Who funded the Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon Hoax?

Friday, July 18, 2025

Federal prosecutors have charged a woman with faking her abduction by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in downtown Los Angeles last month, alleging a "well-orchestrated conspiracy" meant to elicit public sympathy and donations based on her undocumented status. Authorities on Thursday announced that Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, of South L.A. has been charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, with prison terms of up to five years. She has not yet entered a plea and is expected to make her initial court appearance in the coming weeks. "Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are kidnapping' illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents," U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a statement.

Posted by gracieamazed at 08:59 PM | 7 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

For starters ...

One instance of a possible success out of how many?

Did the ICE agents present her with their identification and badges?

Were they wearing masks to hide their public servant identities?

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 09:39 PM

@#3 ... Axios Explains: Inside ICE's superpowers ...

www.axios.com

... The images of masked, heavily armed immigration agents snatching people off the streets and taking them away in unmarked cars have shocked many Americans -- and led to a simple question: Is all of this legal?

- - - It is -- at least for now.

Why it matters: Since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was created after the 9/11 attacks, its agents have operated with vastly more enforcement power, less transparency and fewer guardrails than local police.

- - - ICE's rules were designed largely to give the agency broad leeway in helping the FBI identify and arrest domestic terror suspects.

- - - Now the Trump administration is using that power to go after unauthorized immigrants " potentially millions of them " with a frequency and aggressiveness that has sent ripples through communities nationwide.

Zoom in: Under Trump, critics say, ICE has become the closest thing the U.S. has to a secret police force.

- - - ICE agents aren't required to wear body cameras, can cover their faces, don't have to provide badge numbers or identify themselves, can arrive in unmarked cars and don't need a warrant from a judge to detain someone.

- - - Like those with other federal enforcement agencies, they can ignore rules that govern local police departments, particularly those local agencies with histories of abuse or that operate under court-imposed restrictions on racial profiling.

- - - In some cases, ICE agents can even arrest U.S. citizens " but they aren't supposed to place them in immigration detention units. Even so, a few U.S. citizens have been detained in recent ICE raids because of agents' mistakes or negligence. ...