ICE on Pace for 1 Million Arrests in Four Years, but Congress Likely to Fund Expansion

ICE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on pace to arrest roughly one million illegal aliens by the end of the Trump administration, a sizable figure but well below President Donald Trump’s target. 

The revelation comes as Republicans in the House and Senate look to include border security and deportation provisions and funding in an upcoming spending package that could allow for a significant expansion of ICE arrests.

Read the full story

Bukele Agrees to Receive ‘Criminal’ Migrants Deported from the U.S.

El Salvador and America

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele agreed on Monday to accept undocumented migrants of any nationality who have committed serious crimes on U.S. soil from the United States.

This was announced to the press by the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, after almost three hours of meeting with Bukele at the Salvadoran president’s farm on the lake in the Coatepeque municipality.

Read the full story

Phoenix High School District Refuses to Comply with Trump Administration Crackdown, Declares Itself a ‘Safe Zone’ from ICE Arrests

Arrest

In response to the Trump administration’s new policies cracking down on illegal immigration, the Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) issued a resolution earlier this week declaring it will not comply. The Department of Homeland Security issued a directive on January 21 rescinding a policy implemented in 2011 under the Obama administration that prevented illegal immigration raids at or near schools or other “sensitive locations” unless an “exigent circumstance” exists, such as a national security threat. PUHSD’s resolution, issued in response, stated that the school district is a “Safe Zone” so the school can deny ICE officials information and entrance onto the premises. 

The resolution claimed that federal immigration law enforcement activities “harmfully disrupt the learning environment.” It said, “[I]t continues to be the policy of PXU not to allow any individual or organization to enter a school site if the educational setting would be disrupted by that visit…”

Read the full story

Connecticut Governor Says Illegal Immigrants Are Welcome in State

Ned Lamont

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said last week that illegal immigrants are welcomed in the state.

“My advice is, send your kids to school. My advice is, keep going to church,” the Democrat said, according to CT Insider. “We don’t collect the immigration status of people who are going to church or kids who are at school. Our cops are busy trying to keep the streets safe, they’re not asking the immigration status of somebody who’s caught jaywalking or speeding.”

Read the full story

Trump DOJ Files New Charges Against Illegal Immigrant Arrested in Nashville Prostitution Bust

Elmer Humberto Aparicio-Castillo

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a new charge against one of the five illegal immigrants who were arrested in Nashville as part of a human trafficking operation, accusing 28-year-old Elmer Humberto Aparicio Castillo on Friday of “unlawful possession of a firearm by an illegal alien.”

A DOJ press release confirmed that Aparicio Castillo, “is unlawfully present in the United States with a criminal history related to immigration offenses.”

Read the full story

Trump Admin Just Turbocharged ICE’s Ability to Quickly Deport Illegal Immigrants

ICE Arrest

The Trump administration incredibly expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to quickly deport illegal immigrants from the U.S. on Tuesday, removing yet another enforcement hurdle.

“Expedited removal” is a policy that allows federal immigration officials within 100 miles of an international land border to remove illegal migrants via a streamlined process that bypasses the backlogged immigration court system. Per a notice posted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE agents now have the ability to implement expedited removal anywhere in the country, removing illegal migrants’ ability to slow-walk their removal by contesting their deportation order in court.

Read the full story

Commentary: Citizens-First Immigration Reform Is Top of Mind for Americans

President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 – and again in 2024 – on a mandate from the people to put an end to the illegal immigrant crisis and implement citizens-first immigration reform.

The mandate was clear: America is a nation of laws, and illegal immigration violates our laws and presents an array of criminal and economic issues that cannot be ignored.

Read the full story

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Attempting to Block Laken Riley Act

Illegal immigrant being arrested

Outgoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is reportedly attempting to block passage of the bipartisan Laken Riley Act.

According to Breitbart, the report comes from independent reporter Pablo Manriquez, who said the DHS Secretary’s opposition to the bill is due to the fact that “sources at DHS” estimate the cost of the bill’s implementation to be between $20 billion and $30 billion.

Read the full story

Ohio Meat-Packing Company Pays Fine for Stealing American Citizens’ Identities and Giving Them to Illegal Immigrants to Work

Meat Packing Plant

The Department of Justice fined an Ohio meat-packing company last week almost $4 million after a hiring manager stole the identities of American citizens and gave them to illegal immigrants who were not eligible to work in America.

