Newsweek: Utah college student says ICE agent who detained her “knew it wasn’t right”

A 19-year-old student at the University of Utah says the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who detained her repeatedly apologized and “knew it wasn’t right,” but his “hands were tied.”

Caroline Dias Goncalves was pulled over by police in Fruita, Colorado, on June 5 on the way to Denver. Shortly after being let go by the officer, Dias Goncalves was stopped again a few miles away in Grand Junction—this time by immigration agents.

“He kept apologizing and told me he wanted to let me go, but his ‘hands were tied.’ There was nothing he could do, even though he knew it wasn’t right. I want you to know—I forgive you,” Dias Goncalves said in a statement.

https://www.newsweek.com/caroline-dias-goncalves-utah-college-student-ice-agent-2089824

Miami Herald: Trump Orders Increased ICE Deportations Nationwide

President Donald Trump has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to intensify deportations in Democrat-run cities. He called it the “largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” ICE, however, is reportedly falling short of the 3,000 daily arrest target set by the White House.

Nationwide “No Kings” protests have erupted against Trump’s immigration policies. In Los Angeles, federal raids sparked demonstrations and National Guard deployment.

Trump said, “ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

Trump added, “We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”

Trump’s immigration crackdown has hit industries like agriculture and hospitality, which depend on immigrant labor. Acknowledging workforce losses, Trump has directed ICE to pause operations in these sectors.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-orders-increased-ice-deportations-nationwide/ss-AA1HdAmY

Alternet: Trump just broke the law — again

After the United States bombed Iran’s three nuclear facilities on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said its objective was a “stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror”.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed this justification, saying:

The president authorised a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interest posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defenze of our troops and our ally Israel.

Is this a legitimate justification for a state to launch an attack on another?

I believe, looking at the evidence, it is not.

Under the UN Charter, there are two ways in which a state can lawfully use force against another state:

・the UN Security Council authorizes force in exceptional circumstances to restore or maintain international peace and security under Chapter 7

・the right of self defense when a state is attacked by another, as outlined in Article 51.

On the first point, there was no UN Security Council authorization for either Israel or the US to launch an attack on Iran to maintain international peace and security. The security council has long been concerned about Iran’s nuclear program and adopted a series of resolutions related to it. However, none of those resolutions authorized the use of military force.

With regard to self defence, this right is activated if there is an armed attack against a nation. And there’s no evidence of any recent Iranian attacks on the US.

https://www.alternet.org/trump-international-courts

USA Today: Trump is on a collision course with millions of Americans. He’s not backing down.

The White House is doubling down on President Donald Trump’s signature campaign promise and escalating efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, targeting Democrat-run cities and heightening tensions with powerful liberal governors from California to New York.

The pressure-cooker campaign comes after the massive “No Kings” protests on June 14 that drew millions of Americans out to the streets to oppose Trump’s administration, which has made immigration enforcement a top priority. The protests included about 5 million people nationally, according to organizers, and many attendees specifically cited concerns about immigration enforcement.

A week before, fierce protests in Los Angeles sparked by aggressive detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led to clashes, tear gassing, scattered looting and multiple vehicles being set on fire. The vast majority of attendees were peaceful, however.

To quell the protests and protect ICE agents in California, Trump called up thousands of National Guard troops over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom − referred to by Trump as “Newscum” − and has told federal agents they have his unconditional support to continue aggressive enforcement.

Trump has also invoked military powers usually reserved for wartime, declaring that Biden-era immigration policies facilitated an invasion. And the president is pushing to dramatically expand detention centers and deportation flights while finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

While border crossings have dropped dramatically, videos of masked federal agents chasing people across fields or grabbing them off city streets have horrified many Americans, and liberal leaders across the country say construction sites, farms and some entire neighborhoods are falling silent as undocumented workers stay home to avoid detention.

Some critics accused Trump of causing chaos with ICE raids, then using the community response to justify even harsher measures.

On June 19, federal immigration agents were briefly blocked at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles by protesters trying to stop detentions.

Trump remains undeterred and is pushing Congress to pass a funding measure that would allow him to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, 5,000 more customs officers, and 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/06/21/trump-immigration-enforcement-no-kings/84245929007

Raw Story: ‘Not going to pass’: Another MAGA senator turns on megabill over GOP provision

A prominent pro-Trump senator is coming out against one of the more controversial provisions proposed for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) told Punchbowl News congressional reporter Max Cohen that the plan by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to sell off portions of federally-owned land to build housing is a dead letter as far as he is concerned.

“I oppose it. The way it’s written right now, it’s not going to pass,” he said.

https://www.rawstory.com/steve-daines-2672419783

Metro: Trump threatens to unleash ‘most lethal weapons ever built’ if Iran is supplied nukes

President Donald Trump has threatened to unleash ‘the most powerful and lethal weapons ever built’ if Russia supplies nuclear warheads to Iran.

In other words, the orange-faced baboon will huff and puff and blow your house down.

