Immigration advocates are demanding answers after a U.S. citizen said he was arrested at gunpoint by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on his way to work in Charlotte earlier this week.

Atilio Portillo, a resident of East Charlotte who owns a small construction business, told reporters during a press conference Friday that ICE agents stopped him as he was on his way to work early Wednesday morning with his brother and nephew.

The agents blocked his work truck with unmarked vehicles, broke its windows, and pointed guns at the passengers, according to Portillo. He said his requests for a warrant or explanation of the stop were denied.

Bystander video compiled by the advocacy group Siembra NC shows a man in an ICE uniform holding a handgun while breaking Portillo’s driver’s side window. It also shows Portillo yelling, “I am a U.S. citizen,” while agents put him in handcuffs.

“They never told me who they were looking for, and after a long period of argument back and forth, they broke both windows,” Portillo told reporters in Spanish. “They pointed a gun at me, and they threw my phone away. They violently removed me from my vehicle, and they arrested me for 30 minutes while they checked my status.”

Originally from El Salvador, Portillo said he has been living in the U.S. since 1988 and became a naturalized citizen in 2013. His whole family is in the U.S.

Portillo said the agents kept him in handcuffs near the vehicle, despite him repeatedly telling them he was a U.S. citizen. He said he always keeps his passport with him, but at the moment, he didn’t remember it was there.

“They took my wallet out of my pants, and then they saw I had my license there, so I’m assuming that’s the document that they used for verifying my identity and my citizenship,” Portillo said in Spanish.

Agents also handcuffed Portillo’s nephew, he said, who is a U.S. citizen as well. Both men were released after about 30 minutes, but ICE agents took Portillo’s brother into custody, where he is currently detained in Georgia.

Portillo declined to offer further information about his brother, but told reporters he’s exploring legal action against ICE.

“They abused my rights. They treated me with violence,” Portillo said in Spanish. “I have not slept for two nights because I am so worried… I have this fear that they might come to my house in the middle of the night with made-up charges after this experience.”

North Carolina state Rep. Jordan Lopez, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, said it’s “ridiculous” that ICE agents are operating in this manner.

“We’ve got to do what we can to make it stop,” Lopez said. “It’s a good reminder that there are elections going on right now. There is an extraordinarily powerful check that we as people can put on this administration that has seemed hell-bent on targeting folks and violating rights of citizens.”

Siembra NC legal defense manager Andreina Malki said this isn’t an isolated event. Four U.S. citizens and a visa holder filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in February, claiming Department of Homeland Security agents detained people without warrants, NC Newsline previously reported.

And Malki said it could become a more frequent problem. Earlier this year, state lawmakers overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 153, the “North Carolina Border Protection Act.” The measure requires local and state law enforcement agencies to work with ICE.

“How many more cases like Atilio’s are we going to have?” she asked.

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The US Border Patrol busted a suspected human smuggler found with bombs and migrants aboard a speedboat in South Texas on October 6, 2026. This unfolded at a boat ramp off the Intracoastal Waterway in Flour Bluff, Texas, just South of the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station (which ironically hosts a large squadron of US Customs & Border Protection patrol aircraft and surveillance drones).

According to the criminal complaint filed by the Border Patrol, the circumstances leading to the arrest began about 70 miles south, when the Port Mansfield Police Department informed the Border Patrol that three people had been spotted leaving a vehicle for a waiting speedboat, which was last seen heading north up the Intracoastal Waterway.

Surveillance aircraft located the northbound speedboat 20 miles south of Corpus Christi and tracked it to the Flour Bluff boat ramp, where Border Patrol Agents - who had spotted a truck and boat trailer belonging to the suspected smuggler - were awaiting his arrival.

After the smuggling suspect was placed under arrest, Border Patrol Agents found three men inside the boat’s cabin. They found two hidden in seat compartments. All of the men (two from Ecuador, one from Guatemala) were found to have entered the country illegally.

A further search of the boat resulted in the seizure of an AR-15-style rifle, a drum magazine loaded with 100 rounds of ammunition, and four pipe bombs.

The discovery of the pipe bombs led to ATF Agents searching the suspect’s home, where five more guns and 3,500 rounds of ammunition were found.

According to the Border Patrol’s Criminal Complaint, the smuggling suspect told agents that he agreed to transport the men to Houston, where he was to be paid $3,000 per person for completing the smuggling run.

The US Attorney’s Detention Memorandum also noted that the “defendant’s history with alien smuggling is not a recent occurrence. In 2023, Defendant was arrested in Zapata County while attempting to conceal three illegal aliens in his rental vehicle. During the smuggling investigation, law enforcement also found a firearm inside the vehicle.”

Law enforcement released the suspected smuggler after that arrest. This time he’s being held without bond.

Are you surprised a suspected human smuggler was found to possess an arsenal of pipe bombs?

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

The US Coast Guard intercepted 66 migrants aboard a human smuggling boat attempting to illegally reach Puerto Rico on Friday, October 16, 2026. A Coast Guard airplane patrolling the treacherous waters of the Mona Passage first spotted the dangerously overloaded vessel 70 nautical miles northwest of Aguadilla and reported the sighting to Coast Guard Sector San Juan, which dispatched the Cutter Winslow Griesser and a rescue helicopter to the scene.

A small boat crew from the Winslow Griesser reached the overcrowded vessel and safely transferred all 66 aboard to the cutter, preventing a likely tragedy. Those aboard the smuggling boat included 55 men and four women who claimed to be Dominican Republic nationals, and six men and a woman who claimed to be Haitian nationals.

“I’m proud of my crew and the Coast Guard aircrews for stopping what could have been a treacherous journey for all onboard an overloaded migrant vessel. They saved 66 people from a dangerously overloaded vessel attempting to transit across a vast ocean with little to no safety equipment and no regard to safety of human life at sea.” - Lt. Alex Kearney, Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser

Dominican Republic Navy vessels responded to the scene shortly afterward and took custody of 63 of those aboard the smuggling boat.

The Coast Guard, along with its Operation Vigilant Sentry and Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos partners, maintains a continual presence with air, land, and sea assets in the Florida Straits, Windward Passage, Mona Passage, and the Caribbean.

This multiagency approach is part of a Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) designed to protect life at sea while preventing unlawful maritime entry into the United States and its territories.

HSTF San Juan comprises agents and officers from the following federal partners: FBI, ICE-HSI, CBP (OFO, AMO and Border Patrol), the U.S. Marshals Service for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, DEA, ATF, IRS, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Department of State, and the U.S. Secret Service, the Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands HIDTA, TSA, FAA, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Districts of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Are you surprised by the large numbers of migrants attempting to illegally enter the US by sea?

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The 56-year-old Mexican man who died Saturday while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody was a lawful permanent resident in the country, the agency said in a statement a day after The Texas Tribune reported about his death.

Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, 56, was found unconscious in his bed at the Rio Grande Processing Center on Saturday morning. ICE said staff performed chest compressions and called emergency services, but he was declared dead about 20 minutes after being found unresponsive. He had been in immigration detention since June.

ICE on Monday said Andrade-Covarrubias’ cause of death is still unknown, as the autopsy was still pending with the Webb County Medical Examiner. The agency also said he received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals.

In the statement, ICE said Andrade-Covarrubias was returning to Texas from Mexico at a port of entry in Laredo when immigration officers detained him on June 26. ICE added that he was detained because officers believed he obtained his legal status in the U.S. fraudulently because he failed to disclose a 2004 arrest for theft during the review process.

