Tag Archives: Alex Woodward

Independent: Outrage after California fourth grader is detained by ICE agents during immigration hearing

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Parents and teachers in southern California are urgently asking for help to find a fourth grader who is being “held captive” by immigration authorities in Texas.

Torrance Elementary School student Martir Garcia Lara attended an immigration court appointment with his father in Houston on May 29 “when suddenly they were detained and separated from each other,” according to a message from the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

The boy and his father are reportedly in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

“He’s alone and he’s not able to return home,” PTA president Jasmin King told KTLA.

“We have not received any information on why they were detained,” she said. “All we know is that Martir is just a fourth grader who’s by himself, without his dad, without a parent, and just in a place that he probably doesn’t know, so we can only imagine what he might be feeling.”

A fourth-grader! What a catch!

Homan’s bully boys must be really proud of themselves today!

Outrage after California fourth grader is detained by ICE during immigration hearing
Martir Garcia Lara was ordered into custody in Houston as federal agents target courthouses nationwide

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/california-ice-arrest-elementary-school-b2763614.html

Independent: New video shows Judge Hannah Dugan with federal agents in moment that led to her arrest

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Attorneys for Wisconsin county judge call the case against her ‘entirely unconstitutional’

Newly obtained surveillance footage from inside a Wisconsin courthouse shows a county judge speaking with federal law enforcement officers before they arrested an undocumented immigrant moments after his hearing in the judge’s courtroom.

A week later, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was placed in handcuffs and accused of obstructing his arrest.

Footage from April 18 provided to The Independent from a public records request shows at least six plain-clothes agents in ball caps and hooded sweatshirts arriving on Dugan’s floor. At one point, one agent sits directly across from Dugan’s courtroom.

Minutes after Dugan’s arrival, agents see Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his attorney entering the courtroom. Flores-Ruiz faces domestic abuse charges stemming from an argument with his roommates, according to a criminal complaint.

Dugan can be seen speaking to a pair of agents sitting on a bench in the courthouse hallway, and then appears to direct them down the hall. According to the criminal complaint, the agents told the judge they had an administrative warrant, which is typically issued by immigration authorities without a judge.

The judge allegedly told the agents to see the chief judge about their plans to make an arrest inside the courthouse. The complaint accuses Dugan of exhibiting “confrontational, angry demeanor” when speaking with federal agents. The surveillance footage does not include any audio.

Dugan is standing still in the video while speaking with two agents, who appear relaxed and slouched on the benches. One agent begins to walk down the hall while Dugan continues speaking with the other agent. Dugan then gestures towards the other end of the hall. She walks the opposite direction when the agents walk away.

None of the videos show the inside of her courtroom. A hearing for Flores-Ruiz lasted only a few minutes. Federal prosecutors allege Dugan directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out of her courtroom through a non-public door.

But video footage shows the door was just a few feet from the main entrance. Flores-Ruiz and his attorney walk past federal agents as they head towards the elevator. One agent follows them to the elevator. According to a criminal complaint, the agent shared an elevator to the lobby with the both of them.

Looks like ICE’s Gestapo thugs have no evidence worth mentioning.

Video shows Judge Hannah Dugan with federal agents in moment leading to her arrest
Attorneys for Wisconsin county judge call the case against her ‘entirely unconstitutional’

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/judge-hannah-dugan-video-ice-arrrest-b2762081.html

Independent: Judge spares Trump from massive DOGE lawsuit — leaving Elon Musk holding the bag for ‘unauthorized role’

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Donald Trump has been dropped from a lawsuit accusing his administration of illegally wielding power to slash government agencies and purge the federal workforce.

But a federal judge won’t let Elon Musk escape the case.

Musk — tapped by the president to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — is facing a lawsuit from a group of 14 states arguing that the world’s wealthiest person lacks any legal authority to carry out mass firings, terminate grants and access sensitive government information and taxpayer data.

Attorneys for the Trump administration claimed Musk is only serving a temporary advisory role as a “special government employee” serving under the president.

But District Judge Tanya Chutkan shot down the White House’s attempt to “minimize” his role as “a mere advisor without any formal authority.”

Musk instead “occupies a continuing position” and “exercises significant authority,” all without “proper appointment” by Congress, Chutkan wrote.

Judge spares Trump from DOGE lawsuit — but leaves Elon Musk on the hook
The world’s wealthiest man is accused of illegally wielding power to fire government workers and slash spending

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-doge-trump-lawsuit-b2759428.html

Independent: Venezuelans ‘barricaded’ doors and ‘threatened to take hostages’ in ICE detention, Trump team alleges

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Administration calls on Supreme Court for permission to swiftly deport nearly 200 immigrants detained in Texas

In its latest demand to the Supreme Court to begin swiftly deporting immigrants from the United States, Donald Trump’s administration claims a group of Venezuelan men imprisoned in Texas tried to barricade themselves inside their unit, covered surveillance cameras and threatened to take hostages.

A group of 23 men the administration accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members “have proven difficult to manage,” according to a sworn statement in court documents from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.

In an incident on April 23 that has not previously been reported, the men allegedly “refused their breakfast trays and barricaded both the front and rear entrance doors of their housing unit using bed cots” and “covered the surveillance cameras and blocked the housing unit windows.”

They “threatened to take hostages and injure facility contract staff and ICE officers” and “attempted to flood the housing unit by clogging toilets,” according to Joshua D. Johnson, acting ICE director for the Dallas office.

