Tag Archives: immigrant

Newsweek: Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra: They Created a Crisis in LA To Cover for a Catastrophe in D.C. | Opinion

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This month, Californians filled the streets of Los Angeles to peacefully demand justice for SEIU President David Huerta—who was violently detained by ICE during an immigration protest—and for so many hardworking immigrant families across our state. The response? Tear gas. Rubber bullets. National Guard troops unnecessarily deployed to flex federal muscle. And a United States senator literally wrestled to the ground for daring to ask basic questions.

This wasn’t just an overreaction. It was a message: fall in line—or face the consequences.

At the same time, in Washington, the Trump administration is dismantling the very systems that keep our families safe and healthy. They’re firing scientists, defunding cancer research, slashing Medicaid, and replacing trusted experts with conspiracy theorists. It’s not just policy failure. It’s a campaign of calculated neglect—and political retribution aimed at states like ours that dare to push back.

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In just six months, the Trump administration has launched a full-scale assault on these safeguards. They’ve gutted funding, laid off thousands of career scientists, and shuttered key public health teams—all while claiming these cuts are about “efficiency.”

Let’s be clear: this isn’t streamlining. It’s sabotage.

This administration didn’t just fire the experts tracking avian flu, which has now infected dozens of people in California and is spreading rapidly through livestock. They disbanded the FDA team investigating the lead-contaminated applesauce that poisoned more than 500 children. They cut NIH programs working to prevent cancer and Alzheimer’s. They even fired the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel—weeks after a measles outbreak, as pregnant women and children remain vulnerable to viruses like COVID-19—only to replace them with vaccine skeptics.

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They Created a Crisis in LA To Cover for a Catastrophe in D.C. | Opinion
We can’t stand by while Washington plays politics with our health, our future, and our hardest-working families.

https://www.newsweek.com/former-hhs-secretary-xavier-becerra-they-created-crisis-la-cover-catastrophe-dc-opinion-2089591

Newsweek: ICE arrests 11 Iranian nationals in US amid fears of secret terror cells

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The Trump administration said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had arrested 11 Iranian citizens over the weekend who were in the U.S. illegally.

Among those arrested was a man ordered for removal from the United States 20 years ago, and others accused of breaking immigration laws.

Goody goody for them! If there are any Iranian terrorists running around loose in the U.S.A., I sure wouldn’t count on ICE to catch them! They’re too busy snatching gardners off the front lawns of L.A.

ICE arrests 11 Iranian nationals in US amid fears of secret terror cells
A US citizen who allegedly threatened to kill ICE agents was also detained, it was announced Tuesday.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-arrests-iranian-nationals-us-citizen-2089977

MSNBC: Conditions at some ICE facilities are already horrendous — and they may soon get worse

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As the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts continue, multiple lawmakers and immigrant rights groups are alleging that conditions at various Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are “inhumane” and “unsanitary.”

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., sounded the alarm last week in a video, stating she was deeply disturbed by what she saw during her visit to the Adelanto ICE facility, where many people swept up in recent immigration raids around Los Angeles have been brought.

Chu said the detainees she spoke with at the facility were “not the criminals that [President Donald] Trump says that he’s trying to get out of this country,” noting that some of those detained simply had expired documents.

“They are undergoing conditions that are inhumane, in my opinion. They were not able to change their underwear for 10 days,” Chu said in the video, adding: “They did not get a PIN number for the telephone. As a result, they cannot be in contact with any legal representative nor with their family members. This is not right.”

Conditions at some ICE facilities are already horrendous — and they may soon get worse
Democratic Rep. Judy Chu said detainees at a California facility “were not able to change their underwear for 10 days.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/conditions-at-some-ice-facilities-are-already-horrendous-and-they-may-soon-get-worse/ar-AA1HjnIs

LA Times: ‘Who are these people?’ Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.

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Increasingly aggressive immigration raids carried out by masked federal agents, sometimes using unmarked vehicles, are creating problems for local law enforcement agencies.

