Immigrants waiting 10 years in US just to get a court date
April 26, 2023 GMTSAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. immigration offices have become so overwhelmed with processing migrants for court that some some asylum-seekers who crossed the border at Mexico may be waiting a decade before they even get a date to see a judge.
Another effort to make NC sheriffs aid ICE approved by House
March 29, 2023 GMTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's sheriffs would be required to help federal agents who are interested in picking up jail inmates they believe are in the country illegally in legislation approved by the state House on Tuesday.
North Carolina lawmakers try again to make sheriffs help ICE
February 22, 2023 GMTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina General Assembly began a repeat effort Wednesday to require all sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration agents who are interested in picking up certain jail inmates.
Sacramento sheriff settles suit over immigrant transfers
December 22, 2022 GMTSACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Immigrant advocates have settled a lawsuit against Sacramento County that accused the sheriff's department of illegally turning over arrested immigrants to federal deportation authorities.
Immigration agency leaks data on more than 6,000 detainees
December 1, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday that personal information of more than 6,000 people in its custody was inadvertently posted to its website for about five hours.
Migrant survivors of West Texas shooting detained by ICE
October 19, 2022 GMTAUSTIN, Texas (AP) — One migrant is dead, another is wounded and at least seven others are languishing in detention three weeks after twin brothers allegedly opened fire on them in the Texas desert, claiming they mistook them for wild hogs during a hunting trip.
Convicted ‘fake heiress’ released as she fights deportation
October 8, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — A woman whose exploits posing as a German heiress to scam individuals and financial institutions out of hundreds of thousands of dollars inspired a Netflix series is being released from immigration custody.
Judge: Fake heiress can fight deportation on house arrest
October 6, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. immigration judge cleared the way Wednesday for fake German heiress Anna Sorokin to be released from detention to home confinement while she fights deportation, if she meets certain conditions.
California won’t bar parolee transfers to immigration agents
September 1, 2022 GMTSACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A bill that would have blocked California state prisons from transferring inmates to federal immigration custody was failing as lawmakers prepared to adjourn Wednesday.
Truck driver acquitted in crash appears in immigration court
August 18, 2022 GMTCONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A commercial truck driver from Ukraine who was taken into custody by immigration officials shortly after he was acquitted of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists will ask for relief from possible removal from the United States, his attorney said at a hearing Thursday.
NC governor vetoes 4 bills, 1 directing sheriffs to aid ICE
July 11, 2022 GMTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation Monday for the second time in four years that would demand North Carolina sheriffs learn the immigration status of their jails' inmates and make an effort to hold those whom federal agents want to pick up.
NC bill requiring sheriffs to assist ICE goes to governor
July 1, 2022 GMTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republicans have approved legislation directing the state's elected local sheriffs to learn the immigration status of jail inmates and assist federal agents who want to detain them.
Veto likely again ahead for bill making NC sheriffs aid ICE
June 30, 2022 GMTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Legislation requiring North Carolina’s sheriffs to assist federal agents who are seeking a jail inmate whom they believe is in the country unlawfully neared final General Assembly approval Thursday with House backing.
Charges dropped against Danish man in Colorado wildfire
April 4, 2022 GMTDENVER (AP) — A judge on Monday dismissed criminal charges against a Danish man accused of starting a Colorado wildfire that destroyed about 140 homes in 2018 after he was repeatedly found unable to stand trial.
ICE to stop using Alabama jail, limit use of 3 others
March 25, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration authorities announced Friday that they'll stop housing detainees at an Alabama jail with a history of problems and will limit the use of three other detention centers.
Report finds unsafe conditions in New Mexico migrant jail
March 18, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Conditions at a privately owned and operated jail used to hold migrants in rural New Mexico are unsafe and unsanitary and everyone held there should be immediately transferred elsewhere, a federal watchdog said in a report released Friday.
US immigration arrests drop amid focus on most dangerous
March 11, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration enforcement arrests within the U.S. fell sharply over the past year as the Biden administration shifted its enforcement priorities to focus on people in the country without legal status who have committed serious crimes, officials said Friday.
Woman gets 21 months in Arizona migrant smuggling case
March 1, 2022 GMTTUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A woman living in southern Arizona has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for conspiring to transport and harbor over a period of time more than 100 migrants who entered the U.S.
Lawsuit seeks to end deal between Barnstable sheriff and ICE
February 18, 2022 GMTBOSTON (AP) — A group of Massachusetts taxpayers represented by civil rights attorneys has filed a lawsuit seeking to end an agreement between the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that gives local officers the power to enforce federal immigration laws.
