ICE is using AI to help make arrests | Morning Newsletter
And a parking garage partially collapsed.
The Morning Newsletter
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Welcome to another freezing day in Philly.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s effort to find, arrest, and deport people who are in the country without official permission will be augmented by private companies, data brokers, and state and local agencies.
And one person died when an under-construction parking garage at 30th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue partially collapsed.
— Tommy Rowan (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Everyone knows the job and goal of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is to find, arrest, and deport people who are in the country without official permission.
Less known, though, are some of the methods the agency uses to accomplish that, as examined in a new analysis by the American Immigration Council in Washington, D.C.
That includes funneling tens of thousands of immigrant names to private contractors, and using artificial intelligence to help sort, identify, and locate those being sought.
Enforcement is no longer carried out solely by federal agents on the streets but, the council said, increasingly distributed across a network of private companies, data brokers, and state and local agencies.
Reporter Jeff Gammage has the full story here.
In other local ICE news: Agents that were deployed to Philadelphia International Airport last month amid the Department of Homeland Security shutdown are set to leave as soon as Thursday.
Part of a seven-level parking garage under construction in Grays Ferry for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia collapsed Wednesday afternoon, leaving one man dead and two people unaccounted for as rescuers strategized how to deal with the unstable structure.
The collapse occurred around 2:15 p.m. at 30th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue, across the street from the Grays Ferry Shopping Center, police said.
One man rescued from the scene was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:03 p.m., police said.
The collapse occurred in the stairwell of the structure.
What you should know today
After President Donald Trump’s administration dismantled exhibits about the horrors of slavery at the President’s House earlier this year, the federal government planned to replace them with its own account of history. Details of those replacement panels remained unclear until now.
Two Bucks County teenagers who plotted an ISIS-inspired New York City terror attack sought to kill up to 60 people, according to new court documents.
A federal jury recently awarded $4.35 million to five former employees of Rothman Orthopaedic Institute after finding they were fired in retaliation for complaining about workplace sex discrimination.
Mike Missanelli, the Philly sports media personality, was arrested by Lower Merion police and charged Wednesday with simple assault and harassment in connection with a domestic dispute in Wynnewood.
A Havertown man pleaded guilty Wednesday to making thousands of pornographic, “deepfake” photos and videos of multiple women while working as a Pennsylvania State Police corporal stationed in Skippack.
Long Island, N.Y., architect Rex Heuermann, who led a secret life as a serial killer, pleaded guilty to the murder of seven women and admitted to an eighth in a string of slayings known as the “Gilgo Beach killings.”
Early last Saturday morning, two men entered a Wawa on York and Horsham Roads in Hatboro and — apparently fueled by hunger and/or a lingering potassium deficiency — made off with 96 bananas.
🧠 Trivia time
This daughter of Delaware is pregnant with her first child.
A) Ashley Biden
B) Aubrey Plaza
C) SZA (Solana Imani Rowe)
D) Elisabeth Shue
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we’re ...
⚾ Remembering: Two Phillies legends collided in a scary play in a game against the Yankees 71 years ago this week.
🍽️ Boasting: Food & Wine named Philly one of the country’s top food-and-drink destinations for 2026.
🎹 Digging: If anyone had doubts about Cardi B’s musical or performing talents, she used her Xfinity Mobile Arena tour stop to prove them wrong.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: This Collegeville institution of higher education named a new president.
SINCERE LUG SOUL
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.
Cheers to Steve Forte, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Franklin Fountain. This long-standing Philly ice cream parlor has recently been experimenting with new flavors, including caramelized garlic toffee to caprese ice cream.
Photo of the day
⚾ The passing of a legend: Davey Lopes, who used his legs to scar a generation of Phillies fans but made good years later by teaching the 2008 world champions to run like him, died Wednesday. He was 80.
Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. Paola has you covered tomorrow.
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