DHS changing immigration enforcement tactics amid negative polling

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning to change its tactics in immigration enforcement operations, moving away from sweeping raids that have been publicized in some cities across the country. DHS sources told NewsNation’s Ali Bradley that U.S. Border Patrol teams under Commander Gregory Bovino will narrow their focus to specific targets, such as immigrants in the country illegally who have been convicted of serious crimes. The change will see agents not necessarily carrying out larger raids that have taken place at locations such as Home Depot, according to Bradley’s exclusive report. Agents will also focus on traffic stop enforcement, according to the reporting on NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. But it’s unlikely that onlookers will see Border Patrol grabbing people off the streets, Bradley said Friday night on NewsNation’s “The Hill” with Blake Burman. The change in tactics comes amid a stretch of negative polling for President Trump over his immigration crackdown — a key part of his 2024 campaign platform and agenda during his second term. A survey released earlier this week by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that approval of Trump’s handling of immigration had dropped from 42 percent to 33 percent since March. In November, a YouGov poll revealed that a majority of Americans specifically disapproved of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations launched as part of the administration’s mass deportation efforts. About half of immigrants surveyed by the health policy research group KFF and The New York Times last month said they and their family members “feel less safe” with Trump back in the White House. Border Patrol’s immigration enforcement operations have been visible across several states this year, including in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C. Many raids have been met with protests and, in some cases, clashes with agents. The operations have also been criticized as going too far. Bradley reported Friday that a recently launched operation in New Orleans, named “Catahoula Crunch,” will persist despite the change in tactics. There have already been more than 250 arrests in the Louisiana city, with DHS saying its end goal is 5,000, according to Bradley. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

New visa rules require social media reviews. What it means for free speech

Applicants for certain visas will have their online presence reviewed as part of a new State Department policy that went into effect on Dec. 15. The policy expands previous online review requirements, which applied to foreign students and exchange visitors, to include all H-1B applicants, who work in specialty occupations and are seeking temporary entry to the United States, as well as their dependents. The State Department announced the new policy in early December, saying applicants are “instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public’” to facilitate the review. “The Trump Administration is focused on protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,” a State Department spokesperson told USA TODAY. “A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right.” The change comes months after President Donald Trump introduced a $100,000 annual application fee for H-1B visas. Courts have historically affirmed that First Amendment rights are applicable to people lawfully within U.S. borders, even if they aren’t American citizens. That includes a district judge's September ruling against the Trump administration over its efforts to deport noncitizen student protesters over their pro-Palestine speech. "No one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike,” the judge wrote in the ruling, which the administration vowed to appeal. The government far more discretion when it comes to making speech-based visa decisions about foreigners physically outside of the country. Get the Daily Briefing newsletter in your inbox. The day's top stories, from sports to movies to politics to world events. Delivery: Daily Your Email Here’s what to know about the new policy and its First Amendment implications: What online content would disqualify an applicant? The department “uses all available information in visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to U.S. national security or public safety,” the announcement said. The public announcement did not provide details on what officials would be specifically looking for in the reviews or what types of content would be deemed disqualifying. Reuters previously reported that H-1B application reviews will consider a person’s participation in “censorship,” including work in disinformation, content moderation and fact-checking, to be potentially disqualifying, according to a State Department cable obtained by the news organization. “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible,” the cable said, according to Reuters. Why was this policy created? The new policy was announced around the same time as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services paused immigration applications from 19 countries deemed by the administration to be high-risk. The agency’s Dec. 2 memo specifically referenced a foiled Election Day terrorist attack in 2024 and the shooting of two National Guard members patrolling Washington in late November. An Afghan man accepted a plea deal in the first incident in April. Another Afghan man was arrested in connection with the Washington shooting, which killed 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom. The other victim in the attack, 24-year-old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, was “slowly healing” as of early December. “In light of identified concerns and the threat to the American people, USCIS has determined that a comprehensive re-review, potential interview and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after Jan. 20, 2021, is necessary,” the memo said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Dec. 9 proposed a rule that would impose new biometric requirements and increased data collection for foreign tourists. Why are some concerned about the policy? Some experts said the lack of public information about what the online presence reviews would specifically entail have left immigration attorneys unsure how to advise their clients. The expanded requirements could cause a “big interruption” for American businesses wanting to hire foreign workers whose application processes are being delayed by the more thorough reviews, immigration attorney Matthew Maiona said. Many visa applicants have already received communication delaying their appointments by several months, he said. He noted, though, that consulates and embassies have a right to review applicants’ backgrounds and make determinations about potential threats. But there are also "gray areas,” and the lack of specifics has left attorneys “scrambling” to figure out how to advise their clients, Kate Angustia, supervisory policy and practice counsel at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said. It’s unclear, for example, if the administration would reject an H-1B applicant’s request because their child posted “Free Palestine” on social media, she said. “We don’t know the scope of the problem, but the fact that anybody’s free speech could be abridged is problematic and is something we don’t support,” Angustia said. Why do some support the policy? But others challenged the notion that the policy presents free speech challenges. “Nobody who is not a citizen of the United States has an inherent right to come to the United States,” said Ira Mehlman, media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which seeks to reduce overall immigration. “We can make decisions based on any number of considerations.” He noted the policy is not based on immutable characteristics like race or religion, adding that the U.S. Supreme Court has given the president “broad latitude” to define what constitutes a national security threat. Mehlman made a distinction between mere policy disagreement and “overtly anti-American kind of rhetoric,” saying that the latter can be disqualifying because being granted an American visa is a “privilege, not a right,” echoing language used by the State Department in announcing the new policy. “There have always been ideological exclusions,” Mehlman said. “We don’t admit Nazis to the country, even if Microsoft wants to hire them.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Changing immigration policies hurt system, lawyers group says

by: Sandra Sanchez Posted: Dec 12, 2025 / 04:33 PM CST Updated: Dec 12, 2025 / 04:33 PM CST SHARE McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — “Draconian” changes to U.S. immigration policies for asylum-seekers are wrecking chaos on the immigration court system, the head of an immigration lawyers group says. In the latest episode of Border Report Live, Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, talks about how re-vetting asylum cases will add years and costs to those trying to legally come to the United States. Border Report Live: Immigration lawyers decry new asylum policies There are over 3.4 million backlogged immigration cases to date, and Johnson tells South Texas correspondent Sandra Sanchez that that number will almost certainly go up as cases are stalled and those who have already been through lengthy vetting processes will be “re-vetted,” according to new rules by the Trump administration. He also says its unfair that entire populations from 19 countries are banned, or face very harsh regulations, from coming to the United States after the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers over the Thanksgiving holiday, which left one dead and one severely injured. 7 Day Weather Forecast for PORTLAND, OR for December 15, 2025 Cuellar restored to senior post on House Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee Plus, how U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, just got more powerful, and new court instructions to the Trump administration after Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from immigration detention. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

