Where things stand
• A lineup of legal disputes is unfolding as the Trump administration pushes to deploy US troops to Democratic-led cities to address what it calls “violent resistance to federal immigration enforcement” but a federal judge decried as a “troubling trend” of the White House “equating protests with riots.”
• Oregon, with Portland, is pushing for an appeals court to reconsider a ruling allowing the federal government to deploy the National Guard. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is urging the court not to grant the review.
• In Chicago, a federal judge extended an order blocking National Guard troops from being sent to Illinois, as the Supreme Court weighs President Donald Trump’s request to allow deployment.
• Trump also plans to send federal agents to San Francisco as early as today for a new round of immigration and anti-crime enforcement efforts, a source told CNN, sparking sharp rebuke from city and state officials.
DHS says claims of mistreatment of pregnant women in custody “unsubstantiated, and unverifiable”
The Department of Homeland Security is calling claims of mistreatment of pregnant women in ICE custody, as outlined in a letter signed by the ACLU and other advocacy groups, “unsubstantiated, and unverifiable.”
“Another day, another disgusting attempt to smear ICE while our law enforcement targets the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” a statement from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reads.
DHS says pregnant women in ICE detention are “exceedingly rare,” currently making up 0.133% of all undocumented immigrants in custody.
“Pregnant women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care,” the DHS statement said.
Mother of “the face of Operation Midway Blitz” says daughter wouldn’t have wanted to be associated with it
The mother of Katie Abraham — an Illinois woman who authorities say was killed at age 20 in a drunken-driving hit-and-run collision by a man who was in the United States illegally — said she is breaking her silence after her daughter was made the face of President Donald Trump’s amped up immigration enforcement push in Chicago.
“Losing a child unlocked a pain I never knew existed. Losing a child to a crime adds to the depths of despair. Having my child’s legacy be associated with a politically charged and controversial operation instead of the positivity and light she contributed to those within her community is simply unbearable,” Abraham’s mom, Denise Lorence, wrote in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, headlined “My daughter is the face of Operation Midway Blitz. I am reclaiming her legacy.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in September that launched the enforcement push, which it named “Operation Midway Blitz,” in Abraham’s honor.
“I have not spoken out since it began, but as Katie’s mother, I can no longer stay silent,” Lorence continued. “The Department of Homeland Security said its immigration enforcement operation in Chicago is named in Katie’s honor. But Katie would not have wanted this.”
She said she decided to speak out after realizing the operation’s association with her daughter wasn’t going away.
“She would not have wanted to be associated with a campaign that targets Chicago — a city she not only loved but felt safe in,” Lorence said.
Her daughter wasn’t political, she avoided confrontation and “was the person people wanted to be around,” she said.
“Whether or not you agree with Operation Midway Blitz is not the story I am here to write,” Lorence wrote, but “she did not choose to be thrust into this political spotlight to advance an operation she knew nothing about.”
Lorence acknowledged that Abraham’s father, Joe Abraham, and his wife agreed that Katie’s name could be used for the operation. Joe Abraham previously told CNN the federal government failed “miserably” in protecting his daughter and that state politicians ignored her death, and by extension, “let it happen.”
New Yorkers rebuke ICE action in city
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in New York City ramps up, New Yorkers are sending a message to the federal troops.
Several hundred people marched peacefully on Wednesday in New York City’s Foley Square in lower Manhattan, holding signs including ones that read, “Defend democracy,” “ICE out of NYC now,” and “No troops in our city.”
The demonstrations followed a chaotic ICE raid on Chinatown’s Canal Street on Tuesday in which the Department of Homeland Security said 14 people were arrested.
Nine of those arrested were in the country illegally and had “violent rap sheets” including “robbery, burglary, domestic violence, assaulting law enforcement, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, drug possession and forgery,” DHS said.
In video obtained by CNN, people can be seen protesting the arrest of the street vendors and trying to intervene by stopping traffic.
Five other people were arrested – four for assaulting law enforcement and another for obstruction, DHS said.
On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James urged residents to share photos, videos and other documentation of federal immigration enforcement actions in the state. “Every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation,” James said in a news release.
The documentation can be submitted using the Office of the Attorney General’s online portal, James said.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
4 American citizens arrested on Manhattan's Canal Street amid ICE raid, congressman says
At least four American citizens were among those arrested by federal agents during a chaotic Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on Chinatown’s Canal Street in Manhattan on Tuesday, according to Democratic US Rep. Dan Goldman.
The four were released Wednesday without charges, CNN affiliate WABC reported.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Here's the latest on the legal battles over Trump's federal crackdown
President Donald Trump said he feels empowered to send troops into any city he sees fit after an appeals court ruling this week endorsed his deployment into Portland, Oregon.
The Trump administration is urging the US Supreme Court to allow a similar deployment to Chicago, and the justices are reviewing whether lower federal courts were correct to block Trump from deploying hundreds of troops to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city’s suburbs.
