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USA Today
27 minutes ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown is getting ICE agents hurt
New tactics are being met with rising public resistance and desperation from suspects facing ICE detention and deportation. Masked agents. Terrified suspects. Emotions running high as screaming crowds press in, cell phone cameras in hand. Amid surging immigration enforcement across the country, federal agents are being hurt and hospitalized as they make increasingly public – and risky – arrests of people they believe are undocumented. White House officials say there's been a 500% increase in assaults on agents, as President Donald Trump's massive deportation campaign ramps up. Administration officials say bold tactics are needed to repel what they call an "invasion" of immigrants. But policing experts say the aggressive approach is provoking unnecessarily dangerous encounters. In a recent incident in Nebraska, a female ICE agent was thrown to the ground and choked by an accused Tren de Aragua gang member who said he was formerly a Venezuelan soldier, according to court documents. The suspect escaped and was later captured with the help of local police. Bystander videos have captured agents wrestling suspects to the ground on crowded streets and chasing them through farm fields. One widely circulated video showed an agent grabbing a U.S. citizen by the neck in a Walmart parking lot as he resisted being taken; federal prosecutors have charged the man with assault after he allegedly punched an agent. "Just this week, an ICE officer was dragged 50 yards by a car while arresting an illegal alien sex offender," Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary, told USA TODAY. "Every day the men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens." Trump, who has promised to deport 1 million immigrants this year, ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents "to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest mass deportation program in history." In a June 15 social media post, he also said: "Every day, the brave men and women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment and even threats from radical Democrat politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our mandate to the American people." Art Del Cueto, the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the union's 16,000 members welcome Trump's tough new approach to immigration enforcement. Detainees are increasingly fighting back, he said, because they know there's no escape: "That's why you're seeing attacks on agents." 'It's not about public safety anymore' But there's growing pushback from the public. Recent immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area sparked widespread protests and small riots downtown, as people threw rocks at law enforcement and set patrol vehicles on fire, and federal agents responded with tear gas and pepper spray. In some cases, federal agents are getting into shoving matches with crowds trying to film or stop what they consider to be overzealous detentions, especially when the masked agents refuse to identify themselves. Policing experts say ICE agents are exacerbating tense situations with practices that many American police departments have largely disavowed. While there's little objection to detaining violent criminals, masked agents descending upon Home Depot parking lots to arrest day laborers and food vendors – most with no criminal record – sparks panic. "The aggressive police tactics being employed by the federal government are causing the issue," said longtime police supervisor Diane Goldstein, who now directs the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, which has spent decades working to develop trust between the public and police. "Their direction and their leadership is directly putting them in a horrific situation," she said. The ICE tactics on display are a dramatic departure from how cautiously ICE agents previously worked, said Jason Houser, a former Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism official. Houser is an Afghanistan combat veteran who was ICE chief of staff during the Biden administration. Previously, ICE agents prioritized serious criminal offenders for arrest, Houser said. A team of agents might work for days or weeks to surveil a single subject before making an arrest carefully timed to minimize risks to the public and to agents themselves. ICE agents are trained to "think about prioritization of public safety, risk and removability," he added. Internal Justice Department training programs stress that police agencies should focus on de-escalation whenever possible and avoid making arrests in public areas, especially when there's no imminent threat to public safety. "Now we have political quotas: 'Give me 3,000 arrests' (per day). And all gloves are off," Houser said. "It's not about public safety any more." Before Trump, assaults were on the decline An increase in assaults on officers and agents this year would reverse a three-year trend of declining incidents, according to internal Department of Homeland Security statistics. Despite millions of daily interactions with the public, it was rare for ICE, customs officers and Border Patrol agents to get attacked on the job. The agency logged 363 assault incidents in fiscal 2024, down from 474 incidents in fiscal 2023 and 524 in fiscal 2022, according to DHS data. