Tag Archives: Texas

Irish Star: Donald Trump sparks Juneteenth fears with furious four-word comment

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As the US celebrates Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery, Donald Trump said there are “too many non-working holidays.”

In a shocking post on Truth Social, Trump wrote on Thursday evening: “Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Interestingly, Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday. He even claimed once to have made it “very famous.” The news comes amid a spike in dementia fears for the president, after a strange bulge was spotted in his pants.

Donald Trump sparks Juneteenth fears with furious four-word comment
After many noticed the dead silence coming from the Presidential office this Juneteenth, Trump finally made an acknowledgement – of ‘too many non-working holidays in America’

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-sparks-juneteenth-fears-35423267

Axios: Senate Democrats press Hegseth on domestic military deployment plan

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Senate Democrats on Wednesday demanded the Trump administration to share its plans to deploy active duty military in cities across the U.S.

President Trump’s decision to send active duty Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles following pro-immigrants’ rights protests sparked more demonstrations nationwide.

  • Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparked additional backlash after she said the goal is to “liberate” Los Angeles from its elected Democratic leaders during a press conference where Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed.
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that the Trump administration would not respect district court orders to disband troops, but that it would abide by a Supreme Court ruling.

“I have been deeply disturbed and alarmed by the use of active-duty troops, Marines in Los Angeles,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.

  • “And President Trump has made clear his intentions to continue to use the military to suppress dissent and likely inflame tensions there and elsewhere all under the guise of enforcing the law. What he’s doing may well be illegal.”
  • Hegseth pushed back on the claim that the deployments have been illegal, but he did not confirm whether contingency plans were in place for using military in other cities.

“I take it from your answer that you do have contingency plans for the use of military in other cities,” Blumenthal said.

Hegseth did not address Blumenthal’s request.

Hegseth is a slimy, slippery snake who will never give an honest answer to a direct question.

Senate Democrats press Hegseth on domestic military deployment plan
Blumenthal said he was “deeply disturbed and alarmed” after Marines were sent to Los Angeles.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/18/hegseth-senate-testimony-blumenthal-military-domestic-protests

Mediaite: Fox News Reporter Slams ICE Arrest of Afghan-Born U.S. Army Interpreter at Asylum Hearing

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Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has publicly condemned the ICE arrest of an Afghan national who served as an interpreter for American troops.

“This should anger every American,” Griffin posted on X in response to the story.

Footage of the arrest shows the man, who worked alongside the U.S. Army in one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous regions, being handcuffed by masked immigration agents as he exited a courtroom immediately after his asylum hearing in San Diego.

The interpreter, whose identity is being withheld by his attorney over fears of Taliban retaliation, had legally entered the U.S. through the CBP One app following the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. He had applied for a Special Immigrant Visa and was awaiting a follow-up court date when the arrest occurred.

“I came here to make a better life,” he can be heard saying in video of the incident. “I didn’t know that this would happen… I worked with the U.S. military.”

His lawyer, Brian McGoldrick, said the move was not only inhumane, but politically baffling: the man’s brother was granted asylum just last month in Texas.

“What is the government doing?” McGoldrick asked, “That one brother is being granted asylum and the other has to be treated like a criminal?”

ICE has declined to comment on the arrest.

Fox News Reporter Slams ICE Arrest of Afghan-Born U.S. Army Interpreter at Asylum Hearing
Griffin publicly condemned ICE for the arrest of an Afghan national who served as an interpreter for American troops.
Fox News Reporter Slams ICE Arrest of Afghan-Born U.S. Army Interpreter at Asylum Hearing

MSNBC: Stephen Miller is becoming a victim of his mass deportation policy’s success

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The chief architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy faces internal pushback as the effects of increased ICE raids become clear.

In a meeting last month, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tore into senior leaders at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, demanding a massive surge in arrests of undocumented immigrants. As ICE tried to comply with Miller’s orders, immigration activists and other concerned Americans launched a series of protests in defiance of the mass deportation agenda. But it was a different set of protests that got the attention of Miller’s boss, President Donald Trump.

