Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

Fortune: How retail giant Home Depot is preparing employees for ICE raids

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In response to these raids, Home Depot has issued new guidance to employees about what they should do if ICE shows up, Bloomberg first reported. Home Depot confirms to Fortune that store employees are required to report any ICE-involved incident as soon as it happens. Workers across the chain have been reminded to avoid interactions with agents for their own safety. And regional store leaders at locations impacted by raids in Los Angeles are allowing workers who feel disturbed by the raid to leave for the day with full pay, although that is not a corporate-wide policy.

“We are not alerted to any of these immigration enforcements ahead of time,” a spokesperson for Home Depot tells Fortune.

It’s likely that ICE sweeps across the country will continue, and even intensify, in the weeks and months ahead. Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday that ICE agents would “do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” 

How retail giant Home Depot is preparing employees for ICE raids
Companies may have to initiate new policies to handle an uptick in interactions with federal authorities.

https://fortune.com/2025/06/18/home-depot-employee-policies-focal-point-ice-raids

Fox News: Gavin Newsom launches Substack to fight ‘disinformation’

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Potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate launched his podcast, ‘This is Gavin Newsom,’ earlier this year

California Gov. Gavin Newsom already had a podcast. Now he has a Substack, too.

Newsom launched his own site Tuesday on the popular spot for independent journalists, calling it a way to “break through “the noise.”

“We have to flood the zone and continue to cut through the right-wing disinformation machine,” he wrote in the post that was accompanied by a video of the governor speaking.

“There’s so much mis and disinformation out there, there’s so much noise, I don’t need to tell you that,” Newsom said. “The question is, how do we break through all of that noise and engage in real conversations? And that’s why I’m launching on Substack. I hope you’ll follow me so we can continue to engage in a two-way conversation at this critical moment in our history.”

Gavin Newsom launches Substack to fight ‘disinformation’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching a Substack amid his battle with President Donald Trump over deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles over anti-ICE raids.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/gavin-newsom-launches-substack-fight-disinformation

Associated Press: California senators demand Trump immigration officials stop using Medicaid data

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California’s two U.S. senators demanded on Wednesday that the Trump administration stop using personal data of millions of Medicaid enrollees — including their immigration status — as part of its sweeping deportation campaign.

In a letter to top administration officials, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla expressed alarm over an Associated Press report last week that detailed how deportation officials had obtained the sensitive data over the objections of career health officials. They wrote that health officials needed to stop sharing the information and that the Department of Homeland Security should “destroy any and all such data” it had obtained.

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The AP reported that CMS transferred the data last week to DHS officials. Internal CMS records obtained by the AP showed the Medicaid agency fought the request, arguing that sharing the data would violate rules and federal law. Trump appointees overruled them, giving CMS a 54-minute deadline to share the information with DHS, according to emails obtained by AP.

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“We are deeply troubled that this administration intends to use individuals’ private health information for the unrelated purpose of possible enforcement actions targeting lawful noncitizens and mixed status families,” the senators wrote.

California senators demand Trump immigration officials stop using Medicaid data
The Trump administration’s decision to provide deportation officials with personal data — including the immigration status — on millions of Medicaid enrollees prompted two California U.S. senators on Wednesday to demand that the data sharing “cease” and for Homeland Security officials to “destroy” t

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-medicaid-trump-deportation-padilla-schiff-california-a7a701026de1f954cfbdf545a7d91cb8

MSNBC: Stephen Miller is becoming a victim of his mass deportation policy’s success

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The chief architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy faces internal pushback as the effects of increased ICE raids become clear.

In a meeting last month, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tore into senior leaders at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, demanding a massive surge in arrests of undocumented immigrants. As ICE tried to comply with Miller’s orders, immigration activists and other concerned Americans launched a series of protests in defiance of the mass deportation agenda. But it was a different set of protests that got the attention of Miller’s boss, President Donald Trump.

Last Thursday, the administration abruptly paused raids and arrests at hotels, farms and restaurants, a stunning shift in priorities that was clearly contrary to Miller’s orders. But the change was short-lived. The Department of Homeland Security reversed that guidance Monday, according to The Washington Post, allowing the immigration raids on those industries to resume and letting Miller retake control of the policy that has been the focus of his years in both Trump administrations.

Since Inauguration Day, Miller has had carte blanche on immigration policy in his dual role as deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser. His insistence that ICE make 3,000 arrests per day kick-started a scramble from field offices to meet his demand. But as Vox’s Eric Levitz recently noted, Miller’s own strategy of deterrence at the border has led to a decline in the kind of encounters that would make it easy for ICE agents to rack up those numbers:

Over the past two months, America witnessed the largest decline in its foreign-born workforce since the pandemic in 2020. This contraction was driven partly by a collapse in unauthorized border crossings. Between January 2022 and June 2024, US Customs and Border Protection encountered an average of 200,000 people per month at America’s Southwest border. According to an analysis of government data from Deutsche Bank, that figure has fallen to just 12,000 people per month since Trump’s inauguration.

