Tag Archives: Massachusetts

Irish Star: Acting head of FEMA told staff he didn’t know the US had a hurricane season day after it began

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Acting head of FEMA David Richardson reportedly told employees that he didn’t know the US has a hurricane season a day after it officially began as experts sound alarm bells

Duh!!!!!!!!!!

The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) left staff members alarmed on Monday when he reportedly told them that he was unaware that the US had a hurricane season.

David Richardson, who has been overseeing FEMA since May, made the comments during a briefing with staff members, a day after the 2025 hurricane season officially began, two people who heard the remarks told The New York Times. The staff members said it was unclear whether he was serious or not.

Richardson served in the Marines and worked in the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office before joining FEMA but has no formal disaster-management experience. His comments come after some of the agency’s workers had expressed concerns about his lack of experience in emergency management.

How dumb can they get?

Head of FEMA told staff he didn’t know the US had a hurricane season
Acting head of FEMA David Richardson reportedly told employees that he didn’t know the US has a hurricane season a day after it officially began as experts sound alarm bells

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/fema-head-staff-hurricane-season-35326926

USA Today: Manufacturing down, food expensive and ICE is deporting moms. Happy now, MAGA? | Opinion

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If performative cruelty is the only thing that mattered to you, things are working out great under President Trump. Otherwise, things stink.

Look at Trump’s empty promises. Cruelty is all that matters.

If you voted for President Donald Trump and hoped something good would happen to you, feel free to say: “Oops.” If you voted for him out of a thirst to see immigrants who have committed no crimes suffer and live in fear, then feel free to say: “Yes!”

Because that’s where we are at the start of June 2025. Trump’s promises of a better life for Americans are proving to be empty.

And his promise to round up “millions” of “criminals” and deport them hasn’t materialized, because the claim that there are millions of criminal immigrants in America was a lie in the first place.

Instead, the administration has resorted to grabbing immigrants at courthouses where they’re appearing for hearings – in other words, following the rules – or snatching up and deporting working moms and high school kids.

ICE isn’t just going after criminals. Moms and kids are easy targets.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official interviewed by the conservative Washington Examiner said Trump adviser Stephen Miller has been demoralizing the agency with unrealistic deportation demands: “Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’ ”

So much for going after the “bad guys.”

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old high school junior was recently arrested by ICE agents as he drove with friends to volleyball practice in Milford, Massachusetts.

A school administrator told the Boston Globe the teenager was well-known in the community and had attended Milford Public Schools since kindergarten: “It’s just horrendous. These are babies. They’re kids. I don’t care that they’re 18 – he’s just a kid.”

Communities are watching people they love get rounded up

In the small Pennsylvania town of Honesdale, ICE agents recently raided a pizzeria and detained three employees, rattling the community. Resident Connor Simon told WNEP-TV: “It’s really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and a terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor comes to take him away is somehow the good guy.”

And the recent ICE arrest in Kennett, Missouri, of a mother – an immigrant from Hong Kong – has led residents to denounce what happened to the longtime resident who works at a diner.

“I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,” Vanessa Cowart told The New York Times. “But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.”

These actions by the Trump administration benefit only the most sadistic among us.

But it’s part and parcel of the harm Trump’s MAGA policies have already caused.

Manufacturing down, food expensive and ICE is deporting moms. Happy now, MAGA? | Opinion
If you voted for President Donald Trump and hoped something good would happen to you, feel free to say: ‘Oops.’

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/06/03/trump-deportations-construction-spending-down-economy/83995322007

Fox News: Largest ever ICE operation results in nearly 1,500 illegals arrested in blue state

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Operation Patriot, the largest ever ICE operation, resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,500 illegals, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and child sex predators, in the deep blue sanctuary city-heavy state of Massachusetts.

Operation Patriot concluded on Saturday after netting 1,461 illegal aliens throughout the Greater Boston area and the state of Massachusetts, which includes numerous sanctuary jurisdictions.

Sources at ICE told Fox News that 790 of those arrested had criminal convictions or charges and 277 had final removal or deportation orders. The sources said that all the targeted criminals were roaming the streets of Massachusetts cities freely before being apprehended.

