Beyond the Border: Protesters charged in Minnesota, over 500 detained babies and toddlers and a reprimand from a federal judge
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Jenna Ramiscal, Edited by Kate Morrissey
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did we miss something? Message us via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
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Targeting observers, protestors and advocates
NPR reported that a letter from the former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Congress shows ICE is collecting and preserving information on protesters and observers despite the Department of Homeland Security's denials about maintaining a database.
Federal officials charged 15 Minnesotans who are members of a community defense coalition with “conspiring to impede federal immigration agents” during Operation Metro Surge, Sahan Journal reported.
Sahan Journal posted a video onto Instagram that showed federal officials kicking gas canisters at protesters outside the federal building after the charges were made.
In a video posted by MPR News on Instagram, Natasha Rakotz, one of the Minnesotans facing charges, called the case against her “absolutely ridiculous.”
ICE and Health and Human Services officials tried to enter three Washington D.C.-area nonprofits that provide legal assistance to children who came to the United States alone, The Washington Post reported.
Cooperation with local law enforcement
The Dallas Morning News reported that a local Texas law enforcement agency refused to provide any records about a stop one of its officers made under the 287(g) program that deputizes police to make immigration arrests despite a state law that says basic information about offense reports and arrests are public. There are about 300 law enforcement agencies in Texas that work with ICE.
The New York Times reported that participation in 287(g) programs has grown significantly under the second Trump administration to hundreds of local law enforcement agencies.
Asylum applications
The Washington Post reported that the federal judge, who ruled against President Donald Trump’s global hold on asylum applications and pause on immigration applications from 39 countries’ policies, criticized the administration for not immediately following the ruling.
The Houston Chronicle reported that ICE detained a high school student who was granted asylum by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after fleeing Honduras as an unaccompanied minor.
Mental and medical care
Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego is struggling to provide medical care to detained immigrants with common conditions and serious illnesses, inewsource reported.
The Intercept reported that ICE defied a judge’s orders and redetained an elderly Palestinian man who was released after a heart attack while in custody. An attorney says this is one of many cases where ICE is violating federal judicial orders.
A medical examiner found that the hypothermia death of a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker released from ICE custody was a homicide, Mother Jones reported.
A Minnesota woman, detained while in need of surgery for an ovarian cyst, has been released from ICE custody, El Paso Matters reported.
Researchers and healthcare workers are seeing a rise in anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts among patients, especially those from immigrant communities, the LAist reported.
Other stories to watch
ICE released revised detention standards that include language that should help bolster private prison companies’ legal claims that they don't have to pay detainees more than $1 per day for their labor, the Associated Press reported.
NPR reported that the Executive Office for Immigration Review closed the main immigration courthouse in San Francisco, leaving the city with 100,000 pending cases. That court's judges were known for having high asylum grant rates.
WHYY reported that 10 women at Delaney Hall in New Jersey said a guard sexually abused them.
NBC reported that ICE detained a man, whose wife supports Trump, at a Trump hotel security checkpoint during the couple's honeymoon.
MS NOW and The Marshall Project released an investigation that found ICE has detained over 500 babies and toddlers in the last year.
The U.S. initially gave one Iranian World Cup player a single entry visa while the rest of the team got multi-entry visas to go back and forth between Tijuana and their games north of the border, but the State Department recently issued him a new one, ESPN reported.
The San Francisco Standard reported that ICE officials knelt on a man's neck and beat him. The man is now fundraising by selling pollada out of his home and sharing it on social media.
Thanks for reading! Take care and stay well.
— Jenna
