immigration

US agency reports 956 arrests in immigration crackdown on Sunday

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced Sunday that 956 illegal immigrants were arrested in various cities nationwide, aligning with President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to pursue large-scale deportations after taking office. Tom Homan, Trump’s newly appointed border czar, said several detainees had been convicted of serious offenses, including murder and sex crimes. He added that collateral arrests were made during the detention of undocumented immigrants without criminal records who were present at the raid locations. Homan said Sunday’s operation in Chicago, Illinois, resulted in the arrests of six individuals convicted of serious sex offenses, several gang members, and two others previously convicted of murder and aggravated sexual battery. “We’ve got to put America’s safety first,” Homan, who oversaw the sting operations in Chicago, told NBC News. In a statement, ICE officials explained that the agency’s enhanced operations under the Trump administration aim to “enforce US immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.” Since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, ICE has made a total of 2,681 arrests, including 956 on Sunday. However, officials did not disclose how many detainees had criminal histories or convictions. According to sources quoted by The Washington Post, Trump officials directed ICE to target between 1,200 and 1,500 arrests daily. Homan said enforcement actions would also occur in previously designated safe zones, such as churches and schools, following Trump’s revocation of long-standing guidance protecting such locations. “Decisions to enter those spaces would be made on a ‘case-by-case basis,’” he said, adding that the objective was to “get as many criminals as possible.” “I don’t have a quota,” Homan said. “My instructions to them: Arrest as many as you can.” Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said the city’s police department did not assist in the Chicago raid.  Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker expressed mixed feelings about the federal operation. Speaking to CNN, Pritzker said he supports deporting individuals convicted of violent crimes but opposes the detention of non-criminal immigrants. “Why are we going after them? These are not people who are causing problems in our country, and what we need is a path to citizenship for them,” said Pritzker. “We need to secure our border. We need to get rid of the violent criminals, but we also need to protect people—at least the residents of Illinois and all across the nation—who are just doing what we hope immigrants will do,” he added. Similar immigration raids were carried out in Arizona, California, Colorado, Louisiana, New York, and Washington.

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Panama: 55 migrants died, 180 children abandoned in Darien Gap this year

 Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said Thursday that so far this year, 55 migrants have died and 180 children have been abandoned while crossing the Darien jungle. “Fifty-five people have died in 2024 on the Darien route,” Mulino said during his weekly press conference.  However, authorities suspect that the death toll may be higher, as many bodies cannot be recovered from the jungle. Mulino also said that the “180 unaccompanied minors” who had been abandoned in the Panamanian jungle this year are now being looked after by childcare institutions. On Tuesday, the government of Panama announced that the flow of migrants through Darien fell by almost 41% this year. Between January and December, 300,549 migrants crossed the treacherous jungle compared to more than 520,000 in the same period of 2023. The director of the National Migration Service of Panama, Roger Tejada, explained that the reduction is due to the implementation of stricter measures by the new government. President Mulino has taken a strong stance against the flow of migrants through the Darien Gap. His administration has implemented several strategies to deter migration through the dangerous route, including increasing patrol agents along the border with Colombia to monitor and control the area as well as the closure of unauthorized routes. The government has also initiated a policy of deporting migrants who are arrested crossing the jungle illegally.  Authorities said that within the framework of an agreement signed with the United States, 51 flights have been made to return 1,548 migrants to countries such as Colombia and Ecuador. Tejada indicated that they expect to increase these returns in 2025, depending on the policies implemented by the government of US President Donald Trump starting in January. According to official figures, Venezuelans accounted for 70% of all those who crossed. Other nationalities included Colombians (6%), Ecuadorians (5%), Chinese (4%) and Haitians (4%). Migrants who cross the remote and dangerous area of dense rainforest, swamps, rivers and mountains on the border of Colombia and Panama face dangers such as wild animals and multiple human rights violations, including sexual violence, murders, disappearances, trafficking and robbery by organized criminal groups.

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