ICE capades: the roundup

The 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”

Grand juries are refusing to indict DC protesters on Trumped-up charges

Prosecutors in Washington DC, under orders from US President Donald Trump himself, have been aggressive in their charges against DC citizens detained by ICE. In at least three high-profile cases, and half a dozen attempted indictments, however, the juries have tossed out felony charges against the defendants.

The most famous this week was Sean Charles Dunn, who threw a sandwich at ICE personnel and called them “fascists who weren’t welcome in this town.” He will face a misdemeanor charge after three separate grand juries rejected felony assault charges.

The White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and ICE have all made public statements in recent weeks promising that Dunn would see jail time.

In addition to Dunn’s case, however, Grand Juries have also rejected felony indictments against a woman who allegedly spit on ICE officials, and a man ICE agents claim was detained because he “obstructed ICE vehicles.”

Alvin Summers, responded to the detention by defending himself, sparking an altercation that also involved passersby. He was accused of felony assault by the arresting officers.

Of more than three dozen people accused of federal charges in DC in recent weeks, 7 have been successfully indicted by Grand juries.

The number is shocking because grand juries are presented evidence only by prosecutors, and defendants appear without legal representation. It has become something of a cliche in the US that a Grand Jury will (in normal circumstances) “indict a ham sandwich.

But citizens in DC seem to be changing that dynamic.

Record numbers of detainees in ICE Custody

ICE’s total detained population has reached its highest official point in years — and possibly the highest point in history — with 61,226 people held in detention as of August 24.

According to ICE’s own data, 2/3rds of all detainees have no criminal record, and although no public information is available on the 1/3 of ICE detainees that do have either ongoing criminal charges or records, there is no reason to believe that those crimes have been egregious.

One in three natural-born citizens in the US, or over 78 million people, have a criminal record as well, meaning that those arrested by ICE have roughly the same rate of criminality as the general US population.

These numbers do not include those arrested by personnel from Customs and Border Protection (CPB). CPB numbers have been higher in a number of Presidential administrations, including that of previous US President Joe Biden.

Image and data compiled by Austin Kocher as part of his newsletter on migration

Uprising after police violence at the soon-to-close “Alligator Alacatraz”

Guards at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail deployed teargas and engaged in a mass beating of detainees to quell an uprising, after one migrant, who had received news a family member had died, begged to use the phone and was denied, reported news channel Noticias 23.

The allegations, made in phone calls to Noticias 23 by at least three detainees, come as authorities have been ordered to scale down and close the camp in compliance with a judge’s order.

The incident took place after several migrants held there began shouting for “freedom”. A team of guards then rushed in and began beating individuals indiscriminately with batons, and fired teargas at them, said detainees.

“They’ve beaten everyone here, a lot of people have bled. Brother, teargas. We are immigrants, we are not criminals, we are not murderers,” one of the men told Noticias 23 in a call.

The facility, which netted nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in “no-bid contracts” for government contractors, was ordered closed after reports that the construction had not complied with safety or environmental regulations, and numerous reports of a lack of potable water, toilets overflowing with feces, rancid food, overcrowding, and sickness spreading among those detained there.

Detaining and Deporting Unaccompanied Guatemalan Children

The Trump administration is planning to deport nearly 700 Guatemalan children who had come to the U.S. without their parents, according to a letter sent Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

According to CNN, who first reported the story, Wyden’s letter said children who do not have a parent or legal guardian as a sponsor or who don’t have an asylum case already underway, “will be forcibly removed from the country.”

“This move threatens to separate children from their families, lawyers, and support systems, to thrust them back into the very conditions they are seeking refuge from, and to disappear vulnerable children beyond the reach of American law and oversight,” Wyden’s letter says.

Due to their young age and the trauma unaccompanied immigrant children have often experienced getting to the U.S., their treatment is one of the most sensitive issues in immigration. Advocacy groups have already sued to ask courts to halt new Trump administration vetting procedures for unaccompanied children, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane.

In July, the head of Guatemala’s immigration service said the government was looking to repatriate 341 unaccompanied minors who were being held in U.S. facilities.

ICE snapshot of the week:

One concrete snapshot of the largest law-enforcement agency in action. CPB officials deploy at a Home Depot near Los Angeles

This week’s snapshot posted by the “People’s City Council” in LA

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