Migrants in human smuggling case facing deportation hearings
January 27, 2022 GMTFARGO, N.D. (AP) — Seven Indian nationals accused of illegally entering the United States in an alleged human smuggling case that left four dead have been released pending deportation hearings in front of an immigration judge, federal authorities said Thursday.
Harvard immigration clinic sues for records on ICE detention
January 18, 2022 GMTCAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Harvard Law School clinic has sued federal immigration officials for failing to release records about the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention facilities.
Fed review sought of jail’s immigrant detainee conditions
January 8, 2022 GMTPLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts' two U.S. senators are calling for a review of conditions at the Plymouth County jail for federal immigration detainees.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey said this week that they've heard from the families of detainees and their attorneys and advocates about poor treatment and care at the jail.
Agents with Homeland Security team to wear body cameras
December 24, 2021 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Agents with an investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security will wear body cameras for the first time as part of a six-month pilot program that will focus on the costs and benefits of using the technology in federal law enforcement, officials said.
Man who attacked girl at IU violin camp to be deported
November 12, 2021 GMTBLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A man sentenced to house arrest for attacking a 13-year-old girl with a pocketknife in 2019 as she was attending an Indiana University violin camp is now awaiting deportation to South Korea.
Company halts work program instead of upping detainee pay
November 5, 2021 GMTSEATTLE (AP) — Brazilian Jose Soares has been locked up in one of the United States' largest immigration detention centers for the past two years, passing much of his time cleaning bathrooms and buffing floors at a rate of $1 a day.
US returns antiquities to India in stolen art investigation
October 28, 2021 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. authorities returned about 250 antiquities to India on Thursday in a long-running investigation of a stolen art scheme.
The items, worth an estimated $15 million, were handed over during a ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York City.
Walz asks ICE to stop deportation of woman who sought pardon
October 14, 2021 GMTMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz is asking officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop deportation proceedings for a woman he says will be in grave danger if she is returned to her native Ethiopia.
US deports Russian man imprisoned for cybercrimes
September 28, 2021 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprising development, a Russian man who was imprisoned in the U.S. for cybercrimes has been deported to Russia, officials said Tuesday.
Aleksei Burkov, 31, facilitated $20 million in credit card fraud and ran a sophisticated clearinghouse for international criminals.
Immigrant rights activist targeted for deportation can stay
September 21, 2021 GMTSEATTLE (AP) — A Northwest immigrant rights activist who had been facing deportation said Tuesday she can now remain in the U.S., after the Department of Homeland Security agreed to drop her case.
Maru Mora Villalpando, a Mexico City native, has been in the U.S.
Activists call on jail to stop housing immigration detainees
September 19, 2021 GMTPLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) —
Immigrant rights activists in Massachusetts are planning to rally near historic Plymouth Rock and outside a local jail to call on the facility to stop housing federal immigration detainees.
Jail ending agreement deputizing staff as ICE agents
September 10, 2021 GMTPLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts jail is ending an agreement that deputizes some of its staff to act as immigration agents.
Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald said Friday in an interview on WATD-FM that his office has notified U.S.
Federal judge orders ICE to test detainees for COVID-19
August 24, 2021 GMTTACOMA, Wash. (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must test detainees for COVID-19 before they are transferred to the immigrant detention center in Tacoma, a federal judge ordered Monday.
New law will effectively end immigrant detention in Illinois
August 2, 2021 GMTCHICAGO (AP) — Illinois will effectively end immigrant detention and further restrict local law enforcement's ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities under a plan Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Monday.
Lawyers say China using Interpol to seek dissident’s return
July 30, 2021 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Attorneys are asking the Biden administration to release from immigration custody a Chinese democracy advocate who could be deported to his homeland to face what they say are false charges — despite the lack of an extradition treaty between the United States and China.
US closes Trump-era office for victims of immigrant crime
June 12, 2021 GMTSAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it has dismantled a Trump-era government office to help victims of crimes committed by immigrants, a move that symbolizes President Joe Biden's rejection of former President Donald Trump's repeated efforts to link immigrants to crime.
Lawsuit: ICE detained US citizen for a week in Tacoma
June 12, 2021 GMTSEATTLE (AP) — A naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico is suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agency held him in detention for a week even though he had his passport with him and repeatedly insisted he was an American.
Complaint: Mississippi ICE center is violating COVID rules
May 19, 2021 GMTNATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — Several immigrants’ rights groups filed a complaint against those running a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Mississippi, saying it’s experiencing the largest COVID-19 outbreak at any ICE facility in the country because safety policies aren’t being followed.
