Immigration

Donald Trump's presidency has been the subject of intense debate among conservative Latinos in Florida, which he carried by roughly 14 percent in 2024. Florida-based conservative strategist Ana Navarro, originally from Nicaragua, is very much in the Never Trump camp — attacking Trump relentlessly on CNN and "The View." But U.S. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and María Elvira Salazar are among Trump's Latina supporters in the Sunshine State.

Salazar, however, is now questioning Trump's draconian immigration policy.

In an article published on December 9, Tim Padgett — a reporter for South Florida's National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate WLRN-FM — explains, "The Trump Administration's new halt on immigration applications from countries including Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela has created alarm in South Florida — and a rare rebuke from a Miami congresswoman…. In a statement this week, Salazar calls the pause 'unfair' and 'un-American.'"

In an official statement, Salazar said, "The United States doesn't believe in collective punishment. We don't punish the innocent for the sins of the guilty. Freezing asylum, green card, and citizenship processes is not the answer. It punishes hardworking, law-abiding immigrants who followed every step of the legal process. That is unfair, un-American, and it goes against everything this country stands for."

Padgett notes that Salazar, a Cuban-American, "finds herself in a difficult spot ahead of next year's midterm elections."

"She needs to acknowledge that many Latinos in her Miami district are angry at President Trump's severe anti-immigration policies," Padgett reports, "but she nonetheless needs his support to pass the bipartisan immigration bill she co-sponsors, the Dignity Act, which would legalize millions of undocumented immigrants. At a town hall last week at Florida International University, sponsored by the nonprofit grassroots advocacy group 50501, Salazar expressed confidence President Trump will support and eventually sign her legislation."

Read Tim Padgett's full article for WLRN-FM at this link.

Two federal agencies under President Donald Trump are pointing fingers at each other after another major arrest flub.

The Miami Herald's David Goodhue broke a story this week of a U.S. citizen being pulled from a car and detained. The woman was driving her boyfriend's car, and since he is an undocumented immigrant, they were after him.

When they discovered it was a female driver of the vehicle, they still pulled her from the vehicle, sobbing and screaming, "I'm a U.S. citizen, please help me."

It was only after the violent incident that they looked at her driver's license and confirmed she was a citizen.

Speaking to MS NOW's "Morning Joe" about his report, Goodhue revealed that he received personal calls from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which blamed U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the mistake.

"ICE did call me. This operation was not ICE," he said. "They wanted to let us know that this was a border patrol and Customs and Border Protection. It gets very confusing, as you all know, that they're all under the Homeland Security umbrella. But ICE went out of their way to call us and say this was not them."

"Oh," a shocked Mika Brzezinski commented.

Jonathan Lemire cited a report in The Atlantic that border patrol has taken over a lot of the raids recently instead of ICE.

"Okay. So, ICE and border patrol are conducting raids like this with masked people," Brzezinski followed.

"They're trying to distance themselves from it," commented host Ali Vitali.

"Oh! This one wasn't ours!" joked Brzezinski. "I mean, wow."

Goodhue said that he was tipped off that they were doing these raids about 40 miles from where he is based. So, he drove to Key Largo and began watching the activity.

He added that ICE and CBP have been hunting people down in the Florida Keys "for a while now."

When President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for birthright citizenship to be abolished, he drew scathing criticism from a wide range of constitutional scholars and immigration lawyers — as birthright citizenship is in the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. Adopted during Reconstruction in 1868, the 14th Amendment clearly states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

But Trump's attacks on immigration go beyond mass deportations and an executive order defying a 157-year-old constitutional amendment.

In a scathing article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on December 3, journalist Will Saletan warns that Trump is dangerously crossing "another line" by threatening denaturalization of U.S. citizens.

"First, he targeted illegal immigrants," Saletan explains. "Then, he went after legal immigrants. Now, he's attacking naturalized Americans: citizens of this country who were born elsewhere, particularly in what Trump contemptuously calls the 'Third World.' He's trying to turn white Americans against non-white Americans."

Trump, Saletan notes, is threatening to "denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility."

MAGA Republicans have been calling for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, both naturalized U.S. citizens, to be deported. But Saletan emphasizes that Trump has no business demanding Omar's deportation simply because he dislikes her progressive politics.

