Crime & Justice · Nov 11, 2026ICE Watch: DHS releases environmental assessment for proposed Surprise detention center

ICE Watch & Accountability · Daily Update · November 11, 2026, 12:59 AM CST

Where These Stories Happened

Detention & Deaths

DHS releases environmental assessment for proposed Surprise detention center

The 81-page draft finds the project would have no significant environmental impacts; critics argue assessment wasn’t thorough enough SURPRISE, AZ (AZFamily) — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a draft environmental assessment this week for a Surprise warehouse that could be turned into an immigration detention center.

Earlier this year, DHS and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes agreed to pause the project until an environmental review was completed. The newly released 81-page draft finds the project would have no significant environmental impacts.^[1]

Judge orders UC Berkeley student released from ICE custody after SFO arrest

A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a UC Berkeley student and asylum seeker detained at San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 30.

ICE agents arrested Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, a 23-year-old business administration student from Colombia, while she was waiting to board a flight with her boyfriend for a vacation in Oregon. Her attorneys argued that the detention of Albornoz Hernandez, who had a pending asylum case and current work permit, violated the U.S. Constitution because she was deprived of her liberty without an opportunity to challenge it in court.^[2]

The Department of Homeland Security told Berkeleyside last week that Albornoz Hernandez was deportable because she had overstayed a visa in 2023, that her work authorization and pending asylum application did not confer legal status, and that “being in detention is a choice” because immigrants have the opportunity to self-deport.
— as reported by ABC7 Bay Area

Courts & Lawsuits

Appeals court panel ends temporary ban on tear gas near Portland ICE building

A panel of judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit spiked two temporary bans on chemical munitions use outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland.

The parallel decisions, released Tuesday, deal a legal blow to protesters and residents of an apartment complex near the facility. They separately sought to limit federal law enforcement from using tear gas, pepper balls and other chemicals as a means of crowd control. Two federal judges in the Oregon district had originally agreed to ban the weapons, but the appellate panel paused the ban this summer.^[3]

US immigration news: Judge rejects deportation charge against Chicago mom Martha Gutierrez, United Giving Hope says

Martha Gutierrez remains in custody as the government decides whether it will appeal the ruling.

A local nonprofit said a judge has rejected the federal government's deportation charge against a Chicago mother who has been in federal custody for several months. The family of Martha Gutierrez said she was born in Mexico but has lived in Chicago since 1990 as a legal permanent resident. According to her relatives, Gutierrez traveled to Mexico in February, and has been detained in the United States ever since.^[4]

Raids & Arrests

Family of Lodi woman detained by ICE spent days trying to find her

Overview: Rep. Josh Harder is calling for Ann Lawani, a Lodi woman detained by federal immigration agents in September, to be returned to California.

The family of a Lodi woman detained by federal immigration agents in September spent days trying to locate her before learning she had been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Ann Lawani was detained by federal immigration agents at her Lodi home on Sept. 16, taken later that day to a local holding facility, according to the Times. But in the days after, Lawani’s whereabouts were unknown, and he could not be found on a public database used to locate detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.^[5]

‘Bring them home': Lawmakers call for release of UMD student detained by ICE

Maryland lawmakers are vowing to help get a University of Maryland student and recent high school valedictorian released from ICE custody, along with her mother.

Maria Flores Garcia joined her mom at a scheduled immigration check-in last week in Baltimore. Both ended up in custody and face deportation to El Salvador. Stream NBC4 newscasts for free right here, right now.^[6]

Oversight & Policy

Polish immigrant released from Campbell County jail after more than a year in ICE detention

Beata Siemionkowicz, a Polish immigrant, green card holder and immigration detainee who sued the Campbell County jailer and several federal officials in September has been released.

Siemionkowicz’s daughter, Gabi Siemionkowicz, confirmed with LINK nky that Siemionkowicz’s family picked her up from the detention center Tuesday afternoon. Siemionkowicz was detained by ICE in August 2025 in Illinois and transported to Campbell County Detention Center, which houses immigration detainees. She spent more than a year being detained there.^[7]

ICE detention surge tied to pacts with police in Beaver County, says congressman

U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio says local law enforcement in Beaver County is driving a surge of immigration detentions which is in turn taking away resources from local police departments.

Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, made the comments at a press conference after releasing a report showing where immigration detentions have occurred in his district, clustered near municipalities where local police have so-called “287(g)” agreements to help ICE. “Something is happening and it’s pretty clear to me it’s the presence of 287(g) agreements and the participation of local law enforcement that is driving this heavy enforcement in Beaver County,” Deluzio said.^[8]

“Local law enforcement should be focused on local public safety,” he added.
— as reported by Pittsburgh's Public Source

Primary Records

Check the government’s own records directly:

• ICE detainee death reporting (ICE’s own notices)
• DHS Office of Inspector General reports
• ICE online detainee locator

References

1. AZ Family. DHS releases environmental assessment for proposed Surprise detention center. ↩
2. ABC7 Bay Area. Judge orders UC Berkeley student released from ICE custody after SFO arrest. ↩
3. Oregon Public Broadcasting. Appeals court panel ends temporary ban on tear gas near Portland ICE building. ↩
4. ABC7 Chicago. US immigration news: Judge rejects deportation charge against Chicago mom Martha Gutierrez, United Giving Hope says. ↩
5. Stocktonia. Family of Lodi woman detained by ICE spent days trying to find her. ↩
6. NBC4 Washington. ‘Bring them home': Lawmakers call for release of UMD student detained by ICE. ↩
7. LINK nky. Polish immigrant released from Campbell County jail after more than a year in ICE detention. ↩
8. Pittsburgh's Public Source. ICE detention surge tied to pacts with police in Beaver County, says congressman. ↩

Methodology: ICE Watch & Accountability is compiled daily by scripts/ice_watch.py from named news reports published in the previous 36 hours. Passages in bold and in quotation blocks are verbatim from the cited report; nothing is paraphrased or generated by AI. Stories are grouped by keyword into sections, and a story already covered on Kemetic Minds in the past three days is skipped.

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