#U.S. Border Agents

[saywhat-politics]

By  JULIE WATSON Updated 6:49 AM MST, March 21, 2025

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas, one of the perks of their long-distance relationship.

But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana last month.

U.S. border agents handcuffed Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded U.S. immigration detention center. He spent 16 days locked up before being allowed to fly home to Germany.

[gwydionmisha]

Trump/ICE/Immigration Round Up: Published 5/15/25

He's granting white Afrikaners refugee status over an imaginary genocide while sending people back into real ones.

[ctcnewsca]

Heading to the U.S.? Experts say grab a burner phone to protect your privacy at the border! Learn how to travel smart amid trade war tensions.

[ultimate-healing-blog]

Border Patrol Faces Drone Attacks from Mexican Cartels Amid Security Crackdown

Breaking News article on-line: #BorderSecurity #DrugCartels #KamikazeDrones #U.S.BorderPatrol #Explosives #IllegalImmigration #CriminalJustice #TrumpAdministration #LawEnforcement #PrivateSecurity #SenateProposals #PublicSafety #MilitaryPresence #DeportationRaids #SocialMediaThreats

Threats to Border Agents: Cartels Deploy Kamikaze Drones and Explosives Recent reports indicate that Mexican drug cartels are instructing their members to confront U.S. Border Patrol agents using kamikaze drones and explosive devices, coinciding with intensified border security measures implemented by the Trump administration. An internal memo labeled “Officer Safety Alert” has raised concerns,…

[gowns]

this australian guy wrote about the columbia protests when he was a student here. he hid his substack and deleted his social media apps before he went on a trip back to the US to visit friends. he was detained, interrogated extensively about palestine by two border patrol agents, then deported back to australia.

^ that's a quick summary he wrote after the experience. the longer new yorker article is really jarring. link without paywall here

[northern-passage]

over the last 24 hours Tom Homan has flip-flopped on what exactly is going to happen this upcoming week in the US, but we know he has threatened a “big raid across the country” and Chicago seems to be the first target with leaked plans for tuesday, January 21st, 2025. if you are here and live in a sanctuary city, brace for ICE raids to begin this week. if you're able, you can request or print your own red cards (available in multiple languages) from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and offer them to people within your community.

if you see ICE, let people know. shout "ICE" and "LA MIGRA." do not open your door for ICE.

You have constitutional rights:

- DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door. / NO ABRA LA PUERTA si un agente de inmigración está tocando la puerta. - DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent. / NO CONTESTE NINGUNA PREGUNTA de un agente de inmigración si el trata de hablar con usted. Usted tiene el derecho de mantenerse callado. - DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer. If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly. / NO FIRME NADA sin antes hablar con un abogado. Usted tiene el derecho de hablar con un abogado. Si usted está afuera de su casa, pregunte al agente si es libre para irse y si dice que sí, váyase con tranquilidad. - GIVE THIS CARD TO THE AGENT. If you are inside of your home, show the card through the window or slide it under the door. / ENTREGUE ESTA TARJETA AL AGENTE. Si usted está dentro de su casa, muestre la tarjeta por la ventana o pásela debajo de la puerta. I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door. I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights. I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.

What to do if you are detained - National Immigration Law Center

there's also the ICE Detainer FAQ and the ICE Raids Toolkit from Immigrant Defense Project. and you can also get information on DACA, various resources for preparedness, and flyers at united we dream:

this one is Chicago specific but another organization that is helping people prepare:

[technofeudalism]

on today's episode of "i only pay attention and pretend that i give two shits about the sanctity of human rights when there's a freaking Cheeto in the white house"

“While the administration should be lauded for its efforts to provide children and families access to the court system, its failure to ensure legal representation has produced a massive due process crisis,” said Talia Inlender, Deputy Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law. “It should be obvious that immigration court proceedings are far too complex for children to navigate without legal representation, especially when the consequences are so dire. The Biden administration must take swift action to ensure legal representation for all children in immigration court.”

The report’s key findings include:

In a five-month period in FY 2022 alone, almost one third of immigration court cases initiated by the Biden administration–more than 80,000 in all–were against children, over 30,000 of whom were under the age of 5, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

Studies show that unrepresented unaccompanied children are at least five times more likely to be ordered removed than children with access to counsel. 

By the government’s own account, 44% of unaccompanied children and 51% of families on the Dedicated Docket lack legal representation.