The agency was also seeking to deport him, saying that he was in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Andrade-Covarrubias was supposed to appear at an immigration court hearing on Nov. 2, according to online records.

Andrade-Covarrubias’ daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her father did bring up his criminal record during the application process — and that immigration officials approved his green card application.

Andrade-Covarrubias had lived for decades in Dallas, where he raised three children who were all born in the U.S. He painted apartments and townhomes for a living, and his daughter said he was planning to return to Mexico. He traveled to Mexico often because he was building a house there, she added.

Her dad had a heart condition, she said, along with diabetes and high blood pressure. He had medicine with him when he was detained, but she said staff at the center wouldn’t “give him his medications.”

When he said he felt sick and had a cough, she said her family was especially worried because he was hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2021 and the illness took a lasting toll on his health. He sought help from the facility’s medical staff, but he told her that “they would just ignore him.”

She said her dad told her that the medical staff at the center brushed off his concerns, even when he told them he was having trouble breathing and felt tightness in his chest.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, told the Tribune that he inspected the detention facility on Sunday and asked staff about the facility’s medical procedures, but they could not provide specific details about Andrade-Covarrubias’ case because his death was still under investigation. The Democrat said he has sent ICE written questions to get more information on the case.

“Any death in federal custody is a serious matter, and we need to know what happened,” Cuellar said in a Monday statement.

Andrade-Covarrubias is the seventh person to die while detained by ICE in Texas this year — the first being Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death was ruled a homicide by the El Paso Medical Examiner’s office in January.

Andrade-Covarrubias is also the second to die in an ICE facility in Laredo this year. Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican who was being held at Webb County Detention Center, died on June 19 after being found unresponsive, according to the agency.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry were allowed to prevent people with legal permanent residency — commonly known as green card holders — from reentering the U.S. if they had any history of criminal arrests or convictions.

In an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote that immigration officials at ports of entry don’t need “clear and convincing evidence that a lawful permanent resident has committed a crime involving moral turpitude.” Immigration officers would be allowed to detain the person from reentering the country, but an immigration judge would have the final say on whether that person would be stripped of their green card and ordered deported.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, writing that the court’s opinion undermines “the benefits and security that come with having a green card.” She also wrote that she is worried the court “handed the Government a massive blank check” to put lawful permanent residents in “immigration limbo.”

A 56-year-old Mexican man held at a federal immigration facility in Laredo was found dead in his cell Saturday morning, his daughter and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, confirmed to The Texas Tribune.

Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias was found unresponsive by staff at the Rio Grande Processing Center during a security check at around 10 a.m. Saturday, Cuellar said. Staff performed CPR and called emergency services.

Andrade-Covarrubias is the seventh person to die while detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas this year — the first being Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death was ruled a homicide by the El Paso Medical Examiner’s office in January.

He’s also the second to die in an ICE facility in Laredo this year. Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican who was being held at Webb County Detention Center, died on June 19 after being found unresponsive, according to the agency.

GEO Group and officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent Sunday.

Andrade-Covarrubias’ daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her family has not yet been contacted by federal agencies. Instead, she said, they heard about his death on Saturday through the Webb County Medical Examiner, who is performing his autopsy.

Estefani Andrade, 29 and a U.S. citizen, said the family is going to visit the detention facility on Monday to get his belongings.

Andrade-Covarrubias lived in Dallas for decades, had three adult children who were all born in the country and worked as a contractor painting apartments and townhomes, his daughter said. He wanted to eventually return to Mexico and had been traveling back and forth to build a house there, his daughter added.

She said her dad was detained in June at the border after coming back from Mexico by bus. She added that during his months in detention, “he lost weight because he didn’t look the same as when we were doing, like, the video calls with him.”

Cuellar said he planned to visit the facility Sunday afternoon.

“I’ll ask the basic questions: What happened?” he said. “What were the conditions? [Was] there medical? Is there anybody ill? I’m gonna talk to the medical folks there.”

Estefani Andrade said her dad had a heart condition, along with diabetes and high blood pressure. He had medicine with him when he was detained, but she said staff at the center wouldn’t “give him his medications.”

She also said her dad was sick at the detention facility. He had a cough — which she said was concerning since he was hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2021 and that took a lasting toll on his health — and told her that he wasn’t feeling good. He sought help from the facility’s medical staff, but he told her that “they would just ignore him.”

She said her dad told her that he felt like the medical staff at the center was brushing off his concerns, even when he told the staff that he was having trouble breathing and feeling tightness in his chest.

Estefani Andrade said she is now trying to be strong for her mom, who is devastated.

“When she got the news, she wasn’t all there,” she said. ”It’s hitting her really hard.”

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UPDATE: On Monday, October 19, 2026, when Ukrainian & Sudanese immigrants could potentially lose their protected status to remain in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security announced that announcements on Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders would "be made at the ​appropriate time" and that their immigration protections would remain in place.”

(Original article follows)

More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese immigrants are bracing for the possibility they’ll lose their humanitarian protections by Monday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not indicated if he will renew protections for Ukrainians, who first received Temporary Protected Status after Russia invaded their country in 2022, and for Sudanese nationals, who were granted the designation several times, most recently in 2022, because of an ongoing civil war.

The Trump administration has moved to eliminate legal protections for more than 1 million immigrants who have TPS. Of the 17 countries with the designation at the start of the second Trump administration, the only remaining protections are for Ukraine and Sudan, which are set to end on Monday, and Lebanon, which is set to expire Nov. 27.

Mullin is supposed to declare his decision at least 60 days before a TPS designation expires, but he’s made no announcement.

The lack of an announcement would put Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders in the same situation as 200,000 Salvadorans, who are still in limbo after DHS did not renew protections set to expire on Sept. 9.

If no decision is made, an automatic six-month extension kicks in. DHS has not confirmed whether the extension is in place, only that Salvadorans have deportation protections and work authorization, for now.

DHS did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment about TPS extension for Ukraine or Sudan.

Situation unchanged

TPS is granted when a person hails from a country deemed too dangerous to return to because of conflict, natural disaster or another destabilizing event. The Trump administration has sought to wind the program down, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court this summer determined that decisions by the executive branch regarding TPS designations could not be challenged in court.

Immigration advocates say the rationale for providing TPS to Ukrainians has not changed.

“With the war in Ukraine still ongoing and conditions remaining unsafe, the administration should extend TPS for Ukrainians,” Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the advocacy group National Immigration Forum, said in a statement. “Forcing people to return to Ukraine in these circumstances is dangerous and a departure from longstanding U.S. policy.”

If Mullin ends TPS for Ukraine, it wouldn’t be the first time Ukrainians have lost humanitarian protections under the second Trump administration.

Last year, the Trump administration moved to end new applicants for a humanitarian program created by the Biden administration that allowed more than 220,000 Ukrainians to enter the U.S.

The State Department has a do-not-travel advisory, its highest advisory level, for Ukraine and Sudan.

Trump-Zelenskyy tensions

Fraught relations between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy further complicate the issue as Monday’s deadline approaches.

Trump has grown frustrated with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and has blamed Ukraine for a spike in oil prices, ignoring the effect of his war in Iran.

On Oct. 9, Trump moved to ease sanctions on Russian diesel exports. Zelenskyy called the decision “a weak decision by strong partners,” according to The Associated Press.

On Oct. 10, Trump told reporters that Ukraine should “get a new leader.”

In an interview with NPR, Zelenskyy said the Trump administration said that unless Ukraine stops long-range drone strikes on oil refineries in Russia, it could cut off U.S. intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.

