Virginia high-school principal allegedly suggests anti-ICE 'hunting' plot; brother brags about 'assault rifle,' cop claims



A pair of Virginia brothers are facing charges related to an alleged plot to attack U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as retaliation for their enforcement of the law.

Mark Bennett, 59, and his younger brother John Bennett, a 54-year-old assistant principal at Virginia Beach's Kempsville High School, were arrested on Wednesday at Norfolk International Airport and each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit malicious wounding.

'Our ICE law enforcement is now facing an 8,000% increase in death threats against them.'

While having lunch at a pho restaurant in Virginia Beach on Nov. 15, an off-duty Norfolk police officer allegedly overheard the brothers discussing "how ICE agents are kidnapping individuals and that they needed to do something about it," said the criminal complaint obtained by WTKR-TV.

Mark Bennett allegedly indicated during the conversation that he was planning to link up with like-minded people in Las Vegas and return with "enforcement ideas and plans." He also allegedly indicated that he recently purchased a so-called assault rifle because "it utilizes the explosive rounds that are needed to penetrate the vests."

The complaint claims that John Bennett said that he wanted to "go hunting" and signaled interest in flying to Vegas with his older brother.

While detectives confirmed that Mark Bennett was scheduled to make the flight on the day of his arrest, it's unclear whether his brother similarly had a ticket to fly.

RELATED: Ramming attacks on ICE spike, endangering agents as Democrats continue to spew hateful rhetoric

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

"These allegations of violence against law enforcement, the very ones who protect and serve our communities, are incredibly alarming," Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said in a statement. "We are grateful this information was brought to our attention. VBPD was able to work with various law enforcement agencies to assess the credibility of the information, leading to today’s arrests, ensuring the safety of both our law enforcement community and the public at large."

Neither ICE nor Kempsville High School responded to Blaze News' requests for comment by deadline.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools told WTKR that Bennett has been with the district since 2009 and is currently on leave.

During the brothers' bond hearing on Thursday, the Bennetts' attorneys claimed that the conversation overheard at the restaurant amounted to hearsay, that they were just joking around, and that neither brother posed a threat to the community, reported WVEC-TV.

The attorneys suggested further that the purpose of Mark Bennett's trip to Las Vegas was to attend a Formula 1 race with his two sons.

The Bennetts were granted $25,000 bond but are confined to their homes and barred from contacting each other or possessing firearms.

ICE agents have faced an alarming number of threats and attacks in recent months. In some case, such as the sniper shooting in September at a Dallas facility, the attacks have proven deadly.

The Department of Homeland Security revealed this week that since Jan. 20, there have been 71 vehicular attacks against Customs and Border Protection agents and 28 vehicular attacks against ICE, amounting to 58% and 1,300% increases, respectively, of such attacks over the same period last year.

"Our ICE law enforcement is now facing an 8,000% increase in death threats against them while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late last month.

"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 and threats against them and their families," continued McLaughlin. "Make no mistake, sanctuary politicians are contributing to the surge in violent threats and assaults of our officers through their repeated vilification and demonization tactics, including gross comparisons to the Nazi Gestapo."

The agency noted that concerned citizens can report doxxing and harassment against ICE officers by calling 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or by completing ICE's online tip form.

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Woman allegedly tossed coffee at mom and her infant over dog leash dispute — and is now facing deportation



A Florida woman who was apparently angry over a dog being walked without a leash reacted outlandishly and may be deported after police investigated the incident.

The altercation unfolded on Friday morning when Nina Jaaskelainen confronted a mother outside of a home on Quail Nest Lane in Volusia County according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Video of the altercation was posted to social media.

Jaaskelainen even mocked and ridiculed the mom as she recorded.

Kelly Brisell told WESH-TV that she was walking with her 11-month-old son, Owen, and her dog named Ponce.

"She started screaming at us," Brisell recalled. "I ignored her. She kept saying it, and I said, 'I don't have a leash,' and kept walking. Then she looked at Ponce, walked up, and threw her coffee on him."

At one point, Jaaskelainen warned that her own dog had previously killed another dog.

