WASHINGTON — Hurling a sandwich at a federal agent was an act of protest for Washington, D.C., resident Sean Charles Dunn. A jury must decide if it was also a federal crime.
“No matter who you are, you can’t just go around throwing stuff at people because you’re mad,” Assistant U.S. Atty. John Parron told jurors Tuesday at the start of Dunn’s trial on a misdemeanor assault charge.
Dunn doesn’t dispute that he threw his submarine-style sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. It was an “exclamation point” for Dunn as he expressed his opposition to President Trump’s law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, defense attorney Julia Gatto said during the trial’s opening statements.
“It was a harmless gesture at the end of him exercising his right to speak out,” Gatto said. “He is overwhelmingly not guilty.”
A bystander’s cellphone video of the confrontation went viral on social media, turning Dunn into a symbol of resistance against Trump’s months-long federal takeover. Murals depicting him mid-throw popped up in the city virtually overnight.
“He did it. He threw the sandwich,” Gatto told jurors. “And now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has turned that moment — a thrown sandwich — into a criminal case, a federal criminal case charging a federal offense.”
A grand jury refused to indict Dunn on a felony assault count, part of a pattern of pushback against the Justice Department’s prosecution of surge-related criminal cases. After the rare rebuke from the grand jury, U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro’s office charged Dunn instead with a misdemeanor.
Customs and Border Protection Agent Gregory Lairmore, the government’s first witness, said the sandwich “exploded” when it struck his chest hard enough that he could feel it through his ballistic vest.
“You could smell the onions and the mustard,” he recalled.
Lairmore and other agents were standing in front of a club hosting a “Latin Night” when Dunn approached and shouted profanities at them, calling them “fascists” and “racists” and chanting “shame.”
“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.
Lairmore testified that he and the other agents tried to de-escalate the situation.
“He was red-faced. Enraged. Calling me and my colleagues all kinds of names,” he said. “I didn’t respond. That’s his constitutional right to express his opinion.”
After throwing the sandwich, Dunn ran away but was apprehended about a block away.
Later, Lairmore’s colleagues jokingly gave him gifts making light of the incident, including a subway sandwich-shaped plush toy and a patch that said “felony footlong.” Defense attorney Sabrina Schroff pointed to those as proof that the agents recognize this case is “overblown” and “worthy of a joke.”
Parron told jurors that everybody is entitled to their views about Trump’s federal surge. But “respectfully, that’s not what this case is about,” the prosecutor said. “You just can’t do what the defendant did here. He crossed a line.”
Dunn was a Justice Department employee who worked as an international affairs specialist in its criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as “an example of the Deep State.”
Dunn was released from custody but rearrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said.
Dunn’s lawyers have argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House show Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech. They urged U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to dismiss the case, calling it a vindictive and selective prosecution. Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, didn’t rule on that request before the trial started Monday.
Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were convicted of felonies for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered the dismissal of charges for all of them.
WASHINGTON — Throwing a sandwich at a federal agent turned Sean Charles Dunn into a symbol of resistance against President Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital. This week, federal prosecutors are trying to persuade a jury of fellow Washington, D.C., residents that Dunn simply broke the law.
That could be a tough sell for the government in a city that has chafed against Trump’s federal takeover, which is entering its third month. A grand jury refused to indict Dunn on a felony assault count before U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro’s office opted to charge him instead with a misdemeanor.
Securing a trial conviction could prove to be equally challenging for Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, where murals glorifying Dunn’s sandwich toss popped up virtually overnight.
Before jury selection started Monday, the judge presiding over Dunn’s trial seemed to acknowledge how unusual it is for a case like this to be heard in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, said he expects the trial to last no more than two days “because it’s the simplest case in the world.”
A video that went viral on social media captured Dunn hurling his subway-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. That same weekend, Trump announced his deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents to assist with police patrols in Washington.
When Dunn approached a group of CBP agents who were in front of the club, which was hosting a “Latin Night,” he called them “fascists” and “racists” and chanted “shame” toward them. An observer’s video captured Dunn throwing a sandwich at an agent’s chest.
“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.
Dunn ran away but was apprehended. He was released from custody but rearrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said. They noted that Dunn had offered to surrender to police before the raid.
Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department’s criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as “an example of the Deep State.”
Before trial, Dunn’s lawyers urged the judge to dismiss the case for what they allege is a vindictive and selective prosecution. They argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House prove Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech.
Julia Gatto, one of Dunn’s lawyers, questioned why Trump’s Justice Department is prosecuting Dunn after the Republican president issued pardons and ordered the dismissal of assault cases stemming from a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“It’s an obvious answer,” Gatto said during a hearing last Thursday. “The answer is they have different politics. And that’s selective prosecution.”
Prosecutors countered that Dunn’s political expressions don’t make him immune from prosecution for assaulting the agent.
“The defendant is being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range,” they wrote.
Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were convicted of felonies for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered the dismissal of charges for all of them.
Police in Evanston, Illinois, are investigating a violent arrest by a Customs and Border Protection agent who repeatedly punched a man’s head against the road. It happened after the agent’s vehicle was rear-ended, and a hostile crowd formed telling federal officers to leave, who responded with pepper spray and pointing their guns at protesters.
It’s unclear whether the man being punched was the driver behind the collision or part of a crowd that formed to pressure federal officers to leave. The incident sparked outrage from local leaders and renewed tensions over federal immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
The government’s independent ethics adviser suggested a formal investigation was not necessary
The letting agent which rented out Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ family home has apologised for an “oversight” which led to a failure to obtain the correct licence.
Gareth Martin, owner of Harvey & Wheeler, said the company’s previous property manager had offered to apply for a “selective” rental licence on behalf of their client – but this never happened as the individual resigned before the tenancy began.
He added: “We deeply regret the issue caused to our clients as they would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for.”
Reeves has apologised for the “inadvertent mistake” but said she accepts “full responsibility”.
Downing Street has spent the day defending the chancellor, with a spokesman insisting the prime minister has “full confidence” in her.
Reeves put her four-bedroom south London home up for rent in July 2024, when Labour won the general election and she moved into 11 Downing Street.
The house falls in area where Southwark Council requires private landlords to obtain a selective licence at a cost of £945.
The chancellor said she first became aware that her property did not have the correct licence on Wednesday when the Daily Mail, who first reported the story, contacted her.
Reeves or her letting agent could face an unlimited fine if Southwark Council takes the matter to court.
The revelations come at a politically awkward time for Reeves, who is preparing for a Budget at the end of the month amidst speculation the government is planning to break a manifesto commitment not to raise income tax.
Reeves’ economic responsibility was a hallmark of Labour’s pre-election argument that they could be trusted with the nation’s finances.
But since then, questions about her personal judgement were raised after she accepted free concert tickets as well as thousands of pounds in donations for clothing.
Her political judgement was criticised after she imposed – and then reversed – cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
Errors in her CV further undermined her standing.
