DHS retains making false claims about folks it has run-ins with : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3366x2251+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb4%2Fd8%2Fc50f7d6b4584a0067ecb1bf71df4%2Fgettyimages-2258012442.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3366x2251+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb4%2Fd8%2Fc50f7d6b4584a0067ecb1bf71df4%2Fgettyimages-2258012442.jpg" class="img" alt="A photograph of the pistol recovered by immigration agents after a shooting in Minneapolis is shown on a screen behind U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as she speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24. Federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti that day during operations in Minneapolis." fetchpriority="high"/> {A photograph} of the pistol recovered by immigration brokers after a capturing in Minneapolis is proven on a display behind U.S. Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem as she speaks throughout a information convention in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24. Federal immigration brokers shot and killed Alex Pretti that day throughout operations in Minneapolis. Al Drago/Getty Photographs cover caption

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Al Drago/Getty Photographs On a Saturday in early October, Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old trainer and American citizen, was driving her automotive when she observed federal immigration brokers in her Chicago neighborhood. She started following them, as did the motive force of one other automotive. She honked her horn and shouted "la migra" to warn her neighbors that immigration brokers have been close by.

As she drove alongside a Chevy Tahoe pushed by Border Patrol brokers, the automobiles made contact — who swerved into whom is a degree of dispute. Martinez then started to drive away. A Border Patrol agent fired at her 5 instances.

The Division of Homeland Safety shortly alleged Martinez had "rammed" the Border Patrol automobile. "This girl — who, by the best way, is a Montessori faculty trainer with no prison historical past — she's now, abruptly, a 'home terrorist,'" her lawyer, Chris Parente, advised NPR. "That is earlier than there's any investigation carried out."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2123+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F40%2Fb5%2Fe9a79fb34c6b9c1ecb5411fa1473%2F2025-10-06t011100z-813892933-mt1zuma000xp1p6t-rtrmadp-3-zuma.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2123+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F40%2Fb5%2Fe9a79fb34c6b9c1ecb5411fa1473%2F2025-10-06t011100z-813892933-mt1zuma000xp1p6t-rtrmadp-3-zuma.JPG" class="img" alt="Marimar Martinez (center) is greeted by her family after being released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Oct. 6, 2025, after being shot by immigration agents and charged with assaulting federal officers in an incident in Chicago. (Credit Image: © E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire)" loading="lazy"/> Marimar Martinez (middle) is greeted by her household after being launched from the Metropolitan Correctional Heart in Chicago on Oct. 6, 2025, after being shot by a Border Patrol agent. She was initially charged with assaulting federal officers however federal prosecutors later dropped all expenses in opposition to her. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/ZUMA Press Wire by way of Reuters cover caption

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E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/ZUMA Press Wire by way of Reuters Federal prosecutors dropped all expenses in opposition to Martinez, who survived the capturing. However a Division of Homeland Safety press launch along with her title, mug shot and the accusation that she is a "home terrorist" remains to be on-line, as are a variety of posts on X by excessive stage Trump administration officers that paint her as a prison who attacked regulation enforcement. One put up with allegations about her was reshared by FBI Director Kash Patel and inaccurately hyperlinks to video footage from a distinct incident she had nothing to do with.

The @FBI simply arrested two people who have been allegedly driving these automobiles and attacking our federal regulation enforcement officers.

They've been charged for assaulting federal officers with a lethal or harmful weapon.

Assault our regulation enforcement, and this FBI will discover you… https://t.co/iQ9wDeAzQh

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) October 6, 2025

In latest weeks, the Trump administration swiftly tried to justify the shootings of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti by claiming they have been finishing up acts of home terrorism within the moments earlier than they have been killed. They made these claims with out ready for investigations to unfold, and regardless of conflicting video proof and witness accounts. As Martinez's case and others reveal, these statements are a part of a much wider, months-long communication sample by the administration on immigration associated points.

Trump administration officers have repeatedly made unproven or incorrect claims when describing immigrants focused for deportation, U.S. residents arrested whereas protesting the administration's immigration crackdown and individuals who merely drove via areas the place an immigration enforcement operation was happening.

On social media, the administration has accused folks of violently attacking federal immigration brokers or impeding operations. In lots of situations, prison expenses have been quietly dropped or by no means filed.

Whereas it isn't unusual for regulation enforcement businesses to make allegations about suspects that wind up being disproven, a lot of DHS's accusations in opposition to personal people stand out for his or her hyperbolic language.

