AMERIKAN GESTAPO

ICE to target all undocumented immigrants, their employers in sweeping crackdown

Acting ICE chief Todd Lyons says agents will arrest anyone who is in US unlawfully and prosecute companies that hire them

Gizem Nisa Demir |21.07.2025 - TRT/AA




US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will arrest anyone found living in the country unlawfully, regardless of their criminal history or lack thereof, and is ramping up enforcement against employers hiring unauthorized workers, the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons, said Sunday.

Under orders from the Trump administration, ICE has reinstated wide-ranging immigration enforcement policies, including so-called collateral arrests — detaining non-criminal undocumented immigrants found during broader operations — which had been curtailed during the Biden era.

“What’s, again, frustrating for me is the fact that we would love to focus on these criminal aliens that are inside a jail facility,” Lyons said in an exclusive interview with CBS News.

“A local law enforcement agency, state agency already deemed that person a public safety threat and arrested them and they’re in detention.”

Lyons said the current rise in community arrests is a consequence of states and cities with sanctuary policies refusing to hand over noncitizen inmates, forcing ICE agents to go into neighborhoods.

“I’d much rather focus all of our limited resources on that...but we do have to go out into the community,” he said.

In the first half of 2025, ICE deported nearly 150,000 people, including around 70,000 with criminal convictions, many of which were minor, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.

Lyons did not rule out reaching the administration’s target of 1 million deportations this year, citing a recent multi-billion-dollar boost in congressional funding.

“ICE is always focused on the worst of the worst,” Lyons said. “One difference you’ll see now is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio.”

He also confirmed the agency has resumed large-scale worksite raids, including recent operations at a Nebraska meat plant, a Louisiana racetrack and California cannabis farms, where over 300 unauthorized workers were arrested, including minors.

ICE will now prioritize not only the arrest of undocumented workers but also prosecution of the companies hiring them.

“Not only are we focused on those individuals...we’re focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers,” Lyons said. When asked if employers will be held accountable, he responded: “One hundred percent.”

US citizen and veteran says immigration officials detained him for days without explanation

Aabshar Ghassi | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US

JULY 18, 2025

US citizen and Army veteran George Retes on Wednesday spoke out after being arrested during an immigration raid at his workplace on a California cannabis farm, stating that he was arrested and detained for three days without explanation.

Retes shared in a video press conference organized by the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union that he works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California. He stated that he was on his way to work when he was met by federal agents. The officers then broke his window, sprayed him with pepper spray, and dragged him out of the car. He said that two officers kneeled on his back and another one on his neck to arrest him, even though his hands were already behind his back and he was covered in pepper spray.

Retes later explained that he showed up to work when federal agents had already conducted the raid and was met with a wall of protestors in addition to federal agents. He exited his car and told the officers that he was a US citizen and that he was only there to work and not to protest. He then reentered, and the officers surrounded his car and gave conflicting orders to get out of the car, pull the car over to the side, and reverse before arresting him.

According to AP News, “Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday.”

Retes said that federal agents did not allow him to contact a lawyer or his family or to shower or change clothes during his three-day detention, despite being covered in pepper spray and tear gas.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement explaining his release. She said: “He has not been charged. The US Attorney’s Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.”

On July 10, 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers executed criminal warrant operations at two marijuana grow sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo. The US Department of Homeland Security stated that “at least 14 migrant children have been rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking. ICE has transferred 10 of the children who are unaccompanied to the US Department of Health and Human Services… Federal officers also arrested at least 361 illegal aliens from both sites.” The department stated, “During the operation, more than 500 rioters attempted to disrupt operations.”

Retes provided the following statement to UFW: 

What happened to me wasn’t just a mistake — it was a violation of my civil rights. It was excessive force… I’m speaking out…for every citizen who could’ve ended up in my place that day. I’m calling for a full investigation into the actions of ICE and other agencies involved in this operation… [T]his raid didn’t just target immigrants. It hurt Americans too. I will not stay silent. I served this country, and now I’m demanding it do right by me.