For-Profit School Opening in For-Profit ICE Family Prison

A for-profit virtual education company accused of defrauding investors and other harms is set to run a new school at an immigration prison in Texas, according to job advertisements. Stride, Inc., an S&P 600 corporation based in Virginia, is hiring across various positions, including a school principal, counselor, and teachers for English, math, and science. All will work on-site at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, one of the largest detention centers in the U.S., the job ads state. The facility is managed by CoreCivic, one of two major for-profit prison operators, whose fortunes have risen drastically under the Trump regime, as I reported in August. More from Whitney Curry Wimbish The establishment of a school is an effort to sanitize the extended detention of hundreds of children at Dilley, which violates a court settlement established 28 years ago. Under that settlement, children may not be held in immigration prison for more than 20 days unless the facility is nonsecure and licensed. But a recent court filing claims that ICE has held hundreds of children for well beyond that limit, in some cases for multiple months, and subjected them to neglect and abuse. Immigration prisons are not licensed child care facilities, and even if they were, living in one “is going to be harmful and detrimental to kids in lasting ways,” RAICES legal director Javier O. Hidalgo said in an interview. “You’re in jail, and you’re going to school in jail. It’s never going to be appropriate and adequate.” There’s no indication how big the school will be or when it will open. A spokesperson for Stride said in an email response to questions that details about the program, “including staffing, enrollment, and timing, are being finalized by CoreCivic and will determine the specific nature of service we may provide them.” The posting for the school’s principal says whoever holds that job will directly supervise 15 to 30 full-time equivalent regular employees and/or contractors. Postings for instructors, such as one for a high school English teacher, say they will be responsible “for a minimum of 20 students” in two daily four-hour sessions. Immigration advocates said they expect the school to open in January. “As part of our mission to provide equitable, high-quality education to all students, Stride Learning Solutions is opening a new school site at an ICE Detention facility in Dilley, Texas,” says a posting for a special education compliance coordinator. The ads note that the company is “currently seeking to create a pipeline of experienced Educators.” The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on the court filing or to provide details about the school. (UPDATE: DHS responded to an email requesting information after press time, but failed to answer specific questions, including whether the school in the Dilley immigration prison would open in January. Instead, the email provided a lengthy statement attributed to an unnamed spokesperson, saying in part: “Another day and another hoax about the South Texas Family Residential Center. Nearly every single day, my office responds to media questions on FALSE allegations about illegal alien detention centers.” The email said immigrants should self-deport using the glitchy CBP Home App, which they said gives them “the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream.”) STRIDE, ALSO KNOWN AS K12, INC., is a $2 billion online education company that reportedly served 220,000 students in 31 states last year. Former McKinsey & Co. consultant Ron J. Packard founded the company in 2000 with $40 million in venture capital backing from Oracle’s Larry Ellison and junk bond king Michael Milken, among others. Earlier this month, securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announced a class action lawsuit against Stride and its senior executives for defrauding investors by lying about enrollment figures and failing to disclose “a catastrophic technology failure.” Stride told investors that it was “increasing growth in our business,” there was significant demand for its products and services, and that customers “continue to choose us in record numbers.” In fact, the plaintiffs claim, Stride “inflated enrollment numbers by retaining ‘ghost students,’ ignored compliance requirements for its employees,” and had such poor customer service that it drove away students. Two events prompted the claim. The first was in August, when New Mexico’s Gallup-McKinley County Schools announced it had severed all ties with Stride, which it had contracted to provide online education to its students, most of whom are Indigenous, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the school district, during its tenure Stride repeatedly violated state law and failed to provide adequate education to such an extent that graduation rates plummeted, along with academic proficiency in all subjects. During the 2023-2024 school year, the proficiency rate for reading dropped to less than 23 percent and math dropped to less than 6 percent, while fewer than 23 percent of students graduated. District officials said rates would decline again for the 2024-2025 school year because of Stride’s failures. After news broke in September that the board of education filed a complaint against Stride, alleging “fraud, deceptive trade practices, systemic violations of law, and intentional and tortious misconduct,” the company’s stock dropped 11 percent. A month later, Stride’s stock dropped again, after the company said its outlook was “muted” because “poor customer experience” had caused between 10,000 and 15,000 fewer enrollments. This time, the drop was more than 54 percent. Plaintiffs also allege that Stride failed to disclose a “disastrous” tech upgrade that blocked access to 10,000 students. The Prospect in your inbox Subscribe for analysis that goes beyond the noise. The Daily Prospect A daily dose of the ideas, politics and power that shape our world, in your inbox weekday mornings. Today On TAP Weekday newsletter features commentary from Robert Kuttner, Harold Meyerson and more, plus links to what's trending at Prospect.org. Weekend Reads The best of the week, curated by the editors of The American Prospect, delivered Saturday mornings. Pop-up newsletters Limited series newsletters on timely topics, such as the debt limit challenge, budget negotiations and more. Email Address Sign up These complaints join a pile of others dating back for most of the company’s entire 25-year history. In 2011, for example, The New York Times profiled one of K12’s online schools, saying that by “almost every educational measure, the Agora Cyber Charter School is failing.” Six years later, a group of students from Yale published a study titled “K12 Inc.: Virtually Failing Our Students.” They found that “With no exceptions, students enrolled in K12 schools performed worse in math than their district and state counterparts. With only one exception, they performed worse in English and language arts.” Yet during this period of repeated failures, Stride Chief Executive Officer James Rhyu got a raise. His compensation for fiscal year 2025 was $21.5 million, according to the company’s proxy statement, up from $15.6 million the year before. Rhyu joined the company in 2013 from Match.com with zero experience in education. The Stride spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about the alleged fraud, only saying that their goal is for “consistent, high-quality instruction from dedicated educators” where the “focus is on students first.” It makes sense that a private prison company would attract such a private education company, said Hidalgo. “You’re profiting off of putting certain people into these jail settings, which is already disgusting, so it doesn’t surprise me that other companies that are in the business of profiting off people would be aligned with that,” he said. “The intent absolutely is to be harmful … and try to punish these families for being here. It tracks.” THE TRUMP REGIME IS USING the South Texas Family Residential Center, which was constructed by the Obama administration in 2014, to imprison hundreds of children for more than a month, according to a court declaration filed Monday in a lawsuit against the federal government. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained nearly 400 children for more than 20 days in August and September alone, it says, including 150 who were imprisoned for more than a month. 2025.12.08 – Flores Response Download That violates the Flores Settlement Agreement, the 1997 legal requirement for the government to meet basic standards of care and oversight for children it holds in immigration prisons. Under the agreement, the government must provide education to immigration prisoners 17 years old and younger, along with adequate food, water, clothes, and medical attention. The government also must transfer children to a licensed, nonsecure child care facility after 20 days. There’s no adequate education or recreation at the prison for children, a fact that ICE itself admitted in a recent supplemental report. Children reported that the educational program that currently exists is little more than an hour of drawing in a classroom so crowded that some children are turned away. Opening a new school is meant to resolve this inadequacy. But even if it is instituted, the facility would still not be licensed, and children would not be able to leave the facility, violating both tests set up by the Flores settlement. President Trump has tried twice to overturn the Flores settlement. A federal judge in August rejected the most recent attempt; a panel of judges in 2019 rejected his first try, during which his administration argued it shouldn’t have to give children showers, soap, toothbrushes, or towels. In 2016, Texas tried to license Dilley as a child care facility, but a state judge overturned the designation. The following year, the Texas legislature attempted to pass a bill written by a lobbyist with GEO Group, the other major private prison company, establishing family detention centers as child care facilities. That effort failed as well. Monday’s court filing included multiple reports from children and their families describing conditions at Dilley, which it says have worsened in recent weeks, “with families reporting horrific concerns, such as denial of critical medical care, worms and mold in their food resulting in children becoming ill, and threats of family separation by officers and staff.” The declaration includes multiple reports of abuses, including instances where CoreCivic staff members hit children until they bled, intentionally broke their bones, and ignored and aggravated the trauma of imprisonment. Children living in the prison “are weak, faint, pale, and often crying because they are hungry,” and they “report feeling like prisoners locked up in isolated, cell-like trailers,” according to the filing. One said, “We know we are like prisoners here.” Another said, “It’s a prison here—it is truly a living hell.” Families report that their children are anxious, stressed, depressed, and regressing in development, including wetting themselves after years of being potty-trained. One child reported that they “feel very sad and stressed to be here. Sometimes I have anxiety attacks here. My nerves are so high. I don’t know what is happening. My muscles will twitch because I’m so nervous and on edge.” That has always been the reality, Hidalgo said. Clients of RAICES who have attended school in immigration prisons report that classes are a joke regardless of the facility, with so-called teachers giving high school–age students coloring books. Even when programs are fully staffed, they are “extremely inadequate, not age appropriate, at times laughable,” Hidalgo said. The administration is forcing more longtime U.S. residents into immigration prisons, and plans to increase the number of prisoners even further next year. The South Texas Family Residential Center, where Stride is gearing up for its new school, had been closed under the Biden administration. But CoreCivic announced in March that it would reopen “to resume operations and care for up to 2,400 individuals,” executives said in their first-quarter earnings call. The reopening will bring $180 million to the company’s balance sheet. It’s part of the Trump regime’s mass deportation campaign, which will significantly expand next year with more than $150 billion in tax dollars, including $45 billion for more facilities, a funding boost delivered in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “What you’re seeing now, families have been here for years, decades, kids have been going to school, they have a life here and they’re being ripped out of that life,” Hidalgo said. “Putting them into this school process, that’s an extra layer of harm that we’re going to start seeing.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/

About 400 immigrant children were detained longer than the recommended limit, ICE admits

