Southwest
The truth about ICE: Inside the mission to track down criminals and protect communities
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EXCLUSIVE— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents say misinformation and misleading videos are putting them at risk, fueling public hostility and attacks on officers. Fox News Digital embedded with ICE teams in Dallas and Houston in September to see their work firsthand and separate fact from fiction about their mission.
Acting Assistant Field Office Director in the Houston field office, Tom Persad, told Fox News Digital during the ride-along that it is a “privilege to live in America.”
“I don’t think anyone wants to have criminals living in their community breaking in and robbing them, stealing from them, raping them, child predators, gangbangers. And if these people commit their crimes, they should go back to their home country. It’s a privilege to live here,” Persad said.
A Dallas assistant office field director, who Fox News Digital joined for the ride-along, emphasized that ICE has targeted individuals when conducting arrests.
DALLAS ICE AGENTS STRESS FOCUS ON CRIMINALS DURING RIDE-ALONG, DAY BEFORE SHOOTING
“We want to keep our community safe,” he continued. “Stop believing what people are posting as far as like ICE is out there conducting raids, ICE is just arresting anyone they see, or they’re profiling.”
Persad in Houston emphasized that the theory that ICE is conducting raids against one particular demographic is not true.
“It’s just not one specific community. It just depends on their – the criminality,” Persad said.
Fox News Digital rode along with the Houston team on Sept. 12. Persad said many protesters and critics of ICE do not understand how the agency operates and criticized media outlets for misrepresenting ICE’s work.
“I’m not going to say all media, but the majority of them don’t put out the whole story. They just put out part of it. So then the general public or even the communities, they just, they’re not… informed fully, so then they just make a rash decision, or a rash conclusion about what we’re doing,” Persad said.
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He said this misinformation has real-world consequences.
“I feel if the media would actually tell the whole story, it would make everyone’s lives a lot easier doing this job, and also you don’t have these people resisting and running and fleeing and fighting and assaulting officers. Assaults have gone up dramatically in the last six to seven months.”
“Folks need to be better educated on as far as like our agency and what we do,” the Dallas officer emphasized.
During the Houston ride-along, agents arrested a Syrian citizen, a convicted child predator who was found to possess child sexual abuse materials in Harris County, Texas, and was admitted to the U.S. as a non-immigrant visitor but failed to return to his home country by the required date.
SURVEILLANCE VIDEO SHOWS DALLAS ICE AGENTS PROTECTING DETAINEES AS GUNFIRE RAINS DOWN ON FACILITY
Persad said following the arrest, “It’s not just the Hispanic community that we look at. We look at everybody. And it just depends on, the case today might come up with someone from Mexico. Tomorrow it might be someone from England, or Canada, or South America, or even Africa. We just don’t target one specific community.”
During the Dallas ride-along, agents arrested an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a long rap sheet of alleged crimes from his home country.
The individual ICE targeted that morning from Mexico had committed fraud while applying for status in the U.S., and had also faced allegations ranging from murder to money laundering that he hadn’t disclosed, according to the Dallas agent.
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Agents also stressed the importance of respect and safety during operations.
“Communication is key. And I think for individuals that we encounter on a daily basis, if we stay professional, and we treat them with respect, we expect the same back, right? And for the most part, that’s what we get,” the Dallas agent said.
He continued, “Safety is going to be the number one concern, but also it’s not just our safety, it’s their safety as well. So it’s very important, I think, to have that professional communication and treating everyone the way they should be, right? We’re all human beings.”
The Dallas ride-along took place on Sept. 23. Just one day later, a gunman opened fire at the ICE field office in Dallas, authorities confirmed.
ICE officers are facing a surge in death threats and violent attacks as they carry out the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security last month show that ICE officers are experiencing an 8,000% increase in death threats targeting ICE officers.
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Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the threats come as officers “risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst.”
“From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence,” she said.
Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
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Southwest
Family of Brianna Aguilera sues over alcohol service ahead of death
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The family of Brianna Aguilera, the Texas A&M student who fell to her death from a high-rise apartment in November, is suing two organizations for allegedly overserving alcohol ahead of the 19-year-old’s death.
Attorney Tony Buzbee on Tuesday announced a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Travis County against the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the UT Economics and Business Association.
“It is illegal to serve minors any amount of alcohol in the State of Texas. It is reckless and irresponsible to grossly over-serve a group of minors at a University of Texas football tailgate to the point where those minors lose their physical faculties and ability to control themselves,” the lawsuit states.