That has meant ICE has had to expand its list of targets to meet its quotas, including rounding up day laborers in Home Depot parking lots and field workers toiling on farms. The resulting climate of fear has scared more than just undocumented immigrants in these workforces. A Texas farmer recently told NBC affiliate KVEO of Brownsville, Texas, that within the last three weeks, there have been “zero people wanting to come out and be exposed to be able to be picked up whether they are legal or illegal.”

Opinion | Stephen Miller is becoming a victim of his own success
The chief architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy faces internal pushback as the effects of increased ICE raids become clear.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/stephen-miller-ice-deportation-rcna213491

WhoWhatWhy: Trump Silences Dissent in the Military

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Behind closed doors, the Trump administration is advancing a chilling project: silencing dissent, lowering intellectual standards, and purging independent oversight — all within what was the most powerful military in the world. 

Sound familiar? It’s Donald Trump’s playbook: Reward loyalty, punish competence — this time with an armed force, trained to kill, and stripped of oversight.

Military officers, legislators, legal scholars, and defense experts are raising alarms about a series of directives that appear to reshape the US armed forces — from a constitutionally grounded institution into a politically compliant weapon.

Trump Silences Dissent in the Military – WhoWhatWhy
With dissent punished, critical thinking suppressed, and standards lowered — the military becomes easier to control and less able to defend the Constitution. What orders will they follow?

Commonweal: Jacaranda Season in Los Angeles

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A letter from the anti-ICE demonstrations

Every June, I look forward to the blooming of the jacarandas. These quintessential Los Angeles trees line the streets, and gentle breezes send their lavender blooms falling gracefully to the pavement. It’s a sign that the Los Angeles summer will soon be in full swing, with outdoor concerts, plays, films, food festivals, sports, farmers markets, art crawls, swap-meets, flea markets, and family evenings spent eating tacos, desserts, and fresh fruit from street vendors. Families begin to plan their children’s summer stay-cations and celebrate their graduates with carne asadas (Mexican-style barbecue cookouts) and backyard and front-yard parties that fill the street with laughter and music. This month, for the first time since the January fires, a peace began to settle in Los Angeles—until it was abruptly interrupted by federal agents.

What happened is well known: masked men in unidentifiable uniforms indiscriminately raiding streets, schools, businesses, and homes, refusing to spare even young Latino U.S. citizens from detention in their mass deportation roundups. In response to the understandable outrage and protests that followed, Trump—with dubious legality—sent in first the National Guard and then the Marines, inflaming the tense situation even further. Governor Gavin Newsom was exactly right when he said: “Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities, they’re traumatizing our communities, and that seems to be the entire point.” 

The misleading images of chaos and vandalism—perpetrated by a minority of the otherwise-peaceful protestors—that soon circulated through the news media failed to capture what life has been like here for the majority of Angelenos. Indeed, reporting has mostly neglected the fearful impact such a concentrated police and military presence has on people throughout the city.

…

Jacaranda Season in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, our protests have been acts of hope and courage, full of moments of joyful resistance expressed by dancing, singing, and blessings.

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/los-angeles-trump-ice-protests-national-guard-immigration

Latin Times: Fox News Accused of Adding Fake Applause During Trump Parade Live Stream: ‘They Had to Help Him Out’

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“Sound engineers pointing out in the comments that the applause is from an indoor audience on an outdoor event,” wrote one user

Social media users are ridiculing President Donald Trump and FOX News Channel after the network was accused of adding fake applause sounds to footage of the President’s military parade last weekend.

Users pointed out that footage of Trump’s remarks during the event which aired on FOX News was accompanied by applause sounds that didn’t sound correct for the setting. Furthermore, they pointed out that the footage of the same point in the event aired on other networks, such as PBS, was not accompanied by the same cheering.

“Sound engineers pointing out in the comments that the applause is from an indoor audience on an outdoor event,” wrote one user who reposted the video on Bluesky.

“I guess they had to help him out. The entire day was a fiasco. Too embarrassing,” commented one user.

Fox News Accused of Adding Fake Applause During Trump Parade Live Stream: ‘They Had to Help Him Out’
Social media users are ridiculing President Donald Trump and Fox News after the network was accused of adding fake applause sounds to footage of the President’s military parade last weekend.

https://www.latintimes.com/fox-news-accused-adding-fake-applause-during-trump-parade-live-stream-they-had-help-him-out-585089

Latin Times: Former Fox News Favorite Declares Network a ‘Propaganda Hose’ Aimed at Manipulating ‘Elderly’ Viewers

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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is accusing the network he once called home of operating as a “propaganda hose” aimed at manipulating its older viewers into supporting war, including the latest U.S. entanglement in Iran.

