Tag Archives: California

Fox News: Medical staff face charges after allegedly interfering with California ICE arrest

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Federal authorities arrested a staff member of a clinic in Ontario, California, for allegedly interfering with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest, while another remains at large. 

Earlier this month, Honduran national Denis Guillen-Solis, a landscaper, allegedly left on foot to evade law enforcement and went inside the Ontario Advanced Surgical Center, where he was not a patient. 

“This story is another example of a false narrative peddled by irresponsible members of the media in furtherance of a political agenda to delegitimize federal agents. The illegal alien arrested inside the medical center was not a patient and was not in any way affiliated with that location. He ran inside for cover and these medical workers attempted to block his apprehension by assaulting our agents,” U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli told Fox News in a statement.

“To be very clear, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you work, if you assault our agents or otherwise interfere with our operations, you will be arrested and charged with a federal crime,” Essayli continued.

The criminal warrants were signed off by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym for two of the staffers, Jose De Jesus Ortega and Danielle Nadine Davila, for allegedly “forcibility assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal officer involving physical contact” and “conspiring to prevent, by force and intimidation, a federal officer from discharging his duties.” 

Ortega was arrested on Friday morning, and Davila remains at large and is currently being sought by law enforcement.

On LinkedIn, Davilla is listed as a certified surgical technologist at the center, and is specifically said in the criminal complaint to have allegedly put her hands on the ICE officer and wedged herself between him and Guillen-Solis.

“ICE officers conducted a targeted enforcement operation to arrest two illegal aliens. Officers in clearly marked ICE bulletproof vests approached the illegal alien targets as they exited a vehicle,” the Department of Homeland Security posted to X on July 9.

“One of the illegal aliens, Denis Guillen-Solis who is from Honduras, fled on foot to evade law enforcement. He ended up near the Ontario Advanced Surgical Center where hospital staff assaulted law enforcement and drug the officer and illegal alien into the facility. Then, the staff attempted to obstruct the arrest by locking the door, blocking law enforcement vehicles from moving, and even called the cops claiming there was a ‘kidnapping,’” the post added.

“This is a private property,” one staffer in a video of the incident said, asking the ICE agent to leave.

“Get your hands off of him,” another staffer said.

California Democratic Assemblymember Michelle Rodriguez, who represents Ontario, spoke out against ICE after the incident.

“It is devastating to watch the impact of ICE on our communities. This past Tuesday, Immigration Enforcement officers kidnapped constituents from a surgical center as they were doing their jobs,” Rodriguez said in a statement.

“While I support law enforcement officers who act with integrity and uphold the law, I will never condone these cruel and lawless actions. Without accountability, we are left with armed men in masks dragging people off the street – this is not safety, not justice, and this is not who we should be,” she continued. 

There’s no sympathy from me for masked Gestapo thugs trespassing on private property and dragging people off.

Medical staff face charges after allegedly interfering with California ICE arrest
ICE operation in Ontario led to arrests of clinic staff who allegedly blocked federal agents from apprehending a Honduran national in a foot pursuit.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/medical-staff-face-federal-charges-after-allegedly-assaulting-ice-agents

Raw Story: ‘Irate’ Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi appointee screams at prosecutors after jury fails to indict LA protester

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A Trump administration appointee has been going hard after demonstrators in Los Angeles who in recent weeks have been protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations—but it seems like he’s having a hard time getting grand juries to go along.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Bill Essayli, who was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi earlier this year to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, recently became “irate” and could be heard “screaming” at prosecutors in the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles when a grand jury declined to indict an anti-ICE protester who had been targeted for potential felony charges.

And according to the LA Times’ reporting, this failure to secure an indictment against demonstrators was far from a one-off.

“Although his office filed felony cases against at least 38 people for alleged misconduct that either took place during last month’s protests or near the sites of immigration raids, many have been dismissed or reduced to misdemeanor charges,” the paper writes. “In total, he has secured only seven indictments, which usually need to be obtained no later than 21 days after the filing of a criminal complaint. Three other cases have been resolved via plea deal.”

It is incredibly rare for prosecutors to fail to secure indictments from grand juries, which only require a determination that there is “probable cause” to believe a suspect committed a crime and which do not hear arguments from opposing counsels during proceedings.

Meghan Blanco, a former federal prosecutor and current defense attorney representing one of the anti-ICE protesters currently facing charges, told the LA Times that there’s a simple reason that grand juries aren’t pulling the trigger on indictments: Namely, prosecutors’ cases are full of holes.

In one case, Blanco said she obtained video evidence that directly contradicted a sworn statement from a Border Patrol officer who alleged that her client had obstructed efforts to chase down a suspect who assaulted him. When she presented this video at her client’s first court hearing, charges against him were promptly dropped.

“The agent lied and said he was in hot pursuit of a person who punched him,” Blanco explained. “The entirety of the affidavit is false.”

So why aren’t these scumbags prosecuted for perjury?

One anonymous prosecutor who spoke with the LA Times similarly said that ICE agents have been losing credibility when their actions and statements are put under a legal microscope.

“There are a lot of hotheaded [Customs and Border Protection] officers who are kind of arresting first and asking questions later,” they said. “We’re finding there’s not probable cause to support it.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, was floored by the failures to secure indictments against the anti-ICE demonstrators.

“Incredible,” he wrote on social media website X. “Federal prosecutors are seeing many cases of people accused of assaulting Border Patrol agents being turned down by grand juries! Los Angeles federal prosecutors are privately saying it’s because CBP agents are just ‘arresting first and asking questions later.'”

