Wells residents split on town's decision to pause agreement with ICE

Brad Rogers,WGME
Thu, May 22nd 2025

WELLS (WGME) -- "This week, the Wells Police Department decided to freeze its partnership with ICE.

"The chief says it's in part because of a bill before the state legislature that would ban local police from working directly with ICE.

"The Wells Police Department is the only known department in Maine to sign a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE.

"But the police chief says they never intended to arrest immigrants.

" 'I'd like to reiterate that at no point was there ever any intent on doing proactive immigration enforcement,' Wells Police Chief Jo-Ann Putnam said.

"The now-frozen agreement set off alarms among Wells residents and seasonal businesses that rely on young people with visas to fill summer jobs, including those from Central and South America.

"CBS13 spoke with a young Venezuelan woman who is working in Wells on an H-2B visa. She says even though she's here legally, she doesn't like the idea of Wells police working with ICE agents.

"Neither does Judy Pettinga.

"The Wells Beach store owner says all this does is frighten foreign workers who are here legally."

[...]

"A bill in Augusta would ban local law enforcement from working with ICE.

"#ACLU of Maine told the judiciary committee, 'The Trump administration is terrorizing immigrants and those perceived to be immigrants, regardless of their legal status.' "

https://wgme.com/news/local/wells-residents-split-on-towns-decision-to-pause-agreement-with-ice-immigration-customs-enforcement-police-department

#ResistICE #MaineResists #Gestapo
#Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule #ICERaids #ICESucks #USPol #MainePol #MaineNews #ImmigrantRights #HumanRightsViolations #HumanDecency

So much for "family values" and "businesses" -- I guess only white families and businesses count!

'Left the kids with no father': Family devastated after #LewistonME restaurant owner arrested

Allyson LaPierre, WGME
Thu, May 22nd 2025 at 6:11 PM
Updated Thu, May 22nd 2025

LEWISTON (WGME) - "The #CantonWok restaurant in Lewiston has closed its doors after its owner, #XingFengDong, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 6.

"Dong, a 46-year-old Chinese national, is currently held without bail at the Cumberland County Jail. The records do not indicate why he was arrested.

"Dong's brother, Xing Bi Dong, expressed confusion and concern over the arrest. Speaking through a translator, he said, 'He just hopes the government can give his brother a chance.' He described his brother as 'a hard worker, a nice person, he has two kids, and he is a good boss for this restaurant.'

"Xing Bi Dong added that his brother was working with immigration authorities to obtain his green card and does not understand why he was taken into custody.

" 'He doesn't understand why the government took his brother to jail and left them feeling very sad, left the kids with no father,' Xing Bi Dong said.

"The closure of Canton Wok, which has been open on Lisbon Street for two decades, has left around eight employees, including Xing Bi Dong, out of work. The arrest has also raised concerns within Lewiston's immigrant community."

https://wgme.com/news/local/chinese-restaurant-owner-in-federal-custody-family-speaks-out-maine-ice-immigration-lewiston-customs-enforcement

So, now ICE is going after business owners?!! WTF!!!

#LewistonME #ChineseRestaurant closed, owner taken into custody by #ICE

by Aysia Reed,WGME
Thu, May 22nd 2025

LEWISTON, Maine (WGME) -- "A Chinese food restaurant in Lewiston has shut down, and the owner has been taken to jail in the custody of ICE.

"According to federal records, 46-year-old #XingFengDong is being held at the Cumberland County Jail in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"Dong is listed as a native of China and was taken into custody May 6.

"According to city records, Dong operates the Canton Wok restaurant on Lisbon Street.

"The restaurant has been open for almost 20 years, but now there is a simple 'closed' sign hanging at the entrance and no sign of any employees.

"The last Facebook post from the restaurant was on May 1, announcing Mother’s Day specials.

"Lewiston police said they were not notified about the arrest of Dong.

" 'Canton Wok is a long-standing Lewiston business and this news is surprising. I’m in the process of trying to find out more information,' Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said.

"It is unclear if or when the restaurant will reopen but on the restaurant’s website it says Canton Wok is permanently closed."