McALLEN, Texas -- Hundreds of immigrant children across the nation were detained for longer than the legal limit this summer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has admitted in a court filing, alarming legal advocates who say the government is failing to safeguard children. In a court filing Monday evening, attorneys for detainees highlighted the government's own admissions to longer custody times for immigrant children, unsanitary conditions reported by families and monitors at federal facilities, and a renewed reliance on hotels for detention. The reports were filed as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit launched in 1985 that led to the creation of the 1990s cornerstone policy known as the Flores Settlement Agreement, which limits the time children can spend in federal custody and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions. The Trump administration is attempting to end the agreement. A Dec. 1 report from ICE indicated that about 400 immigrant children were held in custody for more than the 20-day limit during the reporting period from August to September. They also told the court the problem was widespread and not specific to a region or facility. The primary factors that prolonged their release were categorized into three groups: transportation delays, medical needs, and legal processing. Legal advocates for the children contended those reasons do not prove lawful justifications for the delays in their release. They also cited examples that far exceeded the 20-day limit, including five children who were held for 168 days earlier this year. Recent Stories from ABC News symbol 00:02 02:00 Read More ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Hotel use for temporary detention is allowed by the federal court for up to 72 hours, but attorneys questioned the government's data, which they believe did not fully explain why children were held longer than three days in hotel rooms. Conditions at the detention facilities continued to be an ongoing concern since the family detention site in Dilley, Texas, reopened this year. Advocates documented injuries suffered by children and a lack of access to sufficient medical care. One child bleeding from an eye injury wasn't seen by medical staff for two days. Another child's foot was broken when a member of the staff dropped a volleyball net pole, according to the court filing. “Medical staff told one family whose child got food poisoning to only return if the child vomited eight times,” the advocates wrote in their response. “Children get diarrhea, heartburn, stomach aches, and they give them food that literally has worms in it," one person with a family staying at the facility in Dilley wrote in a declaration submitted to the court. Chief U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California is scheduled to have a hearing on the reports next week, where she could decide if the court needs to intervene. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Border Report Live: Immigration lawyers decry new asylum policies

HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — A group that represents immigration lawyers on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s travel ban and new asylum ban on migrants from 19 countries and accused the policies of being outside the realm of judicial review. Border Report Live: Doctors Without Borders director describes conditions in Tapachula, Mexico Ben Johnson, director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says the new polices will add to the backlog of immigration cases and will cause migrants who already have undergone years of vetting, to undergo additional evaluations. Johnson questions how much this will cost the Department of Homeland Security and says it is unfair to ban migrants from applying for asylum simply because of their country of origin. And he says because the government is taking discretionary action, it is not subject to court approval. “They are sweeping attacks on the entire legal immigration system that will impact millions of innocent citizens and entire immigrant communities. The ripple effects of these policies will be felt in every corner of our economy and in communities across the nation. We’re talking about canceled naturalization ceremonies and potentially thousands of USCIS and state department appointments, pausing asylum and adjustment of status cases, work authorization being arbitrarily shortened, and entire categories of people suddenly thrown into limbo,” Johnson told media. In the latest edition of Border Report Live, South Texas Correspondent Sandra Sanchez talks about AILA’s reaction to these policies, which were announced after the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers over the Thanksgiving holiday. “These sweeping restrictions will not make our nation safer. Instead, they will impose time-consuming and wholly unnecessary extra work on DHS officials to repeat already completed processes. This will create backlogs and shift attention and resources away from USCIS’s statutory mission to fairly and efficiently adjudicate cases and identify actual security and safety threats, according to a policy brief released Monday by AILA. Immigration experts say the changes will further delay the already backlogged 3.4 million immigration cases that are pending, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Border Report Live: Asylum pause, travel bans after shooting raise concerns Also, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was pardoned last week by President Trump on bribery charges, explains why he is a “conservative Democrat” and tells Border Report Live he intends to remain one. On Sunday, Trump criticized Cuellar for filing for re-election as a Democrat the same day he issued the longtime South Texas border congressman a full and unconditional pardon. “Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like.” Trump wrote on a social media post on Truth Social. “Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!” And get a glimpse of a rare brown jay spotted in a wildlife reserve in the Rio Grande Valley — one of only nine believed brown jays to live in the United States. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Border Report Live: Immigration lawyers decry new asylum policies

HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — A group that represents immigration lawyers on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s travel ban and new asylum ban on migrants from 19 countries and accused the policies of being outside the realm of judicial review. Border Report Live: Doctors Without Borders director describes conditions in Tapachula, Mexico Ben Johnson, director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says the new polices will add to the backlog of immigration cases and will cause migrants who already have undergone years of vetting, to undergo additional evaluations. Johnson questions how much this will cost the Department of Homeland Security and says it is unfair to ban migrants from applying for asylum simply because of their country of origin. And he says because the government is taking discretionary action, it is not subject to court approval. “They are sweeping attacks on the entire legal immigration system that will impact millions of innocent citizens and entire immigrant communities. The ripple effects of these policies will be felt in every corner of our economy and in communities across the nation. We’re talking about canceled naturalization ceremonies and potentially thousands of USCIS and state department appointments, pausing asylum and adjustment of status cases, work authorization being arbitrarily shortened, and entire categories of people suddenly thrown into limbo,” Johnson told media. In the latest edition of Border Report Live, South Texas Correspondent Sandra Sanchez talks about AILA’s reaction to these policies, which were announced after the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers over the Thanksgiving holiday. “These sweeping restrictions will not make our nation safer. Instead, they will impose time-consuming and wholly unnecessary extra work on DHS officials to repeat already completed processes. This will create backlogs and shift attention and resources away from USCIS’s statutory mission to fairly and efficiently adjudicate cases and identify actual security and safety threats, according to a policy brief released Monday by AILA. Immigration experts say the changes will further delay the already backlogged 3.4 million immigration cases that are pending, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Border Report Live: Asylum pause, travel bans after shooting raise concerns Also, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was pardoned last week by President Trump on bribery charges, explains why he is a “conservative Democrat” and tells Border Report Live he intends to remain one. On Sunday, Trump criticized Cuellar for filing for re-election as a Democrat the same day he issued the longtime South Texas border congressman a full and unconditional pardon. “Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like.” Trump wrote on a social media post on Truth Social. “Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!” And get a glimpse of a rare brown jay spotted in a wildlife reserve in the Rio Grande Valley — one of only nine believed brown jays to live in the United States. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

‘Blatant lawlessness’: Judge decries another ‘unlawful’ deportation

It happened again. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to quickly seek the return of a man it deported to Guatemala in violation of an immigration court’s finding that he was likely to face torture there. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama scolded the administration for the “blatant lawlessness” of its decision to deport Faustino Pablo Pablo to Guatemala, despite the man’s urgent warnings to immigration officials that he faced serious danger in his home country. Guaderrama, an El Paso, Texas-based Obama appointee, ordered the administration to return Pablo by Dec. 12 and to provide daily updates about its efforts in the meantime. The judge noted that the administration repeatedly acknowledged the “unlawful” and “wrongful” nature of the man’s deportation and had, in recent days, suggested it would seek to bring him back to the United States. But despite a “tentatively scheduled” flight on Thursday, the judge said, Pablo was not returned to the country and appeared to remain in Guatemala. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said that should Pablo return, he’ll be redeported somewhere else. “This illegal alien from Guatemala has a final order of removal from an immigration judge issued in 2015. He received full due process. One thing is certain: he is not going to be able to remain in the U.S. We will deport him to another country,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement on Saturday. “If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period,” she added. Pablo’s situation is strikingly reminiscent of the illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the administration abruptly sent to El Salvador in March, despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order that he was likely to face persecution at the hands of a local gang. Abrego’s case drew national headlines after a judge ordered the administration to quickly facilitate his return — prompting fierce resistance from the White House and top Homeland Security officials, who denounced Abrego and excoriated judges that ruled against them. The administration has acknowledged several other improper deportations, including a man sent to El Salvador despite a court-approved settlement agreement barring his deportation while his asylum claim was pending, a man who was sent to Mexico despite immigration officials’ acknowledgment that they had no record of a “credible fear” interview to determine whether he might face persecution, a man deported to El Salvador — where he remains incarcerated — despite a federal appeals court order barring his deportation, and a transgender woman deported to Mexico despite an immigration court order finding she was likely to be tortured there. Pablo entered the United States illegally in 2012. Though an immigration judge ordered his removal, the judge also concluded that he would face torture “by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the Guatemalan government.” After he was released from immigration detention in 2013, Pablo resided in California and reported regularly to immigration officials until Nov. 5, when he was abruptly detained at an immigration check-in. His attorney quickly notified immigration officials about Pablo’s protection from deportation to Guatemala, the judge indicated. On Nov. 17, Pablo was transferred to El Paso and told he was being prepared for deportation to Guatemala. He quickly sued to secure his release from detention but was nevertheless deported on Nov. 20, before Guaderrama could intervene. “By the time the Court ordered [the administration] not to remove Pablo Pablo, he had arrived in Guatemala City,” Guaderrama wrote. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

