The first flight of migrants to Guantanamo Bay took off Tuesday, and Fox News Digital obtained some of the first images of migrants boarding a military plane for a detention center.
Trump announced last week he would instruct the Pentagon to prepare the site to hold around 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” at the military base.
“I can also confirm that today the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
US BEGINS FLYING MIGRANTS TO GUANTANAMO BAY
This image shows migrants boarding a flight to Guantanamo Bay.(Department of Homeland Security)
“And so President Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem are already delivering on this promise to utilize that capacity at Gitmo for illegal criminals who have broken our nation’s immigration laws and then have further committed heinous crimes against lawful American citizens here at home.”
The first flight was scheduled to leave Fort Bliss with about a dozen migrants on board. They will be separated from the 15 detainees already there, who include alleged 9/11 planners, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
“Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust their countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back,” Trump said last week of the migrants being sent there. “We’re going to send them to Guantanamo.”
TRUMP-ERA SOUTHERN BORDER SEES MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS PLUMMET BY OVER 60% AS NEW POLICIES KICK IN
A migrant prepares to board a flight to Guantanamo Bay.(Department of Homeland Security)
About 380 service members are supporting the holding operations at Naval Station Guantanamo, U.S. Southern Command said Tuesday, adding that the number of service members will continue to fluctuate based on DHS requirements.
The Trump administration has not said how much it would cost to expand Guantanamo, which was established in 2002 to detain foreign militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
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This image shows migrants boarding a military flight to Guantanamo Bay.(Department of Homeland Security)
It’s part of a broader effort by the administration to launch a “historic” deportation operation. Trump announced Saturday that Venezuela had agreed to take back its nationals who are in the U.S. illegally, days after a diplomatic spat with Colombia that resulted in that nation also agreeing to take back flights of illegal immigrants.
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Trump on his first day in office deployed the military to the border and declared a national emergency, while also enacting measures to prevent migrants from being able to claim asylum in the U.S.
DHS has since taken a number of measures to free up ICE agents to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, and officers are frequently arresting over 1,000 a day.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
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President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration continues with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials making several criminal arrests over the last week in left-leaning “sanctuary” cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Denver and Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia
ICE agents conducted a worksite enforcement operation at a car wash in Philadelphia that led to the arrest of seven illegal immigrants, six from Mexico and one from the Dominican Republic.
The operation took place at a Complete Autowash in North Philadelphia Jan. 28. It was prompted by reports that employees at the car wash were being subjected to labor exploitation.
After the arrests, Brian McShane, acting field office director for Philadelphia ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations, said “the successful execution of this worksite enforcement operation underscores our determined commitment to national security and public safety.
BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN SAYS HE WOULD ‘SEEK PROSECUTION’ IF NJ GOVERNOR SHELTERED ILLEGAL MIGRANT IN HOME
ICE Philadelphia arrests seven in worksite enforcement operation(U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
“We were able to apprehend individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States. These operations highlight the dedication and diligence of our officers and agents in protecting our communities from potential threats by enforcing immigration laws in accordance with U.S. laws and Department of Homeland Security policies.”
ICE Philadelphia also recently arrested Luis Gualdron-Gualdron, a suspected member of the Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua who has a criminal record that includes indecent assault of a person under 16 and harassment. ICE arrested Gualdron-Gualdron without incident despite the agency’s detainer against him being ignored by the Northampton County Prison.
ICE Philadelphia also removed a Mexican illegal immigrant, Raymundo Rojas Bacilio, who is wanted for rape in his home country. The office also removed Dominican national Yermanny Suarez Laureano, who is wanted in his home country for homicide.
Boston
Arrests have also continued in the Boston area, which has strong sanctuary policies in place limiting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.
ICE SNAGS CRIMINAL ALIEN PAROLED 17 YEARS INTO LIFE SENTENCE FOR PREGNANT WOMAN’S MURDER
ICE Boston arrests a Salvadoran national Jan. 30, 2025, charged with sexually assaulting a Massachusetts resident. (ICE Boston)
In the last week, ICE announced the arrests of several illegal immigrants, including criminals charged with rape of a Massachusetts resident, sex crimes, murder and gang involvement.
