Latest news with #OperationGuardian
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Yahoo
The story every mum and dad needs to hear as kids groomed and blackmailed on social media
Children across Birmingham are being groomed and exploited into gangs through social media. It's a frightening truth, but it's the reality here in 2025. Youths are approached online with offers of high-end trainers or 'fast cash', in return for running drugs or driving a car on behalf of a gang. Once they're involved in that lifestyle, they find themselves carrying knives, machetes and even guns. Whether its unfiltered videos of stabbings or gangs being glamourized in music videos, children are all being exposed to the same content on social media. Read more: Birmingham Children's Hospital offers 'harsh truth' as staff fight to save teenage stab victims We explored the dangers of social media influence on children as part of our Deep Cuts project - a three month investigation into the root causes and societal issues behind knife crime. As part of our five key asks, we're urging all parents to make sure parental controls are applied to their child's phone. Birmingham's gang police spoke of the cruel tactics used to groom kids online while an ex-gang member told us how social media posts can instigate violence in the real world. We also sought advice from NSPCC, who shared the grooming signs every parent should look out for in their teenagers. "There's predators that prey on kids that are just given an iPad, or given a phone and parents say 'here you go, leave me alone,'" Sgt Varley, of Operation Guardian, told us. "They're in their room and it's like kicking them outside and leaving them to fend for themselves - that's the equivalent of it, being a kid on social media, because they don't know what's right and what's wrong. 'They film them performing a sexual act and it will be posted on Snapchat or Instagram if you don't do this.' They are basically like prisoners." Worryingly, the online world also creates a platform where confrontations - which would otherwise stop at school - can escalate 24/7. One ex-gang member, who carried a knife and was involved in a street robbery, told BirminghamLive: "If social media wasn't around, a lot of things that happened to me wouldn't have happened. "Certain arguments that happen should not have gone that far. If group chat wasn't made to carry it on and certain posts weren't made to aggravate people, make people angry and embarrass people. "Social media is just that thing that puts the cherry on top for everything and just instigate so many things, that don't need to be instigated." His story is one of fear and hope - and one every parent should read. Though he grew up in Longbridge, he found himself influenced by excluded kids sent to his school. Mixing with gang-affiliated youths from Handsworth, he was slowly and gradually gripped into a life of crime. In his own words, he spoke of the changes As well as a youth worker, Ken is a 'peer researcher' currently exploring the link between social media and violence. "Lots of people are the same and they're having the same crisis because one of the top things is social media," he added. "Everyone is seeing the same content, everyone is seeing the same music. So everyone is listening and taking in the same information. "Everyone is naturally just talking the same, having the same mentality, having the same Issues, let's say because they're taken in the same things." As part of Deep Cuts, we also asked the NSPCC for their important advice on protecting children from grooming and exploitation. We were directed to view the signs parents should look out for in their kids - but also warned these could be masked as "normal teenage behaviour." A spokesman for the NSPCC told us: 'To determine whether a child is being exploited or groomed isn't easy as the signs can be subtle or even hidden. Older children may display what appears to be "normal" teenage behaviour that can otherwise mask more serious underlying problems. 'Children and young people can be groomed by a stranger or someone they know. This can happen either online, in person or both. When a child is groomed online, perpetrators may hide who they are by sending photos or videos of other people. They might target one child online or contact lots of children very quickly and wait for them to respond. 'Groomers will exploit any vulnerability they can to increase the likelihood of a child or young person becoming dependent on them and less likely to speak out. What is more, children may not realise that they are being been groomed. They may have complicated feelings of loyalty, admiration, love, as well as fear, distress and confusion. 'Potential signs of grooming may include whether a child is being very secretive about how and where they're spending their time. They may have an older boyfriend or girlfriend, unexplained amounts of money or new things given to them like clothes and mobile phones. They may also display sexualised behaviour that's not appropriate for their age. 'The impact of grooming can have a lasting impact on victims. It is important that parents speak to their children and address the consequences of violent or illegal behaviour. If parents or carers are concerned about the safety of a child, they should reach out to police or other agencies. There is also the NSPCC Helpline, where adults can receive free advice and information by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing help@ Meta, which runs WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, highlighted that they had launched Teen Accounts - which "at least 54 million teens around the world" had been moved into. "This means that they now have enhanced protections, like automatically being placed into private accounts and the strictest setting of our Sensitive Content Control, limits on notifications over night and reminders to leave the app after 60 minutes, and they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to," said a spokesperson for Meta.
