Tag: ICE

ICE Tried to Spin Its ‘Indefensible’ 2021 Report Showing Massive Drop in Deportations, Arrests

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attempted to spin the agency’s low arrest and deportation numbers in fiscal year 2021 by blaming them on the pandemic, a Trump-era rule and lack of cooperation with foreign countries, according to internal documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

ICE’s communications team acknowledged that the agency’s Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report, which featured a massive decline in deportations and arrests, would likely be the subject of criticism, and prepared a response for acting Director Tae Johnson and acting Chief of Staff Jason Houser to downplay the low levels of interior immigration enforcement, according to internal communications obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The report was also delayed, which ICE attributed to the fact that the report was a compilation of what would otherwise be multiple separate reports.

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SCOTUS Blocks Biden Admin’s Attempt to Limit Immigration Enforcement

Ohio Star Staff

The Supreme Court blocked a Biden administration effort to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in a decision Thursday.

The 5-4 decision placed a national freeze on a September 2021 Biden administration memo that sought to tighten the scope of civil immigration arrests to threats to national security, border security and public safety. A judge in the Southern District of Texas vacated the guidelines in June.

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Authorities Report More than 2 Million Encounters at Southern Border as Fiscal Year’s End Nears

The Center Square

More than 2 million people have been encountered/apprehended at the U.S. southern border in fiscal 2022 through June, according to official data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

It’s the greatest number recorded in a fiscal year in U.S. history. They total 2,002,604 from over 150 countries.

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‘There’s No Money’: ICE Is Set to Run Out of Funding Amid Record Migrant Surge

Ohio Star Staff
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the McAllen station encounter large group after large group of family units in Los Ebanos, Texas, on Friday June 15. This group well in excess of 100 family units turned themselves into the U.S. Border Patrol, after crossing the border illegally and walking through the town of Los Ebanos.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is set to run out of funding as the southern border continues to be overwhelmed by migrants making illegal crossings, according to Axios.

If the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) doesn’t step in, the agency could run out of money before October, Axios reported, citing three sources familiar with the situation. To solve the issue, DHS would have to pull funding from other organizations and allocate it to ICE.

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ICE to Provide Free Transportation for Pregnant Illegal Aliens to Pro-Abortion States

Ohio Star Staff

New guidance issued to agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ordered them to transport pregnant illegal aliens across state lines so they can get abortions in states where the practice is not banned.

The Daily Caller reports that the guidance will be announced formally in a memo later this week, after the instructions were initially leaked to the Wall Street Journal.

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Border Patrol Memo Lays the Groundwork for Mass Release of Illegal Immigrants into the US

Admin

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz instructed agency leadership on how the agency plans to release migrants amid a border surge, according to a memo sent Thursday exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

In the memo, which was sent to chief patrol agents and directorate chiefs, Ortiz recognized that Border Patrol faces a “current migrant surge and is preparing for the anticipated increase in encounters of undocumented noncitizens following the anticipated lifting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s [CDC] Title 42 public health order.”

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ICE Won’t Detain Most Migrant Women Who Are New or Expecting Mothers for Deportation: Report

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials won’t detain most migrant women who are new or expecting mothers for deportation, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The new policy is aimed at the “health and safety” of most pregnant, nursing and postpartum migrant women, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said in a statement, according to the Post. The policy overturns a Trump-era practice where officials detained thousands of new or expecting mothers.

The policy also acknowledges “the time needed for infant development and parental bonding,” the officials said, the Post reported.

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House Democrats Propose Defunding Immigration Enforcement Agencies Amid Border Crisis

Ohio Star Staff

House Democrats proposed a new spending bill that would cut funding to immigration enforcement agencies and rescind funds allocated to the border wall.

The bill, which makes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), allocates $14.1 billion in net funding to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $927 million less than the previous year’s budget, according to a press release from the House Committee on Appropriations. The bill also rescinds $2.1 billion in funds from last year intended to go towards the border wall, and provides Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with $1.55 million less than the previous fiscal year.

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Biden’s ICE Shuts Down Trump-Era Initiative to Help Victims of Illegal Aliens

Ohio Star Staff

Under the orders of Joe Biden, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ordered the shutdown of an office created by President Donald Trump for the purpose of helping victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens, as reported by CNN.

The announcement was made on Friday that the Victim Of Immigrant Crime Engagement (VOICE) office was coming to an end, instead being replaced with an office that will focus on helping victims of crime irrespective of the immigration status of either the victims or the culprits.

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that “all people, regardless of their immigration status, should be able to access victim services without fear,” directly implying that the new office will actually cater to illegal aliens rather than American citizens. Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson confirmed these intentions in his own statement, declaring that ICE would be “committed to serving all victims of crime.”

