Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

Associated Press: Appeals court blocks Trump administration from ending legal protections for 600,000 Venezuelans

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A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that maintained temporary protected status for Venezuelans while the case proceeded through court.

An email to the Department of Homeland Security for comment was not immediately returned.

The 9th Circuit judges found that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had no authority to vacate or set aside a prior extension of temporary protected status because the governing statute written by Congress does not permit it. Then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration had extended temporary protected status for people from Venezuela.

“In enacting the TPS statute, Congress designed a system of temporary status that was predictable, dependable, and insulated from electoral politics,” Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, wrote for panel. The other two judges on the panel were also nominated by Democratic presidents.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco found in March that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claim that President Donald Trump’s Republican administration overstepped its authority in terminating the protections and were motivated by racial animus in doing so. Chen ordered a freeze on the terminations, but the Supreme Court reversed him without explanation, which is common in emergency appeals.

It is unclear what effect Friday’s ruling will have on the estimated 350,000 Venezuelans in the group of 600,000 whose protections expired in April. Their lawyers say some have already been fired from jobs, detained in immigration jails, separated from their U.S. citizen children and even deported. Protections for the remaining 250,000 Venezuelans are set to expire Sept. 10.

Congress authorized temporary protected status, or TPS, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant legal immigration status to people fleeing countries experiencing civil strife, environmental disaster or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return to that home country.

In ending the protections, Noem said that conditions in Venezuela had improved and that it was not in the U.S. national interest to allow migrants from there to stay on for what is a temporary program.

Millions of Venezuelans have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger. Their country is mired in a prolonged crisis brought on by years of hyperinflation, political corruption, economic mismanagement and an ineffectual government.

Attorneys for the U.S. government argued the Homeland Security secretary’s clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program were not subject to judicial review. They also denied that Noem’s actions were motivated by racial animus.

Appeals court blocks Trump administration from ending legal protections for 600,000 Venezuelans
A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for 600,000 people from Venezuela who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-trump-temporary-status-venezuelans-7c70b2d301c43663a6f506af527637a4

CBS News: Anger over Trump administration’s latest firings

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Anger over Trump administration’s latest firings
Current and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers protested changes at the federal agency as a judge receives Lisa Cook’s lawsuit protesting President Trump’s attempt to fire her from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. CBS News’ Skyler Henry and Natalie Brand report.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/anger-over-trump-administration-s-latest-firings/vi-AA1Lum22

Associated Press: Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces new deportation efforts after ICE detains him in Baltimore

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Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces new deportation efforts after ICE detains him in Baltimore
Efforts by U.S. immigration officials to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, a country to which the Salvadoran national has no ties, has again focused attention on efforts by the Trump administration to send people to countries other than their own. (AP Production: Marissa Duhaney)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kilmar-abrego-garcia-faces-new-deportation-efforts-after-ice-detains-him-in-baltimore/vi-AA1LgHM7

Independent: Kilmar Abrego Garcia seeks gag order against Trump administration, singles out Noem and Bondi’s ‘inflammatory’ attacks

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Barrage of public attacks could taint jury pools with ‘irrelevant, prejudicial, and false claims,’ according to Abrego Garcia’s attorneys

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is asking a federal judge for a gag order to stop Trump administration officials from publicly attacking him with “inflammatory” statements that attorneys say are threatening his right to a fair trial on criminal smuggling charges.

Lawyers for the wrongly deported Salvadoran immigrant say Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, among others, have spent months publicly disparaging his “character and reputation” by smearing him as a wife beater, pedophile, gang member and terrorist.

“The government’s ongoing barrage of prejudicial statements severely threaten — and perhaps have already irrevocably impaired — the ability to try this case at all — in any venue,” lawyers wrote Thursday night.

The Trump administration has “distorted the events and evidence underpinning his case to the public; misrepresented his criminal record; disseminated false, irrelevant, and inflammatory claims; and expressed the opinion that he is guilty of the crimes charged,” lawyers wrote.