The vast majority of removal orders entered against children are for failure to appear: Approximately 72% of removal orders against families on the Los Angeles and Boston Dedicated Dockets were issued in absentia, with over 48% against children, many under the age of six. Worse yet, 86% of removal orders issued against unaccompanied children were for failure to appear.

Immigration courts under the Biden administration ordered more than 13,000 unaccompanied children removed in absentia between Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.

The report details how the Biden administration’s treatment of children in immigration court is unlawful, and calls on the Biden administration to: prohibit in absentia removal orders against unrepresented children; terminate the Dedicated Docket; and ensure legal representation for all unrepresented children in removal proceedings.

In handwritten cursive, a Russian immigrant named Marina wrote out the story of the day U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents took away her 1-year-old baby while she was being held in a detention facility in southern California. “I cried and begged, kneeling, not to do this, that this was a mistake, not justice and not right,” she wrote. “She was so little that no one knew anything about her. I was very afraid for her and still am!” This didn’t happen during the Trump administration, which separated more than 4,000 migrant children from their families under its controversial “zero tolerance” policy. Marina was separated from her baby in April of this year. The 40-year-old former restaurant manager came to the U.S.-Mexico border with her husband, mother-in-law and child to seek asylum. More than eight months later, she and her mother-in-law remain in federal immigration custody in Louisiana. Her husband is detained at a different Louisiana immigration facility. And Aleksandra is over a thousand miles away, being cared for by strangers in foster care in California. Aleksandra is one of around 300 children the Biden administration has separated from their parents or legal guardians this year, according to two government sources who asked not to be identified because they hadn’t been authorized to speak about the separations. Most of the cases involved families crossing the southwestern border, the sources said. These numbers haven’t previously been reported. Similarly, 298 children were separated from their parents in 2023, according to a government report to Congress published on Tuesday, even as overall migrant crossings have declined. According to the report, the average amount of time children separated between April 2018 and October 2024 have spent in federal custody before being released to a sponsor is 75 days.

Biden responds to Bernie Sanders' immigration plan: "We shouldn't abolish ICE. We should reform the system. ICE is not the problem. The policies behind ICE are the problem, and that's easy enough to fix if the President knows what he or she is doing."

unfortunately Joe never got around to fixing the Gestapo agency but he tried his gosh darndest and he isn't Drumpf so i guess the pride in being an American was still secure at that point for most liberals. i'm sure that when the next charlatan says the same thing that they'll retain this energy, right? right??

[saywhat-politics]

The son of a man who was brutalized by immigration authorities in Orange County, California, is speaking up after video of the incident went viral over the weekend.

The disturbing footage shows landscaper Narciso Barranco being pinned down and battered by a group of masked agents as he was picked up while working outside of a Santa Ana IHOP on Saturday.

At least a half-dozen men wearing gear identifying them as U.S. Border Patrol swarmed the man and beat him before forcing him into the back of an SUV.

Son Alejandro Barranco, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, told the Los Angeles Times his father was pepper sprayed and beaten, suffering a dislocated shoulder.

Alejandro Barranco said that he spoke to his father about 6 p.m. Sunday and was told that his dad had yet to receive medical treatment in the more than 24 hours after he was detained and sent to an immigration facility in Los Angeles.

Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Times that Narciso Barranco declined medical care. She also alleged that he swung a weed whacker at an agent and fought his arrest.

HuffPost also has reached out to Customs and Border Protection for comment.

Describing the agent’s actions as needlessly violent and excessive, Alejandro Barranco told the Times, “I don’t think it was just, I don’t think it was fair. I don’t think they need four 200 [pound]-plus guys to hold down a 5-6 or 5-7, 150-pound guy.”

[gwydionmisha]

US military to send additional 1,500 troops to border

It is illegal for them to detain anyone or help in detention. Some of this is optics, but there is a real slippery slope feel to it. Since SCOTUS abolished rule of law and laws no longer constrain the president, I don't like or trust this.

After all Hegseth has promised to purge any generals with ethics and they confirmed him with Vance breaking the tie. Generals with ethics were what constrained Trump from turning the military loose on peaceful protesters last time he tried to do it.

I was always against raids and the general shittiness of our immigration/CBP militarized system even before I heard the story I'm going to tell here. This has haunted my since the early '90's when a prof told it to me.

So she and her husband are Native Americans, with four tribes between them. The tribes were all Northern plains ones. I can't remember which of them was Lakota, but they were enrolled members of different tribes. As indigenous to the United States as it's possible to be.

