In a post marking the 13th anniversary of his administration’s policy, Obama called out how immigrants “are being demonized and treated as enemies”
Former President Barack Obama took to social media this weekend to mark the 13th anniversary of his administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He called his administration’s immigration policy, which offered temporary protection and work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived to the U.S. as kids, “an example of how we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws” while describing how families with similar backgrounds “are being demonized and treated as enemies” under the Trump administration today.
“Thirteen years ago, my administration acted to protect young people who were American in every single way but one: on paper,” his post read. “DACA was an example of how we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. And it’s an example worth remembering today, when families with similar backgrounds who just want to live, work, and support their communities, are being demonized and treated as enemies. We can fix our broken immigration system while still recognizing our common humanity and treating each other with dignity and respect. In fact, it’s the only way we ever will.”
Barack Obama Defends DACA Amid Mass Deportations and ICE Raids
In a post marking the 13th anniversary of DACA, former President Barack Obama called out how immigrants ‘are being demonized and treated as enemies.’
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced Monday that the Department of Transportation (DOT) will withhold funding from states and cities that do not work with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement and riot control.
“Rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement” will not receive funding from the DOT, Duffy said in a post on X.
“Don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either. Follow the law, or forfeit the funding,” Duffy said.
Yet another illegal withholding of funds that our courts will have to waste time on!
Trump accused these cities of being the “core of the Democrat Power Center,” as he says they “use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens.”
Goofy!
Department Of Transportation Threatens To Defund Cities That Don’t Cooperate With ICE
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that the DOT will withhold funding from states and cities that do not work with the Trump administration.
A sheriff’s deputy in Colorado briefly pulled over Caroline Dias Goncalves before immigration agents detained her. Now county officials are conducting a review.
Caroline Dias Goncalves, a student at the University of Utah, was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5 when a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over.
The stop lasted less than 20 minutes, and “Dias Goncalves was released from the traffic stop with a warning,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release Monday.
Then, shortly after she exited the highway, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to an immigration detention center.
“She has no criminal record and she was not shown a warrant,” her attorney, Jon Hyman, said in an email.
Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. The word “Dreamer” refers to undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children.
Dias Goncalves was born in Brazil and was brought to the United States as a 7-year-old. She has lived in Utah since she was 12 and has an asylum case pending.
Friends and relatives question how immigration authorities were alerted to her location.
As part of an ongoing “full administrative review,” the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office determined that the deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was part of a communication group that included local, state and federal law enforcement partners participating in “a multi-agency drug interdiction effort focusing on the highways throughout Western Colorado.”
“We were unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts, including immigration,” the sheriff’s office said. “We have since removed all Mesa County Sheriff’s Office members from the communication group.”
Meanwhile in Georgia:
Dias Goncalves’ immigration detention mirrors that of fellow 19-year-old Dreamer Ximena Arias-Cristobal in Georgia.
Police in Dalton wrongly pulled Arias-Cristobal over last month, putting her on the radar of immigration authorities and making her susceptible to deportation.
ICE detains Utah college student after brief traffic stop, raising questions
A sheriff’s deputy in Colorado briefly pulled over Caroline Dias Goncalves before immigration agents detained her. Now county officials are conducting a review.
The Department of Homeland Security is vehemently denying allegations that it engaged in mass racial profiling in its immigration raids, but David J. Bier of the libertarian Cato Institute isn’t buying those denials for an instant.
DHS’s denials came last week in response to a report by the Los Angeles Times that a number of immigrant communities fear that stops and arrests are being done randomly against people based primarily on their appearance.
“Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE,” DHS posted to its official X account. “These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.”
But Bier couldn’t help but notice a telling omission from the denial.
“Of course they don’t link to the article which gives the proof that this is happening. DHS LIES,” he wrote, posting a damning passage from the very beginning of the original article:
“Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb Thursday, when armed, masked men — wearing vests with ‘Border Patrol’ on them — pushed him up against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born,” the Times reported. “‘I’m American, bro!’ 29-year-old Gavidia pleaded, in video taken by a friend. ‘What hospital were you born?’ the agent barked. ‘I don’t know, dawg!’ he said. ‘East L.A., bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.’ His friend, whom Gavidia did not name, narrated the video: ‘These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!’ The friend said Gavidia was being questioned ‘just because of the way he looks.'”
‘Lies!’ Trump DHS officials torn apart over attempt to sweep allegations away
Furthermore, over 75% had no criminal convictions other than immigration or traffic-related offenses
Internal government data shows that fewer than 1 in 10 of the more than 185,000 immigrants booked into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since October 2024 were convicted of serious crimes such as murder, assault, robbery, or rape, according to a new report. Furthermore, over 75% had no criminal convictions other than immigration or traffic-related offenses, CNN reported.