Now this adds to a growing list of charges at the chancellor’s door, and it is yet another day when the government completely lost control of the news agenda.
While the letting agent has taken responsibility, Sir Laurie Magnus, the ethics adviser whose findings have felled two previous Labour ministers, is now re-examining her case.
Sir Laurie was said to have been satisfied with Reeves’ explanation, but Downing Street has refused to say whether Magnus believed the chancellor broke the ministerial code.
He is now reviewing emails about the rental arrangements that were sent and received by the chancellor’s husband.
No 10 will be hoping the latest developments – and the apology from the letting agency used by Reeves and her husband – will bring this saga to an end.
Downing Street will still be worried this evening about how this all looks to voters.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday evening, she said “we were not aware that a licence was necessary”.
“As soon as it was brought to my attention, we took immediate action and have applied for the licence,” she wrote.
However, in a second letter to the PM on Thursday, Reeves said she had found correspondence confirming that the letting agent had told her husband a licence would be required and that the agency would apply for this on their behalf.
“They have also confirmed today they did not take the application forward, in part due to a member of staff leaving the organisation,” she wrote.
“Nevertheless, as I said yesterday, I accept it was our responsibility to secure the licence. I also take responsibility for not finding this information yesterday and bringing it to your attention.
“As I said to you today, I am sorry about this matter and accept full responsibility for it.”
Reeves has published the emails, which confirm the letting agent agreed to apply for the licence once the new tenant moved in.
In a statement, Mr Martin, the agency’s owner, said: “We alert all our clients to the need for a licence.
“In an effort to be helpful our previous property manager offered to apply for a licence on these clients’ behalf, as shown in the correspondence.
“That property manager suddenly resigned on the Friday before the tenancy began on the following Monday.
“Unfortunately, the lack of application was not picked up by us as we do not normally apply for licences on behalf of our clients; the onus is on them to apply. We have apologised to the owners for this oversight.
“At the time the tenancy began, all the relevant certificates were in place and if the licence had been applied for, we have no doubt it would have been granted.”
The Conservatives have said the prime minister needs to “grow a backbone and start a proper investigation”.
Speaking on LBC, party leader Kemi Badenoch said “maybe it is the letting agents’ fault but it’s this the funny thing with Labour, it’s always somebody else’s fault.”
“Keir Starmer said law makers shouldn’t be lawbreakers, and he was very happy to chase every fixed penalty notice that occurred under the Conservatives,” she said.
“What Rachel Reeves looks like she has done is a criminal offence.
“They didn’t say it was about the seriousness of the offence. They said if the law has been broken, the law has been broken. I’m only holding them to their standards.”
“They spent five years pretending they were the most perfect people and now they had resignation after scandal after resignation, so let the ethics advisor investigate.”
CHICAGO — An appeals court intervened Wednesday and suddenly blocked an order that required a senior Border Patrol official to give unprecedented daily briefings to a judge about immigration sweeps in Chicago.
The one-page suspension by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals came before Greg Bovino’s first scheduled, late afternoon meeting with U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis at the courthouse in downtown Chicago.
Ellis had ordered the meetings Tuesday after weeks of tense encounters and increasingly aggressive tactics by government agents working Operation Midway Blitz. It has produced more than 1,800 arrests and complaints of excessive force.
Bovino told Fox News that he was eager to talk to Ellis. But government lawyers, at the same time, were appealing her decision. Lawyers for news outlets and activists who say agents have used too much force, including tear gas, have until 5 p.m. Thursday to respond in the appeals court.
Ellis’ order followed enforcement actions in which tear gas was used, including in a neighborhood where children had gathered for a Halloween parade last weekend on the city’s Northwest Side. Neighbors had joined in the street as someone was arrested.
“Halloween is on Friday,” she said. “I do not want to get violation reports from the plaintiffs that show that agents are out and about on Halloween, where kids are present and tear gas is being deployed.”
Bovino defended agents’ actions.
“If she wants to meet with me every day, then she’s going to see, she’s going to have a very good firsthand look at just how bad things really are on the streets of Chicago,” Bovino told Fox News. “I look forward to meeting with that judge to show her exactly what’s happening and the extreme amount of violence perpetrated against law enforcement here.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors filed charges against Kat Abughazaleh, a Democratic congressional candidate, and five other people over protests at an immigration enforcement building in Broadview, outside Chicago. The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, alleges they illegally blocked an agent’s car on Sept. 26.
Abughazaleh said the prosecution was an “attempt to silence dissent.”
The Chicago court actions came as groups and officials across the country have filed lawsuits aimed at restricting federal deployments of National Guard troops.
President Trump’s administration will remain blocked from deploying troops in the Chicago area until at least the latter half of November, following a U.S. Supreme Court order Wednesday calling on the parties to file additional legal briefs.
The justices indicated they would not act before Nov. 17 on the administration’s emergency appeal to overturn a lower-court ruling that has blocked the troop deployments.
In Portland, Ore., a federal trial seeking to block a troop deployment got underway Wednesday morning with a police commander describing on the witness stand how federal agents at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building repeatedly fired tear gas at nonviolent protesters.
In Chicago, Bovino, who is chief of the Border Patrol sector in El Centro, Calif., was to sit for a daily 5:45 p.m. briefing to report how his agents are enforcing the law and whether they are staying within constitutional bounds, Ellis said. The check-ins were to take place until a Nov. 5 hearing.
Ellis also demanded that Bovino produce all use-of-force reports since Sept. 2 from agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz.
The judge expressed confidence Tuesday that the check-ins would prevent excessive use of force in Chicago neighborhoods.
Ellis previously ordered agents to wear badges, and she has banned them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. She subsequently required body cameras after the use of tear gas raised concerns that agents were not following her initial order.
Ellis set a Friday deadline for Bovino to get a camera and to complete training.
Lawyers for the government have repeatedly defended the actions of agents, including those from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and told the judge that videos and other portrayals of enforcement actions have been one-sided.
Besides his court appearance, Bovino still must sit for a videotaped Thursday deposition, an interview in private, with lawyers from both sides.
CHICAGO — A judge on Tuesday ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to meet her each evening to discuss the government’s immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, an extraordinary step following weeks of street confrontations, tear gas volleys and complaints of excessive force.
“Yes, ma’am,” responded Greg Bovino, who has become the face of the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps in America’s big cities.
Bovino got an earful from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis as soon as he settled into the witness chair in his green uniform.
Ellis quickly expressed concerns about video and other images from an illegal immigration drive that has produced more than 1,800 arrests since September. The hearing is the latest in a lawsuit by news outlets and protesters who say agents have used too much force, including tear gas, during demonstrations.
“My role is not to tell you that you can or cannot enforce validly passed laws by Congress. … My role is simply to see that in the enforcement of those laws, the agents are acting in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution,” the judge said.