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As Illegal Migration Explodes, Concerns Grow U.S. Tax Dollars May Be Aiding Trafficking

Ohio Star Staff
Woman with $100 bills spread open in hands

On a recent congressional trip to the Darién Gap in Panama, where tens of thousands of migrants begin their trek to the U.S. southern border, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., noted something remarkable.

Western Union outlets were stationed near migrant camps on either side of the gap, making it easy for relatives of migrants who are already in the United States to wire funds. Security officials say some of those funds are then used to pay off smugglers and members of cartels at various points along the migrants’ trip to America.

Tiffany said he fears the COVID-19 stimulus payments approved by Congress may be driving some of the flow of money.

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Arizona AG Tells Hotel Not to Let ICE House 1,200 Migrants

Cooper Moran

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to a local hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona to urge them not to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to convert the location to a detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The hotel is considering a proposed contract from DHS that would allow for the establishment of a facility to hold up to 1,200 migrant adults and children.

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Biden Admin to Close ICE Detention Centers Where Officials Allegedly Performed Unnecessary Hysterectomies and Used Excessive Force Against Detainees

Ohio Star Staff

The Biden administration plans to close two Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers after allegations of medical and physical abuse against detainees, CNN reported Thursday.

A doctor allegedly performed unauthorized hysterectomies and neglected other detainees at the privately operated Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, while it is alleged that officials exercised excessive use of force against peaceful detainees at the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center in Bristol County, Massachusetts, both facilities are expected to close, according to CNN.

“We have an obligation to make lasting improvements to our civil immigration detention system,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, CNN reported. “This marks an important first step to realizing that goal.”

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Despite Migrant Surge, ICE Deportations Fall to Record Low Under Biden Admin

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials performed a record low number of deportations in April despite illegal border crossings occurring at a 20-year high, according to the agency.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials deported 2,962 immigrants in April, a 20% decline from March, an agency spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday. The April numbers mark the first time the agency has deported less than 3,000 individuals in one month since the beginning of ICE’s records, The Washington Post first reported.

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Biden Offers Empty Platitudes During Speech in Georgia

Peter D'Abrosca

President Joe Biden visited Duluth and gave a speech to several parked cars at a “drive-in rally” Thursday, marking his 100th day in office. 

Besides touting the meager success of passing a COVID-19 stimulus, which has been Biden’s only major legislative accomplishment in his first 100 days in office, the subject matter of the speech was rather general. 

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ACLU Asks Biden Admin to Shut Down ICE Detention Facilities

Ohio Star Staff
Illegal immigration

The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Biden administration to close 39 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in a letter Wednesday.

People in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody reportedly experienced sexual abuse, forced sterilization, increased use of force and solitary confinement, according to the organization. The ACLU wants ICE facilities with previous reports of inhumane treatment and those located in remote locations to be closed.

“Closing detention sites should be an easy decision. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted to maintain thousands of empty beds and keep asylum seekers and immigrants in inhumane and life-threatening conditions,” ACLU Senior Advocacy and Policy Counsel Naureen Shah said in a statemen

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Biden’s Pick to Lead ICE Didn’t Like Reporting Illegal Immigrants to Feds

Ohio Star Staff
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez

The Texas sheriff picked to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement pushed back on the agency’s request to screen inmates through their database and detain them for possible deportation, Courthouse News reported.

President Joe Biden nominated Texas Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tuesday. Gonzalez opposed training deputies to use ICE’s database to screen inmates for their immigration status in February 2017, Courthouse News reported.

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‘This is What Open Borders Agenda Looks Like,’ Trump’s ICE Chief Says

Ohio Star Staff

Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said Monday that President Joe Biden sacrificed the U.S.’ safety at the southern border in order to win the 2020 election.

“This is open borders agenda, Joe Biden sold out this country and our border security to win the election, he wanted to win over the progressive left, have an open borders agenda, Homan said on “Fox and Friends First.” Biden called the border situation on Saturday a “crisis” for the first time while discussing the refugee cap.

“We’re going to increase the number [of refugees allowed into the country]. The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people,” Biden said. “We couldn’t do two things at once. But now we are going to increase the number.”

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Urges Biden Admin to End Contracts Between ICE and Prisons, Calling Treatment of Immigrants ‘Systemic Abuse’

Ohio Star Staff

Rep. Ilhan Omar urged President Joe Biden’s administration in a letter Monday to end Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) contracts with prisons and jails.

The letter calls for Biden to issue an executive order to end ICE’s contracts with state, county and local jails due to the treatment of the detained immigrants and the facilities’ conditions. The Minnesota Democrat called the conditions of the facilities “systemic abuse.”