She then tossed cold coffee on them, according to the police.

"It was all over my clothes and all over him," Brisell added. "It was over his eyes, nose, and temple. Thank God the coffee wasn't hot."

Jaaskelainen even mocked and ridiculed the mom as she recorded.

"You just threw coffee on my child!" Brisell yelled on the video.

"Good!" Jaaskelainen replied.

The woman was charged with two counts of battery, but investigators eventually determined that she was also in the country illegally. Jaaskelainen, who had no prior criminal history, is being held on an ICE detainer and is facing deportation.

RELATED: Democrat fires staffer accused of posing as immigration attorney at ICE facility

The woman is originally from Finland.

"Had she not done that, we would have all went about our day. It could have been an exchange of words, and I would have left and probably never saw her again," Brisell added. "The way she escalated it changed everything."

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We Need To Deport 1 Million Illegal Immigrants A Month

Americans want zero illegal immigration, little or no legal immigration, and a mass deportation system that makes noticeable cultural changes to American cities and towns.

CNN sob story hides Russian illegal alien's violent past — but DHS doesn't let outlet get away with it



A criminal illegal alien is expected to be deported more than a decade after his deportation order, but CNN's coverage of the case buries the violent details of his past. The Department of Homeland Security set the record straight as the criminal illegal alien is set to finally be removed Monday.

According to the DHS, Russian-born Roman Antatolevich Surovtsev was arrested on August 1 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

'It’s alarming that CNN can ALWAYS be counted on to run cover for VIOLENT FELONS. Imagine if they showed the same care for American citizens.'

He is expected to be deported Monday in compliance with a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge in November 2014.

CNN described Surovtsev as a "stateless person" given the fact that he fled the USSR and surrendered his citizenship. The 2014 deportation order also revoked his green card, the sole condition for his remaining in the United States.

RELATED: 'Climbing into the ceiling tiles': DHS immigration raids hit Charlotte, where 1 in 6 residents are foreign-born

Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

He has since routinely checked in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement until his arrest in August.

CNN, however, added a very different spin to the story, touting Surovtsev as a "loving dad" and a different person after a life of crime.

Only after more than a dozen paragraphs and a long litany of heart-wrenching familial anecdotes does CNN hint at Surovtsev's violent past: "In 2003, at 19 years old, Surovtsev began serving a 13-year sentence after helping some friends commit an armed carjacking of a motorcycle."

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noted that Surovtsev has a "history of violence" with a rap sheet including "assault with a deadly weapon, multiple counts of burglary, multiple counts of carjacking, carjacking with a firearm, trespassing onto private property, multiple counts of taking a vehicle without owner consent, possession of a hypodermic needle/syringe, receiving stolen property, multiple counts of conspiracy to commit a crime."

In a statement on X, the Department of Homeland Security added that Surovtsev committed many of those offenses as an adult and accused CNN of covering for criminals: "It’s alarming that CNN can ALWAYS be counted on to run cover for VIOLENT FELONS. Imagine if they showed the same care for American citizens."

Surovtsev will reportedly be boarding a plane Monday to Ukraine along with 82 other deportees, according to a statement obtained by CNN.

“On Monday, the U.S. government plans to deport 83 people to Ukraine, where they will be conscripted into the army and likely killed. Ukraine is a police state where the population lives under martial law,” Surovtsev’s attorneys, Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, said in an emailed statement.

"Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.," the Department of Homeland Security added.

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DHS blasts 'ACTIVIST' Biden judge's order to cut loose hundreds of illegal aliens in Chicago, pause deportations



Despite the ongoing obstructionism by Chicago's deeply unpopular mayor, Brandon Johnson (D), and other open-borders activists, federal immigration agents continue to risk life and limb with the aim of unburdening the crime-ridden sanctuary city of some of the roughly 150,000 illegal aliens who have sapped its resources, strained its systems, and endangered its people.

'An ACTIVIST JUDGE is putting the lives of Americans directly at risk.'