"It appears to me that they don't seem to be writing these statements with the intention of ever supporting them in court docket, however simply to attempt to persuade officers and their voter base," mentioned Greg Jackson, an lawyer in Southern California who has shoppers who have been shot at by federal immigration brokers.

Trump administration officers and their allies on-line often have fun deporting the so-called "worst of the worst." They used such language when referring to the alleged "terrorists" the administration despatched to El Salvador's brutal CECOT jail final spring. However almost half of the Venezuelan males despatched to CECOT had no prison historical past, in line with an evaluation by Human Rights Watch, and solely eight males out of 252 had convictions for violent or doubtlessly violent offenses.

The administration's mischaracterizations have additionally spilled over to courtrooms, the place federal judges in dozens of instances have admonished federal officers for offering false, contradictory or unreliable statements in court docket.

"There are armed masked males within the streets appearing as paramilitary brokers of the state being directed to seize folks up on behalf of false claims, and the federal government is mendacity about what occurs earlier than, throughout and afterward," mentioned Brendan Nyhan, a professor at Dartmouth Faculty who research political misinformation and misperceptions.

"Each American needs to be anxious about that, as a result of if they will lie about this, what else might they lie about? And if it is your member of the family who will get killed, what recourse do you could have?"

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5500x3729+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F59%2F9b%2Fff46a9014267aea50e929564bc14%2Fgettyimages-2258087506.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5500x3729+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F59%2F9b%2Fff46a9014267aea50e929564bc14%2Fgettyimages-2258087506.jpg" class="img" alt="Masked ICE agents leave a residence after knocking on the door in Minneapolis on Wednesday." loading="lazy"/> Masked ICE brokers depart a residence after knocking on the door in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Stephen Maturen/Getty Photographs cover caption

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Stephen Maturen/Getty Photographs In response to NPR's questions, an unnamed DHS spokesperson mentioned in an announcement, "DHS regulation enforcement is prioritizing the arrest and elimination of harmful public security threats. Beneath President Trump's and Secretary Noem's management, DHS has all the time been steadfast in focusing on harmful prison unlawful aliens, together with murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, gang members, and terrorists."

A well-known sample Within the wake of Border Patrol brokers capturing 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, on the street on Jan. 24, Trump's deputy chief of workers Stephen Miller known as Pretti a "would-be murderer" in a put up on X.

In separate press conferences the day of the capturing, each Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned it appeared Pretti supposed to do "most injury" and kill regulation enforcement. Noem referred to him "brandishing" a weapon, however video proof confirmed he had a handgun however by no means took it out of its holster.

The response additionally echoed the fast aftermath of Renee Macklin Good's killing, when officers accused her of attempting to run over and homicide an ICE agent earlier than he fatally shot her.

On Thursday night time, Fox Information host Sean Hannity requested Noem to deal with the pushback she acquired over her messaging across the shootings. "Individuals appear to be upset over the time period home terrorism. Why do you imagine that is applicable?"

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F71%2Fb9%2F97a27bfb43b6af02547e7e6c5902%2Fgettyimages-2258164102.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F71%2Fb9%2F97a27bfb43b6af02547e7e6c5902%2Fgettyimages-2258164102.jpg" class="img" alt="Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino speaks during a news conference in Minneapolis on Sunday. The news conference comes after 37-year-old legal observer Alex Pretti was fatally shot during a confrontation with federal agents. The Trump administration has sent a reported 3,000 federal agents into the area, with more on the way, as they make a push to arrest undocumented immigrants in the region. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)" loading="lazy"/> Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino speaks throughout a information convention in Minneapolis on Sunday. The information convention comes after 37-year-old Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal brokers. Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs cover caption

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Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs Noem answered, "We're persevering with to assemble info," fairly than defend the time period.

A bystander video of Pretti has surfaced in latest days that reveals a separate incident that occurred 11 days earlier than he was killed by federal brokers. The video reveals Pretti spitting at an SUV stuffed with brokers then kicking the automobile, breaking a rear tail mild lens. Quite a lot of brokers jumped out and wrestled him to the bottom.

"Agitator and, maybe, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti's inventory has gone method down," Trump wrote on Fact Social early Friday.

Jackson, the lawyer in Southern California, mentioned the federal government's preliminary messaging in regards to the Minnesota shootings sounded acquainted to him, due to similarities with statements in regards to the two males he represents who have been each shot at by federal brokers of their automobiles in two separate incidents over the summer time.