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes both customs officers and Border Patrol agents, has 45,000 law enforcement personnel and is the nation's largest law enforcement agency. Additionally, ICE has roughly 6,200 deportation agents on staff. White House officials declined to answer USA TODAY's questions about the numbers underlying the 500% increase in assaults, including the total number of injuries and their severity. It's also unclear how many additional federal agents have so far been re-assigned to immigration enforcement. Masked agents refusing to identify themselves In Huntington Park, Calif, authorities this week detained a man they said appeared to be pretending to be an ICE agent ‒ a situation they said was possible because real ICE agents are refusing to properly identify themselves as they aggressively detain people. Mayor Arturo Flores said the way ICE agents are acting does not present "the image of a just and lawful government." He said he can understand why people are angry and scared, especially knowing there are potential vigilantes and impersonators operating in the area. In response to the accused impersonator's arrest, Huntington Park leaders asked local police to verify the identity of any suspected ICE agents operating in the city. The suspect was found with multiple police radios, official-looking federal paperwork, flashing lights and a 9 mm handgun in his otherwise unmarked vehicle, according to city police. "When people cannot trust who is enforcing the law, public safety us undermines and fear begins to take hold," Flores said in a June 27 press conference. "What we are saying is simple: if you are acting with federal authority, show it. ID yourself Do not hide behind unmarked vehicles, facemasks and vague credentials." 'Someone's going to pull a gun' Underlying the tension between ICE and members of the public is a fundamental fact: ICE is arresting a record number of people who have no criminal record. An analysis by the Libertarian Cato Institute shows ICE is arresting four times more people with no criminal convictions or criminal charges per week now than the agency did during the same period in June 2017, when Trump was also president. "This is a radical tactical shift compared to Trump 1.0," David Bier, Cato director of immigration studies, in a post on X. ICE officials said they are responding to interference by the public. They say advocacy groups are stalking agents as they try to make arrests, putting the agents at risk and allowing their targets to escape. Federal agents testifying before a Senate committee on June 26 said that during a recent enforcement operation bystanders photographed an officer and posted the photo online with a threatening message. There's been a small but growing number of incidents, too, in which people called their local police department to report the presence of armed, masked men bundling community members into unmarked vehicles. ICE officials also often say that if hundreds of "sanctuary" jurisdictions around the country would hand over immigrants after they've completed a criminal sentence, that would reduce the need for agents to make risky, public arrests. But prior to Trump's enforcement ramp-up – about 70% of people arrested by ICE were transferred directly from the prison system into ICE custody, according to the nonprofit Freedom for Immigrants. Trump's new approach has pushed agents to make more arrests in the community at places like Home Depot. The push to meet a quota is driving agents toward raids and round-ups that expose them to greater risk in the field, says Goldstein. She worries that aggressive tactics combined with masks will eventually lead to a shootout. Twenty-eight states have "Stand Your Ground" laws that allow citizens to shoot if they feel threatened. "If you have masked people running out at you, someone's going to pull a gun out and someone's going to get hurt," she said. Trump's Homeland Security leadership appears to have no plans to back down. "Federal law enforcement is facing an ever-escalating increase in assaults," DHS posted to X, "but we will not be deterred."
Fox News
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump's crackdown nets over 2,700 alleged members of notorious Venezuelan gang
Federal authorities have arrested more than 2,700 alleged members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), the notorious Venezuelan gang that has come to define the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration and mass deportation program, since President Donald Trump took office, officials said Friday. Attorney General Pam Bondi noted the arrests during a White House press briefing when she was asked if an undocumented baby would be an immigration enforcement priority. Bondi responded by saying violent illegal immigrants are prioritized for deportation. "Let me put it in perspective: Today marked the 2,711th arrest in our country of TdA members," she said. "Everyone in this room agrees that they are one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world." Bondi blamed the large numbers of criminal illegal immigrants in the country, as well as letting TdA gain a foothold in the U.S., on the Biden administration's lax border policies. The Trump administration has designated the gang as a terrorist organization, which Trump has used to allow the speedy deportation of its members under the Alien Enemies Act, which has been challenged in the courts. "You should all feel safer now that President Trump can deport all of these gangs and not one district court judge can think that they're emperor over this administration and his executive powers," she said Trump standing nearby. Unknown in the United States until recent years, TdA has been involved in several high-profile crimes and terrorizing a Colorado apartment complex.