“Conditions in the municipal, county, and state jails and prisons contracting with ICE to detain immigrants mirror the systemic abuses in privately operated immigration detention facilities, including mental neglect, long term use of solitary confinement, sexual assault, and lack of access to legal counsel,” Omar wrote in the letter.

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ICE Arrested Significantly Fewer Illegal Immigrants Due to COVID-19

Ohio Star Staff

Officials arrested 30% fewer individuals in 2020 than they did last year, in part because of COVID-19, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations officials made 103,603 arrests this year and deported 185,884 individuals, according to ICE. Around 90% of the aliens who were arrested had criminal convictions or charges, and 92% of those deported had prior or pending criminal charges.

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ICE Arrested More Than 150 Aliens in 10 Days

Ohio Star Staff

Over 150 aliens, including 117 who said they would voluntarily leave the U.S. were arrested during a 10-day enforcement period, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday.

The national enforcement operation, “Operation Broken Promise” found that 71% of the aliens arrested from Dec. 7 through Dec. 17 had criminal convictions or pending charges, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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Over 30 Illegal Immigrants in Texas Who ‘Threaten Public Safety’ Arrested in One Week

Ohio Star Staff

A five-day operation in south Texas resulted in 0ver 30 arrests of illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds deemed possible public security threats, border officials announced Thursday.

The operation targeted illegal immigrants who allegedly pose a threat to public safety and are subject to deportation, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Court Order Forced ICE to Release 250 Criminal Immigrants

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Tuesday that it released 250 immigrants with criminal histories back into communities in response to a coronavirus-related order issued by the Central District of California, Fox News reports.

The news came a week after U.S. Judge Terry Hatter ordered the agency either release or deport detainees at the Adelanto ICE processing center in Southern California in order to halt the spread of coronavirus infections. According to the order, starting from October 19 they must reduce the population at the facility by at least 50 detainees a day, until the population is at or below 475 detainees. At the time of the order, about 750 people were detained there.

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Commentary: Let Them Call You Racist

Ohio Star Staff

All’s fair in love and war, unless what one has to say threatens war on the beloved pieties of progressivism. Stephanie Martinez and Lauren Witzke learned this lesson recently.

Martinez is a pro-Trump student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In early April, she joined the LMU student government as a “senator for diversity and inclusion.” But Martinez turned out to be a little too diverse in her views for her peers.

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ICE Arrests Over 125 Illegal Immigrants Who Were Released Under California Sanctuary Policies, Report Says

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended over 125 illegal immigrants in California who were released under sanctuary city policies from Sept. 18 to Oct. 3, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation targeted illegal immigrants who were arrested and released by state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). More than 95% of the illegal immigrants were previously convicted of a crime or had pending criminal charges for crimes including homicide, sexual assault, sexual offenses against children, and domestic violence.

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ICE’s New Acting Director Plans to Change Public Perception of the Agency

Ohio Star Staff

Tony Pham is focused on changing the narrative of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by highlighting the work agents do every day, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview.

Closing his third full week as the senior official performing the duties of the director of ICE, Pham told the DCNF that he plans to focus on addressing the public misconception of the agency and its employees by promoting discussion around the “remarkable work that the men and women of ICE do every day.”

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ICE Arrests Over 2,000 Illegal Immigrants with Violent Criminal Convictions or Charges

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 2,000 illegal immigrants who have criminal histories involving victims between July 13 and Aug. 20, ICE announced Monday.

The immigrants who are illegally living in the U.S. are subject to removal because of their previous arrests or charges connected to victims, according to ICE. Of those arrested for immigration-related charges, around 85% had pending criminal charges or previous criminal convictions.

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LA Sheriff Refuses to Surrender 25,000 Illegal Immigrant Detainees to ICE: Report

Ohio Star Staff

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has refused more than 25,000 requests to surrender illegal immigrants detained in its jails to immigration agents in the 2020 fiscal year, Fox News reported.

LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has blocked the transfer of illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to concerns over the conditions at ICE facilities and the possible impact on ongoing criminal investigations, Fox News reported.

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DNC Panel Features ‘Mermaid Queen-King’ Who Calls for the Abolition of ICE, Police, and Prisons

Ohio Star Staff

The Democratic National Convention on Tuesday featured a panelist who identifies as a “nonbinary/gender transcendent mermaid Queen-King” and who called for the abolition of the police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and prisons.

According to the panelist’s Wake Forest University bio, J Mai is a “Black-Vietnamese, transgender nonbinary/gender transcendent mermaid Queen-King,” who recently became a “licensed minister in the Progressive National Baptist Church.”

