ICE capades: the roundup
PWS weekly report 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”
Trump’s DC Takeover is a massive migrant sweep
On August 11, Trump announced a temporary federal takeover of the DC police force and sent 800 federal DC National Guard members to combat what he called a crime emergency — though crime in the nation’s capital has been dropping.
In addition, ICE, DHS, and other federal law enforcement agencies have been ordered to assist the Trump-led efforts, and DC prosecutors have been ordered to “be more aggressive” with their charges.
Six other Republican-led states have also pledged to send more than a thousand additional National Guardsmen to assist in the effort.
However, DHS and ICE personnel have used the opportunity to target migrants more than police neighborhoods for crime. Delivery drivers have been violently arrested, DC police have been assigned to immigration detainment centers, ICE has targeted schools and churches in communities with high Latino populations, and even set up checkpoints on busy streets, demanding documents from passersby.
The American Immigration Council on Wednesday stated, "It is becoming increasingly clear that this is yet another front in the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the communities that welcome them.”
A video of DC Police and federal agents detain a man on the National Mall. He appeared to try to escape, then was quickly tackled to the ground by several agents, screaming in Spanish “I don’t owe anything! I don’t have anything! I’m not a criminal, I work here, I want to be with my family” (uploaded to X by NBC correspondent Aimee Cho)
But some residents are pushing back. In addition to the federal employee arrested for throwing a sandwich at ICE personnel, hundreds of residents in the Columbia Heights neighborhood on Tuesday confronted ICE officers conducting immigration sweeps in the neighborhood. The large crowd booed and harassed them until officers retreated from the community.
Trump adds ideological purity tests to migration protocols
DHS announced new rules Tuesday instructing officers to use migrants’ “anti-American” behavior to block them from upgrading their legal status.
According to new guidelines, “ espousing antisemitism, posting anti-American rhetoric online or expressing common cause with ‘terrorist organizations’ will be considered an overwhelmingly negative factor” when ICE rules on an applicant’s case.
DHS also expanded its rules to encourage officers to search social media for “anti-American activities.”
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin
Multiple critics of the policy, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said the new policy was a return to “McCarthyism,” referring to the tactics used to identify alleged communists in the Cold War that violated privacy rights.
“The spirit of Joseph McCarthy is alive and well in the Trump administration, which has spent months dishonestly mischaracterizing legitimate criticism of the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza as antisemitic, pursuing witch hunts into American colleges, and threatening the free speech rights of immigrants,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday.
ICE Home Depot Raid in Southern Cali turns deadly, Human Rights Watch accuses LA police of “deliberate brutality”
During a migration sweep at a Home Depot in Monrovia, in Southern California, a man fleeing ICE officials was killed by passing traffic on the 210 Freeway.
It just breaks my heart because it’s just so inhumane,” Robert Chao Romero, a UCLA professor of Chicano studies and Monrovia resident, told the LA Times. “These horrible, unjust ICE policies led to someone dying.”
He was later identified as Carlos Roberto Montoya, a Guatemalan national, per the vice consulate of Guatemala in Los Angeles.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday criticized LA police for excessive force and “deliberate brutality” against ICE protesters. The report documented police use of tear gas, pepper balls, and flash-bang grenades that targeted protesters and journalists at close range. “Scores of people suffered injuries, ranging from severe bruising and lacerations to broken bones, concussions, an amputated finger, and severe eye damage,” said the organization.
HRW also accused police of violating international, State, and federal laws in their use of force against protesters, citing unnecessary violence, firing upon crowds without warning or provocation, and deliberately targeting journalists clearly identified by jackets, helmets, and badges.
TPS ends for Hondurans, Nicaraguans, and Nepalese migrants in the US
A Judge at the 9th Circuit court on Wednesday greenlighted Trump administration plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. The changes will affect more than 55,000 people who have been in the US legally since 1998 and will now have to leave the US or risk deportation. Many have no path to permanent status.
All have renewed their status every 18 months for the last 27 years, each time passing a background check.
The changes further criminalize migrants who arrived to and are currently in the country illegally. Meanwhile, ICE has announced plans to double its total detention capacity from 50 thousands to over 100 by the end of 2025.
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ICE is a Terror organization
Men in military-style uniforms and assault rifles deployed from unmarked civilian vehicles — their faces covered by black baklava-style masks — and rushed towards a community center in the middle of the worki…