NBC News
14 hours ago
- Health
- NBC News
Venezuelan who had rare, major surgery was deported to El Salvador prison, and his family has no idea how he is
Even before her son was summarily locked up in a Salvadoran prison and cut off from contact with the outside world, Mariela Villamizar was worried about his health. Wladimir Vera Villamizar, a 33-year-old welder from western Venezuela, had recovered from a tuberculosis infection that left severe scarring in his right lung, according to his family and medical records reviewed by NBC News. His health was in decline when he arrived in the United States as an asylum-seeker last year and got progressively worse during the months he spent in immigration detention, his mother said. In January, his family said, after Vera had been released with an ankle monitor, he was rushed to the E.R. According to medical records, he underwent an emergency right pneumonectomy — the total removal of his right lung. 'The operation took over five hours,' his mother told NBC News from her home in Venezuela. 'God worked a miracle, and he came out OK, but the recovery was not what he expected.' About two weeks after the surgery and days after President Donald Trump took office, Vera was detained once again, according to his family. After President Trump invoked emergency wartime powers in March to deport more than 200 Venezuelan men to the supermax prison in El Salvador known as the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, or CECOT, Vera's name turned up on a list of deportees leaked to CBS News. 'Since the last time I spoke to him on March 13, I've gotten no information about him,' Villamizar's mother said. 'I don't know how he's doing, what condition his health is in, how they're holding him. Whether he's received any medical attention — or if they even have that over there in El Salvador. I just don't know.' Because every prisoner at CECOT is held strictly incommunicado, with zero access to lawyers or loved ones, nothing is known about whether Vera is receiving any treatment. The men were deported to CECOT under a presidential order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law meant to be used in wartime that allows for the suspension of certain due process rights for noncitizens from hostile nations. The legality of the move is the subject of multiple strands of high-stakes litigation in the federal courts. In a statement to NBC News, Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security's Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said that Vera 'self-admitted to spending 7 years in prison on murder charges in Venezuela' and is a 'member of Tren de Aragua, one of the most violent ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth.' Mariela Villamizar, Vera's mother, acknowledged that Vera had served a 7-year prison sentence in Venezuela for homicide, but said this sentence was served over a false accusation and denied that her son was ever a member of Tren de Aragua. Constitutional rights attorneys in the U.S. say the past criminal histories of the men sent to CECOT are irrelevant to their due process rights. 'The fact that he had a prior criminal conviction can in no way deprive him of his procedural rights, including the right not to be sent to his potential death in a third country,' said Baher Azmy, Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. 'But for this administration, the fact of a prior criminal conviction is enough to sweep away any legal protections for any person in this country.' On the question of Vera's medical condition, McLaughlin said: 'This criminal illegal alien was in good health at the time of his deportation to El Salvador,' and referred questions about his current medical care at CECOT to the U.S. State Department. The State Department referred the inquiry back to the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security would not comment on Vera's case or confirm whether he is, in fact, at CECOT. Vera's is one of hundreds of Venezuelan families who have been clamoring for more than 100 days for proof of life from their loved ones inside CECOT. In Vera's case, the need is concrete and urgent: The removal of a lung is a rare, major operation typically requiring months of intensively managed recovery, including medication and rehabilitation exercises. According to doctors interviewed by NBC News — including a thoracic surgeon, a pulmonologist and a primary care physician — detaining a patient so soon after a pneumonectomy raises serious alarms from a medical perspective. 'It's the kind of procedure you do maybe once a year,' said Dr. Kiran Lagisetty, a general thoracic surgeon at the University of Michigan who specializes in diseases of the lung. 'You know the name of the patient and you worry about them, because whenever you get a phone call about that, it's probably not something good.' In the weeks after Vera was detained but before he was sent to El Salvador, according to his family, his cough — which had initially gone away after the procedure — came back. Among other things, pneumonectomy patients are told to avoid scenarios that could lead to respiratory infections — such as the crowded indoor space of a detention center or a prison. Infection poses a serious risk not only to the remaining lung but also to the cavity left by the lung removed in the procedure. Physicians look closely for any sign of complications, especially in the first 90 days of recovery. 