Last Thursday, the administration abruptly paused raids and arrests at hotels, farms and restaurants, a stunning shift in priorities that was clearly contrary to Miller’s orders. But the change was short-lived. The Department of Homeland Security reversed that guidance Monday, according to The Washington Post, allowing the immigration raids on those industries to resume and letting Miller retake control of the policy that has been the focus of his years in both Trump administrations.

Since Inauguration Day, Miller has had carte blanche on immigration policy in his dual role as deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser. His insistence that ICE make 3,000 arrests per day kick-started a scramble from field offices to meet his demand. But as Vox’s Eric Levitz recently noted, Miller’s own strategy of deterrence at the border has led to a decline in the kind of encounters that would make it easy for ICE agents to rack up those numbers:

Over the past two months, America witnessed the largest decline in its foreign-born workforce since the pandemic in 2020. This contraction was driven partly by a collapse in unauthorized border crossings. Between January 2022 and June 2024, US Customs and Border Protection encountered an average of 200,000 people per month at America’s Southwest border. According to an analysis of government data from Deutsche Bank, that figure has fallen to just 12,000 people per month since Trump’s inauguration.

That has meant ICE has had to expand its list of targets to meet its quotas, including rounding up day laborers in Home Depot parking lots and field workers toiling on farms. The resulting climate of fear has scared more than just undocumented immigrants in these workforces. A Texas farmer recently told NBC affiliate KVEO of Brownsville, Texas, that within the last three weeks, there have been “zero people wanting to come out and be exposed to be able to be picked up whether they are legal or illegal.”

Opinion | Stephen Miller is becoming a victim of his own success
The chief architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy faces internal pushback as the effects of increased ICE raids become clear.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/stephen-miller-ice-deportation-rcna213491

Raw Story: Pete Hegseth deploys troops to several states for ICE support

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered 700 military personnel to be deployed to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas for deportation operations.

In a statement on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the troops would support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“These service members, drawn from all components and operating in a Title 10 duty status, will provide logistical support, and conduct administrative and clerical functions associated with the processing of illegal aliens at ICE detention facilities,” Parnell said. “They will not directly participate in law enforcement activities.”

https://www.rawstory.com/hegseth-troops

Newsweek: ICE deports Army sergeant’s wife—”They’re taking Shirly”

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The wife of a U.S. Army sergeant was detained in March by federal immigration agents outside her workplace in Texas before being deported to Honduras last month.

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This case, first highlighted by the nonprofit military news outlet The War Horse, highlights the impact of immigration enforcement on U.S. military families, which lack guaranteed protection from detention or deportation. According to the advocacy group Fwd.us, as many as 80,000 undocumented spouses or parents of military personnel may currently reside in the United States.

Military Parole in Place is a discretionary program that allows undocumented spouses, parents, or children of U.S. military members—including active-duty, Selected Reserve, or honorably discharged veterans—to remain in the country temporarily and avoid deportation. It also provides a lawful entry record (“parole”) that can help eligible individuals apply for a green card without leaving the U.S.

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Guardado entered the U.S. without authorization in 2014 at age 16. She was apprehended at the border and issued an expedited removal order. After later marrying Correa, she sought legal residency through a process available to immediate relatives of active-duty service members.

According to Mother Jones and FOX 26 Houston, Correa’s petition was approved in 2023 by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), but the existing removal order complicated the case.

On March 13, 2025, Guardado was asked to step outside her office by individuals identifying themselves as Department of Public Safety officers. She was instead detained by ICE and transported to a detention facility in Conroe, Texas. Correa was not immediately notified and only learned her location after three days, when Guardado contacted him from detention.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-deports-army-sergeant-wife-shirly-guardado-2086564

Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Deportation Raids in L.A. Hit Longtime Workforce

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He is one of the millions of immigrants who make up greater Los Angeles’s Hispanic community, one of the nation’s largest and oldest. Some crossed the border illegally, overstayed visas or were brought here illegally as children and are stuck in legal limbo. They assumed President Trump wouldn’t target them for deportation and that he would instead focus on criminals and more recent arrivals.