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) similarly bashed prosecutors for using easily discredited statements from ICE officers to secure indictments.

“I’m a former prosecutor and can confirm that any prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich,” he wrote. “Except the top prosecutor in L.A. Why? Because this article points out ICE AGENTS ARE MAKING S–T UP. You want your agents respected? Tell them to stop lying.”

Don’t get your hopes up. ICE & CBP are the dregs from the bottom of the barrel. They’re not capable of doing any better.

‘Irate’ Pam Bondi appointee screams at prosecutors after jury fails to indict LA protester

https://www.rawstory.com/irate-bondi-appointee-screams-at-prosecutors-after-jury-fails-to-indict-la-protester

Disability Rights California: “They Treat Us Like Dogs in Cages”

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Inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center

“¡Nos tratan como perros!
¡Nos tratan como perros en jaulas!”

People being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center (“Adelanto”) shouted in Spanish about being treated like dogs in cages as Disability Rights California (“DRC”) conducted a monitoring visit on June 25, 2025. DRC monitored Adelanto after receiving alarming reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) was holding people with disabilities in unsafe and unsanitary conditions at Adelanto. ICE confines non-citizens at Adelanto, which is an immigration detention center in San Bernardino County, California. The facility is owned and operated by the GEO Group, Inc., a private company that ICE contracts with to provide custody services.

Disability Rights California is the designated protection and advocacy system for people with disabilities in the state. DRC is charged under federal and state laws with protecting and advocating for the rights of people with disabilities, including through the monitoring of facilities that provide care and treatment to such individuals.1

During the monitoring visit, DRC investigated the reports it received and sought to determine whether ICE and GEO Group are subjecting people with disabilities to abuse and neglect.2 DRC toured various areas of the Adelanto facility, including those used for intake, housing, segregation, medical and mental health care, recreation, and visitation. DRC also spoke with GEO Group representatives, ICE officials, and Adelanto staff, and interviewed 18 individuals detained at Adelanto.

Based on the conditions DRC observed, its interviews with detention center leadership and individuals held at Adelanto, and reviews of related information, DRC finds that ICE and GEO Group are subjecting people with disabilities to abuse and neglect. As detailed below, the conditions that DRC observed and the reports it received are alarming. DRC urges DHS, ICE, and the GEO Group to immediately address these issues and prevent further abuse and neglect of people with disabilities by ensuring:

  • Access to appropriate medical and mental health care;
  • Access to processes that properly address disability-related needs;
  • Access to basic needs, including adequate food, water, and clothing; and
  • Access to family and natural supports to prevent decompensation.

Disability Rights California protects and advocates for the rights of all people with disabilities in the State of California, regardless of their ethnicity, cultural background, language, or immigration status.

Many people migrating to the United States are forced to leave their countries due to political instability, dangerous conditions, or persecution. Many are seeking asylum. They exhibit high instances of trauma and present numerous mental health needs. Immigration detention facilities are generally ill-equipped, and are not the least restrictive setting to meet the medical, mental health, and other needs of adults and children with disabilities.

Disability Rights California has long fought for the de-institutionalization of people with disabilities and for their right to live and receive services in the community. Immigrants with disabilities deserve this same treatment.

Background

The reports DRC recently received about the conditions at Adelanto are similar to conditions DRC observed during its prior investigation of Adelanto in 2019.3 In 2019, DRC published a report that detailed serious issues with the conditions in which people with disabilities were held and the poor treatment to which they were subjected—ultimately finding that conditions at Adelanto resulted in the abuse and neglect of people with disabilities. As part of the June 25, 2025 visit, DRC also sought to determine whether conditions have changed since 2019. 

During DRC’s recent monitoring visit, ICE and GEO Group held nearly 1,400 people at Adelanto—a dramatic increase from the approximately 300 individuals it held there just weeks before.4 Due to the surging numbers of people at Adelanto, conditions appear to have quickly deteriorated. 

Overall, DRC found serious issues including: (1) inadequate access to medical treatment, such as life-saving medication and wound care, and exposure to widespread respiratory illnesses; (2) inadequate access to food and water, including extreme delays in meal distribution, provision of food that results in significant health issues, and a shortage of drinking water; (3) inadequate access to clean clothes, with many remaining in soiled clothing for long periods of time; and (4) minimal opportunities to contact family. Further intensifying these issues, many of the people DRC interviewed had never experienced incarceration and felt overwhelmed and terrified by their confinement in a locked, jail-like facility.5 

Findings

1. Inadequate Access to Medical and Mental Health Care and Disability Accommodations

During the monitoring visit, DRC observed and noted serious issues concerning inadequate access to medical and mental health care and failure to properly address disability-related accommodations.6 These issues appear to be ongoing, in part due to Adelanto staff difficulties in identifying and addressing the health care needs of detained individuals, particularly those with disabilities.7 These issues are compounded by the fact that many individuals detained at Adelanto have never been confined and do not know how to navigate the jail-like systems at Adelanto.

DRC met with many individuals during the monitoring visit who were not receiving proper medication to manage their medical conditions.8 One person reported that he needed to take diabetes medication twice per day but had only received it twice over the 10 days he had been detained—placing him at life-threatening risk of diabetic shock. Other individuals reported insufficient access to medication to manage severe asthma and urinary conditions or not having medications transferred from previous facilities to ensure continued treatment.9

One person reported that he needed to take diabetes medication twice per day but had only received it twice over the 10 days he had been detained—placing him at life-threatening risk of diabetic shock.