The two leaders have clashed in the past.

In February 2025, during a visit to the White House, the president got into a heated exchange with Zelenskyy, appearing to break with Ukraine and its resistance to Russia’s invasion.

Trump’s relationship with Ukraine was also the center of his first impeachment, after a U.S. House inquiry found the president threatened to withhold military aid unless Ukraine investigated his political opponent at the time, Joe Biden.

The U.S. Senate acquitted Trump in an impeachment trial.

Lawmakers push for extensions

There is a bipartisan congressional push to extend protections for Ukrainians at least until the end of 2029.

In a letter to Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 31 senators urged that Ukrainians be granted an 18-month extension, the longest renewal for TPS holders.

“The ongoing war has caused a humanitarian crisis and damage to critical civilian infrastructure that has left many with limited or no access to heat, electricity or medical services,” the senators wrote. “Ukrainian nationals cannot safely return at this time, and allowing TPS to terminate on October 19, 2026, would risk sending more than one hundred thousand individuals back to an active war zone.”

The Republicans who signed the letter were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The Democratic senators who signed the letter were Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Coons of Delaware, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Andy Kim of New Jersey, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Patty Murray of Washington, Gary Peters of Michigan, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Adam Schiff of California, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Mark Warner of Virginia, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Peter Welch of Vermont, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, also signed the letter.

A handful of Democratic senators also urged Mullin to extend TPS protections for Sudanese in an Aug. 17 letter.

“The ongoing armed conflict, catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and widespread human rights abuses make the safe return of Sudanese nationals impossible at this time,” they wrote. “TPS for Sudanese nationals in the United States remains both a humanitarian necessity and a prudent policy to ensure that individuals are not forced to return to conditions that continue to threaten their safety and well-being.”

Those senators were Warner, Kaine, Schiff, Van Hollen, Warnock, Booker, Bennet, and Duckworth.

(Ariana Figueroa can be contacted by email @ afigueroa@statesnewsroom.com)

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The US Coast Guard has rescued 26 people from the Pacific Ocean 140 miles off Ensenada, Baja California, with at least 11 people missing, after the boat they were on sank during the early morning hours on Friday, October 16, 2026.

Around 1 a.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector San Diego received a radio distress call reporting a vessel taking on water.

Coast Guard and US Navy helicopters and ships from San Diego scrambled to respond, along with aircraft from US Coast Guard Station Sacramento.

When the rescue parties arrived on scene, the boat had sunk, prompting an urgent search to find survivors in dark, late-night ocean waters.

Several survivors were flown to Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego for medical treatment. One was reported to have suffered a shark bite.

The incident occurred in an area of the Pacific that is a known hotbed of Mexican Cartel human smuggling operations.

“The vessel had a large number of people onboard and was following a route normally used in illegal maritime smuggling operations. Offshore conditions are unforgiving and can quickly result in death.” - Capt. Robert Tucker, Commander, Coast Guard Sector San Diego

The Mexican Navy (SEMAR) also responded and participated in the search for survivors.

Are you surprised by the large numbers of migrants attempting to illegally enter the US by sea?

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The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) report a 95% drop in southwest border apprehensions compared to the Biden Administration, along with the lowest annual encounters in American history and the first fiscal year with zero Border Patrol releases.

The agencies also report that yearly apprehensions (98,708) were 60% lower than the Biden Administration’s single-highest month (249,740).

Additionally, total nationwide encounters were the lowest in agency history at 379,243, compared with 2.7 million per year under Biden (seven times higher). Encounters were 88% lower than in 2023 under Biden, which was the highest yearly total ever.

During the Biden administration, scenes like the one shown in the photo above were common as authorities encountered hundreds of migrants at a time, mostly along the Texas border with Mexico.

And while encounters with large groups illegally crossing the border have mostly ended, the Texas Border is anything but quiet.

Earlier this month, the US sent hundreds of troops to the Texas Rio Grande Valley after a Coast Guard patrol boat crew exchanged gunfire with members of a Mexican cartel. No further reports of violence have been reported, but the river and the area around the riverbank on the U.S. side are now swarming with heavily armed soldiers and law enforcement personnel - and Mexican soldiers are also jointly patrolling their side of the river.

Besides reducing illegal crossings, all of this law enforcement activity is producing other positive results. The CBP says migrant deaths due to drowning or heat exposure have fallen nearly 80% compared to the Biden Administration.

And, with human smuggling activity down, Border Patrol Agents and CBP Officers are freed up to concentrate on apprehending cartel drug smugglers. As a result, CBP drug seizures are running 63% higher than the average of the last four years.

Do you feel safer because of today’s reports about border security by the Department of Homeland Security?

Share your thoughts in the comments to this article.

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa unloaded 29,600 pounds of cocaine and 3,355 pounds of marijuana, worth an estimated $226.7 million, this week in Port Everglades, Florida - the result of a successful patrol of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The seized cartel contraband was the result of six interdictions in international waters as part of “Operation Pacific Viper,” preventing smugglers’ drugs from reaching the United States.

“The Coast Guard continues to leverage its authorities and partnerships across the Western Hemisphere to degrade Transnational Criminal Organizations’ ability to harm American communities. Success stories like these highlight our commitment to continuing to control, secure, and defend the nation’s maritime borders and approaches.” - US Coast Guard Vice Admiral Jo-Ann Burdian

The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia.

How much damage do you think “Operation Pacific Viper” has inflicted on cartel cocaine smuggling operations?

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

The Dominican man shot by an immigration agent in Marble Hill was arrested without a valid warrant and is being held in solitary confinement without proper medical care, according to a new court filing submitted by his attorneys Wednesday afternoon.

Oscar Belgal had just picked up his son from school, then taken him to McDonald’s, when plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rushed his car and fired at least seven shots, striking him in the neck.

Belgal identified an “anonymous, masked man,” who first approached his driver’s-side window with a gun drawn, The Legal Aid Society wrote in court papers. The agent then “struck and shattered Oscar’s window and began firing a pistol into Oscar’s car while his son cowered in the back seat.”

Video of the incident released by the New York Police Department shows a man in a grey sweatshirt and a red hat as the first to approach Belgal’s SUV and bang on the window. The identity of the shooter has still not been confirmed by federal authorities.

“After ICE shot him, Oscar exited his vehicle and pleaded for medical assistance, fearing that he was dying. And believing the same, his son began yelling that the masked individuals had killed his dad,” the petition reads.

Belgal lost consciousness, his attorneys said, and it wasn’t until Belgal awoke at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital a few blocks away that the men told him they were ICE agents.

Attorneys Perry Hall McAninch and Elyssa Nicole Williams with Legal Aid submitted the new details about the shooting in an amended habeas corpus petition filed in New York’s Eastern District on Wednesday afternoon.

They described Belgal as a 28-year-old father of two who works in construction and has lived in New York City for five years. His 5-year-old son was in the back seat at the time of the shooting. His other child is 1 year old, Legal Aid said.

“ICE’s egregious actions violate fundamental principles of every legal structure that constrains its conduct and authority — the Constitution, the statutory and regulatory framework, and even its own internal policies,” the petition reads, describing ICE’s “flagrant abuses of authority and categorically lawless conduct” during Belgal’s arrest.

The petition charged ICE with violating federal laws and Belgal’s constitutional rights by continuing to deny him medical care, and because they didn’t have a valid administrative arrest warrant when they attempted to arrest him and shot him in the neck.