A Biden judge decided on Wednesday to undo some of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's hard work, ordering the Trump administration to free hundreds of the illegal aliens recently apprehended in the Chicago area, including some of those captured during the Department of Homeland Security's Operation Midway Blitz.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Blaze News in a statement. "At every turn, activist judges, sanctuary politicians, and violent rioters have actively tried to prevent our law enforcement officers from arresting and removing the worst of the worst."

"Now an ACTIVIST JUDGE is putting the lives of Americans directly at risk by ordering 615 illegal aliens be released into the community," added McLaughlin.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, a Biden appointee, ruled last month that ICE had violated a 2022 consent decree settlement that barred federal immigration agents from conducting warrantless arrests unless they have cause to suspect an individual is both an illegal alien and a flight risk.

The settlement, which was the result of a lawsuit filed by the open-borders advocacy organization National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois, was set to expire on May 12, 2025. However, the NIJC filed a motion to continue enforcing the settlement earlier this year after ICE made a series of warrantless illegal alien arrests.

RELATED: Federal judge wildly oversteps her bounds with Border Patrol commander in Chicago

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Cummings, who previously claimed that NIJC's pending motion kept the settlement alive, decided on Oct. 7 to extend the consent decree until Feb. 2, 2026, and ordered ICE to apply it to all agents nationwide.

On Wednesday, Cummings went even farther to appease the open-borders activists, ordering ICE to free 13 illegal aliens by Friday and to release another 615 illegal aliens on bond into a monitoring program by Nov. 21, unless the Trump administration appeals and/or demonstrates that the arrests were in keeping with the consent decree.

Lawyers for the government are considering an appeal, indicating that at least 12 of the 615 illegal aliens arrested in Chicago between June and early October are considered high flight risks, reported Axios.

The activist judge also ordered the Trump administration to pause deportation and voluntary departure procedures for all those illegal aliens who are pending release and to provide additional information concerning all arrests that have taken place since his October ruling.

Michelle Garcia, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Illinois, suggested that by committing to enforcing the consent decree, Cummings has set the stage for "even more of the hundreds of people illegally arrested and detained during Operation Midway Blitz to be released."

Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at NIJC, also celebrated Cummings' apparent judicial activism, stating, "We are grateful that Judge Cummings sees the urgency of this moment and has ordered the Trump administration to allow hundreds to leave the inhumane detention centers where they are being unlawfully held and to have a chance at the due process our laws require."

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'He's not that smart': Homan lampoons Chicago mayor for pleading with UN to intervene against ICE



Brandon Johnson, Chicago's Democratic mayor whose disapproval rating is over 60%, joined Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and other American leftists in complaining to foreign bureaucrats on Friday about the Trump administration's faithful enforcement of federal immigration law.

After detailing some of the ways that his "sanctuary city" has worked to undermine federal law enforcement initiatives, Johnson stressed to members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, "We cannot do this alone."

The 'United Nations is not going to tell President Trump what to do.'

"That is why I call on this council to hold the federal government of the United States to the same standards of accountability you apply elsewhere in the world," said Johnson, whose city has seen at least 368 homicides already this year. "No country should be above international law. Human rights are universal or they are meaningless."

When asked about Johnson's request that foreigners meddle in American politics, White House border czar Tom Homan told "The Big Weekend Show" that it "just proves he's not that smart."

RELATED: Trump celebrates historic crime drop in hostile sanctuary city after federal 'blitz': DHS

Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

"Asking the United Nations to, you know, interfere with ICE enforcing U.S. law is like asking an arsonist how to stop a fire," said Homan. "The [International Organization for Migration], part of the U.N., helped fund the mass migration during the Biden administration's four years, spending millions upon millions of dollars helping that ... international migration coming to the United States."

Homan underscored that the "United Nations is not going to tell President Trump what to do. President Trump was put into office on the promise of making this country safe again, on the promise of having the historic deportation operation — that's exactly what America's getting."

'We live with the consequences of that moral failure every day.'

The border czar noted that in addition to making Americans safer by giving the boot to criminal noncitizens and securing the border, the Trump administration's clear messaging to would-be invaders that they're not welcome has also saved the lives of thousands of migrants who might have joined the multitudes who previously died trying to reach America.