Police have little or no insight into where the federal enforcement actions are taking place but often have to deal with the aftermath, including protests and questions from residents about what exactly happened. In some cases, local cops have been mistaken for federal agents, eroding years of work to have immigrant communities trust the police.

In Bell, chaos erupted when masked men arrived at a car wash and began detaining its workers, sparking a confrontation with residents and immigration rights advocates before they were forced to hastily drive over curbs and street islands to escape.

In Pasadena last week, a man stepped out of his unmarked vehicle at an intersection, unholstered his pistol and aimed it at a group of pedestrians before returning to his car, turning on its red and blue emergency lights and speeding off. Video of the incident went viral.

That incident left the police chief of Pasadena resigned to figure out whether it was a crime or part of a federal raid.

“There’s no way for us to verify,” Police Chief Gene Harris said.

‘Who are these people?’ Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.
Local police have little or no insight into where the federal enforcement actions are taking place. In some cases, local cops have been mistaken for federal agents, eroding years of work to have immigrant communities trust the police.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-24/masked-immigration-agents-local-law-enforcement-tension

LA Times: Immigrant father of three Marines is violently detained, injured by federal agents, son says

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Video of a landscaper being taken down, pinned and repeatedly punched by masked federal agents in Orange County has gone viral online, and Alejandro Barranco finds it painful to watch.

The Marine veteran says his father, Narciso Barranco, was working outside of a Santa Ana IHOP on Saturday when several masked men approached him. Frightened, he began to run away, his son said. Moments later, he was on the ground, held down by the men, who struck him.

The younger Barranco told The Times on Sunday that his father was pepper sprayed and beaten, and that his shoulder was dislocated. After speaking with him Sunday at about 6 p.m., Barranco said his father had not received medical treatment, food or water after more than 24 hours in a detention facility in Los Angeles.

“I don’t think it was just, I don’t think it was fair,” Barranco said of the use of force against his father. “I don’t think they need four 200 [pounds]-plus guys to hold down a 5-6 or 5-7, 150-pound guy.”

Immigrant father of three Marines is violently detained, injured by federal agents, son says
Narciso Barranco, a landscaper in Orange County, was detained by immigration officials in a violent altercation Saturday. Barranco is the father of three Marines.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-22/father-of-3-marines-violently-detained-federal-agents

Associated Press: Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting

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Adam Greenfield was home nursing a cold when his girlfriend raced in to tell him Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were pulling up in their trendy San Diego neighborhood.

The author and podcast producer grabbed his iPhone and bolted out the door barefoot, joining a handful of neighbors recording masked agents raiding a popular Italian restaurant nearby, as they yelled at the officers to leave. An hour later, the crowd had grown to nearly 75 people, with many in front of the agents’ vehicles.

“I couldn’t stay silent,” Greenfield said. “It was literally outside of my front door.”

More Americans are witnessing people being hauled off as they shop, exercise at the gym, dine out and otherwise go about their daily lives as President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively works to increase immigration arrests. As the raids touch the lives of people who aren’t immigrants themselves, many Americans who rarely, if ever, participated in civil disobedience are rushing out to record the actions on their phones and launch impromptu protests.

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Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting
With the Trump administration aggressively trying to increase the number of immigration arrests, raids are now being conducted at all hours and more Americans are witnessing people being hauled off.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-raids-arrests-ice-los-angeles-0de11b5bc6ef962b79e084fb9e648a87

MSNBC: The Latino pressure that preceded the Dodgers turning around ICE

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Before the Los Angeles Dodgers’ June 14 home game against the San Francisco Giants, Dominican American singer Nezza performed — defiantly, she said — “El Pendón Estrellado,” a Spanish-language rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” She said a team official explicitly demanded that she perform the national anthem in English but that she refused. (The Dodgers did not release a statement regarding Nezza’s performance or confirm her story that she violated the team’s wishes.)