How Trump is intensifying his crackdown on every form of immigration to the US

President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown, prompted by the shooting of two National Guard members, means he has now halted or significantly tightened every legal and illegal form of foreign entry into the US, prompting widespread fear and confusion among immigrants who are unsure what will happen to their pending cases. Trump’s mass deportation campaign has garnered attention for its heavy-handed arrest tactics of undocumented immigrants nationwide. But the administration’s steady drumbeat of incremental changes to the US immigration system has also been disruptive — gumming up an already-arduous process for millions of people. In the days since two National Guard members were shot in DC, allegedly by an Afghan migrant, the administration has announced a handful of policy shifts, including a pause on asylum decisions, a review of cases under the Biden administration and a “reexamination” of certain green-card holders, that have wide ramifications for immigrants residing in the US. ADVERTISING “We’re going back on all of these folks that have applied for asylum, people that would be traveling to this country, and looking at more information, what their social media platforms, they may have visited, the communications that they have, biometric information and data that we can collect from them, but also from their government too,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday. As part of that push, Noem is recommending that Trump’s travel ban list expand to include between 30 to 32 countries, an increase from the current list of 19 countries, according to a source familiar with the matter. Adding to the confusion for future travelers, it’s unclear which countries are being added to the list — and when they’ll be announced. US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday also paused, effective immediately, immigration applications for individuals from the current 19 countries, according to a policy memo. The administration has frequently cited national security concerns to push forward its immigration agenda and roll out restrictions. Trump administration officials and immigration hardliners have argued that doing so is necessary to fix parts of the system that, they say, have been exploited by immigrants coming into the country, or those already residing in the US. But immigration attorneys and advocates say the fits and starts and tightening of rules has slowed down an already-cumbersome system. “It’s hard to predict and advise our clients on how to navigate this system,” said Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Imagine walking in a house of mirrors blindfolded. You never know, ‘Is this a wall that I’m walking into, is there a corner, is there a way to pivot?’ It’s hard to give advice when every Friday there’s a new announcement from the executive or a tweet with policy changes that are unpredictable,” he added. Related article 20251113-immigration-courts-story-top-label_16x9.jpg Four immigration courts. One day. And a window into a world the public rarely sees Those changes have often been challenged in court, creating more chaos and confusion for the people navigating the system. Some immigration attorneys have advised clients to sit and wait amid the frequent whiplash and fears of being detained at routine check ins or immigration hearings. Other immigrants, meanwhile, have chosen to voluntarily depart. At times, those legal challenges have been indicative of the limitations the executive has in overhauling the US immigration system. “You have lots of control over specific levers of what happens, and you can make drastic changes in policy, but you can’t wholesale change the system itself without Congress enacting legislation. I think that still holds true,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan thinktank, referring to the executive branch. Border essentially closed For much of the first three years of President Joe Biden’s administration, the southern border was overwhelmed by the number of migrants seeking to cross into the United States, driven by a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and worsening economic conditions in Latin America. In the final year of Biden’s presidency, his administration implemented restrictions along the US-Mexico border that, Homeland Security officials said, drove down border crossings. But stopping the flow of people, which Trump has repeatedly referred to as an “invasion,” remained a central tenet of his successful presidential campaign, and within hours of being sworn in for his second term, his administration took steps that effectively sought to shutter asylum at the southern border. Last month, the Supreme Court announced it would review Trump’s policy of turning away asylum seekers at the border. Trump signed an executive action that declared an emergency at the border, prompting the deployment of additional military personnel to assist with logistical and bureaucratic tasks and finish Trump’s long-promised border wall. In March, US Customs and Border Protection awarded the first border wall contract during Trump’s second term, giving a construction company more than $70 million to construct about seven miles of barrier in southern Texas. The Trump administration has said these actions have contributed to a significant drop in crossings, claiming a significant drop in migrant border crossings in the first 100 days of his second term. Asylum cases stopped Following the shooting of members of the National Guard in Washington last week, USCIS announced it was halting all asylum decisions until “we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” There were more than 2.2 million immigrants waiting for asylum decisions or hearings as at end August 2025, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. DHS also said it was reviewing all asylum decisions made during Biden’s term following the shooting. The halt means that asylum seekers who might already have waited years for their cases to be resolved now face an even more uncertain future. TPS terminated for multiple countries In 1990, Congress created a temporary protected status program for people fleeing countries enduring natural disasters, wars or other conditions that would make it dangerous for people to return. The program granted these people the right to live and work in the United States for a temporary period of time that could be extended. Seventeen countries were covered by TPS designations as of late March, accounting for about 1.3 million foreign nationals living in the United States who were covered. But the Trump administration has sought to winnow back protections for citizens from several countries. In February, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was seeking to end TPS protections for citizens of Haiti, which had been covered under the program since the country experienced a devastating earthquake in 2010. A federal judge later blocked that move after accusing DHS of failing to follow procedures mandated by Congress. The administration has also moved to end TPS status or reverse extensions for Venezuela, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua and Syria. In November, DHS moved to also end TPS for South Sudan and Burma, both of which have been mired by years of civil war. As of December, 12 countries are covered under TPS, though several of their designations are set to expire next year. That timeline could change pending legal action. Refugee admissions stopped except White South Africans The Trump administration in October announced it was restricting the number of refugees the United States would admit to 7,500 each year — a miniscule amount for a country that had long been a beacon to millions of people fleeing war, poverty and persecution in their home countries and had allowed refugees under programs that enjoyed bipartisan support. In 2024, the US admitted just over 100,000 refugees, primarily from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria. The main group being welcomed under Trump is White South Africans. The president and officials within his administration, including his sometime adviser, billionaire South African-born Elon Musk, claim that group is facing persecution, racism, threats and murder in their home country. Both Trump and Musk alleged that White South Africans were being discriminated against due to land reform policies implemented by that country’s government which sought to redress the legacy of apartheid, the system under which non-White South Africans were forcibly displaced from their lands in favor of Whites. Black South Africans, who comprise over 80% of the population of 63 million, own only around 4% of private land. The government of South Africa has strongly refuted the administration’s claims that it is discriminating against its White citizens. CNN previously reported the Trump administration is also moving to reinterview certain refugees who were admitted to the United States under Biden as part of a comprehensive review of their cases. Green cards under scrutiny The shooting of guard members in Washington last week also prompted USCIS to announce “a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.” Green card holders have the ability to live and work permanently in the US but do not enjoy the full benefits of citizenship, including the right to vote or hold an American passport. Asked to clarify which countries were of concern, USCIS pointed CNN toward a presidential proclamation in June that named 19 countries including Cuba, Laos, Venezuela, Haiti and Afghanistan. Reviewing individual green card holders from each of those countries could be a monumental task requiring the administration to review the statuses of tens of thousands of people. It’s unclear when the review will end. Work visas restricted In September, the administration sought to place restrictions on certain work visas, claiming these visas were used to the detriment of American workers who were being replaced rather than supplanted by the foreign workers. Trump signed an executive action imposing a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, which are commonly used by tech companies who say the program is necessary to fill out workers who they cannot find in the United States. About 65,000 H-1B visas are granted annually, and the demand for the visas often exceeds their supply. In October, the administration announced several changes to the program, including narrowing the definition of “specialty occupation,” enhancing DHS’ “ability to enforce compliance through worksite inspections,” and reforming the wage methodology that officials argued previously put American workers at a disadvantage. One industry that the president seems hesitant to restrict is agriculture, which relies heavily on both legal and undocumented immigrant labor. While the president was taking a hardline stance against undocumented immigration this summer, behind the scenes members of his administration were working to assuage concerns in that industry about the effects of an immigration crackdown, and the president’s own tone toward undocumented farm workers has been noticeably softer compared to other sectors. Student visas reduced The administration has issued thousands of fewer visas for international students than had been typical during previous years. The administration this year has also targeted the existing visas of thousands of international students, with particular attention on those who were active in campus protests that opposed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The State Department has revoked about 6,000 student visas this year, and the administration’s restrictive stance toward what students studying on visas can post to social media has discouraged others from even applying to study in the United States. Reasons for the visa revocations have ranged from high-profile cases involving allegations of support for terrorist organizations to relatively minor incidents that include years-old misdemeanor crimes. Earlier this year, the administration paid particular attention to visas for Chinese students. The Trump administration moved to “aggressively revoke” Chinese student visas before later reversing course. In an interview with Fox News last month, the president said he thinks “it’s good” to have students from “outside countries” enrolled at American universities — and defended China while attacking France, a close American ally. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Revealed: US veterans affairs to share immigration data about non-citizen workers with ‘appropriate agencies’

