Tag Archives: Justice Department

Daily Beast: Trump Admin Deports 2-Year-Old Girl Who Is American Citizen

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Manu’s parents were undocumented, but she was born in the United States.

A 2-year-old American girl has been left stateless after the Trump administration deported her alongside her family.

Emanuelly Borges Santos, known to her family as Manu, was born in a Florida hospital in 2022. She has an American passport and a Social Security card. Nevertheless, Manu and her parents, who are both undocumented, were packed onto a plane with 94 others and shipped to Brazil in February, according to a report from The Washington Post.

When they arrived, Brazilian officials were shocked to find the American toddler among the deportees.

“We’d never seen another case like this,” federal police officer Alexsandra Oliveira Medeiros Reis told the Post.

Manu is currently living in Brazil on a tourist visa as the government tries to resolve the bureaucratic predicament of the girl’s citizenship. In the meantime, she’s living with no right to healthcare or schooling in Brazil. Her visa is set to expire within weeks.

Trump Admin Deports 2-Year-Old Girl Who Is American Citizen
Manu’s parents were undocumented, but she was born in the United States.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admin-deports-2-year-old-girl-who-is-american-citizen

Fort-Worth Star Telegram: ‘My Head is Spinning’: Deportation Draws Backlash

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U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has warned the Trump administration about its handling of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case, a Salvadoran national mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Key officials have admitted ignorance about crucial details in court proceedings, raising concerns about compliance with the judge’s order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. Xinis has reportedly set a new compliance deadline and scheduled an in-person hearing.

Xinis said, “Evidently missing from the defendants’ filing is the privilege log that this court ordered to be produced.” She added, “Failure to file the privilege log or otherwise respond will be construed as an intentional refusal to comply with this court’s orders.”

…

Xinis said, “You haven’t complied, and you haven’t in bad faith.”

Xinis has identified officials’ ignorance as noncompliance with her order to produce witnesses with direct knowledge of Abrego Garcia’s situation.

…Xinis stated, “The whole reason we’re here is because I’ve said repeatedly you’ve done nothing, and now you tell the world you’re not going to do anything.

‘My Head is Spinning’: Deportation Draws Backlash

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/my-head-is-spinning-deportation-draws-backlash/ss-AA1FwI5y

WCCO Radio Minneapolis: Federal judge dismisses consent decree between U.S. Justice Department and Minneapolis

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As expected, a federal judge today granted the United States’ motion to dismiss its consent decree against the City of Minneapolis.

In the filing, the court states:

“The Court has grave misgivings about the proposed consent decree serving the public interest.”

The document adds that the consent decree is “superfluous” due to the city and Minneapolis Police Department entering into an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

Fortunately the police chief is committed to the reforms:

Last week, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said they will continue with reform measures despite the dismissal.

Federal judge dismisses consent decree between U.S. Justice Department and Minneapolis
As expected, a federal judge on Tuesday granted the United States’ motion to dismiss its consent decree against the City of Minneapolis. The court states it “has grave misgivings about the proposed consent decree serving the public interest.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-judge-dismisses-consent-decree-between-u-s-justice-department-and-minneapolis/ar-AA1FB0xi

New York Times: Trump Pardoned Tax Cheat After Mother Attended $1 Million Dinner

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Paul Walczak’s pardon application cited his mother’s support for the president, including raising millions of dollars and a connection to a plot to publicize a Biden family diary.

As Paul Walczak awaited sentencing early this year, his best hope for avoiding prison time rested with the newly inaugurated president.

Mr. Walczak, a former nursing home executive who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes days after the 2024 election, submitted a pardon application to President Trump around Inauguration Day. The application focused not solely on Mr. Walczak’s offenses but also on the political activity of his mother, Elizabeth Fago.

Ms. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Mr. Trump’s campaigns and those of other Republicans, the application said. It also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 2020 campaign by publicizing the addiction diary of his daughter Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny.

Mr. Walczak’s pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother’s efforts for Mr. Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees’ taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Still, weeks went by and no pardon was forthcoming, even as Mr. Trump issued clemency grants to hundreds of other allies.

Then, Ms. Fago was invited to a $1-million-per-person fund-raising dinner last month that promised face-to-face access to Mr. Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.

…

trump-pardon-paul-walczak-tax-crimes.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/us/politics/trump-pardon-paul-walczak-tax-crimes.html

New York Times: As Trumps Monetize Presidency, Profits Outstrip Protests

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The president and his family have monetized the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.

When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures. Even though it had happened a dozen years before her husband became president, it became a scandal that lasted weeks and forced the White House to initiate a review.

Thirty-one years later, after dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeff Bezos agreed to finance a promotional film about Melania Trump that will reportedly put $28 million directly in her pocket — 280 times the Clinton lucre and in this case from a person with a vested interest in policies set by her husband’s government. Scandal? Furor? Washington moved on while barely taking notice.

The Trumps are hardly the first presidential family to profit from their time in power, but they have done more to monetize the presidency than anyone who has ever occupied the White House. The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking. The Trump family and its business partners have collected $320 million in fees from a new cryptocurrency, brokered overseas real estate deals worth billions of dollars and are opening an exclusive club in Washington called the Executive Branch charging $500,000 apiece to join, all in the past few months alone.

Just last week, Qatar handed over a luxury jet meant for Mr. Trump’s use not just in his official capacity but also for his presidential library after he leaves office. Experts have valued the plane, formally donated to the Air Force, at $200 million, more than all of the foreign gifts bestowed on all previous American presidents combined.

