Roundup on the roundups, Nov. 22
Chicago has spent weeks in the barrel, and now Charlotte, N.C. gets to experience the tender mercies of the deportation campaign.
Following up on my first, second, and third roundups of stories about immigration, deportation and citizenship:
* Rhode Island: “The [high-school-age court] intern was reportedly shaken, so [Superior Court Judge Joseph] McBurney offered to drive him home. ICE agents then surrounded the judge’s car and demanded everyone to exit the vehicle, threatening to smash in the windows if they did not comply. Dana Smith, Head of Security Operations for R.I. Superior Court, confronted the agents and told both the judge and the intern to stay inside the car. After an argument, ICE confirmed they had misidentified the teen and left.” [WPRI]
* Federal judge Sara Ellis (N.D. Ill.), after extensive review of body cam video and other evidence, finds Justice Department’s arguments “lack credibility” given repeated contradictions between DHS claims and the government’s own evidence. [Chicago Sun-Times, judge’s 233-page opinion]
* Feds pick Charlotte, N.C. for new enforcement push: “After [46-year-old construction worker Willy] Aceituno again told the agents he was a U.S. citizen, they finally threw him out of the van.” The agents had taken his car keys, having earlier smashed his car window, pulled him out of his vehicle and thrown him on the ground. “Aceituno voted for Trump in 2024 because of the border and the economy. He now calls it ‘the worst decision of my life.’” [Adrian Carrasquillo, The Bulwark]
The Charlotte operation is being led by Gregory Bovino, the same guy who led the Chicago operation and whom Judge Ellis found had lied in her court. DHS named the operation “Charlotte’s Web” and Chris Geidner has some definite views about exactly what E. B. White, author of the classic children’s story, would have thought about that.
Also in Charlotte: “Border Patrol agents smashed a car window with a rifle before hauling out two female U.S. citizens accused of honking their horn to warn others that federal immigration officers were in the area, according to relatives and a witness.... Charlotte attorney Gary Mauney told WCNC that while citizens have a First Amendment right to film law enforcement, agents can claim authority to arrest people they believe are interfering with operations. He said warning others of Border Patrol’s presence could be interpreted that way.” [Daily Beast]
* Feds regularly charge arrestees under Section 111, Title 18, which makes it a crime to forcibly impede, assault, obstruct, or interfere with a federal officer. (Pro-ICE accounts often gloss over the requirement that force has to be involved.) A federal judge dismissed felony charges filed against an ICE arrestee that were based on “the scrapes on an ICE agent’s hand after the agent punched a hole in his car window—a use of force that the judge found to be unconstitutionally excessive.” [Quinta Jurecic, The Atlantic, gift link]
* A network of Border Patrol cameras deep into the country, not just in border areas, “scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. …The Border Patrol has for years hidden details of its license plate reader program, trying to keep any mention of the program out of court documents and police reports.” [Associated Press investigation]
* From my colleague David Bier: “DHS beat, tackled, shackled, cut, and bruised US citizen Arturo Hermosillo in June. His hands turned blue. They stuffed him in a van and drove him to a station. Yet the agents told him that he was never ‘arrested,’ just ‘detained,’” a key distinction because fewer constitutional safeguards apply to detentions than to arrests. The incident began after Hermosillo recorded a CBP raid from his work van in the parking lot at a Pacoima, Calif. shopping center. [“Local Resident Recording ICE Activity Could Face Federal Charges,” San Fernando Sun]
“’The willingness to lie is unusual because you know these cases end up in court,’ Fuller says. ‘It’s fun to lie now, but eventually people are going to review the video, people are going to be under oath. It’s not a very good long-term strategy, but we’ve seen them lie about almost all of our clients.’” [“Oregon Woman Says ICE Broke Out Her Car Windows and Detained Her for Filming Them” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason]
* “’I’ve got bruises all over my body,’ Woolf, an American Baptist minister who is pastor of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois, told Religion News Service. He was speaking in his first interview since being released Friday afternoon after about seven hours in custody.” [“At least seven faith leaders arrested at Broadview ICE facility protest",” Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service] Cicero family claims it was pepper-sprayed on a morning grocery run [Autumn Billings, Reason]
* After a federal officer shot Marimar Martinez five times in Chicago (later reportedly bragging about it) she was charged with ramming a Border Patrol vehicle (yes, the Border Patrol operates in Chicago) and brandishing a gun. But the charges against her fell apart almost immediately and now federal prosecutors have moved to dismiss all criminal charges against her and a co-defendant.
* ProPublica investigated that flashy raid using agents rappelling from helicopters on a Chicago apartment building supposedly controlled by a Venezuelan gang. To the extent the federal claims can be checked, many have fallen apart. “As the detained men have gone to immigration court, many have asked to be sent back to Venezuela. ProPublica has observed eight of their hearings, and not once has a government attorney mentioned any pending criminal charges or membership in Tren de Aragua....We found no criminal convictions for 18 of the 21 Venezuelans we identified.”
* The D.C. Circuit having finally lifted a block, Judge James Boasberg moves forward with his probe over whether the feds committed contempt in March when they had planes proceed to El Salvador and discharge detainees even after he had ordered the planes returned home. [Associated Press, my earlier article on whether and when feds can get away with contempt]
* Gift article: “The Department of Homeland Security has diverted thousands of federal agents from their normal duties to focus on arresting undocumented immigrants, undermining a wide range of law enforcement operations in response to mounting pressure from President Trump, a New York Times investigation has found.” Among areas where efforts have been scaled back: national security, international sanctions evasion and child exploitation. (Cato scholars have written on this theme for months.)
* Great moments in 287(g) agreements: Polk County, Iowa sheriff’s office blames clerical mixup for placement of ICE detainer on 24-year-old woman who “was born in Phoenix and is a member of Arizona’s Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.” [Iowa Public Radio]
* Don’t look away: “My experience...was more traumatizing than my detention in Egypt.... I don’t think this government will stop.... Immigrants will be the first target. After that, they will target any opposition. Violating due process this time means they will violate it again and again and again.” [“We Immigrated Legally. ICE Detained Us Anyway,” NYT gift link]
Outstanding collection of news briefs. Thank you.