DHS, Congress and ICE Escalate Immigration Enforcement: New Bills, High-Profile Arrests and a $10 Million Fraud Case

DHS says it's targeting fraudulent asylum claims

The Department of Homeland Security is cracking down on immigration attorneys it accuses of clogging the asylum system with tens of thousands of false claims, according to Breitbart News. DHS did not publicly name specific attorneys, firms, or file any charges in the reporting available. No investigation, indictment, or disciplinary action against a named lawyer has been announced.

Immigration attorneys and due-process advocates would likely counter that determining whether an asylum claim is "false" requires individualized adjudication by an immigration judge, not a blanket agency characterization of an entire category of filings. Mislabeling meritless-but-good-faith claims as fraud, without naming specific cases or providing evidence, risks chilling legal representation for people who may have real claims. As of now, DHS's statement is an allegation about a pattern, not a proven case against any individual lawyer.

Two new bills aimed at loopholes

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced legislation creating new criminal penalties for people who facilitate birth tourism, telling Breitbart News her bill "shuts the door on this scam once and for all." The bill has not passed the House or Senate.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is introducing separate legislation targeting illegal border tunnel crossings, according to a Breitbart News exclusive. Neither bill's text, cosponsors, or committee assignment were detailed in available reporting, and both remain in early legislative stages.

ICE arrests tied to Ecuador assassination and a sanctuary-city sex offender

ICE arrested a man accused of being behind the 2023 assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, according to Breitbart News. Villavicencio was gunned down in Quito during his campaign, a killing that drew international attention to organized crime's reach into Ecuadorian politics. The suspect's arrest in the U.S. raises questions about whether an extradition request from Ecuador is pending and what timeline that process follows. No such details were available in current reporting.

Separately, ICE arrested a previously deported sex offender in Philadelphia, a self-declared sanctuary city, according to Breitbart News. ICE also reported deporting additional illegal aliens with convictions for murder, drunk driving, armed robbery, and other serious crimes, though individual names and case numbers were not specified in the available reporting.

$10 million day-care fraud charges in San Diego

Federal prosecutors have charged 12 immigrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Sudan in San Diego with running a scheme that allegedly claimed to provide low-income families with subsidized home day care while funneling more than $10 million in taxpayer money to themselves, according to Breitbart News. These are charges, not convictions. All 12 defendants are presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.

State Department restricts South Africa visas

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on South Africa, citing "laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups," according to Breitbart News. This is a State Department action already taken, not a proposal.

The political noise around all of it

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) called Democratic Socialist congressional candidate Claire Valdez's pledge to "fight for Mexico" embarrassing during a Friday appearance on Fox News' "The Will Cain Show," per Breitbart News. Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson publicly objected to the White House using one of her songs in a deportation-themed video. And in Arkansas, Senate candidate Hallie Shoffner, who is running to unseat Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), defended undocumented farm workers as "exceptional," according to Breitbart News. None of these exchanges changed any federal policy, but they show how thoroughly immigration is shaping the 2026 midterm landscape well beyond DHS and Congress.

What's unresolved

The Mace and Scott bills have not been scheduled for committee votes as of this reporting. DHS has not released names, case files, or enforcement numbers tied to its attorney crackdown. Whether Ecuador will seek extradition of the Villavicencio assassination suspect remains an open question with no announced timeline.