DRC also spoke with several individuals who reported inadequate medical treatment.10 DRC interviewed one person who had a large, swollen, untreated lump near her wrist, reportedly sustained when she was taken into ICE custody 17 days prior. DRC interviewed another individual using a prosthetic eye who was unable to clean the prosthesis to prevent infection. Although both individuals requested medical attention, neither received a response as of DRC’s visit.11 In addition, several individuals informed DRC that they did not understand how to make requests for medical care or declined to do so because Adelanto staff failed to respond. 

Individuals also reported contagious respiratory viruses quickly spreading due to the increased crowding at Adelanto. People consistently expressed concern that they received limited treatment, if any, to ease their symptoms. DRC also observed staff not wearing masks to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses. These reports and observations are especially concerning given Adelanto’s prior record of inadequate COVID-19 policies and practices, which led to a 2020 court order limiting the number of individuals who could be held at Adelanto.12 

DRC also interviewed several individuals who reported experiencing mental health symptoms but not receiving mental health care.13 One individual, for example, described struggling with anxiety and panic attacks due to past traumatic events, including sexual assault and torture, that took place in his country of origin. He feared that he would be imprisoned and tortured again if he returned. Although he sought help from Adelanto staff for his mental health symptoms, he reported that he had not been evaluated yet despite being held in detention for over three weeks. Other people DRC interviewed also reported difficulty obtaining access to mental health services. Indeed, staff reported that there were only three psychologists to serve the population of nearly 1,400 as of June 25, 2025.

Several individuals with disabilities reported that they were not being afforded reasonable accommodations to manage their health.14 For example, two individuals reported acute spinal conditions that substantially impacted their ability to lie down to rest. The first individual said that the facility-issued mattress was damaged and was causing significant pain to his spine. He submitted multiple requests for a new or additional mattress but reportedly never received a response. Another person approached DRC and showed his broken hearing aid that needed repair.  

The troubling issues that DRC encountered are likely related to the recent sharp increase in the number of people held at Adelanto. Adelanto staff stated that the facility was not adequately staffed to respond to the sudden surge, so staff from other facilities were assisting with operations.

2. Inadequate Access to Food, Water, and Clothes

Based on DRC’s interviews and observations, DRC finds that ICE and GEO Group are failing to provide for individuals’ basic needs, including sufficient access to healthy food, water, and clean clothing.

Limited access to food was a recurring issue throughout DRC’s monitoring tour.15 While walking through the housing units, DRC observed several individuals pointing towards their mouths and shaking their heads “no” to indicate that they were not receiving food.

People also consistently reported extreme delays in meal distribution. During the visit, DRC asked Adelanto staff when they would serve lunch and staff said that “feeding” would be provided starting at 11 a.m. However, most of the people DRC interviewed between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. reported that they had not received food since around 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. Many also said that they feared they would not eat again until potentially 10 p.m.

The inconsistency of, and significant delays in, meal distribution have left many individuals in Adelanto in prolonged states of hunger and physical pain. One individual reported experiencing significant weight loss in the 20 days since their arrival at Adelanto. For people with chronic medical conditions, the harmful impact of inconsistent meals may be even more serious. One individual reported that he had diabetes and was unable to properly manage his blood sugar because he did not know when to expect meals. DRC met multiple people with diabetes facing similar challenges. 

Most people DRC interviewed also reported that the quality of the food was poor or portions were too small to keep them satisfied. Many individuals shared that they are experiencing gastric issues due to poor food quality, including severe stomach cramping and pain.

DRC received similar reports of limited access to water.16 Adelanto brings large water coolers into the housing units, but the individuals DRC spoke to expressed concern that there is not enough water for everyone and people are dehydrated. They also raised safety concerns about the water from sinks and drinking fountains, which they said appears cloudy and has an unusual taste.

Many people also complained about the lack of access to clean clothes.17 Several individuals pulled on their shirts and shook their heads “no” to indicate that they did not have adequate clean clothing. One individual wearing visibly soiled clothing told DRC that Adelanto had not provided him with clean clothes for 20 days. He reported that after showering, he puts on the same soiled clothing out of necessity. Others reported having to wash their clothes by hand in the sink because Adelanto fails to provide sufficient clean clothes.

One individual wearing visibly soiled clothing told DRC that Adelanto had not provided him with clean clothes for 20 days.

3. Limited Connections with Family and Natural Supports 

During the monitoring visit, DRC received multiple reports of minimal opportunities to remain in contact with family and loved ones while in detention. Individuals reported limited access to phones/devices to make calls to loved ones, and calls were regularly disconnected. Two individuals also reported that they had been separated from and not been permitted to speak with their spouses, even though their spouses are also being held in Adelanto. Limiting access to family can exacerbate feelings of isolation, depression, and anxiety, particularly for people with disabilities.18 In fact, many people reported feelings of overwhelm, hopelessness, and fear. Given the unique stressors present in detention settings, facilitating connection with family and natural supports is critical to prevent people with mental health conditions from experiencing further psychological harm and decompensation.19  

Conclusion

The conditions that DRC observed at Adelanto on June 25, 2025, and the reports it received, are alarming. Based on the monitoring visit and related interviews, DRC finds that conditions at Adelanto continue to result in the abuse and neglect of people with disabilities. DHS, ICE, and GEO Group must safeguard the rights, safety, and dignity of the people detained at Adelanto. DRC urges DHS, ICE, and GEO Group to immediately address the issues detailed in this report and ensure the following:

  • Access to appropriate medical and mental health care;
  • Access to processes that properly address disability-related needs;
  • Access to basic needs, including adequate food, water, and clothing; and
  • Access to family and natural supports to prevent decompensation.