So they get jobs teaching down in L.A. and one day, the husband is taking a bus home and the bus gets raided and he has no proof of citizenship on him just normal ID, so they are going to deport him to Mexico even though he speaks no Spanish and his Ancestors have been here since they walked over the land bridge.

She had to rush home and dig through the moving boxes, trying to find all his documentation and she manages to rescue him and bring him home. It was terrifying. They didn't know that they could be deported for looking native to the country in which they and their ancestors had always lived. They started looking for jobs in the North right away.

I've been thinking about it multiple times a day all year. I assumed it would start happening in large amounts as soon as the "mass deportation" sweeps started, that they'd try to deport Native Americans and natural born citizens. Likely even on purpose as they were saying that was what they were going to do since at least the election.

Quakers sue to keep US immigration agents out of houses of worship

[ladybugmania]

BE AWARE: HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF

Trump & Hitler Compared

Comparison 1: Nationalism and Scapegoating Minorities

Hitler (1930s Germany):

Hitler’s rhetoric emphasized an ethnically pure German identity and national rebirth, exploiting economic despair and cultural anxiety following WWI. He blamed Jews, communists, and other minority groups for Germany’s defeat and economic troubles. The Nuremberg Laws institutionalized racial discrimination, stripping Jews of their rights as citizens.

Trump and the GOP (2015–Present):

Trump has repeatedly used xenophobic and racially charged language, calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and proposing a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S. His administration instituted the Muslim ban, attempted to eliminate DACA, and enacted family separation at the border. Republican-backed state laws increasingly target immigrants and minority voters, using the guise of security or voter integrity, echoing exclusionary policies of the past.

Comparison 2: Undermining Democratic Institutions

Hitler:

After becoming Chancellor, Hitler manipulated the Reichstag Fire in 1933 to invoke emergency powers. The Enabling Act gave him the authority to legislate without parliamentary consent, effectively dismantling democracy. He repeatedly painted political opponents as traitors or enemies of the state.

Trump and the GOP:

After losing the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede, launched dozens of baseless legal challenges, and incited the January 6 insurrection—an unprecedented attack on the peaceful transfer of power. He and his allies have labeled political opponents as “deep state,” “communists,” or “enemies,” aiming to delegitimize dissent and create a hostile political climate. Many GOP figures continue to downplay or deny the events of January 6, paralleling historical patterns of rewriting or ignoring threats to democracy.

Comparison 3: Control of Media and Disinformation

Hitler:

Joseph Goebbels led the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, controlling all media, art, and public messaging. The regime spread disinformation, suppressed dissenting voices, and crafted a narrative that glorified the regime while demonizing its enemies.

Trump and the GOP:

Trump labeled mainstream media “the enemy of the people,” a term used by authoritarian regimes to delegitimize journalism. He and GOP-aligned media outlets like Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN have been pivotal in spreading conspiracy theories (e.g., QAnon, election fraud), while vilifying fact-based reporting. This creates an alternate reality for supporters and undermines trust in factual information, similar to propaganda methods used by authoritarian regimes.

Comparison 4: Cult of Personality and Loyalty Above Law

Hitler:

The Nazi regime revolved around the Führerprinzip—absolute loyalty to Hitler. Personal loyalty to him was expected above all else, including law, ethics, or reason. Independent institutions were absorbed or dismantled.

Trump:

Trump demands personal loyalty from public officials, often attacking or firing those who disagree with him (e.g., FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or military leaders). Loyalty to Trump—not the Constitution or democratic norms—has become a defining feature of many in the GOP. Those who criticized his actions, including former allies, are frequently branded as traitors or RINOs (“Republicans In Name Only”).

Comparison 5: Militarization of Patriotism and Law Enforcement

Hitler:

The SA (Sturmabteilung) and later the SS were paramilitary forces used to intimidate opposition, enforce Nazi ideology, and maintain “order.” Hitler used them to blur the line between state power and partisan violence.

Trump and the GOP:

During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Trump deployed federal agents (often unmarked) to suppress demonstrations, particularly in Portland, Oregon. He encouraged violent responses to protesters, infamously saying, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Some extremist groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and others that support Trump have acted as quasi-paramilitary forces—prominent among those who stormed the Capitol.