Bovino is chief of the Border Patrol sector in El Centro, Calif., one of nine sectors on the Mexican border.
The judge wants him to meet her in person daily at 6 p.m. “to hear about how the day went.”
“I suspect, that now knowing where we are and that he understands what I expect, I don’t know that we’re going to see a whole lot of tear gas deployed in the next week,” Ellis said.
Ellis zeroed in on reports that Border Patrol agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade with tear gas on the city’s Northwest Side over the weekend. Neighbors had gathered in the street as someone was arrested.
“Those kids were tear-gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween in their local school parking lot,” Ellis said. “And I can only imagine how terrified they were. These kids, you can imagine, their sense of safety was shattered on Saturday. And it’s going to take a long time for that to come back, if ever.”
Ellis ordered Bovino to produce all use-of-force reports since Sept. 2 from agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz. She first demanded them by the end of Tuesday, but Bovino said it would be “physically impossible” because of the “sheer amount.”
Lawyers for the government have repeatedly defended the actions of agents, including those from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and told the judge that videos and other portrayals have been one-sided.
Besides his court appearance, Bovino still must sit for a deposition, an interview in private, with lawyers from both sides.
The judge has already ordered agents to wear badges, and she’s banned them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. She subsequently required body cameras after the use of tear gas raised concerns that agents were not following her initial order.
Ellis set a Friday deadline for Bovino to get a camera and to complete training.
Attorneys representing a coalition of news outlets and protesters claim he violated the judge’s use-of-force order in Little Village, a Mexican enclave in Chicago, and they filed an image of him allegedly “throwing tear gas into a crowd without justification.”
Over the weekend, masked agents and unmarked SUVs were seen on Chicago’s wealthier, predominantly white North Side, where video showed chemical agents deployed in a street. Agents have been recorded using tear gas several times over the past few weeks.
Bovino also led the immigration operation in Los Angeles in recent months, leading to thousands of arrests. Agents smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house and patrolled MacArthur Park on horseback.
Paying for the extra fees on a flight is a big no-no, but former check-in agent Ashley Bautista revealed this one travel hack that will guarantee a seat charge at no extra cost
This airport travel hack will save you a few quid(Image: Getty Images)
When it comes to travelling for long hours, especially on a plane, comfort is the number one priority to start the holiday on the right foot.
The first challenge comes whilst booking your ticket. Airlines charge for almost everything, including seat selection – and there’s nothing worse than being stuck in the middle seat, or at the back of the plane away from your family and friends, especially on a long-haul flight.
As a former check-in agent at one of the world’s busiest airports, Ashley Bautista revealed what you can do instead to get your seat changed at no extra cost – and it works almost every time.
Everyone has a preferred seat, whether it’s the window to take pictures of the sky, the emergency exit row for extra legroom, or the back of the plane to be close to the toilet. For that reason, airlines then began to implement charges for passengers to reserve their seats. The other option is to deal with your allocated seat, which is given based on the weight and balance of the aircraft.
According to MSE, a few airlines allow passengers to select their seats free of charge as soon as they book their flight. For example, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways do this, with some exceptions. Virgin Atlantic also allows passengers to choose their own seat once check-in opens, and British Airways allows those with checked luggage.
If you’re travelling with a big group, the seat allocation system will always try to seat groups on the same booking together. However, if the bookings are, that’s a whole different story. But don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world.
Ashley’s advice is to head to the airport check-in counter as soon as it opens, and politely ask the agent if there are any seats together available. Unless the flight is completely full, most of the time, the agent will put you together with the person you’re travelling with.
Another secret is that even if the flight appears to be full, airlines often don’t manage to sell their pricier extra-legroom seats or emergency rows. In fact, some airlines keep them empty and assign them to random passengers. So, it never hurts to ask for a seat upgrade.
Of course, there are no guarantees and on some occasions, you will have to wait until check-in closes or all passengers are seated. Then, you can move around as you wish, as long as you’re not causing a disturbance to other passengers on board.
Usher Travel Worldchoice is the latest UK travel firm to cease trading this year, after Balkan Holidays Ltd (April 2025), Jetline Travel (March 2025), and Great Little Escapes LLP (June 2025) all shut their doors.
Bookings have been impacted by the closure of Usher Travel Worldchoice(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
An independent travel agent has ceased trading – the latest in a worrying run.
Now, Usher Travel Worldchoice is joining them. The independent firm, based in Wallasey, Merseyside, has ceased trading. Usher shut up shop on 16 October 2025. “We are now treating this company as a financial failure,” announced ABTA, the UK’s largest travel association that offers financial protection to holidaymakers.
The news was followed by an emotional message from director Gavin Morton, who has been with the business for 35 of the 60 Usher was trading. He described the decision to close as “quite literally one of the most heartbreaking moments” of his life.
“Covid took much away from us. And while we came through the other side, three years of heavy travel restrictions and in many cases a loss of client confidence in travel left a financial burden that was becoming more and more difficult to manage,” he said.
“The loyal clients, many of whom have become friends and helped create the relaxing and fun atmosphere in the office, will be something the team will miss in our day-to-day lives.”
Anyone who has a holiday booked with the firm will be contacted shortly with regards to ticket arrangements. Forward bookings will be transferred from the agency to clients’ tour operators, Mr Morton said.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused, but rest assured we will be assisting ABTA and Worldchoice in the smooth transition of booking ownership.”
ABTA has the following advice for Usher customers:
“If you booked a holiday through Usher Travel Service Ltd, the tour operator or principal travel business with whom Usher Travel Service Ltd booked your holiday will be named on your paperwork or ATOL Certificate if it was a flight-inclusive holiday; this would be stated on your ATOL certificate under ‘Who is protecting your trip.’
“To ensure your holiday can continue as planned, you will need to contact your tour operator or other principal travel business with whom you have a contract (you should ask to speak to the credit control department). They should confirm that your booking will continue as normal and they will now be your direct point of contact.
“If you booked a flight-only with Usher Travel Service Ltd and were issued with a ticket or e-ticket, you will need to contact the airline, but your tickets should be valid for travel.”
The Facebook announcement on Friday prompted an outpouring of support from loyal customers and rivals.
Mary Dibbert wrote: “So sorry to hear this. You have been part of Wallasey for so long. All of the staff there were always friendly and you all went out of your way to help people. I wish you Gavin, Barry and Laura every best wish for the future. Many thanks for all the times you booked my trips and gave holiday advice.”
Travel Counsellor George Triggs, who worked at Going Places in the same town, added: “Ushers were always our biggest competitors. But truth be told, one of the most respected too. You and your team were always spoken about with such admiration locally, and that’s something to be incredibly proud of.”
CHICAGO — Since the Trump administration announced its intention to accelerate and forcefully detain and deport thousands of immigrants here, the Chicago area is a split screen between everyday life and a city under siege.
