New Orleans prepares for possible federal immigration crackdown
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(NEW ORLEANS) — The federal government will be targeting New Orleans soon as its next city to ramp up immigration enforcement, sources with knowledge of the plans told ABC News.
At least 200 border patrol agents are expected in the city in the coming weeks, according to the source, who noted that plans are preliminary and could change.
The pending buildup of agents comes two weeks after the Border Patrol and other federal agencies increased their presence in Charlotte, North Carolina, and made over 250 arrests.
Greg Bovino, the commander-at-large of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), personally oversaw that effort and is expected to lead the New Orleans surge, sources said.
Bovino teased “next level” immigration enforcement in an X post Saturday, but didn’t say where.
“Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, immigration enforcement is going next level,” he said.
Although Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, has supported proposals for a federal surge and asked for the National Guard to be deployed in his state, schools and businesses have been bracing for the increased federal presence.
Several schools have sent warnings to parents and teachers in anticipation of the increased federal presence, with some offering free rides to school, according to Nola.com.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Secret Service agents believe they have cracked a plot that could have crippled the telecommunications network — and law enforcement functions — in the nation’s largest city as more than 150 world leaders descend this week on New York, officials said on Tuesday.
“The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement.
Agents were first tipped off last spring, and officials believe the plot is connected to the Chinese government, according to one law enforcement source briefed on the probe.
The threat was uncovered as part of the Secret Service’s normal work of protecting the president, his family and key administration officials, the source said.
The agency declined to specify how the plot was uncovered, but a law enforcement official briefed on the case said agents stumbled onto it while investigating threats to three people, including one with direct access to President Donald Trump.
No one has been arrested yet, officials said. The probe is ongoing.
Agency officials said they were reluctant to discuss key details because of the ongoing investigation as well as international sensitivities, given the fact that they believe a foreign government was apparently involved.
Secret Service personnel along with officers from the New York Police Department and other federal agencies said they seized hundreds of servers and more than 100,000 cellphone SIM cards in multiple locations around the New York metro area.
The Secret Service is still working to determine what all of the equipment was meant to do and whether there was a specific target. There was enough equipment to send 30 million anonymous texts per minute — more than enough to bring the region’s interconnected phone systems to its knees, according to the Secret Service.
It was not clear that the equipment was supposed to be triggered either during the United Nations General Assembly or in connection with it, officials said. Investigators said they do not believe there is a direct threat to the gathering, but in the current climate of fear caused by wars around the world and political violence in the United States, Secret Service officials said they would not be taking any chances. Investigators are also looking into the possibility that there are other locations.
The UNGA kicked off Monday at the United Nations headquarters on the East Side of Manhattan. Trump is scheduled to address the gathering Tuesday. The gathering concludes on Sept. 29.
(NEW YORK) — A crew dressed in neon construction vests stole a safe containing jewelry — valued at more than $3.2 million — from a home in Queens, New York, after breaking in through a back door, police said Tuesday.
The theft occurred on Oct. 16, just after 2 p.m., when the suspects entered the Jamaica Hills-area home.
Once inside, the thieves removed a safe and jewelry valued at about $3.2 million and then fled in a blue Hyundai Elantra, police said.
It is not clear whether the home was occupied at the time, but the NYPD said no injuries were reported in the incident.
Police said two sought individuals in connection with the break-in appear to be male and were last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, black pants, black sneakers, a neon construction vest, a white construction hat, eye protective wear and were seen carrying black backpacks.
The third sought individual is described as a male and was last seen wearing a white hoodie sweater, black pants, gray sneakers, black gloves and seen operating and exiting a blue Hyundai Elantra.
The jewelry heist clad in construction gear came just days before a group of thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing $102 million worth of jewels, including crowns, necklaces, earrings and a diamond-encrusted brooch that once belonged to Emperor Napoleon and his wife.
On Oct. 19, two of the thieves dressed as construction workers used a cherry picker to get up to the second floor of the museum, where they cut through the window of the Apollo Gallery using angle grinders, authorities said.
Upon entering the gilded gallery, the thieves used power tools to cut into the glass cases to reach the precious jewels, investigators said.
