ICE capades: the roundup
PWS weekly on the ghoulish acts, dastardly deeds, and unseemly actions of the country's now-biggest LEO
As ICE becomes one of the largest law enforcement organizations on the planet, it couldn’t be more crucial for real-time reporting by journalists with experience on both the migration and authoritarianism beats. As part of efforts to provide that coverage, PWS brings you the weekly “ICE roundup”
Death of man in ICE detention in NY brings total death count to 19
A man arrested by US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) died in a Long Island, New York, jail on Thursday, according to a report.
Officials in Nassau County confirmed the death of a 42-year-old man but declined to share details. The State Attorney General has announced a preliminary investigation.
The death of the unnamed man, the first to die in Nassau County, brings the total number of people who have died in ICE custody to 19.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, called on Nassau to end its partnership with ICE.
“No human being should die in immigration detention,” he wrote in a statement. “The county had made a choice to jail this human being … No municipal or county governments in New York should be using local resources to carry out the federal government’s mass deportation agenda.”
Legal U.S Resident Mahmoud Khalil to de deported to Syria or Algeria
On Wednesday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., deported to Syria or Algeria for failing to disclose certain information on his green card application.
Khalil’s March 8 arrest was part of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on foreign-born pro-Palestinian academics who were studying or working in the U.S. legally.
Khalil’s lawyers plan to appeal the decision, but they have expressed concern that DHS and ICE may expedite the process so that it can be completed before Khalil’s legal options are exhausted.
Civil rights advocates have described Khalil’s arrest as a clear violation of the First Amendment, which guarantees the liberty of expression of anyone on US soil. Immigration advocates have criticized efforts by the Trump administration to subvert and bypass normal deportation protocols in a case that is clearly motivated by politics.
Federal Agents arrest more than 70, including 11 City officials at detention center in New York City
More than 70 people, including Democratic politicians, were arrested in New York in relation to protests at 26 Federal Plaza, home to an ICE field office that also serves as a migrant detention center.
The site has become a flash point over the treatment of migrants in ICE custody since prosecutors criticized the treatment of detainees at the facility. The holding center, designed for holding migrants for a few hours, has been used instead to hold detainees for weeks, in squalid and overcrowded conditions.
The lawmakers were arrested inside the detention center after demanding to inspect the premises. Brad Lander, the City Comptroller, was among those arrested.
Federal agents use tear-gas and “non-lethal” rounds on ICE protesters in Chicago
Federal law enforcement agents used teargas and pepper balls to disperse a group of roughly 100 protesters, including two Democratic candidates for Congress, at demonstrations in front of an ICE holding facility in Chicago on Friday.
Demonstrators had attempted to block SUVs leaving the facility, which serves as an operational center for the federal “Operation Midway Blitz”, a regional crackdown on migrants in Chicago and the surrounding areas.
Video of the incident was later reposted by the Department of Homeland Security’s [DHS] official account on X with the caption: “Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals.”
In the video, federal officers are seen violently attacking protesters, including a Chicago political representative.
Democratic lawmakers in Chicago called the display “an egregious abuse of power.”
ICE Chilling photo of the week:
Colin Boyle, photographer for the Block Club Chicago, captured an ICE agent near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s office at 1930 Beach St. in Broadview, Ill. on Sept. 10, 2025.
You can also donate a one-time gift via “Buy Me a Coffee”. It only takes a few moments, and you can do so here.
And if you can’t do any of that, please do help us by sharing the piece! We don’t have billionaire PR teams either.
Hasta pronto, piratas!