Here are the legal battles playing out:
California
- The Trump administration is planning to send federal agents to San Francisco as early as today ahead of an immigration and crime crackdown, a source told CNN. Plans for the deployment had not been finalized and could be called off due to publicity, the source said.
- San Francisco’s mayor announced citywide preparations to respond to deployments, and Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to sue over the action. “It might be that the Trump administration will send National Guards, or at least attempt to, in connection with and in conjunction with the ICE raids that seem imminent in San Francisco,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
- Newsom also was critical of the possible impact of deployments on upcoming elections. “You send masked men to the cities you want to militarize,” he told reporters. “You dial it up around election time. … You suppress the vote.”
- Newsom announced he will deploy the California National Guard under his command on a “humanitarian mission” to support food banks as the government shutdown stalls food benefits.
- Meanwhile, an appeals court is weighing whether to limit Trump’s ability to continue deploying members of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area.
Oregon
- A federal judge in Oregon will hold a hearing Friday over whether to dissolve or suspend a restraining order that bars the deployment of National Guard soldiers to Portland.
- The state of Oregon and city of Portland are pushing for an appeals court to reconsider its ruling allowing the federal government to deploy the National Guard.
- The brief calls for an “en banc” review, which would involve a larger group of judges from the appeals court revisiting the ruling that was handed down in a 2-1 decision from a three-judge panel earlier this week.
- The Trump administration, meanwhile, is urging the court not to grant the review.
Illinois
- US District Court Judge April Perry ordered an extension of the order blocking the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago through final judgment after she temporarily blocked the deployment in the state this month.
- The extension will likely remain in place until there’s a full trial on the issue or the Supreme Court weighs in.
Tennessee
- Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said there had been a “surge” in arrests, bookings and bail settings for misdemeanor offenses in Memphis that is linked to the arrival of some federal agents and National Guard troops to the city.
- Harris and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit last week against the governor and the state’s attorney general for allowing the deployment of the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis at the direction of Trump. A temporary injunction will be considered at a hearing on November 3, and a judge has denied a request to prevent deployment before the hearing.
Pelosi says federal agents in San Francisco could face local criminal charges
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House who represents a district in San Francisco, says immigration raids planned by the Trump administration in the city could result in criminal charges against the agents involved if people’s rights are violated.
“While the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not,” Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law – and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them.”
That threat was backed up by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who said on social media, “If a federal agent breaks the law, they must be held accountable.”
Prosecuting an on-duty federal agent would face an uphill legal battle. Federal law says a “criminal prosecution that is commenced in a State court” against a federal law enforcement officer can be transferred to federal court, where Trump prosecutors could drop the case.
Coast Guard to support CBP at Alameda base in effort to secure US borders, agency says
The Coast Guard is preparing to support Customs and Border Protection agents at Coast Guard Base Alameda starting Wednesday, bolstering efforts to secure US borders and maritime approaches, the agency said.
“This support of DHS agencies continues the Coast Guard’s operations to control, secure, and defend U.S. borders and maritime approaches,” the Coast Guard told CNN affiliate KCRA.
The Coast Guard is working with other agencies to “detect, deter, and interdict illegal aliens, narco-terrorists, and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border,” it told KCRA.
“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens – including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists – in cities such as Portland, Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“As it does every day, DHS law enforcement will enforce the laws of our nation.”
The DHS spokesperson did not respond to specific questions about how the Coast Guard base will be used.
Women report mistreatment in immigration detention while pregnant, advocates say
More than a dozen women have reported mistreatment in immigration detention while pregnant – including being placed in solitary confinement, receiving delayed and substandard medical care and being served poor-quality meals during pregnancy and miscarriage – according to a letter sent Wednesday to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and multiple Senate committees.
The letter cites interviews conducted with women held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, and the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.
The groups called on ICE to immediately release all pregnant detainees and refrain from detaining anyone known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on the letter.
One woman, referred to as Lucia, reportedly spent a night bleeding and cramping without medical attention despite repeated pleas for help, according to the letter.
She later required a blood transfusion and was informed that she had miscarried. Returned to custody, still in pain and bleeding, she was eventually deported, the letter said.
In August, a DHS spokesperson denied allegations of mistreatment of pregnant detainees, rejecting claims in a report by senators that detailed 14 accounts of inadequate medical care, poor nutrition and overcrowding.
Federal agents slated to arrive in San Francisco area for new enforcement operation, source says
The Trump administration is planning to send dozens of federal agents to the San Francisco area for a new round of immigration and anti-crime enforcement efforts as early as this week, with boots on the ground as early as today, a source told CNN.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco as his administration continues an effort to crack down on a growing list of cities it claims to be ridden with crime.
The newly planned surge, which is expected to include a large complement of US Customs and Border Protection officers, could begin arriving in the San Francisco area on Thursday, the source said.
The administration’s planned deployment of federal agents to the area was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The law enforcement source told CNN final plans for the deployment, including where agents may be assigned, have not been finalized and could be called off due to publicity in advance.
Trump previously toyed with the idea of deploying federal troops to the Bay Area when he told FBI Director Kash Patel that San Francisco was among the “great cities that can be fixed.”