Last month, the federal judge overseeing the criminal case ordered his release from jail before trial, finding that prosecutors failed to show “any evidence” that his history or the arguments against him warrant his ongoing detention. Judges have found the allegations “fanciful” and formally ruled that he does not pose a danger to the public.

Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a brutal prison in his home country, igniting a high-profile legal battle for his return at the center of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.

Government lawyers admitted he was removed from the United States due to a procedural error, and several federal judges and a unanimous Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return after his “illegal” arrest.

But the government spent weeks battling court orders for his return while officials launched a barrage of public attacks, declaring that he would never again step foot in the country.

He was then abruptly returned in June to face allegations that he illegally moved other immigrants across the country. He has pleaded not guilty.

In their request to keep him in jail before trial, federal prosecutors claimed he is a member of the transnational gang MS-13 and “personally participated in violent crime, including murder.”

Prosecutors also claimed he “abused” women and trafficked children, firearms and narcotics, and there is also an ongoing investigation into “solicitation of child pornography.”

Abrego Garcia is not facing any charges on any of those allegations, nor has he been convicted of anything. A federal judge determined that the government failed to link those allegations to evidence that implicates him.

Abrego Garcia’s wife had previously sought a protective order against him several years ago, though she never pressed charges and said the couple has since resolved their disputes. She has played a prominent public role defending him.

Last week, a federal judge granted his release from pretrial detention. Immigration authorities arrested him days later and threatened to deport him to Uganda.

A separate judge has blocked the government from deporting him while he challenges his latest arrest. A decision is expected after October 6.

His attorneys have argued that the indictment is aimed at punishing Abrego Garcia for his ongoing legal battle with the Trump administration, which has “vilified” him from the moment the case made headlines that caused massive political headaches for the White House.

After he was released from jail this month, Noem labeled him a “MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser and child predator.”

That same day, the White House called him “a criminal illegal alien, wife-beater and an MS13 gang member facing serious charges of human smuggling.”

This week, the president called him an “animal” who had “beat the hell out of his wife.”

But the “pièce de résistance,” according to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, was a cartoon posted by the White House’s official X account depicting him with “MS-13” written beneath it.

“If the government is allowed to continue in this way, it will taint any conceivable jury pool by exposing the entire country to irrelevant, prejudicial, and false claims about Mr. Abrego,” lawyers wrote.

A DHS official told The Independent that if Abrego Garcia does “not want to be mentioned” by administration officials, “then he should have not entered our country illegally and committed heinous crimes.”

“Once again, the media is falling all over themselves to defend this criminal illegal MS-13 gang member who is an alleged human trafficker, domestic abuser, and child predator,” the official added.

“The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal alien has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story,” the official said. “We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

The Justice Department declined to comment to The Independent.

I can’t recall ever seeing the gov’t so obsessed with demonizing someone as Kilmar Garcia.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia seeks gag order against Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi
Barrage of public attacks could taint jury pools with ‘irrelevant, prejudicial, and false claims,’ according to Abrego Garcia’s attorneys

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/kilmar-abrego-garcia-gag-order-trump-noem-bondi-b2816582.html

Market Watch: Trump closes the ‘de minimis’ shipping loophole. Etsy and eBay shares have tumbled.

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‘De minimis’ exemption for shipments worth $800 or less now has ended

Shares of Etsy Inc. and eBay Inc. have been down sharply over the past week, with analysts pinning the moves on the Trump administration’s closure of a trade loophole on Friday.

The “de minimis” exemption has made it possible for shipments worth $800 or less to avoid tariffs and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol scrutiny. It was ended in May for shipments from China, hurting e-commerce companies Shein and PDD Holdings Inc.’s (-1.34%) Temu, and the loophole now has gone away for all other countries, as well.

President Donald Trump rolled out an executive order targeting de minimis treatment on July 30, specifying that the exemption would end at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Friday.

