Tag Archives: Department of Homeland Security

Alternet: Busted: Major investigation catches Trump administration in a massive lie

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The Trump administration knew that the vast majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in mid-March had not been convicted of crimes in the United States before it labeled them as terrorists and deported them, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data that has not been previously reported.’

President Donald Trump and his aides have branded the Venezuelans as “rapists,” “savages,” “monsters” and “the worst of the worst.” When multiple news organizations disputed those assertions with reporting that showed many of the deportees did not have criminal records, the administration doubled down. It said that its assessment of the deportees was based on a thorough vetting process that included looking at crimes committed both inside and outside the United States. But the government’s own data, which was obtained by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and a team of journalists from Venezuela, showed that officials knew that only 32 of the deportees had been convicted of U.S. crimes and that most were nonviolent offenses, such as retail theft or traffic violations.

The data indicates that the government knew that only six of the immigrants were convicted of violent crimes: four for assault, one for kidnapping and one for a weapons offense. And it shows that officials were aware that more than half, or 130, of the deportees were not labeled as having any criminal convictions or pending charges; they were labeled as only having violated immigration laws.

As for foreign offenses, our own review of court and police records from around the United States and in Latin American countries where the deportees had lived found evidence of arrests or convictions for 20 of the 238 men. Of those, 11 involved violent crimes such as armed robbery, assault or murder, including one man who the Chilean government had asked the U.S. to extradite to face kidnapping and drug charges there. Another four had been accused of illegal gun possession.

Busted: Major investigation catches Trump administration in a massive lie

https://www.alternet.org/venezuelan-deportees

Slingshot News: ‘I Think That’s Outrageous’: Senator Gary Peters Hammers Kristi Noem Over $100k Per Day Spending On Guantanamo Bay Prisoners

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Senator Gary Peters recent exposed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for spending over $100k per day per prisoner on housing migrants at Guantanamo Bay.

‘I Think That’s Outrageous’: Senator Gary Peters Hammers Kristi Noem Over $100k Per Day Spending On Guantanamo Bay Prisoners
Senator Gary Peters recent exposed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for spending over $100k per day per prisoner on housing migrants at Guantanamo Bay.

The Hill: House Democrats demand answers from [Bimbo #2] Noem on plans for $50M jet

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Democrats are demanding answers about a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan to purchase a new $50 million jet for Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem.

The jet, slotted in as a line item to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) budget, comes as the department argues its current plane is beyond its operational usage hours.

“Reports indicate this jet would cost $50 million and replace one of the two Gulfstream jets already at your disposal. Funding the acquisition of this new jet would come at the cost of other USCG investments, including sorely needed modernization of the USCG’s aging aircraft fleet used by service members for search and rescue and other critical missions,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote in a letter to [Bimbo #2] Noem alongside Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.).

Both Democrats sit on the House Homeland Security panel. Thompson is the panel’s ranking member.

“Simply put, your purchase of a new jet would directly diminish the availability of other USCG aircraft to carry out critical missions,” the two wrote.

Do you honestly think that Bimbo #2 / Rollex Girl cares about anything other than herself?

House Democrats demand answers from Noem on plans for $50M jet

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5325718-dhs-jet-funding-coast-guard

El Mundo: Children of the Chinese political elite are no longer welcome in the United States

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The daughter of the supreme leader, Xi Mingze, was enrolled at Harvard University in 2010.

Chinese students studying abroad who return to their country are known as “haigui,” which literally means “returning home from overseas.” Although the same word has a homophone that is often referred to in a joking tone: “Sea turtles.” Many of these “sea turtles” are children of high-ranking officials of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who have been sending their offspring to study at the best universities in the West, especially in the United States.

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On Wednesday, Rubio directly targeted China. “The United States will begin revoking visas for Chinese students, including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” the secretary stated in a post.

This is so wrong. A “university”, as the word implies, mixes together a universe of students, faculty, and ideas. We don’t need government bureaucrats to censor what students and ideas we are exposed to. Nothing that a typical student is exposed to is classified or confidential — the textbooks can be purchased and shipped overseas, lecture notes are readily available on the internet, etc. This is a vengeful solution in search of a problem.

Children of the Chinese political elite are no longer welcome in the United States
Chinese students studying abroad who return to their country are known as “haigui,” which literally means “returning home from overseas.” Although the same word…

https://www.mundoamerica.com/news/2025/05/30/68395a32e4d4d86d068b4570.html

New York Times: Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

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The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work with the government, spreading the company’s technology — which could easily merge data on Americans — throughout agencies.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.

Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. But behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.

The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work across the federal government in recent months. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Mr. Trump took office, according to public records, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week, which has not been spent.)

Representatives of Palantir are also speaking to at least two other agencies — the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service — about buying its technology, according to six government officials and Palantir employees with knowledge of the discussions.

The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and the Health and Human Services Department. Widely adopting Foundry, which organizes and analyzes data, paves the way for Mr. Trump to easily merge information from different agencies, the government officials said.