As many people shop, go to work, walk their dogs and stroll with their friends through parks, others are being chased down, tear-gassed, detained and assaulted by federal agents carrying out immigration sweeps.
The situation is similar to what occurred in Los Angeles in summer, as ICE swept through Southern California, grabbing people off the street and raiding car washes and Home Depots in predominantly Latino areas, while leaving large swaths of the region untouched.
Take Sunday, the day of the Chicago Marathon.
Some 50,000 runners hailing from more than 100 countries and 50 states, gathered downtown to dash, jog and slog over 26.3 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and city streets.
The sun was bright, the temperatures hovered in the upper-60s, and leaves of maple, oak, aspen and ginkgo trees colored the city with splashes of yellow, orange and red.
Demonstrators march outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.
(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)
It was one of those rare, glorious Midwestern fall days when everyone comes outside to soak in the sunlight, knowing the gloom and cold of winter is about to take hold.
At 12:30, Ludwig Marchel and Karen Vanherck of Belgium strolled west along East Monroe Street, through Millennium Park. They smiled and proudly wore medals around their necks commemorating their marathon achievement. They said they were not concerned about coming to Chicago, despite news stories depicting violent protests and raids, and the Trump administration’s description of the city as “war torn,” a “hellhole,” a “killing field” and “the most dangerous city in the world.”
“Honestly. I was mostly worried that the government shutdown was somehow going to affect my flight,” said Marchel. He said he hadn’t seen anything during his few days in town that would suggest the city was unsafe.
Another man, who declined to give his name, said he had come from Mexico City to complete the race. He said he wasn’t concerned, either.
“I have my passport, I have a visa, and I have money,” he said. “Why should I be concerned?”
Dozens of residents in the quiet, leafy neighborhood of Albany Park had gathered in the street to shout “traitor” and “Nazi” as federal immigration agents grabbed a man and attempted to detain others.
According to witness accounts, agents in at least three vehicles got out and started shoving people to the ground before throwing tear gas canisters into the street. Videos of the event show masked agents tackling a person in a red shirt, throwing a person in a skeleton costume to the ground, and violently hurling a bicycle out of the street as several plumes of smoke billow into the air. A woman can be heard screaming while neighbors yell at the agents.
Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring agents to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas, chemical sprays, plastic bullets and flash grenades.
Deirdre Anglin, community member from Chicago, takes part in a demonstration near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.
(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)
Since Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” was initiated more than six weeks ago, roughly 1,000 people have been arrested or detained.
At the ICE detention facility, in Broadview — a suburb 12 miles west of downtown — there have been daily protests. While most have been peaceful, some have devolved into physical clashes between federal agents or police and protesters.
In September, federal agents shot pepper balls and tear gas at protesters peacefully gathering outside the facility. On Saturday, local law enforcement forced protesters away from the site with riot sticks and threats of tear gas. Several protesters were knocked to the ground and forcefully handcuffed. By the end of the evening, 15 people had been arrested.
Early Sunday afternoon, roughly two dozen protesters returned to the site. They played music, danced, socialized and heckled ICE vehicles as they entered and exited the fenced-off facility.
In a largely Latino Chicago neighborhood called Little Village, things appeared peaceful Sunday afternoon.
Known affectionately by its residents as the “Midwestern capital of Mexico,” the district of 85,000 is predominantly Latino. Michael Rodriguez, a Chicago city councilman and the neighborhood’s alderman, said 85% of the population is of Mexican descent.
On Sunday afternoon, traditional Mexican music was being broadcast to the street via loudspeakers from the OK Corral VIP, a western wear store.
Demonstrators protest near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.
(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)
Along East 26th Street, where shops and buildings are painted with brightly colored murals depicting Mexican folklore, history and wildlife — such as a golden eagle and jaguar — a family sat at a table eating lunch, while two young women, in their early 20s, laughed and chattered as they strolled west toward Kedzie Avenue.
Rodriguez said that despite appearances, “people are afraid.”
He said he spoke with a teacher who complained that several of her elementary-school aged students have stopped coming to class. Their parents are too afraid to walk them or drive them to school, hearing stories of other parents who have been arrested or detained by ICE agents at other campuses in the city — in front of their terrified children.
Rodriguez’s wife, whom he described as a dark-skinned Latina with degrees from DePaul and Northwestern universities, won’t leave the house without her passport.
At a barber shop called Peluqueria 5 Star Fades Estrellas on 26th, a coiffeur named Juan Garcia sat in a chair near the store entrance. He had a towel draped over the back of his neck. He said his English was limited, but he knew enough to tell a visitor that business was bad.
“People aren’t coming in,” he said. “They are afraid.”
Victor Sanchez, the owner of a taco truck parked on Kedzie Road, about a half-mile south of town, said his clientele — mostly construction workers and landscapers — have largely disappeared.
“Business is down 60%,” he said to a customer. “I don’t know if they have been taken, or if they are too afraid to come out. All I know is they aren’t coming here anymore.”
Rodriguez said that ICE agents have arrested people who live in his neighborhood, but those arrests took place outside the borders of his district.
“I think they know this is a well-organized and aware neighborhood,” he said. “I think they’ve cased it and decided to grab people on the outskirts.”
CHICAGO — Federal immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras, a judge said Thursday after seeing tear gas and other aggressive steps used against protesters.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was a “little startled” after seeing TV images of clashes between agents and the public during President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown.
“I live in Chicago if folks haven’t noticed,” she said. “And I’m not blind, right?”
Community efforts to oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have ramped up in the nation’s third-largest city, where neighborhood groups have assembled to monitor ICE activity and film incidents involving agents. More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since September.
Separately, the Trump administration has tried to deploy National Guard troops, but the strategy was halted last week by a different judge.
Ellis last week said agents in the area must wear badges, and she banned them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists.
“I’m having concerns about my order being followed,” the judge said.
“I am adding that all agents who are operating in Operation Midway Blitz are to wear body-worn cameras, and they are to be on,” Ellis said, referring to the government’s name for the crackdown.
U.S. Justice Department attorney Sean Skedzielewski laid blame with “one-sided and selectively edited media reports.” He also said it wouldn’t be possible to immediately distribute cameras.
“I understand that. I would not be expecting agents to wear body-worn cameras they do not have,” Ellis said, adding that the details could be worked out later.
She said the field director of the enforcement effort must appear in court Monday.
In 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began deploying about 1,600 body cameras to agents assigned to Enforcement and Removal Operations.
At the time, officials said they would be provided to agents in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, Buffalo, New York and Detroit. Other Homeland Security Department agencies require some agents to wear cameras. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released body-camera video when force has been used by its agents or officers.
Tim Hentschel, CEO of HotelPlanner.com and HotelPlanner.ai, says his virtual travel agents are already taking 50,000 real calls a day and will hit the 100,000 mark before the year is out
The robo travel agents are coming(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“I’m sorry. That was a generic answer. Let me come up with something a little more meaningful.”
