Tag Archives: Tricia McLaughlin

MSNBC: The Trump administration is in talks about a disturbing reality TV show idea

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A show in which immigrant contestants vie for U.S. citizenship would be a natural extension of Trump’s cruel gamification of social life.

The Department of Homeland Security is in talks with a reality T.V. show producer about a game show in which immigrant contestants would compete for U.S. citizenship. What would be a shocking story for any other White House is a fitting development for an administration fixated on melding policy with sadistic entertainment.

According to The Wall Street Journal, television producer Rob Worsoff says he has been pitching the idea for the show as far back as the Obama administration, but the project didn’t come together. Worsoff, whose credits include the reality show “Duck Dynasty,” told the Journal that the show is meant to be hopeful, that the contestants would be legal immigrants, and that losing would not result in deportation.

It’s unclear how far along the process is, but the Journal reports that DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin “said she had spoken to the producer of the proposed television reality show and that consideration of the idea was ongoing,” and Worsoff described the feedback from DHS as positive.

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Huge swaths of the migrant population in the U.S. are made up of people attempting to escape persecution, violence and destitution. It seems cruel to derive entertainment from people desperate to stay in the country as so many others are expelled as part of a right-wing nationalist campaign.

Even if this show doesn’t come to fruition, the fact that the Trump administration is even considering it — and unafraid to admit it to reporters — is damning. It’s also unsurprising, insofar as the administration has often sought to use art and memes that celebrate the pain of migrants to help give license to its brutal mass deportation regime.

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Trump and those around him are quick to turn everything into a game or a laugh, most often at the expense of those most vulnerable among us.

Opinion | Trump’s DHS is considering making immigration into a twisted reality TV show
The Department of Homeland Security is in talks with a reality T.V. show producer about a game show in which immigrant contestants would compete for U.S.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/blog/trump-admin-dhs-kristi-noem-reality-tv-us-citizenship-show-rcna207238

Daily Mail: New FEMA head tells employees who try to block Trump’s agenda: ‘I will run right over you’

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The new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has threatened to ‘run right over’ staff in his department who resist Donald Trump‘s agenda.

David Richardson took over as acting chief at FEMA after previous boss Cameron Hamilton was booted from the role a day after criticizing the president’s plans to abolish the department.

The incoming head, whose title is Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator, was caught on camera issuing the stark warning during a staff meeting on his first day.

‘Don’t get in my way,’ the former US marine told staffers, according to a recording of the speech obtained by CBS News. 

‘I don’t need the full title I just need the authority from the president,’ Richardson continued from behind a presidential-style podium.

‘Obfuscation, delay, undermining. If you’re one of those 20 percent of the people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not, because I will run right over you. I will achieve the president’s intent.

‘I, and I alone in FEMA, speak for FEMA,’ Richardson said. 

FEMA employees later described the speech to CBS as ‘unhinged’ and ‘terrifying’.

Just another Bully Boi from the Trump agency …

FEMA head threatens to ‘run right over’ those who block Trump’s agenda
David Richardson issued a stark warning to staff on his first day as acting head of FEMA as par of a 17-minute speech to his new employees.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14699677/FEMA-head-david-richardson-warning-staff-Trump-agenda.html

Politico: Judges have a warning about Trump’s rapid deportations: Americans could be next

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A fundamental promise by America’s founders — that no one should be punished by the state without a fair hearing — is under threat, a growing chorus of federal judges say.

That concept of “due process under law,” borrowed from the Magna Carta and enshrined in the Bill of Rights, is most clearly imperiled for the immigrants President Donald Trump intends to summarily deport, they say, but U.S. citizens should be wary, too.

Across the country, judges appointed by presidents of both parties — including Trump himself — are escalating warnings about what they see as an erosion of due process caused by the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. What started with a focus on people Trump has deemed “terrorists” and “gang members” — despite their fierce denials — could easily expand to other groups, including Americans, these judges warn.

“When the courts say due process is important, we’re not unhinged, we’re not radicals,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Washington, D.C.-based appointee of President Joe Biden, said at a recent hearing. “We are literally trying to enforce a process embodied in probably the most significant document with respect to peoples’ rights against tyrannical government oppression. That’s what we’re doing here. Okay?”

It’s a fight that judges are increasingly casting as existential, rooted in the 5th Amendment’s guarantee that “no person shall … be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” The word “person,” courts have noted, makes no distinction between citizens or noncitizens. The Supreme Court has long held that this fundamental promise extends to immigrants in deportation proceedings. In a 1993 opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia called that principle “well-established.”

Judges have a warning about Trump’s rapid deportations: Americans could be next
Judges across the country continue to note that if courts don’t protect the rights of the least popular and most vulnerable, everyone is at risk.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/judges-have-a-warning-about-trump-s-rapid-deportations-americans-could-be-next/ar-AA1EvZfM

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.”

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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

Associated Press: Pressed for evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, government cites its power to deport people for beliefs

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A clear violation of his First Amendment rights:

Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country damages U.S. foreign policy interests.

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Rather, Rubio wrote Khalil could be expelled for his beliefs.

