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Eighteen Pittsburgh SWAT officers were sickened by suspected fentanyl while assisting federal officials on a series of raids in the West End of the city Wednesday morning, authorities said. Residents awoke to a large law enforcement presence as Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State police assisted Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security investigators and U.S. Postal Inspectors with serving search warrants and making arrests at three separate locations in Elliott, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Margaret Philbin. ICE was the lead agency on the raids at two houses on Lakewood Street and one on Bond Street as part of an ongoing drug...

A federal judge in San Francisco has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Wells Fargo bank of denying loans to immigrants who came to the U.S. as youngsters and have been allowed to remain here. Denial of loans based on citizenship status violates a federal law, passed in 1870, and a California civil rights law, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney said Thursday in rejecting the bank’s attempt to dismiss the proposed nationwide class-action suit. Wells Fargo, according to the suit, has a policy of granting loans only to U.S. citizens or to noncitizens who have become permanent legal residents and...

The city of Chicago says it plans to file a lawsuit against the US Justice Department on Monday over new stipulations placed on federal law enforcement grant money requiring local police departments to assist in federal immigration actions. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office said in a statement that the Trump administration's "latest unlawful misguided action undermines public safety and violates" the Constitution. He said the city is challenging the administration "to ensure that their misguided policies do not threaten the safety of our residents." [Snip] "Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values, and we are and will remain a...

A previously deported illegal alien in Johnston County, North Carolina, is accused of attempting to rape an 89-year-old elderly woman in her home. Jose Campuzano-Ramirez, a 52-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, is being held on bail after being charged with breaking into the woman’s North Carolina home, assaulting, kidnapping, and attempting to rape her, according to the News-Observer. According to police, Ramirez allegedly broke into the 89-year-old’s home and tried to rape her, but eventually fled before authorities responded. K-9s chased Ramirez, catching him and arresting him for the incident. Police arrived at the scene and noticed that the elderly...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved Thursday to again punish so-called sanctuary cities, this time threatening to deny federal crime-fighting resources to four cities beset by violence – including Stockton San Bernardino – if they don’t step up efforts to help detain and deport people living in the country illegally. The Justice Department sent letters to cities struggling with gun violence, telling them they will be ineligible for a new program that aims to root out drug trafficking and gang crime unless they give federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice before releasing someone in custody who is...

The "fiscal drain" of illegal immigrants on American taxpayers is about 6 times the price of deporting them, according to a new study that bolsters the Trump administration's bid to remove criminal illegals and cut overall immigration costs. The Center for Immigration Studies on Thursday said in a new report that deportation costs an average of $10,854. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that includes apprehension, detention, and processing. Letting illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., results in a bill to taxpayers of $65,292 "for each illegal immigrant, excluding their descendants," according to Steven A. Camarota, director of research at...

The Justice Department began calling illegal immigrants "illegal aliens," breaking from the Obama-era language of "undocumented," "unauthorized," or "migrants." The change came last month in a press release announcing Attorney General Jeff Sessions' meeting with the families of victims of crimes by illegal immigrants. This week an official statement heralding tougher rules for sanctuary cities also used the term. "So-called 'sanctuary' policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes," the document read. Some were outraged at the language switch, noting that "word choice is important," as Chicago...

Homeland Security triggered a waiver Tuesday allowing the department to bypass environmental and other land protection laws in order to begin building and testing President Trump’s new border wall. The waivers apply to San Diego, where officials already plan to upgrade miles of existing fence, but where they’ll also stage a competition this summer to build and test prototypes for Mr. Trump’s wall. It’s the first in what’s likely to be a series of waivers that will be needed as wall construction ramps up. Officials insisted they will still try to be mindful of local impacts as they work on...

Police in New York City expressed frustration about not being able to stop naked panhandlers from harassing the public because most of them are illegal aliens. Their status makes it difficult to enforce tickets because of Mayor de Blasio’s sanctuary city policies. The city established “Designated Activity Zones” (DAZ) in 2016 to provide a place for “costumed characters” a place to work for tips. Some of these panhandlers, called desnudas, are nude women wearing painted on costumes. Law enforcement officers frequently decline to ticket panhandling violations because most of them are illegal aliens, the Daily Mail reported. A proposal to...

The news of the day concerns a repeat offender, so we will begin with the news, then move on to the analysis: Sergio Jose Martinez, age 31, having been deported twenty times previously, was arrested in Portland, Oregon on July 24, having broken into the home of a 65-year-old woman, where he raped and beat her, then stole her car, a 2011 Toyota Prius. Now held on two million dollars bond, the police and prosecutors are gathering evidence for trial. Mr. Martinez’ long criminal record includes both felony and misdemeanor convictions over the years, such as repeated border-jumping, burglary, and...