One of the migrants, Salvadoran national Jose Garcia-Salmeron, 34, is charged with raping a Massachusetts resident. Despite being arraigned on rape charges by the Chelsea District Court, the court ignored an ICE detainer against Garcia-Salmeron and released him from custody in July 2024.
Another migrant, 37-year-old Haitian national Jean Yves Ovilme, is charged with assault and battery and indecent assault of a person 14 years or older. Another, Cesar Augusto Polanco, 59, has been convicted in a Massachusetts court of murder. He was serving a life sentence and is now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Finally, another illegal immigrant, reputed Guatemalan MS-13 gang member Luis Adolfo Guerra-Perez, 19, was arrested by ICE Jan. 22. Guerra-Perez illegally entered the country and was released into the interior in 2021 and is charged with drug and weapons crimes.
DEM GOVERNOR BACKS ICE ARRESTING ‘CRIMINALS’ DESPITE VOWING TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ AGAINST TRUMP DEPORTATIONS
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended an illegally present Salvadoran national convicted of sexually assaulting a Virginia resident when officers with ICE Washington, D.C., arrested Nicolas Alberto Hernandez-Lopez, 46, Jan. 15, in Fairfax County, Va.(ICE Washington D.C.)
Washington, D.C.
ICE officials in Washington, D.C., arrested a Salvadoran illegal alien named Nicolas Alberto Hernandez-Lopez, 46, who is charged with sexually assaulting a Virginia resident.
Hernandez-Lopez was previously removed from the country in 2023, but he unlawfully reentered the country at an unknown date and location, according to an ICE statement. He is currently in ICE custody.
Patrick Divver, acting field office director for Washington, D.C., ICE enforcement and removal operations, said Hernandez-Lopez “illegally reentered the United States, and then victimized a resident of our Virginia community. This is not something that the officers of ICE Washington, D.C. will tolerate.
“We will continue our mission of arresting public safety threats and removing egregious alien offenders from our Washington, D.C., and Virginia neighborhoods.”
VICTIMS IDENTIFIED IN DC PLANE CRASH INVOLVING AMERICAN AIRLINES JET AND MILITARY HELICOPTER
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Luis Fernando Melendez-Rivera, 27, an illegally present Mexican national wanted for aggravated homicide in Mexico, in Denver, Colo., Jan. 31.(ICE Denver)
Denver
ICE has also made several criminal arrests in Denver, whose Democratic mayor, Mike Johnston, has been among the most vocal opponents of Trump’s immigration crackdown in the country.
One of the illegal migrants arrested, Luz Maria Ramirez-Monreal, a Mexican national, is charged with child abuse, burglary, strangulation and kidnapping. Another Mexican national arrested includes 48-year-old Juan Benitez-Ortega, who is charged with felony assault and kidnapping.
A third illegal alien recently arrested by Denver ICE officials is Mexican national Luis Fernando Melendez-Rivera, 27, who is wanted for aggravated homicide in his home country. According to ICE, Melendez entered the country through the Denver International Airport in 2022.
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ICE and DEA migrant raids NYC(Drug Enforcement Administration New York)
Seattle
ICE officials in Seattle also arrested four criminal illegal aliens who have been either convicted or charged with crimes related to sexual assault.
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Pedro Garcia-Lopez, 47, a Mexican citizen, has been charged with theft, lewd acts with a child under 14 and sexual battery. Rubi Jeronimo Cruz, 22, a citizen of Guatemala, was convicted of DUI with reckless driving and charged with rape of a child. Manuel De Jesus Zavala-Martinez, 40, a citizen of El Salvador, has several criminal convictions, including assault with sexual motivation and assault with a deadly weapon. Lastly, Jaspal Singh, 29, a citizen of India, was charged with assault with sexual motivation.
“Protecting our communities and preventing further victimization is of paramount importance to ICE throughout the Pacific Northwest,” said Drew Bostock, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle field office director. “These arrests reinforce the message that the presence of illegal criminal threats will not be tolerated.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy revealed he is housing a immigrant at his home and dared the Trump administration to do something about it.
