Tag Archives: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

MSNBC: Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] is making the homeland less secure

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The former governor is overseeing a vast machine dedicated to encroaching on rights that she may not even know Americans have.

Since her confirmation as secretary of homeland security in January, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem has appeared completely over her head at her new job. Most recently, when asked to define the legal principle of “habeas corpus,” the former South Dakota governor — one of the country’s top law enforcement officials — face-planted.

It was merely the latest in a string of embarrassments that underscores that America is less safe with Noem assigned as its chief protector. Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] department — hastily founded in a moment of fear — is charged with protecting the United States from threats both external and internal. With her focus turned almost exclusively toward executing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy at all costs, the Department of Homeland Security has become a threat to our rights and liberties — many of which Noem apparently doesn’t even know Americans possess.

… over the last few years, she has systematically recrafted herself as the perfect TV-ready simulacrum of a MAGA Cabinet member. Even though her state is nowhere near the border, as governor she glommed on to the right-wing anti-immigrant fervor. Even when Trump has been skeptical of her qualifications, as during her brief time on the shortlist to be his running mate last year, he has rewarded her loyalty to the cause.

But her most Trumpian public relations efforts since she took office have backfired. Noem has been roundly mocked for her costume choices in her interviews and for wearing full-face makeup when she has tagged along on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The $50,000 Rolex flashing on her wrist while she posed in front of incarcerated men at a mega-prison in El Salvador smacked of callous cruelty. And the theft of her bag — along with $3,000 cash and her work badge — while she was sitting in a Washington restaurant was peak irony for a top security official.

But Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] performance in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday underscored how truly ill-equipped she is for this moment — or, at least, for a job to keep Americans safe. While Noem [Bimbo #2] was testifying on Trump’s budget request for the upcoming year, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., questioned her about the ancient right to challenge an arrest or imprisonment:

“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to … ,” Noem responded before she was cut off by Hassan.

“That’s incorrect,” the senator said.

Yes, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem really is that stupid!

Opinion | Kristi Noem is making the homeland less secure
The former governor is overseeing a vast machine dedicated to encroaching on rights that she may not even know Americans have.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kristi-noem-habeas-corpus-senate-deportation-rcna208009

Tampa Free Press: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Says ICE Is ‘Trump’s Modern-Day Gestapo’ In Commencement Speech

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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel executing the Trump administration’s immigration agenda to the Gestapo in a Saturday commencement address at the University of Minnesota law school.

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Walz, the failed Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, suggested during the speech that Trump is using ICE to implement his immigration agenda in similar fashion to how Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler used the Gestapo secret police to target opponents, according to RealClearPolitics.

“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz claimed. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons—no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”

“To be clear, there’s no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not, because they refused to give them a trial,” Walz continued. “We’re supposed to just take their word for it.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Says ICE Is ‘Trump’s Modern-Day Gestapo’ In Commencement Speech
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel executing the Trump administration’s immigration agenda to
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Says ICE Is ‘Trump’s Modern-Day Gestapo’ In Commencement Speech

MSNBC: Something is amiss with DOJ’s decision to charge New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver

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What people should know about the federal charges brought against McIver following an incident at a Newark ICE detention facility.

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., a sitting member of Congress, was released on her own recognizance following a Wednesday hearing. She faces federal charges in connection with the assault of federal law enforcement officers outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. That she was arrested on these charges is rare, and perhaps without a historical analog. In the few instances in which the federal government has pursued charges against a current member of Congress, it is typically for a crime related to political corruption.

There’s little question, per video footage from the May 9 incident, that McIver was in the middle of a scrum of people seeking to stop the arrest of Newark’s mayor, Ras J. Baraka, and enter the ICE facility. As a sitting member of Congress, McIver has the legal right to enter the facility, although she — of course — does not have the right to assault federal officers on the way in. 

But what people should know is that something is amiss with the decision to charge McIver. Before bringing charges against a sitting member of Congress, current, but paused, Department of Justice rules dictate that federal prosecutors confer with the Public Integrity Section. In addition, that section is supposed to sign off before charges are filled.  

But apparently none of that happened.

Opinion | The chilling problem with the decision to charge New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver
What people should know about the federal charges brought against McIver following an incident at a Newark ICE detention facility.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/new-jersey-lamonica-mciver-federal-charges-rcna207794

Law & Crime: ‘Unquestionably violative of this court’s order’: Judge upbraids Trump admin for deporting migrants to war-torn third country without due process

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A federal judge on Wednesday said that the Trump administration had “unquestionably” violated his order by deporting several migrants to South Sudan — a country from which none of the migrants are from — without due process or a reasonable opportunity to raise concerns of their fear of the war-torn nation, an action he said could amount to criminal contempt of court.

