Beyond the Border: Pregnant women avoiding prenatal visits out of fear, ICE's ‘death cards,’ and where ICE is building new offices
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did I miss something? Message me via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
Operation ending in Minnesota
BBC reported that the Trump administration's border czar Tom Homan announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be winding down Operation Metro Surge, its large-scale effort in Minnesota, which resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens.
The leaders of ICE, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spoke with committees in both the House and Senate this week about the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Immigration enforcement and pregnancy
The 19th News reported that pregnant women in Minnesota are having more stress-related complications but are still afraid to show up for doctor appointments.
The New York Times posted a video on Instagram about a midwife who is helping undocumented pregnant women who are afraid to leave their homes to get care.
KUT News reported that the Trump administration is sending pregnant migrant girls to a South Texas facility over objections from the administration's own health officials about conditions there.
Arrests and deportations
The Intercept reported that federal immigration officials left behind customized Ace of Spades cards, popularly known as “death cards,” inside the cars of people they had taken into custody.
A U.S. citizen out running errands in Oregon ended up hospitalized with a concussion, a torn rotator cuff and bruised ribs after immigration officials stopped her car, The Oregonian reported. The outlet posted a video on Instagram of another arrest in which a daughter films immigration officials arresting her mother, who is a green card holder and does translation work for her local police department. The video was evidence in a case that led to a judge blocking ICE from making “warrantless arrests” in the state, The Oregonian reported.
CNN published a video on Instagram of immigration officers throwing a woman to the ground and then pepper spraying those who tried to help her.
The Associated Press reported on the disguises that immigration officials have been using — including hard hats, yellow vests and fake or vintage license plates — and the fear that has stoked in communities.
Four Haitian women deported from Puerto Rico by the Trump administration were found decapitated near the border with the Dominican Republic, The Latin Times reported.
The U.S. government used a private jet owned by President Donald Trump's friend Gil Dezer to deport Palestinian men to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, The Guardian reported.
CBS News reported that a Maryland woman has decided to give up her case and accept deportation after her child died while she was in immigration custody.
Capital B Atlanta reported that ICE deported a former football player for Morehouse College to Mexico, a country he left when he was 5.
Immigration detention
Otay Mesa Detention Center officials denied entry to Rep. Juan Vargas, a Democrat who has represented the district closest to the U.S.-Mexico border for years, KPBS reported. The member of Congress called for the dismantling of ICE. County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer posted on Instagram that a county health inspector had started the process to inspect the facility.
The Irish Times interviewed an Irish man held at Camp East Montana in Texas about the conditions there. The man, Seamus Culleton, said it was “like a concentration camp, absolute hell.”
PBS investigated conditions in detention centers for people held for long periods of time, and the lives they missed while inside.
ProPublica managed to get inside an ICE detention center that holds parents and children in Dilley, Texas. The outlet published letters it received from the children.
For Voice of San Diego, I wrote about how bond hearings in the immigration context differ from those in criminal court and the effects that had on one family trying to reunite.
Court updates
A federal judge in Chicago allowed the release of evidence in the case of Marimar Martínez, a woman shot by Border Patrol agents in Chicago who survived. Released text messages show an agent proud of what he did and that leadership from Bovino and up praised his actions, the Chicago Tribune reported.
A federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from using taxpayer information obtained from the Internal Revenue Service. POLITICO reported that she also barred the department from using information it had already obtained from the tax agency.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Trump administration in an order that allows the federal government to indefinitely detain people who entered the country without permission even if they have lived in the U.S. for years, the Associated Press reported.
ABC News reported that a judge ordered the federal government to return three deported families to the U.S. after officials used lies to remove them. Border officials had previously separated the families under the first Trump administration.
A federal judge blocked a California ban on masked agents but required federal officials to clearly display badge and agency information, KPBS reported.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the Trump administration to move forward with ending temporary protected status for people from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal.
Resistance
The New York Times reported on the history of community patrols in both the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Activists are using those same tactics today to protest ICE activity.
Common Dreams reported that protesters used dildos to show their dissatisfaction with ICE in Minnesota. Police arrested more than 50 people.
The band Ozomatli announced on Instagram that it would be part of a compilation album organized by CONTRA-ICE to benefit organizations working with communities affected by current immigration enforcement policies.
The Houston Chronicle reported that two college students built a tracker called icemap.dev to monitor immigration enforcement activity nationwide.
Other stories to watch
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came to San Diego on Thursday to give a press conference in front of boxes of fentanyl. Journalists with inewsource spoke with protesters outside. They were not allowed into the press conference. I was also not invited, and I've spoken to another San Diego journalist who covers immigration and border issues who was also not allowed to attend. It's unclear how the secretary chose the media outlets for her border photo op.
Border Patrol leader Gregory Bovino's return to El Centro, California, brought tension to the local community, inewsource reported. On the way there, Bovino was asked to leave a Las Vegas bar, the Las Vegas Sun reported.
Lawyers in several states told NPR that immigration courts had suddenly expedited cases for their Somali clients.
WIRED obtained government documents showing where ICE is adding new offices — or expanding current ones — across the country.
The federal government revoked global entry and TSA precheck for a woman a few days after an immigration official scanned her face, Ars Technica reported.
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