Nezza’s performance, a protest against what Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been doing in Los Angeles, arose out of her imagining her parents “being ripped away from me,” she said. Not surprisingly, Nezza’s performance was polarizing, with some cheering and others expressing outrage. Among the responses was an editorial from CALÓ News demanding that the Dodgers support a community under attack from the federal government.

“Dodgers, your silence speaks volumes,” CALÓ News wrote Tuesday. “The Latino community of Los Angeles has shown up for the Dodgers. Where are you now that we need you?”

That question seems to have been answered Thursday when the team announced that it had turned away ICE agents who had attempted to enter Dodger Stadium’s parking lot. “They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization,” the team wrote on X.

The Latino pressure that preceded the Dodgers turning around ICE

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/the-latino-pressure-that-preceded-the-dodgers-turning-around-ice/ar-AA1H7CXz

Slate: Trump Promises to Keep Terrorizing Blue Cities. It Might Come Back to Haunt Him.

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Donald Trump won the presidency in part on promises to deport immigrants who have criminal records and lack permanent legal status. But his earliest executive orders—trying to undo birthright citizenship, suspending critical refugee programs—made clear he wants to attack immigrants with permanent legal status too. In our series Who Gets to Be American This Week?, we’ll track the Trump administration’s attempts to exclude an ever-growing number of people from the American experiment.

President Donald Trump’s immigration raids have disrupted life in Los Angeles in a way the mayor is comparing to COVID; they’ve created a climate of fear that’s driving people into hiding and hurting local businesses. This week, the president promised to expand those raids in blue cities, all in a futile attempt to hit 1 million deportations by the end of the year. After suggesting last week that ICE would stop targeting the agriculture and hotel industries, which disproportionately rely on immigrant labor, the administration also walked back that guidance.

And a troubling trend is emerging: As Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts get more aggressive and reckless, several elected officials who attempted to conduct oversight or question what is being done have been arrested.

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“Overwhelmingly, Americans do not want ICE raids that focus on those without criminal records. That’s why polls show that Trump is losing voter approval on these key issues,” Mukherjee said.

Trump Promises to Keep Terrorizing Blue Cities. It Might Come Back to Haunt Him.
And Democrats keep getting arrested while trying to hold ICE accountable.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/06/donald-trump-brad-lander-ice-raid-los-angeles.html

CNN: DHS issues new guidance for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities after tense confrontations

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After a spate of tense encounters involving lawmakers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, the Department of Homeland Security is asking members of Congress to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.

Under the annual appropriations act, lawmakers are allowed to enter any DHS facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” to inspect them as part of their oversight duties. The act outlines that they are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility.”

The agency’s new memo also seeks to differentiate ICE field offices from detention facilities, noting that “ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities” and therefore do not fall under the appropriations act provision.  

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, called the move “unprecedented” and an “affront to the Constitution and Federal law.”

DHS issues new guidance for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities after tense confrontations | CNN Politics
The agency’s new memo seeks to differentiate ICE field offices from detention facilities, noting that “ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities” and therefore do not fall under the appropriations act provision.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/19/politics/dhs-ice-visits-congress-lawmakers

Poeple: Trump Claims People Taken into ICE Custody Are Dangerous. But Only 10% Have Violent Crime Convictions: Report

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A new CNN report based on government data found that more than 75 percent of those detained had no record beyond traffic or immigration offenses

  • A new CNN report shows less than 10% of people taken into custody by ICE have serious criminal offenses
  • Most people detained by ICE merely have traffic or immigration-related offenses
  • The new report on ICE data comes as Donald Trump and his administration casts immigrants as “barbaric” and “violent criminals” without evidence to back their claims

The “deporting only criminals” lie has been refuted over and over, yet King Donald’s regime continue to repeat it ad nauseum.

Trump Claims People Taken into ICE Custody Are Dangerous. But Only 10% Have Violent Crime Convictions: Report
A new CNN report based on government data found that more than 75 percent of those detained had no record beyond traffic or immigration offenses.

https://people.com/trump-ice-raids-only-ten-percent-violent-criminal-convictions-11756096