Trump’s order is “removing a key channel for low-value cross-border shipments,” Cantor analysts said in a report, and Etsy  (-1.43%), eBay (-1.70%) and Shopify (SHOP -0.06%) “likely have notable direct exposure.” They noted that Etsy and eBay have underperformed the Nasdaq Composite Index (-1.15%)  over the past week. As of Thursday’s close, Etsy shares are down 14% over the past five trading sessions, while eBay has dropped 6% and Shopify is down 1%. The Nasdaq is up 1% over the same period.

“Over the medium term, supply diversification from domestic sellers should mitigate the impact on demand,” the Cantor analysts wrote.

Etsy has offered a guide to its sellers as the de minimis exemption comes to an end, promising to “continue to share updates over the next few months that make it easier to facilitate cross-border transactions and incorporate the cost of tariffs into your shop operations.” The chief executive for eBay, Jamie Iannone, said during an earnings call on July 30 that the company is “not immune to the increased costs from tariffs” but believes it is “relatively resilient from that perspective, more so than others.”

The overall impact to the U.S. economy of eliminating the loophole is “likely to be limited,” Evercore ISI analysts said in a note. Shipments claiming the de minimis exemption were valued at $65 billion in the past fiscal year, amounting to around 2% of total U.S. imports.

While postal carriers for a number of countries have announced they’re temporarily suspending shipments to the U.S. due to operational uncertainty around the new policy, the Evercore analysts noted that Customs and Border Patrol data show that more than 90% of de minimis packages are carried by private express carriers and logistics providers, who are “not indicating any disruption when the policy takes effect.”

“The move will have an impact on some consumers who will now bear at least a share of tariffs as well as the higher administrative costs associated with processing smaller packages for tariff collection,” the Evercore analysts said. They noted that a recent study found that both high- and low-income households have taken advantage of the de minimis exemption, but that “low-income households benefit disproportionately as a share of their income.”

In addition, Evercore’s team noted that all existing tariffs now will apply to packages under $800, except during a six-month transition period when there will be an option of paying either a percentage rate equal to the country-specific tariff or a flat fee ranging from $80 to $200 that scales with the country’s tariff rate.

Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, predicted on Thursday afternoon that ending the de minimis loophole “will save thousands of American lives by restricting the flow of narcotics and other dangerous and prohibited items, add up to $10 billion a year in tariff revenues to our Treasury, create thousands of jobs and defend against billions of dollars more lost in counterfeiting, piracy and intellectual-property theft.”

Navarro also criticized foreign postal carriers that have suspended shipments to the U.S.

“Foreign post offices need to get their act together when it comes to monitoring and policing the use of international mail for smuggling and tariff-evasion purposes,” the Trump adviser told reporters during a briefing. “We are going to help them do that, but at this point, they are vastly underperforming express carriers like FedEx (-0.29%), DHL (-0.36%) and UPS (+0.24%) .”

The Alliance for American Manufacturing is among the organizations praising Trump’s move.

“Closure of the de minimis loophole is an important step forward, but there’s still more work to be done in leveling the playing field for U.S. manufacturers,” AAM President Scott Paul said in a statement. He said the loophole hurt American manufacturers and was “exposing American consumers to illegal, counterfeit and toxic products.”

Trump closes ‘de minimis’ shipping loophole. Etsy and eBay shares have tumbled.
The “de minimis” exemption for shipments worth $800 has ended.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-closing-a-shipping-loophole-shares-in-etsy-and-ebay-are-tumbling-baffd57f

Daily Beast: Tongue-Tied Johnson Stumbles as Newsom Rubs in Louisiana’s Higher Crime Rates

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The California governor called out President Trump for only sending federal troops to blue states, despite red states having more crime.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stumbled through his response after California Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed out that crime in Johnson’s home state of Louisiana is several times worse than in the Golden State.

Johnson spoke haltingly after he was played a clip Friday on Fox and Friends of Newsom pointing out that the murder rate in Louisiana is “nearly four times higher” than in California.

