Category: DHS
ICE rounds up kidnapper and child predator: ‘Thugs have no place in our communities’
A kidnapper and a child predator were apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Monday, according to a press release obtained by Blaze News.
The Department of Homeland Security, which has been tracking and sharing the “worst of the worst” immigration enforcement arrests at wow.dhs.gov, reported that ICE has nabbed more “heinous criminals.”
‘Seventy percent of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the US.’
“While sanctuary politicians and Hollywood were vilifying our law enforcement, our officers we were arresting kidnappers, pedophiles, and drug traffickers,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
The DHS highlighted four of ICE’s arrests from Monday.
The department stated that federal immigration agents captured Armando Miguel Hernandez-Valdez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Hernandez-Valdez was previously convicted in St. George, Utah, for kidnapping, possession of a controlled substance, and escape.
Armando Miguel Hernandez-Valdez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
ICE nabbed Carlos Martinez, a Salvadoran national with a prior conviction in Dallas County, Texas, for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old.
Carlos Martinez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Immigration officers captured Freddy Railandy Medina-Cruz, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was previously convicted for crimes in multiple states, including drug trafficking in Massachusetts, fraud in Michigan, and re-entry of a removed alien in Florida.
Freddy Railandy Medina-Cruz. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
The DHS also highlighted the arrest of Jianqiao Lu, a Chinese national who was convicted of criminal possession of an assault weapon in New York. According to a 2023 article from the Hudson Valley Post, Lu initially faced a 113-count felony indictment after police allegedly discovered over a dozen illegally owned firearms.
RELATED: ‘Target their families’: Fetterman slams Democrats’ absurd ICE demands, cites doxxing concerns
Jianqiao Lu. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
“These thugs have no place in our communities. Seventy percent of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” McLaughlin stated. “This statistic doesn’t even include foreign fugitives, terrorists, and gang members who lack a rap sheet in the U.S. With every arrest, we are making America safe again.”
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Civil war chatter rises when Democrats fear losing power for good
Barack Obama used the same U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics as Donald Trump. During his eight years in the White House, his administration deported more illegal aliens than Trump has.
Yet the Obama years did not feature mass protests over deportations. No governors or mayors compared ICE to the Gestapo, a comparison so obscene it should end careers. No district attorneys vowed to “hunt down” ICE agents for doing their jobs. No late-night comedians insisted that ICE agents ranked “worse than Nazis.”
Democrats once drove the country into a civil war to protect slavery. Today they court conflict to protect power.
That backlash became routine only after Trump. Two factors explain why.
First, the left hates Trump to the core. Not as a political rival, but as a personal and moral affront. This visceral, uncontrolled hatred has swallowed identities and replaced judgment. It fuels social media tantrums, office politics, family feuds, and the constant need to punish dissent. Among allies, people congratulate each other for hating the right man. For everyone else, they virtue-signal.
This hatred will not fade with time. It will persist after Trump leaves office, and it may even outlive him. Ronald Reagan hate still lingers decades after his death. Trump hate runs hotter, deeper, and more irrational. It will not burn out on schedule.
Second, the immigration fight has turned strategic.
During the Obama years, the left had not yet internalized two tactics that now help it hold power.
Once Democrats win office, many push policy as far left as state and federal constitutions allow: higher taxes, soft-on-crime governance, heavier regulation, and soaring costs that punish families. That agenda drives productive citizens out of blue cities and blue states and into red states. Conservatives hold few truly red cities now; the activist class has captured many local institutions.
Red states gain taxpayers and workers. Blue states lose them.
Democrat leaders have chosen to replace the citizens who leave, but not with similarly productive citizens. They replace them with illegal aliens.
That strategy helps explain Joe Biden’s first-day border reversals and the torrent of executive actions that followed. The signal was plain: Enforcement would relax, entry would rise, and the federal government would look away. Millions came, many without legal status. Many settled in blue jurisdictions that offer sanctuary policies and advertise benefits.
Politicians sell those benefits as “free”: child care, health care, schooling, housing programs. Taxpayers pay the bills. Debt fills the rest.
California offers the clearest example. The state has lost large numbers of residents to Texas and Florida. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) does not treat the exodus as a crisis. He treats it as ideological sorting. If taxpayers leave, he can replace the head count with people who will not challenge his machine at the ballot box.
Illegal aliens are not allowed to vote. They still count. Biden made sure of that.
The census counts residents, and those numbers drive seats in the United States House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College. Add population, gain power. Lose population, lose power. Democrats understand the arithmetic, which is why they fight enforcement as fiercely as they fight elections.
