Tag Archives: El Salvador

Newsweek: Donald Trump Suffers Double Deportation Loss In Hours: ‘Irreparable Harm’

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Donald Trump’s administration suffered a double legal blow on Friday when the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift a judge’s injunction blocking the swift deportation of illegal immigrants to a country other than their own, such as El Salvador or Libya.

Also on Friday, the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision blocked the administration’s request to resume the rapid deportation of Venezuelan nationals using the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 1798 law.

Donald Trump suffers double deportation loss in hours: “Irreparable harm”
The courts have emerged as one of the main obstacles to the Trump administration’s policies.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suffers-double-deportation-loss-2073578

Explicame: Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances

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Also billed as the Republican’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and bullshit like this subtitle:

… the bill actually continues tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the working poor, those living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Buried starting at page 327 of 389 is a new 5% tax on remittances sent to family & friends overseas. This 5% tax is on top of the income taxes and the 15.3% (yes, the actual amount is twice the deduction that appears on your check stubs!) social security and medicare taxes that the sender has already paid, plus 2-4% in currency exchange fees.

Amidst the buzz surrounding the ambitious fiscal plan revealed by Republicans this week, a particular proposal has flown under the radar yet holds the potential to severely impact millions of workers and their families both within and outside the United States: a new tax on remittances sent abroad, costing up to $50 each month.

This initiative is part of the ‘ways and means bills,’ as termed by lawmakers aligned with President Donald Trump. The legislative package seeks to extend and expand tax exemptions implemented during his first term while introducing a series of public spending cuts. However, among the numerous provisions, the remittance tax stands out for its immediate and silent social impact.

The proposal specifically calls for a 5% tax on remittances sent from the United States. This levy would fall on the sender, meaning the worker in the U.S. who sends money to their home country to support loved ones, with an amount of $50 for every $1,000 sent.

With this tax, a monthly transfer of $300 could cost the worker an additional $15 in taxes, a figure that may seem small in macroeconomic terms but represents a significant expense for households living paycheck to paycheck.

Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances
In a sweeping fiscal plan unveiled by Republicans, a proposed tax on remittances could significantly impact millions of workers and their families.

https://www.explica.me/en/News/Trump-proposes-50-tax-on-every-1000-sent-in-remittances-20250516-0016.html

GOP’s “big beautiful bill” would tax payments that many immigrants send back home
The bill would impose a 5% tax on remittance payments, with exceptions for most transfers made by U.S. citizens.

https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/05/14/gops-big-beautiful-bill-would-tax-payments-that-many-immigrants-send-back-home

Apparently there are a few Republicans who think the bill is not so big and beautiful.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5304927-trump-agenda-shaky-congress

MSNBC: The Trump administration is in talks about a disturbing reality TV show idea

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A show in which immigrant contestants vie for U.S. citizenship would be a natural extension of Trump’s cruel gamification of social life.

The Department of Homeland Security is in talks with a reality T.V. show producer about a game show in which immigrant contestants would compete for U.S. citizenship. What would be a shocking story for any other White House is a fitting development for an administration fixated on melding policy with sadistic entertainment.

According to The Wall Street Journal, television producer Rob Worsoff says he has been pitching the idea for the show as far back as the Obama administration, but the project didn’t come together. Worsoff, whose credits include the reality show “Duck Dynasty,” told the Journal that the show is meant to be hopeful, that the contestants would be legal immigrants, and that losing would not result in deportation.

It’s unclear how far along the process is, but the Journal reports that DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin “said she had spoken to the producer of the proposed television reality show and that consideration of the idea was ongoing,” and Worsoff described the feedback from DHS as positive.

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Huge swaths of the migrant population in the U.S. are made up of people attempting to escape persecution, violence and destitution. It seems cruel to derive entertainment from people desperate to stay in the country as so many others are expelled as part of a right-wing nationalist campaign.

