Immigration & Border Security

Oct. 3 (UPI) — Protesters clashed with law enforcement agencies outside a U.S. Immigration and Enforcement detention site near Chicago hours after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited.

At least five people were arrested and are facing charges of aggravated battery to a police officer, as well as resisting and obstruction, a Cook County Sheriff’s Office official told CNN.

Surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew, Noem was on the rooftop of the center in Brookview, which is about 20 miles west of Chicago, WLS-TV reported.

She was accompanied by El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino.

Noem was seen directing protesters and media away from the area after arriving at 8 a.m. She left at 9:45 a.m.

The situation escalated shortly after 9 a.m. with pushing, shoving and arrests, WLS reported.

Not used were tear gas, pellets or other chemical substances but have utilized in the past, the Sun Times reported.

Counter-protesters were also in the area in support of ICE and federal agents.

Aldermen, previously arrested demonstrators and political candidates, during a 9 a.m. news conference there, demanded transparency and safety protocols.

About 100 to 200 protesters were in the area during the morning but by 11 am., there were more law enforcement officers than demonstrators, WBBM-TV reported.

During the protest, Broadview police officers, Cook County sheriff’s deputies and Illinois State Police troopers held them back.

Protesters chanted and held signs, including ones that said “ICE melts under resistance” and “Hate has no home here.”

“I’m not gonna look back and say I sat at home and did nothing,” Nocole Bandyk, who lives in a nearby suburb, told CNN. “It’s wrong … It’s just wrong what they’re doing. We are becoming a fascist authoritarian state and it’s wrong.”

ICE, under the direction of President Donald Trump, has ramped up enforcement in Midway Blitz Operation, which began Sept. 8. Since then, there have been more than 800 arrests, according to Homeland Security.

Protesters said they wanted to know about the conditions inside the ICE facility, and for officials to be allowed inside to inspect it.

Illinois Gov. JB Prizter again on Friday criticized the operation.

“Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens,” Pritzker wrote on Facebook. “Secretary Noem should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability.”

In a statement to WLS-TV, he said: “Last time when the secretary was here, she snuck in during the early morning to film social media videos and fled before sunrise. Illinois is not a photo opportunity or war zone, it’s a sovereign state where our people deserve rights, respect and answers.”

Noem earlier went to Broadview Village Hall, asking to meet with the Mayor Katrina Thompson, but she was out of the building, village spokesperson David Ormsby said.

Noem posted on X that she was going into the municipal building “for a quick bathroom break.”

The mayor then went to the detention sites, accompanied by Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills and other officers, and asked to have the fencing around the site to be removed.

On Thursday, a free speech zone that consists of barricades was erected. Instead of congregating there, protesters went to another entrance, WGN-TV reported.

The village’s fire department describes it as “illegally built” fencing, and it would block firefighters’ access to areas on that street during an emergency.

Also, village officials have launched three criminal investigations into ICE actions.

The Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Department of Defense — which the Trump administration has informally changed to Department of War — requesting 100 active-duty troops be deployed across Chicago for the protection of ICE agents.

Oct. 3 (UPI) — The Trump administration can resume its deportation of Venezuelans after the Supreme Court again overturned a lower court’s block on ending the temporary protected status.

The Department of Homeland Security in August ended the TPS protection for about 300,000 “migrants” from Venezuela, which U.S. District Court for Northern California Judge Edward Chen blocked on Sept. 5.

Chen’s ruling is the second in which he blocked the Trump administration’s effort to end protected status for Venezuelans, which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld in August, The Hill reported.

The Supreme Court overturned Chen’s first ruling when the Trump administration sought an emergency hearing in May, according to The New York Times.

Chen, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, afterward said the Supreme Court ruling lacked detail and again blocked the Trump administration from ending the TPS protection.

The Supreme Court agreed to review the matter again and repeated its earlier ruling.

“Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties’ legal arguments and relative harms generally have not,” the unsigned Supreme Court order says.

“The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here.”

Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have denied the emergency relief request by the Trump administration.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called the court’s ruling “another grave misuse of our emergency docket” in her dissenting opinion.

“We once again use our equitable power to allow this administration to disrupt as many lives as possible as quickly as possible,” Jackson said.

She accused the Supreme Court’s majority of GOP-appointed justices of “privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the stability our government has promised them.”

Shortly before leaving office, former President Joe Biden on Jan. 17 extended the temporary protected status for Venezuelans for another two years.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ended the protected status within days of the Senate confirming her nomination on Jan. 25.

Oct. 1 (UPI) — Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will attend the Super Bowl’s halftime show featuring Bad Bunny.

Lewandowski, 52, appeared on “The Benny Show” podcast on Wednesday when he made his claim about ICE at the Super Bowl, according to The Hill.

“There is nowhere that you can provide a safe haven to the people in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said in response to a question from podcast host Benny Johnson.

“We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you,” he claimed.

Lewandowski was President Donald Trump‘s campaign manager in 2016 and a senior adviser in 2020 and 2024.

The Super Bowl is the only U.S. performance scheduled so far in 2026 for Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico and has won three Grammy Awards.