"In particular," Saletan observes, "(Trump) lambasted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a naturalized American who was born in Somalia and who, according to Trump's Thanksgiving rants, is 'always wrapped in her swaddling hijab' and should be thrown 'the hell out of our country.' In front of the cameras, the president told his Cabinet on Tuesday, (December 2): 'Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren't people that work…. These are people that do nothing but complain…. We don't want 'em in our country. Let 'em go back to where they came from and fix it.'"

With Trump and other MAGA Republicans, Saletan warns, "there's no need for dog whistles anymore."

"The government of the United States now openly stands for bigotry," the Bulwark journalist laments. "It's not just closing our borders; it's targeting Americans. And depending on where you came from, you might be next."

Will Saletan's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

Although MS NOW host, Never Trump conservative and ex-GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough often says that the United States' immigration laws must be obeyed and enforced, he is vehemently critical of the way in which President Donald Trump's

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids are being carried out. Scarborough considers the raids reckless and blatantly cruel.

Scarborough isn't alone in that view.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on November 29, journalist/author Adrian Carrasquillo reports that companies helping ICE with the raids are facing an angry backlash from consumers.

"Companies that have collaborated with immigration enforcement agencies in various ways to aid Trump's mass deportation initiative — whether through allowing ICE to raid their parking lots, taking on contracts with DHS, or a variety of other actions — are starting to feel the rumblings of a consumer revolt," Carrasquillo reports. "Home Depot is possibly the most visible case after the company’s parking lots became a familiar setting for shocking viral clips and local news segments depicting federal agents' aggressive attempts to apprehend unsuspecting day laborers. The home-improvement chain now faces the prospect of a national boycott."

Carrasquillo adds, "But that's not the end of their troubles: Bold and unpredictable protests are beginning to disrupt retail operations across the country…. For months now, Home Depot has been singled out for its role as a staging ground in the Trump deportation regime."

Another possible target for boycotts, according to Carrasquillo, is AT&T.

Carrasquillo reports, "There's also speculation that AT&T data could have been used by DHS to target people during the shocking raid at the 7500 South Shore Drive residential building raid in Chicago."

Chris Newman, general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), doesn't see these boycotts letting up anytime soon.

Newman told The Bulwark, "People are becoming more emboldened to cross Trump as his power wanes. The shared goal of the corporate overlords and ICE is to make people feel powerless, and these actions are a way of resisting that sense of powerlessness."

Adrian Carrasquillo's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

Ten months into Donald Trump's second presidency — and ahead of Thanksgiving 2025 — his administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, continues to draw scathing criticism for their handling of immigration and deportation policies. And some of that criticism is coming from conservative MS Now host and ex-GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough.

During a biting rant the day before Thanksgiving, Scarborough demanded that the U.S. Supreme Court bring some clarity to the Trump Administration's handling of immigration and deportation.

The Never Trump conservative told fellow "Morning Joe" host Mika Brzezinski and their colleagues David Ignatius and Jonathan Lemire — a former Associated Press (AP) reporter — "When (President) Richard Nixon was ordered by the United States Supreme Court to turn over the (Watergate) tapes, he knew he had no choice — and he turned over the tapes immediately even though he knew his time in the White House would be over. I hear some of these people — I understand a lot of them didn't have a good education, and maybe they didn't study civics. But still, I didn't study physics, but I know there are rules of physics I cannot defy, or bad things happen."

Scarborough emphasized that while the United States' immigration laws must be respected and upheld, the Trump Administration's deportation policies are both reckless and "harsh." And the Roberts Court, he lamented, is dropping the ball badly by failing to offer clarity.

The conservative ex-congressman told Brzezinski, Ignatius and Lemire, "We're not talking about upholding the law…. I think it's a problem when you come to America, and the first thing you do is an illegal action. So, I'm pretty conservative on this stuff — more conservative than a lot of the Republicans I served with in Congress on it. That said, you can do two things at once. And the inhumanity, the un-Christ-like behavior of how these mothers and children and grandparents are being dragged out of school lines, are being dragged out of preschools, are being treated in the worst, most despicable ways…. The United States Supreme Court needs to stop allowing this ambiguity, that allows the president of the United States to talk about, illegally, sending Marines, sending troops to American cities."