Even if this show doesn’t come to fruition, the fact that the Trump administration is even considering it — and unafraid to admit it to reporters — is damning. It’s also unsurprising, insofar as the administration has often sought to use art and memes that celebrate the pain of migrants to help give license to its brutal mass deportation regime.

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Trump and those around him are quick to turn everything into a game or a laugh, most often at the expense of those most vulnerable among us.

Opinion | Trump’s DHS is considering making immigration into a twisted reality TV show
The Department of Homeland Security is in talks with a reality T.V. show producer about a game show in which immigrant contestants would compete for U.S.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/blog/trump-admin-dhs-kristi-noem-reality-tv-us-citizenship-show-rcna207238

MSNBC: Supreme Court says Trump needs to give more notice in Alien Enemies Act deportations

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The court previously granted Texas detainees emergency relief, over dissent from Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

The Supreme Court on Friday extended its block on the Trump administration’s ability to immediately deport a group of migrants in Texas under the Alien Enemies Act.

The court had already blocked such deportations in a previous order and, in Friday’s ruling, said more notice before carrying out deportations is needed, sending the case back to the lower court for further litigation. The court did not decide the underlying question of Trump’s use of the wartime act to carry out deportations.

Supreme Court says Trump needs to give more notice in Alien Enemies Act deportations
The court previously granted Texas detainees emergency relief, over dissent from Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/supreme-court-alien-enemies-act-deportations-trump-rcna202101

Daily Express: Trump claims Supreme Court ruling could ‘end the US’

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President Donald Trump condemned the Supreme Court after it denied him permission to deport 200 Venezuelan men whom his administration accused of being linked to gangs currently detained in Texas.

“If we’re not allowed to send the murderers and other criminals of every type, size, and shape, IMMEDIATELY out of our Country, we aren’t going to have a Country anymore. Radical Left Judges and politicians don’t care, but 90% of the people in the U.S.A. do. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will agree with this and, SAVE AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

Cry me a river, you piece of self-indulgent shit. Thankfully we have judges doing your job for you by upholding our Constitution and the rule of law.

Trump claims Supreme Court ruling could ‘end the US’
Trump cried that Supreme Court ruling against him ‘could lead to the end of the US’ as they ruled against the Alien Enemies Act

https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/171697/trump-claims-supreme-court-ruling

Associated Press: 2-year-old girl reunites with her mother in Venezuela after US deportation

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A 2-year-old girl arrived Wednesday in Caracas to reunite with her mother after she was separated from her parents when they were deported from the U.S. in what Venezuela denounced as a kidnapping.

Maikelys Espinoza arrived at an airport outside the capital, Caracas, along with more than 220 deported migrants. Footage aired by state television showed Venezuela’s first lady Cilia Flores carrying Maikelys at the airport. Later, Flores was shown handing the girl over to her mother, who had been waiting for her arrival at the presidential palace along with President Nicolás Maduro.

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The U.S. government had claimed the family separation last month was justified because the girl’s parents allegedly have ties to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang, which U.S. President Donald Trump designated a terrorist organization earlier this year.

The girl’s mother was deported to Venezuela on April 25. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities sent her father to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March under Trump’s invocation of an 18th-century wartime law to deport hundreds of immigrants.

2-year-old girl reunites with her mother in Venezuela after US deportation
A 2-year-old girl has arrived in Venezuela to reunite with her mother after she was separated from her parents when they were deported from the U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-deportations-trump-maikelys-maduro-migrants-89caaeed43cfb92369626435bfa6483e

New York Times: As White House Steers Justice Dept., Bondi [Bimbo #3] Embraces Role of TV Messenger

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Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] has adopted a conspicuously performative approach, willing to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3], the attorney general of the United States, circled the Roosevelt Room in late February, handing out bulky white binders labeled “Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a conclave of Trump-allied influencers summoned to the White House for their first visit.

That Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3], the nation’s top law enforcement official, would prioritize a case of importance primarily to conspiracy theorists was telling. Anxious to appease the restive MAGA base, she hyped the disclosure as “breaking news” on Fox the night before, part of an effort to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to reveal new details on the financier Jeffrey Epstein’s misdeeds and death.