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Montgomery County Gave ICE a 28-Minute Warning Before Releasing Illegal Immigrant Charged with Second Degree Rape

Ohio Star Staff

Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, gave Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a 28-minute notice before releasing an illegal immigrant charged with second-degree rape and sexual abuse back into the public, according to county data obtained by the Immigration Reform Law Institute.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich had pledged to allow more cooperation with ICE on Nov. 4 when he rolled back a sanctuary policy he signed into law three months prior that prohibited county officials from working with ICE.

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Harvard, MIT Sue to Block ICE Rule on International Students

The Associated Press

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to bar international students from staying in the U.S. if they take classes entirely online this fall.

The lawsuit, filed in Boston’s federal court, seeks to prevent federal immigration authorities from enforcing the rule. The universities contend that the directive violates the Administrative Procedures Act because officials failed to offer a reasonable basis justifying the policy and because the public was not given notice to comment on it.

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ICE Agents Arrest Convicted Killer of NYPD Officer

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took custody of a Panamanian national earlier in May, over 40 years after he was convicted of killing a New York City police officer.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division assumed custody of Carlos Celestino Payne-Archer, a 64-year-old man and Panamanian national, on Thursday, the agency announced in a press release. The apprehension came after Payne-Archer was convicted of first-degree murder of an NYPD detective in March 1978.

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Illegal Alien Arrested in Deadly-Hit-And Run as County Looks to Buck ICE

Ohio Star Staff

An illegal alien was arrested in a Northern Virginia suburb for his alleged involvement in a deadly hit-and-run accident and handed over to immigration officials, but local leaders are looking to scrap a program that allows law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Officials in Prince William County, Virginia, have debated ending a years-long partnership program with federal immigration authorities, the 287(g) program. The introduction of new jail board appointees is expected to lead to the end of this partnership, according to proponents of the program.

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ICE Program Collects DNA Samples of Illegal Aliens

Ohio Star Staff

A division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun collecting DNA samples of illegal aliens in its custody and storing the information in a national database.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations launched a pilot program earlier in May in Dallas, Texas, that collects the DNA samples of individuals arrested and placed into its custody, the agency confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday. The launch of the pilot program followed backlash from critics who chastised the agency for not implementing it sooner.

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First Person in ICE Detention Dies of Coronavirus Complications

Ohio Star Staff
CBP detainee

A 57-year-old man from El Salvador became the first individual in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody to die from COVID-19 complications.

Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia passed away early Wednesday morning after being hospitalized and on a ventilator for roughly a week, The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported. Escobar Mejia, a detainee at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, was one of hundreds of individuals in ICE custody who have contracted the novel coronavirus.

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ICE Detainees Refuse Coronavirus Tests, Rush Officers and Trash Detention Center

Admin

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees in Massachusetts rushed officers, barricaded themselves inside the facility and caused more than $25,000 worth of damage after being told they would be transferred to a medical wing of the facility and tested for coronavirus, authorities said.

Roughly 10 inmates at an immigration detention center in Dartmouth, Massachusetts reported symptoms of COVID-19 to medical personnel, according to a press release from the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office.

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Legal Groups Sue ICE to Force Release of Illegal Immigrants in Ohio

Anthony Gockowski

A group of legal organizations has sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking the release of illegal immigrants detained in Ohio.

The ACLU National Prison Project, the ACLU of Ohio, and the lam firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP announced Friday that they have filed a lawsuit against ICE “on behalf of immigrants detained in crowded facilities in Geauga and Seneca Counties.”

The lawsuit seeks the release of illegal immigrants who are in civil detention and at high risk of serious illness or death in the event that they contract COVID-19.

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ICE Officers Arrest Illegal Alien Gang Member Wanted for Murder

Ohio Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a gang member living in the United States unlawfully shortly after an arrest warrant was issued on him for capital murder.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers on Thursday apprehended Jonathan Alexander Gonzalez-Rosales, a 25-year-old Salvadoran national and illegal alien, according to a press release from the agency. A member of the 18th Street Gang — a transnational criminal organization — Gonzalez-Rosales had been on the run from U.S. authorities for nearly two years.

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ICE Is Using Its Deportation Flights to Bring Home Americans Stuck Abroad

Ohio Star Staff

ICE Air Operations, the air transportation arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has so far rescued 466 U.S. citizens stranded in the Northern Triangle region of Central America amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Following orders of final removal, ICE deported Salvadoran and Honduran nationals back to their home countries on Friday. On the return leg of these flights, the agency took aboard U.S. citizens who were stranded due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to an ICE press release.

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