Sanctuary Policies and Federal Enforcement

The Eighth Circuit panel held that DOJ’s affidavits establish probable cause to charge five additional defendants — including former CNN anchor Don Lemon — in the disruption of a St. Paul church that targeted an ICE field‑office official, but declined DOJ’s unprecedented request to compel a district judge to sign arrest warrants. Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz rejected DOJ’s “emergency” framing (warning of “copycats”), called the worst alleged conduct protesters “yelling horrible things” with no violence, and noted DOJ has other remedies such as grand‑jury indictments or revised affidavits.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer against Aristides Eli Orellana-Ramirez, an El Salvadoran national who DHS says entered the U.S. illegally and is now charged with murdering 16-year-old Bravlio Galeano Ayala and 18-year-old Samir Canales Molina in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say gunfire erupted around 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2025 in southwest Charlotte and that the two teens, whose bodies were later found more than six miles apart, are believed to have been shot at the same location before trying to flee for help. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the case 'another tragic loss of life at the hands of a criminal illegal alien' and tied it to what the department calls 'sanctuary' policies, noting that North Carolina authorities have declined to honor nearly 1,400 ICE detainers in recent years. The detainer and arrest are being highlighted as part of 'Operation Charlotte’s Web,' a Trump administration surge of federal agents into Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas aimed at rounding up 'high-threat' unauthorized immigrants with violent criminal histories, a campaign that local officials have vowed to resist. The case is already fueling partisan battles over whether refusing ICE access to jails and detainers increases or reduces public safety in major U.S. cities.