Free Republic

As pathways to freedom have narrowed in immigration courts across the United States, a record number of detainees are giving up their cases and voluntarily leaving the country. Last year, 28% of completed immigration removal cases among those in detention ended in voluntary departure, a higher share than in any year prior, a CBS News analysis of decades of court records found. That figure only appears to be climbing as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown widens and detention populations swell. The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. The analysis...

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has added 18 more Nigerians to its list of criminal aliens slated for deportation under its "worst-of-the-worst" category, raising the total number to 97. The new additions, whose offenses include wire fraud, mail fraud, and identity theft, are part of a nationwide operation targeting convicted immigrant offenders. This follows last week's listing of 79 Nigerians, reflecting the Trump administration's intensified enforcement policy. The DHS stated the arrests fulfill a mandate to begin mass deportations with the most dangerous offenders. Key Points: - The individuals face removal to Nigeria, alongside the permanent stigma...

It’s useful, if unserious, for congressional Democrat leaders this week to have issued a list of demands in exchange for votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration law enforcement. The administration should see it as a reminder that the default position of Democrats is “pretend to support deporting illegal aliens while overcomplicating the process so as to render it impossible.” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, published the demands in an open letter on Wednesday, detailing 10 things they say are needed to strike a deal on...

Those who claim President Barack Obama deported illegal aliens more "humanely" make the following assertions: a) ICE didn't go into the streets under Obama; b) there were no street activists/protesters/agitators; c) ICE only deported those with criminal records beyond illegal entry or illegally overstaying; d) Obama's deportation numbers largely include "returns" or those deported at the border; e) the Obama administration did not engage in "lawlessness"; and f) ICE and/or Customs and Border Patrol arrested only illegal aliens after first securing a judicial warrant. As for a), under Obama, ICE did go into the streets, including into the interior and...

A Feb. 6 ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals states that illegal aliens who never presented themselves at a port of entry can be held without a bond until they are deported.A three-judge panel voted 2-1 to reverse a lower court's decision.Victor Buenrostro-Mendez had sued US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, Acting ICE Houston Field Office Director Matthew Baker, ICE John Linscott, ICE Director of Houston Contract Detention Facility, and Houston Warden Contract Detention Facility of CoreCivic Martin Frink.The case was consolidated with...

A federal appeals court delivered a victory for the Trump administration on Friday night by backing its mass detention policy that locks up most people it intends to deport. The three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas split on the ruling with two judges ruling that the Trump administration had the correct interpretation of the immigration law when it comes to the ability to detain people that will be deported, according to Politico. “That prior Administrations decided to use less than their full enforcement authority … does not mean they lacked the authority to do more,”...

On Monday Indiana lawmakers upgraded an immigration bill to require sheriffs to honor immigration detainers, require hospitals to identify illegal aliens using Medicaid, and penalize employers that hire illegal labor.State Rep. J.D. Prescott successfully amended Senate Bill 76 in committee Monday to incorporate key measures of a stronger enforcement bill he proposed in the House, known as the Fairness Act. The bill now goes to the full state House for a vote and then back to the Senate to accept the amendments.“The goal is to get this into a bill where the state of Indiana can partner with the Trump...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is buying up warehouses across the country to build a massive network of detention centers.

The new lawsuit is part of a wave of litigation seeking fines for undocumented immigrants for failing to depart the country.The Trump administration sued a Virginia woman for almost $1 million as part of an escalating drive to get undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. by levying court-imposed fines.The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Richmond, seeks $941,114 plus interest from Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz for allegedly failing to leave the U.S. for more than three years after a Justice Department appeals panel ruled against her in an immigration case in 2022.Officials appear to have arrived at...

Capitol Hill Republicans are nervously chattering amongst themselves about whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem could be the first member of President Donald Trump’s second-term Cabinet headed for the exit. They’re looking in the wrong direction: They should be focused on whether they’re headed for the exits, too. The big question facing Republicans in Washington and across the country isn’t who should run DHS, but how they can respond to the obvious questions about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents are doing their jobs.

Hollywood actress Natalie Portman breaks down in tears because Trump is deporting illegal aliens Natalie Portman cried zero tears for the countless women who are severely murdered or raped by illegal aliens Natalie Portman cried zero tears for the countless women like Iryna Zarutska who were brutally murdered by criminals the Democrat party repeatedly let out. I don’t think Natalie Portman’s emotional compass can be trusted. You?