There’s something quite novel about a robot apologising to you. Cassandra, one of HotelPlanner.ai’s American representatives, was as quick on the contrition as it was on suggesting hotels in Tupelo, Mississippi, that I might want to stay in.
I chucked a few requirements at Cassandra and it quickly found me a place that ticked all of the boxes. Cassandra even obliged when I asked for a description of the rooms, and then apologised when I cut it off, demanding that those descriptions be a little less lifeless.
Try as I might, my efforts to wind Cassandra up failed. It kept delivering helpful answers and even extra titbits of information without being prompted, all with an upbeat tone of voice against a backdrop of fake call center sounds.
Robo-travel agents such as Cassandra are currently fielding calls on HotelPlanner.ai, where you can choose the language and gender of your call handler before taking it on a test run. It’s working on a beta trial basis in the UK at the moment, but in the US, the world of AI travel agents is very much here already and booming.
Tim Hentschel, CEO of HotelPlanner.com and HotelPlanner.ai, says his virtual travel agents are already taking 50,000 real calls a day and will hit the 100,000 mark before the year is out. He claims that 10% of HotelPlanner.com’s bookings are made by bots.
That’s no small potatoes, given the company’s expected $1.8 billion gross revenues this year and the 1.5 million properties it can book.
Tim is a huge believer in the power of AI to transform customer service in the travel industry and argues that HotelPlanner.com’s agents are trained to be “more helpful and efficient” than humans and already able to “compete head-to-head” when it comes to customer satisfaction and sales.
While Tim says the company has no desire to stop using humans to answer calls, the AI side of the business is growing quickly and could one day field 100% of all calls. Partly because they’ve learned from the best. The large language model bots were trained using eight million human phone calls.
What’s arguably a little unnerving is that customers aren’t told they’re speaking to a robot, and they often don’t realise.
“We only tell customers if they’re speaking to an AI agent if they ask. Sometimes it has come up as customers have asked them out on dates,” Tim told the Mirror.
“We find AI works best with older customers as it’s extremely helpful and patient—sometimes to a fault, as the AI doesn’t understand the money value of time. The question is, if you want a service, who can perform it better? A human or AI with unlimited information?
“The agents have accents. They make an attempt at humour. The robots are programmed always to be helpful, it has nothing but kindness.”
Whether the idea of an AI customer service bot excites or appalls you, their arrival in increasing numbers seems inevitable. Just this week, OpenAI announced it had struck a deal with travel giant Expedia, paving the way for holidaymakers to book trips directly through the platform.
At the Travel and Tourism Summit in Rome at the end of September, Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, predicted that AI would “double the travel market” – because “people will work three days due to AI, and take much longer holidays.”
Jane went on to describe how she thought AI would improve customer service.
“We must make sure our customers are very well looked after with good customer support. 30 seconds, an AI in your native language will be able to speak to you over the phone. Within 30 seconds a call centre employee will be able to answer your call. Within two minutes of a crisis, our team will be able to call them to get them to safety. This will be powered by AI,” she said.
How do you feel about AI travel agents? Let us know in the comments below or by emailing [email protected].
Illinois urged a judge Thursday to order the National Guard to stand down in the Chicago area, calling the deployment a constitutional crisis and suggesting the Trump administration gave no heed to the pending legal challenge when it sent troops overnight to an immigration enforcement building.
The government “plowed ahead anyway,” attorney Christopher Wells of the state attorney general office said. “Now, troops are here.”
Wells’ arguments opened an extraordinary hearing in federal court in Chicago. The city and the state, run by Democratic elected leaders, say President Trump has vastly exceeded his authority and ignored their pleas to keep the Guard off the streets.
Heavy public turnout at the downtown courthouse caused officials to open an overflow room with a video feed of the hearing. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson got a seat in a corner of the courtroom.
Feds say Guard won’t solve all crime
U.S. Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton said the Chicago area was rife with “tragic lawlessness.” He pointed to an incident last weekend in which a Border Patrol vehicle was boxed in and an agent shot a woman in response.
“Chicago is seeing a brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement,” Hamilton said. “They’re not protesters. There is enough that there is a danger of a rebellion here, which there is.”
He said some people were wearing gas masks, a suggestion they were poised for a fight, but U.S. District Judge April Perry countered it might be justified to avoid tear gas at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview, outside Chicago.
“I, too, would wear a gas mask,” the judge said, “not because I’m trying to be violent but because I’m trying to protect myself.”
Hamilton also tried to narrow the issues. He said the Guard’s mission would be to protect federal properties and government law enforcers in the field — not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”
Guard on the ground at ICE site
Guard members from Texas and Illinois arrived this week at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 are under the U.S. Northern Command and have been activated for 60 days.
Some Guard troops could be seen behind portable fences at the Broadview ICE building. It has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents, but the scene was peaceful, with few people present.
Wells, the lawyer for Illinois, described the impact of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, noting that U.S. citizens have been temporarily detained. He acknowledged the “president does have the power, and he’s using that power.”
“But that power is not unlimited,” Wells added, referring to the Guard deployment. “And this court can check that power.”
Perry told the parties to return to court late Thursday afternoon.
Guard on court docket elsewhere
Also Thursday, a federal appeals court heard arguments over whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where there have been mostly small nightly protests outside an ICE building.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut on Sunday granted a temporary restraining order blocking the move. Trump had mobilized California troops for Portland just hours after the judge first blocked him from using Oregon’s Guard.
Two dozen other states with a Democratic attorney general or governor signed a court filing in support of the legal challenge by California and Oregon. Twenty others, led by Iowa, backed the Trump administration.
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Troops used in other states
Trump previously sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington. In Memphis, Tenn., Mayor Paul Young said troops would begin patrolling Friday. Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee supports the role.
Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she hoped the Guard would be used to direct traffic and have a presence in retail corridors, but not used for checkpoints or similar activities.
Davis said she doesn’t want Memphis to “feel like there is this over-militarization in our communities.”
The Trump administration’s aggressive use of the Guard was challenged this summer in California, which won and lost a series of court decisions while opposing the policy of putting troops in Los Angeles, where they protected federal buildings and immigration agents.
A judge in September said the deployment was illegal. By that point, just 300 of the thousands of troops sent there remained on the ground. The judge did not order them to leave. The government later took steps to send them to Oregon.
Fernando and Thanawala write for the Associated Press. AP writers Ed White in Detroit, Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tenn., contributed to this report.
Trump-appointed FBI Director Kash Patel has fired an agent-in-training over an LGBTQIA+ Pride flag.
According to three people close to the situation, the unidentified agent was terminated on the first day of the US government shutdown for displaying the flag in his workspace, per CNN.
The employee, who had previously served as a field office diversity program coordinator and had received several awards, was enrolled in new agent training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, when he received his dismissal letter.
In the letter, Patel cited the 47th president’s claimed Article II powers to dismiss the agent without due process, referring to the flag as “political signage.”
