PARTISAN
JULY 11
Federal judge orders stop to indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles
Adrian Florido
NPRJOURNALIST
A federal judge in Los Angeles ordered the Trump administration to stop carrying out immigration sweeps in which she said federal agents have been indiscriminately arresting people across southern California without reasonable suspicion that they're in the countryillegally SinceearlyJune,agentsfromImmigrationand Customs Enforcement, the Border Patrol and other federal agencies have been roving Los Angeles and surrounding counties arresting thousands of people in what civil rights lawyerscharacterizedinalawsuitlastweekas an unconstitutional and "extraordinary campaign of targeting people based on nothingmorethanthecoloroftheirskin"
In her order, Judge Maame EwusiMensah Frimpong, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, said there is " a mountain of evidence" to support the claim that agents are arresting people solely based on their race, accents, or the work they're engaged in, in violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable government seizure
"I think that I was arrested that day at the bus stop because of how I look,"
"The seizures at issue occurred unlawfully,"Frimpongwrote
She issued two temporary restraining orders one prohibiting immigration agents from stopping people without reasonable suspicion that they're in the country illegally, and the other requiring agents to give people they arrest immediateaccesstolawyers.Theorders, which apply to Los Angeles and six surrounding counties, are temporary while the case moves forward. But they could severely restrict the Trump administration's ability to continue carrying out the raids that have sown fear and terror in immigrant and Latino neighborhoods since they started on June6.
"It's an extraordinary victory," said Mark Rosenbaum, a senior lawyer with Public Counsel, one of the legal advocacy groupsthatfiledthesuit."Itisacomplete repudiation of the racial profiling tactics and the denial of access to lawyers that the administration has utilized, and it means that the rule of law is back in Los Angeles."
Inastatement,DepartmentofHomeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin criticizedtheruling.
"A district judge is undermining the will of the American people," McLaughlin said.
"America's brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. Law and order will prevail."
Father of 4 detained by ICE at citizenship interview after living in US for 12years
IA 31-year-old Danish national who was going through the naturalization process afterlivingintheU.S.formorethan10years wasdetainedbyImmigrationandCustoms Enforcement (ICE) officials during a routine appointment to finalize his citizenship, accordingtomultiplemediareports
Kasper Eriksen, a green card holder with no criminal record, works as a welder in Sturgis, Mississippi, where he lives with his wife and four children. On April 15, he was unexpectedly taken into custody and later transferred to the LaSalle Detention Center inLouisiana,Newsweekreported.
The 31-year-old, according to his wife, SavannahHobartEriksen,firstmovedtothe US as an exchange student in 2009 and returnedtoDenmark.
eturnedtotheU.S.legallyin2013afterhe hiswifemarriedandhebeganthelegal essofbecominganAmericancitizen.In ember2024,accordingtotheoutlet,the ens received word that his application under review, and, on March 7, an view for his naturalization application scheduled.
officialsreportedlydetainedthe31-yearor failing to file a single document, due 015, around the same time the couple their first child in a stillbirth. While grieving their loss, they forgot to file Form I751,theMississippiFreePressreported.
Morethanamonthlater,theDanishnational remainsinaLouisianadetentioncenterwith dozens of other detainees, unsure about his future,wherehemightgetsent,andwithout a date scheduled for a court to hear his case
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Newsweek, “Kasper Eriksen, a Danishnational,isinourcountryillegally.He failedtoshowupforhisimmigrationhearing on April 2, 2019 He has a final order of removal from an immigration judge. This administrationisnotgoingtoignoretherule oflaw.”
Marine Veteran Says Wife Detained by IC at Green Card Interview
gents with U.S. Immigration and Custo Enforcement (ICE) detained the wife of a Marine veteran during a green card interview in New Orleans, according to the veteranandhisattorney.
The case has drawn local attention for its intersection of immigration enforcement, military family policy, and the complexities facing mixed-status American families Some advocates and legal experts have pointed to the matter as an example of bureaucratic obstacles that can confront military families, even when they pursue lawfulimmigrationprocesses.