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Republicans in North Carolina fear voters will be left with a “real sour aftertaste” as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown roils the state.
“Is the price of doing this worth it?” asked P Edwin Peacock III, a moderate Republican in Charlotte. “I don’t see this cloud moving away [from] what will be in the voters’ minds.”

As Politico reports, “Some North Carolina Republicans are worried President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the battleground state could backfire."

After focusing his immigration raids largely in blue states, the Trump administration recently turned to the Charlotte, NC area as “the first test for whether the White House’s strategy can hold up in a purple state,” Politico reports. And with next year’s North Carolina Senate race heating up, Republicans will likely face a key “tension at the center of the president’s immigration agenda.”

“The White House’s message, since January, has tied illegal immigration to violent crime in U.S. cities,” Politico reports. “But immigration officials are simultaneously under sustained pressure from the White House to increase arrests and deportation numbers, an effort that requires targeting immigrants well beyond violent criminal offenders — potentially treacherous territory for swing-state Republicans.”

Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory fears the optics of recent raids in Charlotte “may hurt the GOP on an issue it has long dominated,” according to Politico.

“Republicans had the upper hand on immigration, as long as they were going after the criminals and the gangs, but I think they’re losing the upper hand on that issue because of the apparent disjointed implementation of arrest,” McCrory said. “From a PR and political standpoint, for the first time, immigration is maybe having a negative impact on my party.”

North Carolina-based GOP pollster Patrick Sebastian warned the “narrative” of U.S. officials deporting working immigrants who are not breaking other laws "has gotten more play over the past week, and that could be a problem for Republicans.”

As Politico reports, “One GOP strategist working on races in North Carolina, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said there’s a risk that the picture of a citizen being separated from their family, rather than the arrests of unauthorized immigrants with criminal records, will stick.”

“You don’t know what the enduring image is going to be in voters’ minds,” the anonymous pollster said.

ICE and its agents incurred the wrath of a federal judge following extensive reviews of body camera footage and “impossible to believe” statements relating to the recent enforcement operations in Chicago.

In recent months, Chicago has emerged as one the epicenters of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with ICE launching a major enforcement effort in September dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Judge Sara L. Ellis, of the Northern District of Illinois, issued a 233-page opinion concluded that ICE leadership and agents had systematically lied about everything from the nature of certain enforcement efforts and the severity of tactics deployed. Throughout the opinion, Ellis highlighted instances in which the claims made by ICE in court were disproven by video evidence.

Responding to a thread on X laying out key details from the opinion, journalist Nicholas Kristoff summarized the court’s findings in unsparing terms.

“This is an astonishing thread: Please read every word,” Kristoff wrote. “It outlines how the Trump administration has systematically and repeatedly lied about its use of force in Chicago. I don't know what the remedy is, but if federal agents assault civilians, shouldn't they be held accountable?”

One piece of the video evidence, Ellis explained, “suggests that the agent drove erratically and brake-checked other motorists in an attempt to force accidents that agents could then use as justifications for deploying force.” Erratic and fast driving was brought up in another case in which agents blew a red light and cause a rear-end accident, after which they detained three bystanders, who were later released with no charges. An ICE officer was also seen on video pointing a gun at a resident and shouting “step back or I’m going to shoot you.”

Ellis previously issued a restraining order against ICE agents in the city, prohibiting them from using certain aggressive crowd-control tactics. The order is currently paused pending an appeal. In her opinion, she concludes that agents frequently lied about their conduct in court to make it seem less violent. One agent was also found to have used ChatGPT to “compile a narrative for a report.”

“Every minor inconsistency adds up, and at some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe,” Ellis’s opinion stated.

Particular criticism was leveled at Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Border Patrol official serving as commander for Operation Midway Blitz. Ellis wrote that Bovino gave testimony that was “not credible,” and “appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing ‘cute’ responses… or outright lying.”

Kilmar Armando Ábrego García's ongoing case was back in court on Thursday as Judge Paula Xinis questioned U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

It was revealed that top immigration official John Cantú didn't draft the sworn statements submitted to the court for the case. The statement was previously sealed, Lawfare's Roger Parloff wrote in a BlueSky thread.

