Latest news with #ImmigrationandCustomsEnforcement
The Hill
44 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Border czar vows ‘worksite enforcement' at ‘farms and hotels' after Trump remarks
President Trump's border czar Tom Homan said Thursday Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would resume 'worksite enforcement' operations to ensure employees at farms and hotels are legally residing in the United States. 'I mean, we will concentrate on worksites on a prioritized basis just like we do at large operations,' Homan told reporters at the White House. 'We'll prioritize those who have a criminal nexus.' The border czar added that companies with a history of trafficking, forced labor, tax fraud and tax evasion would also be targeted in future ICE operations. His comments come days after the Trump administration reversed course on workplace raids at hotels, restaurants and farms. The White House previously issued a brief pause on sector specific raids citing concerns from business owners across the country. 'It's a matter of messaging, proper messaging. The message is clear now. That we're going to continue doing worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels,' Homan said Thursday. 'But based on prioritized basis, criminals come first,' he added. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) echoed similar sentiments earlier this week. 'There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE's efforts,' Tricia McLaughlin, DHS' assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a Tuesday statement. 'Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safe guard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation,' she added. However, President Trump noted that ICE may attempt to adjust immigration policies for service workers last week. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace…,' the president wrote in a Thursday Truth Social post. 'This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!' he added. DHS officials said they would follow the White House's lead in regards to removals and detainments. 'We will follow the president's direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America's streets,' DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. Groups across the country have been organizing protests in response to the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigrants. The president sent National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles to quell violent demonstrations regarding the detainment of dozens.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Absent for ICE: Trump immigration enforcement hits school attendance
President Trump's immigration crackdown is exacerbating the already precarious problem of absenteeism in America's schools. Experts say schools will have to come up with action plans for their student bodies ahead of the fall semester after a recent study showed that an increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids leads to undocumented students missing more class. 'What we've really seen and been told is that communication is really key, and so a district can be really explicit with families to understand the fear that they have and then explain all of the protections and protocols that the district have in place to prevent students from being detained at school or for their data to be protected,' said Tara Thomas, government affairs manager for the Schools Superintendents Association. New research recently released from Stanford University found a 22 percent jump in absences from five California school districts during January and February, compared to the same months in the previous years. The difference, analysts say, was ICE raids carried out under former President Biden and Trump during the first two months of the year. The study found absences increased in the majority Latino student populations by 30 percent for those in pre-K, 27 percent for students in kindergarten through 5th grade, 17 percent for middle schoolers and 8 percent for high school students. And that was before the sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles this month that led to widespread protests, which themselves led to Trump calling in the military. The issue for educators isn't so much fear of ICE agents at schools as it is the disruptions that the raids can cause among immigrant communities. 'It is something that many of the schools that we're partnering with across Texas, New Jersey, New York, something that they have already started seeing and they are having conversations around expecting a decline of enrollment, even in summer school […] all because of all that is happening with immigration and parents being afraid to bring their kids to school,' said Viridiana Carrizales, co-founder and CEO of ImmSchools, a group that focuses on the intersection between immigration and education. Experts' biggest recommendation is open communication with parents about how schools can protect student information and what would happen if ICE shows up. While Trump's administration has lifted legal guidance prohibiting ICE in K-12 schools, there have been no confirmed incidents of federal authorities doing so. And if they did, the officers would need a judicial warrant for the school to let me through. A more pressing concern for undocumented parents could be getting their kids to and from school, as many are wary to go out when it is known ICE officials are around in a community. 'The other thing that we're also pushing school districts to consider is their transportation,' said Carrizales. Parents are 'trying to minimize that exposure, and that is making some families keep their kids at home so that they're not they're not detained while they're driving […] There might have to be some policies or transportation currently as it is, might need to shift,' she added. All of this comes as chronic absenteeism has been a struggle for schools in general since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Future Ed, chronic absenteeism rates were at 28 percent in the 2021-2022 school year, 25 percent the following year and 23 percent in the 2023-2024 academic year. The consequences are severe, including substantial drops in academic performance and graduation rates. 'The number one thing that the school can do, whether it be a teacher, cafeteria worker, principal, whatever your role is, the importance is to establish trust. And families need to know that the school will protect their children if they are not there to protect their children,' said Carl Felton, policy analyst on the P-12 team at EdTrust. But that is not always easy, especially in parts of the country where local or state politicians support deportation policies that could put schools in a precarious position. 'One of the most frustrating things is that even in the context and everything that you're seeing happening right now, school districts are still very hesitant in taking any sort of action to support these families, and honestly, for us, it has been a little bit frustrating to see that inaction and to see how many districts are losing families because they are not intentionally speaking out or even telling families that their kids are safe at their school,' said Carrizales.