The raids that unfolded here this past week, triggering protests and Trump’s deployment of National Guard and active duty troops, shattered that belief and altered life for a community that underpins the economy of the nation’s second-largest metropolis.

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Experts estimate the number of immigrants who entered illegally or are living illegally in Los Angeles County at close to one million people, or roughly 10% of the population.

So if King Donald and his Nazi Stephen Miller have their way, one out of every ten L.A. residents will be disappeared.

Trump’s Deportation Raids in L.A. Hit Longtime Workforce
The region is home to one of the nation’s largest and oldest Hispanic communities, which underpins the economy.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-deportation-raids-in-l-a-hit-longtime-workforce/ar-AA1GIsGf

Newsweek: Texas man with two US citizen children detained by ICE

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A Texas man with two children who are United States citizens was apprehended by federal immigration agents following a traffic stop that turned into a life-altering encounter for his family.

Pablo Jose Morales Petzey, 32, from Guatemala, was detained on June 6 after local police pulled him and his wife over on Highway 6 while they were on their way to a landscaping job. The officer cited a missing license plate, which the family said had fallen off the vehicle unknowingly. The officer called federal authorities after discovering Morales’s immigration status.

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Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, told Newsweek the arrest has left their family broken, and their two children, 4-year-old Victoria and 3-year-old son Angel, are struggling to cope with the sudden absence of their father.

“My son Angel has autism and struggles to talk. The only words he says are ‘papa’ and ‘mama,’ and now he just looks out the window to see when his dad will return,” Rodriguez said.

“My daughter cries when she thinks of him in the truck when the police told him to get off, and she started to scream, ‘Why are they taking my dad? Why is he all chained up?’ I just told her everything will be OK with a knot in my throat with nothing else to say.”

One more family cruelly separated!

Texas man with two US citizen children detained by ICE
“They took him with handcuffs and a chain,” his wife, Laura Rodriguez, told Newsweek.

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-man-us-citzen-children-detained-ice-2086161

Huffington Post: George Conway Burns ‘Loon’ Trump With A Scathing New Nickname After Parade Flop

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Conway said Trump was hoping for the kind of spectacle seen in North Korea under dictator Kim Jong Un, then offered the president a tweak on that name: Kim Jong Loon.

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Other Trump critics also compared the event to the type usually seen in places such as North Korea, with former Secretary of State and 2016 campaign rival Hillary Clinton calling it a “low-energy Dear Leader parade.”

The day before the parade, California Gov. Gavin Newsom also made a North Korea comparison: 

George Conway Burns ‘Loon’ Trump With A Scathing New Nickname After Parade Flop
The conservative attorney compared Trump to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-conway-trump-kim-parade_n_684fd2a0e4b0dde371e64404

Guardian: Troops and marines deeply troubled by LA deployment: ‘Morale is not great’

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Several service members told advocacy groups they felt like pawns in a political game and assignment was unnecessary

California national guards troops and marines deployed to Los Angeles to help restore order after days of protest against the Trump administration have told friends and family members they are deeply unhappy about the assignment and worry their only meaningful role will be as pawns in a political battle they do not want to join.

Three different advocacy organisations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions.

“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” said Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative, which represents the interests of military spouses, children and veterans.

“Families are scared not just for their loved ones’ safety, although that’s a big concern, but also for what their service is being used to justify.”

Troops and marines deeply troubled by LA deployment: ‘Morale is not great’
Several service members told advocacy groups they felt like pawns in a political game and assignment was not necessary

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/12/los-angeles-national-guard-troops-marines-morale