The data, covering detentions during the final months of the Biden administration and the early months of the Trump administration, contrasts sharply with the current administration’s public messaging, as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials and President Donald Trump have repeatedly emphasized the arrest of immigrants with violent criminal records.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security challenged CNN’s referenced data limited to ICE arrests in a shorter timeframe. “ICE targets the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, and rapists,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “In President Trump’s first 100 days, 75% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.”
A CNN review of ICE press releases in the past month found that nearly two-thirds of named individuals were described as having serious criminal records. However, advocates and local reports in cities like Los Angeles describe widespread arrests of longtime residents and workers with no criminal history.
“We are seeing huge amounts of people with no prior contact with the criminal or immigration system picked up,” said Eva Bitran of the ACLU of Southern California to CNN. “It is very contrary to the story that the secretary is telling.”
“The secretary” is a lying bitch, always has been and is unlikely ever to change.
Fewer Than 1 in 10 Immigrants Detained by ICE Since October Had Convictions for Serious Offenses, Data Shows
Fewer than 1 in 10 of the more than 185,000 immigrants booked into ICE custody since October 2024 were convicted of serious crimes, according to a new report
A raid in Montebello, Calif., has stirred fears that federal agents are detaining and racially profiling U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent.
They swept into the Southern California car lot last Thursday at 4:32 p.m. — masked and armed Border Patrol agents in an unmarked white S.U.V.
One agent soon twisted Jason Brian Gavidia’s arm and pressed him against a black metal fence outside the lot where he runs an auto body shop in Montebello, a working-class suburb east of the Los Angeles city limits. Another officer then asked him an unusual question to prove whether he was a U.S. citizen or an undocumented immigrant.
“What hospital were you born at?” the Border Patrol agent asked.
Mr. Gavidia, 29, was born only a short drive from where they were standing, in East Los Angeles. He did not know the hospital’s name. “I was born here,” he shouted at the agent, adding, “I’m an American, bro!”
Mr. Gavidia was eventually released as he stood on the sidewalk. But another U.S. citizen, Javier Ramirez, 32 — Mr. Gavidia’s friend and co-worker — had been forced facedown to the ground by two agents in the car lot. Mr. Ramirez was put inside a van and driven to a federal detention center, where he remains in custody. Mr. Ramirez’s lawyer said that officials at the detention center had denied his request to speak to his client.
“I know enough to know this is not right at all,” Mr. Gavidia said in an interview. “Latinos in general are getting attacked. We’re all getting attacked.”
The episode on Thursday was captured on video by Mr. Gavidia’s friend and the car lot’s security cameras, and described in interviews with Mr. Gavidia, Mr. Ramirez’s lawyer and another man who was at the shop during the raid.
This is America? Sooner or later one of their victims will kill some of these thugs in self defense.
The spokesperson said one person had attempted to flee the scene, had assaulted an agent in the process and was arrested for having assaulted and interfered with agents. Another person was detained on the street for investigation for interference but was released after being confirmed to be a U.S. citizen. And a third person, the official said, was determined to be “an illegal alien” and was taken into custody without incident.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Border Patrol as well as Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement that Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem, the homeland security secretary, “has been clear: If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Payback is coming. It’s only a matter of time before the victims start responding with force of their own. The ICE thugs will get no sympathy from me.
As agents questioned Mr. Gavidia on the sidewalk, they pressed him against the fence and he repeatedly and loudly told them he could show identification to prove his citizenship. They dropped his arms and he reached for his California driver’s license.
The agents then confiscated both his license and his cellphone, Mr. Gavidia said. He pleaded with them for several minutes and the officer eventually returned his phone but never gave his license back, Mr. Gavidia said.
F*ck*ng ICE pigs stole his ID.
“That’s the new gang of L.A. right there,” he said on the video, adding: “This is not fair at all, bro. We’re all American here, man.”
Masked and unidentified ICE agents lurking near schools and homeless shelters spark fear and confusion in majority-Latino enclaves outside New York.
Run, scum, run!
See scum run!
Run, run, run!
A dozen or more masked men, some with long guns, tried to enter a men’s homeless shelter without identifying themselves in a rural town with a long-standing immigrant community on eastern Long Island in New York. Officials from the local police department later admitted they didn’t know where the masked men came from — only adding to local residents’ concerns.
At the same time, 50 miles to the west, six unmarked cars with masked agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, parked within hundreds of feet of an elementary school in a working-class town with a large Latino population. In response, a group of residents gathered to shame the agents, accusing the agents with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, of lying in wait to snatch the parents of students when school let out.