Source:
https://wgme.com/news/local/lewiston-chinese-restaurant-closed-owner-taken-into-custody-by-ice-maine-crime-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-xing-feng-dong-china-canton-wok

via @kenwhite.bsky.social‬

"Willing to bet a very large amount that most of that 413% rise in 'assaults' on ICE agents represent unarmed people attacking ICE fists with their faces and boots with their kidneys.

Because these people are lying scum."

#Trump Is Building a #GlobalGulag for #Immigrants Captured by #ICE

The U.S. is in talks with 19 nations, including #Libya, #Kosovo, #Rwanda, and #Moldova to accept deportees from other countries.

Nick Turse, Jonah Valdez
May 15 2025,

Excerpt: "In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the #GeorgeWBush administration created a worldwide network of secret prisons and torture sites as part of its global war on terror. Its crown jewel, the Guantánamo Bay detention center, was established in January 2002 as a place for the United States to hold so-called enemy combatants.

"The U.S. government chose the U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay because it was seeking a site where neither U.S. nor international law applied — a legal black hole where they could disappear people indefinitely. Over time, Guantánamo became emblematic of gross human rights abuses. “Forever prisoners” of the war on terror are still being held there today. Others caught up in America’s counterterrorism dragnet were detained at torture prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq or kidnapped and 'rendered' to CIA black sites — secret prisons in at least eight countries around the world.

"As the Trump administration has expanded the Bush and #Obama-era terrorism paradigm to cast immigrants and refugees as terrorists and gang members, it has reconceptualized rendition and even pressed Guantánamo Bay into service as a way station for Venezuelan men expelled to El Salvador."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/15/trump-ice-immigrants-deport-prisons-cecot-libya/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/07iRS

HT @w7voa

"DHS threatening to arrest several House Democrats."

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/10/trump-ice-arrest-house-democrats-new-jersey

Archived link:
https://archive.ph/TtWzh

Administration ‘actively looking at’ suspending #HabeasCorpus, #StephenMiller says

Habeas corpus, the right for an individual to challenge their detention in court, can only be suspended by Congress.

By Maegan Vazquez, May 10, 2025 at 10:49 a.m.

"White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller indicated Friday that the #Trump administration is actively considering whether it can suspend habeas corpus, the right for an individual to challenge their #detention in court.

"When asked about suspending the writ of habeas corpus as part of its efforts to deport individuals from the United States, Miller claimed, 'The Constitution is clear and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus could be suspended in time of invasion.'

“So that’s an option we’re actively looking at,” he added.

"The U.S. Constitution states that 'the Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of #Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.' Only Congress can suspend habeas corpus.

"President Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is facing an 'invasion' requiring the deportation of undocumented migrants.

However, the administration keeps losing its invasion argument in court — including earlier this week, when a federal judge said the White House has failed to prove the existence of an 'invasion' or another conflict that would justify invoking the #AlienEnemiesAct to deport Venezuelan migrants.

"The administration also recently told the Supreme Court that habeas corpus was the only way to challenge the Alien Enemies Act.

"Several legal efforts challenging Trump’s deportation efforts are based on habeas petitions."

Source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/10/what-is-habeas-corpus-suspension

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/aJRR8

#MayorBaraka of #NewarkNJ, arrested at #immigration #DetentionCenter he has been #protesting

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and CLAUDIA LAUER
Updated 7:00 PM EDT, May 9, 2025

"Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week, a federal prosecutor said.

"Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from #HomelandSecurity personnel to leave #DelaneyHall, a detention facility run by private prison operator #GeoGroup.

[...]

"Video shows the mayor standing on the public side of the gate

"In video of the altercation shared with The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not join a tour of the facility because 'you are not a congress member.'

"Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit, who said: 'They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.'

" 'I’m not on their property. They can’t come out on the street and arrest me,' Baraka replied."

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-protest-ice-newark-mayor-arrested-5a2b3fefd7da563c48d2f85831cf2194

BREAKING! Turkish #TuftsUniversity student #RumeysaOzturk to be released

May 9, 2025

"A federal judge has ordered the release of a Turkish student at Tufts University who is being held in Louisiana after US immigration officials arrested her in Massachusetts.

"Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, testified virtually at a court hearing on Friday, where US District Judge William Sessions said the student met all the conditions needed for release and lambasted the government's case against her, according to BBC news partner CBS.