“You are being summarily dismissed from your position as a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and removed from federal service,” Patel wrote, per MSNBC.
“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office.”
While the FBI has yet to release a statement, several Democratic officials have condemned Patel’s actions.
“LGBTQ+ people should be able to serve their country openly and proudly,” Josh Sorbe, spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, told The Advocate.
Openly gay California Representative Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, echoed similar sentiments in a separate statement to the outlet.
“Trump and his administration have been obsessively trying to purge our community from the federal workforce since they took power. This firing is just their next attack,” he said.
“It’s not just censorship — they’re also firing people for simply being LGBTQI+ or doing work that supports the LGBTQI+ community. These despicable acts are yet another example of how commonplace anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination is in this administration.”
The recent firing joins a growing list of anti-LGBTQIA+ moves committed by the Trump administration.
From cutting funding for HIV and LGBTQIA+ health care to erasing bisexual and trans people from the National Park Service’s website on the Stonewall National Monument, the community has been ruthlessly targeted by the former reality personality and convicted felon.
For more information on the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community, click here.
Trump-appointed FBI Director Kash Patel has fired an agent-in-training over an LGBTQIA+ Pride flag.
According to three people close to the situation, the unidentified agent was terminated on the first day of the US government shutdown for displaying the flag in his workspace, per CNN.
The employee, who had previously served as a field office diversity program coordinator and had received several awards, was enrolled in new agent training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, when he received his dismissal letter.
In the letter, Patel cited the 47th president’s claimed Article II powers to dismiss the agent without due process, referring to the flag as “political signage.”
“You are being summarily dismissed from your position as a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and removed from federal service,” Patel wrote, per MSNBC.
“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office.”
While the FBI has yet to release a statement, several Democratic officials have condemned Patel’s actions.
“LGBTQ+ people should be able to serve their country openly and proudly,” Josh Sorbe, spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, told The Advocate.
Openly gay California Representative Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, echoed similar sentiments in a separate statement to the outlet.
“Trump and his administration have been obsessively trying to purge our community from the federal workforce since they took power. This firing is just their next attack,” he said.
“It’s not just censorship — they’re also firing people for simply being LGBTQI+ or doing work that supports the LGBTQI+ community. These despicable acts are yet another example of how commonplace anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination is in this administration.”
The recent firing joins a growing list of anti-LGBTQIA+ moves committed by the Trump administration.
From cutting funding for HIV and LGBTQIA+ health care to erasing bisexual and trans people from the National Park Service’s website on the Stonewall National Monument, the community has been ruthlessly targeted by the former reality personality and convicted felon.
For more information on the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community, click here.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement held a hiring fair last month in Provo, Utah, that drew hundreds of job seekers — in part with signing bonuses up to $50,000 and salaries of $50,000 to $100,000 a year. This follows recruiting events in Arlington, Texas, in August and Chantilly, Va., in June. Despite polls showing that most Americans do not like how the agency is doing its job, these expos were quite popular. “This is a highly desired career,” an ICE official told reporters at the Texas event. “A lot of people want to do this job.”
That seems to be true, which makes recent changes in ICE’s hiring and recruiting practices all the more troubling. Flush with cash from Congress, the agency isramping up hiring while lowering standards for employment. ICE is using controversial slogans and imagery to attract new recruits. In its rush to expand, ICE is placing immigrants, citizens and its own agents in harm’s way.
Under the terms of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that the president signed into law in July, Congresshas given ICE an additional $75 billion in funding. The agency wants tohire at least 10,000 new agents as the administration seeks to fulfill its promise ofdeporting a million immigrants a year.
To meet this goal, ICE is lowering hiring standards. ICE agents can now beas young as 18, and there is no longer anage cap for new hires. The agency has alsocut training time for recruits from 13to eight weeks, byreducing Spanish lessons, firearms training andclassroom hours. Working for ICE does not require a high school diploma, a military background or any law enforcement experience. An aspiring ICE agent only has to pass a background check, meet physical and medical requirements, and complete the abbreviated training course.
In contrast, manylocal police andsheriff’s departments have stricter hiring requirements. The Los Angeles Police Departmentrequires its applicants to have a high school diploma, to complete six months of training and to be 21 at the time of police academy graduation.
ICE’s lower standards are alarming, given that agents have the power to make decisions with life-altering consequences. A teenager who formerly worked in a retail store or office workers bored with their daily routine could soon be out on the streets of L.A., carrying a gun and chasing anyone they think might be a migrant. New ICE agents might be placed in volatile situations without enough experience or judgment to make sound decisions. Immigrants — oranyone who looks like one — may be at risk of rookie ICE hires violating their constitutional and civil rights.
Unfortunately, we havebeen here before. Between 2006 and 2009, the Border Patrol scaled up quickly too. Hiring and training requirements were eased, with some agentsrushed into training before background checks were completed. This resulted in drug cartel members being hired,corruption and a spike in agents being arrested for misconduct. With its ongoing rapid expansion, ICEis poised to repeat the same kind of mistakes.
ICE’s recruitment campaign is likewise problematic. “America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out,” isone such appeal, which plays on false notions of “invasion” and immigrant criminality. On its official X account, Homeland Securityuses images of Uncle Sam, as though joining ICE were akin to a military mobilization.In one post, the agency asks, “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys?” In another,it asks, “Which way, American man?” This memeappears to reference, “Which Way Western Man?” —a 1978 book by an avowed white supremacist.
ICE slogans urge job seekers to “Defend Your Country” and “Protect the Homeland.” But such language smacks of propaganda, not professionalism. Former ICE officials are rightfully concerned that such tactics might draw thewrong kind of recruits. Rather than attracting qualified applicants who want to serve in federal law enforcement, ICE may be appealing to people with antipathy toward immigrants, or who see themselves as helping defend the U.S. from demographic changes.
ICE performs a vital function for the government, with agents shouldering great personal risk and responsibility. Yet ICE’s current practices are far from ideal, with well-documented instances of agents using excessive force and engagingin physical andverbal abuse of suspected undocumented immigrants. So this is not the time for ICE to lower standards. The agency’s latest hiring and recruiting efforts will not bolster the agency’s image or effectiveness. Instead they raise serious questions about new agents’ readiness, ability and suitability for this line of work. To put it simply, do we really want teenagers participating in ICE raids?
To remedy the situation, ICE should slow down and properly train incoming agents. The minimum age should be reinstated to 21. More thorough Spanish-language instruction should be restored to curriculums. Otherwise, fast-tracked employees will be sent unprepared into communities that arealready angry and fearful, which is potentially dangerous for everyone involved.
ICE’s hiring spree is reckless and irresponsible. As a matter of public safety, immigration enforcement should not be an entry-level job.