DRC has grave concerns that the recent surge of individuals being held in Adelanto will only place individuals with disabilities at even greater risk of abuse, neglect, and serious harm. The conditions at Adelanto make it clear that the current system of immigration detention is dangerous and inadequate for all people, especially for those with disabilities. 

  • 1.See 42 U.S.C. §§ 15001 et seq. (“Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act”); 29 U.S.C. §§ 794e et seq. (“Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights Act”); 42 U.S.C. §§ 10801 et seq. (“Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act”); Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code §§ 4900 et seq. (“Protection and Advocacy Agency”).
  • 2.“Abuse” and “neglect” are defined in federal and state law and their implementing regulations. See 42 C.F.R. § 51.2; 45 C.F.R. § 1326.19; Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 4900.
  • 3.Disability Rights California, There Is No Safety Here: The Dangers for People with Mental Illness and Other Disabilities in Immigration Detention at GEO Group’s Adelanto ICE processing Center (2019), https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/system/files/file-attachments/DRC_REPORT_ADELANTO-IMMIG_DETENTION_MARCH2019.pdf [hereinafter DRC’s 2019 Adelanto Report].
  • 4.Charles Homans & Philip Montgomery, Trump Got the Fight He Wanted. Did it Turn Out the Way He Expected?, N.Y. Times (June 21, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/magazine/trump-los-angeles-immigration.html
  • 5.People who are detained by ICE are civil, not criminal, detainees. See, e.g., Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 690 (2001); Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 530, 536 (1979).
  • 6.The Performance-Based National Detention Standards define reasonable accommodations as: [A]ny change or adjustment in detention facility operations, any modification to detention facility policy, practice, or procedure, or any provision of an aid or service that permits a detainee with a disability to participate in the facility’s programs, services, activities, or requirements, or to enjoy the benefits and privileges of detention programs equal to those enjoyed by detainees without disabilities. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enf’t, Performance-based National Detention Standards (2011, rev. 2016), https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention-standards/2011/pbnds2011r2016.pdf [hereinafter PBNDS].
  • 7.See DRC’s 2019 Adelanto Report, supra note 2, at 40-44.
  • 8.See PBNDS, supra note 5, § 4.3(V)(G), (H), (U) (discussing standards for medication management).
  • 9.See id. § 4.3(V)(Z) (discussing standards for continuity of care).
  • 10.See id. §§ 2.13 (discussing standards for communication between staff and detainees), 4.8 (discussing standards for assessing and identifying disabilities and accommodations).
  • 11.After the June 25 visit, DRC submitted individual inquiries to ICE, some of which ICE stated were addressed.
  • 12.ACLU of S. Cal., Roman v. Wolf, https://www.aclusocal.org/en/cases/roman-v-wolf (last visited July 15, 2025).
  • 13.Studies show that immigration detention is associated with negative and harmful impact on mental health. See Altaf Saadi, Caitlin Patler & Paola Langer, Duration in Immigration Detention and Health Harms, 8 JAMA Network Open no. 1 (2025), https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2829506#zoi241575r33.
  • 14.See PBNDS, supra note 5, § 4.8 (discussing standards for assessing and identifying disabilities and accommodations).
  • 15.See id. 6 § 4.1, (discussing food service standards).
  • 16.See id. § 4.1(D)(1), (requiring clean and potable drinking water to be available).
  • 17.See id. § 4.5(V)(A) (requiring the regular issuance and exchange of clothing, bedding, linens, towels and personal hygiene items).
  • 18.Saadi, Patler & Langer, supra note 13.
  • 19.Practices that are likely to cause immediate psychological harm or result in long-term harm if the practices continue may constitute abuse. See, e.g., Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 4900(b).
“They Treat Us Like Dogs in Cages” Inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center | Disability Rights California
DRC monitored Adelanto after receiving alarming reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) was holding people with disabilities in unsafe and unsanitary conditions at Adelanto.

https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/drc-advocacy/investigations/inside-the-adelanto-ice-processing-center

Latin Times: ICE Arrests Migrant Deemed Mentally Impaired by Judge as He Exits Immigration Court: ‘He’s Clearly Not Understanding the Questions’

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Judge O’Brien had granted the man more time for the man to find legal representation but he was detained by ICE agents a few minutes afterwards

A migrant man whose mental competence was questioned in open court was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers moments after his immigration hearing in San Francisco on Thursday. Law enforcement proceeded despite a judge’s explicit concerns about his ability to participate in legal proceedings.

The man, who was only fluent in Mam, a Mayan language primarily spoken in Guatemala, muttered to himself throughout the hearing and was unable to answer basic questions from Immigration Judge Patrick O’Brien, including his home address.

“It’s obvious to me that there are competency issues,” said O’Brien, as Mother Jones reports. O’Brien added that the man appeared confused even after a Mam interpreter was eventually located to assist. “He’s clearly not understanding the questions.”

O’Brien denied a Department of Homeland Security attorney’s initial request to dismiss the man’s case, a move that could have led to expedited removal, and instead granted a continuance, allowing more time for the man to find legal representation. Still, within minutes of leaving the courtroom at 630 Sansome Street, he was arrested by ICE agents, one of at least three arrests that morning witnessed by reporters.

Over the past several weeks, more than 30 immigrants have been arrested by ICE at or just outside San Francisco’s immigration courts, even when judges have not approved dismissals or deportation orders, as Mother Jones also reported earlier this week.