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is in the process of creating an urgent and massive new internal database of non-US citizens who are “employed or affiliated” with the government department, a sensitive memo leaked to the Guardian has revealed – prompting alarm within the sprawling agency over a potential immigration crackdown. A VA spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian that the department would share some of the data it is now gathering with other federal agencies, including for immigration enforcement purposes. “VA will share any adverse findings with the appropriate agencies to ensure anyone who is not authorized to be in the US is dealt with accordingly,” the spokesperson said, when asked if the VA would share the data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency added: “No one who is not an illegal immigrant has anything to worry about.” However, likely thousands, including people legally in the US such as permanent residents with green cards and even military veterans themselves, now face being named in the forthcoming report about non-United States citizens, which seeks to further vet the VA workforce to varying degrees for “personnel suitability and national security standards”, according to the memo. Top department officials, including the veterans affairs secretary, Doug Collins, are requiring VA offices across the country to turn over data on non-citizen “full-time and part-time employees, contractors, health professional trainees” and volunteers with the VA, according to the memo. Then the office of operations, security and preparedness, an internal office overseeing security over VA operations, will compile the report for the VA secretary. “By December 30, 2025, the office of operations, security, and preparedness must provide the secretary of veterans affairs a report of all non-United States citizens who are employed by or affiliated with VA,” the memo shown to the Guardian reads. The memo was prepared by the VA chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, dated 15 November and sent to under-secretaries, assistant secretaries and “other key officials” in the department. When asked by email about the reason for the report on non-US citizens being compiled, Pete Kasperowicz, a VA spokesperson, said in a statement: “VA is required by federal law to continuously vet all employees and affiliates, such as unpaid researchers and others who may have access to VA data or systems, to ensure they meet the federal government’s trusted workforce standards.” He added: “The memo you reference is part of this process.” Kasperowicz also included a link to the government’s workforce standards website related to vetting. But the website does not say anything about immigration status during “continuous vetting” processes. The leaked memo makes no mention of any similar database or report being compiled on US citizens working with the VA, only focusing on non-citizens. Some current and former department officials are dismayed, the Guardian has learned, fearing the VA workforce is about to be targeted by Donald Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda. More than 450,000 people are employed at the VA, providing healthcare, education, rehabilitation and other services to veterans. The VA also works with thousands of contractors nationwide for day-to-day operations. It is the second biggest federal department after the Pentagon and provides healthcare, financial and many other services to millions of US military veterans. The broad and vague nature of the memo implies the information dragnet may target a range of non-citizens, including doctors and nurses working in VA clinics, medical school students completing their clinical training at VA hospitals, scientists working in advancing medical research contracted by the department, volunteers working VA-related events, even contractors performing cleaning or maintenance jobs at facilities – and thousands more. “List-making by the state is an authoritarian tactic meant to stoke fear. At the direction of Secretary Collins, the VA is persecuting non-citizen employees who provide essential services and benefits to our veterans,” said Illinois Democratic congresswoman Delia Ramirez, ranking member of the oversight and investigations subcommittee on the House veterans affairs committee, in a statement to the Guardian. She added: “The reported memo could have far-reaching implications. Attacking immigrants authorized to work is just another way [US president] Trump and the [VA] secretary seek to deconstruct, decimate and demoralize the VA workforce.” The memo does not say whether the data compiled would be shared with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal department that houses ICE and is carrying out the Trump administration’s “mass deportations” program. But the VA confirmed information would be shared with other agencies. This follows the Trump administration’s increasing push to collect and share data between other agencies and the DHS for immigration enforcement purposes. “Once information is collected on who is a non-citizen, and the exact status and posture of their protections and rights to be in the United States, it becomes incredibly easy for the federal government to make an effort to get that information,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council. “This data collection and reporting is a form of intimidation, in a context where a list of names of non-citizens can so obviously get into the hands of an agency pursuing this agenda.” The DHS referred all questions to the VA. The memo says that all people who provide services to veterans and with access to VA facilities and information systems must be “vetted and accounted for, in accordance with applicable laws and personnel suitability and national security policies and standards”. The memo outlines certain steps required by VA offices to pull data and compile it in a report. “Failure to meet this requirement may result in physical or logical [sic] access termination and separation of unaccounted or unvetted personnel,” the document reads. Syrek was also the department’s chief of staff under the first Trump administration. Collins, who now awaits the report, is a former US congressman and previously one of Trump’s personal attorneys. It is likely the list will include the personal information of some veterans themselves. Over a quarter of the VA’s workforce is made up of veterans, and it is not a requirement to be a US citizen to serve in the military. In July the VA said it was on track to reduce its staff by 30,000. “I think there have been a number of moves by the current administration that have had a chilling effect on folks’ desire to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Kayla Williams, a senior policy adviser at VoteVets and former assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs at the VA. “The amount of chaos that has already happened has really challenged the existing workforce … Anything else that makes people think, ‘Maybe I wouldn’t be welcome,’ to me is a negative move that can really harm veterans.” Tracking non-citizen workers may place veteran healthcare in peril, one expert said. “This is just one more pile-on to the creation of a hostile work environment that jeopardizes patient safety,” said Suzanne Gordon, a senior policy analyst at the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute. “It’s extremely significant – they’re just adding another element to the fear and trepidation people feel when people come to work. And that’s really bad for patients.” When asked if the VA was concerned that the non-citizen database would have an impact on workforce morale, Kasperowicz said: “Not at all. No one who is not an illegal immigrant has anything to worry about.” On patient safety, the VA previously said in a statement to the Guardian for an article in August on cuts at the agency: “Anyone who says VA is cutting healthcare and benefits is not being honest,” citing a “nationwide shortage of healthcare workers”. The Trump administration this year has pushed for further data-sharing between federal and local agencies – including with the DHS and its ICE arm. In April, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agreed to share sensitive taxpayer information with ICE, a move that a federal judge blocked last month. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in March it was partnering with the DHS to share data for immigration enforcement purposes And the Trump administration just announced the health department would be providing sensitive information about some Medicaid recipients to ICE. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump ramps up immigration crackdown after shooting

President Trump’s threats to crack down on immigration are leaving migrants bracing as the administration said it will close the door on many legal pathways to the U.S. following a shooting that killed a National Guard member. Since the Wednesday shooting killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, Trump and his Cabinet members have proposed a dizzying number of reforms as part of a Thanksgiving pledge to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.” The Trump administration has paused all pending asylum applications for those from across the globe seeking refuge in the U.S. And for those from the 19 countries already covered by the travel ban, Trump has said he would pause review of their immigration cases, threatening also to revoke their green cards. He also said the U.S. would not issue any visas to citizens of Afghanistan, the home country of shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested the policies could stretch even further, threatening action “on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches and entitlement junkies” in a remark that sparked concern the Trump administration could expand its existing travel ban. To immigration advocates, the shooting has become cover to carry out drastic immigration moves that were likely already eyed by the administration. “You have to take a broader view that this is a president that has a documented history of using tragedies, using external developments, using things like the pandemic as pretext to pursue specific ends when it comes to immigration,” said Jorge Loweree, managing director at the American Immigration Council. “What happened is an absolute tragedy, and we need to do everything we can to prevent that sort of thing from happening. But there’s very clearly a much broader goal here, which is to severely reduce legal immigration to the U.S. by whatever means possible.” Others lamented that the actions of one person have become the basis for a series of immigration actions that will have far-reaching consequences. “They are going after not only all Afghans, but also it’s expanded to all people applying for asylum, all individuals who are from countries that are on the travel ban list, and they’re even looking toward expanding the travel ban as well,” said Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, noting that the Trump administration initially considered 36 countries for the travel ban. “They’re just going taking this one very tragic incident and expanding it … just using it as an excuse to do what they’ve always intended to do and go after individuals from, as the president said, Third World countries.” Trump on Thanksgiving said the moves were needed to “allow the U.S. system to fully recover …and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.” “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL,” he wrote on Truth Social. All the measures proposed by Trump would target legal immigrants to the United States. The day before the shooting was carried out, the Trump administration announced it would review all refugee admissions that were issued under the Biden administration, some 200,000 people over four years. The directive was seen by some as specifically targeting the roughly 80,000 Afghan citizens who fled the country amid the fallout from the U.S. withdrawal in 2021 and were evaluated by the Biden administration. Lakanwal, who served in a CIA-backed counter-terrorism unit during the war, came to the U.S. under Biden but was approved for asylum under the Trump administration. He was vetted by counterterrorism authorities and had received what is known as chief-of-mission approval, verifying his work for U.S. forces as part of the process to gain a green card. “This guy was vetted by both the Biden and Trump administrations, and that’s not the issue here, the vetting. Nothing failed with the vetting,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, who said the resulting immigration moves amount to collective punishment. “[It’s a] colossal waste of resources. Refugees are already vetted to the fullest extent before they get here, and every person who’s a non-citizen or in a temporary status here is continually vetted when they’re here.” Dalal-Dheini said the result of putting so many immigration applications on pause actually jeopardizes safety. “They’re putting all these hundreds of thousands of people in limbo because of the action of one person, and that doesn’t do anything to improve our national security,” she said. “If they just stop vetting these people to stop adjudicating their cases, people who are a national security threat may not be discovered. If they’re delaying these cases, if they’re spending all this time to re-examine individuals who have already been vetted — so refugees or green card holders — you’re now taking away resources for the adjudicators to be able to actually adjudicate new cases of people who have not been vetted before,” she said. “This, in fact, is probably going to harm our national security more than improve it.” Trump at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday forecast some future immigration moves, saying officials were preparing for a wave of new enforcement efforts, including one targeting Somali immigrants in Minneapolis. “We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” Trump said of Somalians. Somalia is already included on the existing travel ban list, as is Afghanistan, while Burundi, Chad, Cuba, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Yemen fill out the rest of the list. Trump’s comments about stopping migration from “all Third World countries” also raised questions about what countries might be included. “There are a number of countries, some very, very large countries, who, depending on how you define a developing nation, or, as the president says, a Third World country, could be on that list, including, potentially, a country like India,” Loweree said. But he sees a larger trend from Trump’s immigration moves, as further narrowing of immigration pathways to various countries inevitably stops people from coming to the U.S. “The president’s intent on targeting a broad sort of swath of the world when it comes to the narrowing of our immigration system,” Loweree said. “All of these different changes, some of them may be relatively small, but when you add them together, they create many different layers that prevent specific populations of people from being able to navigate the system, and therefore shut them out entirely,” he said. “That is the goal, targeting specific people that the administration deems to be undesirable and cutting them out of the system.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Jon Stewart Slams Trump’s Immigration Crackdown in Wake of National Guard Shooting: ‘He Does Not View You as Individuals’

