#immigration-enforcement

#immigration-enforcement

Federal immigration officers, acting without a judicial warrant or consent, entered the Brooklyn home of Hayk Safaryan early one morning last summer, took him into custody and seized his personal documents as well, according to a federal lawsuit challenging the arrest's legality. Safaryan, 44, an Armenian immigrant who has lived in the United States for more than two decades, was sitting at his computer and eating breakfast when the officers knocked, according to written court testimony from his wife Léah Lazonick.

In my previous post, I discussed the psychological violence being imposed on the Latine immigrant community through the implementation of new and insidious immigration policies under the current administration. Since that publication, this violence has intensified in both scale and visibility. Across many regions of the United States, the public has witnessed large-scale ICE raids in neighborhoods, workplaces, hospitals, school events, and even outside immigration courts, where individuals and entire families are apprehended as they exit mandatory hearings.

Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said. The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting harmful stereotypes by equating migration with criminality. Officials said the figure was the highest number in a decade. The department said 15,200 people who were in the UK illegally were removed since the 2024 election a 45% increase on the previous 19 months.

Under the policy, federal agents would be prohibited from using city-owned properties including parking lots, garages and other open spaces as staging grounds for civil immigration enforcement. The city intends to post signage and install physical barriers around these areas. The signage will be available to businesses and other landowners who want to prevent immigration operations on their private property.

Mobile Fortify, now used by United States immigration agents in towns and cities across the US, is not designed to reliably identify people in the streets and was deployed without the scrutiny that has historically governed the rollout of technologies that impact people's privacy, according to records reviewed by WIRED. The Department of Homeland Security launched Mobile Fortify in the spring of 2025 to "determine or verify" the identities of individuals stopped or detained by DHS officers during federal operations, records show.

Across the Twin Cities, federal immigration enforcement operations have turned businesses into sites of confrontation - with agents in store parking lots rounding up day laborers, armed raids on restaurants and work authorization inspections conducted in tactical gear. Some retailers report revenue drops of 50% to 80% as customers stay home out of fear. Along Lake Street and in East St. Paul, areas within the Twin Cities, an estimated 80% of businesses have closed their doors at some point since the operations began.

On a cool winter night in Los Angeles, dozens gathered to protest the Trump administration's attacks on the arts and the recent federal immigration raids in southern California. But these protestors didn't carry signs or chant in front of a government building they recited poems such as Antifa Tea Party and Love in Times of Fascism. They performed anti-fascist improv to a small but lively crowd at The Glendale Room, a library-themed theater, as part of the monthly show Unquiet: A Night of Creative Resistance.

A young French tennis coach who once lived the American dream describes being detained, shackled and expelled under the Trump administration's tightened border rules. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: There was a sharp drop in the number of European tourists visiting the U.S. last year compared to 2024. Many said the volatile political climate was the reason. Frightening stories of Europeans getting caught in the Trump administration's reinforced border controls have also dampened desires to cross the Atlantic. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley brings us one French person's experience.

Enrique Castillejos and his wife stopped at a Winchell's Donut House. It was part of their after-church routine on Friday nights. That evening's sermon had been about finding peace in God in turbulent times, and they felt it spoke directly to them. Enrique, 63, and his wife, Maria Elena Hernandez, 55, were undocumented immigrants. Like millions of others in Southern California, they had been looking over their shoulders as federal agents conducted immigration sweeps.

I do believe that we are living in a time we have not seen before, that what is happening in our country is extreme, said Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, who co-wrote the proposal with Councilmember Claudia Jimenez. I'm not prepared to say that people will be kind, rational or sane, or abide by the law, because they have not thus far and it just gets worse every day.

For months, Minnesota and Minneapolis have been at the forefront of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown as federal law enforcement flooded in and clashed with demonstrators who contested their aggressive tactics against undocumented and citizen residents alike. But in the aftermath of the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers, President Donald Trump appeared ready for a change of topic, directing a leadership shift on the ground and signaling a possible shift in approach.

As the Bay Area gears up for Sunday's Super Bowl in Santa Clara, South Bay Rep. Ro Khanna and other California Democrats are demanding that no immigration enforcement operations will occur at the game.

The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration officers in Minnesota but will continue its enforcement operation that has sparked weeks of tensions and deadly confrontations, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday. About 700 federal officers-roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota-will be withdrawn immediately after state and local officials agreed over the past week to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, Homan said.

Democrats want to mandate that immigration officers make arrests with a judicial warrant, NPR's Ximena Bustillo tells Up First. They argue that DHS-issued administrative warrants, which are not signed by a judge, raise questions about violations of people's constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. While some Republicans are interested in negotiating, others, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, have already discouraged it. Lawmakers also disagree on whether agents should wear face coverings.

Earlier this month, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Miller had been meeting in Washington DC with Tennessee speaker of the house, Cameron Sexton, to craft model legislation for states around the country. A few weeks later, the speaker announced a suite of eight bills that would turn state and local police officers, judges, teachers, social workers and others into an auxiliary extension of the federal immigration system.

Partly sunny with a high around 34 today. A low near 18 overnight. The National Museum of African American History & Culture will be closed today due to "complications involving the recent winter storm." You can find me on Bluesky, I'm @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there's a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.

The killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis have renewed a long-running debate among Democrats over how best to address immigration enforcement, and whether advocating for "abolishing ICE" fits into a winning political playbook. It is a debate that has taken on new urgency among Democrats against a backdrop of bipartisan backlash to the Trump administration's deportation efforts, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Especially in times of crisis and conflicts, old videos and photos resurface on social media falsely presented in a current context," said Brittani Kollar, who leads media literacy efforts at the Poynter Institute. The US nonprofit supports fact-checking, training and media criticism. "In wars and conflicts, it's particularly hard to get video footage," she told DW. "That's why manipulated or fake videos often fill that gap, even when they've already been used in other contexts or previously identified as false."

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said the state's new legal observers would be volunteer employees from her office, trained to observe, without interfering, whether Trump's immigration enforcement remains within the bounds of the law. I am proud to protect New Yorkers' constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action, James, a Democrat, said in a statement.