On Thursday, two women also had their cases dismissed or delayed by DHS motions and were arrested as they exited their hearings. O’Brien warned one of them, “I am pretty sure you won’t be coming back to my court,” and advised both to seek legal help quickly. Both women began crying during their hearings. One said through an interpreter, “How am I supposed to respond to this motion if I don’t understand it?”

The arrests occurred in the absence of court-appointed attorneys, leaving legal advocacy groups scrambling to respond after the fact. Attorneys with the “Attorney of the Day” program, who typically monitor proceedings and alert legal networks, were not present that morning.

The piece comes days after a new report from Disability Rights California, which documents deteriorating conditions for disabled immigrants inside California’s Adelanto Detention Center, including insufficient access to medication, food, clean clothing, and communication with family. “Many had never experienced incarceration before,” the report notes. “They felt overwhelmed and terrified.”

ICE is now preying on vulnerable people without attorneys whose cases are continued. This is beyond disgusting.

ICE Arrests Migrant Deemed Mentally Impaired by Judge as He Exits Immigration Court: ‘He’s Clearly Not Understanding the Questions’
A migrant man whose mental competence was questioned in open court was arrested by ICE officers moments after his immigration hearing in San Francisco.

https://www.latintimes.com/ice-arrests-migrant-deemed-mentally-impaired-judge-he-exits-immigration-court-hes-clearly-not-587576

Alternet: ‘Not just racist but stupid’: VP slammed for ‘sleight of hand’ while promoting far-right theory

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JD Dunce, “Not Just Racist But Stupid”

Author Katherine Stewart says Vice President JD Vance is “polishing ideas from the far-right gutters with an Ivy League sheen,” particularly when it comes to smearing a pretty face over the racist Great Replacement Theory.

Stewart says President Donald Trump is expelling asylum seekers, abusing foreign visitors and deporting and incarcerating people who have never been accused of any crime. Meanwhile, Vance is in the wings, pushing a “thoughtful” version of the “Great Replacement Theory” that’s sure to appease nativists who embrace the idea that immigration is part of a deliberate plot to destroy the U.S. by replacing “real” or “true” Americans with aliens.

Stewart notes how Vance recently argued that America’s founders understood “that our shared qualities, our heritage, our values, our manners and customs confer a special and indispensable advantage. … Social bonds form among people who have something in common. They share the same neighborhood. They share the same church.”

“Vance is using a sleight of hand here,” said Stewart, agreeing that social bonds do form when people share things in common, but she adds that a nation’s people who “define themselves according to the church their grandparents attended … [is] not the America that Lincoln and Jefferson … established.”

“We the people have agreed to promote the general welfare not by conducting a survey of the views of some subset of ancestors who happened to be present at the Civil War, but by making laws through representative government based on the idea that all people are free and equal before the law.”

Versions of the Vance ideology haunt American history, Steward argues, and always with the same malicious intent: to divide “real” Americans from the ones who “don’t belong.”

“The intent becomes clear the moment you ask the speaker who the ‘real’ Americans are,” Stewart said. “Are they the descendants of the Mayflower? That’s just silly. … Are the real Americans white? That’s not just racist but stupid; most Black Americans today have ancestors that lived in America significantly longer, on average, than white Americans.”

But the argument serves the purpose of putting a lot of money in the hands of a few, said Stewart, whether it’s letting slaveholders get rich while their white neighbors get outcompeted by slave labor or funneling money to “the establishment of a grifty concentration camp on American soil.” (Research shows contractors affiliated with the controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” have “lost” tens of millions of dollars, while others have forced states to pay for detention centers it never built.)

“We can’t know what’s in JD Vance’s heart,” Stewart argued, but “he seems to believe that, to keep himself and his associates in power, the U.S. government needs to ship asylum seekers off to random islands and engage in an ever-expanding menu of sadistic acts. Meanwhile, none of our actual immigration issues are resolved and the rest of us are simply forced to pay the price.”

Read the full New Republic report at this link.

‘Not just racist but stupid’: VP slammed for ‘sleight of hand’ while promoting far-right theory

https://www.alternet.org/jd-vance-baseless-claim

More in The New Republic:

JD Vance’s “Intellectual” Spin on the Racist Great Replacement Theory

As the Trump administration advances its draconian immigration schemes, the vice president is doing his part—by polishing ideas from the far-right gutters with an Ivy League sheen.

LA Times: ‘Hell on earth.’ A Venezuelan deportee describes abuse in El Salvador prison

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  • Jerce Reyes Barrios, 36, was one of more than 250 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador from the United States in March and incarcerated in the country’s infamous prison.
  • “There was blood, vomit and people passed out on the floor, he said.
  • A one-time professional soccer player, Reyes Barrios left Venezuela last year amid political unrest and attempted to apply for asylum at the Otay Mesa border crossing in California.

When Jerce Reyes Barrios and other Venezuelan deportees entered a maximum security prison in El Salvador this spring, he said guards greeted them with taunts.

“Welcome to El Salvador, you sons of bitches,” Reyes Barrios said the guards told them. “You’ve arrived at the Terrorist Confinement Center. Hell on earth.”

What followed, Reyes Barrios said, were the darkest months of his life. Reyes Barrios said he was regularly beaten on his neck, ribs and head. He and other prisoners were given little food and forced to drink contaminated water. They slept on metal beds with no mattresses in overcrowded cells, listening to the screams of other inmates.

“There was blood, vomit and people passed out on the floor, he said.

Reyes Barrios, 36, was one of more than 250 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador from the United States in March after President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without normal immigration procedures. Many of the men, including Reyes Barrios, insist that they have no ties to the gang and were denied due process.