Ábrego was sent to an El Salvador prison, despite a judge's order not to send him to the country. Initially, the administration sought to deport him to various African countries such as Uganda, Eswatini and now, Liberia.

Ábrego sought to go to Costa Rica, but Cantú wrote, and the government has alleged, that the country would not accept him.

Legal analyst Adam Klasfeld, of "All Rise News," reported on X, "A senior ICE official just admitted in an evidentiary hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case that someone else drafted his declaration in the case and he didn’t know what certain words meant."

Parloff, who was live-posting about the court hearing, cited Judge Xinis saying that the witness had zero information about the content of his declaration.

"No shade on you Mr. Cantú," Xinis said, according to Parloff. "You've been very candid with the court."

Ábrego's attorney, Sascha Rand, asked who might have more information "about the sum and substance of your declaration that we could go talk to?"

Cantú responded, saying, "No, sir. As far as I know, I'm the only one he talked to," Parloff relayed.

A Honduran-born U.S. citizen who voted for President Donald Trump regrets his vote after being dragged from his truck and briefly detained by Customs and Border Protection, Newsweek reports.

Charlotte, North Carolina resident Willy Aceituno said he was stopped twice by Border Patrol agents while on his way to work in North Carolina's largest city, according to the Associated Press.

Aceituno says the agents broke his window and forced him out before placing him on the ground, only to be released after the officers verified his citizenship.

"It was the worst decision of my life," Aceituno told MS NOW. When asked why he voted for Trump, Aceituno cited the president's stance on border security and the economy.

"He said he was going to catch the criminals, but right now, he doesn't follow criminals. He goes specific to Latino people," Aceituno said.

Federal officials confirmed on Saturday that "a surge in immigration enforcement had begun in Charlotte, with agents seen making arrests in multiple locations," Newsweek reports.

Aceituno said he witnessed a large number of "Latinos being chased by Border Patrol agents and questioned about why they ran," they report.

"I told them, 'I'm an American citizen,'" Aceituno told the Associated Press. "They wanted to know where I was born, or they didn't believe I was an American citizen."

DHS wrote on X that during the enforcement operation, Aceituno "became erratic, refused lawful commands, and had to be removed from his vehicle," insisting they "followed their training to remove them."

DHS then wrote that "The individual later admitted he was trying to distract officers so others could evade the law."

Aceituno has vehemently disputed that account to The Charlotte Observer.

"I was talking to them, not restraining them. They're security officials of the United States, the most powerful country in the world. I don't think a dummy like me could distract such capable people," he said.

"That video is everywhere, and they're looking for a justification to shut people up," he added. "But if I were obstructing them in their work, they would have arrested me, and I would be in jail. They don't have a justifiable basis. Obstructing justice means arrest."

Newsweek reports that Aceituno has filed a police report regarding the damage to his vehicle.

Although Gloria Estefan was born in Havana, Cuba, the 68-year-old pop star has lived in the United States since she was two and is a longtime U.S. citizen. Estefan, whose family moved to Florida to escape from Fidel Castro's communist dictatorship, is fluent in Spanish but has performed primarily in English over the years.

But during a late October interview with the Times of London, Estefan revealed that she now carries her U.S. passport as a form of identification because of President Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown.

"I have lived in the U.S. for 66 years — never have I seen freedoms being eroded in the way they are now," Estefan told the Times. "We need to stay very firm and protect those freedoms…. I know people who are in the country legally and have been taken away. One was the girlfriend of our guitar technician. She had been in the U.S. for 25 years, came in with a visa, paid taxes. In her last appointment at immigration, she got carried away and has been at a detention center for five months. Why?"

The former Miami Sound Machine singer continued, "It's inhumane, it's scary and not necessary. We don't have much power other than letting people know that that’s not what the U.S. stands for. I am not Republican or Democrat."

Estefan, born in 1957, rose to prominence in pop music during the 1980s as lead singer for the Miami Sound Machine — whose major hits included "Conga," "Bad Boy," "1-2-3," "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," among many others. The singer became a full-time solo artist after the group broke up.

During the Times interview, Estefan drew a parallel between Trump's second administration and the crackdown on civil liberties in Castro's Cuba during the 1960s.