Conclusion:

While the U.S. remains a functioning democracy, the parallels between Hitler’s authoritarian rise and the tactics employed by Donald Trump and elements of the Republican Party are real and well-documented. They include:

Scapegoating and demonizing minorities

Discrediting democratic institutions

Spreading propaganda and disinformation

Fostering a cult of personality

Encouraging or ignoring political violence

These tactics, if unchecked, threaten the foundations of democratic society—just as they did in 1930s Germany. As history shows, democracies often crumble not from external attack, but from internal erosion.

Be Aware: History will repeat. This has happened in the past and it can happen again.

[xtruss]

Greg Abbott's Rio Grande Border Policies Condemned as 'Definition of Evil'

— By James Bickerton | July 18th, 2023 | Newsweek

Governor Greg Abbott's migration policies have been slammed as the "definition of evil" after a Texas state trooper claimed border guards had been ordered to push back migrants, including small children, into the Rio Grande, as well as denying them access to water. The allegations have been dismissed in part by the department, which insists there is no policy against handing water to migrants.

Democratic politicians have also hit out at the deployment of floating buoys in the Rio Grande, designed to impede illegal immigration, which one congress member said "are going to force people to drown."

Authorities across the U.S. are struggling to cope with a surge in unauthorized immigration, with law enforcement stopping a record 2.76 million migrants after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2022 fiscal year, according to Customs and Border Protection data. Immigration is likely to play a prominent role in the 2024 presidential election campaign, with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump vowing to end "automatic citizenship" for the children of undocumented migrants "on day one" if elected.

On Monday, the Houston Chronicle published an email from a Texas state trooper, sent to a superior, who said migrants had been pushed back into the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, causing one 4-year-old girl to pass out from heat exhaustion, and denied water.

Migrants wave as they walk near concertina wire in the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 16, 2023. Reports of border guards being ordered to push migrants back into the river, and refuse them water, have sparked outrage online. Anne Cordeiro/AF/Getty

The trooper wrote: "Due to the extreme heat, the order to not give people water needs to be immediately reversed as well...I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane."

In response Travis Considine, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said law enforcement hadn't been instructed to deny water to migrants.

The unverified claims caused fury on social media, with progressive social media activist Jack Cocchiaretta sharing a post on Twitter blaming Abbott, who he described as "the definition of evil," to his 348,000 followers.

Nessa Diosdado, a Texas-based "Gen-Z activist," called on the president to intervene. She said: "Migrants are human beings. What Greg Abbott is doing at the border with children and babies is not what this country stands for. He must be stopped. We need President Biden to step in."

There was anger at Abbott from Democratic lawmakers at the placement of buoys in the Rio Grande, in a bid to deter illegal migration.

Speaking to CNN, Texas Representative Joaquin Castro said: "What he [Abbott] intends to put out are drowning devices. Those things are going to force people to drown. Children, disabled people, mothers, and others."

Representative Veronica Escobar, who also represents the Democrats in the House, tweeted: "The buoys being deployed by Greg Abbott in the Rio Grande will not stop desperate people; they pose a danger to Border Patrol agents and put migrants at risk of drowning."

In a statement sent to the Houston Chronicle, Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, defended the governor's policies.

He said: "Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden's dangerous open border policies entice migrants from over 150 countries to risk their lives entering the country illegally.

"President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that's unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis."

In a statement sent to Newsweek,Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa and Maverick County Democratic Party Chair Juanita Martinez called for federal intervention in response to claims migrants had been denied water and pushed back into the Rio Grande.

They said: "Greg Abbott and his political cronies in the DPS [Texas Department of Public Safety] reached a new level of depravity earlier this summer with their floating buoys in the river, intended to deter asylum-seeking migrants with the threat of drowning rather than legal repercussions.

"But today's uncovering of the borderline torturous activity against migrants—including all but intentionally drowning babies—deserves a swift and thorough investigation by the federal government.

"In addition, with this state-sanctioned violence against migrants, it's time for federal authorities to assert their constitutional duty and shut down Greg Abbott's unconstitutional rogue 'law enforcement.'"

Newsweek has also reached out to Abbott's press office for comment via telephone and voicemail message.

In June, Abbott said Texas had "bused over 23,500 migrants to sanctuary cities," including Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles.

[pixeljade]

U.S. News Time!

So you know how there's massive protests going on against ICE deporting immigrants who are just doing their jobs, and Trump's response to these has been to use it as an excuse to send 4700 troops into California illegally and threaten to arrest Governor Gavin Newsom, and how this is all so remarkably unpopular of a decision with the entire country?