…
On Long Island, the two federal raids on Tuesday saw emergency communiqués from schools to parents, incorrect information distributed to area media by local authorities, a confrontation with angry demonstrators, and a car accident.
…
Late Tuesday morning in Westbury, in western Nassau County, parents and nearby residents noticed what they immediately recognized as unmarked federal agent vehicles parked within feet of Park Avenue Elementary School, two eyewitnesses told The Intercept. One of those residents, Allan Oscar Sorto, picked up his phone and began streaming live on Facebook.
As he streamed, a dozen or so people began congregating near the cars, two Nissan Altimas and several Ford SUVs with flashers. People can be heard explaining that they’ve seen these cars around the neighborhood in recent weeks, part of immigration raids. Now the sight of the cars parked so close to the elementary school seemed to spark heightened outrage and fear that federal immigration agents were lurking to surprise parents going to pick up their children from school.
Sorto, from nearby Hempstead, estimated that there were four cars near the school, some within 10 feet of the schoolyard fence, and two other cars on the next block. Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named out of fear of law enforcement retaliation, told The Intercept that he could see uniformed HSI agents sitting in all the cars, most masked.
“No son padres ustedes?” a woman in the video says to the closed window of one of the parked Nissans: “Are you not parents?”
People on the sidewalk yelled at the cars in Spanish and English. “Show your face!” “You feel proud?” “None of us are criminals, we work, we pay taxes like you do.” “Leave the school grounds!”
The Westbury residents’ fears seemed well-founded, considering reports from around the country….
The Car Crash:
In Westbury, the HSI agents didn’t respond to the gathered crowd. After a few minutes, the agents drove away. A commotion erupted down the road, off-camera, and onlookers began rushing toward the corner.
One of the Nissans, carrying two of the HSI agents, had crashed into a black pickup truck that happened to be passing through the intersection. Three eyewitnesses told The Intercept that the agents’ car had sped away. Two of the witnesses believe the Nissan blew a stop sign, causing the crash. (Nassau County police referred questions about the accident to ICE, which did not respond to an inquiry.)
After the accident, the crowd gathered around the scene, according to the video stream. The two agents got out of the crashed car, seemingly panicked and, witnesses told The Intercept, appearing to avoid eye contact with bystanders. The agents got into another HSI vehicle.
A third agent, an unmasked man with a black polo shirt covering his tactical vest, stood near the crashed car, remaining stoic as people questioned him on the livestream.
“You’re looking for criminals in the school?” one bystander asked, as the agent remained expressionless.
…
Soon, the federal agents left, leaving the smashed Nissan with the passenger side airbag deployed behind, and many in the crowd dispersed.
The driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident was placed in a stretcher and left in an ambulance….
“Now you’re clogging up the street and people have to work,” one of the remaining bystanders can be heard to say during the stream. “How is this making America great again?”
…
The Long Island newspaper Newsday first reported the Westbury incident with a quote from Nassau County police that the action was not immigration-related and that the agents were not working for ICE on Tuesday afternoon.
Late Tuesday, however, an ICE spokesperson issued a statement that contradicted the Nassau police.
“ICE Homeland Security Investigations Long Island personnel were conducting an operation associated to an ongoing federal investigation,” the statement said. “During the operation special agents were confronted by multiple anti-law enforcement agitators, which prohibited the enforcement action. ICE HSI personnel departed the location and, shortly thereafter, a member of the law enforcement team was involved in a motor-vehicle collision.”
Homeless Shelter Raid:
A week earlier, ICE raids using another Long Island fire department sparked outrage in the community. The fire department subsequently issued a statement that fire officials were not previously informed that ICE would be using their parking lot.
Several hours after the men were seen at the Riverhead Fire Department, they were spotted again. Twelve to 14 of the masked men, some reportedly carrying long guns, were trying to get into a Riverhead men’s homeless shelter, according to a video shared by several immigrant advocates in the area. They would not identify themselves, a shelter employee told local news outlet RiverheadLOCAL.
A shelter resident told RiverheadLOCAL that one of the men, wearing a black U.S. Marshals vest, came to the front door seeking entry but would neither show credentials or a warrant, nor give his name. (A representative for the shelter did not respond to inquiries.)
A representative for the Riverhead Fire Department told The Intercept, “We had no idea who they were.”
Clock the links for more, it’s a long article:
ICE Agent Fled From Angry Residents Outside New York School — and Got in a Car Crash
Masked and unidentified ICE agents lurking near schools sparked fear, confusion, and a car crash in Latino-heavy New York suburbs.