RELATED: ‘This isn’t organic’: Joe Rogan says Minnesota’s anti-ICE protests are ‘coordinated’ to induce chaos
Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images
Then comes the long game. Children born here can vote. Democrats assume those children will vote Democrat for life. They are building a future electorate while padding current representation.
Trump’s deportation strategy threatens that structure. Democrats have already watched citizens flee Illinois, New York, California, and other strongholds. If deportations also shrink the illegal-alien population those states have absorbed, Democrats lose House seats, Electoral College strength, and national leverage.
So they raise the temperature. They smear ICE as “secret police” and dare Trump to enforce the law anyway. They bait confrontation because chaos can create a veto: If streets burn long enough, Washington may flinch.
If Trump refuses to flinch, they reach for the next weapon: the camera. A clash becomes a “crackdown.” An arrest becomes “political persecution.” A dead protester becomes a martyr, and the headlines write themselves. The moral damage does not scare them; it serves them.
Democrats once drove the country into a civil war to protect slavery. Today they court conflict to protect power. They do not need tanks to do it. They need prosecutors, mayors, and media partners willing to treat law enforcement as evil and disorder as virtue.
Why ICE Exists
On January 28, 2026, the United States Department of Homeland Security released a short video honoring the life of Megan…
‘No one is illegal on stolen land’: Grammys audience goes wild over anti-ICE speeches
The 2026 Grammys seemed like a political rally at times as the audience screamed and cheered over anti-government sentiments.
Simple statements garnered standing ovations as some award winners specifically condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement in their remarks.
‘Um, f**k ICE is all I want to say. Sorry.’
After singer Billie Eilish won Song of the Year, she told the crowd that “no one is illegal on stolen land.”
This statement brought the house down, as attendees rose to their feet and nodded along with impassioned fervor.
ICE-capades
“It’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now,” the 24-year-old continued. “I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.”
“Um, f**k ICE is all I want to say. Sorry,” she added as the crowd went wild.
The audience similarly cried out like victors of an intergalactic war when Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny accepted the award for Best Urban Album, which was called “Best Música Urbana Album” by the Grammys.
“ICE out,” he began, garnering huge applause. “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans. And we are Americans,” Bad Bunny strangely said, given that ICE works to enforce immigration law.
What did not receive as much raucous applause was when the singer asked the audience to “be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”
“We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family. And that’s the way to do it, with love. Don’t forget that, please,” he said.
RELATED: ‘This isn’t organic’: Joe Rogan says Minnesota’s anti-ICE protests are ‘coordinated’ to induce chaos
Pop-star punditry
According to Variety, Eilish was joined by singers like Justin Vernon and Jack Antonoff in wearing “ICE Out” pins to the ceremony. Also included in that group were Justin and Hailey Bieber, although the singer looked incredibly unhappy to be at the event while on the red carpet.
Singer Jelly Roll was asked why he has been silent on political issues, to which he replied, “People shouldn’t care to hear my opinion, man. You know, I’m a dumb redneck. I haven’t watched enough. I didn’t have a phone for 18 months. I’ve had one for four months and don’t have social media.”
However, he went on to say that he is going to have “a lot to say” in the next week, and audiences will hear him “in the most loud and clear way I’ve ever spoke in my life.”
Shut up and sing
Comedian Ricky Gervais made a simple remark on Monday morning, mocking the celebrities for their political speeches.
“They’re still not listening,” he wrote on X, with an attached quote of his remarks from the 2020 Golden Globes, which reads: “If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world.”
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‘Target their families’: Fetterman slams Democrats’ absurd ICE demands, cites doxxing concerns
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has yet again bucked his party as tensions rise between ICE and Democrat-backed agitators.
Democrats facilitated a partial shutdown late last week after stalling a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, citing their disapproval of law enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Notably, the DHS funding bill would primarily fund FEMA and other emergency services, with the majority of ICE’s funding coming from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last summer.
‘Don’t ever, ever doxx people and target their families.’
Despite this, Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have laid out a list of demands they want to see implemented in the DHS funding bill, including a prohibition of face masks on federal agents.
Fetterman joined Republicans sounding off on the demands, arguing that their face coverings ensure that unhinged activists can’t doxx agents’ private information with the intention of endangering them or their families.
RELATED: Trump offers hilarious rebuttal to Tim Walz’s absurd Civil War analogy
Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
“The agents wearing masks, I think, primarily that’s driven by people who are going to doxx those people,” Fetterman said. “That’s a serious concern, too, absolutely. They could target their families, and they are organizing these people to get their names out there.”
“Don’t ever, ever doxx people and target their families,” Fetterman added.
Although Democrats have shown they are willing to shut down the government, the Trump administration and his political allies on Capitol Hill have indicated that they aren’t going to budge, especially on facial masks and carrying personal identification.