The Independent
01-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
ICE raids wrong Oklahoma home, seizes life savings and leaves family ‘traumatized for life'
An Oklahoma mother and her daughters, all U.S. citizens, were reportedly subject to a violent and humiliating raid by federal immigration agents last week, despite allegedly not being the intended targets of the operation. 'It was so denigrating. That you do all of this to a family, to women, your fellow citizens,' the mother, using the pseudonym Marisa, told KFOR of the raid. 'You literally traumatized me and my daughters for life,' she added. 'We're going to have to go get help or get over this somehow.' Early Thursday morning, a multi-agency team of agents burst into the Oklahoma City rental home where the family had just settled after moving from Maryland, according to Marisa. The agents demanded the woman and her daughters go outside before they were able to fully change into day clothes, she said. 'They wanted me to change in front of all of them, in between all of them,' Marisa told KFOR. 'My husband has not even seen my daughter in her undergarments—her own dad, because it's respectful. You have her out there, a minor, in her underwear.' Agents told the family they had a search warrant, though it named an individual who appeared to have been a previous tenant of the home, Marisa said. Nonetheless, the officers tore through the home and seized phones and much of the woman's life savings in cash as evidence, while declining to leave a business card or give any indication of when she'd get her property back, Marisa said. 'I told them before they left, I said you took my phone. We have no money. I just moved here,' she added in her KFOR interview. 'I have to feed my children. I'm going to need gas money. I need to be able to get around. Like, how do you just leave me like this? Like an abandoned dog.' The mother said that the agents identified themselves as members of the FBI, the US Marshals, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Marshals denied participating in the raid, while the FBI told the outlet it had assisted on the case. "ICE was carrying out a court authorized search warrant for a large-scale human smuggling investigation. The case has been accepted for federal prosecution in the Northern District of Oklahoma,' a senior DHS official told The Independent. "The search warrants included the location of an address where U.S. citizens recently moved. The previous residents were the intended targets. The investigation resulted in the indictment of eight Guatemalan nationals for their roles in smuggling illegal aliens into the United States. Two of the eight indicted aliens have criminal convictions for narcotics possession, identity fraud, money laundering, and re-entry after deportation." In February, Oklahoma finalized multiple agreements with federal officials to increase cooperation on immigration operations as part of its 'Operation Guardian.' Multiple U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained as part of a push from the Trump administration and its allies to increase immigration enforcement. As part of the crackdown, the Trump administration has also resumed pursuing so-called ' collateral arrests ' of individuals who weren't the intended target of immigration raids but who were nonetheless encountered by officers. Such arrests were the subject of a 2022 class action settlement, putting strict limitations on how officers use such arrests.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
Oklahoma family say they're ‘traumatized for life' after being mistakenly targeted in ICE raid
An Oklahoma mother and her daughters, all U.S. citizens, were reportedly subject to a violent and humiliating raid by federal immigration agents last week, despite allegedly not being the intended targets of the operation. 'It was so denigrating. That you do all of this to a family, to women, your fellow citizens,' the mother, using the pseudonym Marisa, told KFOR of the raid. 'You literally traumatized me and my daughters for life,' she added. 'We're going to have to go get help or get over this somehow.' Early Thursday morning, a multi-agency team of agents burst into the Oklahoma City rental home where the family had just settled after moving from Maryland, according to Marisa. The agents demanded the woman and her daughters go outside before they were able to fully change into day clothes, she said. 'They wanted me to change in front of all of them, in between all of them,' Marisa told KFOR. 'My husband has not even seen my daughter in her undergarments—her own dad, because it's respectful. You have her out there, a minor, in her underwear.' Agents told the family they had a search warrant, though it named an individual who appeared to have been a previous tenant of the home, Marisa said. Nonetheless, the officers tore through the home and seized phones and much of the woman's life savings in cash as evidence, while declining to leave a business card or give any indication of when she'd get her property back, Marisa said. 'I told them before they left, I said you took my phone. We have no money. I just moved here,' she added in her KFOR interview. 'I have to feed my children. I'm going to need gas money. I need to be able to get around. Like, how do you just leave me like this? Like an abandoned dog.' The mother said that the agents identified themselves as members of the FBI, the US Marshals, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Marshals denied participating in the raid, while the FBI told the outlet it had assisted on the case. The Independent has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, for comment. In February, Oklahoma finalized multiple agreements with federal officials to increase cooperation on immigration operations as part of its 'Operation Guardian.' Multiple U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained as part of a push from the Trump administration and its allies to increase immigration enforcement. As part of the crackdown, the Trump administration has also resumed pursuing so-called 'collateral arrests' of individuals who weren't the intended target of immigration raids but who were nonetheless encountered by officers. Such arrests were the subject of a 2022 class action settlement, putting strict limitations on how officers use such arrests.
