Axios: Trump ramps up deportation spectacle with new stunts and ICE funding

The MAGA movement is reveling in the creativity, severity and accelerating force of President Trump’s historic immigration crackdown.

Once-fringe tactics — an alligator-moated detention camp, deportations to war zones, denaturalization of immigrant citizens — are now being proudly embraced at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

  • It’s an extraordinary shift from Trump’s first term, when nationwide backlash and the appearance of cruelty forced the administration to abandon its family separation policy for unauthorized immigrants.
  • Six months into his second term — and with tens of billions of dollars in new funding soon flowing to ICE — Trump is only just beginning to scale up his mass deportation machine.

Trump on Tuesday toured a temporary ICE facility in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” where thousands of migrants will be detained in a remote, marshland environment teeming with predators.

  • MAGA influencers invited on the trip gleefully posted photos of the prison’s cages and souvenir-style “merchandise,” thrilling their followers and horrifying critics.
  • Pro-Trump activist Laura Loomer drew outrage after tweeting that “alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now” — widely interpreted as a reference to the Hispanic population of the United States.

Citing the millions of unauthorized immigrants who crossed the border under President Biden, Trump and his MAGA allies have framed the second-term crackdown as a long-overdue purge.

  • The result is an increasingly draconian set of enforcement measures designed to deter, expel and make examples out of unauthorized immigrants.
  • Some newer members of the MAGA coalition, such as podcaster Joe Rogan, have expressed deep discomfort with the targeting of non-criminal undocumented immigrants.

Denaturalization of U.S. citizens — once a legal backwater — is gaining traction as Trump and his MAGA allies push the envelope on nativist rhetoric.

  • The Justice Department has begun prioritizing stripping naturalized Americans of their citizenship when they’re charged with crimes and “illegally procured or misrepresented facts in the naturalization process.”
  • But some MAGA influencers are pushing to weaponize denaturalization more broadly — not just as a legal remedy for fraud, but as a tool to punish ideological opponents.

https://www.axios.com/2025/07/05/trump-migrants-alligator-alcatraz-denaturalize

Deadline: After Dodgers Incident With Federal Agents, Stephen Miller Co-Founded Legal Group Files Employment Complaint Over Team’s DEI Efforts

A legal group co-founded by top White House aide Stephen Miller has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, seeking an investigation of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The America First Legal complaint, filed on Monday, claims that the Dodgers’ DEI policies “appear to discriminate against employees, or prospective employees, solely because of their skin color or sex.” They cite a reference on the team’s DEI page that outlines recruitment efforts, including “sponsoring programs geared toward women and people of color.”

Apparently in retaliation for the Dodgers’ refusal to all ICE access to their parking lot:

The complaint follows an incident on June 19 in which masked agents appeared near one of the Dodgers’s gates to its parking lot. Protesters gathered in the area, and the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the scene, and the agents left. The Dodgers posted that that morning, “ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization.”

https://deadline.com/2025/07/dodgers-dei-complaint-ice-1236447419

USA Today: Honduran family, 6-year-old with leukemia released from ICE detention

6-year-old Honduran boy with leukemia who had been held in immigration detention with his family since May was released July 2.

The boy, his mother and 9-year-old sister entered the country legally last fall seeking asylumFederal agents arrested them as they left an immigration hearing in Los Angeles on May 29. They were held in a privately run family detention center in South Texas. Their release was made public July 3, but their future remains unclear.

They never should have been detained in the first place — hope they sue!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/03/boy-leukemia-detention-released-lawyers/84465806007

Raw Story: Pam Bondi sues Los Angeles alleging discrimination against ICE agents

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she is suing the city of Los Angeles, claiming that it’s discriminating against ICE agents.

Fox News is reporting that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has found a way to go after L.A.’s sanctuary city policy by alleging that it treats federal immigration officers differently from other law enforcement, reported national correspondent Bill Melugin.

Since when are violent masked pigs a protected class under our discrimination laws?

