Category Archives: US immigration

Three people die attempting to cross US-Mexico border amid California storm

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Authorities found two men and one woman dead in Otay Mountain wilderness due to harsh terrain and cold weather

Three people died last week as they attempted to cross the US-Mexico border near San Diego, California, amid a storm that brought near freezing temperatures to the challenging mountain terrain, according to the US border patrol.

Border patrol agents responding to two separate distress calls – that came within less than an hour of each other on 14 March – discovered two men and one woman deceased in the Otay Mountain wilderness area, the agency said in a statement. The following evening authorities responded to another call from someone stranded in the mountains with a broken ankle, according to the statement.

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Judge bars Trump administration from deporting Indian academic over political views

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Badar Khan Suri, who teaches at Georgetown University, being held incommunicado in Louisiana ‘staging center’

A US district judge has barred Donald Trump’s administration from deporting an Indian academic from Georgetown University after the Department of Homeland Security accused him of having ties to Hamas.

On Thursday, US district judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, prohibited federal officials from deporting Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at the university, in an order that is to remain in effect until it is lifted by the court, Reuters reports.

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Semisonic denounces White House use of ‘Closing Time’ in deportation video

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Grammy-nominated band says Trump administration ‘missed the point’ and song is about ‘joy, possibilities, hope’

The band Semisonic has said the Donald Trump White House “missed the point” of its hit Closing Time “entirely” when the administration used the Emmy-nominated song in a social media post showing a shackled person being deported.

A statement from Semisonic also said the White House did not have permission to use the song in that manner.

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Trump waging ‘sickening’ psychological war, deported Venezuelan’s lawyer says

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One detained man’s lawyer says he is gay artist who had fled persecution in his home country, not a gang member

A lawyer for one of the Venezuelan immigrants sent from the US to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador has accused the Trump administration of waging a “sickening” campaign of psychological warfare against asylum seekers and migrants.

“In my 15 years of representing people in removal proceedings in the United States, this is the most shocking thing that I’ve ever seen happen to one of our clients,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, a California-based lawyer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) group.

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German man with green card ‘violently interrogated’ by US border officials

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Berlin checking if US immigration policy has changed after Fabian Schmidt becomes third German to be detained

Berlin is investigating whether US immigration policy has changed, after a German national who is a permanent US resident was detained and “violently interrogated” by US border officials.

Fabian Schmidt, 34, is being held at a detention centre in Rhode Island after attempting to return to his home in New Hampshire after a trip to Luxembourg.

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Family of girl recovering from brain surgery describes ‘serious abuses’ while detained in US

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US citizen girl deported with mixed-status family, who filed complaint over denied healthcare and poor conditions

A family that was recently removed from the United States to Mexico has filed a complaint seeking an investigation into what they describe as “serious abuses” they say they faced during their detention in the US prior to their removal.

The mixed-status family includes two undocumented parents and six children, five of whom are US citizens. On 4 February, five of the children, including four who are US citizens, and the two parents were removed from Texas and sent to Mexico after they were stopped at an immigration checkpoint.

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White House’s defense for not recalling deportations ‘one heck of a stretch’, says judge

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Administration claims it didn’t stop flights despite judge’s instructions because he did not write it in the formal order

The Trump administration claimed to a federal judge on Monday that it did not recall deportation flights of hundreds of suspected Venezuelan gang members over the weekend despite his specific instructions because that was not expressly included in the formal written order issued afterwards.

The administration also said that even if James Boasberg, the chief US district judge in Washington, had included that instruction in his formal order, his authority to compel the planes to return disappeared the moment the planes entered international airspace.

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White House denies violating judge’s order with Venezuela deportations

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Trump administration used Alien Enemies Act to deport about 250 alleged gang members to El Salvador

The White House has denied allegations that it engaged in a “a blatant violation” of a judge’s order by deporting about 250 Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador on Saturday, with the US border czar appearing to contradict the denial on Monday by declaring: “I don’t care what the judges think.”

The US district judge James E Boasberg has scheduled a hearing for Monday afternoon to demand an explanation about why his Saturday order temporarily blocking the deportation flights had apparently been ignored.

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French politician jokes US should return Statue of Liberty for siding with ‘tyrants’

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Raphaël Glucksmann quips that US should give back 19th-century gift from France over Trump’s approach to Ukraine

A French European parliament member has quipped that the US should return the Statue of Liberty, which it received as a gift from France about 140 years ago, after Donald Trump’s decision “to side with the tyrants” against Ukraine.

Trump’s White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, then responded to Raphaël Glucksmann on Monday by calling him an “unnamed low-level French politician” and saying the US would keep the statue.

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Judge orders Trump officials to explain if they defied court order by deporting migrants – live

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James Boasberg sets 4pm ET hearing as rights groups say Trump deportation of Venezuelans could be ‘blatant violation’ of court order

The justice department says that Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist working in Rhode Island who was deported to Lebanon despite having a US visa, had “sympathetic” photos and videos of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, according to Politico.

Alawieh’s deportation raised concerns because a judge had required 48 hours’ notice before being sent out of the country, and because she was detained despite having a valid visa and a job in the United States. Her lawyers have alleged that Customs and Border Protection ignored that order, and Massachusetts federal judge Leo Sorokin is expected to consider the matter this morning.

