Latest news with #ImmigrationsandCustomsEnforcement
NBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- NBC News
ICE detained a U.S. citizen in L.A. and charged her with obstructing an arrest
The family of a 32-year-old U.S. citizen said she was wrongfully detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers and falsely accused of "forcefully obstructing" officers during an immigration raid in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning. Andrea Velez appeared in federal court Thursday charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect and was released on $5,000 bail. She did not enter a plea and is due back in court on July 17. The arrest comes as ICE and other federal agents have arrested thousands of people, many of whom have not committed any crimes. President Donald Trump promised aggressive immigration enforcement and mass deportations as part of his campaign platform. Velez's sister, Estrella Rosas, and their mother saw the incident unfold moments after dropping Velez off at 9th and Main Street, where she works as a marketing designer. Rosas said she saw officers throw Velez to the ground and then put her in an unmarked vehicle. "We dropped off my sister to go to work like we always do. All of a sudden, my mom in the rearview mirror, she saw how a man went on top of her. Basically, dropped her on the floor and started putting her in handcuffs and trying to arrest her," Rosas told NBC Los Angeles. Rosas recorded her and her mother's reaction while watching the arrest. "That's my sister. They're taking her. Help her, someone. She's a U.S. citizen," Rosas says in the video. The Union Del Barrio group, which supports Latin American and Mexican communities, posted video to Instagram that shows four officers detaining someone on the ground at the scene. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that Velez was arrested for "impeding an arrest after she forcefully obstructed an ICE officer by making physical contact with him." Luis Hipolito was also arrested at the same time for allegedly assaulting an ICE officer, she said. McLaughlin said both he and Velez "kept ICE law enforcement from arresting the target illegal alien of their operation." "Secretary Noem has been clear: if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McLaughin said. She added, without citing evidence nor a timeframe, that ICE officers face a 500% increase in assaults. A criminal complaint alleges that Velez "stepped into an officer's path and and extended one of her arms in an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending a male suspect he was chasing and that Velez's outstretched arm struck that officer in the face." But Velez and her family dispute this and are considering launching a civil lawsuit against the federal officers. "Andrea is a victim of excessive use of force by federal agents, they had no right to stop her and no right to beat her. What you see in the videos is police brutality," Luis Carillo, Velez's attorney, told NBC Los Angeles. The LAPD said it was called to the scene in response to a report of a kidnapping in progress by individuals who wouldn't identify themselves, but officers arrived to find a federal operation. The police said they had no prior knowledge of the operation and that while the crowd became "increasingly agitated," they made no arrests. The statement mentioned the arrest of a woman, thought to be Velez, but did not mention her by name nor mention any alleged assault. "At one point, a partially handcuffed woman approached and stood near a LAPD officer. After several minutes, a Federal agent approached and assumed control of the woman. LAPD was not involved in her detention or arrest," the police statement said. Rosas, who is also a U.S. citizen, said her older sister is a graduate of Cal Poly and has never been in trouble with the law. "When I saw the videos, they made me feel really upset," she said. "I'm a U.S. citizen, my sister is a U.S. citizen and we have rights and they violated her rights, so it doesn't make me feel secure that they're going to protect or respect my rights."