Newsweek: Amazon worker fears deportation after humanitarian parole revoked

An Amazon employee in Indiana fears she will be deported to a war-torn country after her humanitarian parole was revoked by the Trump administration.

Now, her husband believes that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will come for her.

Daphnee S. Poteau, 33, originally from Haiti, had been working at an Amazon customer returns center in Speedway since entering the United States on July 4, 2023, under the Biden-era CHVN humanitarian parole program. On June 14, she was sent home mid-way through her shift after she lost her right to work.

The CHNV parole program was launched in early 2023 by the Biden administration to provide a lawful pathway for individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the U.S. temporarily under humanitarian parole. Participants with U.S.-based sponsors could live and work in the country for up to two years.

Though Poteau has not been arrested or detained by immigration authorities, Poteau’s husband, Kristopher D. Vincent, 45, an Amazon associate and U.S. citizen, says the family is feeling “frustrated and scared.”

“I am afraid they will come looking for her eventually. We’ve seen it in the news a lot lately. People in black masks snatching—or attempting to snatch—migrants up, even at immigration hearings,” Vincent told Newsweek. “When judges, and even U.S. representatives, are facing arrests and indictments, how are the little people like us supposed to feel? Her only ‘crime’ seems to be coming from the ‘wrong’ country.”

https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-worker-deportation-humanitarian-parole-revoked-2089333

Style on Main: Home Depot Implements Employee Response Plan Amid Frequent ICE Raids

Home Depot, a retailing giant with over 2,300 stores, has been inadvertently pulled into the rising ICE raids on illegal immigrants. Its parking lots, where day laborers used to gather to seek employment unofficially, are now hot spots for immigration enforcement under President Trump’s increased campaign. 

This combination of street-level labor and federal regulations creates a potent concoction that forces Home Depot into a difficult social and financial impasse.

The conflict between abiding by the law and safeguarding its employees to prevent censure by the larger community illustrates the company’s choice to implement an employee assistance policy while permitting round-ups.

Parking lots at Home Depots have long served as informal labor markets, where contractors and day laborers mix without resumes or contracts.

This subterranean economy supports approximately one million workers at the lower end of the pay scale, many of whom are illegal immigrants engaged in difficult-to-document home repair and construction work.The raids disrupt this fragile equilibrium, causing labor shortages and economic ripple effects.

Home Depot’s identification of these territories as de facto enforcement areas demonstrates workplace culture at the ground level that is at odds with federal immigration policy, which has accelerated the need to reconsider worker policy and community outreach programs. 

Home Depot has since released new guidelines that mandate workers to report ICE encounters directly upon occurrence and to keep their distance from agents for personal safety. Some local bosses permit workers traumatized by the raids to leave with compensation, though this is an in-border initiative, not company policy.

This effort shows an effective tactic: protecting workers from trauma and legal risk while maintaining business operations. It also shows a new corporate mandate, acknowledging the human toll of immigration enforcement without necessarily hindering federal efforts. It is a delicate tightrope walk in today’s polarized culture.

USA Today: LA isn’t burning. ICE has terrorized many into an ominous silence. | Opinion

The threat of ICE raids on commencement ceremonies was credible enough that our Los Angeles school district devised plans to protect students from being kidnapped as they received their diplomas.

Apparently, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump, “California is burning.” Here in Los Angeles, however, we know too well the smell of a serious conflagration ‒ and also the stench of political gas when politicians try to justify corrupt assertions of authoritarian power.

We are protesting now not because we are lawless, but because what is happening is a racially selective application of immigration laws that should have been reformed years ago. We are protesting because we still believe in decency, human dignity and respect for hard work and family.

Some protesting among us have succumbed to anger, while others have opportunistically caused mayhem the way some revelers do when the Lakers or the Dodgers win a championship.

Meanwhile the president and his ministers of cruelty, hysteria and lies are opportunistically causing far more mayhem, disrupting businesses and communities and devastating families and insulting our brave troops by gratuitously deploying them to our streets, pitting them against American civilians, trying to use the selfless members of our military as an authoritarian flex.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2025/06/23/ice-raids-california-los-angeles-immigration/84174179007

Mediaite: Critics Ramp Up Scrutiny Of 22-Year-Old ‘Former Lawn Boy’ Trump Put in Charge of Terrorism Prevention Unit — Amid Iran Threats

Amid the threats of retribution from Iran following the U.S. military strike on three Iranian nuclear sites, critics have ramped up their scrutiny of the 22-year-old who was assigned to a major terrorism-prevention post by President Donald Trump.

In a Sunday morning post to X, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called out Trump for appointing 22-year-old Thomas Fugate to a role at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in which he oversees the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) — a division of the agency which is tasked with terrorism prevention.

“As our nation girds for possible Iranian terrorist attacks, this is the person Trump put in charge of terrorism prevention,” Murphy wrote — referring to Fugate. “22 years old. Recent work experience: landscaping/grocery clerk. Never worked a day in counter-terrorism. But he’s a BIG Trump fan. So he got the job.”