" 'Her continued detention chills the speech of millions in this country who are not citizens,' the judge said.

"Ms Otzurk co-authored an opinion piece in her campus newspaper that was critical of #Israel's war. Her arrest follows the White House's crackdown on what it has classified as antisemitism on US campuses.

"Earlier this week, the judge ordered that Ms Ozturk be transferred by 14 May to immigration authorities in Vermont, where she was last held before she was taken to Louisiana.

"The judge said Friday that she should be released immediately without travel restrictions, so she can go to Vermont or Massachusetts, where Tufts is located, as needed.

"Videos of Ms Ozturk's arrest, showing masked plain-clothes officers handcuffing her and taking her into an unmarked car after a Ramadan celebration, sparked nation-wide protests.

"On Friday, the judge heard from a number of witnesses in the case, including Ms Ozturk, a doctor and a Tufts University professor.

"During her testimony, Ms Ozturk told the court about her Fulbright cholarship and her PhD work. She said her asthma condition had worsened during detainment, and at one point, had to take a short break after suffering an asthma attack on camera.

"The government did not call any witnesses in the hearing.

"After hearing from witnesses for the defence, Judge Sessions said Ms Ozturk had raised 'very substantial' claims that her #FirstAmendment and #DueProcess rights were violated. He said the only evidence the administration had against Ms Ozturk was her op-ed.

" 'That literally is the case,' he said, according to court reporters. 'There is no evidence that she has engaged in violence or advocated violence.'

"Judge Sessions told the court that the government must notify him of when Ms Ozturk is freed and said he would deny any motions to block her release."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3nd0dwlpgo

More of this, please...! #ResistICE!

Two arrested in #WorcesterMA after large crowd surrounds federal agents [#ICEAgents], police say

Timothy Nazzaro
Thu, May 8, 2025

"Two people were arrested after a large crowd encircled federal agents on Thursday afternoon.

"According to Worcester Police, they responded to a call on Eureka Street that a 'hostile crowd' had surrounded a federal agent.

"Video from the scene shows several #ICE officers being followed by a crowd while they appear to take a person into custody.

"Boston 25 News has reached out to ICE Boston for information about that investigation.

"Worcester Police say two individuals were placed under arrest 'as a result of their behavior after Worcester Police officers arrived' to the scene.

"The names of those individuals were not released and it’s unclear what charges they will be facing.

"No further information was immediately available."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-arrested-worcester-large-crowd-204801374.html

“They Actually Had a List”: #ICE Arrests Workers Involved in Landmark #LaborRights Case

“We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly #ProUnion worker leaders,” said a union official about a raid in western New York.

Noah Hurowitz
May 5 2025

"An immigration raid in western #NewYork on Friday targeted a group of immigrants involved in a landmark statewide effort by #FarmWorkers to #unionize.

"On Friday morning at around 9:30 a.m., federal agents in unmarked cars and bearing no agency insignia pulled over a bus in Albion, New York, about 35 miles west of Rochester, and took 14 people of Lynn-Ette & Sons Farms into custody. All of the detainees, who hailed from Mexico and Guatemala, were year-round employees of Lynn-Ette & Sons Farms, a family-owned business in nearby Kent, New York, which has been locked in a multiyear battle to prevent workers from unionizing.

"The company is one of five agricultural businesses that, together with a state growers’ association, have tried for years to overturn or chip away at New York’s 2019 #FarmLaborLaw. The law enshrined protections for the right of #farmworkers — whether seasonal or year-round — to seek union representation.

" 'This was strange because they actually had a list of most of the workers on the bus.'

"Several of the workers taken into custody on Friday have been active in efforts to unionize year-round employees, including at least one who has spoken publicly in favor of joining the United Farm Workers of America, according to Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for #UFW, the storied labor union.

" 'We are concerned at the appearance of targeting publicly pro-union worker leaders,' said Strater.

"Most of the workers detained on Friday hail from #Mexico or #Guatemala.

