Tag Archives: Hawaii

New York Times: Hawaii’s Prized Kona Coffee Fields Have Become a Target for ICE

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The Trump crackdown has reached the volcanic Island of Hawaii, where immigrants, some of them undocumented, are crucial to cultivating the rare coffee.

On the mist-wreathed slopes of Mauna Loa, where the earth is rich with volcanic memory and the Pacific glimmers in the distance, a coveted coffee — Kona — is coaxed from the soil.

Nurtured by the Island of Hawaii’s unique mingling of abundant sunshine, afternoon rain and lava-infused soil, Kona coffee retails for more than $30 for an eight-ounce bag. With a devoted following around the world, the distinct coffee has been a point of pride for the Big Island, and for the thousands of immigrants from Latin America who for decades have handpicked the beans in the Kona fields.

Now the fate of many of those immigrant workers is uncertain, as is the future of the island’s coffee industry.

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has reached this remote, rugged island a 45-minute flight from Honolulu.

Federal agents have flown in several times since February, most recently last week, often remaining for days as they search for undocumented immigrants among the 200,000 or so people who live on the island.

Hawaii’s Prized Kona Coffee Fields Have Become a Target for ICE
The Trump crackdown has reached the volcanic Island of Hawaii, where immigrants, some of them undocumented, are crucial to cultivating the rare coffee.

CNBC: Trump administration ‘looking at’ suspending habeas corpus for migrants, Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller says

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  • Senior White House advisor Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller said that the Trump administration is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus, the right to challenge a person’s detention by the government, for migrants.
  • [“Goebbels”] Miller was answering a reporter who asked about President Donald Trump entertaining the idea of suspending the writ to deal with illegal immigration into the United States.
  • The writ has only been suspended four times since the U.S. Constitution was adopted, and in all but one case, Congress first authorized that action.
  • [“Goebbels”] Miller spoke hours after a federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Öztürk from the custody of U.S. immigration authorities. She had challenged her detention with a habeas writ.

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller said Friday that the Trump administration is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus — the constitutional right to challenge in court the legality of a person’s detention by the government — for migrants.

[“Goebbels”] Miller’s comment came in response to a White House reporter who asked about President Donald Trump entertaining the idea of suspending the writ to deal with the problem of illegal immigration into the United States.

Asked when that might happen, [“Goebbels”] Miller responded: “The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in time of invasion.”

“So, I would say that’s an option we’re actively looking at,” he said.

This comes a day or two after the release of Rumeysa Öztürk, who was detained for 45 days by ICE for writing an op-ed column in a newspaper, never charged with nor convicted of any crime:

[“Goebbels”] Miller spoke hours after a federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Öztürk from the custody of U.S. immigration authorities.

Öztürk, who had been imprisoned for 45 days after the Trump administration revoked the Turkish citizen’s student visa based on an assessment that she “may undermine U.S. foreign policy by crearting a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization.”

Öztürk challenged her detention with a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which noted that she “has not been charged with any crime,” and which argued that her “arrest and detention are designed to punish her speech and chill the speech of others.”

Trump administration ‘looking at’ suspending habeas corpus for migrants, Stephen Miller says
Multiple court cases challenging the Trump administrations effort to deport undocumented immigrants from the U.S. are based on habeas claims.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/09/trump-deportation-habeas-corpus-miller.html

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.

…

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

The Atlantic: Airport Detentions Have Travelers ‘Freaked Out’

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Fears of being detained are in overdrive, even if the Trump administration insists that they’re overblown.

Jeff Joseph, a 53-year-old immigration attorney in Colorado, has recently started taking precautions while traveling abroad that, at another time, he would have considered a little paranoid. He leaves his phone at home. Instead, he carries a “burner’’—a device scrubbed of his contact list and communications—in case U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers send him to secondary inspection or seize his electronics when he returns home. Joseph told me his knowledge of immigration law has left him with less confidence, not more, about the risks of crossing U.S. borders during the second Trump administration.

“Among immigration lawyers who are well versed in this, and who know what happens in secondary, there’s a level of anxiety and panic that we’ve never seen before,” said Joseph, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Myself included.”

…

Immigration attorneys also note Trump has curbed CBP officers’ ability to allow the entry of migrants or visitors using an authority known as “parole.” So travelers who do not qualify for admission to the United States are more likely to be handed over to ICE for detention and deportation. Although U.S. citizens cannot be denied entry to the United States, all other categories of noncitizens—even, in some cases, legal permanent residents with green cards—are at risk of being denied entry or deemed inadmissible by a CBP officer.

https://archive.is/47W6S#selection-745.0-748.0

Huffington Post: Trump’s Navy Secretary Keeps Flubbing The Date Of Pearl Harbor

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A social media account for U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, whom President Donald Trump tapped for the role despite him having zero military experience, posted the wrong date of the attack on Pearl Harbor twice late last week.

December 7, 1941, a day that will forever live in infamy, unless you’re one of King Donald’s feeble-minded appointees.

Trump’s Navy Secretary Keeps Flubbing The Date Of Pearl Harbor
John Phelan, an investor and Trump donor, has never served in the military.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-navy-secretary-keeps-flubbing-the-date-of-pearl-harbor/ar-AA1DMX4W

Irish Star: Donald Trump to bring national holiday ‘back from ashes’ but people spot problem

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President Donald Trump says he will bring a national holiday “back from the ashes” – though people are spotting a problem with the POTUS’ plan.

In a post to Truth Social, the social media app established by Trump following his ban from X, the sitting president confirmed he would reinstate Columbus Day “under the same rules” as it had been originally presented.