Murphy made the admission during an interview this past weekend with Blue Wave New Jersey, a progressive grassroots organization.
“Tammy [Murphy] and I were talking about – I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to. And we said, you know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage,” the Democrat governor said.
“And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her,” Murphy added, seemingly hinting that the person may be an illegal immigrant. Fox News Digital reached out to Murphy’s office for more information, but they did not immediately respond.
DEMOCRATS RAIL AGAINST ‘EGREGIOUS’ ICE RAID IN NEW JERSEY AFTER MILITARY VETERAN QUESTIONED
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he is housing at his home “someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to.”(Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The revelation comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been conducting operations in New Jersey, most notably with a raid in Newark in late January.
TRUMP SHARES UPDATE ON DRONES SEEN FLYING OVER NEW JERSEY
ICE recently conducted a worksite raid at a car wash in Philadelphia, arresting seven individuals, with six being from Mexico and one from the Dominican Republic.(U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
“Public trust is essential to public safety. Our office has requested more information from the Trump Administration about the recent immigration enforcement action in Newark so we have a clear understanding of the facts of this case,” a spokesperson for Murphy told PIX11 following that operation.
New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy and Gov. Phil Murphy speak at the 15th Annual Induction Ceremony for the New Jersey Hall of Fame on Oct. 29, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. Gov. Murphy recently said he and his wife are letting an immigrant live on their property.(Bryan Bedder/Variety via Getty Images)
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ICE did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Trump border czar Tom Homan told Fox News in December that knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal immigrant from ICE is a “violation of the law.”
EXCLUSIVE: Republican lawmakers representing the Northern Border Security Caucus are looking to meet with border czar Tom Homan about the “overlooked” northern border — with Homan telling Fox News Digital he is keen to work with them “ASAP.”
Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., have written to Homan, congratulating him on his new role as border czar in the new Trump administration.
“As this new administration begins, we, as co-chairs of the Northern Border Security Caucus, want to highlight the importance of protecting the Northern border, which as you well know has been overlooked considering the ongoing crisis at our Southwest border,” they write to Homan, in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES NEW NORTHERN BORDER DEAL, FENTANYL COALITION WITH CANADA AS IMMIGRATION CRISIS RAGES
Migrants are seen crossing the U.S. northern border.(Customs and Border Protection)
While the overall numbers of migrant encounters are vastly outnumbered by the southern border, with just under 200,000 encounters for FY 2024, it has seen a sharp increase in numbers during the Biden administration. In FY 23, there were more apprehensions than the prior 10 years combined.
“The Northern border has faced an unprecedented rise in encounters during the last administration with FY2024 encounters rising nearly 82% over FY2022. The number of unaccompanied children encountered skyrocketed 262% in the same period,” the lawmakers say. “The Swanton Sector, where a Border Patrol agent was shot and killed on January 20th, has seen an outrageous 1,720% increase in encounters from FY2022 to FY2024.”
NORTHERN BORDER SECTOR SEES 550% INCREASING IN MIGRANT APPREHENSIONS LAST FISCAL YEAR
Chairman Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., leads the first public hearing of a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempts against then-former President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024.(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Kelly and Zinke announced the reintroduction of the caucus earlier this month for the 119th Congress. The 24-member caucus calls for secure borders and looks to raise awareness of the immigration issues facing the states at the border with Canada.
Telling Homan that he has made it clear that he shares “our same vision for a more safe and secure Northern border,” they invited him to a meeting with the caucus on how “Congress and the new Administration can work together to secure the Northern Border.”
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) speaks at Montana State University on Aug. 9, 2024 in Bozeman, Montana.(Michael Ciaglo)
In response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, Homan said he will “engage with them ASAP on ways to secure the northern border to decrease illegal crossings of aliens and narcotics and address the national security vulnerabilities.”
The caucus was founded in 2023 as numbers were spiking at the northern border, and the members have raised concerns about the number of migrants on the terror watchlist who have crossed via the border. They have noted that 87% of all terror watchlisted individuals encountered at ports of entry were apprehended at the northern border.