The Independent
29-04-2025
- The Independent
Oklahoma family say they're ‘traumatized for life' after being mistakenly targeted in ICE raid
An Oklahoma mother and her daughters, all U.S. citizens, were reportedly subject to a violent and humiliating raid by federal immigration agents last week, despite allegedly not being the intended targets of the operation. 'It was so denigrating. That you do all of this to a family, to women, your fellow citizens,' the mother, using the pseudonym Marisa, told KFOR of the raid. 'You literally traumatized me and my daughters for life,' she added. 'We're going to have to go get help or get over this somehow.' Early Thursday morning, a multi-agency team of agents burst into the Oklahoma City rental home where the family had just settled after moving from Maryland, according to Marisa. The agents demanded the woman and her daughters go outside before they were able to fully change into day clothes, she said. 'They wanted me to change in front of all of them, in between all of them,' Marisa told KFOR. 'My husband has not even seen my daughter in her undergarments—her own dad, because it's respectful. You have her out there, a minor, in her underwear.' Agents told the family they had a search warrant, though it named an individual who appeared to have been a previous tenant of the home, Marisa said. Nonetheless, the officers tore through the home and seized phones and much of the woman's life savings in cash as evidence, while declining to leave a business card or give any indication of when she'd get her property back, Marisa said. 'I told them before they left, I said you took my phone. We have no money. I just moved here,' she added in her KFOR interview. 'I have to feed my children. I'm going to need gas money. I need to be able to get around. Like, how do you just leave me like this? Like an abandoned dog.' The mother said that the agents identified themselves as members of the FBI, the US Marshals, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Marshals denied participating in the raid, while the FBI told the outlet it had assisted on the case. The Independent has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, for comment. In February, Oklahoma finalized multiple agreements with federal officials to increase cooperation on immigration operations as part of its 'Operation Guardian.' Multiple U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained as part of a push from the Trump administration and its allies to increase immigration enforcement. As part of the crackdown, the Trump administration has also resumed pursuing so-called ' collateral arrests ' of individuals who weren't the intended target of immigration raids but who were nonetheless encountered by officers. Such arrests were the subject of a 2022 class action settlement, putting strict limitations on how officers use such arrests.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill creating new felony for undocumented Oklahomans advances to Senate
Protestors wave the flags of Mexico and Guatemala as a large crowd gathers in front of the state Capitol in Oklahoma City on Feb. 3 to protest deportations and immigration enforcement in schools. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — House lawmakers on Thursday approved a measure along partisan lines that would create a new felony for being in the country illegally, despite critics calling it 'un-American' and saying it would create unnecessary fear. House Bill 1362 would allow an individual to be arrested and charged with a new felony punishable by five years in prison if they are apprehended for a violation of Oklahoma's criminal law and are determined to be an undocumented immigrant. But in lieu of imprisonment, they could agree to be returned to their country of origin by federal immigration enforcement if they have no other felony charges or previous convictions for a violent offense. 'America was built by immigrants coming in, but legally,' said Rep. David Hardin, R-Stilwell, the bill's author. 'And everybody is welcome into this country as long as they're legal, that's the end of the story. So all this bill does is it gives us a mechanism to align with the Trump administration.' The effort would repeal a controversial law signed by the governor in 2024, House Bill 4156, that created the crime of 'impermissible occupation' and is in limbo following court challenges. Hardin's legislation comes as immigration and the push for mass deportations remain a priority of Oklahoma's Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration. The bill, which passed along party lines, leaves determining a person's immigration status up to the 'discretion' of law enforcement, Hardin repeatedly said, but the officer must be 'sure' and 'without a doubt' when detaining someone for being undocumented. In response to questions about how this bill could lead to racial profiling, Hardin said that is not the intent of his legislation and that law enforcement goes through training to prevent this. Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Operation Guardian in November to deport undocumented immigrants held in Oklahoma's correctional facilities and recently said the deportation of these 525 incarcerated people will be weighed against the severity of the crime committed and the amount of the sentence served. The Republican governor also signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to grant three state law enforcement agencies the authority to enforce federal immigration laws. This agreement gives specially trained officers from each agency the power to interrogate people over immigration status, serve and execute arrest warrants for immigration violations. Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, called the bill 'un-Oklahoman and un-American.' He said being in the U.S. illegally is a civil violation, so escalating the penalty to a felony with a minimum cost of $35,000 to bond out of jail is a 'big jump.' 'I wish that the United States had an immigration system that actually works, but the reality is that that's not the case right now. Our immigration system is broken,' he said. '… But the bill itself is just flawed in so many different ways. It's unconstitutional, and each one of us swore an oath to the Constitution.' Alonso-Sandoval said undocumented immigrants pay $227 million in taxes to Oklahoma alone and work essential jobs. Other critics of the bill questioned if it would hold up in court since the earlier measure is on hold by the courts. Another lawmaker asked why the Legislature would align with a presidential administration, rather than laws passed by Congress. Resources for enforcing the bill also came into question as Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said funding and staff for law enforcement is already strained. Hardin said while he hadn't discussed this bill with any law enforcement officials, this is not a mandate. Each department can choose whether to enforce it. The bill passed with a 73-16 vote after moving through the House Judiciary and Public Safety Oversight Committee on March 3. It is eligible to be heard in the Senate. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