The popular rapper last month said he was skipping performing in the United States due to his fear that ICE would raid his concert venues, Variety reported.

Bad Bunny on Sunday affirmed he is skipping dates in the United States, other than the Super Bowl, next year, according to Billboard.

“I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States,” he posted on X.

The popular rapper has a world tour scheduled from December through July, but said concerns that ICE might show up at U.S. shows caused him to skip performing here.

The Super Bowl is scheduled at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

Sept. 30 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Monday filed a lawsuit against so-called sanctuary policies in Minnesota as the Trump administration tries to have the court compel Democratic-led regions to abide by its immigration policies.

The lawsuit targets the laws of Minnesota, Hennepin County and the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, arguing that not only are they illegal, they effectively shield “criminal offenders” by obstructing federal law enforcement.

“Minnesota officials are jeopardizing the safety of their own citizens by allowing illegal aliens to circumvent the legal process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

“This Department of Justice will continue to bring litigation against any jurisdiction that uses sanctuary policies to defy federal law and undermine law enforcement.”

President Donald Trump, who campaigned on cracking down on immigration, often with the use of incendiary rhetoric and misinformation, has been attempting to conduct mass deportations, and has targeted Democratic-led jurisdictions’ refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities as part of that effort.

In April, he signed an executive order directing Bondi to compile a list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions for punishment, with a list of 35 regions being made public early last month.

The Justice Department has already filed lawsuits against five states including Minnesota and several cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago. However, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit against Illinois, Chicago and other districts in the state in late July, finding the Trump administration “lacked standing” to challenge the laws.

Minnesota is also led by Gov. Tim Walz, a critic of Trump and a rival of the president, having run against him as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket.

The state has been a target of numerous federal actions by the Trump administration, including investigations over its hiring practices. The president declined to call Walz after a man assassinated a state lawmaker and wounded another in mid-June, calling him “whacked out” and “a mess.”

Late last week, Minnesota was one of six states Trump sued to force handover of its voter registration list.

While Walz has yet to make a public statement about the latest lawsuit, Mayor Melvin Carter of Saint Paul said city employees work for those who live there and not Trump.

“We will stand with our immigrant and refugee neighbors no matter how many unconstitutional claims the White House makes,” he said in a statement.

“We’ve proven our resolve in two successful court actions already this year, and we look forward to winning our third legal victory in a row against this embarrassing federal regime.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey similarly said they would fight the Trump administration.

“We will not back down. We will fight with every bit of our strength for our immigrant communities. We will stand by our neighbors and we’re going to win in court,” he said in a recorded statement published on X.

“So, let’s just be really clear to everybody: this is not an issue where we will back down. We’re going to win this thing.”

Sept. 28 (UPI) — Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called a policy that could lead to the indefinite deportation of thousands of people from the country “racist” and “immoral.”

Currently, migrants can apply for indefinite leave from other countries for five years, and allow them to live, study and work in Britain permanently, according to the BBC.

But a plan by Reform UK would abolish the status quo and require migrants to apply for new visas with more stringent guidelines. Right now, indefinite leave gives people more rights and access to benefits

Starmer said he did not think supporters of Reform UK are racist, but said he remains “frustrated” following 14 years of “Tory failure.” Starmer said he needed “space” to pursue and fulfill pledges he made during last year’s general election, which the Labor party won with a large majority.

“I do think it’s a racist policy, I do think it’s immoral,” Starmer said in an interview with the BBC. “It needs to be called out for what it is. It’s one thing to say we’re going to remove illegal immigrants, people who have no right to be here. I’m up for that. It’s a completely different thing to say we’re going to reach people who are here lawfully here and start removing them.”

Starmer called people in Britain under the current policy “neighbors” who contribute to the economy and changing the policy will “rip this country apart.”

A YouGov poll published Saturday shows that 58% of Britons oppose removing indefinite leave from those who already hold it. More than 44% say they support ending the policy, while 43% are opposed.

Sept. 27 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to rule on the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship provision following adverse rulings in lower courts.

President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term in office signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship for anyone who does not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen, but lower courts have blocked the order’s implementation, according to NBC News.

“The lower court’s decisions invalidated a policy of prime importance to the president and his administration in a manner that undermines our border security,” the DOJ said in its appeal to the Supreme Court, as reported by USA Today.

“Those decisions confer, without lawful justification, the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people,” the appeal said.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in July ruled in favor of a challenge filed by officials for Washington state and three others.

In a separate case, U.S. District Court of New Hampshire Judge Joseph Laplante granted class action status to a case filed by individuals, which enabled that court’s ruling against the president’s executive order to have national impact.

President George W. Bush appointed Laplante to the federal court in 2007.

The DOJ wants the Supreme Court to review the New Hampshire case and Laplante’s ruling despite the matter being appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The federal appellate court has not ruled on that case.

Sept. 27 (UPI) — The superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a deportation order and in possession of a loaded gun in a district vehicle.

Ian Andre Roberts, 54, entered from Guyana in 1999 on a student visa and had a final order for removal by an immigration judge in May 2024, ICE said in a news release Friday.