Fresh Mark, Inc., entered into a Non-prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio after Yelwin Omar Munoz-Solis’ “involvement in an identity theft scheme and subsequent obstruction of justice.”

Read the full story

Analysis: The Constitution Does Not Grant Birthright Citizenship to the Children of Illegal Immigrants

Dozens of media outlets are reporting in unison that Donald Trump cannot stop the U.S. government from awarding birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. They claim this is the case because the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires it.

In reality, the legislative history of the 14th Amendment is clear that it only grants birthright citizenship to the children of people who are legally and permanently living in the United States. This does not apply to the children of illegal immigrants, temporary residents, visitors, or tourists.

Read the full story

Texas DA Seeks Death Penalty for Illegal Immigrants Charged with Capital Murder

Death Penalty Texas

Following through on a pledge she made months ago, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg on Friday announced her office was seeking the death penalty in the prosecution of two illegal foreign nationals from Venezuela now charged with the capital murder of a 12-year-old Houston girl.

On June 17, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray’s body was found in a bayou under a bridge in north Houston. The cause of death was strangulation but her body was found bound, without clothing from the waist down. Forensic evidence was collected to ascertain if she was sexually assaulted. According to the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, the perpetrators threw her body into the bayou to get rid of DNA evidence, The Center Square reported.

Read the full story

California County Dems Move to Shield Migrants Charged with ‘Heinous Crimes’ from ICE

ICE Arrest

San Diego County doubled down on its existing sanctuary policy by voting to further restrict local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, even in cases where migrants have been charged with “heinous crimes.”

In a 3-1 vote on Tuesday, members of the Democrat-controlled San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to further restrict local law enforcement’s ability to assist or communicate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operating in the jurisdiction, which could include instances where a migrant has been charged with rape, assault, child abuse or other serious crimes.

Read the full story

Virginia Sheriff Calls for Strict Borders After Two Illegal Immigrants Arrested for Shooting in Alleged Road Rage Incident

Mike Chapman

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office on Friday confirmed the arrest of two illegal immigrants who were charged with firing at a moving vehicle during a road rage incident, causing damage to the vehicle but no injuries to its passengers, prompting Sheriff Mike Chapman to urge the federal government to improve border security.

In a press release, the sheriff’s office announced the arrests of Aldo Betancourth Rivera and Jimmy Paredes Madrid, who authorities described as, “both of Sterling and undocumented.”

Read the full story

Commentary: President Biden Needs to Find the Missing Unaccompanied Migrant Children

Border Surge

In recent months, a disturbing revelation has emerged from the heart of our nation’s immigration system: Over 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the U.S. border during the Biden-Harris administration are unaccounted for. An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report dated Aug. 19, 2024, confirms this alarming statistic, highlighting a profound failure in our duty to protect the most vulnerable.

The DHS report reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lost track of at least 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children, with the whereabouts of up to 323,000 remaining unknown. Without a doubt, we cannot deny the fact that many of these children are now tools and victims of the human sex trafficking industry – a heinous trade that represents the worst of the worst. This staggering number raises urgent questions about the safety and well-being of these children. They are left to fend for themselves in a dangerous world without proper oversight.

Read the full story

Cartels Demand Higher Border Crossing Fees After Trump Victory

Smugglers

Drug cartels and other human trafficking groups have begun demanding higher fees for illegals seeking to be smuggled across the border in the aftermath of President-elect Donald Trump’s comeback victory.

As Breitbart reports, illegals at an alleged “charity” shelter in Sonora, Mexico told a Mexican newspaper that the smuggling fee has doubled in recent weeks, with Trump’s victory and impending return to office being given as a major reason. The previous fees of $5,000 have risen to at least $10,000, as illegals from all around the world, including Africa, Asia, and Central America, try desperately to sneak into the country before Trump returns to office.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Potential End to the Open Borders and Cheap Foreign Labor Experiment

Farm Workers

It has been six decades since the Immigration Act of 1965 vastly opened up the ability to import cheap foreign labor at the expense of American workers, and it has been four years of the Biden Administration’s disastrous open borders experiment.

With the election of President Donald J. Trump, the American people are fiercely rejecting the destructive open borders mandate and beginning to rethink cheap foreign labor as a viable economic strategy.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Immorality of Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigrant

Donald Trump will not be president for almost another two months.

