NBC News: Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil released after months in detention

Minutes after the Columbia University activist was released, the Trump administration filed an appeal of his release.

Pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was released from detention Friday evening, ending more than three months of custody in a test of the executive branch’s power to unilaterally act against legal U.S. residents.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin lashed out at “rogue” U.S. District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz, saying he had no authority to order Khalil’s release.

“This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security,” McLaughlin said. “Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts.”

Government attorney Dhruman Sampat had argued that Congress has given the executive branch sweeping powers to determine who could be removed from the county.

The courts should not have the authority to interfere, Sampat said.

With regard to permanent residents, this presumed “authority” is total b*llsh*t!

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna214163

Reuters: US judge blocks Trump passport policy targeting transgender people

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans nationwide that reflect their gender identities, after finding it was likely unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston issued a preliminary injunction that expanded an earlier order she issued in April that had stopped the U.S. State Department from enforcing the policy in the case of just six people.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-trump-passport-policy-targeting-transgender-people-2025-06-17

Raw Story: ‘Lies!’ Trump DHS officials torn apart over attempt to sweep allegations away

The Department of Homeland Security is vehemently denying allegations that it engaged in mass racial profiling in its immigration raids, but David J. Bier of the libertarian Cato Institute isn’t buying those denials for an instant.

DHS’s denials came last week in response to a report by the Los Angeles Times that a number of immigrant communities fear that stops and arrests are being done randomly against people based primarily on their appearance.

“Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE,” DHS posted to its official X account. “These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.”

But Bier couldn’t help but notice a telling omission from the denial.

“Of course they don’t link to the article which gives the proof that this is happening. DHS LIES,” he wrote, posting a damning passage from the very beginning of the original article:

“Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb Thursday, when armed, masked men — wearing vests with ‘Border Patrol’ on them — pushed him up against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born,” the Times reported. “‘I’m American, bro!’ 29-year-old Gavidia pleaded, in video taken by a friend. ‘What hospital were you born?’ the agent barked. ‘I don’t know, dawg!’ he said. ‘East L.A., bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.’ His friend, whom Gavidia did not name, narrated the video: ‘These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!’ The friend said Gavidia was being questioned ‘just because of the way he looks.'”

https://www.rawstory.com/dhs-profiling

Raw Story: ‘False!’ Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem’s DHS furious at accusations of ‘racial targeting’

The DHS official X account posted a screenshot of the article and stated, “Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.”

The post continued, “These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.”

F*ck*ng liars!

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-raids-2672378535

Reason: Police Target Dozens of Reporters During L.A. Anti-ICE Protests

Dozens of journalists have been assaulted and injured by federal and local law enforcement in Los Angeles during protests earlier this week against Donald Trump’s mass deportation program.

Press freedom groups are demanding that law enforcement stop targeting reporters covering the L.A. protests after on-air news broadcasts and cellphone video showed federal, state, and local police firing indiscriminately on crowds with pepper balls, rubber bullets, and other so-called less-than-lethal ammunition, while in other cases officers are seen firing on clearly identified members of the press.

A coalition of 28 groups including the Los Angeles Press Club, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to Department Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday “to express alarm” over the incidents and urge Noem to ensure that federal law enforcement officers uphold the First Amendment.

According to the groups, there were at least 24 documented instances of journalists being targeted by law enforcement while covering Los Angeles protests between June 6 and June 8.

“A number of reports suggest that federal officers have indiscriminately used force or deployed munitions such as tear gas or pepper balls that caused significant injuries to journalists,” the letter said. “In some cases, federal officers appear to have deliberately targeted journalists who were doing nothing more than their job covering the news.”

https://reason.com/2025/06/12/police-target-dozens-of-reporters-during-l-a-anti-ice-protests

CNBC: Trump authorizes deploying 2,000 more National Guard troops to LA

  • President Donald Trump has authorized the deployment of another 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
  • About 700 U.S. Marines were mobilized to support the California National Guard to protect federal personnel and property in Los Angeles.
  • Trump said that he would support arresting California Gov. Gavin Newsom for purported obstruction of federal immigration enforcement actions in LA.
  • Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for deploying National Guard troops to deal with protests in LA.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/09/trump-sued-national-guard-la-california-newsom.html

ABC 7 KABC: Trump deploys 2,000 National Guard members after Los Angeles immigration protests

ICE vowed to continue making arrests and enforce immigration laws.