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump border czar Homan, wife ‘living separately' because of death threats
President Trump's border czar Tom Homan said in a new interview that he and his wife are not currently living together because of death threats he has received for enforcing Trump's immigration crackdown and the amount of time he spends working. 'My wife's living separately from me right now, mainly because I worked for many hours, but mostly because of the death threats against me,' Homan told New York Post columnist Miranda Devine on Wednesday's episode of her 'Pod Force One' podcast. 'I see her as much as I can, but the death threats against me and my family are outrageous.' Homan, who holds the formal title White House executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations, was a top immigration aide to Trump during his first presidency but moved to the private sector and worked as an immigration policy pundit over the past four years. 'Even my wife said, 'You know, it's a huge pay cut,' because I'm doing good in the private sector,' he said of receiving Trump's call to join the new administration while the couple was having dinner one night. 'She's in the middle of remodeling — months of stuff — and all that stopped because I'm leaving the private sector, going back to a government paycheck.' He said she urged him to do it anyway. 'She said, 'You need to go back or we'll get divorced … because if you don't go back, you'll be waking up every day, pissed off that you didn't go back, and I've gotta live with four more years of you being pissed off, so go back and do the job,'' Homan recalled, chuckling. Homan told Devine he didn't hesitate at the chance to join Trump's second administration this year and doesn't regret the decision, despite personal sacrifices. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he said. 'I mean, I had a thousand protestors at my house in Upstate New York, my lake house.' 'I'm not going away, 'cause I know how important it is to secure our border,' he added. Homan defended Immigrations and Customs Enforcement activity in Los Angeles, which sparked mass anti-ICE protests that prompted Trump to deploy thousands of National Guardsmen and Marines to guard federal buildings and workers. 'We were serving three criminal arrest warrants … it was a criminal investigation that happened to deal with money laundering, tax evasion and customs fraud,' Homan said. 'We know that in the Garment District, there is strong suspicion that some of that funding is sent to Mexico and Colombia to fund cartel activity, so it was a criminal investigation.' 'Right away, the left went nuts, saying 'ICE is doing an immigration raid,' and they came out in force,' he added. Over the course of the nearly hourlong interview with Devine, Homan praised New York Mayor Eric Adams (D), saying he believes Adams cares about public safety, and derided other Democrats whom he accused of using immigration as a political ploy. 'Every Democrat I ask these questions to, they can't answer me: What's the downside of less drugs coming across? What's the downside of less sex trafficking of women and children? What's the downside of less people in terrorist organizations coming across? What's the downside of less gang members and criminals coming across?' Homan said. 'What's the downside of a secure border?' 'They'll never admit it, but they know that they see a future political benefit,' he added.
New York Post
17-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump admin's 3,000 ICE arrests per day quota is taking focus off criminals and ‘killing morale': insiders
The Trump administration's mandate to arrest 3,000 illegal migrants per day is forcing ICE agents to deprioritize going after dangerous criminals and targets with deportation orders, insiders warn. Instead, federal immigration officers are spending more time rounding up people off the streets, sources said. 'All that matters is numbers, pure numbers. Quantity over quality,' one Immigrations and Customs Enforcement insider told The Post. 9 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement insiders told The Post that the Trump administration's arrest quotas are 'killing morale' within the law enforcement agency. Photo by DavidThe policy is also 'unmaintainable' at current staffing levels, and it's 'killing morale,' sources added. And the agency is burning through its budget at a break-neck pace — with ICE already $1 billion over budget, Axios reported Monday. On Sunday, Trump doubled down on his plans to deport illegal immigrants, saying ICE agents would carry out the 'single largest Mass Deportation Program in History' in Democrat-led cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Agents are desperate to meet the White House's high expectations, leading them to leave some dangerous criminal illegal migrants on the streets, and instead look for anyone they can get their hands on at the local Home Depot or bus stop, ICE insiders said. 'These quotas are undermining the agency's ability to focus on the really serious criminal aliens,' said John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under President Barack Obama. 9 The Trump administration has pushed ICE to make 3,000 arrests per day. AFP via Getty Images The quotas force ICE agents to let illegal migrant gangbangers and criminals fly under the radar because the feds no longer have the time for the days-long investigations it takes to hunt them down, said ICE insiders and Sandweg. 