Yet Democrat politicians, both federal and local, vie to be the most strident in denouncing his plans to begin deporting millions of foreign nationals who, over the last four years, have entered the U.S. illegally. Trump pledges to focus initially only on the 400,000 to 500,000 current felons and some 1.4 million additional aliens who have ignored legal summons for their deportation.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Undercounted Statistics of Illegal Immigrants

In June, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was charged with the murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five in Maryland. Police in Oklahoma tracked the accused repeat offender down with a sample of his DNA recovered from a Los Angeles home invasion in which a nine-year-old girl and her mother were assaulted. Police say he came to the U.S. illegally to escape prosecution for at least one other murder in his native El Salvador in December 2022. 

“That should never have been allowed to happen,” said Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, referring to the numerous missed red flags the case presented. His office apprehended Hernandez in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Read the full story

Starting in 2025, Illegal Immigrants Will Have Access to Minnesota’s Publicly-Funded Healthcare Program

Doctor and Patient

Illegal immigrants in Minnesota will be able to use a state-run healthcare program starting in Jan. of 2025, a bulletin from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) says.

Last year, Democrats in control of state government passed a law which expanded MinnesotaCare eligibility to illegal immigrants. A publicly-funded healthcare program that has existed since 1992, MinnesotaCare provides health insurance to low-income individuals.

Read the full story

Poll: Majority of Americans Support Trump’s Plan to Declare Emergency at Border

Illegal Immigrant

A majority of Americans support President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to declare a national emergency over the border crisis, according to a new poll. Declaring such an emergency would allow Trump to utilize the military to secure the border and help with his plan to deport violent criminal foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally.

The Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted online by pollster Scott Rasmussen Nov. 18-19. It asked: “President Trump has said that he will declare a national emergency because of the illegal immigration problem. This would let the Trump Administration use military force to help with a mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Do you favor or oppose declaring a national emergency to address the problem of illegal immigration?”

Read the full story

Los Angeles Codifies Status as ‘Sanctuary City’ Ahead of Second Trump Administration

Ballot Box

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to codify a “sanctuary city” ordinance into the municipal law, which protects illegal immigrants in the city from being deported in President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration.

Several liberal cities are taking preemptive measures to protect undocumented residents ahead of the next presidential administration, including Boston where Mayor Michelle Wu said she would protect residents who use city resources regardless of immigration status.

Read the full story

Sanctuary Cities Freed Tens of Thousands of Criminal Aliens Wanted by ICE During Biden Era, Data Shows

Illegal Immigrants

Sanctuary jurisdictions have freed tens of thousands of criminal migrants during President Joe Biden’s time in the White House, federal law enforcement data show.

Sanctuary cities and other localities across the U.S. have freed more than 22,000 criminal migrants wanted by federal immigration authorities since January 2021, according to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The numbers pertain to ICE detainer requests ignored by local law enforcement agencies, instances when the enforcement agency provided insufficient notice to ICE or early releases of migrants subjected to detainer requests.

Read the full story

Laken Riley Murder Suspect Waives Right to Trial by Jury

On Tuesday, the illegal alien who has been accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley elected not to face a trial by jury, and instead have his guilt determined by the judge overseeing the case.

As Fox News reports, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal, was arrested for the murder of Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia Athens (UGA) while she was out for a morning jog on February 22nd. His lawyers asked Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge Patrick Haggard for a bench trial rather than a jury trial. Judge Haggard agreed, with the trial set to begin on Friday.

Read the full story

Democrat Governors, City Leaders Pledge to Shield Illegal Immigrants from Trump’s Agenda

Democratic Governors

Democratic governors and other liberal elected officials have lined up to declare that they will fight back against President-elect Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda.

Trump, who won the election on Tuesday in an electoral landslide, has promised to conduct mass deportations across the country and withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities, along with a slate of other hawkish enforcement proposals. However, Democratic governors in Massachusetts, California and Illinois — all of whom have been speculated as potential 2028 presidential contenders — and other elected leaders have said they will use their authority to push back against the upcoming administration’s agenda.

Read the full story

Illegal Migrants Rush Across U.S. Border Before President-Elect Donald Trump Takes Office

More than 100 migrants crossed the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, just two hours after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election on a promise to end illegal immigration.

The migrants, who mostly came from Central and South America, along with two others from Africa, arrived in the United States after crossing the Rio Grande River. There were a dozen unaccompanied children in the group, including two younger brothers.