Stewart then cut to a clip of Trump speaking to reporters about his decision to pause asylum requests. The president said the suspected shooter is part of a group of “people that shouldn’t be in our country,” a cluster that also includes “Somalians” and “plenty of others.” “Did you just ‘Somalia’ Afghanistan?” Stewart joked. “Because of this one Afghan, all Afghans are suspect, and also Somalians?” ADVERTISEMENT The late-night pundit then cut to another clip of Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where he was asked what the Solamians had to do with the National Guard shooting. The president replied, “Nothing, but Somalians have caused a lot of trouble.” “‘They had nothing to do with it, just reminded me of other groups I also don’t like. I don’t see color. I just hate all of it,'” Stewart said. “So our entire immigration system is now going to be based around the principle that if even one person from your ethnic or religious group fucked up, you all got to go.” Later in the monologue, Stewart asked who Trump would like to see come to America. Trump’s answer came in a sound bite: “I also like very competent people coming into our country. … Maître d’s, wine experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters. You got to get the best people.” “So Somalians aren’t welcome, unless they’re also ‘sommeliers,'” Stewart said. “But by the way, I want to make this clear. I don’t mind Trump having strict standards. The problem is, if you are from the so-called less desirable countries, he does not view you as individuals. You are just part of a larger amorphous blob of suspicion that deserves no grace, and if one of you fuck up, all are condemned.” Watch the entire monologue below. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Lawsuit accuses Trump administration of bias in immigration judge's firing

Former immigration judge claims firing violated Title VII and First Amendment rights Justice Department says president has constitutional right to fire immigration judges Over 100 immigration judges fired since Trump's return, lawyers group says Dec 1 (Reuters) - A former immigration judge filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming she was wrongfully fired by President Donald Trump's administration, which she says relied on an "unjust" belief that the president can legally discriminate against federal workers based on their sex, national origin and political affiliation. In her lawsuit, opens new tab filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., Tania Nemer said the U.S. Department of Justice fired her on February 5 shortly after the beginning of Trump's second term in office because she is a woman, a dual citizen of Lebanon who is the child of immigrant parents, and had earlier in her career run unsuccessfully for local office as a Democrat. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue She argues her firing violated the landmark Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and her right to engage in political activity under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. According to her lawsuit, the Justice Department's Equal Employment Opportunity office had dismissed a discrimination complaint she filed, saying the termination was a "lawful exercise" of the authority the president and attorney general possess under Article II of the Constitution to remove inferior officers. OFFICE DECIDED JUDGES NOT PROTECTED The head of the Justice Department's equal employment opportunity office, in a September 25 decision, opens new tab, had said that no statute, including Title VII, provides immigration judges with protection from at-will removal by Trump. Nemer argues that is wrong and that a federal judge should force the Justice Department to reinstate her. Advertisement · Scroll to continue "Title VII is unquestionably constitutional," her attorneys, Nathaniel Zelinsky and James Eisenmann, said in a joint statement. "The government cannot discriminate against its employees. Full stop. We look forward to pursuing Tania’s case in court.” The Justice Department, whose Executive Office for Immigration Review houses the executive branch's immigration court system, declined to comment. Nemer, who joined the Justice Department as an immigration judge in 2023 during former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration, said she was on the bench when her immediate supervisor interrupted her and informed her she had been terminated, effective immediately. He did not give a reason, she said. More than 100 immigration judges out of about 700 have been fired or pushed out since the start of Trump's return to office in January, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a move that the organization says has depleted the number of judges available to handle a surge in cases as the administration ramps up arrests and deportations. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

College student deported when flying home for Thanksgiving, despite court order

A college freshman trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was instead deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her attorney. Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, had already passed through security at Boston Logan international airport on 20 November when she was told there was an issue with her boarding pass, said attorney Todd Pomerleau. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and within two days sent to Texas and then Honduras, the country she left at age seven. “She’s absolutely heartbroken,” Pomerleau said. “Her college dream has just been shattered.” a woman in a brown coat speaks Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew detained by US immigration agents Read more According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an immigration judge ordered Lopez Belloza deported in 2015. Pomerleau said she wasn’t aware of any removal order, however, and the only record he has found indicates her case was closed in 2017. “They’re holding her responsible for something they claim happened a decade ago that she’s completely unaware of and not showing any of the proof,” the lawyer said. The day after Lopez Belloza was arrested, a federal judge issued an emergency order prohibiting the government from moving her out of Massachusetts or the US for at least 72 hours. ICE did not respond to an email on Friday from the Associated Press seeking comment about violating that order. Babson College also did not respond to an email seeking comment. Lopez Belloza, who is staying with her grandparents in Honduras, told the Boston Globe she had been looking forward to telling her parents and younger sisters about her first semester studying business. “That was my dream,” she said. “I’m losing everything.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

US halts all asylum claim decisions after National Guard shooting

The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions following the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director has said. Joseph Edlow said the pause would be in place "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible". It came hours after US President Donald Trump pledged to "permanently pause migration" from all "third world countries". The flurry of immigration decisions come in the wake of Wednesday's shooting, which left one soldier dead and another in a critical condition, and which officials have accused an Afghan national for perpetrating. While the first of these specifically targeted Afghans seeking to enter the US, other decisions have been far more wide-reaching. The USCIS - a branch of the Department of Homeland Security - has been told not to approve, deny or close asylum applications it receives for all nationalities, according CBS News, the BBC's US partner. Its officers can continue to work on asylum applications and review cases up to the point of making a decision, CBS reported. But few details are known about Friday's directive. Trump did not name which countries might be affected by his migration pause, which could face legal challenges and has already prompted pushback from UN agencies. The US president's recent announcements represent a further toughening of his stance towards migrants during his second presidency. Trump has also sought to enact mass deportations of illegal migrants, cut the annual number of refugee admissions, and to end automatic citizenship rights currently applicable to many born on US territory. National Guard member dies after shooting in Washington DC Afghans in US issue plea to Trump after Washington DC shooting Following Wednesday's fatal attack, the Trump administration temporarily stopped issuing visas to Afghans through the same programme the shooting suspect had, before suspending all immigration requests from Afghans pending a review. Then on Thursday, the USCIS said it would re-examine green cards issued to individuals who had migrated to the US from 19 countries, without mentioning Wednesday's attack. The agency referred to a June proclamation that included Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia and Venezuela. Details on what re-examination would look like were not provided. Trump then pledged to "end all federal benefits and subsidies to non-citizens" on Thursday. 'Third-world countries' Trump blamed refugees for causing the "social dysfunction in America" and vowed to remove "anyone who is not a net asset" to the US. "Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia were completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota," he said. "I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover." The phrase "third world" is one previously used to describe poorer, developing nations. Earlier this year, a travel ban was imposed on nationals primarily from 11 African and Asian nations, including Afghanistan. During Trump's first term, he enacted a travel ban targeting multiple Muslim-majority countries. The UN has urged the US to observe international agreements on asylum seekers, news agency Reuters reported. Trump's reaction to the shooting amounted to a "scapegoating" of migrants in the US, argued Jeremy McKinney, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He told the BBC World Service's Newsday programme before Trump's latest remarks that the attacker's motive were unclear, and that radicalisation and mental illness could affect anyone. "These types of issues - they don't know skin colour, they don't know nationality." Suspect in DC shooting is Afghan Officials said the shooting suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the US in 2021. He travelled under a programme that offered special protections to Afghans who had worked with US forces in Afghanistan before their chaotic withdrawal and the return to power of the Taliban. Mr Lakanwal had been a member of a "Zero Unit" - an Afghan intelligence and paramilitary force that worked with the CIA - a former Afghan defence and security forces member told CBS. The US considered Zero Units to be among the most respected domestic forces in Afghanistan. The CIA's current director has confirmed that he previously worked with the US intelligence agency. He would have been vetted by the US both when he started working with the CIA and when he travelled to the US, a senior US official told CNN. A childhood friend told the New York Times that Mr Lakanwal had experienced mental health issues after his work with his unit. Mr Lakanwal was reportedly granted asylum after Trump returned to office, having applied in 2024. But his request for a green card - which shows a person has permanent residence in the US - is pending, an official told CBS. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Gutting of key US watchdog could pave way for grave immigration abuses, experts warn