He said that while Khalil’s activities were “otherwise lawful,” letting him remain in the country would undermine “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”

Pressed for evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, government cites its power to deport people for beliefs
The U.S. government has submitted a two-page memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio as its main evidence in its deportation case against Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil.

https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-university-trump-c60738368171289ae43177660def8d34

NBC News: FBI arrests Milwaukee judge, alleging she interfered in immigration operation

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The arrest marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, as well as in its battles with judges across the country.

The FBI arrested a county judge in Milwaukee on Friday, alleging that she obstructed federal authorities who were seeking to detain an undocumented immigrant by escorting the man and his defense attorney though a nonpublic jury door.

The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, in line with its rhetoric about going after local and state authorities on immigration-related matters. It’s also marks another step in the Trump administration’s battles with judges over federal policy.

In an appearance on Fox News on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] the arrest to pull in the administration’s broader, repeated criticism of judges. “What’s happening to our judiciary is beyond me,” Bondi said, before using the term “deranged.”

Pitting the Feds vs. the States is a fight that Bimbo #3 Pam Bondi will not win. This is one of the dumbest moves King Donald’s underlings could have made.

Bimbo #3 Pam Bondi should look in the mirror as she speaks of the “deranged”.

FBI arrests Milwaukee judge, alleging she interfered in immigration operation
The arrest marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, as well as in its battles with judges across the country.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-arrests-milwaukee-judge-alleging-interfered-immigration-operation-rcna203006

Guardian: Ice seeking out unaccompanied immigrant children to deport or prosecute

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials are seeking out unaccompanied immigrant children in operations nationwide with a view to deporting them or pursuing criminal cases against them or adult sponsors sheltering them legally in the US, according to sources and an Ice document.

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In recent months, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Ice have begun engaging in “welfare checks” on children who arrived in the US alone, usually via the US-Mexico border, to “ensure that they are safe and not being exploited”, according to a DHS spokesperson.

Although DHS is characterizing the welfare visits as benevolent, an internal Ice document accessed by the National Immigration Project advocacy group and then shared shows Ice is also seeking out children who came into the US alone as immigrants – and their US-based sponsors – for immigration enforcement purposes and/or to pursue criminal prosecutions. The recent operations and document confirm a February report from Reuters, that the Trump administration has directed Ice to track down and deport this group.

How does one “[pursue] criminal cases against them or adult sponsors sheltering them LEGALLY in the US”? These creeps will do anything to get their numbers up.

Ice seeking out unaccompanied immigrant children to deport or prosecute
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials are seeking out unaccompanied immigrant children in operations nationwide with a view to deporting them or pursuing criminal cases against them or adult sponsors sheltering them legally in the US, according to sources and an Ice document. The moves are sparking fears of a crackdown on such children and prompting alarm about what one critic called “backdoor family separation”. In recent months,…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-seeking-out-unaccompanied-immigrant-children-to-deport-or-prosecute/ar-AA1DMtr3

Mediaite: OOF! DHS Accidentally Tells Ukrainian War Refugees to Self-Deport

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The Department of Homeland Security mistakenly emailed Ukrainian war refugees in the U.S. on Friday to inform them they must self-deport.

The message, which DHS has acknowledged was sent in error, told an undisclosed number of people in the country legally under the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program that they had seven days to leave the country.

CBS News reported the Thursday email read, “DHS is now exercising its discretion to terminate your parole. Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate 7 days from the date of this notice.”

The alert added those who failed to self-deport would “be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States.”

The message concluded, “Again, DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you… Please depart the United States immediately.”

What a bunch of f*ck*ng clowns!

OOF! DHS Accidentally Tells Ukrainian War Refugees to Self-Deport
The message, which DHS has acknowledged was sent in error, told an undisclosed number of people in the country under the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program.
OOF! DHS Accidentally Tells Ukrainian War Refugees to Self-Deport

CNN: A Maryland mother was detained by ICE nearly two weeks ago. So far, no evidence has been provided

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To Karen Cruz Berrios, her mother is a hard-working, devoted single parent. To the Department of Homeland Security, she is “ … an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang.”

However, nearly two weeks after Elsy Noemi Berrios, 52, was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, DHS has yet to disclose any evidence to substantiate its claim against the Salvadoran woman to the public or, her attorneys say, to them.

Noemi Berrios was arrested by federal agents in Westminster, Maryland, on the morning of March 31 as she drove to work with her daughter, according to her family.

Cell phone video, shot and shared by Cruz Berrios, shows authorities demanded her mother step out of the vehicle. She’s heard refusing and asking the officers to show her a detention order.

“I do not need to show you the warrant,” responded one of the officers wearing a tactical vest marked “Federal Agent.”

Seconds later, officers shattered her driver’s side window to unlock the door and removed Noemi Berrios from the car before handcuffing her hands behind her back.

A Maryland mother was detained by ICE nearly two weeks ago. So far, no evidence has been provided. | CNN
To Karen Cruz Berrios, her mother is a hard-working, devoted single parent. To the Department of Homeland Security, she is “ … an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/12/us/maryland-mother-ice-trump-gang/index.html

Associated Press: Supreme Court says Trump administration must work to bring back mistakenly deported Maryland man

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The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.

The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

King Donald has been slapped down 9-0!

Supreme Court says Trump administration must work to bring back mistakenly deported Maryland man
U.S. District Judge had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-maryland-deportation-trump-9f46dd62890befdc321ed1ab56107470