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In 2023, then-President Joe Biden announced a new deal with Canada that means that migrants who attempt to cross illegally between ports of entry into either country will be returned. It updated a 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement, which did not deal with illegal immigration.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
EXCLUSIVE: The number of migrants arriving at the southern border has dropped by over 60% since President Donald Trump took office last week, new data obtained by Fox News Digital shows.
There were 7,287 migrant encounters at the southern border in the first seven days (Jan 20-26) after Trump’s inauguration by both Border Patrol between ports of entry and by the Office of Field Operations (OFO) at ports of entry, with a daily average of 1,041 encounters a day.
That compares to 20,086 encounters in the seven days in the final days of the Biden administration (Jan 13-19) prior to Trump’s inauguration, averaging 2,869 encounters a day.
BORDER AGENTS RECORD SHOCKINGLY LOW NUMBER OF ILLEGAL CROSSINGS ONE WEEK INTO SECOND TRUMP PRESIDENCY
US Army soldiers patrol the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 24, 2025. US President Donald Trump ordered 1,500 more military personnel to the border with Mexico as part of a flurry of steps to tackle immigration, his spokeswoman said on January 22. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
That equals more than a 63% decrease in the number of encounters at the southern border.
President Trump entered office last week and immediately declared a national emergency at the southern border, and ordered the expulsion of migrants without the possibility of asylum.
He also shut down the Biden-era use of the CBP One app that allows migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry so they can be allowed into the U.S. via humanitarian parole. The numbers suggest that the moves are having an impact at both the ports of entry and for those crossing illegally.
COLOMBIAN LEADER QUICKLY CAVES AFTER TRUMP THREATS, OFFERS PRESIDENTIAL PLANE FOR DEPORTATION FLIGHTS
Fox News reported on Monday that fewer than 600 people crossed illegally into the U.S. on Sunday, and that not a single of the nine sectors received more than 200 illegal crossings. The Del Rio sector – which is the same sector that would sustain over 4,000 crossings per day during the height of the border crisis in December 2023 – only recorded 60 crossings.
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Trump has sent the U.S. military to the border, ordered the continuation of wall construction and has shut down additional parole programs, including the processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
President-elect Donald J. Trump and President Joe Biden attend inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States takes place inside the Capitol Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., Monday, January 20, 2025.(Kenny Holston/The New York Times/Pool via Getty Images)
Separately, his administration has launched a mass deportation program, quickly racking up daily arrests of more than 1,000 as raids take place in sanctuary cities including Boston and New York City.
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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem oversaw one of the raids on Tuesday in New York City, saying that Immigration and Customs Enforcement caught “dirtbags” — including an illegal immigrant with kidnapping, assault & burglary charges.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
CEO of Goya Bob Unanue and Fox News contributor Sara Carter join ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss the Goya Cares initiative teaming up with Tom Homan to locate missing migrant children.
Goya Cares is teaming up with Trump border czar Tom Homan and investigative journalist Sara Carter to track down trafficked migrant children and reunite them with their families.
“We were involved in the movie Sound of Freedom, where we became aware of this tremendous evil of trafficking. So, with that awareness, we formed a coalition of different people and organizations that, to raise awareness, we’re going into schools… to bring awareness to this problem, because before that, we weren’t aware that thislast administration was actively bringing this in,” Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue said on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend,’ Sunday.
“We’ve gone from 85,000 children missing to 340,000, but they’re not missing. They’ve been sold. They’re purchased, basically, and then handed off to sponsors. Forty children at one address — that’s not a home. It’s a business.”
ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACTIVIST EXPOSES HOW ‘SLAVE LEDGER’ IS BEING USED BY SMUGGLERS TO CONTROL MIGRANTS
An American flag flies outside the Goya Foods Inc. corporate office and distribution warehouse in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S., on Monday, April 23, 2018. (Timothy Fadek/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Goya Foods is America’s largest Hispanic-owned food company that produces and distributes items in the U.S. as well as Spanish-speaking countries. The company launched the Goya Cares initiative in 2021 to focus on combating child trafficking and advocating for children’s mental health.
Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor, says solving the child trafficking crisis will require “huge cooperation” with federal, local and state law enforcement officials, among others.
“There’s no way to stop this kind of crisis alone. Everybody has to be working together,” she said.
“With Goya Cares, we’re able to get out there and educate students in the schools. We’re able to find, within the communities, those kids that may be trafficked, that may be afraid they can’t go to someone, feel safe and report what’s happening, but then it’s the aftercare that’s the most important…”
LATINO COMMUNITY GOING ‘HEAD OVER HEELS’ FOR TRUMP, GOYA CEO CLAIMS: WE’RE ‘FED UP WITH BEING EXPLOITED’
Incoming “border czar” and former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan visits Camp Eagle where members of the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety officers convene for a Thanksgiving meal in Eagle Pass, T (Scott Stephen Ball for The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Aftercare focuses on mental health and reconnecting children with their parents or guardians.
“We know that children have been trying to contact relatives. HHS has a hotline. Some of these children have called that hotline. These children are going to find their way back to safety because Tom Homan is going to be leading that effort with President Trump,” Carter continued.
“And the people who are trafficking these children in the United States need to be held to the full extent of the law. They absolutely have to be punished. There is no way that we can allow this to continue to happen. We’re a nation that is based on principles and morals, and we can’t sit around, and we can’t accuse anyone else of doing anything if we’re not willing to take care of the problem that has happened in this country because of a wide open border under President Biden.”
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Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue on President-elect Trump turning around the Latino vote and his hope for economic and national security improvement.
Border Czar Tom Homan warned that daily deportation numbers are set to rise in the coming weeks as President Trump’s administration begins to expand its operations.
Homan made the comment during a Sunday appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz. The border chief says the administration is currently only targeting violent illegal aliens, but that will soon change.
“You’re going to see the numbers steadily increase, the number of arrests nationwide as we open up the aperture,” Homan said. “Right now, it’s concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That’s a smaller population. So we’re going to do this on a priority basis. That’s President Trump’s promise. But as that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide.”
“When you talk about the aperture opening, the estimates of those who have been convicted or arrested in the past are 700,000 to over a million. So after you do that, then you go after everybody who is there illegally?” Raddatz asked.
Incoming Trump ‘border czar’ Tom Homan speaks with Fox News.(Fox News)
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table because it’s not okay to, you know, violate the laws of this country. You got to remember, every time you enter this country illegally, you violated a crime under Title Eight, the United States Code 1325, it’s a crime,” Homan responded.
“So if you’re in a country illegally, you got a problem. And that’s why I’m hoping those who are in the country illegally, who have not been ordered removed by the federal judge, should leave,” he added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt released this image Friday, writing on X that “deportation flights have begun.” A Mississippi lawmaker is proposing paying bounty hunters to help deport illegal immigrants. (White House)
The statement comes after Homan warned sanctuary cities across the U.S. that their policies will not prevent deportations, and will instead endanger communities, federal agents and illegal aliens.
Sanctuary cities are defined by a policy of not turning over illegal aliens to federal authorities when they are arrested. The aliens are then often released back into the community.
Homan urged officials in sanctuary cities to help with the effort on “Fox & Friends” last week. “Work with us, because you’ve forced us into the community.”
He continued, “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll find the bad guy, but when we find him, he’s going to be with others, others that may not be a criminal priority. But guess what? If they’re in the United States illegally, they’re going to be arrested, too.”
President Donald Trump vowed mass deportations of illegal aliens.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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“I want to save lives. A secure border saves lives,” Homan said. “When President Trump locks this border down, less women and children will be sex trafficked in this country, less aliens would die making that journey. Under President Biden, we’ve had a record number of people die crossing that border [and a] 600% increase in sex trafficking.”
Fox News confirmed Sunday that Tom Holman is in Chicago with Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to observe and support the immigration process here in the city.
Fox News’ Matthew Finn contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
