Monthly Archives: May 2025

Guardian: Irish woman detained by US immigration released after 17 days in custody

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An Irish woman who was detained by US immigration authorities because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years has been released after 17 days in custody.

Cliona Ward, 54, who has lived legally in the US for decades, emerged on Wednesday from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility at Tacoma in Washington.

After visiting her sick father in Ireland she had been detained at San Francisco airport on 21 April, causing an outcry in Ireland and the US and a campaign for her release.

Last week a California judge agreed to an application for the original convictions to be formally overturned in a manner that would be recognised at a federal level, paving the way for her release, according to Ward’s lawyers.

The incarceration left Ward traumatised but she was thankful for the support and is now recuperating, her sister, Orla Holladay, wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Cliona is finally in her own bed and we are all ready for some quiet and reflection.”

Irish woman detained by US immigration released after 17 days in custody
An Irish woman who was detained by US immigration authorities because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years has been released after 17 days in custody. Cliona Ward, 54, who has lived legally in the US for decades, emerged on Wednesday from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility at Tacomain Washington. After visiting her sick father in Ireland she had been detained at San Francisco airport on 21 April, causing an outcry…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/irish-woman-detained-by-us-immigration-released-after-17-days-in-custody/ar-AA1EoD48

France 24: Stockholm is latest city to refuse ‘bizarre’ US request to abandon diversity

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The Stockholm City Council has rejected the US embassy’s demand that it adopt the Trump administration’s anti-diversity policies, with Stockholm’s vice-mayor for planning calling the request “bizarre”. Several European nations and cities have slammed US efforts to force its anti-DEI policies on the continent.

Presumptuous idiots!!!!!!!!!!

In an email to the city’s planning office dated April 29, the US embassy asked that Stockholm officials sign a document promising that contractors would not operate any programmes promoting DEI that would violate current US law.

“It’s so bizarre,” Jan Valeskog, Stockholm’s vice-mayor for city planning, told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday.

The city council said Friday that it would not comply with the embassy’s demands or offer an official response.

“We were really surprised, of course,” Valeskog told The Associated Press.

“We will not sign this document at all, of course not.”

Stockholm is latest city to refuse ‘bizarre’ US request to abandon diversity
The Stockholm City Council has rejected the US embassy’s demand that it adopt the Trump administration’s anti-diversity policies, with Stockholm’s vice-mayor for planning calling the request “bizarre”.…

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250509-stockholm-refuses-bizarre-us-trump-request-to-reject-diversity-dei-policies

Reuters: Tufts student detained by US immigration authorities must be released, judge rules

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  • Rumeysa Ozturk ordered released immediately from Louisiana detention center
  • Ozturk was detained after pro-Palestinian campus advocacy
  • Judge said her detention chills free speech of non-citizens

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to immediately release a Tufts University student from Turkey who has been held for over six weeks in a Louisiana immigration detention facility after she co-wrote an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions during a hearing in Burlington, Vermont, granted bail to Rumeysa Ozturk, who is at the center of one of the highest-profile cases to emerge from Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign to deport pro-Palestinian activists on American campuses.

…

Massachusetts-based Tufts has said it plans to help provide Ozturk housing upon her release. In a statement, a university spokesperson said it hoped she would be able to rejoin its community as soon as possible to resume her doctoral studies.

F*ck y** and rot in Hell, unAmerican *ssh*l* Stephen “Goebbels” Miller:

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the judge’s ruling another sign of what he considers a “judicial coup” in the United States. Several parts of the president’s hardline immigration agenda have been blocked by judges.

“We cannot individually litigate every single visa that we want to revoke,” Miller told reporters.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tufts-student-detained-by-us-immigration-authorities-must-be-released-judge-2025-05-09

Techdirt: Here’s Everything Trump Is Doing To Protect Bad Cops, Make Things Worse For Crime Victims

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Trump was never about law and order. He cozied up to cops and praised police brutality, but when push came to literal shove, he sat back and watched his supporters attack law enforcement officers and commit federal crimes for the sole purpose of destroying democracy itself.