He mentioned, as in his shoppers' instances, the federal government's narrative across the Good and Pretti instances sought to "make it as if their brokers are the victims and the individuals who have been truly shot or shot at are the offenders."

He mentioned each his shoppers have suffered reputational hurt by DHS statements and the allegations in opposition to them.

"They have been branded as these violent criminals," Jackson mentioned. "And neither of them has any prison historical past in any respect."

DHS has accused one among Jackson's shoppers, Francisco Longoria, of making an attempt to "run over" U.S. Customs and Border Safety officers and injuring them along with his pickup truck after they surrounded the truck and smashed his home windows. Surveillance video from throughout the road reveals Longoria's pickup driving away and armed officers returning to their automobiles. There isn't a apparent signal any of the officers have been injured.

In the end, prison expenses in opposition to Longoria have been dropped and Jackson helps him sue to get better damages. Jackson's message to the general public is to maintain a distance and do not bodily have interaction with officers — however document the whole lot.

Chris Parente, who represents Martinez in Chicago, was in court docket Thursday asking the decide to unseal proof, together with bodycam footage, that reveals what occurred the day Martinez was shot.

Textual content messages written by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum have been turned over within the case and have already been made public.

"I fired 5 rounds and he or she had 7 holes. Put that in your e-book boys," Exum wrote in a Sign chat, after sharing a Guardian article that quoted Parente describing Martinez's accidents. In one other textual content thread he wrote, "Candy. My 15 minutes of fame. Lmao."

When her case was initially dismissed, Martinez agreed for a number of the proof to stay sealed. However within the aftermath of the Good and Pretti shootings, Martinez needs the general public and elected officers to see that materials to grasp how DHS responds to the shootings, Parente mentioned.

And provided that she continues to be accused in a authorities press launch and X posts of being a "home terrorist," Parente wrote in his movement that disclosing the proof "is paramount to Ms. Martinez's capability to fight the persevering with hurt being carried out to her popularity."

NPR requested DHS if the company plans to take down or replace their on-line statements provided that expenses in opposition to Martinez have been dropped. As a substitute, in an announcement to NPR on Friday, DHS reiterated that accusation once more.

"Border Patrol regulation enforcement officers have been ambushed by home terrorists that rammed federal brokers with their automobiles. The girl, Marimar Martinez, driving one of many automobiles, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon and has a historical past of doxing federal brokers," the assertion reads.

In court docket testimony, Exum acknowledged that Martinez had not "rammed" him. Martinez has denied doxing federal brokers, Parente mentioned, and says the allegation is "based mostly solely" on Martinez resharing a Fb put up highlighting an ICE agent's public web site for his DJ enterprise. He mentioned proof images within the court docket document present her handgun, for which she has a hid carry license, was holstered on the backside of her purse.

At Thursday's listening to about unsealing the proof, after federal prosecutors indicated issues, Decide Georgia Alexakis acknowledged such a transfer could be uncommon.

"I additionally assume that we're discovering ourselves in an uncommon scenario through which the federal government made exceedingly public statements a couple of prison defendant, who below our American system of justice is presumed harmless, and have made no efforts to equally publicize the truth that they deserted the chance to convict her, to attempt to convict her in a court docket of regulation, though that is utterly inside their energy to do this," Alexakis mentioned.

No expenses, simply accusations DHS officers have continued to accuse George Retes, a U.S. citizen who was detained by federal immigration officers in July, of assaulting an officer though no prison expenses in opposition to him have ever been filed.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4997x3268+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2e%2Fd4%2Fada2396847fc8f32fc88409a43c7%2Fgettyimages-2224591691.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4997x3268+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2e%2Fd4%2Fada2396847fc8f32fc88409a43c7%2Fgettyimages-2224591691.jpg" class="img" alt="Federal agents block a field and road during an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm near Camarillo, Calif., on July 10, 2025." loading="lazy"/> Federal brokers block a subject and street throughout an ICE immigration raid at a close-by licensed hashish farm close to Camarillo, Calif., on July 10, 2025. Mario Tama/Getty Photographs cover caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Photographs Retes was on his solution to his job doing safety at a hashish farm in Southern California the place protesters had gathered to reveal in opposition to federal immigration officers conducting a raid. An agent pepper sprayed him, smashed his window and dragged him out of the automotive, in line with his account. He was held in detention for 3 days however was by no means criminally charged.