'When a patient starts coughing, we treat it very seriously,' Lagisetty said. Vera's is one of several cases of men sent to CECOT with existing medical conditions. Together and Free, a nonprofit organization coordinating legal and case management services for the CECOT families, has documented, among others, eight cases of asthma, two of diabetes and one of muscular dystrophy. Even routine cases of diabetes or hypertension can present serious problems if they are not properly treated, said Dr. Nora V. Becker, a primary care physician and assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. 'These types of chronic conditions require regular access to medications and high-quality medical care, or patients can face either immediate life-threatening complications or long-term complications that diminish their quality of life,' Becker said. Michelle Brané, Together and Free's executive director, said the families of the men deported to CECOT 'are terrified that they are at serious risk, not only from the general conditions at CECOT but from lack of appropriate medical treatment. Their lives are at risk because the United States put them there.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Fort Worth's Showdown Sting: 76 Busted, Tren de Aragua Cartel Tattoos Exposed
Police arrested 76 suspects for gun and drug crimes – including illegal aliens from Venezuela – after a mission called 'Operation Showdown.' Officials charged the suspects with 'federal and state firearms and drug offenses' after a two-month-long investigation in Fort Worth, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. Police seized 287 guns and close to 23 kg – or 50 lbs – of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin. 'This operation highlights the tremendous work of our law enforcement partners in dismantling criminal networks — located within and outside our borders — that flood our communities with deadly drugs and tools for violence,' said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson for the Northern District of Texas in the release. Eight illegal aliens from Venezuela are facing drug trafficking charges, according to the release: Benito Castro Marrufo, Carlos Moreno Olivero, Darwin Ayala-Ochoa, Edixon Urdaneta-Colina, Elwin Manama Rodriguez, Kenny Manama Perez, Luis Garcia-Zamora, Rodrigo Riquel Cardozo. 'These defendants are charged with trafficking mixtures of powder cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy),' the release reads. 'They referred to the narcotics they sold as Tusi, which had a distinct pink color, usually indicative of drugs tied to Venezuela.' The illegals showed up on May 21 'to provide armed protection' for what they thought was a 50 kg meth deal – actually 'a ruse arranged by agents.' They faced charges of firearm possession for drug trafficking, and four allegedly sold 'numerous' 9mm and .380 caliber pistols around the same time. During the arrests, agents photographed 'crown and star tattoos' on three suspects – Castro Marrufo, Manama Rodriguez, and Urdeneta-Colina, according to the release. These tattoos are common among the brutal Venezuelan cartel Tren de Aragua. Earlier this year, authorities busted a TdA leader near Houston and arrested forty cartel members just outside of Austin. After conviction, 'individuals who are in the country illegally will be handed over to ICE for deportation proceedings,' said Katherine Miller with the DOJ to The Dallas Express. Dexter Henson, spokesman for ICE-Dallas, told The Dallas Express that its staff were unavailable at the time and could not comment before publication. In total, 56 suspects are facing federal charges, including illegal firearms trafficking, unlawful possession and transfer of machine guns, unlawful possession of firearms, and firearm use during drug trafficking, according to the release. Charges also include conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. Defendants could face anywhere from 10 years to life in prison. Twenty suspects are also facing state charges in the Tarrant County District Court for crimes including possession of controlled substances like meth and fentanyl. Overall, the drugs included 14.8 kg of cocaine – enough to more than 12,300 people, and 480 g of fentanyl – enough to kill 400 people, according to the release. Police also seized 7.5 kg of meth, 1.4 kg of marijuana, and 13 g of heroin. The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office also posted that the weapons seized included 25 machine guns and 147 'machinegun conversion devices.' Some of the other charges are for methamphetamine trafficking against defendants Darrick Carter, Maya Bradshar, D'Morion Holleman, Raul Penalver, and Charles Blackshire, according to the release – all 'convicted felons.' Another charge is against Anthony Wilson, who has been on probation since January for 'second-degree robbery' in California, for firearm possession by a felon. He allegedly sold a pistol and ammunition in May, while he had a child in the back seat of his car. 'The public is reminded these charges are merely allegations, and that each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,' the release reads. The sheriff's SWAT, K9, Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team, and drone units worked with the ATF to execute a 'critical search warrant,' the office posted. They worked 'securing a three-building residence with nine individuals, including two children, ensuring their safety.' Deputies worked with the Fort Worth Police Department, Tarrant County District Attorney, ATF Dallas, Texas Department of Public Safety, Drug Enforcement Administration, ICE, and U.S. Marshals. 