Now that he’s back in office, he’s back to pretending he cares about law and order. His recent executive order echoes one issued during his first term: one that demands people start respecting cops (even if he and his followers won’t during insurrections) and suggests there’s a police state ahead of us because they nation can’t be saved without trampling all of our rights.

But it’s not just about cops or law and order demagoguery. What Trump really wants is zero accountability across the board. That’s why his DOJ has revamped its Civil Rights division to protect only the rights Trump actually cares about. Say goodbye to the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Say hello to protecting the Second Amendment and shutting down anything the administration thinks might protect the rights of anyone but the whitest, male-est US citizens.

The Marshall Project has published a round-up of the DOJ’s actions during Trump’s ignominious return to the ultimate position of power: Leader of the Free World. To be sure, Trump doesn’t actually want a “free world” any more than he wants free and fair elections. What he does want is the erasure of everything he doesn’t like, even if it means doing considerable amount of damage to the country he claims to be making great again.

The good news is… well, I guess there’s not really any of that.

Here’s Everything Trump Is Doing To Protect Bad Cops, Make Things Worse For Crime Victims
Trump was never about law and order. He cozied up to cops and praised police brutality, but when push came to literal shove, he sat back and watched his supporters attack law enforcement officers a…
Here’s Everything Trump Is Doing To Protect Bad Cops, Make Things Worse For Crime Victims

Another midnight f*ck*p raid by ICE looking for someone who had moved

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These clowns are just too stupid to learn. It’s only a matter of time before innocent people are killed by these ill-trained ill-disciplined cowboys with guns and badges.

A group of teachers were detained and questioned by federal agents on Maui on Tuesday.

It happened at a home in Kahului. Teachers said they were woken up by men dressed in black holding guns.

…

She added, “They finally let me go first in the group and when I was brought upstairs and showed the agent my passport, he was taken aback and looked shocked and apologized to me several times.”

The teacher says her landlord was only shown a warrant after the agents searched the home.

She says that landlord was told by ICE that they were looking for a man who had lived there a year ago.

Teachers from Philippines detained during immigration raid
One of the detained teachers, who is a U.S. citizen, said they were held for 45 minutes as agents claimed they were looking for a convicted felon.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/05/08/teachers-philippines-reportedly-detained-during-immigration-raid

Newsweek: ICE Probe Into Foreign Teachers Sparks Backlash

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A federal immigration enforcement operation targeting Filipino teachers in Hawaii has ignited a firestorm of backlash, drawing widespread outrage from lawmakers and top education officials.

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Multiple Filipino teachers on Maui were questioned by ICE agents as part of a federal search operation.

According to ICE, the warrant was executed on May 6 as part of an immigration investigation. A special agent confirmed that the residents were cooperative during the search.

“The occupants of the location were cooperative and HSI was able to conduct its search without interference or any impediment. For the safety of the agents and the occupants, residents of the home were briefly detained and interviewed in addition to the search. At the conclusion of the search, HSI special agents left the location without any arrests made,” ICE said in a statement.

This is just bigotry and harassment by cops too stupid and lazy to find real criminals to apprehend. What was their probable cause for a warrant? Something along the line of “there’s a lot of fereners living there, gotta go harass them and shake ’em down”?

ICE Probe Into Foreign Teachers Sparks Backlash
“The HSTA is very disturbed and concerned about how these Maui teachers were treated,” the Hawaii State Teachers Association said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-probe-into-foreign-teachers-sparks-backlash/ar-AA1EptXM

Independent: Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech

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A New York-based federal appeals court has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to transfer Tufts University scholar Rumeysa Ozturk from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to Vermont.

The case of Ozturk, a Turkish international student and former Fulbright scholar working towards her doctorate in child development, is among several high-profile cases at the center of the Trump administration’s targeting of international students for their advocacy for Palestine during Israel’s war in Gaza.

In March, Ozturk’s visa was revoked and she was arrested and detained by plain-clothes federal agents outside her apartment in Massachusetts in what her lawyers argue is a retaliatory attempt to deport her over an op-ed she wrote in a student newspaper.

The government has one week to transfer her, according to Wednesday’s order, which arrived less than 24 hours after a hearing in which government attorneys failed to say whether they even agree with the administration’s position that her pro-Palestine speech is not constitutionally protected.

