Trump administration says ‘top MS-13 national leader’ arrested
Win McNamee/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. has arrested a top MS-13 gang member, according to a post on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“I’m proud to announce that early this morning our brave law enforcement officers conducted a successful operation that captured a top MS-13 national leader,” Bondi posted. “DOJ will not rest until we make America safe again.”
The photo shared on X by Bondi showed a major operation in northern Virginia with FBI officials, including Director Kash Patel, and dozens of officers.
At a press conference on site, Bondi, Patel and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin touted the arrest of a 24-year-old who was allegedly a top-3 MS-13 gang member.
Bondi touted the operation as a success, lauding the teamwork of the various agencies involved and said she personally witnessed the collaboration.
“America is safer today because of one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13, he is off the streets,” she said. “This guy was living in a neighborhood right around you. No longer. Thanks to the great men and women of law enforcement, this task force that we have created is remarkable, using incredible technology that we will not discuss, to catch and apprehend these horrible, violent, worst of the worst criminals.”
Officials did not release the name of the individual they arrested.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Thursday morning it was a “big win” for Americans.
“This was a very violent individual who was picked up in a home with five children present,” she said. “So our communities are safer this morning, it’s a good day.”
President Donald Trump celebrated the arrest in a post on his social media platform, applaud his “border czar,” Tom Homan.
“Just captured a major leader of MS13. Tom HOMAN is a superstar!,” Trump wrote.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
Ilya Kukhar, 26, was charged on Thursday for impersonating an ICE officer after he allegedly drove a vehicle that “displayed prominent emblems with large letters spelling ‘I.C.E’ along with a pseudo-seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” the Fife Police Department said in a statement on Thursday.
At approximately 5 p.m. on March 16, police responded to a 911 call of a “suspicious vehicle at the Emish Market,” a Ukrainian grocery store in Fife, Washington, officials said.
The vehicle, which had no license plates, was identified as a black 2019 Ford SUV and was later confirmed to be a former patrol car for the Tukwila Police Department, officials said.
The presence of the vehicle “appeared intentional, targeting a Ukrainian grocery store” which indicated a “deliberate effort to intimidate and draw attention to itself,” police said.
Witnesses told officials that the “occupant(s)” of the vehicle were “recording employees and customers on video, causing alarm and concern,” police said.
Once police arrived on the scene, the vehicle left, officials said.
The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed that the vehicle was not an official DHS unit, leading the police — in coordination with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations Seattle field offices — to look into this incident, officials said.
In response to a bulletin posted by the Fife Police Department, officials in Tukwila “identified the vehicle as one of their former patrol cars,” officials said.
Previously, it had been “removed from their fleet after being involved in a collision,” officials said. Once it was no longer in service with the City of Tukwila, an insurance company sold it to a private buyer, police said.
After “numerous tips” and the assistance of Tukwila Police, the “primary suspect in this case” was identified as Kukhar, officials said. Police have not said if there are other suspects involved.
Kukhar, who is “not employed by any federal law enforcement agency,” has been charged with one count of Criminal Impersonation in the Second Degree.
He is currently not in police custody and his initial arraignment is scheduled for April 11, officials said.
Facebook / Village of Mount Pleasant Police Department
(MOUNT PLEASANT, WI) — I scream, you scream, a 4-year-old boy has called the cops after his mother ate his ice cream, police have said.
The incident occurred last Tuesday in the town of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin — located seven miles west of Racine — when police were contacted by a 4-year-old boy who said his “mom being bad,” according to a statement released by the Village of Mount Pleasant Police Department last week.
“Officer Gardinier and Officer Ostergaard were dispatched for a 911 hangup,” authorities said. “A little boy called 911 saying his mom was being bad and needed to go to jail.”
When officers arrived at their home, the young boy said, “his mom ate his ice cream and needed to go to jail for it.”
He also told police that “he no longer wanted her to go to jail and just wanted some ice cream.”
The good-spirted officers subsequently left the home once they verified that this was indeed the reason why they had been called out but they returned back the next day, this time to surprise the boy with some ice cream “after he decided he didn’t want mom in trouble anymore,” police said.