“Gavin Newsom will do anything for attention. He can name-drop me all, all,” Johnson stammered, “that he wants. He needs to go and govern his state and not be engaging in all of this.”

“We have crime,” he stuttered, “in cities across America.”

He added that his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, has “done a great job of reducing crime, gradually,” and said it was import to address crime “everywhere that it rears its ugly head.”

“I think every major city in the country—the residents of those cities are open to that, and anxious to have it,” he said.

Crime rates in red and blue states have come under fresh scrutiny after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of National Guard troops into Democratic-led cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.—with Chicago next on his list.

The administration claims the deployments are necessary to “liberate” residents of those cities from crime, which they say has turned American streets in war zones.

Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Democratic governors, however, have argued the deployments have nothing to do with public safety, since Trump isn’t sending in troops to the states with the highest crime rates—which happen to be controlled by Republicans.

“If he is to invest in crime suppression, I hope the president of the United States would look at the facts,” Newsom said during a press conference on Thursday. “Just consider Speaker Johnson’s state and district. Just look at the murder rate that’s nearly four times higher than California in Louisiana.”

The vast majority of Americans do not approve of the president sending in soldiers to quell local crime. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found that just 41 percent of respondents approved of Trump posting the National Guard in Washington, D.C., to fight crime.

Those troops have not been trained in local law enforcement, and the crackdown has wreaked havoc on the courts as judges are flooded with cases involving trumped-up charges.

And despite Trump’s claims that Washington is as dangerous as a third-world city, soldiers in the nation’s capital have been picking up trash and spreading mulch to pass the time.

An analysis by Axios found that 13 of the top 20 cities with the highest homicide rates were located in states with Republican governors. At the state level, eight of the top 10 states with the highest murder rates are red states.

Tongue-Tied Johnson Stumbles as Newsom Rubs in Louisiana’s Higher Crime Rates
The California governor called out President Trump for only sending federal troops to blue states, despite red states having more crime.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tongue-tied-johnson-stumbles-as-newsom-rubs-in-louisianas-higher-crime-rates

Raw Story: Governor warns Trump allies: justice will catch up to those aiding his crimes

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a pointed warning Sunday to Republicans aiding Donald Trump’s efforts to weaponize the federal government against political enemies, vowing they will be held accountable once power shifts. Citing Trump’s threats to send troops into Chicago, Pritzker said history shows justice can be delayed but not denied, and reminded allies that Trump has little loyalty to those who break the law for him. Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Pritzker declared that the arc of justice “doesn’t bend on its own” — and promised to help force it there if necessary.

Read the full story here.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2673925335

Alternet: ‘Rejecting the Trump agenda’: Shockwaves as Dem scores double-digit victory in red district

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Democratic strategists are celebrating the outcome of an Iowa State Legislature race, hoping that it is a sign of things to come in the 2026 midterms and some key gubernatorial elections this year in Virginia and New Jersey.

In a special election for an Iowa State Senate seat held on Tuesday, August 26, Democrat Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch by roughly 10 percent.

The race’s outcome is generating a lot of discission on X, formerly Twitter.

The conservative group Republicans Against Trump tweeted, “JUST IN: Democrat Catelin Drey wins Iowa’s SD-01, 55% to 45%, a district Trump carried by 11.5% in 2024, breaking the GOP super-majority.”

KrassenCast journalist Brian Krassenstein wrote, “She won by 10 points. Trump won the district by 11.5 points A 20+ point swing! The tides are turning.”

Attorney Jordan Rhone commented, “WOW: Catelin Drey just flipped an Iowa Senate seat from red to blue — and ended the GOP supermajority. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.”

Author Scott Crass argued, “I will concede that Kim Reynolds might share some of the blame as opposed to just Trump. But that all the more drives home the point. That Iowans of all stripes are unhappy with how the GOP has governed.”

X user Deepak Kuman posted, “Big win Flipping a deep red district shows people are rejecting the Trump agenda and choosing real progress.”

