Tag Archives: Iraq

Associated Press: Trump administration releases people to shelters it threatened to prosecute for aiding migrants

Posted on by
Reply

The Trump administration has continued releasing people charged with being in the country illegally to nongovernmental shelters along the U.S.-Mexico border after telling those organizations that providing migrants with temporary housing and other aid may violate a law used to prosecute smugglers.Here's The Average Price of a 6-Hour Gutter Upgrade in Minneapolis

Border shelters, which have long provided lodging, meals and transportation to the nearest bus station or airport, were rattled by a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that raised “significant concerns” about potentially illegal activity and demanded detailed information in a wide-ranging investigation. FEMA suggested shelters may have committed felony offenses against bringing people across the border illegally or transporting them within the United States.

…

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continued to ask shelters in Texas and Arizona to house people even after the March 11 letter, putting them in the awkward position of doing something that FEMA appeared to say might be illegal. Both agencies are part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump administration releases people to shelters it threatened to prosecute for aiding migrants
The Trump administration has been releasing people charged with being in the country illegally to nongovernmental shelters along the U.S. border with Mexico after telling those organizations that providing migrants with temporary housing and other aid may violate a law used to prosecute smugglers.

https://apnews.com/article/border-shelters-laredo-phoenix-trump-releases-afc2f4d2ca786161e7bb4b03f54033fa

Daily Mail: New FEMA head tells employees who try to block Trump’s agenda: ‘I will run right over you’

Posted on by
Reply

The new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has threatened to ‘run right over’ staff in his department who resist Donald Trump‘s agenda.

David Richardson took over as acting chief at FEMA after previous boss Cameron Hamilton was booted from the role a day after criticizing the president’s plans to abolish the department.

The incoming head, whose title is Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator, was caught on camera issuing the stark warning during a staff meeting on his first day.

‘Don’t get in my way,’ the former US marine told staffers, according to a recording of the speech obtained by CBS News. 

‘I don’t need the full title I just need the authority from the president,’ Richardson continued from behind a presidential-style podium.

‘Obfuscation, delay, undermining. If you’re one of those 20 percent of the people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not, because I will run right over you. I will achieve the president’s intent.

‘I, and I alone in FEMA, speak for FEMA,’ Richardson said. 

FEMA employees later described the speech to CBS as ‘unhinged’ and ‘terrifying’.

Just another Bully Boi from the Trump agency …

FEMA head threatens to ‘run right over’ those who block Trump’s agenda
David Richardson issued a stark warning to staff on his first day as acting head of FEMA as par of a 17-minute speech to his new employees.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14699677/FEMA-head-david-richardson-warning-staff-Trump-agenda.html

Newsweek: Iraq War Veteran in US for Nearly 30 Years Can Be Deported: Judge

Posted on by
Reply

An Arizona resident who has lived in the U.S. legally for decades―and even fought a war for the country―may be deported, after an immigration judge’s ruling on Friday.

Iraq War veteran Marlon Parris, who moved to the U.S. from the Caribbean in 1997 and was repeatedly issued Green Cards, was detained in January earlier this year.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) had previously ruled the Green Card holder should be allowed to stay in the U.S. despite serving prison time for a drugs offense back in 2011 because the crime was nonviolent.

However, airport officials confiscated his Green Card in 2023 when he returned from a vacation abroad with his wife. Parris was still embroiled in the legal process to have his card returned when he was unexpectedly pulled over in his car by ICE officials in January, who reportedly told him he was “on a list” to be detained and he now faces deportation.

The 2011 decision should be honored. It is grossly unfair to do otherwise 14 years later.

Iraq War veteran in US for nearly 30 years can be deported: Judge
Marlon Parris, who moved to the U.S. in 1997 and was repeatedly issued Green Cards, may be deported to Trinidad and Tobago.

https://www.newsweek.com/iraq-veteran-deported-immigration-marlon-parris-2070513

Irish Star: Trump’s tacky gold-plated Oval Office compared to heinous dictator’s palace

Posted on by
Reply

President Donald Trump’s remodeling of the Oval Office, which includes a vast amount of gold fixtures covering everything from portraits to curtain rods to even the ceiling, is being compared to a notorious Middle Eastern dictator who was famously a big fan of gold.

Users on X responded to a picture of the Oval Office saying the decor looked like it was “courtesy of the Sadam Hussein home collection.”

…

One user posted comparison photos of Trump’s various properties over the years next to photos of Hussein’s palace writing “There is indeed a strange and remarkable similarity between the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump and the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein when it comes to luxurious interior designs.”

Trump has long been compared to many dictators around the world, in more ways than just his choice of decor. He famously said during his campaign for president that if elected he’d be a “dictator on day one.”

Trump’s tacky gold-plated Oval Office compared to heinous dictator’s palace
Trump has long been a fan of gold as indicated by his gaudy Trump Tower New York City apartment that has gold everything from head to toe

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-tacky-gold-plated-oval-office-compared-to-heinous-dictator-s-palace/ar-AA1E5kbT

Talking Points Memo: Trump Has Ordered Safeguards Stripped From Procurement As Pentagon Prepares To Spend $1 Trillion

Posted on by
Reply

To summarize, the new executive orders purport not merely to change or improve regulations, but to simply eliminate most of the existing procurement rules developed through years of oversight processes and outside scrutiny. They effectively undo procurement safeguards put in place after tremendous waste was exposed during the Cold War. In their place, the executive orders would elevate certain procedures that allow the government to spend unlimited sums without competition — the so-called “other transactions” process that need not be competed and that circumvents safeguards put in place to protect tax dollars. The Executive Orders say there should be a “first preference” for other transactions processes, which is like having a “first preference” for bringing a pistol with no safety to compete in a boxing match.

