Latest news with #detentions
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
One day inside the deportation machine at a federal immigration court in New York
A brother is torn from his sister. A father arrives for his immigration hearing with his family, only to find that they will be leaving without him. A woman, seemingly relieved after emerging from her hearing, finds that her life is about to change when she is apprehended by federal officials waiting just outside the door. These are just some of the moments that happened on a single day in the Jacob K Javits federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, the largest federal immigration courthouse in Manhattan. Courthouse detentions have been one of many flashpoints in the Trump administration's expanding crackdown on immigration, as federal authorities seek to arrest 3,000 people a day. There have been reports of arrests at courthouses across the country, from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Chicago, turning routine hearings into scenes fraught with anxiety and fear. A recently filed class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration seeks to bar the practice of courthouse arrests. Immigration court presents an especially precarious situation. Not showing up for a hearing can have serious consequences, but as the Guardian observed in the hallways outside courtrooms in New York, showing up also has serious consequences. Even though some people had been granted follow-up hearings, they were detained by federal officials in the hallway and rushed to a stairwell for holding elsewhere in the building. On 18 June, representatives Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman attempted to conduct oversight on the building's 10th floor, where people have been held, sometimes for days at a time, but were rebuffed by federal officials. Recently released footage shows the harsh conditions faced by people held on the 10th floor. What follows is a visual timeline of a single day inside the halls of the Jacob K Javits federal building, where some people found their lives forever changed. 8.57am – A family walks towards a courtroom past masked federal agents. Only the father has a hearing, and his family would not be allowed to enter the room with him. They would have to wait elsewhere. 9.51am – A federal agent checks a stack of documents containing identifying information for people slated for detention. 10.11am – Federal agents load a detained man into an elevator. 10.17am – Federal agents wait. 10.30am – Federal agents lead a detained man to a stairwell. 11.25am – The New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, left, escorts a man to the elevator after his hearing. Lander has made regular appearances at the federal building to observe cases and help people leave the building. He was arrested on 17 June as he was attempting to help escort someone out. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Lander 'was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer', though video evidence of the encounter debunks that allegation. He was subsequently released the same day. 11.45am – After successfully escorting a man to the elevator, Lander then returns to a courtroom to observe another case. At 11.45am, he stands in the doorway and announces to federal agents that a man named Carlos has been granted a follow-up hearing in 2029. He asks the assembled agents if they would allow him to return for that hearing. No one says anything in response. 11.46am – Chaos breaks out as multiple federal agents grab Carlos while his sister screams. 11.55am – Court employees had informed a sketch artist that she wouldn't be allowed inside the courtrooms at the federal building, despite the fact that such artists are generally permitted in courtrooms where cameras are banned, as in high-profile federal trials. The sketch artist resorts to drawing the scene in the hallway. She would subsequently be allowed into the courtroom. 12.58pm – A half-eaten snack bar sticks out of a tactical vest. 1.51pm – After emerging from a hearing, a woman is immediately apprehended by a masked federal agent who asks for her name and to look at her documents. Upon reviewing her documents, the agent tells her she can leave. 'Have a nice day,' he says in Spanish. 2.11pm – Federal agents detain the father from the family observed at 8.57am and lead him to a stairwell. The Guardian later observed a photojournalist telling the man's family in Spanish that he had been arrested. Their oldest child broke down in tears as the other two slept, after waiting for him for hours after their arrival. The mother said he had no criminal history and that their asylum cases were in progress. 2.58pm – The last woman to emerge from her hearing holds a stack of documents in her hand, and she smiles briefly before a masked agent whose T-shirt reads 'police' apprehends her. Her smile fades to an expression of fear as she learns that she will not be allowed to leave. Federal agents then rush her to a stairwell.