Another X user, Francis Patano, tweeted, “This Iowa victory didn’t just happen. Shoutout to Catelin Drey, the incredible teams at @SenateMajority & the @iowademocrats, and thousands of Iowans being sick and tired of being sick and tired. No such thing as a permanently red state.”

https://www.alternet.org/catelin-drey-trump

Newsweek: ICE detains dad of four “awaiting green card interview”

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A Russian immigrant said to be awaiting a green card interview is being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after Russian authorities allegedly issued an Interpol request for his arrest, according to a GoFundMe set up by his family.

Aleksei Levit—who escaped persecution in his home country some eight years ago, including a purported assassination attempt, per the GoFundMe—is being held at the Dodge Detention Center in Juneau, Wisconsin, according to ICE records.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Newsweek: “Aleksei Levit, an illegal alien from Russia, entered the United States on March 13, 2017, on a B2 tourist visa. He overstayed the visa and remained in our country illegally.

“Over the past eight years, he never applied for a green card. ICE arrested him on July 31, 2025, and placed him in removal proceedings. All of his claims will be heard before a judge. Under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem, criminals are not welcome in the U.S.”

Newsweek reached out to Levit’s wife via the GoFundMe page.

Why It Matters

Levit’s case spotlights the Trump administration’s broader illegal immigration crackdown, which includes apprehending nonviolent individuals who lack the proper credentials to remain in the United States.

His family claims he was never provided with green card interviews for the majority of the last decade.

In February, a lawsuit was filed against ICE representing 276 immigrants from ex-Soviet countries, including Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan, who claimed that they were detained and locked up for extended periods of time, violating federal law and internal policies, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.

In June, ICE reported its arrest of a 39-year-old, Tajikistan-born Russian national in Philadelphia who was wanted overseas for being suspected of being a member of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

What To Know

Levit and his Slinger, Wisconsin-based family, which includes his wife and four children (ages 8, 6 and 4-year-old twins), fled Russia over eight years ago to seek asylum in the U.S. due to Levit “facing persecution for refusing to participate in corrupt practices,” according to a GoFundMe started by his wife. It’s unclear from where that claim is derived.

As of Wednesday morning, $1,650 had been raised of its goal of $5,500.

The husband and father has been detained for over three weeks. Photos show him wearing a hard hat and safety gear as part of his job. The job title was never mentioned.

“As a dedicated public servant, he always upheld the values of honesty and integrity,” the GoFundMe states. “However, this commitment came at a devastating cost. Our family was forced to leave behind a life we cherished, filled with love and hope, as threats, searches and even an assassination attempt made it clear that our safety was in jeopardy.

“The fear for our lives pushed us to start anew in a foreign land, without connections and with limited English. We faced countless challenges, losing everything multiple times, yet we persevered.”

“For over eight years, we have been waiting for our Green Card interviews, living and working legally, and contributing to our community,” the page says.

The crowdfunding campaign alleges that Levit was taken into custody “in handcuffs and chains, without explanation” as he left for work one day. It also alleges that Russian authorities issued an Interpol request for his arrest, seeking to deport him back to a country “where he would face certain death or imprisonment for his beliefs.”

“The Russian government is relentless in its pursuit of those they deem undesirable, and they have taken away my beloved husband and the father of our four young children,” says the GoFundMe. “Throughout our time in the U.S., we had an attorney who was supposed to guide us and represent us, but on that fateful day he abandoned us, leaving us without support when we needed it most.

“We lost all the money we had paid him, and now we find ourselves in desperate need of funds to hire a new attorney.”

They added that “without legal representation, the odds are stacked against us,” saying that individuals in his position who lack counsel “almost always lose.”

What People Are Saying

On Tuesday, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Newsweek: “A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) presenting at a U.S. port of entry with criminal convictions may be found inadmissible, placed in removal proceedings, and subject to mandatory detention.”

What Happens Next

Levit’s future remains unknown as the family continues to attempt to hire legal representation in his case.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-immigration-green-card-detention-father-russia-2120121