Tag Archives: Trump Administration

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

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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.”

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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.

Kristi Noem responds to ICEBlock app: ‘Obstruction of justice’
The secretary of Homeland Security said that the app, which warns people of where ICE officers are operating, could encourage attacks against government agents.

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

Newsweek: Supreme Court to hear JD Vance case

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Republican-led challenge to a federal campaign finance law provision that limits how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. The case, which centers on free speech claims, involves Vice President JD Vance, who was a U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio when the lawsuit was initiated.

The justices took up an appeal from Vance and two Republican committees, contesting a lower court’s decision that upheld the spending limits. The challengers argue the restrictions violate constitutional protections by capping party spending influenced by input from supported candidates.

How dare they deprive the wealthy of their God-given right to purchase election results!

DNC Chair Ken Martin, DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement: “We refuse to sit on the sidelines as Trump’s DOJ and the Republican Party attempt to throw out longstanding election laws for their own benefit. Republicans know their grassroots support is drying up across the country, and they want to drown out the will of the voters.

Supreme Court to hear JD Vance case
The case, which centers on free speech claims, involves VP Vance, who was a Senate candidate in Ohio when the lawsuit was initiated.

https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-jd-vance-campaign-finance-ohio-case-2092657

Guardian: Throwing their bodies on the gears: the Democratic lawmakers showing up to resist Trump

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Republicans may literally own social media platforms, but some Democrats are buying back legitimacy with protests

A flock of Ice agents, some masked, some sporting military-operator fashion for show, smooshed the New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, up against a wall and handcuffed him in the hallway of a federal courthouse in early June, shuffling the mild-mannered politician into an elevator like the Sandman hustling an act off the stage 10 miles north at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.

Like at the Apollo, Lander’s arrest was a show. News reporters and cellphone camera-wielding bystanders crowded the hall to watch the burly federal officers rumple a 55-year-old auditor asking for a warrant.

“I’m not obstructing. I’m standing here in this hallway asking for a judicial warrant,” Lander said. “You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens.”

“This is an urgent moment for the rule of law in the United States of America and it is important to step up,” Lander told the Guardian after the arrest. “And I think the dividing line for Democrats right now is not between progressives and moderates. It’s between fighters and folders. We have to find nonviolent but insistent ways of standing up for democracy and the rule of law.”

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“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part,” Mario Savio, a student leader in the free speech movement, a campaign of civil disobedience against restrictive policies on student political activity, said 60 years ago during a campus protest. “You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.”

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Hannah Dugan, a Wisconsin judge, allowed a man to leave through the back doors of her courtroom, allegedly in response to the presence of immigration officers waiting to arrest him. FBI agents subsequently arrested Dugan in her Milwaukee courtroom on 25 April, charging her with obstruction.

The FBI director, Kash Patel, posted comments about her arrest on X almost immediately, and eventually posted a photograph of her arrest, handcuffed and walking toward a police cruiser, with the comment: “No one is above the law.” Digitally altered photographs of Dugan appearing to be in tears in a mugshot proliferated on social media. Trump himself reposted an image from the Libs of TikTok website of Dugan wearing a Covid-19 mask on the day of her arrest.

Three days later …

It’s long read — best to click on the link below and read the article in its entirety.

Throwing their bodies on the gears: the Democratic lawmakers showing up to resist Trump
Republicans may literally own social media platforms, but some Democrats are buying back legitimacy with protests

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/30/democrats-trump-resistance

Charlotte Observer: ‘Victory’: DHS Praises SCOTUS Ruling on Deportations

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The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to allow the Trump administration to fast-track deportations to third countries like Sudan without notice or a chance to contest. The 6-3 ruling drew dissent from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who warned it risks torture or death for deportees.

This is simply inhumane. And it will come back to haunt us big time.

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Sotomayor wrote, “The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard.”

As some countries have refused deportees, the administration has utilized third-country agreements. Immigrant advocates warned the Supreme Court ruling weakens due process and risks deportees’ safety.

 Sotomayor wrote, “Apparently, the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a district court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled.”