After enduring months in detention in El Salvador, they were sent home last week as part of a prisoner exchange deal that included Venezuela’s release of several detained Americans.

Venezuela’s attorney general said interviews with the men revealed “systemic torture” inside the Salvadoran prison, including daily beatings, rancid food and sexual abuse.

One of the former detainees, Neiyerver Adrián León Rengel, filed a claim Thursday with the Homeland Security Department, accusing the U.S. of removing him without due process and asking for $1.3 million in damages.

Reyes Barrios spoke to The Times over video Thursday after returning to his hometown of Machiques, a city of 140,000 not far from the Colombian border. He was overjoyed to be reunited with his mother, his wife and his children. But he said he was haunted by his experience in prison.

A onetime professional soccer player, Reyes Barrios left Venezuela last year amid political unrest and in search of economic opportunity. He entered the U.S. on Sept. 1 at the Otay Mesa border crossing in California under the asylum program known as CBP One. He was immediately detained, accused of being a gangster and placed in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A court statement earlier this year from his attorney, Linette Tobin, said authorities tied Reyes Barrios to Tren de Aragua based solely on an arm tattoo and a social media post in which he made a hand gesture that U.S. authorities interpreted as a gang sign.

The tattoo — a crown sitting atop a soccer ball, with a rosary and the word “Díos” or “God” — is actually an homage to his favorite team, Real Madrid, Tobin wrote. She said the hand gesture is sign language for “I Love You.”

While in custody in California, Reyes Barrios applied for political asylum and other relief. A hearing had been set for April 17, but on March 15, he was deported to El Salvador “with no notice to counsel or family,” Tobin wrote. Reyes Barrios “has never been arrested or charged with a crime,” Tobin added. “He has a steady employment record as a soccer player as well as a soccer coach for children and youth.”

The surprise deportation of Reyes Barrios and other Venezuelans to El Salvador drew outcry from human rights advocates and spurred a legal battle with the Trump administration.

Reyes Barrios was not aware of the controversy over deportations as he was ushered in handcuffs from the airport in San Salvador to the country’s infamous Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as CECOT.

There, Reyes Barrios said he and other inmates were forced to walk on their knees as their heads were shaved and they were repeatedly beaten. He said he was put in a cell with 21 other men — all Venezuelans. Guards meted out measly portions of beans and tortillas and told the inmates they “would never eat chicken or meat again.”

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has detained tens of thousands of his compatriots in CECOT and other prisons in recent years, part of a gang crackdown that human rights advocates say has ensnared thousands of innocent people.

Bukele garnered worldwide attention and praise from U.S. Republicans after he published dramatic photos and videos showing hundreds of prisoners crammed together in humiliating positions, wearing nothing but underwear and shackles. During a meeting with Bukele at the Oval Office this year, Trump said he was interested in sending “homegrowns” — i.e. American prisoners — to El Salvador’s jails.

A spokeswoman for Bukele did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Reyes Barrios said guards told him and the other detained Venezuelans that they would spend the rest of their lives in the prison.

Reyes Barrios said he started praying at night: “God, protect my mother and my children. I entrust my soul to you because I think I’m going to die.”

Then, several days ago, he and the other prisoners were awakened by yelling in the early morning hours. Guards told them they had 20 minutes to take showers and prepare to leave.

“At that moment, we all shouted with joy,” Reyes Barrios said. “I think that was my only happy day at CECOT.”

After arriving in Venezuela, Reyes Barrios and the other returnees spent days in government custody, undergoing medical checks and interviews with officials.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has seized on the treatment of prisoners, airing videos on state television in which some deportees describe suffering abuses including rape, beatings and being shot at with pellet guns. Venezuelan authorities say they are investigating Bukele over the alleged abuse.

Maduro, a leftist authoritarian who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, has maintained his grip on power by jailing — and sometimes torturing — opponents. Many of the 7.7 million Venezuelans who have fled the country in recent years have cited political repression as one reason for leaving.

In Tobin’s court statement, she said Reyes Barrios participated in two demonstrations against Maduro in early 2024. After the second, Reyes Barrios was detained by authorities along with other protesters and tortured, she wrote.

Reyes Barrios said he did not wish to discuss Venezuelan politics. He said he was just grateful to be back with his family.

“My mother is very happy, ” he said.

He was greeted in his hometown by some of the young soccer players he once coached. They wore their uniforms and held balloons. Reyes Barrios juggled a ball a bit, gave the kids hugs and high fives, and smiled.

‘Hell on earth.’ A Venezuelan deportee describes abuse in El Salvador prison
A Venezuelan man who was deported from California to El Salvador and held at one of the country’s infamous prisons recounts his months in custody, recalling meager rations and the torture and beating of fellow inmates.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-07-24/i-think-im-going-to-die-a-venezuelan-deportee-recounts-abuse-in-el-salvador-prison

Latin Times: ICE Releases Deaf Mongolian Asylum Seeker Held Without Interpreter For Months

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“How can he meaningfully participate if he doesn’t know what’s being said and he cannot communicate?” said a judge about the case back on July 9

A deaf Mongolian asylum seeker detained for months in Southern California without access to a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter has been released from federal immigration custody, his family confirmed to local media.

The man, identified as “Avirmed” at his family’s request due to concerns of retaliation by the Mongolian government, had been held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center since February.

His release came after a federal judge ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated his civil rights by failing to provide an interpreter, thereby preventing him from meaningfully participating in his asylum proceedings, as Cal Matters reports.

Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. Southern District of California ordered ICE on July 9 to provide Avirmed with a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter and redo two key assessments—the first evaluating his mental health, the second assessing whether he has a credible fear of returning to Mongolia.

“How can he meaningfully participate if he doesn’t know what’s being said and he cannot communicate?” Sabraw asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Dimbleby at the time, to which Dimbleby answered that many people don’t fully understand the legal proceedings in immigration court.

ICE Releases Deaf Mongolian Asylum Seeker Held Without Interpreter For Months
“How can he meaningfully participate if he doesn’t know what’s being said and he cannot communicate?” said a judge about the case back on July 9

https://www.latintimes.com/ice-releases-deaf-mongolian-asylum-seeker-held-without-interpreter-months-587393

Ken Klippenstein: VIDEO: Troops Question Los Angeles Deployment

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Thousands of troops, National Guard and active duty Marines are being withdrawn from Los Angeles, the ill-fated mission quietly ending, the objective so confused that even the Defense Department’s official news service is publishing stories about soldiers questioning the point.

I’ve also been talking to those soldiers, and they affirm that so much of the Trump-Hegseth show of force was little more than an unnecessary and politically-motivated publicity stunt. So much so that I’m told that the Pentagon has ordered the California Guard to preserve all records related to the deployment, just in case the military is sued.

“Turns out there could be reasonably foreseeable litigation regarding the mobilization in the future,” one Guard source tells me, adding wryly: “Shocked.” (Asked about any such order, spokespersons for the California National Guard did not respond to my request for comment.)

“I’d say a lot of the action, quote unquote, has died down quite a bit; so a lot of … [what we’re doing] is just us showing our presence,” says Nicolas Gallegos of the Guard’s 1st Battalion, 143rd Field Artillery Regiment.

Gallegos is referring to the anti-ICE protests and civil unrest in LA that precipitated the military deployments last month. Almost since the deployment began, troops on the ground saw that “unrest” had mostly dissipated.

“I think we all feel a little bit anxious about what, why, why we’re here,” says Private First Class Andrew Oliveira, an electronics repairman with the 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion told the defense news service.

Far from the North Korea-style “Everything’s great!” public relations exercise I expected, soldiers who deployed to LA are shockingly open about not just the nature of the mission but their own unease with it.

“At first it was a little scary, not knowing what I’m jumping into,” says Specialist Nadia Cano, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist with the 149th Chemical Company.

If the Defense Department sees fit to quote these soldiers in official media, imagine what they’re saying privately.

What’s striking is how young and inexperienced many of the soldiers are, a concern flagged early on by Army sources I was talking to. Many barely have a year of military service under their belts.

“ I’m still sort of new to the Army … It’s my second activation,” says Specialist Carlos Vasquez, a combat medic with the 143rd Field Artillery Regiment.

Vasquez is the only soldier mentioned by the Guard’s own public affairs apparatus I could find who seemed enthusiastic about the mission. He cites Michael Bay movies and the Call of Duty video game series as his inspiration for joining. 

For me, I love being activated. It’s my second activation … It’s really fun to be out supporting what’s supposed to be, you know, an important mission, making sure everything’s safe or making sure the civilians are safe, making sure we’re safe and everything, you know.

I just, I love wearing this uniform … I enlisted with the Army ’cause I saw all the fun stuff when I was growing up. All the ads, the Michael Bay movies, the Call of Duty. And so I still have pride in this uniform. I’m still sort of new to the Army though, so it’s two years. So everything still has its gold wrapper to it really.

Staff Sergeant Zachary Shannon, a squad leader with the 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, alludes to his efforts at reassuring soldiers that the deployment involved  “doing the right thing,” as he put it, and of the importance of not listening to the protesters.

“I have advised my service members to just keep it professional, keep it military, military professionalism in one ear out the other in a sense that if they say something, my soldiers know who they are and they know why they’re here and they know. That they’re doing the right thing and if there is a protestor saying otherwise, they should know that that’s not true.”

If you’re confused about the point of the deployment, you’re not alone. The term “show of presence” originally appeared in an operations briefing leaked to me. A story I published in this newsletter about that admission precipitated an internal Army investigation almost as farcical as the deployment itself.

The soldiers I’ve talked to often expressed puzzlement as to what their orders are, which they said seemed to change at a moment’s notice with plans starting and stopping seemingly every day. In one case, the Guard arrived for an operation late and just turned around and went back to base without having done anything.

Is the withdrawal of 2,000 Guardsmen and 700 Marines, what’s been announced so far, the end of the mission, or is it just the Pentagon’s way of reorganizing for the next phase?  I don’t know yet. Guard sources tell me that most of the remaining troops on the streets will be military police, troops who in theory are trained and ready to engage in crowd control and similar missions in the future.

I welcome help from Guard, Army, and Marine Corps soldiers who can further shed light on the tangled mess. And of course to you readers whose subscriptions make my work possible!

VIDEO: Troops Question Los Angeles Deployment
An inside look at the ill-fated mission in soldiers’ own words

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/video-troops-question-los-angeles

CBS News: ICE head says agents will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally

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In an exclusive interview with CBS News, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said his agents will arrest anyone they find in the country illegally, even if they lack a criminal record, while also cracking down on companies hiring unauthorized workers.

Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, said his agency will prioritize its “limited resources” on arresting and deporting “the worst of the worst,” such as those in the U.S. unlawfully who also have serious criminal histories.

But Lyons said non-criminals living in the U.S. without authorization will also be taken into custody during arrest operations, arguing that states and cities with “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement are forcing his agents to go into communities by not turning over noncitizen inmates.