“This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement,” Sam Olson, ICE field office director in St. Paul, Minn., said in the release.

“This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district,” he said.

On Friday, ICE officers approached Roberts in the vehicle and, after identifying himself, he sped away, the agency said. His vehicle was found later near a wooded area.

At 8:45 a.m., the Iowa Department of Public Safety said in a news release that the agency received a mutual aid request to assist ICE in finding someone who fled from a traffic stop.

Iowa State Patrol troopers and special agents assisted ICE in finding Roberts, and he was taken into custody. Initially, he was listed as detained at the Pottawattamie County Jail, although the ICE website later removed any mention of a specific detention facility.

In 2021, Roberts pleaded guilty in Erie., Pa. to unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, which is a fifth-degree penalty, according to court records. It is a violation of law for someone without legal status in the United States to possess a firearm and ammunition.

On Friday, he also was in possession of a fixed-blade hunting knife and $3,000 in cash.

Roberts began working for the school district in 2023 after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners granted Roberts a license to serve in Iowa as a superintendent.

Before coming to Iowa, he had been the superintendent of Middlecreek Township School District in Erie, Pa., since August 2020. Before that, he was chief schools officer for Aspire Public Schools Oakland, Calif., from 2018-2020.

The district said a third-party comprehensive background check was conducted on Roberts, and he was required to verify employment eligibility for all employees. The search found he held educational leadership positions in the U.S. for more than 20 years.

“We do not have all the facts. There is much we do not know,” school board President Jackie Norris said Friday during a news conference. “However, what we do know is Dr. Roberts has been an integral part of our school community since he joined two years ago.”

Later Friday, the district said in a news release that it “has not been formally notified by ICE about this matter, nor have we been able to talk with Dr. Roberts since his detention.”

Weapons are prohibited on school grounds, at school-sponsored events and at school-related activities.

Associate Superintendent Matt Smith will serve as interim superintendent, having previously served as interim superintendent during the 2022-23 school year. The district is the largest in Iowa with more than 30,000 students and nearly 5,000 teachers in more than 60 schools, according to its website.

“Unfortunate situations like today underscore exactly why we must fix our broken immigration system. An individual with a prior weapons charge and an active deportation order should never have been placed in this position of public trust,” Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, who serves the Des Moines area, posted on X.

U.S. Rep. and Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson wrote on X that “He should be deported immediately. He should have never been anywhere around Iowa kids in the first place!”

Roberts, who was born in Guyana in 1973, competed for the South American nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in track and field as an 800-meter runner, coming in next to last in his heat.

“After transitioning from my professional track and field career, I embarked on a mission to transform schools,” he wrote on his LinkedIn Profile. “I’ve been in the trenches as a teacher in Brooklyn, New York, Prince Georges County, Maryland, and Baltimore City, where I earned the honor of being named Teacher of the Year for two consecutive years.

“Throughout my career, my Olympic tenacity has fueled my commitment to achieving excellence in education. I’ve led schools to achieve unprecedented gains in college acceptance/enrollment, increased attendance, and academic achievement.”

He received a doctorate from Trident University in Arizona, masters’ degrees from St. John’s and Georgetown and a bachelor’s from Morgan State. He went to Harvard’s graduate school of education and MIT’s School of Management.

Sept. 20 (UPI) — Three protesters were arrested after U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents clashed with more than “100 rioters” outside a processing center in west suburban Chicago, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The incident occurred on Friday morning outside the Broadview processing facility, in which “rioters assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building, and trespassed on private property,” the agency said in a news release.

The situation at the facility, located 13 miles west of downtown Chicago, escalated during the day.

During the morning, vans picked up and dropped off rioters “as an organized effort to obstruct ICE law enforcement,” the agency said.

On Friday afternoon, one woman appeared to be shot with a paintball gun at close range, WLS-TV reported. She was placed in handcuffs.

Just before 8 p.m., agents launched tear gas into the crowd outside the detention facility.

“Our ICE enforcement officers are facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them,” HHS said. “Disturbingly, in recent days, two ICE officers’ have had cars used as weapons against them.”

ICE has stepped up enforcement in Chicago as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” which began Sept. 8. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who led an immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, was on hand at the facility.

Since personnel were added last week, the operation has “resulted in the arrest of hundreds of criminal illegal aliens, including Tren de Aragua gang members,” whom DHS said “prior criminal histories of” murder, sexual assault, drug trafficking, robbery and other offenses.

Chicago is a sanctuary city, meaning local, county or state law enforcement doesn’t need to cooperate with federal authorities to protect undocumented immigrants.

“Police under JB Pritzker’s sanctuary jurisdiction refused to answer multiple calls for assistance,” HHS said. “These rioters and sanctuary politicians are choosing to side with criminals over American victims.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Johnson are Democrats.

“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Illinois by lawless rioters is despicable and Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson must call for it to end,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect the people of Illinois and all Americans.

“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi Gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is going to get law enforcement killed. This violence against ICE must end.”

