Afghan migrants are receiving letters ordering them to report to ICE offices on Christmas and New Year's Day, advocacy group AfghanEvac says.

Washington

Afghan migrants and refugees in the United States have received notices requiring them to report to ICE offices for check-ins on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Advocates and organizations such as Afghan evac have raised concerns that scheduling these appointments on federal holidays may limit migrants' access to legal resources and support, as many lawyers and courts are unavailable during these times.

The check-ins are part of a broader immigration enforcement effort, with ongoing ICE operations reported in states like Ohio and Minnesota. In Minnesota, at least 400 people have been arrested, including some U.S. citizens, while protests have erupted in Ohio in response to the raids. Scripps News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment but has not yet received a response.

Afghan migrants ordered to report to ICE on Christmas, New Year's Day

An immigration crackdown on Afghan migrants is in the news as well. Some are being ordered to report to ICE offices on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Scripps News national correspondent Katie Tubman is live in New York and she's been looking into what are being called check-ins. Katie what are you finding? Well good afternoon Del. We're learning that some Afghan migrants and refugees are receiving letters to report to ICE on Christmas and New Year's Day according to advocates. We obtained a copy of one of those letters. Personal information has been blurred out but here you can see of the call-in letter with a date of December 25th that's Christmas. The reason for the appointment is listed as scheduled report check-in and the person is being asked to bring documents along with them to that appointment. Now Afghan evac the organization we received the letter from their founder Sean Van Diver called these check-ins deeply troubling considering the timing of them. Here's what he said in a video statement posted to Facebook yesterday. They're sending out notices say they need to check in on those days and you know we don't think that they're gonna be doing interviews on those federal holidays. What we think is happening is they're trying to circumvent the protection mechanisms like legal resources and federal judges and advocacy resources to cause problems for wartime hours and cause fear or discontent. Now as Van Diver points out what's alarming in having anyone come to an ICE office for a check-in during a federal holiday and religious holidays particularly is because lawyers and advocates are not as accessible and federal courts are closed and so we reached out to DHS about the notices but haven't heard back yet. Now this move would be the latest to top the Trump administration's crackdown on legal immigration from Afghanistan and it comes after the administration already had planned to end immigration from countries like Afghanistan that the government says doesn't espouse American values and has also ramped up after an Afghan national was charged in the deadly shooting of a National Guard member last month so this is just more so on what we've seen we've already been seeing Dell. And Katie I know you've been tracking ICE operations now for the past several weeks what's the latest now on the raids we've been hearing so much about? Well yes that's right for well for one thing we know that it doesn't appear that ICE is taking any days off this holiday season. Last night ICE posting this video on X appearing to show Santa as an ICE agent and the post warns migrants without legal status to avoid Santa's nautilus by self-deporting they're even tripled the amount of money they would be offering by the end of the year and right now there are ongoing ICE operations in Ohio and Minnesota. ICE said at least 400 people have been arrested in Minnesota and according to the governor there Tim Walz multiple US citizens have been also arrested during those operations and in Ohio about a dozen arrests have been made according to ICE and in response to the operation there a group of protesters have been carrying out what they're calling no sleep for ICE protests where they're blasting car horns and and music and ringing bells outside of hotels where they believe agents may be sleeping and the group said they'll show up every night until ICE leaves and that might just include Christmas. Del. Kadia Tubman our national correspondent for us live in New York City. Kadia as always we thank you very much.

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