In their campaign to protect the people of Chicago from the illegal aliens Johnson is apparently keen to harbor, ICE has caught numerous dangerous criminal noncitizens.

For instance, two days before Johnson's appeal to the U.N., ICE officers captured Alan Eduardo Garcia, an illegal alien from Mexico whose rap sheet includes arrests and convictions for felony strangulation, domestic battery, disorderly conduct, battery causing bodily injury, aggravated battery against a handicapped or pregnant woman, and unlawful use of a firearm, the agency claimed.

Among the other apparently dangerous foreigners ICE has captured in recent weeks was an illegal alien from Somalia who has convictions for multiple domestic assaults, rape, and multiple DUIs; a convicted murderer from Mexico; and multiple members of the terrorist gang Tren de Aragua.

Johnson suggested that the Trump administration's refusal to let the U.N. police its actions amounts to a "moral failure," adding that "we live with the consequences of that moral failure every day."

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'Begin repatriating': German chancellor admits it's time to give Syrian migrants the boot



The Alternative for Germany party has spent over a decade sounding the alarm about the fallout of mass migration in Europe. For its efforts, the German political establishment has sought to ban, vilify, disarm, debank, and criminalize the party and its members.

Now that imported crime has become too much to bear — such that Berlin is once again a dangerous place for Jews and homosexuals — and the AFD has become too popular to ignore, a leading German official has joined the chorus of those seeking to repatriate so-called asylum seekers from Syria.

'41.8% of all people suspected of crimes in Germany last year — a year that saw a nearly 6% increase in year-over-year violent crimes — were foreign nationals.'

Chancellor Friedrich Merz — whose center-right coalition consisting of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union parties is neck and neck in the polls with the AFD — struck a new tone last week, suggesting that the bulk of the over one million Syrians who flooded into the country over the past decade should hit the road.

Merz suggested further that he'll work with Syria's terrorist president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to help facilitate the return, reported Politico.

"The civil war in Syria is over," said Merz. "There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany, which means we can begin repatriating people."

The chancellor noted further that the Syrians temporarily dwelling in Europe have a responsibility to rebuild their war-torn nation.

"Without these people, reconstruction will not be possible," said Merz. "Those in Germany who then refuse to return to the country can, of course, be deported in the near future."

RELATED: Orbán emphasizes to Trump that Hungary survives today as Christian 'island of difference in a liberal ocean'

Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images

Marc Bernhard, an AFD lawmaker, recently told PBS' "Frontline" that of the 1 to 1.2 million Syrians now in Germany, "Most of them don't have jobs. Most of them are not well integrated. That's exactly the issue."

Fewer than 290,000 Syrian nationals were reportedly employed in Germany last year.

So-called asylum seekers from Syria receive over $500 a month under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act as well as other benefits, including housing support, dental care, and health insurance.

'These people must return to their homeland.'

In addition to draining citizen resources, Syrians in Germany are also grossly over-represented in crime statistics.

Mass migration to Germany from the Middle East has coincided in recent years with a massive spike in rape and other violent crimes.

A government-commissioned study revealed in early 2018 that there was a 10.4% increase in violent crime at the height of the immigration crisis. Deutsche Welle reported that 90% of this violent crime increase was attributable to immigrants, predominantly males between the ages of 14 and 30.

Foreign nationals have continued to commit an alarming number of crimes in the years since. Federal police crime statistics indicate that 41.8% of all people suspected of crimes in Germany last year — a year that saw a nearly 6% increase in year-over-year violent crimes — were foreign nationals.

The top five nationalities of non-German suspects in 2024 were: Syrian, 114,889 suspects; Turkish, 93,253 suspects; Ukrainian, 55,669 suspects; Romanian, 65,041 suspects; and Afghani, 49,427 suspects.

The imported crime problem became so bad last year that Olaf Scholz, the former German chancellor who long championed predecessor Angela Merkel's open-borders policies, acknowledged that criminal noncitizens should be deported.

