Monthly Archives: May 2025

Tampa Free Press: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Says ICE Is ‘Trump’s Modern-Day Gestapo’ In Commencement Speech

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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel executing the Trump administration’s immigration agenda to the Gestapo in a Saturday commencement address at the University of Minnesota law school.

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Walz, the failed Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, suggested during the speech that Trump is using ICE to implement his immigration agenda in similar fashion to how Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler used the Gestapo secret police to target opponents, according to RealClearPolitics.

“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz claimed. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons—no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”

“To be clear, there’s no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not, because they refused to give them a trial,” Walz continued. “We’re supposed to just take their word for it.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Says ICE Is ‘Trump’s Modern-Day Gestapo’ In Commencement Speech
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel executing the Trump administration’s immigration agenda to
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Says ICE Is ‘Trump’s Modern-Day Gestapo’ In Commencement Speech

Washington Post: China to donate $500 million to WHO, stepping into gap left by U.S.

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Beijing will replace the United States as the organization’s top state donor, expanding its influence as the U.S. retreats from international cooperation.

China has pledged to give $500 million to the World Health Organization as the country is set to replace the United States as the group’s top state donor, expanding Beijing’s global influence in the wake of Washington’s retreat from international cooperation.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong told the World Health Assembly that his country is making the contribution to oppose “unilateralism,” a trait Beijing often ascribes to Washington as relations between the two powers deteriorate.

President Donald Trump in January ordered the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, a move that would leave Beijing as the top donor and most powerful member country.

A good move for China, at the expense of our reputation and prestige. We have only King Donald to blame — and ourselves for electing the bum.

China to donate $500 million to WHO, stepping into gap left by U.S.
Beijing will replace the United States as the organization’s top state donor, expanding its influence as the U.S. retreats from international cooperation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/05/21/china-who-donation-500-million

MSNBC: Something is amiss with DOJ’s decision to charge New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver

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What people should know about the federal charges brought against McIver following an incident at a Newark ICE detention facility.

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., a sitting member of Congress, was released on her own recognizance following a Wednesday hearing. She faces federal charges in connection with the assault of federal law enforcement officers outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. That she was arrested on these charges is rare, and perhaps without a historical analog. In the few instances in which the federal government has pursued charges against a current member of Congress, it is typically for a crime related to political corruption.

There’s little question, per video footage from the May 9 incident, that McIver was in the middle of a scrum of people seeking to stop the arrest of Newark’s mayor, Ras J. Baraka, and enter the ICE facility. As a sitting member of Congress, McIver has the legal right to enter the facility, although she — of course — does not have the right to assault federal officers on the way in. 

But what people should know is that something is amiss with the decision to charge McIver. Before bringing charges against a sitting member of Congress, current, but paused, Department of Justice rules dictate that federal prosecutors confer with the Public Integrity Section. In addition, that section is supposed to sign off before charges are filled.  

But apparently none of that happened.

Opinion | The chilling problem with the decision to charge New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver
What people should know about the federal charges brought against McIver following an incident at a Newark ICE detention facility.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/new-jersey-lamonica-mciver-federal-charges-rcna207794

Rolling Stone: ‘Intentionally Hiding’: GOP Tries to Sneak Through Medicaid Cuts in Dead of Night

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Republicans scheduled a critical meeting of the House Rules Committee for 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The marathon hearing – in which lawmakers questioned the chairs and ranking members of various committees involved in the production of the reconciliation bill – lasted over eight hours. It did not escape notice that the late-night hearing took place during hours when most journalists, government officials, and interested members of the public would be at home and asleep. 

“It’s just over 100 days you guys have gone from promising to lower costs to ripping away people’s health care. Of course you don’t want anybody to know what you’re doing here,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said around 1:30 a.m. “It’s because you know this bill betrays the people who voted for you.” 

“You have the most ineffective Congress in the century, you passed almost no legislation into law, and this is how you want to roll out your big centerpiece legislation at 1:00 in the morning?” McGovern added. “This isn’t just incompetence. It’s much more nefarious than that. You are intentionally hiding what you are doing. What an insult to the people of this country, what disdain you guys must have for the people who voted for you.”