There has been shift in the language that the U.S. Department of Justice is using in its press releases, and it’s not sitting well with some. The DOJ, under the leadership of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has now begun using the term “illegal aliens” to refer to immigrants who do not have the proper paperwork to be in the United States. Advocates for immigration reform contend that the term “illegal” is a “racial slur” and believe it is dehumanizing. Instead, they prefer if the term “undocumented immigrant” is used. “They’re using a legally inaccurate term that’s deployed to unfairly label...

Thousands of undocumented immigrants in Merced County don’t have health coverage, but advocates supporting the #Health4All campaign say there are ways Merced County could help that could possibly benefit everyone. This week, Building Healthy Communities Merced, or BHC, a nonprofit group funded by the California Endowment, released a report outlining ways the county could potentially provide services for undocumented immigrants. BHS has estimated there are about 25,000 undocumented residents living in Merced County. Last year in California, undocumented children under age 19 became eligible for full-scope health benefits under Medi-Cal, that was able to give thousands of children insurance. Elizabeth...

President Trump gave an impassioned speech on Friday, vowing to "destroy the vile criminal cartel" MS-13 -- but some in the media lambasted him for talking tough about the brutal gang, and instead presented sympathetic coverage of the group known for carrying out gruesome murders. Trump's Friday speech on Long Island, where MS-13 gang members have wreaked havoc, highlighted his plan to crack down on gang violence and enforce immigration policies to prevent criminals from illegally entering the United States. "[MS-13 has] transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields. They’re animals. We cannot tolerate as a...

The Justice Department issued a new warning to sanctuary cities Tuesday, saying they must prove they fully cooperate with immigration agents in order to claim federal law enforcement grant money. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said jurisdictions that don’t allow federal agents into their prisons and jails, and that refuse to give at least 48 hours’ notice before releasing illegal immigrants, will lose money.

WASHINGTON The White House signaled on Wednesday that President Donald Trump will not support a new bipartisan plan to protect young undocumented immigrants — so-called “Dreamers” — from being placed back in line for deportation. A White House official told McClatchy that Trump would not sign a new DREAM Act being crafted by a bipartisan team led by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Thomas Homan said Tuesday that he plans on sending hundreds of agents to sanctuary cities in the near future as part of a major crackdown on illegal immigrants. Homan told the Washington Examiner Tuesday that he plans to address "ludicrous" sanctuary cities. "In the America I grew up in, cities didn't shield people who violated the law," Homan told the publication. “What I want to get is a clear understanding from everybody, from the congressmen to the politicians to law enforcement to those who enter the country illegally, that ICE is open for...

Days after Judicial Watch exposed a new policy banning Phoenix police from contacting the feds after arresting illegal aliens, alarming pressure on the city council and chief of police has forced officials in Arizona’s largest city to postpone the order. Crafted at a Hispanic advisory committee that promotes open borders, the policy also prohibits officers from asking about suspects’ immigration status. The new policy’s two principle measures violate key provisions of a state law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and leave the city vulnerable to costly lawsuits. In the aftermath of Judicial Watch’s story, which included a copy of...

House Republicans said Tuesday they’ve included $1.6 billion in funding for President Trump’s border wall in their new homeland security spending bill, setting up fight with Democrats who have vowed to block any wall funding — even if it means sending the government into a partial shutdown. GOP leaders said the $1.6 billion fully meets Mr. Trump’s request to begin wall construction, which includes 32 miles of new border fencing in Texas, 28 miles of levee wall along the Rio Grande Valley, also in Texas, and 14 miles of replacement fence in San Diego. The bill also adds 500 new...

President Donald Trump’s executive orders to increase enforcement and follow existing immigration law is leading some illegal aliens to self-deport. In a report by the Pueblo Chieftain, sources told the local newspaper that illegal immigrants, fearful of being prosecuted and deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are self-deporting primarily back to Mexico. “Sources report that some undocumented families have left the area for Mexico rather than run the risk of having a parent arrested or even sentenced to prison for immigration violations,” the newspaper reported. According to the report, families began self-deporting after a total of 14 illegal...

The federal crackdown on illegal immigration is causing anxiety among Europeans who have long been able to fly under the radar even though they're living in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided to The Associated Press show that more than 1,300 were deported from October 1, 2016 through June 24. That pace is likely to exceed last year's federal fiscal year total of roughly 1,450 European deportees. Romanians make up the largest share of European deportees, followed by citizens of Spain, the United Kingdom, Russia and Poland.