“ICE now holds Oscar in a segregated unit at MDC [Metropolitan Detention Center]. With the bullet still lodged in his neck, the entire left side of Oscar’s face remains numb,” the filing reads. “He struggles to hear anything out of his left ear, describing what he does hear as sounding as if it were far off in the distance. Meanwhile, jail staff offers him only ibuprofen for his pain.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the assertions.

‘No Evidence of Those Allegations’

The new details come six days after the daylight shooting that rattled the immigrant community of Marble Hill on a busy afternoon, as schools let out and people were returning from work.

In the minutes after the shooting, eyewitness photos and videos show Belgal sitting on the pavement of 225th Street until he was lifted by NYPD officers into a squad car and driven to the nearby Allen Hospital.

The shooting drew swift rebuke from New York’s elected officials and massive protests in the city. Mayor Zohran Mamdani tried to negotiate Belgal’s release from ICE custody during a two-hour phone call the night of the shooting with President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin.

Late Thursday evening, ICE agents moved Belgal from the hospital to New Jersey, and then to MDC in Brooklyn the next day. He is still being held in solitary confinement, according to his attorneys.

In an agreement with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, ICE has held around 200 of its detainees at any given time at MDC since early on in Trump’s second term on units separate from prisoners facing federal charges.

Belgal’s shooting is the second such instance in a month in which a person shot by ICE was discharged from a hospital within hours of injury with a bullet still in his body. In late September, delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez waited 11 days for surgery after he was shot by an ICE agent in Austin, Texas.

Belgal’s doctors said he was supposed to return to the hospital for a surgery to remove the bullet from his neck on Oct. 12, but that trip never happened, according to the court filing.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which oversees MDC, said the agency doesn’t comment on individual cases but denied any medical malfeasance.

“The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) does not deny any inmate necessary medical treatment or basic necessities, such as access to three meals per day, drinking water, clothing, or daily access to medical and psychological care,” the agency said in an unsigned statement.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said they deliberately targeted Belgal for arrest, citing his prior criminal history and alleging he had ties to the Dominican Trinitarios gang. Criminal court records show he was previously convicted for grand larceny and has an open case for allegedly selling drugs.

But in their new filing Wednesday, Belgal’s attorneys argued ICE has provided no evidence of gang ties.

“Oscar vehemently denies involvement with any gang or organized criminal organization,” his attorneys wrote.

Furthermore, they dispute that Belgal’s arrest was targeted, arguing there was no administrative arrest warrant at the time of the shooting.

Belgal was not in immigration proceedings before his arrest, and DHS only issued paperwork requesting he appear in immigration court on the day after his arrest, his attorneys said. The issuing of a “Notice to Appear” is supposed to occur before an administrative arrest warrant is issued in order for the arrest to be valid, according to the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

Since the shooting last week, hundreds of protesters have marched for his release. Another crowd rallied outside MDC where Belgal was being held Tuesday night.

“I can’t imagine having a bullet in your neck, after being shot in front of your child, picking them up from school, in solitary confinement,” New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said outside MDC. “That’s what’s happening right now, and everyone of good conscience should be disgusted that that’s happening to Oscar.”

(This article was republished by US Border News with permission from The City Reporter under Creative Commons “BY-NC-ND” license.)

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Immigration enforcement agents are inciting panic at California’s community colleges.

Santa Monica College said that one of its students was arrested and deported last May. Then in December, Santa Barbara City College said that federal immigration officers used their campus parking lot as a staging ground, prompting an uproar from community activists.

Last month, the San Diego Community College District said ICE agents arrested a student on a public street that cuts through the urban campus and proceeded to chase another student up the steps of the school’s Arts and Humanities building.

Last Monday, federal agents arrested the father of a student in a campus parking lot at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, south of San Luis Obispo.

College presidents say they’re doing everything in their power to keep students safe and prevent federal immigration enforcement officers from coming on campus. But they admit that they have limited power in these situations.

“If ICE agents want to come and walk in the middle of campus, they can do that,” said Kevin Walthers, the president of Allan Hancock College.

State laws require colleges to notify students if immigration enforcement agents are on campus and agents must present a warrant before entering a “nonpublic” area in a school, such as a classroom or office building. But parking lots, quads and many other outdoor spaces are considered public.

By the time Walthers learned ICE agents had arrived at the campus parking lot, they were gone — the arrest happened in a matter of minutes. He said he never received a warrant and was only able to issue a notification to students and faculty after the arrest. The same was true in San Diego, said district Chancellor Gregory Smith.

President Donald Trump rescinded a longstanding policy that prevented immigration enforcement in “sensitive” locations, such as schools. The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, which oversees the state’s 116 colleges, has been outspoken about protecting students without legal status and offered guidance to schools on dealing with immigration agents. Attorney General Rob Bonta released his own, more detailed guide last month.

Chandler Rebel, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, said “ICE does not target schools” and denied arresting anyone on the Allan Hancock campus, despite witness testimony and photographs. Rebel did not respond to questions about the officer who chased a San Diego City College student on campus.

After their interactions with immigration agents, Santa Barbara and San Diego city colleges put up or are in the process of installing signs in parking lots, sidewalks or at the entrances to classrooms and buildings, telling agents they need approval to enter.

In practice, these messages may not prevent immigration agents from coming onto their campuses, college presidents say. “It’s kind of our district putting every effort that we can think of, and hopefully it is a deterrent,” Smith said.

A regular Monday

Last Monday morning, Mayrin, 18, said she was sitting in the passenger seat while her father drove her to Allan Hancock College, where she had statistics class that day. As they drove by the Olive Garden just outside of campus, she said she saw a large black car follow them down the road.

Mayrin and her father parked in the campus lot, she said, where a masked man approached the window and asked for their identification. CalMatters agreed to withhold her full name because she fears drawing attention to her family’s legal status.

“I was calling people. I was crying. It was a mix of emotions, mostly just worried about my dad,” she said. Maryrin gave the officer her state ID and told him that she’s a U.S. citizen. Her father, who immigrated from Mexico and has lived in the U.S. for about two decades, did not have identification on him and the officer pulled him into his car, she said.

Mayrin spent the next 20 minutes alone in her father’s car, crying and calling family, before college staff, including campus police officers and the dean of counseling, brought her into a conference room to ask what happened and provide support.

Mayrin’s father was one of at least 17 people who were arrested last Monday by immigration enforcement agents in the Santa Maria area, said Assemblymember Gregg Hart, a Santa Barbara Democrat, in an emailed statement. “Mass enforcement sweeps like this are designed to send a message of fear and intimidation – one straight from President Trump.”

After their interactions with immigration agents, Santa Barbara and San Diego city colleges put up or are in the process of installing signs in parking lots, sidewalks or at the entrances to classrooms and buildings, telling agents they need approval to enter.

In practice, these messages may not prevent immigration agents from coming onto their campuses, college presidents say. “It’s kind of our district putting every effort that we can think of, and hopefully it is a deterrent,” Smith said.

A regular Monday

Last Monday morning, Mayrin, 18, said she was sitting in the passenger seat while her father drove her to Allan Hancock College, where she had statistics class that day. As they drove by the Olive Garden just outside of campus, she said she saw a large black car follow them down the road.

Mayrin and her father parked in the campus lot, she said, where a masked man approached the window and asked for their identification. CalMatters agreed to withhold her full name because she fears drawing attention to her family’s legal status.

“I was calling people. I was crying. It was a mix of emotions, mostly just worried about my dad,” she said. Maryrin gave the officer her state ID and told him that she’s a U.S. citizen. Her father, who immigrated from Mexico and has lived in the U.S. for about two decades, did not have identification on him and the officer pulled him into his car, she said.

