Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Motor mayhem: ICE says it has documented 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks
Aliens and U.S. citizens alike are increasingly turning to cars and trucks as weapons of choice in their attempts to stop ICE from carrying out arrests, according to new government data that shows a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks. Published February 3, 2026
Lawsuit challenges Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ visa for wealthy foreigners
President Trump's opponents went to court Tuesday to try to shut down his "Gold Card" visa, saying his attempt to sell a pathway to U.S. citizenship to wealthy investors violates the laws Congress has written laying out who gets into the country. Published February 3, 2026
ICE sets new record pace for deportations
ICE has hit a new record pace for deportations, averaging more than 1,450 deportations a day in the middle of January, according to the agency's latest data. Published February 3, 2026
‘Hostility to nonwhite immigrants’: Judge slams DHS Secretary Noem
A federal judge delivered a withering rebuke to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, accusing her of harboring a "hostility to nonwhite immigrants," and blocking her decision to end a deportation amnesty for hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants. Published February 2, 2026
DHS to make all immigration agents in Minnesota wear body cams
All immigration personnel operating in the Minneapolis enforcement surge will be outfitted with body cameras, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday. Published February 2, 2026
Thousands of Epstein docs pulled down after victims complained
Millions of pages of new Epstein files went up -- and several thousand have already come down, after victims complained the files contained information that could reveal their identities. Published February 2, 2026
Judge orders ICE to let members of Congress make snap inspections
A federal judge ordered ICE to restore immediate access for members of Congress seeking to make inspections of detention facilities, saying the agency seems to be playing games with its funding to try to block the lawmakers. Published February 2, 2026
Trump’s deportation surge loses big in Texas court, but prevails in Minnesota
The Justice Department plans to appeal a federal judge's scathing ruling that freed 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father and suggested the Trump administration was acting immorally and violating the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence. Published February 1, 2026
‘Jesus wept’: Federal judge slaps DHS, orders release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos
A federal judge on Saturday ordered the government to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Ramos, from ICE custody, saying their detention offended the principles of America enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Published January 31, 2026
Judge won’t order ICE to leave Minnesota
A federal judge ruled against Minnesota's emergency request to end the surge of federal immigration enforcement officers into the state, saying the national government has the right to enforce the law. Published January 31, 2026
Official admits fraud at government’s African aid agency; Trump tried to cut operation
The chief financial officer at the African Development Foundation has confirmed the Trump administration's claims of fraud by agreeing to plead guilty to directing hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to a friend who performed little actual work. Published January 30, 2026
ICE arrests 650 in West Virginia in January; state hails ‘professionalism’ of agents
ICE quietly surged personnel into West Virginia in January and arrested 650 illegal immigrants, all without the violent pushback and chaos that erupted in places such as Minnesota. Published January 30, 2026
Immigration groups sue to stop new ICE arrest policy
Several immigrant-rights groups sued Friday to try to shut down a new ICE policy that lets officers enter homes to make arrests of deportation targets based on administrative warrants that don't have a regular federal judge's signature. Published January 30, 2026
Trump sues IRS for $10 billion over past leak of tax information
President Trump sued the IRS on Thursday, saying his own tax agency should pay him $10 billion for having allowed his private tax information to be leaked during his first term in office. Published January 30, 2026
Murderers, kidnappers, rapists caught by ICE, but so are refugees
Victor Navarro Govea, a Mexican, crossed into the U.S. illegally in 2009. Last year, he was deemed to be a bona fide candidate for a special victim's visa. He was granted a four-year deportation amnesty by the Department of Homeland Security, which should have lasted through 2029. He was caught by surprise when ICE officers arrested him in Minnesota this month. Published January 29, 2026
Sen. Collins says DHS shutting down immigration enforcement surge in Maine
Homeland Security's immigration enforcement surge into Maine has ended just a week after it began, Sen. Susan Collins announced Thursday. Published January 29, 2026
White House working on ‘drawdown’ plan for ICE in Minnesota
White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday he is working on a "drawdown" plan to bring some federal agents and officers out of Minnesota, hoping to calm soaring tensions over the massive federal presence and the protests against it. Published January 29, 2026
Judge blocks DHS from arresting, detaining refugees in Minnesota
A federal judge on Wednesday shut down a new Homeland Security policy that arrested and detained refugees as part of a review of their cases, saying the migrants had "followed the rules" and deserved better treatment. Published January 28, 2026
ICE has violated 96 court orders in Minnesota; judge warns of danger to ‘rule of law’
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has defied 96 federal court orders in Minnesota alone spanning 74 different cases this month, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court said Wednesday. Published January 28, 2026
Meth conviction not sufficient to cancel gun rights, appeals court rules
A federal appeals court has overturned a gun possession conviction of a drug user, ruling that a prior felony conviction for having methamphetamine wasn't enough to deny him his gun rights permanently. Published January 28, 2026