The federal watchdog system at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that oversees complaints about civil rights violations, including in immigration detention, has been gutted so thoroughly that it could be laying the groundwork for the Trump administration to “abuse people with impunity”, experts warn. Former federal oversight officials have sounded the alarm at the rapid dismantling of guardrails against human rights failures – at the same time as the government pushes aggressive immigration enforcement operations. A group of fired watchdogs has filed a whistleblower complaint to Congress through the Government Accountability Project (GAP), and a coalition of human rights organizations sued the administration, demanding the employees be reinstated. There is deepening concern that a system of oversight that was already weak is now hanging by a thread, even as criticism surges over treatment of detainees in the ballooning immigration jail network. “They want to be able to abuse people with impunity,” said Anthony Enriquez, vice-president of US advocacy and litigation at the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights advocacy group based in Washington, which is representing the group suing the government. He added: “They want to be able to operate a system that doesn’t have any rules and that can be used to maximize brutality against people, in order to accomplish a mass deportation agenda.” The DHS has repeatedly, through assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin, insisted when asked about reports and complaints of abuses that there are “no sub-prime” conditions in immigration custody in the US. But Dana Gold, a senior director of the GAP, which is working with those behind the whistleblower complaint, echoed Enriquez’s warning. Without a robust oversight system “there’s just a blank check for impunity”, she said. The second Trump administration early on fired hundreds of officials in federal oversight offices, typically known as watchdogs. This included at the DHS. The main watchdog team there overseeing civil rights, the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) – one of three DHS oversight offices – has been cut from a staff of 150 to just nine. This despite there being about 550 investigations that were active and alleging serious civil rights violations by DHS officials and contractors, including inside immigration detention centers. Cases that were active when Trump returned to office include civil rights officials then in post investigating allegations of civil and human rights abuses, according to CRCL documents that were previously public, original complaint records submitted to the CRCL and the whistleblower disclosure, reviewed by the Guardian. Among the cases, were the following allegations: Border Patrol agents in Arizona forcibly removed a detained man from a cell, handcuffed him and then injected him with ketamine to sedate him in 2023, according to a CRCL document confirming the watchdog’s investigation into the allegation. A Guardian reporter had saved that document just weeks before it was scrubbed from the DHS’s website. Guards at a privately owned Louisiana detention center systematically mistreated detained immigrants, according to a CRCL document. This included an investigation into a 2024 incident during which correctional staff pepper sprayed around 200 detained immigrants who were staging a hunger strike in protest of detention conditions. Guards then allegedly locked the men in the unit and cut the power and water for hours. A majority of the men were allegedly denied medical care, the original complaint, submitted to the CRCL by RFK Human Rights, said. In a Florida jail, a 33-year-old immigrant woman with mental health problems was forcibly stripped naked, strapped to a restraint chair and mocked by male guards, according to a CRCL complaint submitted by the ACLU of Florida and RFK Human Rights. The woman was allegedly left with “contusions and marks on her body” after hours in the restraint chair. The whistleblower declaration said the CRCL had launched an investigation into the case. Agents violated due process during the arrest and detention of Palestinian student and Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, according to the whistleblower complaint. This last one, into Khalil, who was arrested by ICE agents for his pro-Palestinian activism, was one of the final investigations launched before the mass firing of civil rights watchdog officials in March. The status of these investigations, and hundreds more, is unknown. Enquiries by the Guardian to the DHS last week about the above specific cases and the many others previously understood to be active elicited no response. However, in response to requests for comment by the Guardian, also submitted to DHS last week, McLaughlin issued a statement, saying: “These claims are ridiculous. All of legally required functions of the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) continue to be performed, but in an efficient and cost-effective manner and without hindering the department’s mission of securing the homeland.” It went on to say: “As it existed in the past, the CRCL obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’s mission. Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations. “CRCL and OIDO, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, regularly inspect detention facilities, document conditions in accord with facility standards, investigate detainee complaints, and issue recommendations to ICE and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] when appropriate.” An investigation by the Guardian based on interviews with five recently dismissed DHS civil rights officials, hundreds of pages of documents, and interviews with immigration attorneys, has found that the already limited oversight practiced within the DHS prior to January 2025 now appears almost nonexistent. Of the nine people now working at the CRCL, one is its acting officer, installed in May, Troup Hemenway, a former adviser to the rightwing Project 2025 blueprint for conservative government. Congress originally tasked the three offices, including CRCL, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) and the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS), with oversight at DHS. The watchdog bodies process complaints, initiate investigations and provide guidance to DHS agencies in various areas of interest. Now, those operations have seemingly been halted, or at least significantly slowed. In recent months, the former DHS officials who have filed the whistleblower complaint have watched as the Trump administration has targeted political adversaries, expelled immigrants to a foreign prison, allowed officials to arrest immigrants at court appearances, encouraged officers to wear face coverings during arrests and targeted people who have lived in the US for years and have no criminal record. Few know much about what is happening behind closed doors inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and at secretive holding facilities. Former DHS employees the Guardian spoke with, who were dismissed from their positions at CRCL, spoke with the Guardian on condition of anonymity to discuss matters more freely and avoid retaliation. “They don’t care about civil rights concerns,” one former watchdog said about the Trump administration. “That’s why they fired us all. They just don’t care about the civil rights of immigrants. Even when we were there, they didn’t want to hear what we had to say – they didn’t want to let us do our jobs.” One morning in late March, top DHS officials emailed employees at the three oversight offices, ordering them to stop working. Trump administration officials said the offices undermined DHS’s immigration enforcement operations, calling them “internal adversaries”. A coalition of immigrant rights organizations sued the administration in Washington, declaring the cuts illegal and demanding all oversight employees be reinstated.According to a declaration filed by a top DHS official, , nearly every single employee from the offices was fired, including 147 employees at the CRCL, 118 at the OIDO and 46 at CIS. The Trump administration wants “no oversight into what they are doing,” said Enriquez from RFK Human Rights. Following the lawsuit, the DHS walked back its claims that the offices were being abolished. Instead they told the federal judge they reduced the number of staff in order to “refocus” the offices and “create more efficient processes.” The internal oversight work was continuing, the DHS said, arguing the lawsuit should be tossed. Throughout litigation, the administration has put out various staffing figures, most recently that only nine people total, including Hemenway, now worked at CRCL. Five of them are “contract” investigators, meaning that as of August, there were only two full-time CRCL investigators. Fifteen additional contractors are also reportedly at CRCL, according to the DHS court declaration, exclusively focusing on internal Equal Employment Opportunity cases for DHS employees. “When there was a fully-staffed, robust CRCL, there were regular inspections of ICE facilities. There were contracted experts who went on those on-site oversight visits to the facilities, who provided detailed recommendations and corrective action that had to be taken when conditions were poor or when staff was mistreating the detained individuals,” the former official explained in a telephone interview with the Guardian. “By doing the regular oversight, I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that that really saved lives.” But now, “ I don’t think they’re happening – it certainly doesn’t seem CRCL has the staff to be doing those inspections”, the former official added. Gold, at the GAP, said of the whistleblowers she is working with: “The idea that getting rid of basically every employee with institutional knowledge and replacing them with just a few – in the wake of daily multiple examples of the kinds of things that CRCL would have dealt with – is just deeply disturbing to them.” Oversight at the DHS “is a guardrail that has been deliberately decimated to make sure that sand is not put in the gears of executive branch priorities”, Gold added. Many CRCL investigations focused on complaints inside ICE detention centers, including allegations of medical neglect, sexual abuse and deaths in custody, the whistleblower complaint said. Now, the Trump administration is further expanding its immigration detention network. “ I don’t think they care about the conditions of these facilities. I think they’re just trying to round up as many people as they can and get rid of them without any due process and without any regard for conditions,” said the former official, who worked on CRCL investigations into allegations of abuse at several facilities. A third former official, speaking to the Guardian, warned of dangers for immigrants targeted by ICE. “If there isn’t oversight that keeps pace, the potential for real danger is great,” that former official said, adding: “You are left to ICE policing itself.” In 2023, the CRCL’s compliance branch received 3,104 complaints and investigated 25% of them, according to a report to congress. “I don’t know if they’re actually reading and investigating those complaints or doing anything with the complaints,” said the former CRCL official quoted first in this report. Sophia Genovese, an immigration attorney and faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center, has submitted over 100 complaints to CRCL. “Nine people can’t cover a detention center, much less an entire country – especially with so many new detention centers popping up left and right,” she said. “It’s laughable that they think that they can do anything with so few staff.” As the Trump administration ramps up its enforcement operations, Genovese is seeing an increase of cases of ICE threatening physical violence on immigrants, pressuring them to self-deport – an allegation CRCL would have likely investigated. “I’m getting referrals every day from people who have family members who are picked up, detained and are being coerced into signing deportation orders,” said Genovese. Immigrant advocates for years were already frustrated with CRCL’s limited powers. Typically after an investigation, CRCL officials make recommendations to DHS agencies to improve their civil rights practices but can rarely mandate changes. “Structurally speaking, the way congress set up the agency, there were some real weaknesses,” said Enriquez from RFK. But he argues that any oversight, no matter how limited, is significantly better than no oversight. “A true solution to this problem is going to look like a massive reduction in the use of immigration detention,” he added. That appears highly unlikely in the current climate. Gold said of CRCL: “Even with its weaknesses at some level, it did investigations, it could mitigate problems and it provided a really important oversight function – also in terms of just getting information to Congress to do [additional] oversight. And without that, there’s just a blank check for impunity.” CRCL always used to publish memos about completed investigations and those they were initiating, which, Genovese said, journalists and attorneys found valuable in helping reveal conditions inside ICE detention centers and other problems within the DHS. But the Trump administration in February removed all of the CRCL’s public records from its website. (The Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog, later published the majority of the CRCL public records after they were scrubbed by the DHS). “It’s a real breakdown in the rule of law. It’s really concerning,” said one former CRCL official. “It’s very upsetting.” The main avenue of resort now is public protest and legal action, Genovese said. “We’re seeing really incredible acts of bravery by members of the public,” she said. “That’s been helpful at preventing detention in some ways, but also educating the public about the horrors of detention.” For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Trump says he wants to ‘permanently pause’ migration to the US from poorer countries