Read the full story

Court Forces Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to Turn Over Voter Registration Information on 218,000 Voters Lacking Proof of Citizenship

AZ Sec State Adrian Fontes

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was ordered on Thursday to turn over by Monday the voter registration information on 218,000 voters in Arizona who are registered to vote but who failed to provide proof of citizenship. He appealed the decision immediately afterwards, with two organizations submitting amicus curiae briefs supporting him, but the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an order Monday morning affirming the lower court’s decision to require the list in response to a public records request from America First Legal (AFL). 

James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel, said in a statement regarding the case, “When Secretary Fontes discovered the glitch that allowed 218,000 individuals to register without providing proof of citizenship, he should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders, who are in charge of verifying the citizenship of voters. Instead, he has jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone.”

Read the full story

Texas Sees 51 Percent Drop in Border Apprehensions After Operation Lone Star Expands

Operation Loan Star

Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal border crossers in Texas dropped 51% in one year, according to federal data. The stark decline comes after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded Operation Lone Star border security efforts in the state.

In fiscal 2023, Border Patrol agents reported 1,045,655 apprehensions of illegal border crossers in five U.S. Customs and Border Protection sectors in Texas, excluding those apprehended in New Mexico which fall into one of these sectors, in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2024, the number dropped to 534,333, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and exclusive data obtained by The Center Square.

Read the full story

Nearly 565,000 Illegal Border Crossers in Arizona in Fiscal 2024

Illegal Immigrants

There were nearly 565,000 illegal border crossers reported in Arizona in fiscal 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Arizona’s 378 miles of shared border with Mexico is staffed by CBP and Border Patrol agents in the CBP sectors of Tucson and Yuma. Tucson Sector’s 262-mile shared border with Mexico extends from the Yuma County line to the Arizona-New Mexico state line. Yuma Sector’s nearly 182,000 square miles of primarily desert terrain extends from Imperial Sand Dunes in California to the Yuma-Pima County line.

Read the full story

Skrmetti: Federal Government’s Responsibility to Enforce Immigration Laws

Jonathan Skrmetti

The Tennessee General Assembly has been “unequivocally clear ” that illegal immigration is a high priority for them, but there’s only so much a state can do, the state’s attorney general said.

Jonathan Skrmetti told The Center Square in a telephone interview when he goes out and talks to people across Tennessee, he can’t think of a time when he hasn’t gotten questions about the subject.

Read the full story

Over 3 Million Border Crossers from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela Have to America During Biden-Harris Administration

Illegal Immigrant

Of the 14 million illegal border crossers reported under the Biden-Harris administration, more than 3 million are from four countries whose citizens were granted expanded entry through a parole program created by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV).

At least 2,496,080 illegal border crossers from CHNV countries were reported under the Biden-Harris administration, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The data represents fiscal years 2021-2024, excluding the first three months of fiscal 2021 under the previous administration. The federal fiscal year is from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

Read the full story

Trump Open to Reparations Fund for Victims of Crimes Committed by Illegals

Trump on Phone

Gaining momentum two weeks from Election Day, Donald Trump is laser focused on voters’ top priority of making America safe and affordable again. But after spending hours comforting families victimized by murder, rape and other border crimes, the former president told Just the News he also is open to creating a federal compensation fund for Americans harmed by illegal immigrants let into the country under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The idea of a border crimes reparations fund like the one created for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks has been floating around conservative circles for months, including in Congress where Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., even introduced the concept before it stalled.

Read the full story

Nearly 11 Million Illegal Immigrant Encounters Have Occurred Since Biden-Harris Took Office: GOP

Illegal Immigrants

Nearly 11 million illegal immigrant encounters have occurred nationwide since Biden-Harris took office, according to GOP lawmakers who cited the latest data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

In September, there were 101,790 illegal crossings at the southern border, including migrants who made asylum appointments at ports of entry through the CBP One app.

Read the full story

New Illegal Alien Caravan Heading for U.S. Ahead of Election

Yet another caravan of illegal aliens is currently making its way towards the southern border of the United States, hoping to cross the border before a possible victory by former President Donald Trump in the November election.