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy upbraided attorneys from the Justice Department, accusing them of ignoring the “long history” of legal precedent surrounding due process rights as well as recent orders from the U.S. Supreme Court when they sent seven men to South Sudan with less than 24 hours notice.

Murphy last month issued a preliminary injunction barring the government from deporting migrants to third countries without giving them a “reasonable opportunity” to raise concerns about that country and the possible violence they could face.

Murphy scheduled a hearing after an emergency motion filed by attorneys for the plaintiffs informed the court that at least two of their clients had been notified on Monday evening that they were being removed to South Sudan and were transported out of ICE facilities at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“The department’s actions in this case are unquestionably violative of this court’s order,” Murphy said at Wednesday’s hearing. “It is plain to me that an ‘opportunity to be heard’ of only several hours that were not during business hours, where you couldn’t raise consult with your attorney or your family is insufficient. It was impossible for these people to have a meaningful opportunity to object to their removal to South Sudan.”

Murphy emphasized that even the Supreme Court justices recently confirmed that 24 hours of notice is “plainly insufficient” for the purpose of due process, stating, “I don’t see how anybody could think these people had a reasonable chance to object.”

Judge slams Trump admin for ‘unquestionably’ violating order on third-country deportations
A federal judge on Wednesday said that the Trump administration had “unquestionably” violated his order by deporting several migrants to South Sudan without due process.
‘Unquestionably violative of this court’s order’: Judge upbraids Trump admin for deporting migrants to war-torn third country without due process

Associated Press: ‘Unquestionably in violation’: Judge says US government didn’t follow court order on deportations

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The White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday, hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes in the United States but refused to reveal where they would end up. The judge’s statement was a notably strong rebuke to the government’s attempts to manage immigration.

In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger. Minutes before the hearing, administration officials accused “activist judges” of advocating the release of dangerous criminals.

“The department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of this court’s order,” Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees didn’t have “meaningful opportunity” to object to being sent to South Sudan. The group was flown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no chance to contact lawyers who could object in court.

‘Unquestionably in violation’: Judge says US government didn’t follow court order on deportations
A federal judge says the White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic nation of South Sudan.

https://apnews.com/article/deportation-immigration-south-sudan-department-of-homeland-security-a09612dbd055c5d1d88902c415bdf3e6

Rolling Stone: Trump Allegedly Violates Court Order, Sends Asian Immigrants to South Sudan

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The administration reportedly deported two men from Myanmar and Vietnam to war-torn South Sudan

After an appeals court declined to remove an injunction aimed at barring Donald Trump’s administration from deporting noncitizens to “third-party countries” – a country that is not their country of origin – without due process, and without giving them chance to raise concerns of persecution, torture, and death, the government allegedly violated that court order days later.

Two men, who are originally from Myanmar and Vietnam and were being held in U.S. immigration custody, were deported to war-torn South Sudan, according their lawyers, Politico reported. Their lawyers said they received the a notice of the deportation plan on Monday evening and that by Tuesday morning, they were on a plane with 10 other deportees.

Earlier this month, as Rolling Stone reported, the Trump administration was preparing to use a military plane to fly immigrants to Libya before Judge Brian Murphy clarified that doing so would violate his court order. Lawyers with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and Human Rights warned that “Laotian, Vietnamese, and Philippine” immigrants, who are being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, were “being prepared for removal to Libya, a county notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents.”

Lawyers for the Burmese man, per Politico, said he was originally scheduled to be on a flight to Libya, before the plan was abandoned amid media and legal scrutiny. The attorneys also said that the man, identified as N.M. in court papers, received notification about the deportation to South Sudan only in English, violating Judge Murphy’s previous order due to N.M.’s limited English proficiency.

Sudan and South Sudan are on the U.S. Department of States “do not travel” advisory list, yet King Donald and his cronies are using it for third-country deportations.

Trump Allegedly Violates Court Order, Sends Asian Immigrants to South Sudan
Two men, who are originally from Myanmar and Vietnam and were being held in U.S. immigration custody, were reportedly deported to war-torn South Sudan.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-sends-asian-immigrants-south-sudan-violates-court-1235344357

Raw Story: Staffers quit over Kristi [“Bimbo #2”] Noem’s 4-hour ‘fishing expedition’ polygraphs: report

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [“Bimbo #2”] Noem’s obsession with tracking down leakers in her department has led to an exodus of employees who would rather quit than listen to threats or be subjected to intrusive polygraph tests.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the polygraphs that began back in February have continued unabated as she and top adviser Corey Lewandowski have personally singled out employees in numbers that one former official labeled “unprecedented.”