On Friday, two demonstrators were seen being detained by agents, WLS-TV reported. Agents were attempting to move vehicles, with the demonstrators in the way and not moving.

“We have here a federal government that is actively working against its people, that is doing everything possible to divide them,” Alderman Andre Vasquez said. “They are building the same system that they are going to use for everyone else.”

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly was among several elected officials outside the detention center.

“I had to come over, talk to some people and see for myself,” Kelly, who serves the 2nd Congressional District, which serves southern Chicago and suburbs. “People are being treated like animals. What ICE is doing is unconscionable. I know that they are doing what they are told to do. But they are treating people like animals not people. It’s a Gestapo-type action.”

Protesters have a right to make their voices heard, official with the American Civil Liberties Union said.

“What isn’t protested is the attempt to obstruct or to you know limit the building or the government employees from entering or leaving that building,” Ed Yhonka, ACLU of Illinois director of communications and public policy, told WLS. “Someone attempting to puncture the tire of a vehicle, that’s not speech. That’s an action, and that isn’t protected by the Constitution.”

An Illinois Democratic congressional candidate was shown in a video being shoved to the ground during an anti-ICE protest outside the location.

“This is what it looks like when ICE violates our First Amendment rights,” Kat Abughazaleh, a former reporter and Democratic candidate for Congress, posted the video to her X account on Friday.

She is running in the 9th Congressional District, which serves north suburban Chicago.

She later posted Friday that “Once last week, twice today, ICE has picked me up and thrown me on the ground. Honestly, it doesn’t compare to what our neighbors who are trapped inside the Broadview processing facility.”

McLaughlin accused Abughazaleh of seeking attention for her campaign by attempting to “obstruct justice.”

“This fame-hungry, cable TV candidate is so desperate for her 15 minutes of fame that she will go so far as to put our law enforcement at risk and obstruct justice,” she told Fox News Digital.

At Elgin Community College, federal agents allegedly took an undocumented student into custody in a parking lot outside a building on the main campus.

There are at least 150,000 undocumented immigrants living in Chicago, Rob Paral, a demographer at the Great Cities Institute of the University of Illinois Chicago, told The New York Times earlier this month. There are 2.7 million residents in Chicago and 9.26 million in the Chicago metro area.

Pew Research reported in August that there are about 550,000 unauthorized immigrants living in the state of Illinois, with a population of 12.8 million, according to 2023 data.

Sept. 20 (UPI) — President Donald Trump is instituting two major changes to the H-1B visa process, including the introduction of a so-called “gold card,” the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed in a media release.

Trump signed a pair of executive orders, one of which will institute a $1 million fee for high-skilled workers who pay the amount themselves, with the amount doubling to $2 million if the rate is paid by the person’s employer.

The second order will see the creation of a $100,000 fee for successful H-1B visa applicants.

Both changes were dubbed Project Firewall by the administration, which says the moves are meant to “safeguard the rights, wages, and job opportunities of highly skilled American workers.”

“This program will raise more than $100 billion, which we’ll use for cutting taxes and paying down debt,” Trump said in the Oval Office after signing the executive orders.

“They’re going to spend a lot of money to come in. We need great workers. And this pretty much ensures that this is what’s going to happen.”

Typically, there are 85,000 of the H-1B visas issued each year with a large number going to people working for tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft, government data shows.

Employers must certify that workers looking to secure one of the visas will be paid a salary similar to what a U.S. citizen would be and that the company is unable to find an American to fill the role.

Prior to the executive order, an employer could pay a $215 registration fee to enter a lottery to claim one of the 85,000 annually issued visas.

“The Trump Administration is standing by our commitment to end practices that leave Americans in the dust. As we reestablish economic dominance, we must protect our most valuable resource: the American worker. Launching Project Firewall will help us ensure no employers are abusing H-1B visas at the expense of our workforce,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement on the department’s website.

“By rooting out fraud and abuse, the Department of Labor and our federal partners will ensure that highly skilled jobs go to Americans first.”

Sept. 18 (UPI) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport at least 600 Guatemalan children, rejecting claims by the Department of Homeland Security that the move was an effort to reunite them with their parents.

Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia said in his ruling that the administration’s claim that it was reuniting children with their parents “crumbled like a house of cards” because “there is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return to Guatemala.”

Kelly temporarily stopped the administration from transferring, repatriating, removing or otherwise aiding in the transport of any of the 76 Guatemalan migrant children that immigration authorities attempted to deport in the middle of the night during the Labor Day weekend.

Attorneys representing the children said they were notified by federal officials late at night that they were being “repatriated,” the ruling said.

The Trump administration pushed back on Kelly’s ruling

“This judge is blocking efforts to REUNIFY CHILDREN with their families,” Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement to NBC News. “Now these children will have to go to shelters. All just to ‘get Trump.’ This is disgraceful and immoral.”

Kelly, appointed by President Donald Trump, referenced a report from the Guatemalan attorney general’s office in response to the administration’s plan to deport more than 600 children to the country. The report said no parents had requested the return of their children.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — An immigration judge has ordered former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to either Algeria or Syria, court documents filed Wednesday show, as his lawyers argue the Trump administration is ramping up its retaliation against the Palestinian activist.