Also the Tenth Amendment is very clear: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The states do not exist to do the federal government’s bidding.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-los-angeles-2672502084

Raw Story: Ex-prosecutor demands full probe after ‘heart attack’ death in ICE custody

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wants an immediate and full congressional investigation into the latest death of a detainee in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration.

The detainee, a 75-year-old Cuban national named Isidro Perez, was reported to Congress by ICE officials, with news on the incident saying that “the death appears to have been caused by a heart attack.”

That explanation didn’t suffice for Vance.

“‘Appears’ is doing a lot of heavy, lifting here given what we know about how other detainees, including a woman who lost her baby in ICE detention have experienced,” wrote Vance. “Especially with ICE trying to prevent Congress from oversight, there should be a full investigation into this.”

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-2672503459

Mediaite: Trump Border Czar Demands Justice Department Investigation Into CNN For Reporting on ICE

Border czar Tom Homan called for a Justice Department investigation into a CNN segment reporting on an app that tracks ICE — apparently under the mistaken assumption that the cable news network itself is tracking law enforcement agents.

“CNN is pushing an app to track ICE agents to help criminal aliens evade being detained,” pro-Trump commentator Benny Johnson said during an interview with Homan on his podcast Monday.

“It’s disgusting,” Homan replied.

“This is horrendous that a national media outlet would be out there trying to forecast law enforcement operations throughout the country,” Homan added. “It’s incredible where we’re at as a country and I think DOJ needs to look at this and see if they crossed that line.”

Total bullshit so far. The app doesn’t forecast anything. It’s hard to believe that Trump’s so-called “Border Czar” is really this stupid, but yes, he is.

Despite Homan’s claim, the CNN report in question was not “trying to forecast” ICE operations, it was reporting on an app that does so.

Well, that’s SLIGHTLY better, except that the app still doesn’t FORECAST anything.

The free app allows users to anonymously plot ICE sightings on a map, which then sends alerts to all users within a five mile radius.

Every logged sighting is accompanied by the disclaimer: “Please note that the use of this app is for information and notification purposes only. It is not to be used for the purposes of inciting violence or interfering with law enforcement.”

Reporting what you’ve seen and sharing that info with others is protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a simple fact which fools like Tom Homan nevertheless find difficult to comprehend.

Newsweek: Kristi Noem responds to ICEBlock app: ‘Obstruction of justice’

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has criticized an app that enables users to track the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, branding it an “obstruction of justice.”

Noem issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, after the creator of the ICEBlock app, which uses an anonymous reporting system to maintain a real-time map of ICE activity, described its purpose as helping people avoid contact with ICE officers.

“This sure looks like obstruction of justice,” she wrote. “Our brave ICE law enforcement face a 500% increase in assaults against them. If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The app’s creator, Joshua Aaron, told CNN that he did not want anyone to use the app to target ICE officers, and that it was designed to help people “avoid them altogether if they want.”

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said in a statement given to Newsweek, “CNN’s promotion of an ‘ICE spotting’ app is reckless and irresponsible.”

“Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening. My officers and agents are already facing a 500% increase in assaults, and going on live television to announce an app that lets anyone zero in on their locations is like inviting violence against them with a national megaphone.

“CNN is willfully endangering the lives of officers who put their lives on the line every day and enabling dangerous criminal aliens to evade U.S. law. Is this simply reckless ‘journalism’ or overt activism?”

That’s complete bullshit! What’s “endangering” your pigs is the way they dress up like Gestapo thugs and disappear people off the streets. Until they clean up their act, they’ll continue to be on the losing end of the popularity contest.

https://www.newsweek.com/kirsti-noem-iceblock-deportation-immigration-app-2092878

News Nation: Mayor: Recent ICE raids ‘extremely shameful, un-American

  • Fears of ICE arrests led the city of Bell Gardens to cancel July 4 celebrations
  • Mayor Jorgel Chavez accused federal agents of inciting fear
  • Other predominantly Latino communities canceled their events

Bell Gardens Mayor Jorgel Chavez has called recent ICE raids happening throughout the state of California “extremely shameful and un-American.”