State leaders in California have sharply criticized Trump administration decision to ignore their wishes and send military troops to respond to Los Angeles protests
The 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 US Marines sent to Los Angeles in response to the ongoing anti-immigration raid protests are reportedly suffering from low morale, according to members of the veterans community, amid allegations of a chaotic initial deployment and widespread concerns of the military being drafted into domestic law enforcement.
“Among all that I spoke with, the feeling was that the Marines are being used as political pawns, and it strains the perception that Marines are apolitical,” Marine Corps veteran Janessa Goldbeck, who runs the Vet Voice Foundation, toldThe Guardian. “Some were concerned that the Marines were being set up for failure. The overall perception was that the situation was nowhere at the level where Marines were necessary.”
“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” added Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative in an interview with the outlet.
…
Governor Gavin Newsom has also accused the White House of sending in thousands of troops without adequate provisions or training, sharing photos obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle of guardsmen sleeping head-to-foot on bare floors.
“You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,” he wrote on X. “Here they are — being forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another.”
“This is what happens when the president and (Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth) demand the National Guard state assets deploy immediately with no plan in place … (and) no federal funding available for food, water, fuel and lodging,” a source involved in the deployment told the Chronicle of conditions during the early stages. “This is really the failure of the federal government. If you’re going to federalize these troops, then take care of them.”
Morale among National Guard and Marines deployed in LA is underwater, report claims
State leaders in California have sharply criticized Trump administration decision to ignore their wishes and send military troops to respond to Los Angeles protests
The White House wants the national guard to play a bigger role in immigration enforcement, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said in an interview Thursday.
The Trump administration wants to use the National Guard more broadly to enact the president’s immigration agenda, according to border czar Tom Homan, documents and people familiar with plans.
“They can’t make immigration arrests, but they can certainly augment for security, transportation, infrastructure, intelligence,” Homan said in an interview with The Washington Post.
A month before President Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard and sent them to Los Angeles as part of the government’s response to protests over immigration enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security requested more than 20,000 National Guard to aid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The National Guard would be tasked with helping ICE catch fugitives as well as guard detention centers, process and transport migrants and other tasks, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. Pentagon officials say they are looking into the request but have not yet decided on the number of troops it will send.
Homan said he is also open to using the National Guard to respond to protests in other places, if the situation on the ground resembles Los Angeles. The protests there have been limited to a few locations, with local leaders saying they did not think a federal response was necessary, but the Trump administration has painted a different picture.
It sounds as though Trump & Homan are intent on using the National Guard against Americans. This will not turn out well.
There’s a lot more in the article:
Trump plans broader use of National Guard in immigration enforcement
The White House wants the national guard to play a bigger role in immigration enforcement, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said in an interview Thursday.
Trump plans broader use of National Guard in immigration enforcement
The White House wants the national guard to play a bigger role in immigration enforcement, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said in an interview Thursday.
Today’s events are another step in an ongoing effort to turn the U.S. military into a partisan—and personal—instrument of the president.
Today—250 years since the Continental Army officially formed to fight for the independence of the American colonies against the British monarchy—marks a milestone in President Donald Trump’s effort to politicize the U.S. military. Though they are rare, military parades have happened before in Washington, D.C. For the most part, these have been celebrations of military achievements, such as the end of a war. But today is also Trump’s birthday, and what he and his supporters have planned is a celebration of Trump himself.
A mark of a free society is that its public institutions, especially its military, represent the body politic and the freedom-enabling equal rights that structure civic life. If service members and the public begin to believe that the military is not neutral but is in fact the servant of MAGA, this will threaten the military’s legitimacy and increase the likelihood of violent conflict between the military and the public. Today’s events bring us one step closer to this disaster.
And a few lies, none of which are true:
The organizers have made it abundantly clear that today’s purpose is to directly laud Trump and his politics. In promotional materials, they tell us, “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Army has been restored to strength and readiness.” They credit his “America First agenda” for military pay increases, enlarged weapons stockpiles, new technologies, and improvements in recruitment, declaring that he has “ensured our soldiers have the tools and support they need to win on any battlefield.”
As the Trump-aggrandizing bullshit piles up:
Monica Crowley, the State Department’s chief of protocol and a former Fox News host, went on Steve Bannon’s podcastWarRoom to say that the concurrence of the U.S. Army’s anniversary and Trump’s birthday is “providential.” She called it “meant to be. Hand of God, for sure.” She added, “It is really a gift, and we want to be sure that we celebrate in a manner that is fitting, not just of this extraordinary president but of our extraordinary country.” She also expressed hope that the crowd would serenade the president with “Happy Birthday.” Clearly, Trump isn’t merely the guest of honor; he is the reason for the party.
The Shame of Trump’s Parade
Today’s events are another step in an ongoing effort to turn the U.S. military into a partisan—and personal—instrument of the president.