Khalil has been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown targeting pro-Palestine activism at universities. He was arrested March 8 for his pro-Palestine speech by the federal government, which has sought to remove him from the country.

He fought his detention in the courts, gaining his freedom in June. But the Trump administration continues its attempt to remove him, despite his wife and children being American citizens, this time on grounds that he omitted or misrepresented information on his green card application. His attorneys described the allegations as “baseless.”

Civil rights organizations, advocates and Trump administration critics argue its targeting of Khalil is an attack on his due process rights in retaliation for expressing his support for Palestine.

In a letter dated Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, the judge who issued Khalil’s June release, the Palestinian activist’s representation revealed that immigration Judge Jamee Comans ordered Khalil’s removal to either of the two countries Friday when he denied their motion for a waiver to prevent his removal.

The lawyers said Khalil has 30 days from Friday to file an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, and they called on Farbiarz to intervene.

“The only meaningful impediment to Petitioner’s physical removal from the United States would be this Court’s important order prohibiting removal during the pendency of his federal habeas case,” Khalil’s representation said.

Farbiarz, a President Joe Biden-appointee, had ordered Khalil’s release from federal immigration detention in June after denying the government’s argument that the former Columbia University graduate student was a threat to U.S. foreign policy.

The Trump administration is now seeking his removal alleging Khalil omitted or misrepresented information on his green card application, specifically not mentioning his previous internship with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, better known as UNRWA.

The letter to Farbiarz on Wednesday states Comans denied Khalil’s request for a waiver against his removal without conducting an evidentiary hearing.

His lawyers also said Khalil was denied the waiver because of the alleged misrepresentation to adjust his immigration without the opportunity to present contrary evidence. Instead, the judge relied on Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s statement that Khalil’s presence in the country is a threat to U.S. foreign policy to justify the denial.

“It’s no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech,” Khalil said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Their latest attempt, through kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.”

He accused the Trump administration of “fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations” against him following its first failed attempt to deport him to try and silence his speech in support of Palestine.

“Such fascist tactics will never deter me from continuing to advocate for my people’s liberation,” he said.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — The Trump administration has announced the unsealing of an indictment and a multimillion-dollar reward for information on the leader of a Sinaloa Cartel-linked gang, as it cracks down on the infamous narcotics trafficking organization.

Federal law enforcement accuses Juan Jose Ponce Felix, also known as El Ruso, of being the leader of Los Rusos, a Mexican gang controlling the Mexicali drug trafficking corridor and a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

“Ponce Felix’s organization directly manages the distribution of millions of dollars’ worth of narcotics, particularly cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, from Mexico to the U.S.,” the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement, adding with proceeds sent back to Mexico.

According to the State Department, Felix is not only the leader of Los Rusos, but its founder as the primary armed wing of La Mayiza, a powerful faction of the U.S.-designated Sinaloa Cartel.

La Mayiza was co-founded by Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as El Mayo, who pleaded guilty in the United States in late August to being the leader of the criminal enterprise.

The DEA alleges that Ponce Felix, in 2012, before he became the leader of Los Rusos, worked with Zambada Garcia, leading a “fleet of cartel soldiers” in 2012, who conducted kidnappings, hostage takings, torture and murder.

He has been charged four times in two different California districts.

Along with the unsealing of the indictment, the State Department offered a reward of $5 million for information that leads to his arrest or conviction.

“For years, Ponce Felix has resorted to kidnapping, torture and murder to maintain his grip on power,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement.

“This reward underscores this administration’s whole-of-government approach and unwavering commitment to destroy the Sinaloa Cartel.”

The announcement comes weeks after the DEA led a four-day domestic operation from Aug. 25 to 29, targeting the Sinaloa Cartel, which resulted in 617 arrests and the seizure of drugs, 420 firearms and more than $11 million in U.S. currency.

Sept. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Monday night added U.S. ally Colombia to a list of countries failing to live up to their counter-narcotic obligations.

The presidential determination states that the South American nation has “failed demonstrably” during the last 12 months to adhere to its international counter-narcotics agreements, as Trump blames the administration of leftist President Gustavo Petro amid fraying relations between their two governments.

The president annually under law must present Congress a list of countries that are major illicit drug producers and drug transit nations by Sept. 15, with those determined to not be cooperating with U.S. counter-narcotic efforts to be cut off from U.S. foreign assistance.

Colombia has for decades been listed as a major drug transit or major illicit drug producing country but Monday marked the first time since the Clinton administration that the South American nation was judged not to be cooperating fully with the United States.

The presidential determination states that U.S. assistance to Colombia will not be cut off as it is “vital” to U.S. national interests.

Colombia is a major producer of cocaine, and Trump on Monday said Petro’s governance as “exacerbated the crisis.”

“Under President Petro’s leadership, coca cultivation and cocaine production have reached record highs while Colombia’s government failed to meet even its own vastly reduced coca eradication goals, undermining years of mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries against narco-terrorists,” he said in the determination.