Mayrin spent the next 20 minutes alone in her father’s car, crying and calling family, before college staff, including campus police officers and the dean of counseling, brought her into a conference room to ask what happened and provide support.

Mayrin’s father was one of at least 17 people who were arrested last Monday by immigration enforcement agents in the Santa Maria area, said Assemblymember Gregg Hart, a Santa Barbara Democrat, in an emailed statement. “Mass enforcement sweeps like this are designed to send a message of fear and intimidation – one straight from President Trump.”

The largely Latino towns in California’s Central Coast region, which include Santa Maria, have experienced waves of immigration enforcement since Trump took office.

In April, Walthers said the college’s police chief had a meeting with other local police chiefs, the FBI and ICE officers who oversee the Central Coast. The college’s police chief asked immigration officials to provide advance notice before coming on campus. “The response was that ICE would not be coming to campus,” Walthers said. In retrospect, he said he wished the agreement was more formal.

After the arrest last week, Walthers said he got in touch with a federal immigration officer in Los Angeles and said he felt “optimistic” after the conversation that it wouldn’t happen again.

‘Without us knowing or without any previous approval’

In December, a local organization that advocates for immigrants, 805 UndocuFund, alerted Santa Barbara City College officials that ICE agents were at a campus parking lot and appeared to be using it as a staging area, according to Jordan Killebrew, the executive director of public affairs for the college.

Killebrew said agents were “occupying our parking lots without us knowing or without any previous approval.”

The college has since signed an agreement with 805 UndocuFund to help alert the college of the presence of federal law enforcement agents. The group will also provide college students and staff with resources and referrals including legal, financial, mental health, and emergency support services for immigration-related matters.

Killebrew said the college spent about $1,200 on 12 signs, which say its campuses “may not be used for civil immigration enforcement staging areas, processing locations, or operations bases.”

The San Diego college district was already in the process of putting up similar signs when ICE appeared on campus last month. District spokesperson Jack Beresford said the four-college district spent $71,000 on 68 signs, including the cost of the labor to install them. The district also created a new policy requiring any entity, including law enforcement, to get prior approval before conducting “official business” on campus.

“We don’t let a bank just come and set up a booth,” said Smith, the chancellor of the San Diego district. He said immigration enforcement agents would need approval before conducting their business, including arrests.

Whether the policy will actually work is less clear. “By the time I know that they’re here and get down there to tell them they’re not allowed to be here, they’re going to be gone,” Smith said. “What I’m hoping that we have set up with this is a legal argument that it’s an illegal seizure, the same as if they just broke into somebody’s home.”

The policy has never been tested in court. He said he hopes it never gets there.

(The author of this article, Adam Echelman, may be reached by email @ aechelman@calmatters.org )

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Democratic leaders in the U.S. House condemned a “deeply disturbing” raid early Monday at the District of Columbia home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who has long been a target of verbal attacks by President Donald Trump and Republicans.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., called the morning raid by Department of Homeland Security officials “egregious.”

The House minority leaders said the search of Omar’s home “raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries.”

“For years Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,” Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar said in a statement posted on social media Monday. “Now, less than 30 days before the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family.”

Omar, a Somali-born American and one of four Muslims in Congress, represents a deep-blue district.

Fox News first published a report on the raid just after 7:30 a.m. Eastern, and cited two sources who told the network the operation was related to an investigation of Omar’s immigration paperwork. Omar was resettled as a refugee in the United States with her family at the age of 12 in 1995 and was later naturalized as a U.S. citizen.

A Department of Justice official, asked for comment on the raid, told States Newsroom: “Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”

Omar said in a post on social media Monday that she “will not be silenced.”

“I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation,” she wrote on X.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., wrote in a statement on X that the president is “grossly abusing his power.”

“He has repeatedly attacked her, Somali Americans, and Minnesotans. @Ilhan has done nothing to justify a pre-dawn raid ahead of the election. I stand with my sister always,” Tlaib wrote.

Trump, without evidence, has accused Omar of being connected to a $242 million fraud scheme involving pandemic-era funds meant for hunger programs, as well as other fraud investigations in the state, and has called for her to be deported.

“There is 19 Billion Dollars in Minnesota Somalia Fraud. Fake ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan Omar, a constant complainer who hates the USA, knows everything there is to know. She should be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia, considered one of the absolutely worst countries in the World. She could help to MAKE SOMALIA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on January 18, 2026/

(News from the States reporter Ashley Murray can be reached at amurray@statesnewsroom.com . This article was republished by US Border News with permission under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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President Trump tells Minnesota to ‘fight back’ against Somali immigrants

Governor cites “unhinged social media tirade”

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President Donald Trump posted a new fulmination against Somali immigrants on his social media platform Thursday, using violent rhetoric.

“The once Great State of Minnesota is being taken over by Somali Immigrants. There is Violence, Murder, and Mayhem all over the State. The people of Minnesota must fight back,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on October 8, 2026.

He told Minnesotans the federal government was prepared to “come to your rescue,” calling on Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to “immediately ask for Federal help — and leave the rest to us!”

Walz addressed the post in a fundraising email from Small Town PAC, calling it an “unhinged social media tirade” meant to distract from high prices and the war with Iran.

“To our Somali neighbors: You are valued. You belong here. And we’re going to stand with you,” Walz wrote.

Trump called Walz, without evidence, “an incompetent thief.” Walz released his tax returns during his two runs for governor and run for vice president, and they showed he has few assets outside public employee pensions. Trump’s personal wealth, by contrast, has ballooned since becoming president.

Trump’s post echoes his speech to supporters on Jan. 6 before they violently stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. He told them: “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Trump’s missive comes amid a spate of criminal cases involving Somali American residents: the ongoing fraud crisis in safety-net programs that has led to scores of convictions of Somali Americans, a string of shootings in the Twin Cities suburbs connected to gangs of Somali American youth, and, on Wednesday, the announcement of federal charges against a Somali American teenager, who is alleged to have plotted a terrorist attack on the Mall of America.

Somali Americans have faced hostility from the president since his first-term ban on immigrants from majority-Muslim countries, but it has intensified over the past year. At a cabinet meeting in December, Trump called Somalis “garbage” and said he wants them to “go back to where they came from.” More than 80% of Somali Minnesotans are American citizens and roughly 40% were born here.

Trump, citing fraud, launched the incursion of some 3,000 federal immigration agents to Minnesota that led to the killing of two Americans.

(Minnesota Reformer reporter Max Nesterak can be reached at max@minnesotareformer.com

This article was republished by US Border News with permission under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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Federal immigration officers in The Bronx shot a man Thursday afternoon, according to police, eyewitnesses and the Department of Homeland Security.

The man is recovering in a nearby hospital, officials said Thursday night.

Eyewitnesses described a chaotic scene unfurling on a busy street around 4 p.m., as a slew of New Yorkers were getting home from work and school. As shots rang out, bystanders sheltered in neighboring businesses, the eyewitnesses said.

Iris Rosa, a school therapist, said after she emerged from a nearby shop, she saw a man bleeding on the ground in front of a car, while agents milled around, one holding a small child.

“He was all full of blood,” she said, while the child an agent held was quiet. “How could you do this? What is going on? And then I’m looking at the baby.”

In a statement posted to X Thursday night, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the shooting, saying ICE was “conducting a targeted enforcement operation” to arrest a person from the Dominican Republic who they said had a conviction for grand larceny and “multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession.”