Speaking a month after an Afghan migrant butchered a police officer at an anti-jihad demonstration in Mannheim, Germany, Scholz said, "It outrages me when someone who has found protection here commits the most serious of crimes."

"Such criminals should be deported, even if they come from Syria or Afghanistan," added Scholz.

Just weeks after Scholz dared upset the open-borders leftists in the Bundestag, a 26-year-old Syrian migrant butchered three people — two men ages 56 and 67 and a 56-year-old woman — and left another six grievously wounded at a Christian music festival in Solingen.

The situation has deteriorated further in the months since, prompting Scholz's successor and other German establishmentarians to echo the AFD's calls for action; however, they appear unwilling to fully embrace mass deportations. Instead, they are reportedly entertaining the prospect of deportation of criminal Syrian nationals.

Merz indicated last week that he would speak to al-Sharaa about deporting Syrians convicted of crimes back to their homeland.

The AFD clearly isn't interested in such half-measures.

"We say quite clearly: Syrians must now have their protected status revoked because the reason for their fleeing no longer applies," AFD co-leader Alice Weidel said two days after German authorities arrested a Syrian man suspected of preparing a jihadist attack in Berlin. "These people must return to their homeland."

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Indiana sues woke school district that allegedly tried to prevent illegal alien from self-deporting with his kid



Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has filed a major lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools over their alleged effort to thwart the enforcement of federal immigration law and their corresponding violations of state immigration law, stating, "No public institution in Indiana has the right to pick and choose which laws to follow."

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Marion County, requests an injunction against IPS' "sanctuary" policies, citing a 2017 resolution passed by the school board that prohibits IPS employees from assisting immigration enforcement efforts "unless legally required and authorized to do so by the Superintendent"; from collecting any information regarding a student or parent's immigration status; and from providing any information regarding a student's immigration status.

'Sanctuary policies are bad in any context, but they are especially troubling in our schools.'

"When a school district refuses to cooperate with ICE, it doesn't just break the law — it endangers students, protects criminal aliens, and sends a dangerous message to every government body in this state: that compliance is optional," Rokita said. "Not on my watch."

Rokita told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on Thursday that amid its apparent campaign to thwart federal law enforcement efforts, the school district had even frustrated the attempt by an illegal alien to self-deport.

An illegal alien from Honduras decided earlier this year to voluntarily deport so that he could one day apply to return to the U.S. legally, Rokita claimed. On Jan. 8, the day of his family's planned departure, one of his children went to school against his wishes.

RELATED: Masked anti-ICE agitators are in for a rude awakening as new DHS policy goes into effect

Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

Rokita told Beck that when the father went to retrieve his son from school to ensure that his family could depart the U.S. together, "the school obstructed him and then obstructed ICE from assisting as well."

"I can believe that there are schools this out of control, but not so out of control that they block a dad from picking up his own son," Beck said.

The state AG indicated that in the time since, his office has uncovered a "whole string of policies" that the IPS has in place that serve to keep ICE agents from doing their jobs.

— (@)

The America First Policy Institute, which has worked with Rokita's office in developing the legal strategy for tackling rogue institutions and agencies, noted that the lawsuit is filed under Indiana Code chapter 5-2-18.2, which bars state and local entities from interfering with the enforcement of federal immigration law.

Leigh Ann O'Neill, chief legal affairs officer at AFPI, told Beck that several of IPS' policies directly violate the law, not only frustrating law enforcement efforts but putting vulnerable kids at risk of trafficking and exploitation by making them virtually invisible to the authorities.

"Sanctuary policies are bad in any context, but they are especially troubling in our schools. Schools across the country are vulnerable to infiltration by criminal illegal aliens — it's happened in many other states — and it is essential that ICE be able to take action when that occurs to help keep our kids safe," Rokita noted in a statement. "That's why my office, with the assistance of AFPI, is suing IPS to enforce compliance with state law and protect Hoosier schoolchildren."

— (@)


"Attorney General Rokita is showing exactly the kind of leadership America needs," O'Neill said in a statement. "When state attorneys general act boldly to enforce cooperation with federal immigration law, they help protect families, uphold the rule of law, and stop the political gamesmanship that endangers our communities."