The responding officers weren’t the only ones to find humor in the situation either.
“I’m not saying he’s right. All I am saying is I understand,” said one person responding to the Village of Mount Pleasant Police Department’s post about the incident on social media.
“At least he knows how to call for help,” said another response. “It could save someone’s life one day!”
The officers involved even took a picture with the 4-year-old after the whole incident was over and were able to find humor in the situation.
“I love hearing about our amazing officers creating positive relationships with kids,” another social media user said. “Keep the good news coming!”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge temporarily blocked the deportation of eight asylum seekers on Thursday, but the move was too late for one woman who her lawyers believe has already been deported by the Trump administration.
Despite seeking asylum in the United States to escape a violent former partner, according to her legal team, the woman was sent back to Ecuador this week — just hours before a court blocked her deportation — where her lawyers fear she might be killed.
“Plaintiff N.S. fled Ecuador to escape horrific violence and kidnapping by her former partner—a police officer who called her anti-indigenous slurs while raping her, beating her, and holding his gun to her head—and fears that he will kill her if she is removed,” her lawyers wrote in a filing to the court, adding that the woman was held captive by her former partner.
Her rapid removal comes as immigrant advocates raise concerns that the Trump administration is hastily carrying out deportations of migrants while disregarding their asylum claims and in spite of active litigation to stop their removals.
According to court records, the woman entered the U.S. around Jan. 26 and asked for asylum after turning herself in to immigration officials. But as of Wednesday, court records show she had not received a “credible fear” interview, one of the first steps in determining eligibility for asylum.
Her lawyer Keren Zwick, a litigation director at National Immigrant Justice Center, said she has not made contact with the woman since Wednesday evening ahead of the court hearing and believes she is en route to or back in Ecuador where her life is in danger.
“I’m very worried about her wellbeing. She fled because she is facing domestic violence, and she fled a partner who threatened to kill her and held her captive and went looking for her when she tried to escape,” said Zwick “I feel sure that he will continue to do that and if he learns that she’s back in the country I think her life is in danger.”
During Thursday’s hearing, lawyers with the Department of Justice told the court that one of the asylum seekers may have already been in deportation proceedings, Zwick said.
Zwick said that the Department of Homeland Security has been unwilling to provide information about the state of her clients removal or intervene to stop the deportation.
“Their agency is not being helpful,” she said. “We haven’t been able to get clear information.”
DHS declined to comment or confirm if N.S. was deported to Ecuador.
A DOJ attorney representing the case did not respond to a request for comment.
As the Trump administration rapidly scales up deportation efforts, immigration advocates have criticized the administration for steamrolling removals with little regard for pending lawsuits or attempts to claim asylum.
In a separate case last week, the Trump administration deported three men to Venezuela just one day after a court order blocked their transfer to Guantanamo Bay. In other legal cases, the Trump administration has been accused of intentionally violating court orders.
“If we’re living in a world where the U.S. government thinks it’s okay to remove a person and asylum seekers … without giving them any opportunity to pursue protection, that’s just a complete subversion of our asylum,” Zwick said.
While today’s court order came too late to prevent what Zwick and her team say is a deportation, lawyers for asylum seekers will return to court next week to fight against their imminent removal to countries including Afghanistan, Ecuador, Brazil, and Egypt where their lawyers say they fear they’ll face persecution or violence.
The request to block the deportation of the eight asylum seekers is linked to an ongoing lawsuit the ACLU and other groups filed against the Trump administration earlier this month, challenging the president’s invocation of a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes the president to “suspend the entry of all aliens” when their entry “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
The eight asylum seekers who brought the case come from different home countries but each fear the same outcome if they are removed from the U.S.
According to court records, two plaintiffs fled Afghanistan due to fears that the Taliban might persecute them over their support for the United States. One plaintiff said they suffered kidnapping, rape and torture by the hands of a Ecuadorian cartel before fleeing to the United States. Another said they were jailed and tortured in Egypt due to their pro-democracy views.
“There is no legitimate governmental or public interest in the unlawful removal of the Individual Plaintiffs to countries where they face persecution or torture,” lawyers for the asylum seekers argued.