Aguilera died when she fell from an Austin high-rise apartment following a Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football tailgate at around 1 a.m. Nov. 29, according to police.
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An image provided by the family of the young Texas A&M student, Brianna Aguilera, found dead in Austin over the weekend. (GoFundMe)
A police investigation later determined Aguilera died by suicide despite her family’s claims that she was killed.
Brianna Aguilera was found dead in an apartment hours after attending a tailgate party. (Facebook/Brie Aguilera)
According to the filing, the alleged “egregious over-serving of minors” led to Aguilera’s death. Witnesses described her behavior over several hours as “shifting from upbeat to disoriented and ultimately grossly intoxicated,” the suit says.
Brianna Aguilera holds a sign congratulating her on her acceptance to Texas A&M. (Instagram/brie.aguilera)
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Buzbee said the lawsuit is also intended to support the ongoing investigation into the events of that night by allowing the firm to seek phone and text records, documents and data and to compel witness testimony.
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The lawsuit requests a jury trial.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
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Key red state could decide US gas prices as Venezuelan oil hits the market
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Nobody handles oil quite like Texas and a fresh supply of Venezuelan crude could soon be headed to the Lone Star State’s coast.
The first barrels of thick, tar-like crude could arrive as soon as next week at ports across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, where dense clusters of refineries are built and bred to process heavy oil.
The development follows President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening announcement that Caracas will transfer up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., worth about $2.8 billion at current market prices.
WE’RE GOING TO LET THE OIL FLOW: ENERGY SECRETARY SAYS US WILL OVERSEE VENEZUELAN OIL SALES
Venezuelan children swimming near an oil tanker docked at a pier near the refinery of the state oil company PDVSA. (Jesus Vargas/picture alliance/Getty Images)
“The Gulf Coast concentrates most of our refining capacity, and those refineries were built or revamped over the years to process extra-heavy crude similar to what is produced in Venezuela,” explained Jaime Brito, executive director of refining and oil products at OPIS.
“From a market perspective, additional volumes of extra-heavy crude entering the U.S. refining system would be an extraordinarily positive development,” Brito said. “It would allow refiners to operate more efficiently, something they haven’t been able to do for years and could help keep gasoline and diesel prices at better levels because refiners would have access to cheaper crude and more optimal operations.”
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He added that tankers could arrive within five to six days if they leave Venezuelan waters on Thursday.
Because Gulf Coast refineries supply a large share of the nation’s fuel, shifts in how efficiently they operate can ultimately ripple through to prices paid by U.S. consumers.
Texas oil refineries are poised to benefit from additional crude oil supplies. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The arrival of 15 to 25 oil tankers carrying up to 50 million barrels of crude is only a fraction of what Venezuela could ultimately supply.
With more than 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, it holds the world’s largest oil endowment — eclipsing long-standing energy heavyweights like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.
Despite its vast reserves, U.S. sanctions have effectively blocked most Venezuelan crude from reaching the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving Chevron — operating under a special authorization — as the sole exporter of limited volumes.
US NOW IN CONTROL OF VENEZUELA’S OIL RESERVES, THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD
A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, on March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
That disruption has been felt most acutely in Texas, which anchors the nation’s refining hub and hosts several of the country’s largest heavy-crude refineries.
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A renewed flow of Venezuelan barrels could also intensify competition in the heavy-crude market, particularly between Venezuela and Canada, Brito said.
“You’re going to have fierce competition between Canada and Venezuela, which benefits American refiners and gives them more flexibility to potentially lower fuel prices,” he said, adding that he was speaking strictly from an oil-market perspective.
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Southwest
Security guard fatally shot outside Houston restaurant after confrontation with suspect
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 6:15 p.m. outside Connie’s Seafood Market Restaurant, the Houston Police Department said.
Police told reporters that the security guard, who was working for the restaurant, was standing in the parking lot when a fight broke out between him and another man, FOX26 Houston reported.
Police said the security guard was shot at least once. He was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
OFF-DUTY DEPUTY SHOT AND KILLED WHILE WORKING SECURITY JOB IN TEXAS, SUSPECT REMAINS AT LARGE
A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said. (Houston Police Department)
Authorities did not immediately release the name of the victim.
The suspect was last seen running away from the parking lot after the shooting.
The security guard was working for the restaurant at the time of the shooting. (Google Maps)
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No details about the suspect or the circumstances that led to the altercation have been released as of Thursday morning.
Houston police were reviewing surveillance footage as they search for the shooting suspect. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle, File)
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Officials said investigators were reviewing surveillance footage and speaking with witnesses to get a description of the suspect.
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