“The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership. I will consider changing this designation if Colombia’s government takes more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking,” as well as hold those responsible to account.

In response to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota posting the excerpt from the determination blaming his government for increased cocaine cultivation and production, Petro accused the Trump administration’s accusation of being “a factual lie.”

“The growth of coca crops occurred under the Duque government, and with force fumigation. It is the U.S. policy that has failed,” he said in a statement on X.

“For coca leaf cultivation to decrease, what is needed is not glyphosate sprayed from planes, but rather a reduction in the demand for cocaine, primarily in the U.S. and Europe.”

Relations between the two allies, Washington and Bogota, have been fraught under the Trump administration, which Petro has been a critic of over its hardline immigration and drug law enforcement stances.

The declaration lists 23 countries as being major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries, but only Colombia, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Venezuela and Myanmar as failing to meet their international obligations.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Colombia is among the top two coca bush producing nations.

Sept. 15 (UPI) — U.S. border agents in Texas said they uncovered $16 million worth of methamphetamine hidden in a load of mangoes.

The drug delivery was uncovered weeks after $50 million of the illegal drug was discovered in another bust at America’s southern border.

Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Laredo said Monday that a tractor trailer shipment of frozen mangos allegedly carried hundreds of packages of what authorities believe to be illicit methamphetamine weighing nearly 2,000 pounds.

“It is not unusual to encounter hard narcotics comingled with fresh produce,” according to Alberto Flores, director of the Laredo Port of Entry.

Flores said border officers made the discovery last Tuesday in what he described as an “effective combination of targeting and high-tech tools to take down this significant methamphetamine load” of about 733 packages that weighed nearly 1,791 pounds during a traffic stop at World Trade Bridge.

According to U.S. officials, the payload had a value of more than $16 million.

CBP agents seized the narcotics hidden within the shipment after the mango-carrying truck was referred for a secondary inspection and underwent a “nonintrusive inspection” by a canine unit.

The most recent drug bust comes a few weeks after the U.S. border agency revealed it uncovered nearly $50 million of the illegal drug during two separate stops in the same area.

On Monday, Flores added that seizures of hard narcotics “on this scale underscore not only the pervasive nature of the drug threat but our steadfast commitment to keeping our border secure,” he said in a statement.

A criminal investigation is ongoing by agents of Homeland Security Investigations.

Sept. 14 (UPI) — The United States’ second-most senior diplomat expressed regret Sunday over the recent immigration raid at a Hyundai car battery plant in Georgia.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met Sunday with First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Yoon-joo to discuss cooperation in the continued efforts to resolve the diplomatic spat stemming from the raid, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Park highlighted the “uncomfortable treatment” faced by hundreds of South Korean nationals who were detained and deported after the raid and the shock felt across the country at the incident.

“Deputy Secretary Landau expressed deep regret over the incident and proposed using it as a turning point to improve the [visa] system and strengthen the [Republic of Korea-United States] relationship,” the foreign ministry said. Landau was also said to have recognized the significant contributions and investments made by Korean companies for the “revitalization of the U.S. economy and manufacturing industry.”

He added that President Donald Trump is also “highly concerned” about this issue, and that he will ensure that Korean workers who return to the United States will not difficulty with reentering, South Korean officials said.

“The United States welcomes and encourages foreign investment in our country and therefore logically welcomes and encourages the personnel necessary to get those investments up and running,” Landau said in a post to social media after the meeting.

“These are the kind of visitors we want, who are creating American jobs and prosperity right here at home. Korean companies are poised to make massive new investments in our country in shipbuilding among other industries.”

More than 300 workers from South Korea were arrested earlier this month during the raid at the factory, which Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution operate. More than 150 other workers were also detained.

The raid was announced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and included officers from other agencies, such as Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It marked one of the largest immigrant raids in modern American history.

Last Sunday, a senior South Korean official said that the country will charter a plane for the return of hundreds of workers who were detained.

Sept. 13 (UPI) — More than 100,000 Britons who are frustrated with the United Kingdom’s immigration policies marched in central London during a Saturday afternoon and evening event billed as “Unite the Kingdom.”

The event was organized by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson and included a video address from Elon Musk.

Musk, 54, accused the U.K. government of not protecting “innocent people, including children who are getting gang-raped,” The Times reported.

“There’s this genuine risk of rape and murder and the destruction of the country and the dissolution of the entire way of life,” Musk told the protesters.

“If you weren’t under a massive attack, then people should go about their business and live their lives, but unfortunately, if the fight comes to you, you don’t have a choice,” he continued.

“Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you,” Musk added. “You either fight back or you die.”

An estimated 110,000 people participated in the protest march from Waterloo Bridge to Whitehall and at times clashed with police, 26 of whom were injured when pelted with bottles and other projectiles, according to The BBC.

Four officers suffered serious injuries, and at least 25 people were arrested for what London’s Metropolitan Police called “wholly unacceptable” violence.

The Metro Police deployed 1,000 officers, who were assisted by 500 others from nearby jurisdictions.

“There is no doubt that many came here to exercise their lawful right to protect, but there were many who came intent on violence,” Matt Twist, assistant commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, told the BBC.