‘Intentionally Hiding’: GOP Tries to Sneak Through Medicaid Cuts in Dead of Night
Democrats bashed Republicans for trying to sneak through Trump’s tax bill that would help the rich and hurt the poor in the middle of the night.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-try-sneak-through-trump-tax-bill-night-1235344756

Raw Story: Furious judge mulls criminal contempt as Trump admin found to have blatantly ignored order

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A federal judge found the Trump administration violated his order from last month blocking officials from deporting foreign nationals to countries that aren’t their own without giving them a chance to challenge their removal.

Boston-based federal judge Brian E. Murphy strongly rebuked the administration Wednesday when he ruled on an emergency motion filed by men who may have been deported to South Sudan, a violence-plagued nation they had never visited. It’s not clear whether the court will impose any punishment on Donald Trump’s officials, reported the New York Times.

“The department’s actions in this case are unquestionably violative of this court’s order,” Murphy said.

Homeland security officials told the judge that eight migrants had been deported Tuesday on a flight to a third country but refused to say where they were sent, and Murphy noted the government had given them less than 24 hours notice that they were being removed, which the judge said was “plainly insufficient.”

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Two sources told the Times the flight carrying the men – who DHS said are were citizens of Burma, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, South Sudan and Vietnam – had landed in east African nation of Djibouti and that U.S. military personnel were standing by to assist in their detention, if necessary.

Furious judge mulls criminal contempt as Trump admin found to have blatantly ignored order

https://www.rawstory.com/south-sudan-trump

Law & Crime: ‘Unquestionably violative of this court’s order’: Judge upbraids Trump admin for deporting migrants to war-torn third country without due process

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A federal judge on Wednesday said that the Trump administration had “unquestionably” violated his order by deporting several migrants to South Sudan — a country from which none of the migrants are from — without due process or a reasonable opportunity to raise concerns of their fear of the war-torn nation, an action he said could amount to criminal contempt of court.

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy upbraided attorneys from the Justice Department, accusing them of ignoring the “long history” of legal precedent surrounding due process rights as well as recent orders from the U.S. Supreme Court when they sent seven men to South Sudan with less than 24 hours notice.

Murphy last month issued a preliminary injunction barring the government from deporting migrants to third countries without giving them a “reasonable opportunity” to raise concerns about that country and the possible violence they could face.

Murphy scheduled a hearing after an emergency motion filed by attorneys for the plaintiffs informed the court that at least two of their clients had been notified on Monday evening that they were being removed to South Sudan and were transported out of ICE facilities at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“The department’s actions in this case are unquestionably violative of this court’s order,” Murphy said at Wednesday’s hearing. “It is plain to me that an ‘opportunity to be heard’ of only several hours that were not during business hours, where you couldn’t raise consult with your attorney or your family is insufficient. It was impossible for these people to have a meaningful opportunity to object to their removal to South Sudan.”

Murphy emphasized that even the Supreme Court justices recently confirmed that 24 hours of notice is “plainly insufficient” for the purpose of due process, stating, “I don’t see how anybody could think these people had a reasonable chance to object.”

Judge slams Trump admin for ‘unquestionably’ violating order on third-country deportations
A federal judge on Wednesday said that the Trump administration had “unquestionably” violated his order by deporting several migrants to South Sudan without due process.
‘Unquestionably violative of this court’s order’: Judge upbraids Trump admin for deporting migrants to war-torn third country without due process

Associated Press: ‘Unquestionably in violation’: Judge says US government didn’t follow court order on deportations

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The White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday, hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes in the United States but refused to reveal where they would end up. The judge’s statement was a notably strong rebuke to the government’s attempts to manage immigration.

In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger. Minutes before the hearing, administration officials accused “activist judges” of advocating the release of dangerous criminals.

“The department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of this court’s order,” Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees didn’t have “meaningful opportunity” to object to being sent to South Sudan. The group was flown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no chance to contact lawyers who could object in court.

