Author Archives: M

CNN: Court orders Trump administration to return another wrongly deported man

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A federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a Salvadoran man deported last month to his native country just minutes after the same court ruled he shouldn’t be removed from the US.

An order issued by judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stated the government must facilitate the return of Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, 31, “as soon as possible.”

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Melgar-Salmeron, who was deported in May, is at least the fourth individual to have been wrongly removed from the US, despite court rulings or protected status, amid the administration’s vast deportation efforts.

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The judges also stated the government must file within a week a supplemental declaration addressing Melgar-Salmeron’s current physical location and custodial status and include what steps the government will take, “and when, to facilitate his return to the United States.”

Court orders Trump administration to return another wrongly deported man | CNN
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a Salvadoran man deported to his native country, just minutes after the same court ruled he shouldn’t be removed from the US.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/25/us/court-trump-wrongly-deported-man-hnk

Tampa Free Press: National Guard Joins DEA In California Desert To Bust Illicit Marijuana Grow

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National Guard troops deployed to California to quell the anti-deportation riots were later mobilized to help federal agents bust dozens of illegal migrants working at illegal marijuana farms.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed that their agents, working in conjunction with multiple federal agency partners, arrested at least 70 illegal migrants allegedly working at multiple illegal marijuana farms in California’s Coachella Valley. National Guard troops assisted DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents in the massive raid.

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Roughly 315 National Guard troops mobilized to respond to the anti-ICE violence were redeployed to the Coachella Valley area to help federal agents with the operation, according to newly filed court documents obtained by the LA Times.

Using nationally mobilized National Guard troops for law enforcement purposes is a clear violation of the federal Posse Comitatus Act.

National Guard Joins DEA In California Desert To Bust Illicit Marijuana Grow
National Guard troops deployed to California to quell the anti-deportation riots were later mobilized to help federal agents bust dozens of illegal migrants working at illegal marijuana farms. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed that their agents, working in conjunction with multiple federal agency partners, arrested at least 70 ill…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/national-guard-joins-dea-in-california-desert-to-bust-illicit-marijuana-grow/ar-AA1HlkRx

AsAmNews: Army veteran and purple heart recipient deported

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Even after earning the Purple Heart for his bravery and calling the United States his home since the age of 7, on Monday Sae Joon Park self-deported due to immigration issues.

He served in Panama during the Noriega war in 1989.

“I got shot in the spine with an AK-47, M16, in my left lower back. In my mind, I’m going, ‘Oh my god, I’m shot in the back. I can’t feel my legs. I must be paralyzed,’” he recalled to Hawaii News Now.

Park faced post-traumatic stress disorder after being honorably discharged. He turned to marijuana as a way of dealing with stress, but that led him to develop an addiction to cocaine.

He ended up serving two and a half years in prison in 2009. These charges also led to the revocation of his green card and detainment by ICE.

He fought the deportation in court and was allowed to stay in the country due to being a Purple Heart veteran. However, recently, he was told he must leave the country willingly or he will be deported forcibly.

“ I can’t believe that this is happening in America,” Park told NPR in an interview prior to his departure. “That blows me away, like a country that I fought for.”

Park leaves behind a wife, two children and an 85-year-old mother.

Army veteran and purple heart recipient deported – AsAmNews
Even after earning the Purple Heart for his bravery and calling the United States his home since the age of 7, on Monday Sae Joon Park self-deported due to immigration […]

https://asamnews.com/2025/06/24/sae-joon-park-drug-addiction-and-use-self-deportation-under-threat

MSNBC: Maddow Blog | Trump’s response to intelligence assessment on Iran strikes takes an incoherent turn

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The intelligence about the U.S. strikes on Iranian targets can’t be conclusive and inconclusive at the same time.

As Donald Trump arrived in the Netherlands this week for an annual NATO summit, the American president reportedly hoped to take a victory lap of sorts, celebrating the success of the preemptive military strikes he approved targeting Iranian nuclear sites. As is often the case with the Republican, reality quickly got in the way.

On Tuesday, the world learned of a preliminary intelligence assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, which jolted the public and political debate. As NBC News confirmed, the initial assessment concluded that the U.S. airstrikes “were not as effective” as Trump claimed, and the mission set Iran’s nuclear program “back by only three to six months.”

Looney bird Trump is in denial:

Pressed on the efficacy of the mission and the accuracy of the intelligence, Trump said, “The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don’t know. It could have been very severe. That’s what the intelligence says. So I guess that’s correct. But I think we can take the ‘we don’t know.’ It was very severe. It was obliteration.”

Or put another way, according to the American president, U.S. intelligence officials don’t know, but he does know.

Trump’s response to intelligence assessment on Iran strikes takes an incoherent turn
The intelligence about the U.S. strikes on Iranian targets can’t be conclusive and inconclusive at the same time.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-response-intelligence-assessment-iran-strikes-takes-incoherent-rcna214937

Politico: McIver heads to court as watchdog group files complaint against Alina Habba

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The charges against the New Jersey Democrat stem from a confrontation at an ICE facility.

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) is expected to appear in federal court for the first time Wednesday morning on a trio of charges following a May scuffle outside a federal immigration facility.

At her arraignment in Newark, McIver will plead not guilty, spokesperson Hanna Rumsey said. McIver is accused in a three-count indictment of slamming a federal agent with her forearm, “forcibly” grabbing him and using her forearms to strike another agent.

