Good morning. People took to the streets of Greenland yesterday to protest President Trump’s plans to take over the island. Food prices are soaring in Venezuela. And it’s snowing in Georgia. We have more news below, but today we start with your questions about immigration and what immigration agents can and can’t do.
Your ICE questions
Whom can Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest, and when? How many people are agents deporting? How do ICE agents feel? We asked readers for their questions about immigration and deportation. Today, The Times’s expert beat reporters answer. Civil rightsHow are the rules for ICE and Border Patrol officers different from those for local police? | Mike Bowman | Blue Bell, Pennsylvania Shaila Dewan, who covers policing, writes: Federal officers enforce federal laws, and local police officers enforce state and local laws. Federal officers may perform local law enforcement functions like traffic and crowd control only if state laws grant them that power (in Minnesota, for instance, they may do so only by request, and the state is not asking). But federal officers may take action against people who interfere with their operations or assault an officer. While the Border Patrol is chiefly responsible for borders and ports of entry, ICE officers enforce civil immigration laws within the country. They don’t need warrants to apprehend people for violating those laws if they have probable cause to believe that the person is both deportable and a flight risk. They cannot enter a private space like a home without warrants but can and do go in with local officers who have them. They do not have to advise immigration detainees of their rights. Local police, on the other hand, may arrest someone on the spot if a crime has just occurred, but otherwise they need a warrant, granted by a court, to put someone in custody.
Does the law allow agents to detain observers who are filming them without impeding their operations? | David McKenna | Little Canada, Minnesota Shaila continues: The short answer is no. Though the specifics of state laws vary, filming public law enforcement activities is broadly recognized as a First Amendment right, as long as observers do not interfere. That said, it may be a right without a remedy. The Supreme Court has not squarely addressed the issue, and officers who detain someone in violation of a right that has not been “clearly established” may be immune from being sued. Meanwhile, a federal judge told agents on Friday not to retaliate against “peaceful and unobstructive” protesters and not to stop drivers who are not “forcibly obstructing” officers. DeportationHow many people have been deported under Trump, and how does this number compare with past administrations? | Michael Frick | Palm Springs, California Albert Sun, a graphics editor who has tracked deportations, writes: I published an article today about this. Our best analysis is that since Jan. 20, the Trump administration has deported about 540,000 people. This is fewer than in either of the last two years of the Biden administration. But Biden-era deportations mostly came at the border, where migration has nearly stopped. Trump’s arrests target people already inside the country. The administration has removed about 230,000 of them, already more than the Biden administration did in four years. Where is the United States sending immigrants? What share is deported to someplace besides their own country? | Gib Sims | San Francisco, California Raj Saha, a graphics editor who has tracked deportations flows, writes: During the second Trump administration, about 43 percent of removals have been to Mexico and 49 percent to Central and South American countries, about the same share as the previous year. Removals to all other regions, including Asia, Africa and Europe, account for the remaining 7 percent. That’s based on the best available data, which covers deportations only through the end of July. Roughly 5 percent of deportees were sent somewhere other than their country of citizenship, mainly through agreements the U.S. has with Mexico and Honduras. Fewer than two dozen removals were to African nations the U.S. paid to receive migrants: Rwanda, South Sudan, Eswatini and Ghana.
What percent of the immigrants ICE arrests have criminal records? | Kristin Smude | Minneapolis, Minnesota Albert continues: From when Trump took office until October, the last date for which we have reliable data, about 37 percent of immigration arrests by ICE nationwide were of people who’d been convicted in the past of a crime. Another 30 percent had been charged at some point but not convicted. And 33 percent had no criminal record at all. That share more than doubled from a lower number as ICE’s efforts intensified. Do detainees appear before a judge before being deported? | Wayne Crabtree | Nibley, Utah Zach Montague, who covers federal courts, writes: In many cases, detainees still get an opportunity to appear before an immigration judge. But according to a recent report by the American Immigration Council, the Trump administration has vastly increased the number of people being jailed until they get the opportunity, and many are forgoing their cases rather than spend months in detention. The Trump administration also wants to speed up removals by skipping immigration hearings altogether. A judge ruled last year that an expanded use of this practice seemed to be illegal, but the administration is appealing. Immigration agentsHave ICE agents resigned rather than take part in the current crackdown? | Eileen T. Joyce | Norwalk, Connecticut Hamed Aleaziz, who covers ICE, writes: Not that I’m aware of. The ICE officers I’ve spoken with take pride in arresting and deporting serious criminals. This administration, however, is looking to remove any undocumented immigrant. One former ICE official told me during the first Trump administration that they were used to their jobs flipping from less aggressive during the Democratic administrations to more aggressive during the Republican administrations. More on Minneapolis
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Other Big Stories
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in Iran if protesters there are killed. But would U.S. military action help the situation? Yes. It could deliver a final blow to the Iranian regime — already weakened by U.S. military strikes in recent years and the ravaging of its proxy network. “Trump has the ability to obliterate its leaders and its architecture of repression, just as he did its nuclear weapons program,” The Washington Post’s Marc A. Thiessen writes. No. It would give the Iranian government a narrative about foreign agitators that it could use to justify further repression. “U.S. military strikes would allow the Iranian state to overwrite that reality, recasting a diverse domestic movement as a foreign-backed security threat,” Bamo Nouri writes for The Conversation.
The U.S. has become more autocratic under Trump. But there is still time to protest and fight back, M. Gessen writes. Trump’s use of force in Venezuela is wrong, writes Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president. Here is a column by Nicholas Kristof on China’s aggression toward Taiwan. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more.
Preserving an art form: Lacquerware artisans in Wajima, Japan, struggle to keep their craft alive after a 2024 earthquake destroyed much of the city. Battle in Brooklyn: A hip priest, a hedge funder turned philanthropist and a $10 million townhouse. Your pick: The most-clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a couple’s search for a new home in Helena, Mont. An archaeologist: Gabriel Barkay’s discoveries in and around Jerusalem changed historians’ understanding of early Jewish life. He died at 81.
A.F.C.: The Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills 33-30 in overtime, but the team will go into the A.F.C. championship game without the quarterback Bo Nix, who injured his ankle. N.F.C.: The Seattle Seahawks won a decisive 41-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers to secure a spot in the N.F.C. championship game.
“Game Changers” series by Rachel Reid: By now you might be aware of “Heated Rivalry,” the steamy HBO Max series that’s riveting a broad swath of viewers ranging from TikTok teens to middle-aged moms. The show, which follows the clandestine romance of two closeted male professional hockey players (one plays for Montreal; the other for Boston) is inspired by a six-book series by Rachel Reid, a Canadian author who recently announced that she would be adding a seventh installment to her oeuvre. Slated to come out on Sept. 29, “Unrivaled” will pick up where “The Long Game,” Reid’s last book, left off. The show’s legions of fans will have plenty of time to read all of the novels before the big day! More on books
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