#immigration-enforcement

#immigration-enforcement

Yet while "Abolish ICE" serves as a unifying chant in the streets, Democrats are once again seeking to temper and co-opt people's demands into a narrow version of reform. The demands outlined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer could not be more toothless: requiring ICE agents to unmask, wear body cameras, and to follow a code of conduct modeled on other law enforcement agencies.

Fear of detention or deportation is leading many immigrants to avoid medical appointments, even when those visits are essential. This chilling effect is particularly acute among pregnant individuals, who may delay or forgo prenatal check‑ups out of concern that seeking care could expose them to immigration enforcement. The result is a growing public health crisis: expectant patients are left without consistent medical oversight, and communities face widening disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes.

"This occupation has had an incalculable impact on every single person here and the repercussions will be ongoing for a long time. Besides the separation of families, the legal battles to repatriate them and the persecution and arrest of constitutional observers, there will be ongoing massive economic effects for families trying to make rent, immigrant-run businesses who were forced to close and to the city as a whole."

They argued that a freeze on rents is desperately needed after "nearly three months of federal occupation" under President Donald Trump's "Operation Metro Surge," which sent nearly 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration agents to the area, resulting in multiple fatal shootings and a wave of civil rights violations, including explicit racial profiling.

The Department of Justice admitted in a recent court filing that it had violated over 50 court orders in immigration cases and that stunning figure was just since Dec. 5 and only included cases in New Jersey. The tactics used during President Donald Trump administration's immigration crackdown have been loudly criticized and sparked nationwide protests and multiple court challenges, especially after two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis:

"For most of American history, there were already paths to suing federal officials," Harrison Stark, of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, tells Axios. A 1971 Supreme Court decision sharply limited individuals' ability to sue federal agents, and since 2022, Congress has been required to authorize such lawsuits. It has not yet done so.

ALPRs are marketed to promote public safety. But their utility is debatable and they come with significant drawbacks. They don't just track "criminals." They track everyone, all the time. Your vehicle's movements can reveal where you work, worship and obtain medical care. ALPR vendors like Flock Safety put the location information of millions of drivers into databases, allowing anyone with access to instantly reconstruct the public's movements.

The day before I relaunched The Flower Shop as its executive chef, I got a text from my old friend, Stretch Armstrong. "My partner is in commercial real estate and aware of your property hunt. Unsure the status of that but if you'd entertain a convo with a great guy, he'd love to speak to you." I was in a bad place because ICE had grabbed my lead line cook, Daniel, two days before.

"I see everyone recording, so I'm like let me record just in case something happens," Nolasco said.

Colombian conservative congresswoman Angela Vergara claims to be going through hell. Last Friday, she took to social media to report that her 22-year-old son, Rafael Alonso Vergara, had been detained in the United States by immigration police (ICE) and had been imprisoned and chained for 18 days. In a video posted on social media, she said: This is a person who was awaiting his legal situation, but he had his work permit and social security.

I think for me, it is tough to sometimes wake up and see something because I do care a lot about our country. I think people think I don't for some reason, but I do. I'm very proud to be American. But I think when you're from any country, you don't have to represent the entire values of what's going on in the leadership.

Dulcie and her family, who live in the Twin Cities metro, are afraid every day when they leave for work and school. "All of my friends are staying at home. No one comes out. It gets to me," said Dulcie, who declined to use her last name because she fears retribution from federal agents, who have been detaining citizens and legal immigrants.

In an eyewitness video analyzed frame by frame by The New York Times, Alex Pretti raises one hand and holds a phone in the other. Federal agents tackle him, and one appears to find and remove a gun holstered on his hip. Then, an agent shoots - and a second follows. They appear to fire nine more shots as Pretti lies on the ground.

Millions nationwide have begun the process of filing their yearly taxes - including many immigrants without a permanent immigration status. But since President Donald Trump's return to the White House, his administration has sought access to IRS data - including taxpayers' addresses - to further its immigration crackdown and locate undocumented immigrants. And last April, ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, secured a data-sharing agreement with the IRS, alarming many taxpayers who use ITINs to file.

It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now,

"I am in touch with the Rapid Response Network and community organizations to ensure communities continue to receive accurate information," Lurie said. "We are not aware of any other immigration enforcement action in the city today. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and remain committed to upholding the values and laws of our city."

In December, the YouTuber Nick Shirley uploaded a video purporting to expose a scheme led by Somali refugees in Minneapolis. It caught the attention of Vice President JD Vance, who shared the video online. Soon after, ICE was deployed to the city. The video was inspiring to Amy Reichert, a 58-year-old San Diego resident, who started making her own videos claiming a similar scheme was afoot in her city.

A dispute over whether federal immigration agents should be allowed to wear masks during enforcement operations has become one of the biggest obstacles to keeping the Department of Homeland Security funded, pushing the government toward a partial shutdown early Saturday. Democrats have described the practice as corrosive to public trust, arguing that masked agents create the appearance of a "secret police" force. Republican lawmakers, President Trump and his top advisors, meanwhile, have drawn a hard line against requiring officers to remove their face coverings, insisting that doing so would expose them to harassment, threats and online doxxing.

Earlier this week, Gary Kendrick, a GOP council member in the red town of El Cajon, on San Diego's eastern outskirts, announced that he was crossing the aisle and joining the Democrats. Kendrick was the longest-serving Republican official in the region's local government. "I've been a Republican for 50 years," he said, in the statement explaining his action. "I just can't stand what the Republican Party has become. I'm formally renouncing the Republican Party."

Leaders in the Massachusetts Senate unveiled a new piece of legislation this week that would allow residents to sue federal law enforcement officers who violate their constitutional rights. The move comes as residents continue to push leaders on Beacon Hill to do more to combat the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement agenda. The lawmakers behind the bill directly referenced the administration's violent operation in Minnesota, saying that measures like this are necessary when the federal government refuses to hold its own officers accountable.