‘Unquestionably in violation’: Judge says US government didn’t follow court order on deportations
A federal judge says the White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic nation of South Sudan.

https://apnews.com/article/deportation-immigration-south-sudan-department-of-homeland-security-a09612dbd055c5d1d88902c415bdf3e6

Rolling Stone: Trump Allegedly Violates Court Order, Sends Asian Immigrants to South Sudan

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The administration reportedly deported two men from Myanmar and Vietnam to war-torn South Sudan

After an appeals court declined to remove an injunction aimed at barring Donald Trump’s administration from deporting noncitizens to “third-party countries” – a country that is not their country of origin – without due process, and without giving them chance to raise concerns of persecution, torture, and death, the government allegedly violated that court order days later.

Two men, who are originally from Myanmar and Vietnam and were being held in U.S. immigration custody, were deported to war-torn South Sudan, according their lawyers, Politico reported. Their lawyers said they received the a notice of the deportation plan on Monday evening and that by Tuesday morning, they were on a plane with 10 other deportees.

Earlier this month, as Rolling Stone reported, the Trump administration was preparing to use a military plane to fly immigrants to Libya before Judge Brian Murphy clarified that doing so would violate his court order. Lawyers with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and Human Rights warned that “Laotian, Vietnamese, and Philippine” immigrants, who are being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, were “being prepared for removal to Libya, a county notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents.”

Lawyers for the Burmese man, per Politico, said he was originally scheduled to be on a flight to Libya, before the plan was abandoned amid media and legal scrutiny. The attorneys also said that the man, identified as N.M. in court papers, received notification about the deportation to South Sudan only in English, violating Judge Murphy’s previous order due to N.M.’s limited English proficiency.

Sudan and South Sudan are on the U.S. Department of States “do not travel” advisory list, yet King Donald and his cronies are using it for third-country deportations.

Trump Allegedly Violates Court Order, Sends Asian Immigrants to South Sudan
Two men, who are originally from Myanmar and Vietnam and were being held in U.S. immigration custody, were reportedly deported to war-torn South Sudan.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-sends-asian-immigrants-south-sudan-violates-court-1235344357

Associated Press: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block watchdog access to DOGE documents

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The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to block court orders requiring Elon Musk ’s Department of Government Efficiency to turn over documents about its operations to a government watchdog group.

The Justice Department’s latest emergency appeal to the high court concerns whether DOGE, which has been central to President Donald Trump’s push to remake the government, is a federal agency that is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The administration argues DOGE is merely a presidential advisory body that is exempt from requests for documents under FOIA.

The administration wants the justices to freeze orders that would force DOGE to turn over documents to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and have acting DOGE administrator Amy Gleason answer questions under oath within the next three weeks. CREW sued in February, claiming that DOGE “wields shockingly broad power” with no transparency about its actions.

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block watchdog access to DOGE documents
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to block court orders requiring Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to turn over documents about its operations to a government watchdog group.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-doge-freedom-information-records-trump-14a1773b42ddad1e3367a39750a84bef

Raw Story: Staffers quit over Kristi [“Bimbo #2”] Noem’s 4-hour ‘fishing expedition’ polygraphs: report

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [“Bimbo #2”] Noem’s obsession with tracking down leakers in her department has led to an exodus of employees who would rather quit than listen to threats or be subjected to intrusive polygraph tests.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the polygraphs that began back in February have continued unabated as she and top adviser Corey Lewandowski have personally singled out employees in numbers that one former official labeled “unprecedented.”

With the Journal’s Michelle Hackman and Tarini Parti labeling what is going on behind closed doors at the agency as a “fishing expedition,” they reported, “… many have said the seeming randomness has created a chilling effect inside the department.”

The report notes that some interrogations that have taken place “in a small interrogation room in Virginia with a one-way mirror,” have lasted up to four hours and that has helped lead to an exodus from the department.

Staffers quit over Kristi Noem’s 4-hour ‘fishing expedition’ polygraphs: report

https://www.rawstory.com/noem-leakers-staffers-quit