And Mr. Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his Virginia club for 220 investors in the $TRUMP cryptocurrency that he started days before taking office in January. Access was openly sold based on how much money they chipped in — not to a campaign account but to a business that benefits Mr. Trump personally.

trump-money-plane-crypto.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-money-plane-crypto.html

MSNBC: The charges against Rep. McIver aren’t about assault. They’re about intimidation.

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The Trump administration wants to see how far it can go in silencing dissent.

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice took the unusual step of filing federal charges against Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, alleging that she assaulted federal law enforcement officers during a protest outside an immigration detention facility. (McIver has denied wrongdoing and called the charges “purely political.”)

Let’s get something straight: what’s happening to McIver is not about law and order. It’s not about whether she assaulted a federal agent or obstructed justice. It’s about the federal government weaponizing its power to intimidate those who dare to push back — and, in this instance, against Black women in positions of authority.

…

Under a recent law, members of Congress have a legal right to show up to conduct oversight of federal detention facilities without prior notice.

But President Donald Trump’s administration doesn’t see this as public servants doing their jobs. It sees a threat to its claims to be free from oversight, whether that’s from Congress, the courts or the media.

…

This is not just about McIver, though. And it is not just about race —though that is central. What’s happening to her should send a chill down the spine of every elected official — Democrat or Republican, Black, white, or otherwise.

Because this isn’t isolated; this is an escalation.

…

Trump wants to send a message to silence dissent, criminalize opposition and remind all of us that we are not safe under his regime. That if we stand up, we may pay the price.

…

Because Trump is just getting started.

Opinion | Trump is trying to intimidate Congress one member at a time
The Trump administration wants to see how far it can go in silencing dissent.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/lamonica-mciver-criminal-charges-trump-ice-rcna207996

MSNBC: Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern

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If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.

But it’s important to remember that many of the White House’s political antagonists are, in fact, facing the kind of investigations that Trump has in mind. The New York Times reported:

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people.

…

The public has learned in recent weeks that the administration — led by a president whose second-term “revenge tour” has been unsubtle — is also investigating and/or prosecuting a variety of Democratic officials and candidates, including Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

This dovetails with the president directing the Justice Department to go after Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; which came on the heels of Trump pressing the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking DHS official. The president did this not because there’s evidence of Krebs or Taylor having done anything wrong, but because they defied him several years ago. They went on his enemies list, and now he’s exacting revenge.

Around the same time, Trump also directed the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s most important fundraising platform.

And did I mention the investigation into former FBI director James Comey? Because that’s underway, too.

Trump and his team are also going after law firms, universities and news organizations they consider political foes of the White House.

What’s more, given Ed Martin’s new responsibilities at the Justice Department, this overtly and abusive partisan pattern is likely to intensify.

So Trump hates everybody?

Axios recently noted, “In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Axios identified a list of perceived adversaries who fit what Trump ominously described as ‘the enemies from within.’ As president, he has taken steps to retaliate against virtually all of them.” That was two months ago. The problem is vastly worse now, and there’s no reason to believe conditions will improve anytime soon.

Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern
If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-admin-regulators-launch-investigation-media-matters-adding-patte-rcna208780

Newsweek: Victims’ families slam Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi over Boeing deal: Next crash her fault

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Families of victims of Boing 737 Max crashes are speaking out after the Justice Department reached a deal Friday that will allow the airplane giant to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people.

Nadia Milleron, whose 24-year-old daughter, Samya Rose Stumo, died in a 2019 plane crash in Ethiopia, told Newsweek via email, “Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi is afraid to try a case. She is reinstituting the coddling corporate criminal’s policy. Boeing remains a criminal corporation and [Bimbo #3] Bondi is enabling them. The next crash will be her fault.”

Victims’ families slam Pam Bondi over Boeing deal: Next crash her fault
Many relatives of the passengers who died in the Boing 2018 and 2019 crashes have spent years pushing for a public trial.

https://www.newsweek.com/victims-families-slam-pam-bondi-over-boeing-deal-next-crash-her-fault-2076613

Reuters: US judge orders Trump administration to facilitate return of Guatemalan deported

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A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to facilitate the return of a gay Guatemalan man who said he was deported to Mexico despite fearing he would be persecuted there, after officials acknlowledged an error in his case.

US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued the order days after the Justice Department notified him that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico was based on erroneous information.

The Justice Department said last week that upon further investigation, officials were unable to identify any Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who had asked the man, identified as “OCG” about fears he had for his safety.

…

According to his lawyers, OCG is a gay man who fled Guatemala in 2024 after facing death threats based on his sexuality.

He entered the United States through Mexico in May 2024.

Murphy said that while an immigration judge in February found OCG deserved protection from being returned to Guatemala, authorities two days later wrongly placed him on a bus to Mexico, where he had recently been raped and kidnapped.

US judge orders Trump administration to facilitate return of Guatemalan deported
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to facilitate the return of a gay Guatemalan man who said he was deported to Mexico despite fearing he would be persecuted there, after of…

https://nypost.com/2025/05/24/us-news/us-federal-judge-brian-murphy-orders-trump-administration-to-facilitate-return-of-guatemalan-migrant

The Hill: Vance: Courts trying to ‘literally overturn the will of the American people’

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Vice-President J.D. [“Dunce”] Vance waded into the tug-of-war between the courts and executive branch in an interview published earlier this week, warning that the courts should pull back or risk stepping on the will of the American people.

How simple can I make this, Bubba?

The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the courts exist to protect the rights and due process of our people from mob rule. Our rights are inalienable. The will of the people is irrelevant in this context.

How the hell did you ever pass high school civics, let alone earn a law degree? Your apparent stupidity is mindboggling.

Vance: Courts trying to ‘literally overturn the will of the American people’

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5315703-vance-judiciary-immigration-voters