“During the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured,” the statement read. “ICE officers immediately rendered aid. The individual is alive and at a local hospital. The FBI and HSI are on the scene. The incident remains under investigation.”

Stephani Ferrer, 30, who lives on Marble Hill, said she heard multiple shots and called 911, watching the scene from one of her bedroom windows until they carried the man away by his arms and legs.

“He was disoriented, I think because one of the guys that was holding him next to him was trying to keep him aware, trying to keep him awake by just doing some taps on the cheek,” she told Documented and The City Reporter. “You know, like, ‘hey buddy,’ like ‘stay awake, don’t fall asleep.’”

In a statement posted to X, the NYPD confirmed federal agents were behind the shooting and took the victim to the hospital. “The NYPD was not involved in the incident and was not on scene at the time of the shooting,” they said.

“The individual who was shot is at a nearby hospital and is currently conscious and receiving medical attention,” the post continued. It was unclear which hospital was treating the shooting victim.

By Thursday evening, a crowd of protesters had gathered at the scene, while NYPD officers and caution tape blocked off the street. The man’s dented car could still be seen blocking West 225th Street at Marble Hill Avenue. Two agents from the Department of Homeland Security were canvassing the area for video footage.

At an impromptu protest at the scene Thursday night, elected officials and immigrant advocates gathered to denounce the shooting.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat told the crowd the child was safe with other family members and that he had tried to visit the wounded man in a nearby hospital and been barred from talking with him by ICE agents.

“The family is shaken…by this terrible, horrible shooting,” he said.

Another crowd of protesters gathered outside the nearby New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital where the man was said to have been taken, as police and officials from Mayor Mamdani’s office stood at the perimeter.

Protesters tried to block a car of federal agents leaving the hospital, and police officers pushed demonstrators aside to clear the way, making several arrests.

The shooting occurred not far from the rooftop parking deck of a Target store where federal immigration agents sometimes muster before heading into The Bronx to make arrests, according to immigration activists.

A video posted to social media appeared to show the chaotic aftermath, with a crowd gathered as NYPD officers rushed to a car and carried a man, seemingly unconscious, out of it and into the back of a law enforcement vehicle.

“Put pressure,” one officer is heard to say as they load the man into the back seat.

Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, told Documented and The City Reporter that he spoke with the family of the shooting victim.

“Thankfully, the father is alert, from what I understand. Shot in the neck, but alive, which I’m thankful for, and his child is with the family, said Williams. “But I don’t trust the investigation that the federal government is going to try to do.”

“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement on X. “I have called the President; when we speak, I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she had talked with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the shooting.

“I expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers and urged them to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York,” she said in a statement. “I also asked that any body camera footage of the shooting be released to the public so we can establish the facts and get to the truth.”

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A perfect storm of harsh immigration enforcement, aging journeymen and a building boom for data centers is wreaking havoc on the nation’s supply of skilled trade workers.

Automakers and construction contractors say they need more access to workers through accelerated training, steady immigration and a cultural shift to encourage young people to do the hard, dirty work of skilled trades. They’re looking for plumbers, electricians, carpenters, machinists and technicians — specializations increasingly in short supply.

Worker shortages are the top reason for construction project delays, a September survey by the Association of General Contractors of America found. Applicants are there, but half of the contractors who were surveyed said too many job candidates are unqualified and need more training.

The association cited both the demand for workers building data centers and tougher immigration enforcement as contributing causes for the shortage.

“Over 50 percent of craft workers are born outside the United States. We don’t know that they’re illegal but frankly DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) is not being that discriminating in whom they pick up or who feels threatened by them,” said Ken Simonson, the chief economist for the Association of General Contractors of America. One answer is for the government to allow more worker visas for construction and other trades, he said.

“We’ve been stymied for 20 years or longer trying to get construction treated similarly to agriculture, where if you can demonstrate that there isn’t enough Americans interested in a job you can bring in somebody,” Simonson said.

Pay is rising for the skilled trades, but it’s hard to say how soon higher wages would attract more people. On social media, trades workers complain of long commutes to work sites, long waits through low-paid apprenticeships, and a feeling they’re not valued as much as office workers.

“Getting up at 4 a.m.- 5 a.m. Driving 50-plus miles to random job sites. Obviously the dirty part, which is construction sites and inhaling dust and dirt all day. Seeing people in corporate jobs in nice clothes while I’m dirty going on lunch break,” wrote a 30-year-old on a Reddit social media post in July, concluding that they should have finished a college chemistry degree.

Thousands agreed, including a 31-year-old tradesperson from Michigan who said top pay in their field, plumbing and HVAC, is attractive but that many make less than $70,000.

“Been in the trades since I was 16 and recently started going back to college,” the person wrote. “Everybody I know who chose a degree over an apprenticeship is starting to outpace me in life, buying houses and having kids while we’re check to check and getting less healthy by the day. “

These are the concerns employers have to address if they’re going to find enough workers to build homes, cars, and data centers for artificial intelligence. Ford Motor Company and the Ad Council announced a publicity campaign to bring more young people into the trades, with a video declaring “millions of skilled trade jobs are waiting for people ready to do something, with great pay, job security and work you can take pride in.”

Ford and the alliance didn’t mention immigration enforcement as an issue, but the Association of General Contractors and an unrelated survey of roofers both mentioned it as a prominent factor in reducing the supply of skilled workers.

John Burns Real Estate and Consulting, an independent housing research company, reported that many of the roofers it surveyed earlier this year saw immigration enforcement as hurting their business.

“There are no American kids willing to install roofs in Central Texas,” said one roofing contractor in anonymous quotes published by the group.

“Tough immigration reform and not enough Americans to fill the void,” said another.

“A lot of these people have been deported. The next generation is complacent and does not want to do physical work,” said a Florida roofer.

Elizabeth LaJeunesse, vice president for building products research at John Burns, said the vehemence of responses about immigration was surprising.

“They used terms like ‘They’re hunting our workforce.’ They’re describing disappearing workers,” LaJeunesse said. “Most of these firms are pretty conservative, so this is a real phenomenon we’re picking up on, that level of concern over immigration enforcement.”

Duane Musser, vice president for government relations for the National Roofing Contractors Association, said the responses are typical of what he hears from members. Immigration as well as better trade education are critical to roofing, he said.

“Advocating for solutions to workforce shortages, including expanded career and technical education programs and bipartisan immigration reform, is a top priority,” Musser said.

The DHS told Stateline in an unattributed statement that “those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear” and that “we will continue to enforce our nation’s laws and remove illegal aliens from American communities.”

In September, a Trump-appointed federal judge stayed a federal practice of entering construction sites without a warrant to investigate immigration status. One construction worker of Mexican descent in Alabama complained that he had been detained three times since 2025 despite showing a state driver’s license demonstrating that he was a citizen born in Florida.

Immigrant workers make up a majority of roofers, painters and stucco masons, according to a Stateline analysis last year.

The nation will need 1.7 million new skilled trade workers every year through 2035, according to a September report by Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades, a trade group including Ford Motor Company, toolmakers and other businesses. Training programs produce just more than half the numbers needed, and only half of those who enroll in skilled training programs finish, the report found.

Nine states were identified by the alliance report as having high demand but low supply of skilled labor: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Florida ranks first for demand for skilled workers, but last for supply, with not enough new workers coming online as building in the state booms and current workers near retirement age. The state’s Association of General Contractors chapter hopes the advancements in workforce AI will drive more young adults into construction jobs since those can’t be replaced by chatbots.