‘Victory’: DHS Praises SCOTUS Ruling on Deportations
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/victory-dhs-praises-scotus-ruling-on-deportations/ss-AA1HMtgW

The Hill: Opinion: The Supreme Court’s injunctions decision returns America to the constitutional horrors of Dred Scott

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In ordinary times, someone could read the Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of so-called “universal injunctions” as just the latest example of an old dispute: the proper way to interpret the Constitution and the jurisdiction of federal courts. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s majority opinion saying the federal district courts do not have the authority to issue such injunctions is a classic in the genre of “originalism.” 

In contrast, the dissenting opinions by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson read the law through the lens not just of its origins but with an eye to how an interpretation would affect the world beyond the courtroom. They understand that these are not ordinary times and do not want to disable the judiciary from responding when fundamental rights are at stake, in the face of an ongoing assault on the rule of law itself. 

To put it simply, with its decision in Trump v. Casa, the court has become an accomplice in President Trump’s ongoing assault on our constitutional republic. The decision has effectively removed the federal courts as a check on the Trump administration.  

But it also does grave damage to the court itself — Trump v. Casa now takes its place among the high court’s most infamous rulings. As Stephen Lubet says, it returns us to the world of its discredited Dred Scott decision, which found that the rights of Black people depended on where they lived. Just like Blacks in the antebellum world who had one status in free states and another in slave states, immigrants and others may now find themselves in a legal nether land. 

The Supreme Court’s injunctions decision returns America to the constitutional horrors of Dred Scott
With its decision in Trump v. Casa, the court has become an accomplice in President Trump’s ongoing assault on our constitutional republic.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5376627-supreme-court-universal-injunctions-ruling

Channel News Asia: Why countries like China, Canada and the UK have issued new warnings about US travel

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China:

On Wednesday, China warned tourists to “fully assess the risks” before travelling to the US, after Beijing raised tariffs on American imports in retaliation for similar duties imposed by Trump.

“Due to the deterioration in China-US trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States, (we) advise Chinese tourists to fully assess the risks before travelling to the US,” Beijing’s culture and tourism ministry said in a statement.

UK:

In March, the UK revised its advice for citizens travelling to the US to include a warning that anyone found breaking its entry rules could face arrest or detention.

The current British travel advice for the US, published online by Britain’s foreign office and most recently updated on Mar 14, states: “You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”

At the beginning of February, the guidance had only stated: “The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules.”

The foreign office declined to comment on the reason for the revision or confirm when exactly it took place. It said its travel advice was designed to help people make decisions and that the advice was constantly kept under review.

Earlier in the month, in response to reports that a woman had been detained in the US for more than 10 days over a possible breach of her visa conditions, the foreign office confirmed that it was providing support to a British national detained in the US.

The woman has since returned to Britain.

Germany:

Similarly, in March, Germany updated its US travel advisory to emphasise that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry after several Germans were detained while entering the country.

Germany’s foreign ministry updated its travel advice website for the US on Mar 11 to clarify that neither approval through the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, system nor a US visa entitles entry in every case.

“The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities,” said a German foreign ministry spokesperson, who emphasised that the change did not constitute a travel warning.

Canada:

The Canadian government updated its US travel advisory on its website in March to say that those who plan to visit the US for more than 30 days “must be registered with the United States government”, NPR reported.

Those who did not do so could face “penalties fines, and misdemeanour prosecution”, the Canadian government said.

In early April, it updated its advisory again, adding a new paragraph about scrutiny at points of entry into the US, Canadian public broadcaster CBC reported.

This was done “quietly”, CBC said.

Part of the new paragraph reads: “Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices. Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities. If you are denied entry, you could be detained while awaiting deportation.”

CBC noted that US border agents had long had the power to ask to search travellers’ belongings and demand access to their electronic devices.

However, it reported that security had been stepped up at the US-Canada border, citing an immigration lawyer.

“There’s been much more heightened security and heightened investigations at the border,” the lawyer told the broadcaster.

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany:

In March, several European countries including Denmark, Finland, France and Germany suggested that transgender, non-binary and intersex people may face difficulties when trying to enter the US.