Chavez said he and city officials made the decision to cancel Independence Day celebrations due to community fears of ICE agents coming to the area to make arrests, accusing the agency of racially profiling the residents.

“We’re being targeted,” Chavez said. “Communities like mine that are predominantly Latino, we’ve seen agents showing up in unmarked cars, wearing masks, refusing to identify themselves. We want to talk about enforcing the law; instead, it’s creating fear.”

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-coverage/ice-raids-bell-gardens-mayor

Center Square: Administration responds to ‘promotion’ of anti-ICE app

An app called ICEBlock designed to help people avoid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is now available for download for free in the Apple app store.

The Trump administration said the app is dangerous for federal agents enforcing federal laws.

CNN posted a video interview with the app’s designer, Joshua Aaron, a “musician and developer,” according to the network, Monday morning.

“When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back,” Aaron said.

Just like popular navigation apps rely on users’ real-time reports of car accidents or construction and then alert other users taking those routes, ICEBlock relies on users to report sightings of ICE agents and then reflects those sightings on a map. Users can be notified of all of the reported sightings within a five-mile radius.

The app contains a disclaimer that it does not “collect, store or process any personal data about you.”

“One of the core principles in the design of this app is 100% anonymity for our user base,” Aaron told CNN Tech Reporter Clare Duffy. “There is no sign-up process. There is no user data collected. There is no user data even captured by our app.”

Aaron told Duffy that there were already 20,000 users by the time of the interview.

And of course the dumbest woman in America, White House press secretary Karoline “Bimbo #1” Leavitt, is whining:

“I’ll have to go back and watch the clip myself, but surely it sounds like this would be an incitement of further violence against our ICE officers,” Leavitt said. “As you know… there’s been a 500% increase in violence against ICE agents, law enforcement officers across the country who are just simply trying to do their jobs and remove public safety threats from our communities.”

And Faux News can’t pass up an opportunity to make a false accusation against its competitor:

Fox News and others suggested that CNN was promoting the app in its coverage.

“It’s unacceptable that a major network would promote such an app that is encouraging violence against law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our country safe,” Leavitt added.

And the Head Goon himself is getting bent out of shape:

Border Czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox Across America, a national live syndicated radio talk show, later Monday afternoon to speak on the issue. Homan echoed Leavitt’s comments and said it would enable “bad guys” to escape apprehension. He also said he has enlisted the help of the Department of Justice to respond.

“It also puts ICE in an extremely dangerous position because… there’s going to be one guy that’s going to happen soon that’s laying in wait, who’s going to, you know, wait for ICE to show up and attack them. So this is a dangerous, dangerous situation,” Homan told the host. “I’ve sent that information over to DOJ. I asked them to take whatever legal action they can take to take because this is an unprecedented attack, even by a media outlet, on the safety and security of those who are trying to force laws on this country.”

At the end of the day, the First Amendment will prevail!

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_ae793d5f-a990-4867-831f-1fc4d64df1ee.html

USA Today: Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill ‘immaterial’ compared to ICE increases

In a series of social media posts, Vice President JD Vance said the cost of the GOP spending bill, including the effect of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, are “immaterial” compared to the money he says it will save through expanded funding for immigration enforcement.

“The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The (bill) fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass,” Vance said in a June 30 post on the social media site X, a few hours before he cast the tie-breaking vote to move the spending bill back to the House.

“Everything else ‒ the (Congressional Budget Office) score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy ‒ is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions,” he said in a second post.

This assumes that “illegal” immigrants contribute nothing to the economy, which is totally false. Removing “illegal” immigrants will cause a net loss of hundreds of billions of dollars for California alone (not to mention other states), and it is on top of that loss that millions of Americans will be losing their health insurance.

J.D. Dunce is a f*ck*ng sh*t for brains disgrace. Nobody in Greenland wanted them over for lunch, and I wouldn’t either.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/01/vance-medicaid-cuts-ice-spending-tax-bill/84429757007