Appellate Judge Barrington Parker, who was appointed by George W. Bush, pressed Department of Justice attorney Drew Ensign on whether Ozturk’s statements — and statements from another international student who was arrested for support for Palestine — amount to protected speech.

“Your honor, we haven’t taken a position on that,” Ensign replied.

“Help my thinking. Take a position,” Parked fired back.

“I don’t have authority to take a position,” Ensign said.

…

“She has been held behind bars for six weeks while her health deteriorates for writing an op-ed,” she told a three-judge appeals court panel Wednesday. “Detention is not the norm with respect to visa revocation, as we had here. The executive branch made a specific decision to detain Ms. Ozturk that was motivated by her speech.”

Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech
Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech – Federal appeals court gives government 10 days to transfer Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont after DOJ lawyers refused to say if pro-Palestine speech is constitutionally protected

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-team-ordered-to-move-tufts-student-from-louisiana-ice-jail-after-it-couldn-t-take-a-position-on-her-free-speech/ar-AA1Ellat

Associated Press: Cuban mother deported from US pleads with Trump to reunite with her family

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Cuban-born Sánchez, 44, was detained in Florida in April during a routine check-in appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, office. Two days later, she was deported to Cuba.

A breastfeeding mother to a 1-year-old and wife of a U.S. citizen, Sánchez is pleading with U.S. President Donald Trump to help her go back and reunite with her family.

…

Meanwhile, in Florida, Sánchez’s 40-year-old husband is grappling with the sudden reality of being a single parent.

He recounted a moment when Kailyn didn’t want to sleep and her mom, on a video call, suggested she sing her a song to help put her to bed.

“When she started to sing, the girl began reaching out to touch the screen to caress her mother’s face,” he said. “She began to kiss the screen…I started crying and so did her mother.”

Valle is also concerned about his future, missing work to care for their child and fearing he’ll be unable to keep up with his house and car payments.

The family and their lawyers are launching a campaign to collect signatures in support of a humanitarian visa for Sánchez, and Tampa Rep. Kathy Castor has requested her parole from the Trump administration.

Cuban mother deported from US pleads with Trump to reunite with her family
HAVANA (AP) — Ten times a day for the past two weeks, Heidy Sánchez has made the same two-block trek from her parents’ home in Havana looking for an internet signal to video call her family and sing her daughter to sleep. And every single time she has ended up crying. Cuban-born Sánchez, 44, was detained in Florida in April during a routine check-i…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cuban-mother-deported-from-us-pleads-with-trump-to-reunite-with-her-family/ar-AA1EmfHq

The Street: These two industries could face mass layoffs this year

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Trucking:

Trucking has typically been known as a reliable career choice, although some struggle with the isolation and long hours.

But according to Apollo’s report, the disruptions tariffs will cause to trade, especially with China, will have a negative effect on those working in the trucking industry.

The report suggests that a sharp decline in container-ship voyages from China will significantly reduce freight volumes, meaning fewer trucks will be needed to transport goods. 

Apollo estimates that imports accounts for 20% of U.S. trucking volume, which if reduced, would translate to less need for drivers. It also estimates that domestic freight activity will hit a major slowdown by mid-May, with major layoffs to follow in order for trucking companies to cope with the changes.

Add in that President Trump signed an executive order on April 28 that requires all truck drivers to be able to speak English, and even more jobs will be snuffed out.

Retail:

Another blue-collar sector that will suffer because of the tariff environment, according to Apollo, is retail.

Apollo’s data suggests that retail will also face problems due to the decline in container shipments, especially from China. This will lead to stores running out of stock and longer gaps until they are able to refill their shelves. Other items could disappear altogether if they’re too expensive to import.

In addition, Apollo predicts that declining consumer confidence in the economy and fear of spending on anything nonessential will mean a slowdown in retail shopping. After all, less sales means less money to pay staff.

Further, the tariff-driven slowdown could lead to stagflation — stagnant growth combined with high inflation — according to Apollo’s analysis.

thestreet.com

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/these-two-industries-could-face-mass-layoffs-this-year