The Danish foreign ministry changed its US travel advisory to say that transgender people should contact the US embassy in the Nordic country before travelling to the United States.

“When applying for an ESTA or visa to the United States, there are two gender designations to choose from: Male or female,” the travel advisory stated on Mar 21.

“If you have the gender designation X in your passport, or you have changed your gender, it is recommended that you contact the US embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed,” the ministry added.

The “X” gender marker is preferred by many non-binary people, who do not identify as strictly male or female.

While the travel advisory did not explicitly mention the Trump administration, it came only weeks after Trump signed an executive order calling for the US federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents, such as passports, and in policies.

The US State Department has stopped issuing travel documents with the X gender marker.

The department also stopped allowing people to change the gender listed on their passports or get new ones that reflect their gender rather than their sex assigned at birth.

Finland also advised prospective US travellers on its foreign ministry homepage that if their “current gender as recorded in their passport differs from the gender they were assigned at birth, US authorities may deny (them) entry”.

“It is recommended that you check with US authorities in advance for entry requirements,” the ministry said.

France, meanwhile, modified its official advice to its nationals who are travelling to the United States, warning they must now state their gender assigned at birth in visa or ESTA applications.

In advice similar to that issued by Denmark, Germany told travellers who have the X gender entry in their passport or whose current gender entry differs from their gender entry at birth to contact a US diplomatic mission in Germany before they enter the country.

This is so that they can “find out the applicable entry requirements” for the US, the German foreign ministry said.

Why countries like China, Canada and the UK have issued new warnings about US travel
SINGAPORE: Several countries have issued new advice and warnings about travelling to the United States in recent weeks, with China joining in on Wednesday (Apr 9) by telling its citizens to “fully assess the risks” of visiting the US before they head there. Canada and European countries like the United Kin

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-travel-advisories-warnings-trump-china-canada-uk-immigration-tariffs-5059056

Forbes: Trump-Musk Feud: Musk Says Trump’s Comments About Him Are ‘Just Plain Wrong’

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Elon Musk on Wednesday suggested that President Donald Trump’s criticism of subsidies received by his companies was wrong, as he continued to mock supporters of the president’s signature spending bill, a day after the president said he’ll look into potentially deporting the Tesla CEO and threatened probes into his companies amid a reignited feud between the two.

I love a good cat fight, and when it’s two corrupt kleptocrats clawing at one another, that’s all the better!

Musk Says Trump’s Comments About Him Are ‘Just Plain Wrong’ And ‘Disappointing’
The billionaire, whose ties with the president have frayed in the past month, attacked GOP lawmakers backing the Trump’s spending bill while boosting its critics.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/07/02/trump-musk-feud-musk-says-trumps-comments-about-him-are-just-plain-wrong

Guardian: The desperate drive to secure passports for thousands of US-born Haitian kids – before it’s too late

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Advocates in Springfield, Ohio – a city thousands of Haitians now call home – fear the fallout of Trump’s DHS revoking temporary protected status for Haitian nationals

Among the group is a small number of charity volunteers working to avoid a potential humanitarian disaster: that thousands of US-born Haitian children could become stateless, or separated from their families.

“In the last several months we realized that the closer we got to the deportations and revocation of statuses meant that all these people who have babies … if they don’t have passports for their children, how are they going to take them out of the country with them?” says Casey Rollins, a volunteer at the local St Vincent de Paul chapter.

“All you have to look at is the previous [Trump] administration.” A Reuters report from 2023 found that nearly 1,000 children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border in 2017 and 2018 had never been reunited.

Springfield is home to about 1,217 and counting American-born Haitian children under the age of four, with several thousand more dependants under the age of 18. While the number of adults in the Ohio town of 60,000 people legally in the country on TPS is not known, local leaders estimate 10,000 to 15,000 Haitian nationals have come to Springfield, drawn by employment opportunities, since 2017. In April, data provided by the Springfield city school district to the Springfield News-Sun found that the district had 1,258 students enrolled as English language learners in K-12 schools, though that doesn’t mean all are children of Haitian descent.