Estefan told the Times, "I carry my passport card around just in case, because who knows what can happen. I was born in Cuba — that's why we're so wary of what's happening, because this is the way things happened there. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that you can be stopped and questioned if you're speaking Spanish or you have darker skin…. It's tough. When we're out with the family, it's very natural to speak Spanish. It's weird that, all of a sudden, you'd have to fear that."

Read the Times of London's full interview with Gloria Estefan at this link.

A federal judge in Illinois says she has "serious concerns" about whether or not federal law enforcement agents are following her orders to avoid "violent encounters with protesters and journalists in Chicago," reports CNN.

On Thursday, US District Court Judge Sara Ellis said “I’m a little startled frankly, that since Thursday when I entered the (temporary restraining order) last week, I’m getting images and seeing images on the news, in the paper, reading reports, where at least from what I’m seeing, I’m having serious concerns that my order’s being followed."

Ellis – an Obama appointee – issued a temporary restraining order last week after a group of local journalists and protesters sued the Trump administration, saying federal law enforcement agents were targeting people engaging in peaceful activity, including multiple reporters who said they were fired with pepper balls despite being identified as press, reports CNN.

Video of a pastor being repeatedly shot by pepper balls during a demonstration outside at an ICE facility near Chicago earlier this month drew widespread outcry, CNN says.

Saying she was "really not happy," Ellis said she was expanding her order.

“I am adding that all agents who are operating in Operation Midway Blitz are to wear body-worn cameras, and they are to be on,” the judge said in court.

“There’s a reason the Chicago Police Department has policies about car chases and where they occur, and where they need to stop,” said the judge.

“The issue is that DHS is using force in a manner that violates the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters, journalists and, essentially, clergy members,” the judge said, adding “You can’t shoot ‘em in the head. You can’t deploy tear gas. You can’t use flash-bang grenades. You can’t drive a car through a crowd.”

Social media reacted to this news down party lines. While MAGA on X were calling the judge out for being an "activist judge," the more left-leaning BlueSky crowd had other criticisms.

Activist Becca L. asked if the judge was "related to [Republican Maine Senator] Susan Collins?" who has become known for "expressing concern" over issues.

Atlanta Dem agreed, saying, "Strong Susan Collins vibes."

Journalist Dez Brown asked, "Can we PLEASE stop with showing "concern" and start holding these people accountable?"

In the case Abrego Garcia v. Noem, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under Attorney General Pam Bondi is requesting a pause in Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Ábrego García's deportation battle. But on Monday, October 6, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis denied that request and ruled against delaying the case because of the "important fundamental questions" involved.

"I'm just duty-bound to continue it," Xinis told attorneys.

Bloomberg News' Zoe Tillman reports, "The Salvadoran migrant's situation and complicated legal proceedings have emerged as a symbol of the Trump Administration's hardline — and hotly contested — immigration policies. He rose to prominence after he filed a high-profile lawsuit in March challenging his wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador…. The (Trump) Administration's attorneys have secured extensions in a number of cases with little fanfare, but in some, such as Ábrego García's case, they've faced pushback from judges and opposing counsel who contend that some matters are too time-sensitive to delay."

García and his attorneys are fighting his deportation from the U.S. and efforts by the Trump DOJ to send him to Eswatini, a country in Southern Africa. Formerly Swaziland, Eswatini shares borders with South Africa and Mozambique.

"Xinis is weighing whether to order Abrego Garcia released again," Tillman notes.

Judge Xinis' decision is generating some discussion on X, formerly Twitter.

Nurse Diana Prince wrote, "The entire apparatus of the American government is still targeting this one man — because of their inability to admit to their own mistake. That seems like totally normal behavior."

Fox News' Jake Gibson wrote, "Judge Xinis answered, 'We don't know when the funding will be reinstated. If I order the case to proceed, then you become bound to that order… and it is of such importance, not only to Mr. Abrego-Garcia… but also to some fundamental questions…I am duty bound to continue it."

X user @blanche1977 posted, "This guy is being made an example by the fascist element of the Trump DOJ. He should not be deported."

Another X user, Sam, Your Uncle, tweeted, "So the lawyers aren't getting paid either" — to which computer engineer Jake Halloran responded, "No, only constitutional jobs are paid. Congress, president, [VP] and article 3 judges."

Read Zoe Tillman's full Bloomberg News article at this link.