Irish Star: US citizen detained by immigration officials who thought Real ID was a fake

Immigration officials detained a US citizen during a raid on a construction site, as video footage showed numerous officers rushing to handcuff the man while others shouted in his defense

A US citizen was detained during an ICE raid at a construction site and claims he was ‘tackled’ and ‘handcuffed, hard,’ as police accused his REAL ID of being a fake.

Leonardo García Venegas, 25, was detained at the Foley, Alabama, site where he was working as ICE agents raided the place. A video of the incident aired by Telemundo showed the scene as authorities on the site had García Venegas bent over while multiple officers rushed over to put handcuffs on him, and someone yelled in the background, ‘he’s a citizen!’

Garcia was kept in a vehicle until officers released him. He says he took out his wallet and ID and showed them his REAL ID.

“They took out my wallet, took out my ID,” he said in an interview. “And they told me it was fake. Said it wasn’t valid and that it was fake. My ID. They handcuffed me, and they handcuffed me really tight.”

“Very hard.”

“Apparently, a REAL ID is not valid anymore. He has a REAL ID,” his cousin Shelah Venegas said.

García Venegas was born in Florida to Mexican parents and is a US citizen.

“We all made sure we have the REAL ID and went through the protocols the administration is asking for….. He has his REAL ID, and then they see him, and I guess because his English isn’t fluent and/or because he’s brown, it’s fake, it’s not real.”

The arrest left Venegas shaken, but mostly afraid for his brother, who is in the country illegally and was arrested and detained.

Venegas says he wants to sue but was told by lawyers that prosecuting a federal agent would be nearly impossible.

Pigs just gotta be pigs. ICE will be reformed only from top down, by rolling heads. Once enough people are fed up with their Gestapo behavior, it will happen.

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/citizen-detained-immigration-officials-who-35283394

MarketWatch: Millions of Americans may lose health insurance under GOP tax plan. Here’s who will be affected most.

The plan would represent the largest cut to Medicaid ever

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill could lead to at least 8.6 million Americans losing health coverage, with the majority expected to lose Medicaid. Most affected would be low-income adults without dependents, earning a bit more than a poverty income of $15,650 for a single person.

Go for it, suckers! Mid-terms are coming, and they will come with a vengeance!

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/millions-of-americans-may-lose-health-insurance-under-gop-tax-plan-heres-who-will-be-affected-most-bd965669

Telegraph: Trump orders reopening of notorious Alcatraz prison

The refurbished prison would house ‘America’s most ruthless and violent offenders’, US president says

Donald Trump has ordered the US Bureau of Prisons to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison off the coast of San Francisco.

In a message posted on Truth Social, his online platform, on Sunday night, the US president announced his plan to turn the small island into symbol of law and order, to deter “vicious” criminals whom he called the “dregs of society”.

“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than misery and suffering,” Mr Trump wrote.

“When we were a more serious nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

“That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”

He added: “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/05/05/trump-orders-reopening-alcatraz-prison

More here:

https://www.the-sun.com/news/14165183/trump-reopening-alcatraz-prison-americas-dregs-society

BBC: Tariffs on car parts entering the US come into force

A 25% import tax on engines, transmissions and other key car parts has come into force in the US, raising pressure on an industry finding its way through a thicket of policy changes.

The US president has said the new tariff, along with a 25% import tax on cars that went into effect last month, is intended to push carmakers to do more manufacturing in the US.

But analysts said any immediate expansions in the US were likely to come at the expense of production elsewhere, while also leading to higher costs for the businesses – and ultimately higher prices for customers.

“American made” cars still rely on foreign-made parts — we’re screwed by these tariffs either way.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/tariffs-on-car-parts-entering-the-us-come-into-force/ar-AA1E5k8b

More here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-white-house-says-tariffs-won-t-make-car-buying-more-expensive-top-automakers-don-t-sound-as-sure/ar-AA1E3BLQ

Politico Magazine: JD Vance’s Little Brother Tries His Hand at Politics. It’s Not Going So Well.

Cory Bowman says he wants to be mayor of Cincinnati. He might have other things in mind.

A lonely microphone and an empty chair sat at the end of a long, yellow cloth-draped table where Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, should have been sitting. If Bowman had been there, it would have been one of a handful of key appearances ahead of the first election for potentially the first role of his nascent political career: Cincinnati mayor.

It was a Tuesday night in April inside a community center, where the local NAACP chapter was holding the second and final debate ahead of the May 6 mayoral primary. And Bowman, a local evangelical pastor, coffee shop owner and the first Republican to file to run for mayor here in 16 years, was nowhere to be found.

Dunce and Duncer?

https://archive.is/5yTgC#selection-1041.13-1060.0

The Atlantic: DOGE Was Bad. Schedule F Will Be Worse.

In the waning days of the first Trump administration, the White House announced a plan to convert an estimated 50,000 government employees to a status similar to political appointees—meaning that they would become “at will” hires who serve purely at the president’s pleasure. Schedule F, as this plan was known, was never implemented then and was revoked immediately under Joe Biden’s presidency. But now the policy is back, formally resurrected by executive order on April 18. If this new-look Schedule F survives the inevitable court challenges, it will mark a major step forward in a MAGA quest laid out by J. D. Vance in 2021 to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state,” and “replace them with our people.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/doge-was-bad-schedule-f-will-be-worse/ar-AA1DLhQ7

The Independent: A man came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother. ICE showing up as his doorstep interrupted that plan

Venezuelan man came to the United States to donate a kidney to his brother in kidney failure, but ICE authorities detained him, putting the fate of both brothers in question.

José Alfredo Pacheco, 37, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure in December 2023, shortly after arriving in the Chicago area from Venezuela, seeking asylum. His older brother, José Gregorio González, 43, hoped to donate his kidney to save Pacheco’s life — but immigration authorities detained him, throwing their plans into disarray.

The pair had an appointment at a hospital ahead of the organ transplant surgery, the Chicago Tribune reported. But those plans are now up in the air after Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested González on March 3 as he was making breakfast at his home for his sick brother.

A man came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother. ICE showing up as his doorstep interrupted that plan

Chicago Sun-Times: Immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and created warrants after an arrest, lawyers say in court

Chicago attorneys with the National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois accused the federal government of violating immigration law and the constitutional rights of at least 22 people who were arrested and detained in the Midwest since President Donald Trump’s inauguration as part of his crackdown on immigration.

Two people are still in custody, 19 were released on bond and one has already been deported.

Attorneys say these actions violate the Nava Settlement — a 2018 class-action lawsuit filed in response to unlawful arrests by ICE agents who used traffic stops and other tactics to make arrests without a warrant. Under the agreement, ICE officials can conduct a warrantless arrest if they believe an individual is likely to escape, but they must provide evidence. In the motion filed Thursday in federal court in Chicago, attorneys said federal agents since January had “failed to assess whether there was probable cause that an individual was likely to flee before a warrant could be issued.”

Immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and created warrants after an arrest, lawyers say in court – Chicago Sun-Times