Raul A. Reyes is an immigration attorney and contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. X: @RaulAReyes; Instagram: @raulareyes1
BROADVIEW, Ill. — Federal agents detained multiple people Friday near an immigration facility outside Chicago that has frequently been targeted by protesters during President Trump’s administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.
A crowd grew over several hours, some riled by newly installed barricades to separate them from law enforcement officers stationed outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago.
Some protesters have aimed to block vehicles from going in or out of the area in recent weeks, part of growing pushback to a surge of immigration enforcement that begin in early September. Federal agents have repeatedly fired tear gas, pepper balls and other projectiles toward crowds and at least five people have faced federal charges after being arrested in those clashes.
Local law enforcement stepped up their own presence Friday, closing several streets around the facility and putting Illinois State Police officers wearing riot helmets and holding batons on patrol. The state police set up concrete barriers Thursday night to segregate protesters and designate spaces to demonstrate.
It was unclear how many people were detained Friday. One man was seen struggling on the ground with agents after he appeared to break through a line into the roadway and in front of a vehicle.
Mostly reporters and a handful of protesters stood within the designated protest zone in front of the ICE facility as helicopters hovered overhead.
“Every week, ICE escalates its violence against us,” said Demi Palecek, a military veteran and candidate for Congress. “With this level of escalation, it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed.”
Several demonstrators said they were frustrated by the designated protest zone, saying keeping them off public streets violated their First Amendment right to free speech. Others were angered by officers from local or state agencies standing shoulder-to-shoulder with federal officers, including Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, the Bureau of Prisons and others.
Most ignored the zone to protest on the other side of the facility, where Illinois State Police officers held them back.
Jonny Bishop, a 28-year-old former teacher from Palatine, Illinois, said attempting to designate a “free speech zone” infringes on protesters’ First Amendment rights.
“As the day went on, we were progressively pushed, not just by ICE but also by Broadview Police Department,” he said. “We’ve done these things peacefully…But our rights are being violated.”
Bishop, from a Mexican immigrant family, said he has been hit by tear gas and pepper balls at previous protests. He said the main contrast between Friday’s protests and earlier efforts is local, county and state law enforcement agencies working alongside federal agents.
“ICE acts with impunity,” he said. “They know that they can shoot at us. They can tear gas us. And Broadview Police Department is not going to do anything.”
At one point, state police officers joined Border Patrol in advancing toward protesters, forming a larger perimeter around the building. Some protesters yelled in law enforcement officers’ faces while the officers grabbed them by the shoulders and pushed them back.
Fernando and O’Connor write for the Associated Press. O’Connor reported from Springfield, Ill. AP journalists Erin Hooley and Laura Bargfeld contributed to this report.
Former US vaccine chief Demetre Daskalakis says the country’s health department is being led by a ‘chaos agent’ who is putting vulnerable people in harm’s way.
Dr Daskalakis was one of three directors to resign in August, following a decision to fire the head of the Centres for Disease Control, Susan Monarez, after her months-long dispute with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Since then, Dr Daskalakis has publicly criticised Kennedy, saying he is knowingly dismantling the country’s vaccine programme by sidelining experts and pushing his own ideology.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rendered obsolete the 4th Amendment’s prohibition on suspicionless seizures by the police. When the court stayed the district court’s decision in Noem vs. Vasquez Perdomo, it green-lighted an era of policing in which people can be stopped and seized for little more than how they look, the job they work or the language they speak.
Because the decision was issued on the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket,” the justices’ reasoning is unknown. All we have is Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s solo concurrence defending law enforcement’s use of race and ethnicity as a factor in deciding whom to police, while at the same time playing down the risk that comes with every stop — prolonged detention, wanton violence, wrongful deportation and sometimes even death. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her impassioned dissent (joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson): “We should not live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job.” But now, we do.
The practical effect of this decision is enormous. It strips away what little remained of the guardrails that prevented police (including agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) from indiscriminately seizing anyone with only a flimsy pretext.
Now there is no real limit on police seizures. History teaches us that people of color will bear the brunt of this policing regime, including the millions of immigrants who are already subject to police roundups, sweeps and raids.
This decision is no surprise for those of us who study the 4th Amendment. The police have long needed very little to justify a stop, and racial profiling is not new. Yet prior to the Vasquez Perdomo order in most instances, police had to at least articulate a non-race-based reason to stop someone — even if as minor as driving with a broken taillight, not stopping at a stop sign long enough, or walking away from the police too quickly.
Now, police no longer need race-neutral person-specific suspicion (pretextual or real) to seize someone. Appearing “Latino” — itself an indeterminate descriptor because it is an ethnicity, not defined by shared physical traits — along with speaking Spanish and appearing to work a low-wage job is enough, even if you have done nothing to raise suspicion.
Some might believe that if you have nothing to hide there is no reason to fear a police stop — that if you just show police your papers or offer an explanation you can go on your way. Even if that were the case, this sort of oppressive militarized police state — where anyone can be stopped for any reason — is exactly what the 4th Amendment rejected and was meant to prevent.
Moreover, ICE agents and police are not in the business of carefully examining documents (assuming people have the right ones on them) or listening to explanations. They stop, seize and detain — citizens and noncitizens alike. If lucky, some people are released, but many are not — including citizens suspected of being in the country illegally, or individuals whose only alleged crimes are often minor (and the product of poverty) or living peacefully (often for years) in the United States without legal status. And as evidenced by plaintiffs in this case, even if eventually released, a single stop can mean harassment, violence, detention or a life permanently upended.
Even if the 4th Amendment doesn’t prevent them, can’t race-based discrimination and police violence often be addressed through civil rights lawsuits? U.S. Code Section 1983 allows individuals to sue officials who violate their rights. But the reality plays out differently. In a recent decision, this Supreme Court dramatically limited class-action lawsuits, the primary vehicle that would allow widespread relief. The court has created a world in which law enforcement can largely act with impunity under the doctrine of qualified immunity. And there is likely no recourse if a federal official such as an ICE agent violates one’s constitutional rights, as the Supreme Court has sharply limited the ability to sue federal officials for money damages even if they commit a clear constitutional wrong.
The recent decision virtually declaring that the 4th Amendment allows police to engage in express racial profiling may not be the final word on the matter. We hope it isn’t. But longstanding court doctrine had already allowed racial profiling to flourish under the guise of seemingly neutral language of “reasonable suspicion” and “consent.” By allowing a further erosion of the limits on seizures, the Court entrenches a system in which the scope of one’s constitutional rights depends upon the color of one’s skin. If the 4th Amendment is to retain meaning, it must be interpreted to constrain — not enable — the racialized policing practices that have become routine in America.
Daniel Harawa and Kate Weisburd are law professors at NYU Law School and UC Law San Francisco, respectively.
Insights
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
The Supreme Court’s stay in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo has effectively rendered the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on suspicionless seizures obsolete, allowing law enforcement to stop and detain individuals based primarily on their appearance, language, and occupation rather than individualized suspicion of wrongdoing.