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'Unleashed': Houston ICE agents complete another large-scale immigration raid



While national attention has largely been focused on cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois, illegal alien arrests in Texas have seen an uptick following recent raids.

According to an NBC News report, Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently completed an operation in Houston, Texas, which led to 1,500 arrests over a 10-day stretch.

'President Trump and Secretary Noem have unleashed ICE to make America safe again.'

NBC noted that the rate of per-day arrests on this raid was above average compared with raids in other cities.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the report on social media.

On X, DHS said, "President Trump and Secretary Noem have unleashed ICE to make America safe again."

RELATED: Texas DMV has allegedly been registering vehicles to illegal aliens

Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images

"If you come to our country and break our laws. We will hunt you down."

The 10-day Houston raid in October was preceded by similar 10-day raids in February and August, which respectively led to 543 and 822 arrests, NBC reported, citing Bret Bradford, the Houston field office director.

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Islamic group throws fit after Trump admin detains, revokes visa of alleged terrorist sympathizer



The Council on American-Islamic Relations is up in arms over the imminent deportation of Sami Hamdi, a radical Islamic agitator from the United Kingdom who allegedly suggested the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel were worth celebrating.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a statement to Blaze News that as the result of work undertaken by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "this individual's visa was revoked and he is in ICE custody pending removal."

As of Monday morning, the online Immigration and Customs Enforcement database does not presently have a Sami Hamdi from the U.K. listed as being in custody.

'How many of you felt the euphoria, Allahu akbar?'

"Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country," continued McLaughlin. "It's commonsense."

The State Department said in a statement, "We've said it before, we'll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans."

Hamdi's detention came just days after the RAIR Foundation USA published a damning report concerning the British national's history of radical remarks and associations, stating, "Every appearance Hamdi makes in America is not merely a speech — it operates effectively as a deployment node in an organized influence and mobilization program serving a foreign militant Islamic cause on U.S. soil. His talks are not educational but tactical."

During an October 2023 panel discussion at a British mosque, Hamdi suggested that rather than pitying the Palestinians, Muslims should "celebrate the victory," apparently referencing the Hamas terror attacks that claimed the lives of over 1,200 people in Israel including 46 Americans.

"Allah has shown the world that no normalization can erase the Palestinian cause," said Hamdi. "When everybody thought it was finished, it's roaring. How many of you feel it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria, Allahu akbar? How many of you felt it? Why did you feel it? Because the despair vanished."

RELATED: Nigerian Christians are being murdered by Islamic radicals. This congressman has had enough.

Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Image

Hamdi also suggested that the reports of rapes by Hamas terrorists were lies.

Although Hamdi has suggested that his remarks were misrepresented and has denied that he celebrated the events of Oct. 7, he has since characterized the Hamas terror attacks as a "natural consequence of the oppression that was being put on the Palestinians."

Blaze News has reached out to Hamdi for comment.

Hamdi, the managing director of a group that purportedly "advises on political environments across the globe," spoke on Saturday at the Sacramento Valley chapter of CAIR's annual banquet and was scheduled to speak to CAIR Florida on Sunday.

Federal immigration officials detained Hamdi Sunday morning at San Francisco International Airport, cutting short his speaking tour.

CAIR, whose co-founder said in a speech that the Hamas terror attacks on unarmed women and children made him "happy," condemned Hamdi's detention and called for his release.

The organization — which the Justice Department named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism financing case — stated that "abducting a prominent British Muslim journalist and political commentator on a speaking tour in the United States because he dared to criticize the Israeli government's genocide is a blatant affront to free speech."

"Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice. We call on ICE to immediately account for and release Mr. Hamdi, whose only 'crime' is criticizing a foreign government that committed genocide," continued the Washington, D.C.-based group. "Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots. This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end."

The Muslim Council of Britain has signaled common cause with CAIR and called for the U.K. government to "take urgent diplomatic action" to ensure "Hamdi's rights are protected."

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