How many of those 790 with “criminal convictions or charges” were for traffic violations and other low-level crimes of litttle consequence? Probably most of them.

ICE lies, always exaggerates their achievements, has no credibility whatsoever.

How many of the 1461 were wrongfully arrested? Probably quite few.

How many are U.S. citizens who will be wrongfully deported? Probably several.

F*ck ICE!

Largest ever ICE operation results in nearly 1,500 illegals arrested in blue state
Operation Patriot resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,500 illegals, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and child sex predators, in Massachusetts.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/largest-ever-ice-operation-results-nearly-1500-illegals-arrested-blue-state

NBC News: ICE arrest of H.S. student sends shockwaves through a Massachusetts town

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The 18-year-old is in immigration detention after being arrested on graduation weekend in Milford, southwest of Boston, where he has attended school since he was 6, friends said.

An athlete, a musician, an exceptional high school student with an infectious smile.

This is how community members in Milford, Massachusetts, described Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, an 18-year-old high school junior who was arrested by immigration authorities and sent to a detention center this weekend.

Gomes Da Silva was driving his father’s car on his way to volleyball practice with some of his teammates Saturday morning when immigration authorities stopped him.

Immigration authorities made the traffic stop because they were looking for Gomes Da Silva’s father, who is unlawfully present

ICE arrest of H.S. student sends shock waves through a Massachusetts town
The 18-year-old is in immigration detention after being arrested on graduation weekend in Milford, southwest of Boston, where he has attended school since he was 6, friends said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-arrest-high-school-milford-massachusetts-immigration-rcna210324

Axios: East Boston family details ICE arrest of TPS recipient

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Mercedes Pineda said having Temporary Protected Status and no criminal record didn’t stop federal agents from detaining her husband, Jose, at work. Pineda, who spoke at a panel organized by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley in East Boston, said hers is far from the only family to get torn apart by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Pineda’s husband, a TPS recipient from El Salvador, was released after two days, but she said the family is still grappling with the aftermath.

  • Neither of them is sleeping well. Jose’s doctor warned he’s one traumatic event away from a deadly stroke.
  • Their 12-year-old daughter is suffering from anxiety attacks. (As Pineda spoke, Pressley sat behind her and comforted her daughter.)

Pineda later told Axios she learned he was detained through videos that circulated, but couldn’t confirm it until he managed to call hours later.

They still don’t know why he was held and say he has no criminal record. Protections for Salvadoran TPS recipients last until Sept. 9, 2026, per U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

East Boston family details ICE arrest of TPS recipient
The Pineda family was highlighted by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Monday in Boston.

https://www.axios.com/local/boston/2025/06/02/east-boston-family-ice-tps

Associated Press: Immigration official defends tactics against criticism of a heavy hand as arrests rise nationwide

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Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, turned emotional when asked to explain why officials wear masks. He said some have received death threats and been harassed online.

“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” he said at a news conference in Boston to announce nearly 1,500 arrests in the region as part of a month-long “surge operation.”

Lyons was leaving the room when a reporter asked him about the masks. He returned to the podium.

“Is that the issue here that we’re just upset about the masks?” he asked. “Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?”

Lyons may have been referring to comments by San Diego Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera, who called ICE officers “terrorists” after Friday’s restaurant raid. “This isn’t safety. It’s state-sponsored terrorism,” Elo-Rivera wrote on Instagram.

Gestapo? Terrorists? Thugs? ICE is receiving the reputation it has earned. And I could care less if the poor bully boys are harassed, either online or in public — they’ve earned it.

Immigration official defends tactics against criticism of a heavy hand as arrests rise nationwide
The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is defending himself against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed as they ramp up arrests toward President Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportations.

https://apnews.com/article/ice-agents-masked-boston-deportations-todd-lyons-4fa874908a64b12f1b1ee0be3825fb39

Reuters:Top US immigration officials defend arrest of Massachusetts high school student

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The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE] defended on Monday his agency’s decision to arrest a Massachusetts high school student on his way to volleyball practice, saying “he’s in this country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from anybody.”

He’s a child who has been here since the age of five. He knows no other country.

And people wonder why ICE is so reviled?