A counter-protest called “Stand Up to Racism” drew about 5,000 participants and was organized by Women Against the Far Right, The Guardian reported.

Those protesters carried placards saying, “Refugees Welcome” and “Oppose Tommy Robinson,” among others.

Sept. 11 (UPI) — The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the “Stop Illegal Entry Act,” which increases potential prison sentences for those who are convicted of repeatedly illegally entering the United States.

The proposed Stop Illegal Entry Act of 2025 is part of the Trump administration’s and the GOP’s efforts to discourage illegal immigration and related crimes.

Eleven Democrats joined with Republicans to approve House Resolution 3486, 226-197, and sent the measure to the Senate, where a similar measure has been introduced, Roll Call reported.

“The Biden Administration let over 10 million illegal immigrants into the country and failed to prosecute those who defied U.S.immigration law,” said sponsor Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla.

“These individuals included people from countries designated as state sponsors of terror, with 400 illegal aliens on the Terrorist Watch List being encountered at the border,” Bice continued.

“We must deter future illegal immigration and give our law enforcement and border patrol officers the tools they need to hold dangerous criminals accountable.”

The measure would set a mandatory prison sentence of at least five years and up to life for those who are convicted of a felony after illegally entering the nation.

The resolution also increases to five years the prior maximum sentence of two years for those convicted of repeated illegal entry.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the measure includes “common-sense provisions” that deter illegal entry into the United States.

“Deterrence is an effective method of prevention, and the Stop Illegal Entry Act delivers the enforcement measures necessary to help strengthen law and order at our border,” Johnson said.

American Civil Liberties Union officials oppose the measure’s passage and in a press release said H.R. 3486 “would impose extreme prison sentences” on asylum seekers, teenagers and people trying to reunite with their families.

“H.R. 3486 would supercharge President Trump’s reckless deportation drive, which is already damaging our economy and destabilizing communities,” said Mike Zamore, ACLU national director of policy and government affairs.

“This legislation would hand the Trump administration more tools to criminalize immigrants and terrorize communities at the same time they are deploying federal agents and the military to our streets,” he continued.

“It would also undermine public safety by diverting more resources away from youth services and prevention programs that actually improve community safety.”

Sept. 10 (UPI) — The exit of 300 Korean workers detained in Georgia has been delayed due to “a cause from the U.S. side,” according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The detainees were scheduled to board a Korean Air charter plane from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to head home Wednesday afternoon. The ministry hasn’t said what is causing the delay, The Korea Times reported.

“The government is continuing consultation with the U.S. for as swift a departure as possible. We will provide further updates once a new schedule is confirmed,” it said.

Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement conducted the raid on Thursday and said those who were detained are not authorized to work in the United States.

Three of those detained are from Japan, and others were from Central and South American nations.

The electric battery plant in Ellabell, Ga., near Savannah, is still under construction. It’s a joint project by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution to provide batteries for Hyundai electric vehicles.

Many of those working at the plant had B-1 visas, which are issued for short-term business travel, The Korea Herald reported.

Many others got electronic travel authorization to visit the United States, but neither B-1 visas nor the travel authorizations allowed their respective holders to work.

The Korean government has stressed that the workers will leave under the rules of voluntary departure, which don’t have the same legal consequences as deportation. But, U.S. immigration law allows for bans depending on the length of the unlawful stay, so individual penalties are possible.

Complicating matters, some detainees signed forms early on that included a $1,000 payment for voluntary departure to avoid a 10-year entry ban, The Korea Times reported.

Adding to the confusion, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Monday that the Korean nationals detained in the raid will be “deported.”

In South Korea, people are upset, said James Kim, chair and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Seoul.

“The sentiment is obviously very, very negative,” James Kim, told CBS News. “In my office, I usually have my TV turned on to the news — and this is obviously covered from morning to evening constantly. But everyone who I speak to, they view America as its number — one partner here from South Korea. Yes, we’re going to have some challenging times.”

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun heard demands from angry lawmakers during a parliamentary session in Seoul on Monday, before he departed for meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials, CBS News reported.

Lawmaker Kim Joon-hyun demanded that Cho respond to the ICE raid by launching investigations into every U.S. national teaching English in South Korea who could be working illegally on a tourist visa.

“Are we giving our money, technology, and investment to the United States only to be treated like this?” CBS News reported that Kim Joon-hyun said.

During his meeting Wednesday in Washington with Cho, Rubio said, “the United States welcomes ROK (South Korea) investment into the United States and stated his interest in deepening cooperation on this front,” according to a readout shared by the State Department.

Rubio and Cho discussed advancing U.S.-South Korean ties “through a forward-looking agenda” that “revitalizes American manufacturing through ROK investment in shipbuilding and other strategic sectors, and promotes a fair and reciprocal trade partnership,” the State Department said.

Seoul and Washington have clashed over administrative and technical procedures, including the terms under which the Koreans are released and the conditions for their transfer to the airport, The Korea Herald reported.

Kim Yong-beom, presidential chief of staff for policy, on Tuesday also said that “(U.S.) law enforcement authorities have their own methods they insist on when it comes to transporting detainees by bus.