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McIver’s allies, including two other Democrats who were with her during the incident, have decried the charges as political and have said she was roughed up by federal agents. Her allies are also trying to turn the tables on the federal prosecutor bringing the case, the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba.

The Campaign for Accountability, a liberal watchdog group, filed a complaint this week against Habba with the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics.

The complaint alleges Habba has acted improperly since becoming a prosecutor and cites her actions in the McIver case, along with comments about turning “New Jersey red” and announcing investigations into its Democratic governor and attorney general over immigration.

Rep. LaMonica McIver pleads not guilty as watchdog group files complaint against Alina Habba
The charges against the New Jersey Democrat stem from a confrontation at an ICE facility.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/mciver-heads-to-court-as-watchdog-group-files-complaint-against-alina-habba-00422080

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

The Nation: The Supreme Court Just Cosigned One of Trump’s Most Lawless Immigration Moves

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Deporting people to countries where they might be tortured or killed? All good, according to the six GOP justices.

Deporting people to countries where they might be tortured or killed? All good, according to the six GOP justices.

I always knew that Donald Trump’s unhinged cruelty toward immigrants would find aid and comfort among the Republicans on the Supreme Court. But I held out hope that his brazen violations of lower-court orders might give the Republicans pause before greenlighting Trump’s continued terror campaign against people who didn’t happen to be born here.

On Monday, that small sliver of hope was dashed. The Supreme Court issued a ruling from its emergency docket allowing Trump to send immigrants to third-party countries—even ones where they might be tortured and killed. The Republican order violates this country’s constitutional grant of due process, international human rights laws, literal treaties to which this country is a signatory, and basic human decency. In other words, it was a bog-standard Republican Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court Just Cosigned One of Trump’s Most Lawless Immigration Moves
Deporting people to countries where they might be tortured or killed? All good, according to the six GOP justices.

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/supreme-court-trump-deportations

Straight Arrow News: National Guard, DEA raid illegal marijuana farms in Southern California

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More than 300 National Guard troops initially tasked with aiding law enforcement in the Los Angeles protests and subsequent unrest assisted federal agents during the week of June 15 in a large-scale raid targeting three suspected illegal marijuana farms in Thermal, a desert community in Riverside County, California. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led the operation, which spanned approximately 787 acres in the Coachella Valley.

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However, California officials argue that extending the Guard’s role to operations far from Los Angeles exceeds Trump’s authority. In a federal court filing cited by The Los Angeles Times, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office stated that the marijuana farm raids were not related to protecting federal property or personnel in Los Angeles, and questioned whether the president’s order remains legally valid, given the changed circumstances.

The dispute centers on whether Trump’s extended use of the National Guard violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement without congressional approval. Bonta’s office asked the court to review whether federalized troops can operate in areas where no violence or protests are occurring. Defense Department documents indicate that the deployment could last 60 days or longer, at the discretion of the secretary of defense.

National Guard, DEA raid illegal marijuana farms in Southern California
A federal raid in Thermal sparked a legal fight over Trump’s use of National Guard troops for immigration enforcement far from Los Angeles.

https://san.com/cc/national-guard-dea-raid-illegal-marijuana-farms-in-southern-california

Huffington Post: Purple Heart Army Veteran Forced To Self-Deport Under ICE Order

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A Purple Heart Army veteran who said he took two bullets in the back while serving the U.S. during the invasion of Panama self-deported on Monday after receiving an order by immigration officials earlier this month.

Sae Joon Park, 55, who has lived in the U.S. since age 7, reportedly returned to his birth country of South Korea after being given an order related to drug and bail offenses from more than 15 years ago that he says were tied to PTSD.

Purple Heart Army Veteran Forced To Self-Deport After ICE Order
Sae Joon Park, 55, who’s lived in the U.S. since age 7, was deported Monday to South Korea over a 2009 drug conviction he says was tied to his PTSD.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/purple-heart-army-veteran-forced-to-self-deport_n_685aba3ce4b0ede248bacec0

NBC News: Trump administration accuses judge of ‘unprecedented defiance’ of Supreme Court in immigration dispute

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The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to clarify a decision Monday that paved the way for the government to quickly deport criminal immigrants to “third countries.”

 fight over the fate of six migrants the Trump administration wants to deport to South Sudan flared up again on Tuesday as the Justice Department accused a federal judge of “unprecedented defiance” of a Supreme Court decision the previous day.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking clarification of the Monday evening decision that lifted nationwide restrictions on the administration’s ability to send convicted criminals to “third countries” they have no connection to.

Immediately after the Supreme Court action, Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, who is presiding over the litigation, said in a docket entry he did not believe that a May 21 order he issued that prevented the six people being sent to South Sudan had been blocked by the justices. The detainees are currently being held in a U.S. facility in Djibouti.

Murphy’s understanding was that the high court had blocked only his earlier ruling that set nationwide rules giving those affected a “meaningful opportunity” to bring claims that they would be at risk of torture, persecution or death if they were sent to countries the administration has made deals with to receive deported immigrants.

The Supreme Court itself did not explain its decision and did not specify which of Murphy’s rulings were blocked. But liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote a dissenting opinion, said she did not think Murphy’s May 21 decision was affected.

Trump administration accuses judge of ‘unprecedented defiance’ of Supreme Court in immigration dispute
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to clarify a decision Monday that paved the way for the government to quickly deport criminal immigrants to “third countries.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/trump-administration-accuses-judge-unprecedented-defiance-supreme-cour-rcna214735