ICE nearly released sex abuse convicts despite Biden memo
February 13, 2021 GMTAUSTIN, Texas (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was prepared to release three men convicted of sex offenses against children, Texas officials said, in an apparent misapplication by authorities of enforcement directives from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Agreement would allow HPD to work with ICE
May 21, 2019 GMTHUNTINGTON — Huntington Police Chief Hank Dial is asking City Council to approve a memorandum of understanding allowing officers to be reimbursed for drug trafficking investigations with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Trump taps former border patrol chief as ICE Director
May 6, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's latest choice to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a former border patrol chief under the Obama administration who has publicly backed the president's border wall...
US government to give DNA tests at border to check for fraud
May 1, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will begin voluntary DNA testing in cases where officials suspect that adults are fraudulently claiming to be parents of children as they cross the U...
US searches of phones, laptops at airports rising, suit says
April 30, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government searches of travelers' cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings nearly quadrupled since 2015 and were being done for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement, according to papers filed Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims scouring the electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional...
After force-feeding, ICE releases 2 immigrant detainees
April 12, 2019 GMTEL PASO, Texas (AP) — Two Indian men who were force-fed during a hunger strike inside a Texas immigration detention center are out of government custody.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa confirmed Thursday that Jasvir Singh and Rajandeep Singh were released on bond from the El Paso Processing Center...
Trump sidelines immigration nominee for ‘tougher direction’
April 5, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The notice to Congress from the White House was met with confusion: Why would President Donald Trump withdraw his nominee to lead U...
APNewsBreak: White House withdraws nomination to lead ICE
April 5, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Thursday withdrew the nomination of a longtime border official to lead U...
Border Patrol orders quick releases of families
March 29, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The number of migrant families and children entering the U.S. from Mexico is so high that Border Patrol is immediately releasing them instead of transferring them to the agency responsible for their release, forcing local governments to help coordinate their housing, meals and travel...
Road rage suspect who killed deputy was in US illegally
March 21, 2019 GMTSPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The road rage suspect who killed a sheriff's deputy, wounded a police officer and died in a central Washington state shootout this week was living in the United States illegally, the federal government said Thursday...
Force-fed detainees deported to India
March 5, 2019 GMTImmigration officials say two Indian men who were force-fed through nasal tubes while on a hunger strike inside a Texas detention facility have been deported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the two detainees held at the El Paso Processing Center were deported to India on Friday.
ICE criticizes Michigan sheriff’s release of immigrants
March 1, 2019 GMTGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has criticized a Michigan sheriff's department that released three people living in the country illegally despite federal detainment requests.
Lawmakers seek probe of ICE force-feeding of immigrants
February 20, 2019 GMTNearly 50 Democratic lawmakers called for a watchdog investigation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday after the agency confirmed it had been force-feeding immigrant detainees on a hunger strike...
ICE halts force-feeding of immigrant detainees in Texas
February 16, 2019 GMTEL PASO, Texas (AP) — The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding a group of men on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention center, U...
21 Savage ‘wasn’t hiding’ being British, feared deportation
February 16, 2019 GMTATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage said in an interview aired Friday that he didn't talk about his British citizenship before because he didn't want to get deported...
Lawyer says rapper 21 Savage freed from immigration custody
February 13, 2019 GMTOCILLA, Ga. (AP) — Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage was released Wednesday from an immigration detention center in south Georgia, his lawyers said...
UN: US force-feeding immigrants may breach torture agreement
February 8, 2019 GMTThe United States could be violating the U.N. Convention Against Torture by force-feeding immigrant detainees on a hunger strike inside an El Paso detention facility, the United Nations human rights office said Thursday...
APNewsBreak: Detainee on hunger strike details force-feeding
February 3, 2019 GMTU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed there are now nine men — up from six earlier this week — being force-fed under court order in a detention center in El Paso...
Scrutiny, criticism of ICE come with immigration enforcement
December 31, 2018 GMTRICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The officers suit up in the pre-dawn darkness, wrapping on body armor, snapping in guns, pulling on black sweat shirts that read POLICE and ICE...
Judge: Honduran mother can’t be deported without daughter
December 24, 2018 GMTHOUSTON (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered the U.S. government not to deport a Honduran woman, whose lawyers worry about her being separated from her 15-year-old daughter who has been detained with her for six months...
US reverses policy on migrant children’s sponsors
December 19, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is changing the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody — backing off a requirement that all people in the house are fingerprinted...
Deported immigrants get their last flight on ‘ICE Air’
December 17, 2018 GMTHOUSTON (AP) — Shackled at their ankles and wrists and their shoelaces removed, a long line of men and women waited on the tarmac as a team of officers patted them down and checked inside their mouths for anything hidden...
Ex-judges to ICE: End immigration arrests at courthouses
December 12, 2018 GMTBOSTON (AP) — Dozens of retired state and federal judges called Wednesday on U.S. immigration officials to stop making arrests at courthouses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, saying immigrants should be free to visit halls of justice without fearing they will be detained...