This decision represents a dangerous expansion of police authority that strips away constitutional guardrails, enabling officers to seize people with only flimsy pretexts and fundamentally altering the balance between law enforcement power and individual rights.
People of color and immigrants will disproportionately suffer under this new policing regime, as the decision legitimizes racial profiling by allowing stops based on appearing “Latino,” speaking Spanish, and working in low-wage occupations.
The ruling creates an oppressive police state where anyone can be stopped for any reason, directly contradicting the Fourth Amendment’s original purpose of preventing such indiscriminate government seizures and representing exactly what the constitutional provision was designed to prevent.
Available civil rights remedies are inadequate to address these violations, as the Supreme Court has systematically limited class-action lawsuits, expanded qualified immunity protections for law enforcement, and restricted the ability to sue federal officials for constitutional violations.
Different views on the topic
Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence emphasizes that immigration enforcement stops based on reasonable suspicion represent a longstanding and legitimate law enforcement tool, particularly in high-immigration areas like Los Angeles where an estimated 10% of the population may be undocumented[1].
The government’s enforcement actions rely not solely on race but on a combination of four specific factors that, when considered together, can establish reasonable suspicion under established precedent such as United States v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975)[1].
Proponents argue that judicial consistency and neutrality require courts to avoid improperly restricting reasonable Executive Branch enforcement of immigration laws, just as courts should not compel greater enforcement, with Justice Kavanaugh noting that “consistency and neutrality are hallmarks of good judging”[3].
The Supreme Court found that the government was likely to succeed on appeal due to potential issues with the plaintiffs’ legal standing and questions about Fourth Amendment compliance, suggesting the lower court’s injunction may have been legally flawed[1].
Some legal observers note that the district court’s injunction created ambiguity about what enforcement actions remain permissible, with Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Sotomayor characterizing the injunction’s scope very differently, indicating the legal parameters were unclear[2].
WASHINGTON — The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, three people familiar with the matter said.
The bureau last spring had reassigned the agents but has since fired them, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel matters with the Associated Press. The number of FBI employees terminated was not immediately clear, but two people said it was roughly 20.
The photographs at issue showed a group of agents taking the knee during one of the demonstrations after the May 2020 killing of Floyd, a death that led to a national reckoning over policing and racial injustice and sparked widespread anger after millions of people saw video of the arrest. The kneeling had angered some in the FBI but was also understood as a possible deescalation tactic during a period of protests.
The FBI Agents Assn. confirmed in a statement late Friday that more than a dozen agents had been fired, including military veterans with additional statutory protections, and condemned the move as unlawful. It called on Congress to investigate and said the firings were another indication of FBI Director Kash Patel’s disregard for the legal rights of bureau employees.
“As Director Patel has repeatedly stated, nobody is above the law,” the agents association said. “But rather than providing these agents with fair treatment and due process, Patel chose to again violate the law by ignoring these agents’ constitutional and legal rights instead of following the requisite process.”
An FBI spokesman declined to comment Friday.
The firings come amid a broader personnel purge at the bureau as Patel works to reshape the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.
Five agents and top-level executives were known to have been summarily fired last month in a wave of ousters that current and former officials say has contributed to declining morale.
One of those, Steve Jensen, helped oversee investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. Another, Brian Driscoll, served as acting FBI director in the early days of the second Trump administration and resisted Justice Department demands to supply the names of agents who investigated Jan. 6.
A third, Chris Meyer, was incorrectly rumored on social media to have participated in the investigation into President Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A fourth, Walter Giardina, participated in high-profile investigations like the one of Trump advisor Peter Navarro.
A lawsuit filed by Jensen, Driscoll and another fired FBI supervisor, Spencer Evans, alleged that Patel communicated that he understood that it was “likely illegal” to fire agents based on cases they worked but was powerless to stop it because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who investigated Trump.
Patel denied at a congressional hearing last week taking orders from the White House on whom to fire and said anyone who has been fired failed to meet the FBI’s standards.
Trump, who was twice impeached and is the only U.S. president with a felony conviction, was indicted on multiple criminal charges in two felony cases. Both cases were dismissed after he was elected, following long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
The acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento has said she was fired after telling the Border Patrol chief in charge of immigration raids in California that his agents were not allowed to arrest people without probable cause in the Central Valley.
Michele Beckwith, a career prosecutor who was made the acting U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of California earlier this year, told the New York Times that she was let go after she warned Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, that a court injunction blocked him from carrying out indiscriminate immigration raids in Sacramento.
Beckwith did not respond to a request for comment from the L.A. Times, but told the New York Times that “we have to stand up and insist the laws be followed.”
The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
Bovino presided over a series of raids in Los Angeles starting in June in which agents spent weeks pursuing Latino-looking workers outside of Home Depots, car washes, bus stops and other areas. The agents often wore masks and used unmarked vehicles.
But such indiscriminate tactics were not allowed in California’s Eastern District after the American Civil Liberties Union and United Farm Workers filed suit against the Border Patrol earlier in the year and won an injunction.
The suit followed a January operation in Kern County called “Operation Return to Sender,” in which agents swarmed a Home Depot and Latino market, among other areas frequented by laborers. In April, a federal district court judge ruled that the Border Patrol likely violated the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
As Beckwith described it to New York Times reporters, she received a phone call from Bovino on July 14 in which he said he was bringing agents to Sacramento.
She said she told him that the injunction filed after the Kern County raid meant he could not stop people indiscriminately in the Eastern District. The next day, she wrote him an email in which, as quoted in the New York Times, she stressed the need for “compliance with court orders and the Constitution.”
Shortly thereafter her work cell phone and her work computer stopped working. A bit before 5 p.m. she received an email informing her that her employment was being terminated effective immediately.
It was the end of a 15-year career in in the Department of Justice in which she had served as the office’s Criminal Division Chief and First Assistant and prosecuted members of the Aryan Brotherhood, suspected terrorists, and fentanyl traffickers.
In an interview with Fox News that day, Bovino said the raids were targeted and based on intelligence. “Everything we do is targeted,” he said. “We did have prior intelligence that there were targets that we were interested in and around that Home Depot, as well as other targeted enforcement packages in and around the Sacramento area.”
He also said that his operations would not slow down. “There is no sanctuary anywhere,” he said. “We’re here to stay. We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to affect this mission and secure the homeland.”
Beckwith is one of a number of top prosecutors who have quit or been fired as the Trump administration pushes the Department of Justice to aggressively carry out his policies, including investigating people who have been the president’s political targets.
In March, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles was fired after lawyers for a fast-food executive he was prosecuting pushed officials in Washington to drop all charges against him, according to multiple sources.
In July, Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan and the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, was fired by the Trump administration, according to the New York Times.
And just last week, a U. S. attorney in Virginia was pushed out after he had determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute James B. Comey. A new prosecutor this week won a grand jury indictment against Comey on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