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (RNS) — “We have orders of deportation,” said a volunteer in a raised voice, posing as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and pounding on the sanctuary door. “What you’re doing is harboring.” Inside the sanctuary, hundreds of trainees blocked the large wooden double doors. One called out, “We’re exercising our First Amendment right to freedom of worship.” The handful of faux ICE agents moved to a different entryway. As they pried open the side door to the sanctuary, some trainees held up phones to record the encounter while others blew whistles. The scenario was part of a...

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave a briefing Monday afternoon to, in part, distill the latest on the Trump administration's plans to bring law and order to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the first official White House press briefing since Saturday's shooting of leftist protester Alex Pretti by a Customs and Border Patrol agent, and the weekend's events were clearly top of mind for everyone in the briefing room. Leavitt spoke first of the administration's disgust for the efforts of Democrats and hard-left agitators to disrupt "the will of the people;" President Trump has spoken previously of his dismay at...

Pic of Kahlil The Trump administration is moving to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian born anti Israel activist and Columbia University graduate who was arrested by ICE, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly rallies behind him. video of Mamdani bloviating about Khalil's free speech Speaking at a press conference in Brooklyn, Mamdani insisted Khalil should be allowed to stay in New York, calling the planned deportation “an attack” and claiming it is part of a wider effort to silence speech tied to pro Palestinian activism. Khalil became a national figure after helping lead the aggressive anti Israel demonstrations...

Pro-Palestinian activist and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil — who the Trump administration has accused of being pro-Hamas — is going to have to make the North African country of Algeria his new home, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday.The move comes after an appellate court decision cleared the way for the Syrian-born activists’ removal.🚨 BREAKING: Pro-Palestine radical foreigner Mahmoud Khalil to be DEPORTED TO ALGERIAPresident Trump's DHS has WON in court, the activist judge was overturned, and Khalil will be sent OUTGOOD RIDDANCE! 👋🏻👋🏻pic.twitter.com/bYJeZFf922— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 22, 2026IN A BAD MOUD: Trump Admin Scores...

President Trump is restoring law and order. Transcript Summary Well, I think every day we get a murderer off the streets of Minneapolis. The public is safer, and President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people. And we literally have arrested and detained thousands of illegal criminals in Minnesota since President Trump came back into the White House. And I've never met a family that ever said, oh, I wish you would have left that rapist free. I wish you would have left that murderer on the streets. So we're just so thankful that we have a president...

A Cuban national in the country illegally, Robyn Argote Brooks, has been arrested after authorities said he rammed two ICE vehicles in San Antonio with his car. He did so as vehicular attacks against ICE officers have increased by 3,200% in one year and targeted attacks against federal agents have exponentially increased nationwide. “A criminal illegal alien rammed ICE vehicles in San Antonio, sending an agent to the hospital. Organized groups are obstructing immigration enforcement across the country, putting officers and law-abiding civilians at risk. These criminals must be arrested,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a social media post commenting...

In a major win for the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ended a Biden-appointed district judge’s blockade on the deportation of a pro-Hamas foreign activist on Thursday. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated orders from New Jersey-based District Judge Michael Farbiarz regarding the detainment and attempted deportation of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. As law professor Mark Goldfeder previously wrote in these pages, Khalil — a Syrian-born green card holder — was detained by federal authorities last year “on the charge that he ‘led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist...

After three hours of parsing American case law, for once I share Donald Trump’s exasperation. See, many a naif, including yours truly three hours ago, would have thought the Democrats’ “sanctuary cities” unconstitutional. A sanctuary city instructs its local police force to cease all co-operation with federal immigration agents. The constitution’s supremacy clause dictates that federal law overrules local law, just as rock crushes scissors in the hand game. For subjurisdictions to offer refuge from big meanie federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the aptly cold-hearted sounding ICE) should not, legally, be possible.It’s possible. The work-around is the 10th Amendment’s “anti-commandeering...

The Trump administration apologized in court for a “mistake” in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student who was detained trying to fly home to surprise her family for Thanksgiving, but still argued the error should not affect her case. Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old Babson College freshman, was detained at Boston’s airport on Nov. 20 and flown to Honduras two days later. Her removal came despite an emergency court order on Nov. 21 directing the government to keep her in Massachusetts or elsewhere in the United States for at least 72 hours. “On behalf of the government, we...