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Brown University professor deported despite judge’s order, defying US court

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Rasha Alawieh’s case highlights Donald Trump’s escalating immigration policies and tensions with universities

A Brown University medical professor was deported to Lebanon over the weekend despite having a valid US work visa, defying a judge’s order blocking her immediate removal from the country.

The case centering on Rasha Alawieh, 34, comes as Donald Trump’s second presidential administration has been escalating its immigration policies and attacking universities.

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Columbia graduate detained by Ice was respected British government employee

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Mahmoud Khalil described by former colleague at UK office for Syria as well liked and extensively vetted

A detained Columbia University graduate threatened with deportation after the Trump administration claimed he poses a risk to US foreign policy is a former employee of the British government who was extensively vetted before working at the embassy in Beirut.

Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate from a Columbia University master’s programme, was arrested at home on 9 March as he returned with his wife from a dinner to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

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German tourists’ ordeal reportedly ending as they are returned from US detention

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Jessica Brösche to join Lucas Sielaff, who is reported to have returned to Germany on 6 March

A German tourist detained by US immigration authorities is due to be deported back to Germany on Tuesday after spending more than six weeks in detention, including eight days in solitary confinement.

Jessica Brösche, a 29-year-old tattoo artist from Berlin, will reportedly join Lucas Sielaff, 25, from Bad Bibra in Saxony-Anhalt, who is reported to have returned to Germany on 6 March, after being arrested at the Mexican border on 18 February before being detained for almost two weeks.

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US judge blocks deportation of Palestinian activist detained by Ice

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Critics condemn arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia University graduate student who led protests over Gaza war

A judge has blocked the deportation of the prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s protests against Israel over the war in Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University until this past December who holds permanent US residency, is being detained by US immigration authorities at a facility in Louisiana after his arrest, according to information from officials.

A spokesperson for the US’s homeland security department – as well as the country’s top diplomat – confirmed the arrest. In a statement to the Associated Press, a homeland security department spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said Khalil’s arrest was made to support Donald Trump’s presidential orders “prohibiting antisemitism”.

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US rebrands immigration app to CBP Home with ‘self-deport’ function

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Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, announced the new version, raising privacy concerns for those using CBP One

On day one of his presidency, Donald Trump issued a directive abruptly ending the government’s use of CBP One – an online application that had served as the primary means for people at the southern border to apply for asylum in the US. On Monday, the administration announced it has reimagined the app as a platform for “self-deportation”.

Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the app had been rebranded as “CBP Home” and that anyone with the old CBP One app would be redirected to the new version.

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British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

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Backpacker Rebecca Burke was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in Washington state

A British tourist on a four-month backpacking trip around North America has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the US for 10 days after trying to enter the country via the Canadian border.

Rebecca Burke, 28, a graphic artist from Monmouthshire, was trying to cross into the state of Washington when she was refused entry.

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Kristi Noem names new Ice leadership and vows to punish media ‘leakers’

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Homeland security secretary pledges lie detector tests for employees she suspects are passing information to press

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday announced new leadership at the agency tasked with immigration enforcement as she also pledged to step up lie detector tests on employees to identify those who may be leaking information about operations to the media.

Noem confirmed, in addition, that the government will expand immigration detention operations further into the military sphere, following reports of the intention to use the huge Fort Bliss army base close to the US-Mexico border in Texas for that purpose.

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Tim Walz regrets getting ‘sucked in’ to addressing Trump’s pet-eating lies

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Harris running mate discussed campaign missteps after saying he’ll run for third term as Minnesota governor

Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate in the November presidential election won by Donald Trump, says he deplores how much time he spent addressing the opposing campaign’s decision to spread false, racist rumors of pets being abducted and eaten in Springfield, Ohio.

“They sucked me in on” that, Walz said in a recent episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour podcast. Echoing similar remarks that he made on a recent episode of the Fast Politics With Molly Jong-Fast podcast, he added: “I was just horrified and angry when they were demonizing folks in Springfield, Ohio. [And] there I was talking for almost a week about immigration, right where they wanted us to be.”

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Trump is making Central America become a dumping ground for US immigrants

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President bullying countries’ leaders into collaborating with his deportation agenda that critics say violates rights

Central America has long been a source of immigrants, and in recent years, it’s also become a major transit route for those from around the world heading to the United States.

That shift led to record numbers of immigrants arriving at the US border, and contributed to the supposed crisis that helped Donald Trump win the election this past November.

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ACLU sues to block White House from sending 10 immigrants to Guantánamo

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Latest federal lawsuit so far applies only to 10 men detained in the US and facing transfer to the naval base in Cuba

Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration Saturday to prevent it from transferring 10 undocumented immigrants detained in the US to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, their second legal challenge in less than a month over plans to hold up to 30,000 people there for deportation.

The latest federal lawsuit so far applies only to 10 men facing transfer to the naval base in Cuba, and their attorneys said the administration will not notify them of who would be transferred or when. As with a lawsuit the same attorneys filed earlier this month for access to people already detained there, the latest case was filed in Washington and is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

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