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Israeli forces raid West Bank villages amid settler violence
Israeli occupation forces and settlers launched a wide-ranging escalation across several areas of the northern occupied West Bank on Saturday, carrying out detentions, violent assaults, and road closures, particularly in and around the city of Nablus. In the village of Urif, south of Nablus, Israeli forces detained the parents of martyr Muhannad Shahada, one of the Palestinians involved in the recent 'Eli operation, as well as his brother Ihab Shahada, who was arrested from his workplace inside the territories occupied since 1948. The move is part of the occupation's policy of targeting relatives of Palestinian fighters. Elsewhere, in the village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, Israeli forces arrested a young man named Mahmoud Asida during a dawn raid. Later in the day, the village came under attack by dozens of Israeli settlers, who raided the Kafrour area under the protection of occupation soldiers. Read more: 'Israel' killed 16,800+ students in Gaza, West Bank since Oct. 2023 Palestinian youth confronted the settler assault, triggering fierce confrontations, which saw Israeli soldiers fire live ammunition at local residents, amid a state of high tension and mass mobilization in the village of Tell. Meanwhile, settlers gathered at an entrance to Nablus, demanding what they called 'permanent control' over Joseph's Tomb—a move widely condemned as a deliberate provocation and part of broader efforts to impose new settlement realities in the occupied West Bank. Read more: Israeli forces storm West Bank towns, shut down Christian sites Israeli forces continued to block the main entrance to al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, using earth mounds to obstruct Palestinian movement. The road closure has caused severe traffic congestion and disrupted daily life in the area. In a further escalation, Israeli forces also stormed the town of Aqaba, north of Tubas, and later raided the city of Tubas, expanding their military operations beyond the Nablus region. The attacks form part of a widening campaign across the northern West Bank, which has seen growing resistance and settler violence in recent weeks. Read more: Israeli settlers storm al-Buraq Wall, attack Palestinians in West Bank
Reuters
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Turkey opposition crackdown spreads to Izmir with 157 detentions, NTV says
ISTANBUL, July 1 (Reuters) - Turkish authorities detained 157 people including opposition party members and a former mayor in Izmir early on Tuesday, broadcaster NTV reported, expanding a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition that had been focused on Istanbul. The Izmir prosecutor ordered the detentions in the early morning hours as part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud in the west-coast city, NTV reported. Murat Bakan, an Izmir MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has faced waves of arrests since late last year - said former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer was detained along with senior bureaucrats and a party provincial chairman. "We woke up to another dawn operation today," he said on X. "We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul," Bakan said, adding that it appeared to be "a judicial system acting on instructions". Those arrested in the broader crackdown include Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival. Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets. The CHP denies the charges. It and some Western countries have called the crackdown a politicised move to eliminate electoral challenges to Erdogan and silence dissent. The government denies these claims, saying the judiciary and Turkey's courts are independent. NTV said the investigation into Izmir municipality in part looks at potential corruption involving subcontractor companies.
Bloomberg
28-05-2025
- General
- Bloomberg
Trump Immigration Officials Set Target of 3,000 Arrests a Day
The Trump administration is telling immigration officials to ramp up arrests to 3,000 per day with a goal of more than 1 million a year, according to a person familiar with the discussions, a target that would significantly escalate the pace of detentions. The directive was delivered at a recent meeting led by senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. The tone of the discussion left some senior officials concerned they could be fired or relocated if the goals weren't met, according to the person.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Venezuela suspends flights from Colombia after arrests of ‘mercenaries'
Venezuela has suspended flights from neighbouring Colombia after authorities detained more than 30 people allegedly plotting activities to destabilise the country before Sunday's parliamentary election. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced on state television on Monday that the flight ban was 'immediate' and would last for a week. The arrests were announced just as an independent panel of experts released a report documenting serious human rights abuses committed in Venezuela in the aftermath of the July 28, 2024 presidential election. Cabello said the antigovernment plans involved placing explosives at embassies, hospitals and police stations in Venezuela. He said authorities had detained 21 Venezuelans and 17 foreigners, some of whom hold Colombian, Mexican and Ukrainian citizenship. Cabello said those detained arrived from Colombia, some by plane, others over land, but had set out originally from other – unnamed – countries. Cabello, without offering any evidence, said the group included experts in explosive devices, human smugglers and mercenaries, and was working with members of Venezuela's political opposition. 'The scenario they want to present is that there are no conditions in Venezuela for holding an election,' Cabello said, referring to the opposition. Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement it had not received any information from Venezuela's government regarding the detention of Colombian citizens. Colombia's civil aviation authority confirmed that commercial flights between the countries had been suspended, while Venezuela's aviation authority said the measure will last until Monday, May 26 at 6pm local time. The government of President Nicolas Maduro, whose re-election in July 2024 to a third term was rejected by much of the international community as fraudulent, frequently claims to be the target of US and Colombian-backed coup plots. In an interview over Zoom with the AFP news agency last week, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who went into hiding after last year's presidential election, pledged a voter boycott on Sunday that would leave 'all the [voting] centres empty'. The opposition says its tally of results from the July vote showed a clear victory for its candidate, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who went into exile in Spain after a crackdown on dissent. The independent panel of experts backed by the Organization of American States on Monday wrote in their report that Venezuela's post-election period has seen 'the most severe and sophisticated phase of political repression in Venezuela's modern history'. This included the execution of unarmed protesters, enforced disappearances and an increase in arbitrary detentions. They also noted that the state had expanded its repression targets beyond political opponents and human rights defenders to include poll workers, election witnesses, relatives of opposition members, minors and others. The diplomatic outcry that followed last year's election saw Venezuela break off ties and flight routes with several countries. Some airlines have also cancelled operations to and from the country due to unpaid debts. Venezuela and Colombia reopened flight routes in November 2022, after the election of Colombia's first-ever leftist President Gustavo Petro, who reinstated bilateral ties broken off in 2019 when then-leader Ivan Duque refused to acknowledge Maduro's re-election to a second term.
