A presidential pardon, Afghans in limbo and a U.S. citizen detained
Immigration officials pepper sprayed a member of Congress in Arizona.
President Donald Trump, despite his administration’s apparent desire to pursue drug traffickers, pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year prison sentence for doing just that.
The New York Times reported that Honduras has now issued a warrant for Hernández’ arrest.
Meanwhile, Honduras just had an election, in which Trump made a last minute endorsement for a right-wing candidate with many concerned about the U.S.’s attempts to intervene in the country’s politics, El Faro reported. The outlet reported those elections did not yield immediate results, with two candidates — including Trump’s choice — in a close race as the count continues.
The Intercept reported that MS-13 members threatened Hondurans to ensure their vote for Trump’s candidate.
You may be wondering what this has to do with immigration and our border regions. I remember meeting asylum seekers during the first Trump administration who had fled Hernández’ government after it used force to try to quell dissent. And if you look back historically, when the United States has meddled in the politics of our neighbors, we’ve generally ended up receiving people who had to flee the outcomes.
Leaving out Afghans
Following the alleged shooting of two members of the National Guard by a man from Afghanistan who worked with the CIA, according to POLITICO, House Speaker Mike Johnson quietly took out part of the National Defense Authorization Act that would’ve supported relocating Afghans who helped the U.S. military.
People from Afghanistan living in the U.S. are stuck in increasingly uncertain limbo after the Trump administration paused all processing of immigration requests from their country in the wake of the shooting, the New York Times reported.
NPR reported that people from Afghanistan who worked for the CIA have struggled with their mental health in the U.S., and several have died by suicide.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services turned away some people from their naturalization ceremonies because of their countries of origin, WGBH reported.
ICE Operations
A man fleeing an immigration raid at a Home Depot in Huntington Park was struck by a car, L.A. Taco reported.
The Miami Herald interviewed a U.S. citizen woman detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while on her way to work.
The Marshall Project posted a video on its Instagram of immigration officials using tear gas on protestors, journalists and other observers in Arizona. Rep. Adelita Grijalva said she was pepper sprayed in the face, KGUN 9 and the Arizona Republic reported.
The state of California is now gathering information on misconduct by federal agents.
ABC 10 reported that some San Diegans arrested at their green card interviews have been released on ankle monitors after paying bond. KPBS told the story of a Ukrainian woman who had fled Russia’s invasion of her country and who was detained at her green card interview.
The Washington Post reported that ICE is buying its own deportation planes.
HuffPost reported on an ICE memo detailing a plan for “Operation Irish Goodbye,” which would seek to detain and deport people already leaving the country on their own via the U.S.-Mexico land border. (We’ve already heard about plans to install an exit monitoring system at ports of entry along the land border based on a rule that goes into effect later this month.)
ICE is trying to deport a woman whom the U.S. fought to have extradited to charge with supplying Russia with U.S. aviation equipment before she stands trial, The Washington Post reported.
Other Stories to Watch
Federal officials arrested an activist in Atlanta, accusing him of destroying evidence after allegedly using a code to wipe his phone before it was searched by Customs and Border Protection officials, Atlanta Community Press Collective reported.
404 Media reported that a Border Patrol agent used his own Meta Ray Ban glasses to record an immigration enforcement operation, which would violate Customs and Border Protection policies.
Mother Jones reflected on a year in which the U.S. government has normalized intense cruelty toward immigrants.
The U.S. is planning to ask visitors to show five years of social media history in order to enter the country, The Washington Post reported.
The Department of Homeland Security launched a website allowing people to see information about immigration enforcement arrests of people with criminal histories. When I looked at people detained in San Diego, some had convictions for violent crimes, but others had only been convicted of illegal reentry. Many outlets, including the New York Times, NBC News, The Texas Signal and inewsource have reported on the fact that the majority of ICE arrests are of people with no criminal convictions.
I reported for Daylight San Diego that hundreds of San Diegans told their City Council that they did not want the city to continue monitoring them with Flock Safety automated license plate readers — in large part because of concern that ICE would find a way to get the data — but the council voted to keep using the surveillance technology.