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status. He is blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.” His most severe social media post against immigration since returning to the Oval Office in January came after the shooting Wednesday of two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital under his orders. One died and the other is in critical condition. A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War is facing charges. The suspect came to the U.S. as part of a program to resettle those who had helped American troops after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump’s threat to stop immigration would be a serious blow to a nation that has long defined itself as welcoming immigrants. Since the shooting not far from the White House, administration officials have pledged to reexamine millions of legal immigrants, building on a 10-month campaign to reduce the immigrant population. In a lengthy social media post late Thursday, the Republican president asserted that millions of people born outside the U.S. and now living in the country bore a large share of the blame for America’s societal ills. Related Stories US halts all asylum decisions after shooting of National Guard members US halts all asylum decisions after shooting of National Guard members Suspect in shooting of National Guard members faces murder charge as US halts all asylum decisions Suspect in shooting of National Guard members faces murder charge as US halts all asylum decisions Trump says one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot by Afghan national has died Trump says one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot by Afghan national has died “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!” Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on WhatsApp Trump was elected on a promise to crack down on illegal migration, and raids and deportations undertaken by his administration have disrupted communities across the country. Construction sites and schools have been frequent targets. The prospect of more deportations could be economically dangerous as America’s foreign-born workers account for nearly 31 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The president said on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born U.S. residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels” as he blamed them for crime across the country that is predominantly committed by U.S. citizens. There are roughly 50 million foreign-born residents in the U.S., and multiple studies have found that immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than are people who were born in the country. The perception that immigration breeds crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” according to a review of academic literature last year in the Annual Review of Criminology. “With few exceptions, studies conducted at both the aggregate and individual levels demonstrate that high concentrations of immigrants are not associated with increased levels of crime and delinquency across neighborhoods and cities in the United States,” it said. A study by economists initially released in 2023 found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have been imprisoned at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to past research undermining Trump’s claims. Trump seemed to have little interest in a policy debate in his post, which the White House, on its own rapid response social media account, called “one of the most important messages ever released by President Trump.” He pledged to “terminate” millions of admissions to the country made during the term of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for those who are not U.S. citizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.” President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after speaking to troops via video from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after speaking to troops via video from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Trump claimed immigrants from Somalia were “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” as he used a dated slur for intellectually disabled people to demean that state’s governor, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year. On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration. On Thursday, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.” Edlow did not name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns. The shooting of the two National Guard members appeared to trigger Trump’s anger over immigrants, yet he did not specifically refer to the event in his social media post. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of driving across the country to the District of Columbia and shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom died on Thursday; Wolfe is in critical condition. The suspect, currently in custody, was also shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening. Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if he blamed the shootings on all Afghans who came to the U.S. “No, but we’ve had a lot of problems with Afghans,” the president said. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.

Tens of thousands of people were detained and deported during US government shutdown

US immigration officials arrested, detained and deported tens of thousands of people in operations nationwide during the federal government shutdown, new data reveals. The arrests have led to a marked increase in the number of people held in immigration jails, with more than 65,000 currently detained nationwide – the highest number of people in immigration detention ever. While other federal employees were furloughed and without pay and many public services were limited or unavailable, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) kept up enforcement operations nationwide, in line with the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda. This included detaining thousands of people with no criminal record. In total, ICE arrested and detained approximately 54,000 people during the shutdown. The agency also deported approximately 56,000 people during this time. Customs and Border Protection additionally arrested and thousands more during the same period, and ICE arrest figures do not account for all people held in ICE detention. a man with a hat and glasses US veteran considers civil lawsuit after he was arrested and injured at anti-ICE protest Read more The latest data covers 1 October through 15 November, the entire period of the government shutdown, which ended on 12 November, plus an additional three days. Thursday evening’s release of the official statistics is the first time since September that ICE has published data on ongoing arrests and detentions. The Guardian, using ICE’s data, has continued to track the number of people arrested, detained and deported by the agency. During the shutdown, top officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), repeatedly claimed that immigration enforcement officers were arresting the “worst of the worst”. But ICE’s latest data shows that more than 21,000 people with no criminal record were arrested and detained by ICE, with the number again surpassing those who have been convicted of a crime or with pending criminal charges. Immigrants with no criminal record continue to be the largest group in US immigration detention. Being undocumented in the US is not a crime; it is a civil infraction. The 65,000 people detained by ICE in various facilities, including many run by private-sector contractors, is the “highest number of detainees, at least since the start of our modern era of immigration detention from the 1980s”, said Adam Sawyer, director of research at Relevant Research, a group of academics and researchers who work on immigration data. During the first week of Donald Trump’s second term, in January of this year, there were 950 people in immigration detention who were arrested by ICE with no criminal history, according to past ICE data collected by the Guardian. But the latest data shows a 2,131% jump, from 950 to nearly 22,000. ICE has arrested and detained more than 16,000 people with criminal backgrounds and nearly 15,300 people with pending charges, the latest data shows. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to This Week in Trumpland Free newsletter A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration Enter your email address Marketing preferences Get updates about our journalism and ways to support and enjoy our work. Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion “This coincides with the Trump administration’s enforcement hysteria in Chicago, which Trump justified as needed to catch dangerous ‘illegal’ criminals,” wrote Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University, about the latest data release. Kocher analyzes ICE numbers, tracking arrests and detention statistics. The latest data calls into question Trump’s “outrageous and inflammatory claims”, he added. Earlier this year, top DHS officials directed ICE to arrest at least 3,000 people each day, or a million per year. In leaked emails obtained by the Guardian, ICE officials were instructed to also arrest “collaterals”, the agency’s word for people who just happen to be present during an arrest operation, without arrest warrants. An Ice agent in Chicago in January. US immigration officers ordered to arrest more people even without warrants Read more The administration has significantly changed the way immigration enforcement is being conducted as well, as ICE works with a colossal surge in funding. Massive immigration enforcement operations have targeted major cities across the US, as other federal agencies are ordered to assist in immigration arrests. A growing number of local officials have also being deputized to conduct immigration enforcement work in collaboration with ICE. Previously, other agencies within the DHS played a bigger role in immigration-related arrests at the US-Mexico border. But with Trump’s return to the White House, further restrictions along the border have led to a decrease in the number of arrests by border officials. Now those same border officials, including border patrol agents, have been deployed to the interior of the US to assist ICE in its arrest efforts. With ICE’s outsized budget, and the increase of arrest operations nationwide, immigration officials have also arrested people with legal status, including citizens. The Trump administration has engaged in massive operations in major US cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.