RELATED: ‘Justice is coming’: Border czar Tom Homan vows to stay in Minneapolis ‘until the problem is gone’
Tom Brenner for the Washington Post via Getty Images
“Those two things are conditions that would create further danger,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said. “I mean, Tom Homan told Leader Schumer himself … that ‘that’s one of the demands I’m not going to implement. I have to protect my officers.’ And when you have people doxxing them and targeting them, of course we don’t want their personal identification out there on the street.”
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Congress needs to go big or go home
Last week marked one year since President Trump returned to the White House with a mandate to reshape America’s future after four long years of the Biden administration’s failures.
Overnight, illegal crossings at the southern border were brought to a halt. DEI initiatives that picked winners and losers based on group identity were eliminated from the federal government. Lethality returned as the rightful marker of success in our nation’s military.
Despite holding a majority, Republicans in Congress have produced a historically low volume of legislation, leaving much of the Trump agenda uncodified and the deep state intact.
Under President Trump, Americans finally have leaders willing to put them first. But despite a record number of executive orders and a landmark reconciliation package that delivered the largest tax cut in American history, $140 billion for border security, and the elimination of the $200 tax stamp on National Firearms Act items, the job isn’t done yet.
Obamacare’s broken framework continues to get more expensive each year — both for taxpayers and enrollees. Young Americans remain priced out of the American dream, unable to afford a home. And despite holding a majority, Republicans in Congress have produced a historically low volume of legislation, leaving much of the Trump agenda uncodified and the deep state intact.
These challenges are precisely why Republicans were elected: to fix the mess Washington created. We cannot coast into November on “tax cuts,” nor can we pretend that the nation’s most urgent challenges will be solved through uncodified executive orders or rogue discharge petitions.
We need decisive action to address the crises facing the nation. We need to make the American dream affordable again. Congress needs the structure, discipline, and publicity of a new reconciliation bill that forces lawmakers to prioritize results and deliver tangible outcomes for the American people.
It’s time to go big or go home. Despite prediction markets giving Republicans a 76% chance of losing the majority in the House, many lawmakers don’t seem to care. Just last week, 81 Republicans joined Democrats to fund the National Endowment for Democracy — a rogue CIA cutout that fuels global censorship and domestic propaganda. Many of those same Republicans had praised the Department of Government Efficiency just months prior for freezing the NED’s funding.
Likewise, 46 Republicans joined Democrats to vote against defunding the office of federal district court judge James Boasberg, who repeatedly uses nationwide injunctions to override duly executed federal law and substitute his own radical policy preferences for those of the president.
A few short years ago, Democrats attempted to lock Trump in prison and throw away the keys.
Republicans, by contrast, can hardly muster the courage to dispense with a rogue judge.
Meanwhile, much of the work of the American people remains to be done. While the House has passed Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act twice, the Senate refuses to put it up for a vote on the floor.
On health care, members of the House Freedom Caucus have offered Americans an alternative to Obamacare’s failing architecture with market-based solutions that lower costs. Yet House moderates in our ranks, by contrast, have doubled down on stupid, joining Democrats to pass an extension of Biden’s $448 billion temporary COVID subsidies, which thankfully stalled in the Senate.
RELATED: This is what happens when a state elects a ‘moderate’ Democrat
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Despite a good-faith effort from the administration on home ownership, Americans need more than solutions that subsidize demand. High interest rates, illegal immigration, and absurd capital gains taxes are crushing the market.
If Republicans don’t act now, we may not get the opportunity again. Democrats are on record clearly stating their intention to derail the administration with subpoenas and impeachments should they assume the majority in the House. We are a nation nearly $39 trillion in debt. Americans are sick of rhetoric and half measures.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed in July 2025. If, 12 months later, we can only offer the American people last year’s accomplishments, do we expect them to believe we are legislating on their behalf?
The Republican Study Committee recently released a strong blueprint for a new reconciliation bill. The legislation would put more homes on the market by eliminating capital gains taxes on sales to first-time buyers. It includes health care reforms that empower Americans to direct their health care dollars toward insurance plans that best meet their individual needs, rather than those of their employers. The proposal also cuts over $1.6 trillion in government spending, returning a semblance of fiscal responsibility to Congress.
Republicans were elected to enact Trump’s America First agenda, not to manage decline and finance the status quo. If members of Congress fail to seize this moment, they will have no one to blame but themselves when voters decide it’s time to send them home.
Democrats Charge Forward With Shutdown Threat Over ICE Funding
‘roving, indiscriminate patrols that are endangering citizens’ lives’
Murkowski says Noem should resign over Minneapolis shootings
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) on Tuesday became the second Republican senator to call for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to step down over her handling of the Minneapolis shootings. In remarks to reporters, Murkowski called for accountability from the secretary, criticizing Noem for the “rhetoric” she deployed in the aftermath of Saturday’s fatal shooting…
Minnesota’s ‘worst of the worst’: DHS highlights arrests of repeat offenders, violent criminals in Operation Metro Surge
The Department of Homeland Security highlighted several of Monday’s “worst of the worst” arrests in Minnesota.