Lyons and Patricia Hyde, the acting field director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston, said Gomes was not the target of the investigation that led to his arrest and that authorities instead were seeking his father, who remains at large.

…

A federal judge issued an emergency order on Sunday preventing authorities from transferring Gomes out of Massachusetts for at least 72 hours in response to a lawsuit arguing he was unlawfully detained.

The lawsuit said that Gomes entered the United States on a student visa. While his student visa status has lapsed, the lawsuit said he is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.

Top US immigration officials defend arrest of Massachusetts high school student
The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement defended on Monday his agency’s decision to arrest a Massachusetts high school student on his way to volleyball practice, saying “he’s in this country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from anybody.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/top-us-immigration-officials-defend-arrest-massachusetts-high-school-student-2025-06-02

Mass Live: Gov. Healey demands answers after ICE arrests Mass. high school student

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Gov. Maura Healey is demanding answers after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a Massachusetts high school student on Saturday.

“I’m disturbed and outraged by reports that a Milford High School student was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice yesterday,” Healey said in a statement Sunday morning. “Yet again, local officials and law enforcement have been left in the dark with no heads up and no answers to their questions.”

The governor is pressuring ICE to provide information about why the student was arrested, where he is now and “how his due process is being protected,” according to her statement.

The 18-year-old student was detained by ICE agents somewhere off Milford High School’s campus, Milford Public Schools Superintendent Kevin McIntyre said in a Sunday statement. Additionally, a number of Milford parents have also been arrested by federal immigration officers in recent weeks, he said.

…

Rentas told WCVB she is in contact with her boyfriend, who told her that he is being held in chains with dozens of other men. He is the only teen among them.

Marcello’s friends and family told the news station he has lived in Milford since coming to the U.S. at age six.

“To just separate him from everybody he knows — like his whole life, just because he wasn’t born here — it’s not right,” his cousin, Ana Julia Araujo, told WCVB.

Gov. Healey demands answers after ICE arrests Mass. high school student
“I’m disturbed and outraged by reports that a Milford High School student was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice yesterday,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement Sunday morning.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/06/gov-healey-demands-answers-after-ice-arrests-mass-high-school-student.html

News Nation: Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE

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A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States.

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Petrova, 30, is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Louisiana. She is expected to be brought to Massachusetts as early as Friday in preparation for a bail hearing next week on the smuggling charge, lawyers said in court.

Another loss for King Donald & his bully boys!

Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/ap-us-news/ap-judge-harvard-researcher-charged-with-smuggling-frog-embryos-was-unlawfully-detained-by-ice

Reason: ‘Banal Horror’: Asylum Case Deals Trump Yet Another Loss on Due Process

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President Trump is entitled to try to execute his immigration policy. He is not entitled, however, to violate the Constitution.

The Trump administration this week formally agreed to comply with a ruling that ordered it to facilitate the return of a migrant who was unlawfully deported—in what was another loss for the government as it attempts to subvert basic due process rights in immigration proceedings.

The migrant—named in court documents as O.C.G., who has no criminal history—arrived in the U.S. in May 2024 and sought asylum. An officer agreed he had a credible fear of persecution and torture if returned to Guatemala; a judge assented as well and granted him withholding of removal to that country.

During his proceedings, when he asked if he might be sent to Mexico, a judge replied: “We cannot send you back to Mexico, sir, because you’re a native of Guatemala.” Deportations to a nonnative country legally require, at a minimum, additional steps in the process.

That was particularly relevant to O.C.G.’s case, because, as he testified in court, he claims to have been held for ransom and raped while passing through Mexico, securing release only after a family member paid the sum. Yet two days after his withholding of removal was granted, the government unlawfully deported him—without a chance to contest it—to Mexico, after which he returned to Guatemala, where his attorneys say he lives in hiding and in fear of serious harm.

‘Banal horror’: Asylum case deals Trump yet another loss on due process
The Trump administration this week formally agreed to comply with a ruling that ordered it to facilitate the return of a migrant who was unlawfully

https://reason.com/2025/05/29/banal-horror-asylum-case-deals-trump-yet-another-loss-on-due-process