Immigration

Axios reports: The agency charged with carrying out President Trump’s mass deportation promises has warned Congress it is short a whopping $2 billion for this fiscal year, Axios has learned. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) repeatedly has faced significant budget shortfalls in recent years. Trump’s immigration plans — which include deporting “millions” of unauthorized immigrants — would rack up costs …

San Diego’s ABC affiliate reports: A Canadian entrepreneur detained by ICE is speaking out after she got arrested while trying to enter the San Diego border to obtain a visa last Monday. “Every single guard that sees me is like ‘What are you doing here? I don’t understand – you’re Canadian. How are you here?’” Jasmine Mooney said in an interview …

The Daily Beast reports: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested on Sunday that children brought to the country illegally by their parents “have a choice” in the matter. “Remember, everybody has an option,” Noem said on Face the Nation. “They have an option to be here legally or illegally, and they can self-deport as well.” “The kids don’t really have …

USA Today reports: Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem on Friday said her agency has identified two alleged “criminal leakers” who may have thwarted immigration raids. The two individuals will be referred for criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice, she said. Noem didn’t say what statute the leakers are accused of violating. A DOJ spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a …

Newsweek reports: Texas Governor Greg Abbott has not ruled out the possibility of deploying bounty hunters to assist law enforcement in apprehending suspected undocumented immigrants. “Governor Abbott fully supports law enforcement using every tool and strategy to aid in the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants,” Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, said. Republican lawmakers in Mississippi and Missouri have proposed …

Gothamist reports: A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request from New York City to temporarily block the federal government from pulling $80 million in emergency funding that went toward sheltering migrants. But while New York federal Judge Jennifer Rearden denied the temporary restraining order, she ruled the lawsuit can proceed, officials said. The Trump administration decided to claw back …

Politico reports: A group of prominent military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, has pitched the Trump White House on a proposal to carry out mass deportations through a network of “processing camps” on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a “small army” of private citizens empowered to make arrests. The blueprint — laid out in …

NBC News reports: New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday that the city will close the Asylum Seeker Arrival Center at the Roosevelt Hotel, a site that was the frequent target of criticism from Elon Musk and the Trump administration. On top of closing the arrival center at the hotel, Adams also announced the closure of the Humanitarian Emergency …

Rolling Stone reports: The Department of Homeland Security has budgeted up to $200 million to run anti-immigrant ads in the United States and overseas that repeatedly thank President Donald Trump for leading an immigration crackdown. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday night that these ads were Trump’s idea, and during the administration’s transition to power, the president asked her …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Caleb Vitello, was removed from his post, administration officials and other people familiar with the matter said, amid frustration in the Trump administration that deportations haven’t accelerated faster. The administration is shaking up the leadership at ICE and is soon expected to announce a new acting …

Reuters reports: During his first month in office, US President Donald Trump deported 37,660 people, according to previously unpublished data from the US Department of Homeland Security. This figure is lower than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns recorded during the final full year of Joe Biden’s administration. A senior Trump administration official and experts noted that deportations …

The Texas Observer reports: An X account with over 17,000 followers named GlomarResponder made an ominous post. “Yeah, I’m in a courthouse wating [sic] on warrants,” GlomarResponder wrote. “Turns out there’s a lot of bitch work to be done to make mass deportations happen.” One day prior, GlomarResponder had posted that he “Can confirm all of those,” regarding a list …

Bloomberg News reports: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned employees that polygraph tests will be used to help crack down on leaks that agency officials say have foiled immigration enforcement plans. Noem last week issued an internal directive that all polygraphs the Department of Homeland Security administers must include a question about unauthorized communications with media and nonprofit organizations, according …

The Catholic News Agency reports:  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is suing the Trump administration over what the bishops say is an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee programs in the United States. Upon taking office last month, President Donald Trump issued sweeping executive orders that, among other measures, directed a freeze on foreign assistance funds and grants, …

The Independent reports: An 11-year-old girl took her own life in Texas after she was tormented by classmates who threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities and have her family deported from the U.S, her grieving parents have said. Jocelynn Romo Carranza passed away on February 8 after spending five days being treated in a Dallas hospital. This came …

Florida Politics reports: St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke will be one of eight inaugural members of Florida’s new State Immigration Enforcement Council. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson named Goerke to the panel, where he’ll join four appointees chosen by the Legislature’s top two officials in advising the Cabinet on how best to coordinate immigration enforcement with Trump’s administration. Established under …

The Guardian reports: People attending recent mandatory immigration check-ins or court appearances have been escorted out in federal custody after the Trump administration allegedly tricked, lied to or otherwise deceived them as part of its mass deportation campaign. Amid a blitz of immigration-related policy changes over the last few weeks, Donald Trump and his subordinates have greenlit the ability of …

Law & Crime reports: The Denver Public Schools district has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging a new policy that it says gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “virtually unchecked authority” to enforce immigration laws in “formerly protected areas,” including schools. The suit marks the first time a district has sued over ICE’s feared enforcement of students, …

Axios reports: U.S. agents arrested more than 21,000 unauthorized immigrants in November as President Biden’s term wound down — a pace the Trump administration doesn’t appear to be matching in its first month despite its crackdown, an Axios review of new data finds. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, says about 14,000 immigrants have been arrested in the three-plus weeks since …

The Huffington Post reports: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) fired back at Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, after he suggested that she could be “in trouble” for advice she is giving to immigrants if they are targeted in one of Homan’s raids. “I sent an email today to the deputy attorney general,” Homan told Laura Ingraham on Fox News …