With the Journal’s Michelle Hackman and Tarini Parti labeling what is going on behind closed doors at the agency as a “fishing expedition,” they reported, “… many have said the seeming randomness has created a chilling effect inside the department.”

The report notes that some interrogations that have taken place “in a small interrogation room in Virginia with a one-way mirror,” have lasted up to four hours and that has helped lead to an exodus from the department.

Staffers quit over Kristi Noem’s 4-hour ‘fishing expedition’ polygraphs: report

https://www.rawstory.com/noem-leakers-staffers-quit

Sacramento Bee: Sweeping ICE Arrests in Blow to Washington, D.C.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested 189 illegal immigrants in Washington, D.C., in a recent operation targeting criminal offenders, including those linked to gangs like MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the 18th Street gang. The operation involved coordination among various law enforcement agencies, such as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the FBI. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Director Russell Hott stated that the collaboration aims to remove dangerous individuals from the community, reinforcing public safety.

And now for the 64 dollar questions:

How many of the 189 arrestees actually had criminal records?

How many of the 189 arrestees actually were gang members?

There’s been a lot of disparity between ICE’s arithmetic and reality.

Sweeping ICE Arrests in Blow to Washington, D.C.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sweeping-ice-arrests-in-blow-to-washington-d-c/ss-AA1Fe5Te

Inquirer: Filipino green card holder detained at Seattle airport after PH vacation

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Maximo ‘Max’ Londonio has been held by Customs and Border Protection since May 15

Maximo “Max” Londonio, a Filipino green card holder and father of three, has been detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after returning from a family vacation in the Philippines, sparking protests and renewed calls for government accountability.

Londonio, 42, who immigrated to the US at age 12 and now lives in Olympia, Washington, was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 15.

Londonio, his wife and their 12-year-old daughter were returning from their vacation in the Philippines, according to migrant rights advocacy group Tanggol Migrante. 

CBP agents reportedly detained Londonio over nonviolent offenses from his youth, despite previous uneventful travel between the US and the Philippines.

His wife, Crystal – a US citizen – described him as “dedicated,” “family-focused” and “affectionate,” and said she received little information about his whereabouts or the reasons for his detention. 

She was finally able to contact him on Tuesday and learned he had received a notice to appear before an immigration judge and would be transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, where thousands of migrants await deportation hearings.

Filipino green card holder detained at Seattle airport after PH vacation
Maximo “Max” Londonio, a Filipino green card holder and father of three, has been detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

https://usa.inquirer.net/172271/filipino-green-card-holder-detained-at-seattle-airport-after-ph-vacation

NJ.com: Judge chides feds in dismissing ICE trespassing charge against Newark mayor

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A federal judge in Newark on Wednesday agreed to dismiss trespassing charges against Mayor Ras J. Baraka, chiding the federal prosecutors he said had filed the charges in a “worrisome” rush.

U.S. Magistrate Judge André Espinosa granted a motion for dismissal from the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, during a hearing in the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Courthouse, two blocks from Baraka’s office at Newark City Hall.

At the request of Habba’s office, Espinosa dismissed the charge “with prejudice,” meaning the case cannot be reopened.

But Espinosa harshly criticized federal authorities for acting with speed over caution.

“The hasty arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka followed swiftly by the dismissal of these trespassing charges a mere 13 days later suggests a worrisome misstep by your office,” Espinosa told Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Demanovich, whose boss, Habba, was not in court. “An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence.”

Espinosa, who addressed the parties remotely and not face-to-face in a courtroom, added that the conduct of the case was in sharp contrast to the stellar reputation of New Jersey’s U.S. attorney’s office over the past two decades.

What were you expecting when the U.S. Attorney with the stellar reputation was replaced by one of Trump’s loyal and not-particularly-bright sycophants, Alina “Bimbo #4” Habba?

“The apparent rush in this case, culminating today in the embarrassing retraction of charges, suggests a failure to adequately investigate, to carefully gather facts, and to carefully consider the implications of your actions before wielding your immense power.”

That criticisim applies equally well to all four of Trumps pathetic bimbos, not only Alina “Bimbo #4” Habba, but also Karoline “Bimbo #1” Leavitt, Kristi “Bimbo #2” Noem, and Pam “Bimbo #3” Bondi, each of whom is dumber than a rock, with all due respect to rocks.

Click the link below to read the rest of the judge’s scathing comments.

Judge chides feds in dismissing ICE trespassing charge against Newark mayor
Mayor Ras J. Baraka was arrested May 9 outside an immigrant detention center, though federal prosecutors later decided to drop the charges.

https://www.nj.com/essex/2025/05/judge-chides-feds-in-dismissing-ice-trespassing-charge-against-newark-mayor.html