After he wrote about his expertise for The San Francisco Chronicle in September, the DHS account on X wrote that Retes was not wrongfully arrested and mentioned he "turned violent and refused to adjust to regulation enforcement. He challenged brokers and blocked their route by refusing to maneuver his automobile out of the street. CBP arrested Retes for assault."

The identical put up continued, "These kind of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our courageous ICE regulation enforcement. This sort of rubbish has led to a greater than 1000% improve within the assaults on enforcement officers."

As CBP and ICE brokers have been executing prison search warrants on July 10 on the marijuana websites in Camarillo, CA, George Retes—a U.S. citizen—turned violent and refused to adjust to regulation enforcement. He challenged brokers and blocked their route by refusing to maneuver his automobile… pic.twitter.com/aKS2voKU3j

— Homeland Safety (@DHSgov) September 17, 2025

"It is a full lie. The proof is all there," Retes mentioned in an interview with All Issues Thought-about in October. "There's helicopter footage. They by no means charged me. Although they despatched out a tweet telling everybody that I assaulted brokers they usually paint me as a prison, they by no means pursued expenses."

He mentioned it felt like the federal government was attempting to intimidate him from talking out. "Sadly for them, it isn't going to work … folks deserve the reality and need to know whether or not or not the federal government is mendacity or not."

After he wrote one other piece within the Houston Chronicle in December, DHS posted on X repeating the accusation that he assaulted a regulation enforcement officer. In its assertion to NPR, DHS once more repeated the declare about Retes, who's making ready a civil lawsuit in opposition to the federal authorities to get better damages for his rights being violated.

Such lawsuits are tough to win, as a result of in contrast to state or native officers, federal officers are protected by immunity in lots of instances. That reality is probably going giving federal officers the arrogance that they will make false accusations about folks with out being held accountable, mentioned Anya Bidwell, a lawyer on the nonprofit Institute for Justice who's representing Retes in his pending swimsuit.

"And since they absolutely perceive it, they don't have any downside going on the market, being extraordinarily aggressive, misrepresenting the info, misrepresenting the document," Bidwell mentioned. "Basically, they know that it isn't going to be that always the place they really must present up in court docket and defend their statements."

Targets of deportation The Trump administration has promoted its aggressive immigration enforcement techniques as essential to rid the nation of harmful criminals. The administration has quadrupled deportations within the nation's inside partially by massively growing removals of immigrants with out prison information, a latest research by the Deportation Knowledge Undertaking discovered.

An NPR evaluation of the DHS and ICE X accounts reveals that within the first 12 months of this administration, the 2 businesses posted about greater than 2,000 foreign-born people focused for immigration enforcement, a mean of 5 posts a day. The posts comprise related components: a photograph, title, age, nationality and often prison expenses. In over 1,300 instances, the individuals are described as some mixture of "prison" "unlawful" and "alien". (The businesses additionally put up about targets of regulation enforcement not associated to immigration, however such posts don't sometimes embody images of the suspects.)

"Individuals are being advised to worry violent criminals of their midst," mentioned Nyhan of Dartmouth Faculty. "They're being proven seemingly scary footage of criminals from weak outgroups and advised that they are being saved secure by dragging these folks away. And that messaging is getting used to obscure the truth that the vast majority of the folks being grabbed don't have any document of violent conduct in any respect."

The Trump administration has, on a number of events, misrepresented the gang affiliations of individuals they've arrested. Final fall, ICE raided a constructing in Chicago, saying it was a gathering place for the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Out of the 37 folks arrested, solely two have been gang members. The opposite 35 had entered the nation illegally.

The administration's exaggerated claims "are justifying excessive emergency stage powers on the a part of the chief department — each in extraordinarily draconian makes use of of immigration enforcement that we're seeing … and in using the army domestically," mentioned Ryan Goodman, a regulation professor at New York College Faculty of Legislation and co-editor-in-chief of the net journal, Simply Safety.