As Breitbart reports, the caravan consists of about 1,000 illegals, and started at Mexico’s southern border; it is currently en route to Mexico City, at which point it will disband and scatter as it makes its way to the border. It is the second major illegal caravan to start in Mexico since October 1st, following the inauguration of the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Read the full story

Seminar Unpacks Democrats’ Role in Undermining Democracy: Experts Weigh In on 14th Amendment, Presidential Eligibility

Kamala Harris

Davos in the Desert, a civic organization in Arizona, held a daylong virtual seminar last Friday addressing how Democrats are destroying democracy. The event, titled Defending Democracy, featured numerous national experts, including Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman. Eastman spoke about whether Kamala Harris is ineligible to be president due to the natural-born citizen requirement of the 14th Amendment, whether that amendment applies to illegal immigrants, and how the Democrats are scheming to invoke its Section 3 to prevent Trump from taking office if he wins the presidential election. 

Shawn Smith, who served more than 25 years in active duty for the United States Air Force, including as a colonel and now leads Cause of America, a nonpartisan nonprofit establishment to help grassroots American citizens restore integrity and trust in our elections, spoke about election laws the Democrats are violating.

Read the full story

New York City Reportedly Seeking 14,000 Hotel Rooms for Migrants, to Spend over $2 Billion as Crisis Rages On

Hotel Room

New York City officials are reportedly looking to keep thousands of hotel rooms available for illegal migrants as the crisis in the Big Apple rages on, according to the New York Post.

The city’s Department of Homeless Services is seeking a contract with local hotels to provide roughly 14,000 rooms in order to shelter migrants through 2025, according to a report from the New York Post. The city anticipates spending on migrants in need of housing for the current fiscal year and the past two years combined will surpass $2.3 billion, with a significant amount of these costs going toward hotel rent.

Read the full story

Kari Lake Blasts ‘Extreme Makeover Version’ of Ruben Gallego During Their Only Senate Debate

Arizona Senate Debate

Kari Lake and Ruben Gallego participated in their only U.S. Senate debate Wednesday evening, hosted by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Lake hit the issue of border security repeatedly, referencing Gallego’s “dumb stupid border wall” comment, while Gallego, who referred to “illegals” when discussing the border, tried to pick apart previous statements she’d made based on technicalities.

Gallego provided his opening statement first. He criticized Lake for saying she is the authentic governor since there was fraud in the 2022 election, and complained about election officials receiving threats. However, Lake herself and many election integrity investigators regularly receive death threats, but these threats are not reported in the media.

Read the full story

25 Governors Demand Answers on How Many Migrants Flown to States

Flights

Twenty-five Republican governors want to know how many illegal foreign nationals have been flown into their states by a Biden-Harris administration plan they argue is burdening their residents and creating an unsafe environment.

Those being flown in have arrived through more than a dozen parole programs created by U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The governors only inquired about one: the CHNV parole program, created to fast track previously inadmissible citizens of Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela moving into the country.

Read the full story

Arizona Local News Journalist Releases Book Titled, ‘The Case for Open Borders’

Author Todd Miller, "Build Bridges not Walls"

A local news journalist in Tucson, Arizona was interviewed on Sunday after releasing a book titled, “The Case for Open Borders,” in which he argued the Biden-Harris border policies that allowed more than 12 million illegal immigrants to enter the country in four years are not actually “open borders,” which he suggested would provide a boon to the American economy and “fundamental fairness” to billions of people who were not born United States citizens.

Tucson-based Arizona Luminaria journalist John Washington appeared Saturday on the “Horizonte” program on Arizona PBS to discuss his new book, which was released earlier this year.

Read the full story

At Least 1.5 Million Illegal Southwest Border Crossers Reported in Fiscal Year 2024

Migrants in Group

A minimum of 1,525,210 foreign nationals illegally crossed the Southwest U.S. border in fiscal 2024, according to preliminary data The Center Square exclusively obtained from a Border Patrol agent on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The data excludes Office of Field Operations data, gotaway data (those who illegally entered and evaded capture), and northern border apprehension data, meaning the overall number is likely much higher.

Read the full story

Commentary: Unchecked Immigration Has Transformed America

Illegal Immigrants

The United States is deep into a season of severe discontent. Our politics are polarized, our Congress is moribund, and our purchasing power has tumbled. A Gallup poll in early 2024 showed that only 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the “way things are going.” Nearly 70 percent believe the country is on the “wrong track.”

While innumerable failures of government factor into this public cynicism, evidence suggests that U.S. immigration policy is among its most powerful components. Despite our self-image as a “nation of immigrants” and our public celebration of “diversity,” a growing number of Americans sense that immigration, especially in its most frenzied illegal form of the past three years, is implicated in some of the country’s most vexing problems.

Read the full story