The entire theft took about seven minutes, according to investigators, and the stolen jewelry remains missing.
Security video of Morgan Geyser. (Madison Police Department)
(NEW YORK) — Morgan Geyser, who in 2014 stabbed a friend 19 times to appease the fictional character “Slender Man,” was located Sunday night after she allegedly cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and left a Wisconsin group home where she had been a resident, authorities said.
Geyser was taken into custody in Posen, Illinois, police confirmed to ABC News.
Before being located, Geyser was last seen in Madison around 8 p.m. on Saturday with an adult acquaintance, police said in a statement posted on social media, which included a recent surveillance image of Geyser.
Geyser was found Sunday night at a Thornton’s truck stop with another person, according to Posen Police, who said the pair took a bus to Posen, and were both taken into custody.
Police later said the person traveling with Geyser was a 42-year-old man, who was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification. He was released, but remained at the police station, Posen police said. Authorities said they would not provide the man’s name, booking photo or details of his involvement.
“Geyser will be held until transfer to Cook County for an extradition hearing at 26th and California,” the department said, referring by address to the Criminal Court Administration Building in Chicago. It was not immediately clear when that hearing would take place.
Posen is about 25 minutes south of Chicago.
The police department said it was notified of the 22-year-old Geyser’s disappearance on Sunday morning.
Geyser’s mother, Angie Geyser, said in a statement to ABC News earlier on Sunday, “If you see Morgan, please call the police. Morgan, if you can see this, we love you and just want to know you are safe.”
In March, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren ordered that Geyser be released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and sent to a group home after three psychologists testified she was prepared for supervised release.
As part of her release, Geyser was ordered to wear a monitoring bracelet.
Geyser, according to police, cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and left the group home sometime Saturday night.
Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, released a statement on Sunday asking Geyser to turn herself in, saying it was “in her best interest” to do so.
Geyser and another girl, Anissa Weier, were charged as adults and pleaded guilty to stabbing a classmate, Payton Leutner, 19 times in 2014, when they and the victim were 12 years old. Both Geyser’s and Weier’s guilty pleas were later vacated when they were found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Both of them were subsequently sent to psychiatric institutions.
“Payton Leutner and her family are aware of the most recent situation regarding Morgan Geyser,” a spokesperson for the Leutner family said in a statement to ABC News. “Payton and her family are safe and are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure their continued safety.”
“The family would like to thank all of the law enforcement entities involved in the efforts to apprehend Morgan,” the statement continued. “The Leutner family also wish to thank the outpouring of support from family, friends, and well-wishers who have contacted them during this difficult time.”
In January, Judge Bohren ordered the state Department of Health Services to come up with a plan for Geyser’s supervised release.
Geyser was transferred in March from the Winnebago Mental Health facility to a group home despite concerns raised by prosecutors, who alleged she had “violent” communication with a man outside the facility and had read a book in the facility with “themes of sexual sadism and murder.”
In 2014, Geyser and Weier lured their friend, Payton Leutner, then 12, to the woods in Waukesha, Wis., where Geyser stabbed Leutner while Weier watched.
Geyser and Weier left Leutner alone in the woods. Injured and bleeding, Leutner pulled herself to safety and was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Leutner survived the attack that captured headlines worldwide after Geyser and Weier claimed that the stabbing was intended to please “Slender Man,” a faceless, fictional internet-based character that garnered a cult-like following.
Geyser pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted intentional homicide and was sent to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in 2018. Geyser was later found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and was sentenced to up to 40 years in a psychiatric institution.
Weier was also found not guilty by mental disease or defect after pleading guilty to a lesser charge. She was sentenced to up to 25 years in a psychiatric institution. In 2021, at the age of 19, Weier was granted supervised release.
In an interview with ABC’s “20/20” in October 2019, Leutner said she had worked hard to heal from the attack and rebuild a normal life. She told ABC News that she was ready to reclaim her story.
“I’ve come to accept all of the scars that I have,” Leutner said in the exclusive interview with ABC’s David Muir. “It’s just a part of me. I don’t think much of them. They will probably go away and fade eventually.”