'The transnational gang members, the convicted felons, the bad actors make it hard on ICE find them. They don't just sit there and make it easy, they don't show up in a Home Depot parking lot, hanging around,' said Sandweg. He added: 'They have no choice but to pivot away from that guy because you could sink a hundred hours to get that gang member and you'd get one arrest, but it's a really good arrest and made a huge impact on public safety.' 9 Federal agents escort detainees after nabbing them after their immigration check-ins in New York City on June 4, 2205. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) 9 Federal agents detain a person outside an immigration courtroom at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York on June 10, 2025. AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura White House advisor Stephen Miller instructed ICE to focus on easier targets as he ordered the agency to ramp up its arrest numbers, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. In one meeting, he said he could sweep Home Depots and 7-Eleven convenience stores and immediately collar 30 illegal migrants in Washington, DC, according to the newspaper, which quoted sources in the room. 'Who here thinks they can do it?' Miller reportedly said. The Trump administration initially instituted a 1,800-per-day-quota in January. But ICE insiders say the quota is doing more harm than good. 'We are working constantly at an unmaintainable pace. It takes hours to process one person who is illegally in the country and to be told that what you're doing still isn't good enough is killing agents' morale,' said an ICE source. Another ICE source fumed that 'it gets harder and harder' as the days go by as agents are moving from 'targeted operations' aimed at catching criminals and migrants with removal orders to now hitting up 'people in the street' — like the raid on a Los Angeles-area Home Depot earlier this month, which drew massive protests and riots. DHS revealed on Monday that 75% of the migrants arrested in Trump's first 100 days had either convictions or pending criminal charges. It's a major shift from the early promises of Trump's border czar Tom Homan, who pledged that the mass deportation operation would 'concentrate on the worst of the worst,' days after the president's election victory. 9 Federal agents clash with protesters near a Home Depot in Paramount, Calf. after ICE raids on June 7, 2025. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Trump at first seemed to back away from the expansion of the mass deportation effort, recognizing that it was taking its toll on the agricultural and hospitality industries. In a post on Truth Social last Thursday, Trump acknowledged that his deportation campaign was hurting the farming and hospitality industries. That same day, ICE officers across the country received an order to 'please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,' according to the New York Times. 9 ICE agents chasing migrant workers at a farm in Oxnard, Calif. on June 10, 2025. ABC7 9 ICE agents conducting a raid in a meat a Glenn Valley Foods meat production plant in Omaha on June 10, 2025. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout via REUTERS. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump wrote. 'This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming,' he said. The Trump administration backed away from the pause days later — with Trump posting about stepping up raids in sanctuary cities. 9 Federal agents escorting detainees to vehicles in New York City on June 4, 2025. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images 'I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role,' he posted Sunday. 'You don't hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!' Homeland Security officials directed agency leadership in a call Monday to resume raids at those businesses — which have higher proportions of illegal migrants in their workforce — following the short pause, according to the Washington Post and CNN. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post that the agency is 'delivering on President Trump's and the American people's mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe.' 'Secretary Noem unleashed ICE to target the worst of the worst,' she said, adding that 75% of ICE's arrests have been illegal migrants who have criminal convictions or pending charges. 'The shocking story here is that instead of deporting many heinous criminals, the Biden Administration chose to RELEASE these known public safety threats into our communities instead of deporting them. President Trump and Secretary Noem will always fight for the victims of illegal alien crime and their families,' said McLaughlin. 9 ICE inmates are seen waving to a drone, while holding a banner that says they want to be deported in Anson, Texas on May 12, 2025. Getty Images White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said 'anyone' who is in the US illegally 'is at risk of deportation.' 'President Trump is working hand-in-glove with DHS and ICE agents to deliver on his campaign promise to remove criminal illegal aliens from the country while executing the largest mass deportation program in history,' said Jackson. Jackson emphasized the 'critical' need for ICE to receive more funding from Congress through 'Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill' to continue the mass deportation raids. The bill would fund 'at least' one million deportations, 10,000 new ICE officers and 3,000 border agents, she said. It would also give immigration agents 'bonuses,' which Jackson said 'they've more than earned.'