“What’s, again, frustrating for me is the fact that we would love to focus on these criminal aliens that are inside a jail facility,” Lyons said during his first sit-down network interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “A local law enforcement agency, state agency already deemed that person a public safety threat and arrested them and they’re in detention.”

“I’d much rather focus all of our limited resources on that to take them into custody, but we do have to go out into the community and make those arrests, and that’s where you are seeing (that) increase” in so-called “collateral” arrests, Lyons added, referring to individuals who are not the original targets of operations but are nonetheless found to be in the U.S. unlawfully.

Collateral arrests by ICE were effectively banned under the Biden administration, which issued rules instructing deportation officers to largely focus on arresting serious criminal offenders, national security threats and migrants who recently entered the U.S. illegally. That policy was reversed immediately after President Trump took office for a second time in January.

As part of Mr. Trump’s promise to crack down on illegal immigration, his administration has given ICE a broad mandate, with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller pushing the agency to conduct 3,000 daily arrests. While ICE has so far not gotten close to that number, the agency just received tens of billions of dollars in additional funds from Congress to turbo-charge its deportation campaign.

Lyons said “it’s possible” to meet the administration’s target of 1 million deportations in a year with the new infusion of funds. ICE has recorded nearly 150,000 deportations in Mr. Trump’s first six months in office, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.

From Jan. 1 to June 24, ICE deported around 70,000 people with criminal convictions, but many of the documented infractions were for immigration or traffic offenses, according to data obtained by CBS News.

While the administration frequently highlights arrests of non-citizens convicted of serious crimes like murder and rape, ICE also has sparked backlash in communities across the country due to some of its tactics and actions, including the use of masks by agents (which Lyons said will continue due to concerns about the safety of his officers), arrests of asylum-seekers attending court hearings and raids on worksites.

“ICE is always focused on the worst of the worst,” Lyons said. “One difference you’ll see now is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio.”

Lyons promises to hold companies accountable 

Another major policy at ICE under the second Trump administration is the lifting of a Biden-era pause on large-scale immigration raids at worksites.

In recent weeks, federal immigration authorities have arrested hundreds of suspected unauthorized workers at a meatpacking plant in Nebraska, a horse racetrack in Louisiana and cannabis farms in southern California. At the cannabis farms alone, officials took into custody more than 300 immigrants who were allegedly in the country unlawfully, including 10 minors.

Amid concerns from industry leaders that Mr. Trump’s crackdown was hurting their businesses, ICE in June ordered a halt to immigration roundups at farms, hotels and restaurants. But that pause lasted only a matter of days. Since then, the president has talked about giving farmers with workers who are not in the U.S. legally a “pass,” though his administration has not provided further details on what that would entail.

In his interview with CBS News, Lyons said ICE would continue worksite immigration enforcement, saying there’s no ban on such actions. He said those operations would rely on criminal warrants against employers suspected of hiring unauthorized immigrants, which he said is not a “victimless crime,” noting such investigations often expose forced labor or child trafficking.  

“Not only are we focused on those individuals that are, you know, working here illegally, we’re focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers, these people that came here for a better life,” Lyons said.

Asked to confirm that ICE plans to hold those employing immigrants in the U.S. illegally accountable — and not just arrest the workers themselves — Lyons said, “One hundred percent.”

ICE head says agents will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally, crack down on employers of unauthorized workers
Immigration agents will arrest anyone they find in the country illegally, even if they lack a criminal record, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in an exclusive CBS News interview.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-head-todd-lyons-agents-will-arrest-anyone-found-illegally-crack-down-on-employers

Charlotte Observer: Stephen Miller’s Migrant Claim Sparks Outrage

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White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has claimed that removing undocumented immigrants would enhance public services in cities like Los Angeles. However, critics have noted that over 70% of the more than 57,000 individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have no criminal convictions. They added that a fear of deportation and restrictive policies have driven an avoidance of healthcare.

Miller said, “What would Los Angeles look like without illegal aliens? Here’s what it would look like: You would be able to see a doctor in the emergency room right away, no wait time, no problems. Your kids would go to a public school that had more money than they know what to do with. Classrooms would be half the size. Students who have special needs would get all the attention that they needed. … There would be no fentanyl, there would be no drug deaths.”

Bullshit!!!

Federal Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ruled, “During their ‘roving patrols’ in Los Angeles, ICE agents detained individuals principally because of their race, that they were overheard speaking Spanish or accented English, that they were doing work associated with undocumented immigrants, or were in locations frequented by undocumented immigrants seeking day work.”

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth:

Cato Institute data shows 65% of over 204,000 ICE detainees in fiscal year 2025 had no criminal record. While some committed serious crimes, most do not fit the violent image portrayed by the Trump administration.

A 2014 UCLA study found only 10% of undocumented adults use emergency rooms annually, compared to 20% of U.S.-born adults. Trump-era changes to the “public charge” rule have further reduced healthcare use.

Brennan Center for Justice senior director Lauren-Brooke Eisen stated, “Trump has justified this immigration agenda in part by making false claims that migrants are driving violent crime in the United States, and that’s just simply not true. There’s no research and evidence that supports his claims.”

Critics have argued that claims linking undocumented immigrants to the fentanyl crisis are misleading. Nearly 90% of fentanyl-related convictions involve U.S. citizens.

Stephen Miller’s Migrant Claim Sparks Outrage

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/stephen-miller-s-migrant-claim-sparks-outrage/ss-AA1J0dy7