal record Gabe Evans tells ICE not to waste resources on immigrants with no criminal record U.S. Representative Gabe Evans (Col-R) is urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus on arresting and deporting dangerous criminals. U.S. Congressman Gabe Evans (Col-R) CBS Evans and five other U.S. House Republicans -- all members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference -- sent a letter to the interim director of ICE warning him not to use "limited resources to pursue individuals that do not constitute a threat to public safety." "We just have to make sure now that we're a few months into the new administration that we're keeping the focus where it needs to be," Evans told CBS Colorado. Evans says, based on ICE's own records from last summer, there were nearly 660,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S. with criminal records, including 13,000 convicted murderers. "The focus from a public safety, from a national security lens must remain on deploying all available resources to find these 600,000 plus criminals." Last month, the Trump administration told ICE to shoot for 3,000 arrests per day. Critics say that's led to agents casting too wide of a net to meet the quota. Based on government data obtained by CBS News, ICE is over capacity with about 59,000 people in custody. Forty-seven percent of them have no criminal record. But Evans says the ICE facility in Colorado is a different story. It has room for 1,500 detainees and has about 1,300 in custody. Homeland Security data shows 57% of them have been convicted or charged with crimes; 27% have received deportation orders from immigration judges. The rest are considered a flight or safety risk said Evans, who visited the facility last week. "So the same way that we treat American citizens, you go through that risk analysis and then figure out from a public safety or a flight perspective do we need to keep this person in custody pending final removal," Evans said. Evans says not every undocumented immigrant should be deported. His grandfather crossed the border illegally and then earned his citizenship by serving in World War II. "We have got to have a viable pathway forward, a workable pathway forward for people like my family that want to come to the United States, work hard, raise their families, live the American dream," Evans said. Evans admits current laws don't provide that pathway. Stay tuned," Evans said. "I'll drop a little teaser here. We're doing a lot of work in that, and this is a continuing conversation that I'm sure we'll continue to have in the next couple of weeks and months." Evans says he is not aware of any raids on businesses or farms in Colorado. He says, unless the raids are associated with criminal activity, he doesn't support them. It's estimated, ICE has deported about 100,000 people so far this year. Evans and his congressional colleagues asked the interim director of ICE how many had criminal convictions, what crimes they were convicted of, whether their countries of origin are cooperating, and if he needs additional resources to focus on the 660,000 criminals it's identified. They gave the director until Monday to respond.