"The raid did not appear to be a broad sweep but rather a targeted enforcement aimed at specific people, according to sources who have been in contact with the families and spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity to candidly discuss a sensitive legal situation."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/05/ice-raid-farm-labor-union-new-york-ufw/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/xLMYr

'I am not afraid of you,' #Columbia student says of #Trump after release from #ICE

By Laura Romero

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

#FreePalestine #MohsenMahdawi
#ResistICE #Resistance

HT @fight

Great news for students, Palestinian solidarity + free speech!

https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-mohsen-mahdawi-released

#Trump Signs Order Requiring Nationwide List of #Sanctuary Cities and States

Story by Michelle Hackman, Tarini Parti, April 28, 2025

WASHINGTON — "President Trump signed an executive order on Monday escalating his battle against Democratic-led states and cities that don’t fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities, a key barrier to the mass deportations he has promised.

"The order directs the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to identify within a month cities and states that aren’t complying with federal immigration laws, designating them as 'sanctuary jurisdictions.'

"The cities and states on the list could face a cutoff in federal funding and possible criminal and civil suits if they refuse to change their laws or practices.

" 'It’s quite simple: obey the law, respect the law [sez the lawless #FascistRegime], and don’t obstruct federal immigration officials and law-enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation’s communities,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday at a briefing alongside Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar.

"Trump also directs the Justice Department to pursue civil-rights cases against cities or states that, in its view, favor immigrants in the country illegally over U.S. citizens. The order cites policies that treat immigrants more leniently in criminal cases or sentencing and state laws that provide immigrants in-state tuition rates at public universities but deny the lower rates to out-of-state U.S. citizens. At least 25 states have adopted such laws in some fashion.

"Sanctuary cities and states have become a major obstacle for Trump as he has sought to drive up deportations in line with his campaign pledge. Most immigrants in the country tend to cluster in large cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and the administration has a tougher time arresting those here illegally if local police refuse to assist."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-to-sign-order-requiring-nationwide-list-of-sanctuary-cities-and-states/ar-AA1DKBK7?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhoverent&cvid=914e0765d8ce4e5bfaa5b9a4e9b0c997&ei=20

A Milwaukee judge is accused of helping a man evade ICE. What do legal experts have to say?

by Eva Wen, April 25, 2025

"Legal experts say the charges against a Milwaukee judge accused of helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest are a concerning escalation of the federal government's efforts to compel local officials to assist in immigration enforcement.

"The charges stem from an incident on April 18 when agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or #ICE, attempted to arrest a Mexican citizen after a hearing in Milwaukee Circuit Judge #HannahDugan's courtroom.

"Sources told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Dugan directed the ICE agents to Chief Judge Carl Ashley's office. During that time, sources said, Dugan allowed the defendant to leave the courtroom through a side door, down a private hallway and into a public area.

"Milwaukee attorney and former federal prosecutor Raymond Dall'Osto said Dugan 'should never have been arrested or charged in the first place.'

" 'That's total B.S. It's politically motivated. It's using her as a scapegoat and a target,' Dall'Osto said.

"Dall'Osto said he has taken clients down side doors in the past and that should not been seen as 'nefarious.'

"Several legal experts said Dugan's actions appeared to be reasonable efforts to protect the integrity of the courtroom. Others said there may have been a better way to handle the situation.

"None of the five experts interviewed by the Journal Sentinel before Dugan's arrest thought she should be charged with a federal crime.

"However, the case will ultimately come down to the details of what occurred in the courtroom and whether federal prosecutors can prove Dugan's intent, they said."

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2025/04/25/fbi-investigating-allegations-that-milwaukee-judge-helped-an-immigrant-avoid-ice-arrest-dugan/83250128007/

Federal authorities arrest two #judges, escalating #Trump #immigration #crackdown

"This is a drastic escalation and dangerous new front in Trump’s #authoritarian campaign of trying to bully, intimidate, and impeach judges who won’t follow his dictates. We must do whatever we can to defend the independent judiciary in America." - #JamieRaskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

by Kevin Breuninger, Dan Mangan, Fri, Apr 25 2025

"Federal authorities have arrested a former #NewMexico judge and a #Wisconsin judge in two separate cases, accusing them of interfering with Trump administration immigration enforcement efforts."

Read more:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/25/fbi-arrest-judge-hannah-dugan-milwaukee.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us