Other states have the opposite issue: ranking high for new workers but low in demand for them, based on recent hiring and future projections.

In the top 10 for worker supply but bottom 10 for demand: Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

The alliance report suggested employers themselves need to help train future workers. The companies building data centers, in particular, want those tradespeople.

“America needs hundreds of thousands of electricians, welders and fiber technicians to build AI infrastructure,” said Dina Powell McCormick, president and vice chairman of Meta, in a statement, adding that the alliance is “paying for the training, removing the barriers that keep people from stepping into these careers, and guaranteeing a job at the end of it.”

“You can’t hide lower skills in a trade, whereas middle management and white collar jobs are protected by the vagueness of the job.” -Shoua Thao, Machinist

Shoua Thao, 40, is straddling the line between trades and AI as a machinist in the computer-assisted manufacturing business known as CNC machining, which uses computer code to control production. The son of Hmong refugees in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, Thao is now experimenting with AI production techniques.

“Trades are the one career path that doesn’t lie,” he said. “You can’t hide lower skills in a trade, whereas middle management and white-collar jobs are protected by the vagueness of the job.”

Eventually trades could become a more valued career path than college, Thao said, though he has been discouraged at times by low pay and long hours that take time away from family.

“I think it will be a slow process, but eventually, sometime in the future, maybe my children’s future, trades will take over,”.Thao said.

(Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org

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Leading immigration advocates and experts sounded the alarm Wednesday on the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to undo state laws allowing some immigrants to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they reside.

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued 24 states, Washington, D.C., and the University of Delaware since President Donald Trump retook office over laws or policies that allow noncitizen students who meet certain requirements access to in-state tuition, regardless of their immigration status.

The lawsuits are part of a larger push from the administration to curb any benefits that could extend to immigrants more broadly.

Leaders of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and TheDream.US defended the state laws during a virtual press conference, while warning of the setbacks noncitizen students face to accessing affordable higher education when these policies are struck down.

The groups also released a joint report Wednesday charting the landscape of such laws and the DOJ’s legal challenges against the policies.

The administration’s challenges “limit opportunities for thousands of students and undermine the social and economic well-being of communities across the country,” said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization.

“When access to in-state tuition is taken away, many undocumented students cannot bridge the gap between in-state and out-of-state rates,” Feldblum added.

Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, called the Trump administration’s efforts “coordinated assaults on tuition equity.”

They are “just one part of a larger pattern of legal and policy barriers and restrictions being put in place that threatens Dreamers and immigrants’ educational opportunities, their stability, their safety and their futures,” she said.

TheDream.US grants scholarships to immigrant youth, including individuals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, who are also known as Dreamers.

DACA is intended to help people brought into the country without legal documentation as children. The program, created in 2012, protects participants from deportation and allows them to receive work permits and obtain driver’s licenses.

Six state laws blocked

In six of the lawsuits the DOJ filed — targeting Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas — courts have already struck down the laws.

But in a blow to the administration’s efforts against Virginia’s in-state tuition policies, a federal judge earlier this week scrapped the DOJ’s challenge, upholding the Virginia law.

Lawsuits are also pending in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington state.

Debate over 1996 law

The DOJ’s challenges center on the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which bars a state from offering in-state tuition benefits to people not lawfully present in the country if that same benefit is not granted to U.S. citizens from another state.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the DOJ’s Civil Division has noted that “colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens” and that the agency “will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF, which has sought to intervene on behalf of affected students in cases targeting the laws, described “extraordinary” aspects of the DOJ’s “litigation campaign,” including that “the administration uses very sharp tactics to attempt to prevent anyone from coming in to defend the state tuition-equity laws.”

Saenz also pointed out that all of the state tuition-equity policies across the country were enacted after the 1996 law was enacted.

“What that means is that they are using a provision that was on the books when all of these legislators acted to create laws like the Texas Dream Act,” Saenz said, pointing to the Lone Star State’s 2001 law — the first of its kind in the country — that has since been blocked.

He added that “no administration prior to this one has ever gone to court contending that that 1996 law somehow renders these tuition-equity laws passed beginning in 2001 unconstitutional or preempted.”

(News from the States D.C. Bureau reporter Shauneen Miranda can be reached at smiranda@statesnewsroom.com. This article was republished by US Border News with permission under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser and two Dominican Republic Navy vessels rescued 61 alien migrants Monday morning from a grossly overloaded, sinking vessel in Atlantic Ocean waters off the Dominican Republic.

All migrants aboard the sinking vessel were successfully rescued and transferred to Dominican Republic Navy rescue vessels.

“Thanks to the rapid response of the Coast Guard and Dominican Republic Navy rescue crews, 61 lives were saved from an overloaded, sinking vessel. However, these dangerous and unlawful voyages are increasing, and our luck will eventually run out. Do not risk your life with ruthless smugglers. Choose safe, lawful migration pathways; if caught, you could face prosecution or immediate repatriation.” -US Coast Guard Commander Matthew Romano, Sector San Juan

At approximately 5:50 a.m., the crew of the Winslow Griesser detected a suspect 30-foot makeshift vessel taking on water, approximately 12 nautical miles northwest of Cabo Cabron, Dominican Republic.

Upon arriving alongside, the cutter crew confirmed the makeshift vessel was rapidly taking on water and immediately began rescuing the passengers. Coast Guard watchstanders also deployed an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Borinquen to provide overhead rescue support, while a Dominican Air Force aircraft also responded.

Shortly after, the Dominican Republic Navy patrol boats Capella CG-108 and Algenib Ll-169 arrived on scene to assist with the rescue. Together, the crews safely resued all 61 survivors.

Just last week, a similar migrant venture capsized, dumping more than 60 people into the waters of the Mona Pass. A multi-agency response, including the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action FURA, and Dominican Navy assets, rescued 49 of the migrants and recovered three deceased. Several remain unaccounted for.

Migrants interdicted at sea or apprehended ashore will not be allowed to stay in the United States or a U.S. territory. Furthermore, individuals who arrive unlawfully may be declared ineligible for legal immigration parole options and face repatriation to their country of origin or return to their country of departure.

The Coast Guard, along with its Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast partners, maintains a continual presence with air, land, and sea assets in the Florida Straits, the Windward Passage, the Mona Passage, and the Caribbean Sea in support of Operation Vigilant Sentry. The HSTF-SE combined, multi-layered approach is designed to protect the safety of life at sea while preventing unlawful maritime entry to the United States and its territories.

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Mexico’s Defense Ministry says 500 Mexican Army and National Guard troops, supported by two Mexican Air Force helicopters, are being assigned to the Tamaulipas border with Texas after a US Coast Guard Patrol Boat crew reported exchanging gunfire with presumed cartel members on the Rio Grande near Garceño, Texas on Friday, September 26, 2026.

A week later, on Friday, October 2, 2026, the US Northern Command & Joint Task Force Southern Border announced it deployed US “forces and equipment to the Rio Grande Valley … in support of federal partners.”

The deployment of “hundreds” of US troops, which the Northern Command is calling “Operation Unified Resolve,” is part of the ongoing “Operation Ardent Vanguard,” through which Joint Task Force – Southern Border continues to provide military capabilities to protect U.S. sovereignty at the Southern Border.

The Coast Guard crew that exchanged gunfire with shooters on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande border was assigned to “Operation River Wall,” which has been underway since October 2025.

The area in which the shots were fired is a well-known smuggling hot spot controlled by the Gulf Cartel (CDG).