Carlson, once one of Fox News’ most influential and highest-rated personalities, has increasingly broken from the Trump-aligned right in recent months. His departure from the network in 2023 marked the beginning of a shift, with Carlson growing more outspoken against U.S. foreign policy, particularly military involvement in the Middle East.

Appearing on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Carlson condemned Fox News and its primetime personalities, most notably Sean Hannity, for cheerleading Israeli strikes on Iran and pushing for U.S. military involvement.

He called out what he described as the network’s deliberate effort to stir pro-war sentiment among “elderly” viewers.

“What they are doing is what they always do, which is just turning up the propaganda hose to full blast and just trying to knock elderly Fox viewers off their feet and make them subject to more wars,” Carlson said.

Former Fox News Favorite Declares Network a ‘Propaganda Hose’ Aimed at Manipulating ‘Elderly’ Viewers
Tucker Carlson turned on Fox News and Trump, accusing both of pushing war propaganda to manipulate elderly Americans.

https://www.latintimes.com/former-fox-news-favorite-declares-network-propaganda-hose-aimed-manipulating-elderly-viewers-585175

Latin Times: ‘It’s Going Overboard. It’s Too Much’: Some California Republicans Are Reacting To Trump’s Immigration Tactics

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Dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County told the Washington Post that even though they wanted the president to enforce immigration laws, it has gone “too far.”

Following days of protests in Los Angeles over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids, dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County are saying they wanted President Donald Trump to enforce immigration law, but that now it has gone too far.

The Washington Post recently spoke with four dozen people in the Antelope Valley, a closely divided region in the state about an hour north of Los Angeles, about their views on the administration’s handling of immigration. Some of them said they felt deceived over ICE seemingly targeting all migrants, not just criminals, as Trump promised on the campaign trail.

“It’s going overboard. It’s too much,” said Jesus Martinez, a 36-year-old aerospace worker, who initially supported the president’s decision to send the military to shut down immigration protests in his home state. A former Democrat, Martinez said he supported Trump in 2020 and sat out the 2024 election.

“They said only criminals, and now they’re saying, ‘well, they did come in illegally so they are criminals,'” he added. “Hispanics or Latinos that voted for Trump, they didn’t think he was going to go after kids.”

Others further explained that while they supported increased deportations for migrants with criminal records, they opposed the scope of mass deportation and ICE raids, and to a lesser extent, sending troops to crack down on protesters.

‘It’s Going Overboard. It’s Too Much’: Some California Republicans Are Reacting To Trump’s Immigration Tactics
Dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County told the Washington Post that even though they wanted the president to enforce immigration laws, it has gone “too far.”

https://www.latintimes.com/its-going-overboard-its-too-much-some-california-republicans-are-reacting-trumps-585245

Creators: Instead of Being Down About Trump, People Are Rising Up

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If the barrage of MAGA nuttiness and raw meanness is getting you down, ponder this passage from the classic novel, “Don Quixote”: “It is not possible for the bad or the good to last forever … and since the bad has lasted so long, the good is close at hand.”

Of course, the good only comes when fed-up people openly rebel against the bad. And, sure enough, President Donald Trump’s awful tyranny is revving up a majority movement for the common good.

Soaking in self-delusion, tyrants start sipping their own bathwater, thinking it’s champagne. So, today’s Washington MAGA moguls, drunk on narcissism, are imperiously rigging the rules so their clique can grab more wealth and power from the rest of us. Maybe they thought we commoners wouldn’t notice … or care. But we did and do, so the rebellion is on and gaining steam with nationwide protests and a surge in grassroots populist defiance.

Predictably, Trump & Co. is now resorting to the same losing tactic that panicky despots always fall back on — deploying police and military to subjugate the people. He has commanded the Army and Marines to shut down public protests. Then, posturing as a “strongman,” this 1960s draft dodger spent 45 million of our tax dollars to stage a made-for-TV, Stalin-style military parade on his birthday, letting him strut around as warrior-in-chief.

These are not shows of strength, but pathetic confessions of personal insecurity and presidential weakness. Sad. Don Quixote was right — the good is close at hand. So, to all of you in the growing democracy movement, keep pushing, push harder, push further! Thanks to you, we’re getting there. And we’ll get there sooner rather than later.

Instead of Being Down About Trump, People Are Rising Up, by Jim Hightower
If the barrage of MAGA nuttiness and raw meanness is getting you down, ponder this passage from the classic novel,

https://www.creators.com/read/jim-hightower/06/25/instead-of-being-down-about-trump-people-are-rising-up