Don't mind Edge, kalianna - he's just taking a 30,000 ft view in making his Hawaii connections ("When Iniki turned hard right" - lol ;)
Star-Advertiser has an update on ICE activities in Hawaii (or does it? can it ever?)
Number of ICE Arrests in Hawaii Remains Unknown
"...Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, more than 236,000 immigrants have been arrested nationwide and over 207,000 deported as of Friday, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has repeatedly asked ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations for the number of arrests of alleged illegal immigrants in Hawaii so far this year and for each of the previous five years.
ICE officials have refused to make the data public or provide an explanation for withholding the information.
Homeland Security Investigations Honolulu has said that more than 100 people have been arrested for alleged violations of immigration law in Hawaii so far this year. Information on exactly how many over 100, where they were arrested and for what reason has not been made public.
...
In the current fiscal year, 561 immigration arrests by Dec. 31 have occurred in ICE’s San Francisco Area of Responsibility, which includes the state of Hawaii. Statistics for Hawaii were not immediately available Wednesday.
Of those arrested during that time, 517 were removed from the country.
...
In response to a Thursday request for immigration arrests statistics for Hawaii, ICE officials shared the nationwide numbers since the start of Trump’s second term and a May 14 news release.
The release was sent in response to a NYT story about ICE agents targeting coffee farmers in Kona. The statement noted that the story “falsely painted a narrative that Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeted illegal alien coffee workers in Hawaii.”
“The truth is ICE targeted criminal illegal aliens and conducted unaccompanied minor welfare checks to ensure children are not being abused, trafficked or otherwise exploited,” said McLaughlin on May 14. “Why does the New York Times continue to peddle false sob stories of criminal illegal aliens but ignore their victims? Completely leaving out the facts and rap sheets of criminals arrested shows the New York Times’s complete bias. This story was nothing but an attempt to mislead the public.”
Immigration enforcement has led to some high-profile arrests in Hawaii:
>> On Thursday, ICE agents arrested a Russian woman at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe. Federal officials say she is in the United States illegally. Anastasiia Vorobeva “entered the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego, Calif., July 18, 2023,” read a caption beneath a post of a picture of Vorobeva posted on ICE’s social media platforms Sunday. She was arrested Thursday, according to the post.
How Vorobeva got on the base, what she was doing there, and what federal law she is accused of violating were not made public by ICE officials.
An online search of the federal court records did not reveal a record of her arrest or court proceedings.
“The information available in the initial post is what we have available. No further information will be forthcoming on this individual,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
>> On June 2, an immigrant allegedly living in the country illegally and wanted on a federal arrest warrant refused get out of his car in Kapolei.
ICE agents who boxed him in with a sport utility vehicle broke a window to arrest the man, Ricardo Ramirez Almaguer, who allegedly entered and remained in the United States illegally.
Almaguer was arrested in Waianae on Sept. 19, 2023, and charged with drunk driving, driving without a license, and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, according to state court records. Through a Spanish interpreter, he eventually pleaded no contest to the impaired driving charge. The other charges were dismissed with prejudice."
(excerpted the Hawaii-related details, more at link, but paywall)