In the course of the 2024 marketing campaign, Trump and Vance amplified the false declare that Haitian immigrants in Ohio have been consuming pets. Candidate Trump repeatedly talked about the baseless declare that Venezuela was opening its prisons and psychological establishments and sending these folks to the U.S., and has continued to repeat this as president.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5760x3840+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F07%2F99%2F65680ce44217af30738c9c8de889%2Fgettyimages-2235776216.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5760x3840+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F07%2F99%2F65680ce44217af30738c9c8de889%2Fgettyimages-2235776216.jpg" class="img" alt="Pro-immigration demonstrators try to stop a car leaving an ICE processing center during a protest in Broadview, Ill., on Sept. 19, 2025. A white cloud appears behind the car." loading="lazy"/> Demonstrators attempt to cease a automotive leaving an ICE processing middle throughout a protest in Broadview, Sick., on Sept. 19, 2025. Octavio Jones/AFP by way of Getty Photographs cover caption

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Octavio Jones/AFP by way of Getty Photographs Most not too long ago, the Trump administration has lashed out at Somalis in Minnesota. Officers have helped amplify unverified claims about fraud perpetuated by the Somali neighborhood, which was utilized in half as a justification to crack down on the state.

Ahilan Arulanantham, a professor at UCLA Faculty of Legislation, mentioned he believes the prevalence of what he known as "macro lies" from the White Home has "translated down into the habits of decrease stage authorities officers."

In November, a federal decide in Chicago accused Bovino of "outright mendacity" in his court docket testimony. The decide wrote, "Bovino admitted in his deposition that he lied a number of instances" in regards to the occasions main as much as his resolution to pepper spray protesters throughout DHS operations within the metropolis final 12 months.

That discovering is only one of greater than 60 situations of judges calling out the second Trump administration officers for offering false info via November, in line with a tally by Simply Safety.

"If they will do it in a single case, what stops them from doing it to anybody, actually?" The Trump administration has publicized inaccurate details about a number of the immigrants it's attempting to deport.

Ramón Morales Reyes, a Mexican immigrant in Wisconsin dwelling within the nation with out authorized standing, was the sufferer of a housebreaking and an assault in 2023. Final Could, he additionally turned the sufferer of official misinformation when DHS and the White Home publicly accused him of a criminal offense he did not commit.

His assailant, Demetric Scott, later admitted that he framed Morales by forging a letter making threats to assassinate Trump in Morales' title. The letter was a part of an elaborate plan to get Morales Reyes deported so he could be unable to testify in opposition to Scott.

Morales Reyes was arrested by ICE and detained, although investigators shortly realized that he had not written the letter and turned their consideration to Scott. This week, Scott was convicted of witness intimidation by a jury.

Regardless of that, Noem issued an announcement with Morales Reyes' title and photograph, thanking ICE for placing an "unlawful alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump" behind bars. The White Home posted a picture of his face on X captioned, "FAFO: Threaten to Kill the President as an Unlawful Alien—You will Be Captured, Deported, and By no means Set Foot on American Soil Once more." (FAFO stands for "f*** round, discover out.")

Whereas in detention, Morales Reyes skilled harassment as a result of allegations and was pressured that he was being accused of a criminal offense he did not commit, his lawyer Cain Oulahan advised NPR.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5000x3333+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe0%2F21%2F2d5fd97a455fa2f9209be9996108%2Fap25161600421792.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5000x3333+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe0%2F21%2F2d5fd97a455fa2f9209be9996108%2Fap25161600421792.jpg" class="img" alt="Ramon Morales Reyes' attorney, Cain Oulahan, (center) addresses the media in Milwaukee about the detention of Ramon Morales Reyes on May 30, 2025." loading="lazy"/> Ramon Morales Reyes' lawyer, Cain Oulahan, (middle) addresses the media in Milwaukee in regards to the detention of Ramon Morales Reyes on Could 30, 2025. Andy Manis/AP cover caption

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Andy Manis/AP Morales won't be charged for the threats however he's in deportation proceedings. After eight months, the federal authorities nonetheless hasn't correctly cleared his title, Oulahan mentioned.

A small disclaimer now seems on Noem's on-line assertion about Morales Reyes. On the very backside it notes he "is not below investigation for threats in opposition to the President." However the disclaimer calls him a "prison alien" and says he has "earlier arrests" and lists expenses.

Oulahan has but to search out information corroborating these arrests associated to his shopper. He thinks the record of arrests probably consult with database outcomes for another person with the identical title.

He is appalled to see up shut how the administration might publicize a smear.

"If they will do it in a single case, what stops them from doing it to anybody, actually? Anybody that disagrees with their insurance policies, anybody who they see as an impediment or somebody that they wish to get retribution in opposition to," Oulahan mentioned. "It's extremely disturbing."