It’s business as usual for President Donald Trump's deportation offensive despite the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections.
asserted
It → ’ → elections
In Los Angeles, masked immigration officers in body armor blocked a hospital emergency room driveway in a heavily Latino neighborhood early Saturday.
asserted
officers → block → neighborhood
In central Alabama, twin 19-year-old brothers from Venezuela were arrested while driving back to college a day after the election.
asserted
brothers → arrest → election
Advocates reported arrests from California to Michigan to Massachusetts.
asserted
Advocates → report → Massachusetts
After Democrats trounced the GOP and won control of the next Congress, Trump said his immigration crackdown may have been “too tough” and suggested it was time to sit down with the rival party.
“I’d love to do something on immigration,” he said in an interview with CBS “60 Minutes” recorded Friday.
uncertain
he → trounce → Minutes
Hours later, he named Stephen Miller, the architect of his hardline immigration agenda, as his new chief of staff.
asserted
he → name → staff
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, said his orders had not changed.
asserted
orders → say → ?
“Deportations will continue,” Mullin wrote in an online post the day after the election, warning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes no days off and that “this includes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Election Day.”
asserted
this → continue → Thanksgiving
María Bilbao, a campaign coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in Miami, said she has received at least one call a day from someone detained in South Florida since the election.
asserted
she → say → election
“Everything remains exactly the same.
asserted
Everything → remain → ?
The arrests have not ceased at all,” Bilbao said.
asserted
Bilbao → cease → ?
Florida Highway Patrol officers and ICE agents have detained people in their cars, as well as places including supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations.
asserted
officers → detain → supermarkets
Immigrants under supervision have also been arrested when they showed up at ICE's Miami office for their appointments.
asserted
they → arrest → appointments
Officers assembled outside a Los Angeles hospital
Erick Gasca, 31, got home Friday night after an evening playing board games with friends.
asserted
Gasca → assemble → friends
He lives near Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles.
asserted
He → live → Angeles
An “unprecedented” number of vehicles with tinted windows and no license plates were parked near the hospital's emergency room entrance, he said.
asserted
he → park → entrance
“I thought they were going to raid the hospital or something,” he recalled.
asserted
he → think → hospital
The Department of Homeland Security declined to explain the officers’ presence there, though Bill Essayli, the top Justice Department prosecutor in Los Angeles, said they were bringing a detainee for medical treatment.
asserted
they → decline → treatment
Essayli said two people were arrested for assaulting federal agents.
asserted
people → say → agents
“ICE does not target hospitals, schools, or churches,” DHS said in a statement.
asserted
DHS → target → statement
The agents' presence attracted some 30 residents and passersby.
asserted
presence → attract → residents
Footage shot by Gasca’s cousin, Michelle Rivera, shows protesters shouting and officers pinning someone down.
asserted
officers → shoot → someone
The hospital said it wasn't involved.
asserted
it → say → ?
“White Memorial does not participate in immigration enforcement,” hospital president Daniel Fontoura said in a statement, adding it would not let such activities "compromise our commitment to patient care and safety.”
A couple is arrested at the Phoenix airport
A married couple from Orlando, Florida, was arrested Saturday at the airport in Phoenix while traveling to a funeral.
asserted
couple → participate → funeral
Gustavo Romanello and Agustin Baccega, both from Argentina, have work permits while they seek asylum after entering the United States about six years ago, according to Jonathan Batchelor, a family friend.
uncertain
they → have → Batchelor
A mutual friend died Friday and the couple was visiting for the funeral Saturday.
asserted
couple → die → funeral
As the couple left the airport, two casually dressed officers asked if one was Agustin Baccega.
asserted
one → leave → airport
Batchelor heard the officer say, “Asylum seekers are not in the United States legally.”
asserted
seekers → hear → States
Batchelor said he could hear Romanello walking alongside his husband during the arrest and asking the officers how to collect his things.
uncertain
Romanello → say → things
Batchelor said they then asked what his name was, "and then the guard said, ‘Oh, do you have another set of handcuffs?
asserted
you → say → handcuffs
”
The voices grew distant, and the call then ended.
asserted
call → grow → ?
Both men remain in detention centers.
asserted
men → remain → centers
They worked as acrobats in Florida and had no criminal record, Batchelor said.
“This is just taking good people who have been following the rules out of their lives and out of the lives of those who rely upon them and care about them,” Batchelor said.
asserted
Batchelor → work → them
DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the arrests.
asserted
DHS → respond → arrests
Twin brothers seized while driving back to college
The brothers were headed back to college after visiting their parents when they were stopped in a small city in central Alabama.
asserted
they → seize → Alabama
Luis and Carlos Orta-Santoro, 19-year-olds born in Venezuela and living in the U.S. for four years, are soccer players at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama.
asserted
Luis → bear → Hanceville
Relatives say they have pending asylum applications, valid work permits, and no criminal records.
asserted
they → say → applications
“Our family is devastated,” said their aunt, Carolina Orta.
asserted
aunt → devastate → ?
DHS said that while they had entered the country legally, they had “overstayed in defiance of our laws,” and their case would be heard by an immigration judge.
asserted
case → say → judge
It said pending asylum applications do not confer legal status in the U.S.
asserted
applications → say → U.S.
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