It was a dud. There were “no bombshells,” she said, according to one of those invited.

Later, activists on the right lashed out at Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3]. She responded by blaming others, and then dispatched F.B.I. agents and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s national security division to scour the archives, officials familiar with the situation said. They found little. No one knows when Phase 2 is coming. But it is not likely to amount to much, those people said.

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Since taking office as U.S. attorney general in early February, she has adopted a conspicuously performative approach to survive inside a Trump cabinet that rewards self-promotion, ritualized public flattery and, above all, a willingness to execute White House directives with little fuss.

Over the last few days, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] signed off on Mr. Trump’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane upgraded to serve as Air Force One donated by the Qatari royal family, which raised a host of ethical and legal questions. As a lobbyist, Ms. Bondi [Bimbo #3] herself received six-figure consulting fees from Qatar.

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But her approach represents a noticeable departure from that of her predecessors at the Justice Department who saw themselves, to varying degrees, as guardians of institutional independence, attentive but not beholden to the presidency.

https://archive.is/fr5Xq#selection-4629.132-4629.368

LA Times: Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan

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More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

“None of us have ever seen anything like this,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Friday.

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But immigrant rights supporters contend that the patrols have focused on parts of the city where the majority of residents are people of color.

“All signs point to this being racial profiling intended to terrorize the heart of the immigrant and refugee community,” Sherman Luna said. “What we’ve heard is that THP is flagging people down for things like a broken taillight or tinted windows.”

Sherman Luna believes some of those being detained would be allowed to stay in the country if they were able to receive competent legal representation at an immigration hearing. Instead, she has heard that people are agreeing to be deported out of fear that they could spend months or years in immigration detention.

Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan
More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-05-11/authorities-arrest-over-100-people-on-tennessee-roads-in-support-of-trumps-deportation-plan

New York TImes: Trump Has Made Claims About Abrego Garcia’s Tattoos. Here’s a Closer Look…

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Gang experts say the tattoos on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckles are unlikely to signify gang membership. The president says otherwise.

Mendacious King Donald used an altered photo in his claim that Kilmar Abrego Garcio had MS-13 tattoos:

President Trump has claimed that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, is a member of MS-13, the Salvadoran-American criminal gang, and that the tattoos on Mr. Abrego Garcia’s knuckles prove it.

In a post nearly three weeks ago on Truth Social, Mr. Trump’s social media platform, he gave his version of a primer on those tattoos, showing a photo of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s hand, with one small tattoo on each finger: a marijuana leaf, a smiley face with X’s for eyes, a cross and a skull.

Above each of those black tattoos was a letter or a number — M, S, 1 and 3 — in a sans-serif font that clearly had been superimposed onto the photo. “He’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles,” the president wrote in his post.

In other photos, however, including ones shared by Mr. Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the letters and numbers do not appear on Mr. Abrego Garcia’s knuckles.

https://archive.is/FL4VB#selection-695.0-695.170

MSNBC: Trump-appointed judge calls Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation ‘unlawful’

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President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has faced intense preliminary litigation in courts around the country, leading to rulings such as the Supreme Court’s insistence that people potentially subject to the act must receive due process. But a new and significant ruling from a Trump-appointed judge Thursday gets to the heart of the matter, deeming the president’s invocation itself “unlawful.”

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But U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said that Trump’s invocation “exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful.” The judge said the administration therefore can’t use the act to detain Venezuelans, transfer them within the U.S. or remove them from the country. The ruling applies to a class of plaintiffs in the Southern District of Texas.

Trump-appointed judge calls Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation ‘unlawful’
President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act has faced intense preliminary litigation in courts around the country, leading to rulings such as the Supreme Court’s insistence that people potentially subject to the act must receive due process.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-appointed-judge-calls-trump-s-alien-enemies-act-invocation-unlawful/ar-AA1E0Asw