Be very afraid! If you value your privacy, an all-knowing, all-seeing government database is the last thing you want.

https://archive.is/4DyVk#selection-659.0-689.326

Daily Beast: Trump Admin Deports 2-Year-Old Girl Who Is American Citizen

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Manu’s parents were undocumented, but she was born in the United States.

A 2-year-old American girl has been left stateless after the Trump administration deported her alongside her family.

Emanuelly Borges Santos, known to her family as Manu, was born in a Florida hospital in 2022. She has an American passport and a Social Security card. Nevertheless, Manu and her parents, who are both undocumented, were packed onto a plane with 94 others and shipped to Brazil in February, according to a report from The Washington Post.

When they arrived, Brazilian officials were shocked to find the American toddler among the deportees.

“We’d never seen another case like this,” federal police officer Alexsandra Oliveira Medeiros Reis told the Post.

Manu is currently living in Brazil on a tourist visa as the government tries to resolve the bureaucratic predicament of the girl’s citizenship. In the meantime, she’s living with no right to healthcare or schooling in Brazil. Her visa is set to expire within weeks.

Trump Admin Deports 2-Year-Old Girl Who Is American Citizen
Manu’s parents were undocumented, but she was born in the United States.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admin-deports-2-year-old-girl-who-is-american-citizen

Newsweek: Mom in US for 22 years detained by ICE despite ongoing visa application

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A Georgia mother of three who has lived in the United States for more than two decades was taken into custody by federal agents on April 13, just a few blocks from her family’s home.

“She was a major part of our family, she did a lot for all of us, and it feels like our world has been thrown off its axle,” Guillermo Chavarria, 25, the oldest son of Jessica Flores Marin, 44, told Newsweek.

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Flores Marin entered the U.S. with Guillermo in 2003 through Texas. While Guillermo qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which granted him temporary protection from deportation, his mother remained undocumented. Despite this, she built a life in the U.S., paying taxes and eventually buying the family’s first home in 2014.

In December, she began the application process for a T visa, which protects victims of certain crimes who cooperate with law enforcement. Her unexpected detention occurred while the family was gathering paperwork for her case.

Mom in US for 22 years detained by ICE despite ongoing visa application
Jessica Flores Marin, 44, was taken into custody by federal agents on April 13, just a few blocks from her family’s home.

https://www.newsweek.com/jessica-flores-marin-detained-ice-visa-immigration-2078460

USA Today: Trump temporarily backs down on Harvard student ban as judge sides with college

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A Boston federal judge said at a hearing May 29 that she planned to issue a preliminary injunction that blocks the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign exchange students.

The comments from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs came as the Trump administration attempted to walk back its May 22 directive that immediately revoked Harvard’s participation in a federal exchange student program.

Trump temporarily backs down on Harvard student ban as judge sides with college
A federal judge plans to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from halting Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/29/harvard-protection-foreign-student-enrollment-trump-ban/83917871007

CBS News: Trump admin. shakes up ICE leadership amid frustration with deportation levels, sources say

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ICE leadership has faced intense pressure from the White House to increase arrests of migrants who are living in the U.S. illegally or under one of several temporary immigration programs the Trump administration is seeking to dismantle.

Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, said Wednesday on Fox News that the administration is pushing ICE to carry out “a minimum” of 3,000 arrests per day — a target that would amount to an unprecedented expansion of immigration enforcement.

Trump administration shakes up leadership at ICE amid frustrations with arrest, deportation levels, sources say
The Trump administration is replacing the head of the ICE branch that carries out arrests and deportations, according to three sources.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-shakes-up-ice-leadership-over-deportation-levels

Talking Points Memo: The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

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The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, he was operating on a fringe legal theory that a right-wing faction has been working to legitimize for more than a decade.

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Hard-liners have referred to immigrants as “invaders” as long as the U.S. has had immigration. By 2022, invasion rhetoric, which had previously been relegated to white nationalist circles, had become such a staple of Republican campaign ads that most of the public agreed an invasion of the U.S. via the southern border was underway.

Now, however, the claim that the U.S. is under invasion has become the legal linchpin of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.

The claim is Trump’s central justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport roughly 140 Venezuelans to CECOT, the Salvadoran megaprison, without due process. (The administration cited different legal authority for the remaining deportees.) The Trump administration contends they are members of a gang, Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is directing to infiltrate and operate in the United States. Lawyers and families of many of the deportees have presented evidence the prisoners are not even members of Tren de Aragua.

The contention is also the throughline of Trump’s day one executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” That document calls for the expansion of immigration removal proceedings without court hearings and for legal attacks against sanctuary jurisdictions, places that refuse to commit local resources to immigration enforcement.

So far, no court has bought the idea that the U.S. is truly under invasion….

And therein lies the problem: The Trump regime is off pursuing an unconstitutional tangent to solve a problem that is improperly framed as an “invasion”.

It’s a long well-researched article. Please click on the link below and read the entire article.

The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
This article first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-invasion-invention-the-far-rights-long-legal-battle-to-make-immigrants-the-enemy