Can you blame them for trying to avoid an illegal deportation to a prison in a third country? They wanted to be deported (legally!) to their home country:

Another image captures a group holding up a sign that reads, in Spanish, “Help, we want to be deported. We are not terrorists.” The sign says “VZLA,” a reference to Venezuela, and suggests they are pleading with authorities to avoid their imprisonment in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, labeled by human rights groups as a “tropical gulag” and concentration camp.

Venezuelans ‘threatened to take hostages’ in ICE detention, Trump team alleges
Administration calls on Supreme Court for permission to swiftly deport nearly 200 immigrants detained in Texas

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-administration-supreme-court-alien-enemies-act-b2750299.html

Independent: Police admit they mistakenly pulled over a college student. But she still faces deportation

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When police in Dalton, Georgia pulled over Ximena Arias-Cristobal, officers accused the 19-year-old college student of making an illegal right turn at a red light.

She told officers she didn’t have her international driver’s license on her, according to a police report, and she was taken into custody.

Then she was moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center roughly four hours away, and now she faces the possibility of being removed from the country along with her family.

But local police this week admitted the officers made a mistake.

After a review of dash cam footage from the traffic stop on May 5, “it was determined that Ms. Arias-Cristobal’s vehicle appeared similar to the offending vehicle but was not the vehicle that made an improper turn,” according to a statement from the Dalton Police Department.

Police and prosecutors dismissed the charges against her, but Donald Trump’s administration intends to remove her from the United States, where she has lived since she was four years old.

Arias-Cristobal’s parents did not have legal permission to enter the United States from Mexico in 2010 when she was a toddler, and she did not qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which ended the year before her family entered the country, according to family friends.

Police admit they made a mistake. But she could still be deported
Ximena Arias-Cristobal remains in ICE custody despite police and prosecutors dropping charges

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/ximena-arias-cristobal-georgia-deportation-b2750397.html

Independent: Trump puts white South Africans on citizenship fast track while rejecting all other refugees: ‘As subtle as an air raid’

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President claims Afrikaners are victims of ‘genocide’ while denying entry to refugees fleeing famine and war

Since taking office, Donald Trump’s administration has virtually shut down refugee admissions and blocked funding for resettlement groups, stranding thousands of people who were granted entry to the United States for humanitarian protections only to have those offers rescinded.

But the president has singled out one specific group of people who will be allowed entry into the United States and appear to be on a fast track to citizenship: white South Africans.

A group of 59 white South Africans admitted to the United States as “refugees” have been “essentially extended citizenship,” Trump said on Monday.

They were greeted by State Department officials on Monday after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport on a taxpayer-funded flight following their fast-tracked refugee vetting process under the administration’s radically reshaped admissions program.

King Donald is welcoming white racists from South Africa as he terminates the refugee status of 530,000 legitimate refugees already in the U.S.

Trump welcomes white South Africans while rejecting all other refugees
President claims Afrikaners are victims of ‘genocide’ while denying entry to refugees fleeing famine and war

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-south-african-citizenship-refugees-b2749548.html

Independent: Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech

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A New York-based federal appeals court has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to transfer Tufts University scholar Rumeysa Ozturk from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to Vermont.

The case of Ozturk, a Turkish international student and former Fulbright scholar working towards her doctorate in child development, is among several high-profile cases at the center of the Trump administration’s targeting of international students for their advocacy for Palestine during Israel’s war in Gaza.

In March, Ozturk’s visa was revoked and she was arrested and detained by plain-clothes federal agents outside her apartment in Massachusetts in what her lawyers argue is a retaliatory attempt to deport her over an op-ed she wrote in a student newspaper.

The government has one week to transfer her, according to Wednesday’s order, which arrived less than 24 hours after a hearing in which government attorneys failed to say whether they even agree with the administration’s position that her pro-Palestine speech is not constitutionally protected.

Appellate Judge Barrington Parker, who was appointed by George W. Bush, pressed Department of Justice attorney Drew Ensign on whether Ozturk’s statements — and statements from another international student who was arrested for support for Palestine — amount to protected speech.

“Your honor, we haven’t taken a position on that,” Ensign replied.

“Help my thinking. Take a position,” Parked fired back.

“I don’t have authority to take a position,” Ensign said.

…

“She has been held behind bars for six weeks while her health deteriorates for writing an op-ed,” she told a three-judge appeals court panel Wednesday. “Detention is not the norm with respect to visa revocation, as we had here. The executive branch made a specific decision to detain Ms. Ozturk that was motivated by her speech.”

Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech
Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn’t ‘take a position’ on her free speech – Federal appeals court gives government 10 days to transfer Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont after DOJ lawyers refused to say if pro-Palestine speech is constitutionally protected

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-team-ordered-to-move-tufts-student-from-louisiana-ice-jail-after-it-couldn-t-take-a-position-on-her-free-speech/ar-AA1Ellat

Independent: Wife of wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia forced into safe house after government posts address online

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Homeland Security shared copy of protective order from 2021 revealing family’s address on social media

The wife of a wrongly deported Salvadoran father living in Maryland was moved to a safe house after Donald Trump’s administration posted a court document that included her address on social media.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she began fearing for her safety and the safety of her three children after the Department of Homeland Security shared a protective order from 2021 that prominently featured her address to the department’s 2.4 million followers on X.

“I don’t feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,” she told The Washington Post. “So, this is definitely a bit terrifying. I’m scared for my kids.”

No doubt Kristi Noem (Bimbo #2) is experiencing intense orgasmic pleasure at the thought of their torment and misfortune. Making people miserable must be a lot more exciting than killing puppies and goats.

Wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia moves to safe house after DHS posts address online
Homeland Security shared copy of protective order from 2021 revealing family’s address on social media

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/kilmar-abrego-garcia-wife-safe-house-b2738214.html