'We remain committed to protecting our communities, combating violent crime, and ensuring justice is served,' the sheriff's office posted. Eduardo Chavez, DEA special agent in charge in Fort Worth, said in the release that officials have taken 'kilos' of drugs and 'hundreds' of weapons off Fort Worth streets since April. 'We want children to play safely at community parks and ride bikes around neighborhood streets,' Chavez said. 'This joint operation was a giant, positive step toward that goal this summer.' Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells issued a stark warning in the release to drug and gun traffickers. 'We are sending a simple message today: if you choose to poison our streets, you will be met with the full force of the law — no exceptions, no excuses,' Sorrells said. 'This is about protecting our families and making sure drug dealers know: Tarrant County is not open for business.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE is jailing a record number of immigrants. Here's how
As Donald Trump's administration continues its mass deportation push, more than 56,000 people are being held in immigration detention, the highest level in years and what may be an all-time record. There were 56, 397 people in immigrant detention as over June 15, according to a Syracuse University database. Internal government data obtained by CBS News suggests an even higher figure, with roughly 59,000 immigrants behind bars — or 140 percent of the agency's ostensible capacity to hold them. The figures top both the 39,000 people held in the final days of Joe Biden's administration, and the previous recent record of 55,654 in August 2019, set during the first Trump administration. Among those in detention now, 47 percent have no criminal record whatsoever, and fewer than 30 percent have been convicted of crimes, according to analysis from The Independent. The Trump administration has achieved these staggering figures by both shifting tactics and major resources to immigration enforcement. One key plank has been aggressive legal maneuvering, declaring the United States under 'invasion' from foreign gang members, now labelled 'terrorists' as a means to invoke emergency powers like the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport accused members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The administration also revoked temporary legal status granted to more than 800,000 immigrants who fled violence, disasters and instability in countries like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The White House has also rolled back protections barring immigration arrests at sensitive locations like churches and bumped up the pace of immigration raids in the interior of the country, with more than 70 percent of detainees being arrested outside of border areas, per the CBS data. Those arrests have ranged from mass operations in Home Depot parking lots to nationwide arrests at courthouses and immigration check-ins with federal officials. To carry out its immigration powers, the administration has tapped resources from other agencies, including deploying federal troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California officials in response to widespread protests against immigration raids, directing federal law enforcement like the FBI and DEA to focus on immigration, and expanding partnerships with local police departments and jails to pursue and detain undocumented immigrants. Even this frenetic pace of enforcement, with officials notching roughly 1,200 arrests per day in June, looks set to expand. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have reportedly urged immigration officials to hit 3,000 arrests per day. Immigration and border enforcement already make up two-thirds of federal law enforcement spending, and the Trump administration's so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill' spending package could direct another $168 billion towards immigration and border law enforcement over the next five years, an unprecedented increase. After briefly flirting with an enforcement pause on undocumented immigrants working in agriculture and hospitality, the administration has said it will continue worksite raids. Trump's allies, such as Republican leadership in Florida, have also joined the effort. The Sunshine State is reclaiming public land in the Everglades to build 'Alligator Alcatraz' to detain thousands of immigrants. The project is expected to cost roughly $450 million a year to operate. The push to expand immigration operations has alarmed critics and observers, who say the nation's immigration detention system's long record of poor conditions and medical neglect is only getting worse under this pressure. 'The number of people in ICE detention is a grim indicator of Trump's cruel mass detention and deportation agenda at work, targeting people based on where they work and what they look like, destabilizing communities, separating families, and putting people's lives at risk,' Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, said in a statement to The Independent. 'At least 10 people have died in ICE custody since Trump was inaugurated,' she added. The arrest spree has also strained ICE's existing budget. The agency is reportedly $1 billion over its annual budget and set to run out of allocated funds as soon as next month.