President Donald Trump's administration haspromisedthelargestmassdeportation in U.S. history, which has led to increased scrutiny toward some green card holders andbroaderprotestsfromcritics.
Adrian and Paola Clouatre married in California in 2022. The Marine met his wife while in the last of five years of military service.
Now residing in Louisiana, they had been workingthroughthelegalprocesstosecure Paola Clouatre's U.S. residency. The couple, whohavetwoyoungchildrenincludinga9week-old daughter, were surprised by ICE's intervention that stemmed from a yearsolddeportationorder
"Youknow,Igaveupthebestfiveyears,"Adrian Clouatre told local FOX 8. "People thought the bestyearsofyourlife,yourcollegeyears.Iwent andspentthatinthemilitary.Attheveryleast,I wouldliketobeabletokeepmywife."
Thecouplereportedlylearnedofthisorderdays before their green card appointment in May, when they truthfully disclosed the situation on governmentforms.
"Sheknewshehadtodoit,"AdrianClouatretold NOLA.com. "She was very fearful about all this, butalsoveryhopeful."
Near the end of his five-year service, he took her to a green card interview, where she was detained "Thishasbeenanincrediblydifficulttimeforour family,"AdrianClouatrewroteonthecampaign page. "Paola's situation began years ago, when her mother missed an immigration appointmentwhilePaolawasstillaminor Since then, Paola has faced many challenges, including being made homeless by her mother at age 15 and having little to no contact with hersincethen.
"Now,Iamcaringforour19-month-oldsonand 9-week-old daughter on my own, with support from my parents. The sudden separation has been overwhelming for all of us, especially for ourchildrenwhomisstheirmotherdeeply.
$150 Billion
ICE and DHS Set toVastlyExpand Its ReachWith NewFunds
Thousands of new deportation agents deployedintoAmericancities.Adoublingof detention space to hold tens of thousands of immigrants before they are expelled. Miles of new border wall, along with surveillance towers equipped with artificial intelligence.
That is the expansive plan that President Trump’stopimmigrationofficialsnowintend to enact after months of struggling to overcome staffing shortages and logistical hurdles that have stymied his pledge to record the most deportations in American history.
After weeks of pressuring members of Congress into supporting his signature domestic policy legislation, Mr. Trump has secured an extraordinary injection of funding for his immigration agenda — $170 billion, the vast majority of which will go to the Department of Homeland Security over fouryears.
“You’re going to see immigration enforcement on a level you’ve never seen it before,”
The annual budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement alone will spike from about $8 billion to roughly $28 billion, making it the highest funded law enforcement agency in the federal government
The new resources will fuel an intense initiative to recruit as many as 10,000 new agentswhowillhaveapresenceincitieslike New York City and Los Angeles, and throughout the United States. And the money comes as a windfall for private prisoncompanies,whohavealreadyrushed topitchtheadministrationonnewcontracts torundetentionfacilities.
“There’s an incredible sense of dread, frankly,” said Chris Newman, the legal director and general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, whichrepresentsdaylaborergroupsacross thecountry
So far, he said, Mr. Trump has tried to expandhispoweroverimmigrationthrough executiveactions,someofwhichhavebeen blockedbythecourts.“Butthisislegislation, signed into law, and gives people an impressionofasenseofpermanence,which isominous,”Mr.Newmansaid.
No matter what, the budget increase will leave a Trump imprint on the American immigration system for years to come, according to current and former immigrationofficials.
“This is the missing piece in mass deportations that the administration needed,” said Andrea Flores, who directed border management for the National Security Council in the Biden White House.
“What this signals is a new level of funding forimmigrationenforcementnationallythat likely changes it forever even if Democrats comeintopower.”
Evenwiththenewfunding,Mr Trump’saides arestillhedgingonwhethertheycandeliver on their goal to deport 1 million undocumented immigrants this year and millions more before he leaves office. They areawarethatitcouldtakemonthstoscale up new detention facilities and recruit, conduct background checks of and train thousandsofimmigrationagents.
“It’s going to take some time,” Mr. Homan said.“We’realreadyaboutsixmonthsinthe game. We just got this money, so we’re goingtodothebestwecan.”
LIFE IN AMERICA
