Latest news with #federalagents
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Bloomberg
You Should Be Able to Tell Who's an ICE Agent
Opinion Erika D. Smith, Columnist Officers are conducting raids in masks and without ID. People can't always tell if they're really law enforcement agents. Save Back in March, when masked, hoodie-clad federal immigration agents were caught on camera grabbing a Tufts University student off a sidewalk and forcing her into an unmarked vehicle, it was shocking. 'Why are you hiding your faces?' a bystander can be heard asking.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Miami Chafes at Trump's ICE Raids and ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
For months, unease over President Donald Trump's immigration dragnet had been building in Miami, which has a larger share of foreign-born residents than any major city in America. First, Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pressed local police to help federal immigration agents make arrests. Then, Trump said he would cancel temporary and refugee visas for immigrants from countries including Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti, potentially affecting tens of thousands of Miami residents.
New York Times
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Times
On a Quiet Southern Border, Empty Farms and Frightened Workers
Alexandra, a 55-year-old undocumented immigrant, was on her way to work at a watermelon farm in the border city of Edinburg, Texas, recently when her oldest son stopped her before she stepped out of her aging trailer. 'Please don't go. You are going to get deported,' he told Alexandra, who asked that her last name not be used because she did not want to attract attention from federal immigration agents. Her son then showed her graphic videos of federal agents chasing and handcuffing migrants seemingly all over the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. 'That could be you,' he said. President Trump's conflicting orders to exempt, then target, then again exempt farm workers from his aggressive immigration sweeps of work sites have caused havoc in agricultural industries across the country, where about 42 percent of farm workers are undocumented, according to the Agriculture Department. But perhaps nowhere is fear among farm workers more palpable than on the farms and ranches along the southwestern U.S.-Mexico border, where for centuries workers have considered the frontier as being more porous than prohibitive. Administration officials have vowed to make good on a once-popular campaign promise from Mr. Trump to deport millions of undocumented workers, in what he has said will be the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. As workplace raids have eroded that popularity and sparked angry protests across the country, the border region has been eerily quiet. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Cal Poly Pomona graduate released after immigration arrest in downtown L.A.
Federal authorities on Thursday released the Cal Poly Pomona graduate who was arrested during an immigration enforcement operation downtown Los Angeles earlier this week. Andrea Guadalupe Velez, who is a U.S. citizen, expressed her relief after spending the past two days in a federal detention facility. "It's been hard," Velez said. "I didn't know all this media coverage was happening and I'm just relieved that I'm outside." Velez's mother and sister recorded federal agents carrying Velez away during an immigration enforcement operation. Her family had just dropped her off at the shoe store and had barely even driven a block before the arrest began. Velez said she remembered masked men suddenly surrounding her. "It was just a day of work and everything happened so fast," Velez said. "They didn't identify themselves, so I was kind of scared. I was like 'what's going on?' ... I wasn't doing anything crazy. I was just going to follow orders, and they decided to pick me up, and that was kind of shocking." On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Velez "was arrested for assaulting an ICE enforcement officer." In the criminal complaint against Velez, a federal agent said, "he saw a woman (later identified as Velez) step into his path and extend one of her arms in an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending the male subject he was chasing." Velez denied the claim. She added that she did not know the man and believes she was profiled. "When I was already in the car, arrested, they asked for my ID, and they were kind of questioning whether I was a U.S. citizen or not," she said. "I'm Latina, so I'm pretty sure I was probably racially profiled." CBS News Los Angeles contacted DHS for a comment on Velez's claims. They did not respond as of Thursday night.
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
L.A. County man released from federal custody after allegedly trying to impede an immigration operation
The 20-year-old Walmart employee accused of conspiracy to impede a federal investigation in Pico Rivera last week shared his side of the violent encounter with immigration agents that was caught on video and sparked protests. Now wearing a brace on his leg, Adrian Andrew Martinez said he's still bruised and in pain nine days after federal agents threw him to the ground and arrested him. "They didn't read me my Miranda rights," Martinez said. "They did nothing. They just basically kidnapped me, is what it seemed." A cell phone video of the encounter shows Martinez, wearing a blue Walmart vest, appearing to talk to the Customs and Border Patrol agents before authorities wrestled the 20-year-old to the ground. Martinez said he approached the agents after he saw them use what he called unnecessary force to apprehend an elderly Latino janitor in the Walmart parking lot. "I was just speaking, like telling them that's wrong, what you're doing is not right," Martinez said. "They took it the wrong way and threw me to the floor, and from then a man grabs me by my neck and throws me into a trash can thing." Martinez was arrested and held in downtown L.A. for three days. "They didn't treat him like a human being," his mom Mayra Villarreal said. "When they took him, they didn't give him clothes. The inmates were being nicer to him than the people working there." Before being released last Friday, Martinez said authorities tried to get him to admit to hitting an agent. "They were just trying to get me to admit the whole time," Martinez said. "In reality, no, I didn't. I was just speaking up for a man. They're the ones that came at me with violence." Miller Law Group in Pasadena is helping Martinez fight the federal charge for free. Attorney Chris Miller said his client was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech. "He saw someone being manhandled, an older man who was scared," Miller said. "He could see that person was scared and all he was doing was asking them what they were doing, why they were doing it and questioning why they were doing it that way. By questioning their authority, they took it upon themselves to respond violently and that's not OK. It's something we're going to be addressing." Initially, the U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X that Martinez "was arrested for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face after he attempted to impede their immigration enforcement operation." Instead of assault, federal prosecutors charged Martinez with conspiracy to impede a federal investigation, according to the Department of Justice. Miller said he believes his client was not charged with assault because the video shows that he never hurt anyone. "In the end, charges were brought against him, we believe, to cover the agents' bad behavior," Miller said. A DOJ spokesperson said that Martinez will be arraigned on July 17 and that federal prosecutors had no further comment.