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sen. Alex Padilla handcuffed and forcibly removed from Kristi Noem's LA press conference
Federal law enforcement agents forcibly removed Sen. Alex Padilla from a June 12 press conference, forced him to the ground and handcuffed the California Democrat after he interrupted an event for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid mass protests over the administration's immigration crackdown. 'I am Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary,' Padilla said as he was hauled from the room at a federal building in Los Angels where Noem was speaking. Noem said during the press conference that she doesn't know the two-term Padilla and that he hadn't requested a meeting with her. More: DHS ends temporary protections for 530K immigrants from these countries 'So when I leave here I'll have a conversation with him and visit and find out really what his concerns were,' the Trump Cabinet secretary said. 'I think everybody in America would agree that wasn't appropriate.' Noem's agency oversees Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which has been carrying out raids in the city. Protesters have flooded downtown Los Angeles for five days, some of which have devolved into violence as protesters burn cars and loot buildings. 'We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and mayor have placed on this country,' Noem said as Padilla started asking: 'Madam Secretary I want to know why you insist on –' before he was grabbed by security guards. Padilla was pushed to the ground and handcuffed after being hauled out of the room. His office issued a statement shortly after a video of the incident went viral on social media. The senior senator from California was in Los Angeles to 'perform Congressional oversight of the federal government's operations in Los Angeles and across California,' his office said in a statement. 'He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.' More: 'Unhinged': Democrats are furious Sen. Alex Padilla was hauled out of Noem briefing Democrats condemned Padilla's treatment. "If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you," California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X. On the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, called the events in Los Angeles 'un-American' and urged an investigation. 'I just saw something that sickened my stomach, the manhandling of a United States Senator,' he said. 'We need immediate answers to what the hell went on.' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alex Padilla handcuffed and removed from Noem's LA press conference
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Choking back tears, Sen. Alex Padilla details his LA handcuffing
WASHINGTON – Sen. Alex Padilla delivered an emotional floor speech June 17, his first remarks on the Senate floor since the California Democrat was dragged out of a press conference in Los Angeles held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, pushed to the floor, and handcuffed. "You've seen the video. I was pushed and pulled. Struggled to maintain my balance. I was forced to the ground, first on my knees and then flat on my chest," Padilla said as he choked back tears. "If that is what the administration is willing to do to a United States senator for having the authority to simply ask a question, imagine what they'll do to any American who dares to speak up." Federal law enforcement agents forcibly removed Padilla from Noem's June 12 press conference after he interrupted the event amid mass protests over the administration's immigration crackdown. More: 'Unhinged': Democrats are furious Sen. Alex Padilla was hauled out of Noem briefing Noem's agency oversees Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which had been carrying out raids in Los Angeles. Protesters flooded the nation's second most populous city's downtown for days, some of which devolved into violence as protesters burned cars and looted buildings. Padilla said that he had gone to the federal building in Los Angeles where Noem was holding the press conference that day because he had a briefing with a four-star general about the military deployment in the city. His briefing was delayed by Noem's press conference, he said, so he asked an FBI agent and a national guardsman whether he could attend. They escorted him to the press conference, where he listened until Noem began speaking about plans to "liberate" Los Angeles. 'We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and mayor have placed on this country,' Noem said. Padilla started asking: 'Madam Secretary I want to know why you insist on –' before he was grabbed by security guards. During his floor speech, Padilla said the administration planned "to somehow liberate us from the very people we democratically elected to lead our city and our state. Let that fundamentally un-American mission statement sink in." "Are we truly prepared to live in a country where the president can deploy the armed forces to decide which duly elected governors and mayors can lead our constituents?" he continued. Noem said during the press conference that she didn't recognize the two-term Padilla and that he hadn't requested a meeting with her. They met for for 15 minutes afterward, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Tricia McLaughlin, a Trump DHS official, wrote on X that Padilla's actions were "disrespectful political theatre" and claimed that the Secret Service believed he was an attacker. Republicans in Congress similarly put the blame on Padilla. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters shortly after the event that Padilla's actions were "wildly inappropriate" and said he should be censured. Democrats were furious upon viewing the viral video of Padilla being forced to the ground. "Anybody that looks at that video will understand that this amounts to an assault, a felony," said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "The White House is unhinged and out of control." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sen. Padilla chokes back tears in floor speech on handcuffing