The Trump administration is deploying the California National Guard in response to protests in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement operations that have resulted in some clashes between demonstrators and authorities, the White House said in a statement.

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum “deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness” in California as demonstrations opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations continue in the state, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Saturday.

“In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” Leavitt said. “That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” Leavitt said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X that the Defense Department is “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles. And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized – they are on high alert.”

Earlier, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the federal government was moving to “take over the California National Guard,” calling the move “purposefully inflammatory” and saying it will “only escalate tensions.”

Newsom said local California authorities don’t need the help.

“LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice,” he said. “We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need.”

https://abc7.com/post/protests-erupt-immigration-customs-enforcement-raids-los-angeles-california/16690197

Independent: Outrage after California fourth grader is detained by ICE agents during immigration hearing

Parents and teachers in southern California are urgently asking for help to find a fourth grader who is being “held captive” by immigration authorities in Texas.

Torrance Elementary School student Martir Garcia Lara attended an immigration court appointment with his father in Houston on May 29 “when suddenly they were detained and separated from each other,” according to a message from the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

The boy and his father are reportedly in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

“He’s alone and he’s not able to return home,” PTA president Jasmin King told KTLA.

“We have not received any information on why they were detained,” she said. “All we know is that Martir is just a fourth grader who’s by himself, without his dad, without a parent, and just in a place that he probably doesn’t know, so we can only imagine what he might be feeling.”

A fourth-grader! What a catch!

Homan’s bully boys must be really proud of themselves today!

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/california-ice-arrest-elementary-school-b2763614.html

Alternet: Busted: Major investigation catches Trump administration in a massive lie

The Trump administration knew that the vast majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in mid-March had not been convicted of crimes in the United States before it labeled them as terrorists and deported them, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data that has not been previously reported.’

President Donald Trump and his aides have branded the Venezuelans as “rapists,” “savages,” “monsters” and “the worst of the worst.” When multiple news organizations disputed those assertions with reporting that showed many of the deportees did not have criminal records, the administration doubled down. It said that its assessment of the deportees was based on a thorough vetting process that included looking at crimes committed both inside and outside the United States. But the government’s own data, which was obtained by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and a team of journalists from Venezuela, showed that officials knew that only 32 of the deportees had been convicted of U.S. crimes and that most were nonviolent offenses, such as retail theft or traffic violations.

The data indicates that the government knew that only six of the immigrants were convicted of violent crimes: four for assault, one for kidnapping and one for a weapons offense. And it shows that officials were aware that more than half, or 130, of the deportees were not labeled as having any criminal convictions or pending charges; they were labeled as only having violated immigration laws.

As for foreign offenses, our own review of court and police records from around the United States and in Latin American countries where the deportees had lived found evidence of arrests or convictions for 20 of the 238 men. Of those, 11 involved violent crimes such as armed robbery, assault or murder, including one man who the Chilean government had asked the U.S. to extradite to face kidnapping and drug charges there. Another four had been accused of illegal gun possession.

https://www.alternet.org/venezuelan-deportees

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Two-Year-Old U.S. Citizen’s Deportation Sparks Hearing: ‘Unconstitutional’

A federal judge has ordered a hearing on the alleged unlawful deportation of a 2-year-old U.S. citizen. District Judge Terry Doughty expressed concerns about the circumstances of the child’s removal and the government’s alleged failure to protect her rights. Doughty noted that the child’s mother intended to take them back to Honduras, providing a handwritten note as proof.

Doughty said, “VML is ostensibly a two-year-old United States citizen. On April 24, 2025, this Court received a Petition contending that VML was being deported, alongside her illegal-immigrant mother, to Honduras.”

However, the judge questioned the identities of those advocating for the child and found that the government could not verify the mother’s claim.

Doughty stated that U.S. citizens cannot be deported, raising significant implications for parental rights and the rights of citizen children. He scheduled a hearing to clarify the situation and examine the legality of V.M.L.’s deportation.

Doughty said, “Of course, ‘It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen.’”

Doughty added, “The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her. But the Court doesn’t know that.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/two-year-old-u-s-citizen-s-deportation-sparks-hearing-unconstitutional/ar-AA1F1eQh