Cross-border shootings, while infrequent, have been occurring for years now in this area of the Rio Grande just off Starr County, Texas.

HERE’s a link to a 2025 story about that. HERE’s a link to a 2021 story about another cross-border shooting. In 2016, a US Border Patrol Agent and a Texas State Trooper were shot when the cartel and Tamaulipas State Police engaged in a firefight.

None of those incidents resulted in a military response.

But this time both countries have apparently had enough:

“The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is helping coordinate with Mexican forces deploying to the border area where U.S. Coast Guardsmen were fired upon. Mexican military commanders will communicate directly with deployed U.S. forces. Together, we intend to patrol both sides of our shared border, protect our communities, and make it more difficult for criminal and terrorist organizations to operate. Any threats from criminal or terrorist elements on either side of the border will be swiftly addressed.” - US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson

The Mexican military was already cracking down on the Gulf Cartel along the border in the State of Tamaulipas before its government announced the deployment of 500 troops there.

Late last month, Mexican soldiers apprehended more than 50 migrants as they prepared to illegally cross the Rio Grande by raft:

“On Sept. 29, Laredo Sector Border Patrol coordinated with the Government of Mexico, DEFENSA, to interdict a large group that was staged on the Mexican side ready to cross into the Rio Grande. DEFENSA encountered over 50 subjects in the area and proceeded to dismantle a raft that was near the river.” -US Customs & Border Protection

UPDATE: Interesting development: Despite deploying hundreds of troops to the Texas-Mexico border (Tamaulipas), the Mexican Government is now demanding that the US provide evidence of shots fired at the Coast Guard patrol on the Rio Grande.

What are your thoughts about the US & Mexico’s military response to the cartel activity in the Rio Grande Valley?

Share your opinions in the comments to this article.

On Friday, my news and social media feeds alerted me to an alarming development along the Texas Rio Grande border with Mexico: After a US Coast Guard Patrol Boat and Mexican Cartel gunmen exchanged gunfire, 500+ US troops were deployed in response.

I monitor both “official” and “unofficial” sources (the latter of which are often referred to as “OSINT” or “Open Source Intelligence” sources), and almost all of these reports were coming through unofficial channels, which led me to take a closer look.

So, let’s start with what we know happened (via official sources):

In October 2025, the US Coast Guard (USCG) stood up “Operation River Wall,” which has USCG small boat (“riverine”) crews patrolling 260 miles of the Rio Grande border with Mexico - the entirety of the Texas-Mexico border.

On Friday, October 2, 2026, the US Northern Command & Joint Task Force Southern Border announced it deployed “forces and equipment to the Rio Grande Valley … in support of federal partners.”

It’s what happened before that - and the timeline that is being widely reported well after that - that warrants scrutiny.

On Friday, many “unofficial sources” in my social media feeds began alerting me to an alarming story:

“A Coast Guard Patrol Boat on the Rio Grande exchanged gunfire with a Mexican Cartel, and 500+ US soldiers were sent to the Texas-Mexico border in response.”

I think both of those reports are true, but it’s the timeline of what first happened, followed by the timeline of the US response - and the narrative that has suddenly sprung up all over social media going into the weekend that gives me pause (and should give you pause as well).

The most credible of those sources, NewsNation’s Ali Bradley quoted a Coast Guard statement given to her (which I have been unable to find elsewhere) that “On Sept. 26, Coast Guard Forces Rio Grande personnel encountered gunfire from the Mexican border in the vicinity of Garceno, Texas while conducting joint interdiction operations with federal partners on the Rio Grande. Coast Guard personnel returned fire. No injuries to Coast Guard or other personnel were reported, and no damage to Coast Guard assets was reported.”

Portions of this statement were also reported by stripes.com (Stars & Stripes).

Which brings me to the most important point of this story:

The widespread social media reports that the US rushed 500+ troops to the Texas border after a cartel and a US Coast Guard patrol exchanged gunfire on the Rio Grande overlook a key fact:

The large-scale US military response to this incident occurred a week later.

I am not a military strategist, but I believe that - if this was truly a serious development - the US would NOT wait a week to respond in force.

Note that I am not questioning whether these events happened, but I am questioning social media reports of troops being “rushed” to the scene.

It’s also important to put this incident in perspective. Cross-border shootings, while infrequent, have been occurring for years now, often in Starr County.

HERE’s a link to a 2025 story about that. HERE’s a link to a 2021 story about another cross-border shooting.

Heck, I covered a cross-border shooting from Mexico directed toward U.S. federal agents in Fronton, way back in the ‘80s while working for a Dallas TV station.

And, although a Border Patrol Agent and a Texas State Trooper were actually struck by bullets in 2015 during a cross-border shootout between cartel members and the Tamaulipas (Mexico) State Police, the US military was not called in afterward.

The Gulf Cartel (CDG) has a lucrative plaza in this area, and their soldiers occasionally fire shots in the direction of the US/Texas border in hopes of intimidating U.S. federal agents and state & local law enforcement into backing away from their smuggling routes there.

What are your thoughts about the military response to the report of shots exchanged between the US Coast Guard and a Mexican Cartel along the Texas Rio Grande border?

Share your opinions in the comments to this article.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case challenging a Trump administration policy that threatens millions of immigrants with mandatory and indefinite detention while fighting their court cases.

The policy, put into place in July 2025, requires people picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to be kept incarcerated without bond if those immigrants crossed a border illegally — even if the crossing was decades ago.

The shift was part of the administration’s broad effort to deport immigrants who don’t have legal status.

Several appeals courts have struck down the policy, but the administration appealed further to the high court. If the Supreme Court agrees with most other federal judges, including Republican nominees, the result could mean that immigration courts would be required to offer detained immigrants bond hearings, which could allow them to be released until their court dates.

“Clearly it means that the Supreme Court is going to have a deciding voice here on what it looks like for mandatory detention,” said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

“Federal judges have ruled against the policy, and it’s been very lopsided,” Ruiz Soto said. “And now it comes down to a Supreme Court that has ruled at times with the administration and at times against the administration on issues of immigration.”

The Trump administration has argued that its policy is legal under a sweeping 1996 federal immigration law.

The specific case involves a Brazilian immigrant, Ricardo Barbosa da Cunha, who was arrested last year despite legal work permission and an asylum case. He entered the country illegally in 2005.

He sued for release in a New York federal court, which ordered a bond hearing, and he was released by an immigration court judge.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, upheld the ruling in April and found that the administration’s policy was illegal, saying that the policy would create “the broadest mass detention-without-bond mandate in our Nation’s history for millions of noncitizens.”

Nine appeals courts have also ruled against the policy, but two have upheld it – the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, covering Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, covering Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Lower courts have rejected the policy more than 20,000 times, and a Stateline review found even many Republican appointees were releasing prisoners held under the new policy, finding it unconstitutional.

No date has been set for oral arguments.

Even if the Supreme Court rules against the Trump policy, the results are unpredictable, Ruiz Soto said.

Immigrants could get required bond hearings from immigration judges, but those immigration judges would be under pressure to deny bond. The American Immigration Lawyers Association, a trade group, recently told Stateline that some judges are treating immigrants as a flight risk by definition and denying bond on that basis.

A ruling in favor of the administration could be devastating to immigrants who are being held, however.

“It could kind of cement how difficult it is for people to be in detention, and could then indirectly push more people to accept voluntary departure once they’re detained,” Ruiz Soto said. “‘Self-deportation’ is what the administration calls it — if you agree to leave on your own, they’ll give you $3,000.”

(Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org. This article was republished by US Border News with permission under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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