Well now the federal government isnt even allowing elected officials from California to ask questions.

Senator Alex Padilla, who is a duly elected federal Senator from the state of CA, and is a ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, was just shoved to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents for asking questions at a press conference for the Department of Homeland Security.

This is the latest insane move in a string of insane moves by Trump's federal government. The attack on Senator Padilla happened as Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, tried to justify the invasion of California by saying they were "liberating [Los Angeles] from socialists":

"We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and mayor have placed on this country and what they’ve tried to insert in this city"

- Kristi Noem (via)

Reactions to this escalation are ongoing, but right now congress is abuzz. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who many have criticized for his weak approach to President Trump's actions, is even calling it what it is: Totalitarianism.

Will this serve as a much-needed wake-up call to Democrats and the anti-MAGA majority of America that they are, in fact, facing a dictatorship? Only time will tell, but one thing isn't up for question: This is only increasing the divide plaguing this country.

[theonion]

From The Archives: ICE Agents Hurl Pregnant Immigrant Over Mexican Border To Prevent Birth On U.S. Soil

[zvaigzdelasas]

Vice President Kamala Harris’s new campaign ad features a deep voice speaking over images of Border Patrol agents, the border wall, and seized pills and guns. It describes Harris, the former attorney general of California, as a “border state prosecutor” who “took on drug cartels and jailed gang members,” and says that Harris, if elected President, will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking.[...]

She is playing up her law enforcement record and saying Trump wanted to worsen conditions on the border to help his chances of getting elected when he told Republicans to back out of a deal that would have added Border Patrol agents and immigration officers. “Donald Trump does not care about border security, he only cares about himself,” she said on July 30.[...]

In recent months, Harris has been part of an effort by the Biden administration to take tougher measures on the border to stop illegal migration. In May, Biden moved to restrict the number of asylum cases that will be heard at the border, a rightward shift by his administration designed to slow the high numbers of people being brought to the southern border of the U.S. by smugglers.[...]

The new campaign ad finishes with the line: “Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris.”

9 Aug 24

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:

The Klan and ICE agents both were masks—and they do so for the same reason. Neither wants to be identified so they can’t be held accountable for their crimes. The difference is ICE is part of the U.S. government. But instead, today’s ICE is acting like Trump’s “secret police” as they disappear and even beat up people while wearing masks so we can’t identify them. The latest example came Friday when ICE officers—many wearing masks—roughed up two Democratic members of Congress and arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside a recently opened ICE facility in Newark. Despite the lies of Trump regime officials that the Mayor was “trespassing,” Baraka made it clear on Friday when he appeared on CNN that, “Not a single person, not an officer from ICE, not any of the security guards…Nobody told me to leave that place.” Instead, he explained, “Somebody from Homeland Security came in the end and began to escalate the situation.” Of course, they did because Trump and his regime officials from Border Czar Tom Homan to DHS secretary Kristi Noem have made ICE officers believe they are above the law. And wearing masks while beating up and arresting people is part of that! Below is video of masked ICE agents roughing up the Mayor, members of Congress and others outside the ICE facility on Friday. You can hear people calling ICE agents “Trump’s Gestapo” and comparing them to Hitler’s “Brownshirts'.” After this ICE attack, Rep. Bob Menendez, Jr. (D-NJ) angrily told the press: “This Administration lies every day. They feel no weight of the law and no restraint on what they should be doing. And that was shown in broad daylight today when they not just arrested the Mayor of Newark, but when they put their hands on two Members of Congress.” Below is a clip of the rightfully angry Rep. Menendez. And Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) –one of the members of Congress assaulted by ICE agents-angrily declared, “ICE is out of control” ICE thinks it can intimidate all of us!” ICE is clearly out of control because the person at the top of their power structure, Donald Trump, is a convicted felon who has no regard for the law. This is man who incited the Jan 6 terrorist attack and then pardoned the people who brutally beat up police officers. Given the Jan 6 terrorists didn’t for the most part wear masks, it was easy to identify them. Now Trump wants to ensure that doesn’t happen again by allowing his ICE “secret police” to wear masks so they can’t be held accountable. [...] To that end, we need ICE agents to be barred from wearing masks. And if Trump refuses to order that, then we need state officials to immediately begin investigating and prosecuting ICE agents for any potential state crimes. (Trump can’t pardon ICE agents for state law crimes.)

Dean Obeidallah summed it up perfectly: ICE are nothing more than the modern-day Gestapo. #AbolishICE