“They insist on certain practices, such as handcuffing detainees again, but we are making every effort in the final administrative negotiations to ensure that such methods are not applied,” Kim Yong-boem said.

“We are working to complete the procedures so that our nationals can safely return in the form of voluntary departure, not deportation, and are striving to conclude this within a timely period – within a day or two.”

The drive from the ICE detention facility in Folkston, Ga., to the Atlanta airport takes about four and a half hours.

Sept. 8 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court’s rulings blocking federal immigration officials from conducting raids in California seen by critics as unconstitutional racial profiling.

The high court voted 6-3 in favor of lifting temporary restraining orders preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out the raids.

“This is a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement.

“DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor.”

Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued two restraining orders in July, saying roving patrols “indiscriminately” rounded up people without reasonable suspicion, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. She also said that ICE denied the individuals access to lawyers, a violation of the Fifth Amendment.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority on Monday, said it was reasonable to question people gathered in places seeking day work, landscaping, agriculture, construction and other types of jobs that don’t require paperwork and are therefore attractive to undocumented immigrants. He said reasonable suspicion cannot rely alone on ethnicity, but he called it a “relevant factor.”

“Under this court’s precedents, not to mention common sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote.

The three dissenters — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — agreed with civil rights activists who said that ICE’s approach of questioning people who appear to be of Hispanic origin or work in certain jobs would target many U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.

“We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish and appears to work a low-wage job,” Sotomayor wrote in her dissent. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”

The high court’s decision was swiftly rebuked by civil rights organizations, unions and Democrats.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has fought against President Donald Trump‘s raids, described the action as an “attack” that not only targeted her city, but “an attack on every person in every city in this country.”

“Today’s ruling is not only dangerous — it’s un-American and threatens the fabric of personal freedom in the U.S.,” she said in a statement on X.

The federal government raids in Los Angeles began June 6, sparking protests that prompted Trump to deploy thousands of National Guardsmen to the city.

On July 2, several people who were arrested in the operation filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government, calling on the courts to end the stop and arrests and to up hold due process and rights for immigration detainees to access to legal counsel.

Janet Murguia, president and CEO of UnidosUS, a nonpartisan nonprofit Hispanic civil rights organization, lambasted the ruling as opening the door for the federal government to indiscriminately stop and arrest minorities.

“It authorizes targeting by authorities that makes all immigrants, Hispanics and other non-White Americans, suspects simply because of the color of their skin or the language they speak. In doing so, the court has put the civil rights of every person in the United States at risk, Murguia said in a statement emailed to UPI.

“The Supreme Court, without proper review of explanation, has signaled that the administration can, with impunity, use profiling-based tactics nationwide.”

Sept. 6 (UPI) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an immigration law enforcement surge in Massachusetts and Boston this week, while challenging their sanctuary laws in federal court.

The Trump administration this week began the surge, dubbed Operation Patriot 2.0, in Massachusetts and Boston, The New York Times reported.

The surge is in advance of a similar surge anticipated in Chicago and another that is already underway in Washington, D.C., and comes as the Trump administration has started challenging city and state sanctuary laws in federal court.

The Justice Department on Thursday challenged the legality of Boston’s 11-year-old sanctuary city law, called the Boston Trust Act, which does not allow city police to transfer detainees to ICE or hold them for possible federal immigration law violations.

The federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts names Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, the city of Boston, the Boston Police Department and Police Commissioner Michael Cox as defendants.

The DOJ has accused them of violating the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause that gives federal law precedence over state and local laws.

The defendants also “interfere with federal law and create obstacles to the enforcement of federal immigration law,” the DOJ said, which asked the court to invalidate the sanctuary laws.

Responding to the lawsuit and enforcement surge, Wu accused the Trump administration of “targeting the very people who built our country and our cities,” WBTS-CD reported.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the state needs other kinds of assistance from the federal government.

“It’s disrespectful to local and state law enforcement, who work hard every day,” Healey said.

“What we need from the Trump administration is funding for cops, funding for community policing [and] funding for law enforcement,” she added.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons earlier said the agency would “flood” Boston and other sanctuary locales with federal immigration enforcement agents.

Justice Department officials also warned Wu and leaders in other sanctuary cities and jurisdictions that they would lose federal funding and potentially face prosecution for allegedly obstructing federal immigration enforcement efforts.

While Wu and Healey oppose the federal immigration law enforcement surge, ICE officials on Thursday reported the capture and removal of an accused child rapist in Boston.

Agents with the ICE Boston office removed Albert George Davis, 59, from the United States on Aug. 21 and deported him to Jamaica, the agency said in a press release.

Jamaican officials sought Davis since 2020, when he was accused of raping a child in Jamaica and fled to the United States to avoid prosecution.

“He had been hiding out in our community for five years, but now he will be forced to face justice in his native country,” said David Wesling, deputy director of the ICE Enforcement and Removals Office in Boston.

“ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by aggressively locating, arresting and removing criminal alien offenders from our New England communities,” Wesling added.