As part of the DHS’ Operation Metro Surge, federal authorities have captured kidnappers, pedophiles, and other violent assailants, according to a press release obtained by Blaze News.
‘Our law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest these thugs — some RELEASED from Minnesota jails — and are saving countless American lives by getting these criminals out of our country.’
DHS reported last week that it had made 3,000 arrests over the last six weeks as part of the ongoing operation.
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) highlights more worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens arrested in Minnesota yesterday during Operation Metro Surge, including those convicted of kidnapping, child rape, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, assault, and possession of fraudulent documents,” Tuesday’s release reads.
Among those arrested on Monday was Bee Yang, an illegal alien from Thailand. Yang was issued a final order of removal in 2015 after he was convicted of numerous crimes, including first-degree kidnapping, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, felony larceny, and larceny of a motor vehicle.
Bee Yang, Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Federal agents arrested Wilson Johny Encalada Molina, an illegal alien from Ecuador. He was issued a final order of removal in 2023 after he was charged with third-degree rape of a child under 17 years old, malicious punishment of a child, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Wilson Johny Encalada Molina. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Ian Mwangi Irungu, from Kenya, was also nabbed by immigration agents. He was previously convicted of selling heroin and dangerous drugs.
Ian Mwangi Irungu. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana, from Honduras, was previously convicted of assault.
Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Immigration agents captured Sergio Quintero Romero, an illegal alien from Mexico with a final order of removal from 2012. He was previously apprehended by law enforcement three times for illegally entering the U.S. Romero was also accused of attempting to defraud the immigration system by presenting a fraudulent lawful permanent resident card to an immigration official.
Sergio Quintero Romero. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Federal law enforcement officials also nabbed Oliverio Otoniel Francisco-Esteban, an illegal alien from Mexico. He was issued a final order of removal in 2015. DHS reported that Francisco-Esteban has been removed from the U.S. five times, and he was previously convicted of three counts of driving under the influence of liquor, possessing fraudulent immigration documents, illegal entry, and re-entry. Francisco-Esteban currently has an outstanding warrant in Ohio for failure to appear.
Oliverio Otoniel Francisco-Esteban. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
“Just yesterday, DHS law enforcement arrested several repeat offenders including a criminal illegal alien convicted of kidnapping, robbery, felony larceny, and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated in the Tuesday press release.
“Our law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest these thugs — some RELEASED from Minnesota jails — and are saving countless American lives by getting these criminals out of our country. 70% of all ICE arrests nationwide are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Check out more of the worst of the worst we arrested in Minnesota at wow.dhs.gov/Minnesota,” McLaughlin added.
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Sundance VIPs take 10-minute protest break in between screenings
What one report called “arguably the shortest of protests in recent memory” rocked the Sundance Film Festival for about 10 minutes on Sunday evening, as around 100 people gathered in Park City to voice their opposition to the ICE raids in Minnesota.
The diminutive demonstration echoed statements made by big-name festival attendees like Edward Norton and Olivia Wilde
‘Turn on your phone light for a minute or two.’
‘Melt’ down
Actress Natasha Lyonne posted a promotional flyer for the event, called “Sundancers Melt Ice,” which read, “Join us tonight to remember Alex Pretti and Renee Good” and “quietly register our collective protest.”
Pretti was recently shot and killed by federal agents during a violent scrum, while Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent as she hit him with her car.
“Turn on your phone light for a minute or two,” the flyer added. “Silent, respectful, together.”
Chants encounter
The 10-minute event included protesters chanting “Love melts Ice! Love melts Ice!” according to Deadline, which noted that actor Elijah Wood (“Lord of the Rings”) turned out to offer his support.
“The folks who have been unlawfully gunned down in Minnesota — it’s awful,” Wood said.
“Here we are at this film festival that is about bringing people together; it’s about telling stories from all over the world. We’re not divided here; we’re coming together,” he continued.
Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Sign decline
The film festival is no stranger to progressive protests; in 2024, demonstrators flooded the streets of the small town to protest on behalf of Palestine, holding signs like “stop the genocide” and “end the occupation.”
“Ceasefire, now!” was chanted by the group, followed by “Free Palestine!”
In 2017, Sundance saw what is recognized as likely the largest protest to take place in Park City, when between 5,000 and 7,000 showed up on Main Street for a “Women’s March on Main,” the day after President Trump was inaugurated for his first term.
