Supreme Court rejects a lawsuit from states demanding that Biden administration boost deportations
The Supreme Court has rejected a Republican-led challenge to a Biden administration policy that prioritizes the deportation of immigrants who are deemed to pose the greatest risk to public safety or were picked up at the border.
ICE Houston removes foreign fugitive wanted for homicide in Mexico
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementโs (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston Field Office, with assistance from ERO Mexico and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force in Mexico, removed a foreign fugitive from the U.S. who is wanted for homicide in his home country of Mexico.
18 undocumented immigrants with prior DWI convictions apprehended by ICE Houston
Eighteen undocumented immigrants residing in the Houston area who have previously been convicted of driving while intoxicated have since been apprehended, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementโs (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston Field Office
ICE Houston sweeps up 10 undocumented immigrants listed as sex offenders; 8 accused in crimes against children
Fugitive operations officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementโs (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston Field Office arrested 10 unlawfully present convicted sex offenders in May who were residing in the Houston-area. Eight of the individuals arrested were convicted of sex offenses involving minors.
Correction: Homeland Security body cameras story
In a story published Dec. 21 about the use of body cameras by an investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security, The Associated Press erroneously reported that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix and Detroit were the first federal officers to wear body cams.
Trial to determine if GEO must pay detainees minimum wage
After nearly four years of litigation and pandemic-related delays, a trial is underway to determine whether the GEO Group must pay minimum wage to detainees who perform cooking, cleaning and other tasks at its Northwest immigration detention center in Washington state.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues in effort to force Biden administration to deport more people convicted of crimes
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over its new procedures for deporting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and asked a federal judge to compel the Department of Homeland Security to take them into custody before they are released by local or state law enforcement.
Texas family detention centers expected to transform into rapid-processing hubs
Republicans and some Democrats fear that relaxing detention policies will exacerbate a surge that is already straining the Biden administration. AdWhile the tally is a fraction of the combined capacity of 3,300 people at three family residential centers, the uptick baffled child-welfare advocates who hoped that the detention centers would finally close. They note that Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas helped to expand use of these detention centers during the Obama administration. โThere needs to be open expression of what theyโre going to do with these facilities,โ said Bridget Cambria, a lawyer representing migrant families in Pennsylvania. AdThe Biden administration has not yet detailed how exactly it will cope with another influx.
US reverts to targeted immigration enforcement under Biden
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON โ Immigration enforcement in the U.S. would be more targeted under President Joe Biden than under his predecessor, with authorities directed to focus on people in the country illegally who pose a threat, according to guidelines released Thursday. Under Biden, ICE would primarily apprehend and remove people who pose a threat to national security, committed crimes designated as โaggravatedโ felonies or recently crossed the border. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimated that 87% of noncitizens in the country without authorization would not be priorities for enforcement if Biden used the national security and public safety criteria as was done under Obama. AdThe national security category includes anyone suspected of involvement with terrorism or espionage. The public safety category applies to anyone convicted of a crime that involved their โactiveโ participation in gang activity or convicted of an aggravated felony.
US govt seizes over 10M phony N95 masks in COVID-19 probe
They have no utility whatsoever,โ Homeland Security Secretary Ali Mayorkas said of the fake masks. Homeland Security officials would not say which states the phony masks were sent to, but said criminal charges would be forthcoming. The company delivered some 2 billion N95 masks in 2020 as the pandemic intensified, but in the earlier months, when masks were in short supply, fraudsters took advantage. But phony masks have already made it to front-line workers in other cases. Over the past year there has been more than 1,250 raids by law enforcement resulting in the seizure of millions of fake masks.
Trump agreements seek to tie Biden's hands on immigration
The agreements say Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas are entitled to a 180-day consultation period before executive branch policy changes take effect. The Biden administration rejects that argument on grounds that immigration is solely the federal government's responsibility under the Constitution. The Trump administration, usually eager to trumpet immigration enforcement, stayed publicly quiet on the agreements, which were first reported by BuzzFeed News. It is our hope that the SAFE agreement will foster timely communications about any significant forthcoming policy changes. โFor our entire history, immigration policy has been understood to be the exclusive responsibility of the federal government,โ Legomsky said.
US agrees for now to stop deporting women who alleged abuse
HOUSTON โ The U.S. government has agreed temporarily not to deport detained immigrant women who have alleged being abused by a rural Georgia gynecologist, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Dozens of women have alleged that they were mistreated by Dr. Mahendra Amin, a gynecologist who was seeing patients from the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is investigating as well. Several women say they have faced retaliation by immigration authorities for coming forward. Further investigations have found several examples of Amin performing surgeries on women who later said they didn't consent to the procedures or didn't fully understand them.
โThis account doesnโt existโ: Twitter account for ICE disappears
HOUSTON โ The official Twitter account for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, @ICEgov, doesnโt exist or has been disabled, as of this writing. Itโs unclear at this time whether the account was intentionally deleted. The ICE page on Twitter, as of 1:23 p.m. on Nov. 12, 2020. (Copyright 2020 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.) The agencyโs other social media -- its Facebook and Instagram accounts -- appear to be functioning normally at this hour.
Art stolen from Italian abbey 18 years ago found in Dallas
DALLAS โ U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found a piece of art this month in Dallas that had been stolen from an abbey in Italy 18 years ago. ICE officials said the painting was stolen from the Abbey of Santa Maria in Sylvia in Sesto al Reghena, Italy in May 2002. That tip led agents to a private collector in the Dallas area, who had purchased the piece from a dealer in 2015. The dealer had no idea the painting had been stolen, officials said. Officials said the collector turned over the painting to agents.
ICE detainee from Honduras dies from coronavirus complications at Conroe hospital, officials say
CONROE, Texas A 50-year-old Honduran man being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has died from coronavirus complications at a Conroe hospital, officials announced Wednesday. ICE officials said Fernando Sabonger-Garcia was transferred to Conroe Regional Medical Center on July 26 from the Joe Corley Processing Center after exhibiting COVID-19-related symptoms. A COVID-19 test was administered by CRMC medical staff on July 26 and came back positive the same day, officials said. He suffered respiratory failure and was pronounced dead on Aug. 28 at 11 a.m. by medical professionals at CRMC, officials said. According to officials, Sabonger-Garcia entered ICE custody July 7 after being transferred from the U.S.