It’s all about lining their own pockets. They’ll get a pardon [they hope!] at the end of King Donald’s term and all will be well.

Trump Has Ordered Safeguards Stripped From Procurement As Pentagon Prepares To Spend $1 Trillion
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. The Trump White House this month announced…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-ordered-safeguards-stripped-from-procurement-as-pentagon-prepares-to-spend-1-trillion/ar-AA1DLRfe

Politico: Pentagon to resume medical care for transgender troops

Posted on by
Reply

The move is another setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a major part of his role.

The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation.

The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional. The administration is appealing the move, but a federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending.

Current score is Wokes 1, Bigots 0!

Pentagon to resume medical care for transgender troops
The move is another setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a major part of his role.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/transgender-troops-military-care-00306827

Guardian: Fears grow that Signal leaks make Pete Hegseth top espionage target

Posted on by
Reply

Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies

As more develops about the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his repeated disclosures of sensitive military intelligence in unsecured Signal group chats, there are growing concerns his behavior has weakened the Pentagon in the eyes of its foreign adversaries and made him and his entourage a top espionage target.

Allies, already concerned by Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs, have also begun to see the US as an intelligence-sharing liability. There are fears that the mounting firings and leak inquiries in Hegseth’s orbit, along with his inability to manage these internal crises, exposes the entire global US war footing – especially, if a geopolitical and external crisis comes across his desk.

Fears grow that Signal leaks make Pete Hegseth top espionage target
Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/23/pete-hegseth-pentagon-espionage

The Handbasket: US “relocates” Iraqi refugee to Rwanda via new diplomatic arrangement

Posted on by
Reply

A State Department cable indicates at least 10 more people will be subjected to the same.

Now the U.S. is dumping refugees in Rwanda:

A US State Department cable was sent from the American Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, on March 13th with some major news: Rwanda said it was willing to accept deportees from the United States who are unable to be sent to their country of origin for fear of persecution. A copy of the cable reviewed by The Handbasket in March confirmed the news. And now according to a new cable, which has also been reviewed by The Handbasket, the first person has officially been deported from the US to Rwanda via this new arrangement.

The Trump administration’s efforts to deport as many people as possible is loudly and publicly underway, most notably with the 238 men who were sent to El Salvador in March without due process. Unlike those cases, however, the administration has opted to quietly send Iraqi national Omar Abdulsattar Ameen from the US to Rwanda, wherein Rwanda acts as a “third country.” But it remains unclear what legal processes allowed for this to happen.

The cable, sent today—April 22, 2025—confirms Ameen’s “relocation” has already happened.

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/us-rwanda-relocates-iraqi-refugee-omar-ameen

Politico: Military contractors pitch unprecedented prison plan for detained immigrants

Posted on by
Reply

Erik Prince wants to cut a deal to transport detainees from the US to El Salvador.

If you think things can’t get much worse, think again!

Former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and a team of defense contractors are pitching the White House on a plan to vastly expand deportations to El Salvador — transporting thousands of immigrants from U.S. holding facilities to a sprawling maximum security prison in Central America.

The proposal, exclusively obtained by POLITICO, says it would target “criminal illegal aliens” and would attempt to avoid legal challenges by designating part of the prison — which has drawn accusations of violence and overcrowding from human rights groups — as American territory.

…

The proposal would ultimately put Prince in charge of an extraordinary privatization effort that would use his company to handle logistics, including ferrying tens of thousands of detainees from American holding cells to El Salvador’s prison.

Military contractors pitch unprecedented prison plan for detained immigrants
Erik Prince wants to cut a deal to transport detainees from the US to El Salvador.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/military-contractors-prison-plan-detained-immigrants-erik-prince-00287208

Alternet: ‘Caught in limbo’: Decorated Iraq War veteran now target of Trump deportations

Posted on by
Reply

What a wonderful way to that a veteran for his service to our country! Not!

A man who served in the U.S. military and survived two combat deployments to Iraq is now at risk of being deported to a country that is refusing to accept him.

Rolling Stone columnist Michael Embrich wrote Wednesday about the case of Army veteran Jose Barco, who is now in deportation proceedings even though he’s an honorably discharged Purple Heart recipient diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Embrich, Barco is “caught in limbo” as he faces deportation to Venezuela, despite not having visited the country since he was a toddler.

Barco — whose father fled Cuba for Venezuela before bringing him to the U.S. at age four — received his Purple Heart medal after an explosion launched him into a wall, resulting in severe burns and a traumatic brain injury. In 2004, he served in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, and saw frequent combat as his deployment was during the height of the Iraqi insurgency.

Embrich went on to write about how Barco was nearly naturalized, as he got help with his U.S. citizenship application from his commanding officer. However, Barco’s file got lost in the application process, and he had no way to track it in the system. As Embrich explained, Barco had a “straightforward path to naturalization” that ended up becoming “an invisible trap door leading to exile.”

‘Caught in limbo’: Decorated Iraq War veteran now target of Trump deportations
A man who served in the U.S. military and survived two combat deployments to Iraq is now at risk of being deported to a country that is refusing to accept him. Rolling Stone columnist Michael Embrich wrote Wednesday about the case of Army veteran Jose Barco, who is now in deportation proceedings even though he’s an honorably discharged Purple Heart…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/caught-in-limbo-decorated-iraq-war-veteran-now-target-of-trump-deportations/ar-AA1CCw84