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Keep that downtown Los Angeles dining reservation. It's safe to go to dinner
It sounded like the alarm for a severe weather warning. At 8:19 p.m. on Monday evening, my phone blared with a public safety alert that a curfew was in place from 10 p.m. to 6 am. in downtown Los Angeles. It came just as I crested the hill on the south 110 Freeway that offers a sweeping view of the city below. I was on my way to meet a friend for dinner at Kinjiro, a snug izakaya in the heart of Little Tokyo. The area is one of the downtown neighborhoods most gravely affected by the aftermath of the recent demonstrations protesting President Trump's immigration policies and the ensuing raids. Mayor Karen Bass' curfew, enacted a week prior in an effort to quell any chaos associated with the demonstrations, meant the streets were empty. It was the latest hurdle in an ever-expanding list of challenges for Los Angeles restaurants, which in the last five years have faced drastic drops in business from a pandemic, Hollywood writers' strikes and fires. All along 2nd Street, the windows and doors were hidden behind plywood. Graffiti featuring choice words for the police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement covered nearly every surface. The frequently bustling Japanese Village Plaza, where shoppers dine at a revolving sushi bar and stop for cheese-filled corn dogs, was desolate. When I made it to the izakaya, it was clear that they were closed. The windows had been boarded up and a security gate was pulled across the entrance. We drove over to Bavel in the Arts District, curious to see if one of the city's most consistently booked restaurants was feeling the effects of the curfew, which covered the area of downtown between the 5 and 10 freeways and from the 10 to where the 110 and 5 freeways merge. You can probably measure the state of dining in Los Angeles by the fullness of the dining room at Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis' Levant-leaning restaurant. A last-minute prime table at 8 p.m. on any other night? No chance. When we arrived as walk-ins, we found a patio that was mostly empty, sparse patrons at the bar and a dining room that felt devoid of the usual Bavel energy. A quick scroll through the week's upcoming reservations on OpenTable showed multiple openings each night. I drove home past curfew, expecting to see a checkpoint of sorts or maybe even an increased police presence. There wasn't a single police car or protester. All the streets were open. The 8 p.m. curfew, first issued on June 10, was changed to a 10 p.m. curfew on Monday. On Tuesday, the curfew was lifted altogether, but many downtown restaurants are still struggling to fill their dining rooms. Just last week, Kato restaurant lost 80% of its reservations. Jon Yao, Ryan Bailey and Nikki Reginaldo's Arts District tasting menu restaurant celebrates Yao's upbringing in the San Gabriel Valley. It was named the No. 1 restaurant on the L.A. Times 101 List three times. Earlier this week, Yao won the James Beard Award for best chef in California. If there's a destination restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, this is it. On Tuesday, in light of the lifted curfew, the restaurant was still looking at a 70% drop in reservations for the upcoming week. 'The direct impact of the media's portrayal of DTLA being unsafe, which it is not, has impacted Kato immediately, and we were forced to close two nights,' Bailey says. On Friday, around 20 of the reservations canceled were for dinners booked weeks and months in the future. 'I had two specific instances where the guest called to say they were canceling their upcoming trip to L.A. based on not feeling safe in L.A. anymore,' Bailey says. 'The optimist in me hopes that the curfew, especially given the lifting now, does not cause long-term damage to downtown,' says Cassy Horton, co-founder of the DTLA Residents Assn. The organization works to create a thriving urban community in downtown that supports new and existing residents in the area. 'This is why we have been advocating so strongly to make sure our small businesses can open up,' says Horton. 'We need our neighbors across the region to really rally behind downtown right now because we need their support.' Hours after the curfew was lifted Tuesday, downtown started to show signs of coming to life again. Just before 7 p.m., a line began to form at Daikokuya in Little Tokyo. The small ramen shop is known as much for the perpetual wait as it is for its steaming bowls of tonkotsu ramen. It was a hopeful sight during a week of uncertainty, in an area that was the epicenter of the demonstrations. 'We checked with our friends who live right here and we were really mindful about coming tonight,' says Kevin Uyeda. He stood in line for ramen with fellow Echo Park resident Julie M. Leonard, both eager to make the short trip to Little Tokyo for dinner. 'I think there has been a lot of misinformation about the protests and the levels of everything,' says Leonard. 'I don't think the curfew was necessary. Most of the protests were peaceful.' A few doors down, at Korean restaurant Jincook, the staff removed the boards covering the windows that afternoon. 'It's safe to come here,' says Jincook server Hendrik Su. 'We want people to know that we are open.' At the Japanese Village Plaza, strollers rolled through the winding walkway with patrons sipping boba. Arts District residents Renee Sogueco and Chris Ciszek carried bags of leftovers from recent stops at Daikokuya and Fugetsu-Do, the more than a 100-year-old mochi and mango confectionery on 1st Street. 'Once we heard the curfew was lifted we wanted to come out,' says Sogueco. 'We've been feeling really bad about it with all the immigrant-owned businesses being affected. Daikokuya was fairly busy, but not as busy as we've seen it.' Ciszek's parents decided to make the trip out from Virginia to visit, despite friends back home questioning the decision. 'People are seeing a lot of very curated images online,' says Ciszek. 'They don't reflect what's been happening downtown. From what we've seen, the protesters have been happy, dancing, playing music, not violently disruptive.' I took a short drive west to the South Broadway block that houses Grand Central Market and found people eating tacos on the tables that line the sidewalk. A few locals sipped glasses of wine at nearby Kippered, the wine and tinned fish bar from Lydia Clarke and Reed Herrick. 'With everything boarded up, it doesn't feel inviting for tourists or people to come,' says Clarke. 'We still need people from outside the neighborhood, so people don't forget how great downtown is, how easy it is to come and pop around to a couple of places.' With the curfew being lifted, many restaurants that closed, temporarily opened for lunch or moved to entirely new locations outside of downtown Los Angeles, started to announce that they would return to regular business operations. Lasita, the Filipino rotisserie and wine bar in Chinatown, reopened for dinner. Steve and Dina Samson's Italian restaurant Rossoblu, which operated as a pop-up in Playa Vista over the weekend, returned to dinner service at its Fashion District location recently. 'I know we deal with so much in downtown, but when things get harder, our hearts get bigger,' says Clarke. 'I'm feeling really hopeful again.'
Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Stop tone policing protesters
Which brings me to all the protester policing happening in America these days. Advertisement I'm not talking about the literal policing — including thousands of National Guard members and hundreds of Marines deployed to American streets by President Trump — of protesters. I'm referring to this weird tone policing of people for what they're wearing or carrying at protests against Trump's unconstitutional mass deportations and his other odious policies. Not long after people took to the streets earlier this month in opposition to workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in and around Los Angeles, there were complaints about some protesters carrying Mexican flags. 'I think the visuals of carrying [Mexican flags] are terrible, honestly,' Advertisement Kinzinger, who was one of only two Republicans on the Democratic House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, is certainly no Trump fanboy. But he, and others with similar beliefs, are the ones playing into Trump's narrative that there's only one way to be an American. They seem to believe that the optics of another nation's flag at a protest against the Trump administration is as harmful as families and communities upended by swarms of people with covered faces who look and act more like kidnappers than government agents. It's a handy distraction that Republicans are only too happy to amplify as a means to shift focus away from the monstrous anti-immigration policies crafted by When Republicans call protesters 'insurrectionists,' as 'I hold the Mexican flag with pride because I'm Mexican American and I'm proud of my culture and my people,' protester Advertisement Trump is recklessly trying to detain and deport as many immigrants as he can as fast as he can. He's threatening to expand a travel ban to an But there's also this — people fighting for their rights and challenging a fascistic government do not have time for someone else's idea of respectability. As Kepner said in 'Before Stonewall,' asserting one's whole self is the only path forward. If someone holding the flag of another nation at an anti-ICE protest is all it takes to convince someone that that person or those they represent are less deserving of fair treatment, then those offended never cared about the rights of others in the first place. Equality isn't won by conformity or putting someone else's fragility and comfort ahead of your own rights. Freedom isn't pretending to be someone other than who you are to gain acceptance. Regardless of what flag they wave, protesters are only demanding that this nation live up to the red, white, and blue values of its own. This is an excerpt from , a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Renée Graham. . Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
Perth Now
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Bruce Springsteen brands Donald Trump 'a moron' in latest scathing attack
Bruce Springsteen has branded President Donald Trump a "moron" in a new scathing attack. The Born in the U.S.A. hitmaker, who has been locked in war of words with the world leader, has branded the current state of his home country an "American tragedy" and lambasted the man in charge. He told The New York Times: 'It's an American tragedy. 'I think that it was the combination of the deindustrialisation of the country and then the incredible increase in wealth disparity that left so many people behind. It was ripe for a demagogue. 'And while I can't believe it was this moron that came along, he fit the bill for some people. But what we've been living through in the last 70 days is things that we all said, 'This can't happen here.' 'This will never happen in America.' And here we are.' The Boss then went in on Trump's controversial immigration policies, which led to riots in Los Angeles, and saw Trump deploy thousands of National Guardsmen to "address the lawlessness" in the US city amid the unrest over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He said: 'When I went to California, obviously there was a large migrant culture. I was interested in the history of it, because I felt that this is the future of the United States — which it has become.' Springsteen said it's "disgusting" and a "terrible tragedy" what's happening in US. He continued: 'There are communities all across America now that have taken in immigrants and migrant workers. So what's going on at the moment to me is disgusting, and a terrible tragedy. 'We have a long democratic history. We don't have an autocratic history as a nation. It's fundamentally democratic, and I believe that at some point that's going to rear its head and things will swing back. Let's knock on wood.' Trump, 78, was left furious after The Boss, 75, hit out at the "corruption" and "incompetence" of the Trump administration during a recent concert in Manchester, and Trump responded with a lengthy rant via his social media platform Truth Social. Trump blasted Springsteen as a 'pushy, obnoxious JERK'. Springsteen made three separate rants against the "corruption" and "incompetence" of the Trump administration. After opening the gig with a performance of Land of Hope and Dreams, he told the audience: "It's great to be in Manchester and back in the UK. Welcome to the Land of Hope and Dreams Tour! The mighty E St. Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock 'n' roll in dangerous times." A short while after, several musicians spoke out in support of Springsteen, including Neil Young, who insisted he wasn't "scared" of Trump.