Dead White Man’s Day returns! I’m underwhelmed.

Donald Trump to bring national holiday ‘back from ashes’ but people spot problem
A national holiday will be brought ‘back from the ashes’ by President Donald Trump, though members of the public have spotted a clear problem with his plan to reinstate the celebration

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-to-bring-national-holiday-back-from-ashes-but-people-spot-problem/ar-AA1DKvPx

Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] Violated Geneva Convention “To Pose with Prisoners” Says U.S. Former POW/MIA Director – MAGA Defends Her

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When U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited the mega prison in El Salvador on Wednesday and posed with the bare-chested and head-shorn inmates behind her, Retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Michael Franken responded to Noem on X: “It is a violation under the Fourth Geneva Convention to pose with prisoners.”

Franken, also the former Director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) who served under Presidents Obama and Trump, added: “The first three Geneva Conventions dealt with combatants. The 4th with civilian prisoners. They are either combatants in MAGA minds or civilians without due process. Geneva signatory is germane.”

Kristi Noem Violated Geneva Convention “To Pose with Prisoners” Says U.S. Former POW/MIA Director – MAGA Defends Her
Trump Administration officials continue to defend its use of extraordinary war powers to deport more than 200 Venezuelan migrants accused of being criminals to a new mega prison in El Salvador. The President’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798​ to allow the deportation has ignited a legal battle. Note: Chief DC District Judge James Boasberg issued a […]

Kristi Noem Violated Geneva Convention “To Pose with Prisoners” Says U.S. Former POW/MIA Director – MAGA Defends Her

The first sentence of article 2 of the Fourth Geneva Convention very clearly states that it applies in peacetime:

In addition to the provisions which shall be implemented in peacetime, …

https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf

Daily Mail: Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo

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Creepy!

    The new tattoo revealed in the video features the Arabic word ‘kafir,’ which in the Quran means ‘disbeliever’ or ‘infidel’ and is inked below hegseth’s ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo. 

    The discovery sparked anger from activists who are already infuriated about his tattoos featuring Christian and American images. 

    ‘Hegseth just got a kafir (كافر) tattoo under his Deus Vult tattoo—a Crusader slogan. This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,’ wrote Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestinian activist in New York City on social media. 

    Kiswani described the tattoos as the ‘normalization of Islamophobia at the highest levels of power.’ 

    Others on social media felt similarly about the tattoo.

    ‘The كافر/kafir tattoo in the Quran means disbeliever,’ wrote writer Tam Hussein on X. ‘To the Muslim world the tattoo will be seen as an open declaration of Hegseth’s enmity towards them.’

    Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo
    Eagle-eyed observers of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tapestry of tattoos noticed a never-seen-before Arabic script underneath his arm.

    Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo | Daily Mail Online

    Wall Street Journal: Hegseth Comes Under Scrutiny for Texting Strike Details as Fallout Grows

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    Republicans react with concern about new details on posts about weapons used and timing of Yemen attack

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came under increasing scrutiny after more details emerged Wednesday showing that he posted plans of an imminent military strike against Houthi militants, including the timing and weapon systems, on an unclassified group chat used by senior administration officials.

    Several Democrats called for his resignation, saying Hegseth had flouted longstanding security procedures for handling sensitive military information. And the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter Wednesday requesting the Pentagon inspector general to investigate the chat.

    It asks for an assessment of Defense Department policies on sharing of sensitive and classified information on nongovernmental networks and messaging services and to examine whether any individuals transferred classified information to unclassified systems.

    “The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), who chairs the committee told reporters. “If mistakes were made…they should be acknowledged.”

    The new messages made public by the Atlantic magazine Wednesday showed that Hegseth texted details to other senior administration officials about the specific times that F-18s, MQ-9 Reaper drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles would be used in the attack and mentions intelligence that an unnamed target of the strikes was at a “known location.” 

    Such information is normally guarded carefully by the Pentagon before imminent strikes to avoid disclosures that could help adversaries. 

    …

    “The Signal incident is what happens when you have the most unqualified Secretary of Defense we’ve ever seen,” [Sen. Mark] Kelly wrote on X on Wednesday. “We’re lucky it didn’t cost any servicemembers their lives, but for the safety of our military and our country, Secretary Hegseth needs to resign.”

    …

    Earlier this month, the Pentagon sent an advisory to all military personnel warning that a “vulnerability” had been identified in Signal and warned against using it for classified information.

    “It borders on incompetence,” Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator and defense secretary during the Obama administration, said of Hegseth’s texts. “It’s certainly reckless.”

    Pete Hegseth Comes Under Scrutiny for Texting Strike Details as Signal Chat Fallout Grows – WSJ

    The Hill: GOP lawmakers turn up the pressure on Hegseth

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    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under close scrutiny as Republican lawmakers criticize his handling of sensitive military information in a group chat with other administration officials that inadvertently included a journalist.

    Republican lawmakers have stopped short of calling on Hegseth to resign, but they’re warning that his decision to share sensitive details about a pending military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen over Signal, a commercial app, is a clear “strike” against him.

    …

    And they’re wondering about Hegseth’s response to reporters’ questions, specifically his adamant denial that “nobody’s texting war plans” after a National Security Council spokesperson had confirmed the chat group’s reported texts appeared to be “authentic.”

    “The worst part of it is Hegseth saying himself, ‘This didn’t really happen.’ Why don’t you just admit it?” one Republican senator remarked.

    …

    And while White House press secretary [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday sought to draw a distinction between “war plans” and “attack plans” in criticizing The Atlantic’s reporting …  

    GOP lawmakers turn up the pressure on Pete Hegseth