For three months, Rollins, volunteers at Springfield Neighbors United and others have been working with dozens of Haitians who turn up at charity organizations seeking advice and help every day. One of the most requested issues from parents, Rollins says, is figuring out how to apply for birth certificates for their children, before it’s too late.

“If we can’t stop the deportations, we want to help get them a passport. That way, if they are deported or go to Canada or another welcoming nation, they’d be able to take the child,” she says.

“If it takes three or four months [to complete the bureaucratic process from securing a birth certificate to acquiring a passport], we have got to get moving on this.”

The desperate drive to secure passports for thousands of US-born Haitian kids – before it’s too late
Advocates in Springfield, Ohio – a city thousands of Haitians now call home – fear the fallout of Trump’s DHS revoking temporary protected status for Haitian nationals

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/04/passports-haitian-kids-tps-trump-administration

MSNBC: The Trump admin is going after Maryland courts for doing exactly what courts are supposed to do

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The suit challenges a May 28 order issued by the district’s chief judge concerning the handling of habeas corpus petitions.

In a move more characteristic of a 17th-century English king than a 21st-century American president, the Trump administration last week filed a lawsuit against every sitting federal judge in the state of Maryland.

The charge? That one judge’s attempt to preserve due process for individuals challenging their deportations is disrupting the president’s immigration policies. This unprecedented lawsuit is a dangerous attack on an independent judiciary and escalates the ongoing struggle between the executive and judicial branches. And it brings America one step closer to a constitutional crisis.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. government and the Department of Homeland Security in U.S. District Court in Maryland against all 15 active and senior-status judges in that district, as well as the district’s clerk of court. The suit challenges a May 28 order issued by the district’s chief judge concerning the handling of habeas corpus petitions — legal actions that contest the government’s detention of individuals as unlawful.

The May 28 order expressly addresses the “recent influx” of habeas petitions concerning people subject to deportation, an influx triggered by the administration’s aggressive immigration policies. DHS is trying to move quickly to deport people whom it has identified as illegal aliens; in response, many detainees are filing lawsuits to block those deportations. DHS is proceeding with deportation before courts can hear the cases, and judges are scrambling to manage what the May 28 order describes as “hurried and frustrated hearings” in which “clear and concrete information about the location and status of the [detainees] is elusive.” To ensure that detainees are afforded due process — the U.S. Constitution guarantees due process to all “persons” in the United States, not just “citizens” — the May 28 order prohibits the government from deporting a prisoner for two days after a habeas petition is filed, giving the presiding judge time to review the case.

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Several appellate courts have similar standing orders.

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But here, the administration has taken the extraordinary step, apparently for the first time in our nation’s history, of pre-emptively suing all the judges responsible for implementing a ruling it claims is unlawful.

This lawsuit is not about immigration policy. It is a frontal assault on judicial authority, raising separation of powers principles that predate the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

…

This attempted power grab should alarm anyone who values our constitutional framework.

Opinion | DOJ’s suit against Maryland judges sends an ominous message
The suit challenges a May 28 order issued by the district’s chief judge concerning the handling of habeas corpus petitions.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-doj-suing-marylands-federal-judges-rcna215771

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Major Increase in Non-Criminal Detainees by ICE

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported an 800% rise in non-criminal detainees since President Donald Trump took office, reaching a record 51,302 by early June. Only 30% of those detained were convicted criminals. The data suggests immigration enforcement is increasingly targeting non-criminal offenses, which has fueled criticism from Democratic leaders.

Former ICE Director Sarah Saldaña said, “This push on numbers — exclusive of whether or not the job is being done right — is very concerning.”

Saldaña added, “You’re going to have people who are being pushed to the limit, who in a rush may not get things right, including information on a person’s status.”

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After Trump took office, the number of non-criminal detainees rose sharply to 7,781. Presently, only four in ten individuals detained by ICE are convicted criminals, marking a 20 percent decline since January.

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ICE operations have remained largely under the radar as enforcement has ramped up under the Trump administration. Internal records show only 10% of detainees were convicted of serious crimes, raising concerns about misclassification.

Major Increase in Non-Criminal Detainees by ICE
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/major-increase-in-non-criminal-detainees-by-ice/ss-AA1HEBfp