The Hill: [Bimbo #2] Noem on blocked ICE operations ruling: Judges are ‘getting too political’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem criticized a ruling from a federal judge that bars the Trump administration from using “unconstitutional” immigration enforcement efforts in parts of California, saying judges are “getting political” and that it is “not their job.”

During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” [Bimbo #2] Noem was asked about the Friday ruling from U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, an appointee of former President Biden. The order granted two temporary restraining orders preventing officials from targeting individuals for removal on the basis of race, language or employment and requiring the Department of Homeland Security to grant detainees access to legal counsel. 

“Well, this federal judge’s ruling is ridiculous. We never ran our operations that way,” [Bimbo #2] Noem said.

“We’ve seen this across the country over and over and over again, where judges are getting political. It’s not their job,” she added. “I hope they can bring some dignity back to the bench because we’re lacking it now for many of these federal judges.”

[Bimbo #2] Noem said the judge’s ruling is “wrong” and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not target individuals on the basis of race, language or employment, adding that they will win their case.

F*CK*NG LIAR!

“It’s been done exactly how law enforcement has operated for many years in this country, and ICE is out there making sure we get the worst off the streets,” she added. “So this judge made a decision that we will appeal and we will win, because he’s wrong. We’ve never targeted individuals based on those qualifications that he laid out.”

F*CK*NG LIAR!

Her statement follows a Fox News interview with President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who said that federal immigration agents do not need probable cause to detain people for a short period and that agents can “just go through the observations, get articulable facts, based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.”

“People need to understand, ICE officers and Border Patrol don’t need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them,” he said on “Fox & Friends” on Friday.

His statement comes weeks after protests in Los Angeles and surrounding areas erupted over an uptick in ICE raids.

Stupid sycophantic Trump suck-up!

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5398727-noem-ice-operations-ruling

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Major Increase in Non-Criminal Detainees by ICE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported an 800% rise in non-criminal detainees since President Donald Trump took office, reaching a record 51,302 by early June. Only 30% of those detained were convicted criminals. The data suggests immigration enforcement is increasingly targeting non-criminal offenses, which has fueled criticism from Democratic leaders.

Former ICE Director Sarah Saldaña said, “This push on numbers — exclusive of whether or not the job is being done right — is very concerning.”

Saldaña added, “You’re going to have people who are being pushed to the limit, who in a rush may not get things right, including information on a person’s status.”

After Trump took office, the number of non-criminal detainees rose sharply to 7,781. Presently, only four in ten individuals detained by ICE are convicted criminals, marking a 20 percent decline since January.

ICE operations have remained largely under the radar as enforcement has ramped up under the Trump administration. Internal records show only 10% of detainees were convicted of serious crimes, raising concerns about misclassification.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/major-increase-in-non-criminal-detainees-by-ice/ss-AA1HEBfp

People: Trump Threatens to Arrest 2 Political Opponents in Same Press Conference, Hours After Entertaining Elon Musk Deportation

President Donald Trump went on several tirades about former friends and political opponents alike on Tuesday, July 1, even threatening to jail a rising political star and a former Biden Cabinet member.

After touring a new detention facility for detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida, Trump sat down with reporters at “Alligator Alcatraz” to answer a few questions.

Asked about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — who had just officially earned the Democratic nomination on Tuesday — the president said, “A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally.”

Mamdani, 33, was born in Uganda and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018. He defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a major election upset as a self-described Democratic Socialist, which also earned Trump’s ire.

“We don’t need a communist in this country,” he said. “But if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation… We’re going to look at everything.”

Trump was also asked about Mamdani’s campaign promises to “stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.”

His response? “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him.”

Bubba is deranged, needs to be put out to pasture.

https://people.com/trump-threatens-arrest-2-political-opponents-in-same-press-conference-11764784

Independent: Not so fast, sir … One Capitol Hill bureaucrat stands in the way of Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Fourth of July

But on Thursday, the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, said the Republicans’ plan to cap a tax that states use to raise money for Medicaid did not pass the narrow rules of budget reconciliation, known as the “Byrd rule,” which determines what can be included in a reconciliation bill.

To make matters worse for Republicans, MacDonough’s office struck key parts of the immigration provisions in the bill. Specifically, she killed a $1,000 fee for anyone applying for asylum, a $100 minimum fee to advance a continuance in an immigration court, a $250 minimum fee to apply for the diversity visa lottery, a mandatory $400 processing fee for the same visa, a $5,000 minimum fee to sponsor a child who comes to the United States unaccompanied and money to expand the expedited removal of noncitizen immigrants arrested for crimes.

Oops! But somehow it did pass the Senate on July 2. 🙁

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/not-so-fast-sir-one-capitol-hill-bureaucrat-stands-in-the-way-of-trump-s-big-beautiful-fourth-of-july/ar-AA1HyLPz

The 19th News: Thousands of LGBTQ+ veterans were supposed to get pardons. A year later, only four have succeeded.

President Biden pledged to use his clemency powers to right ‘an historic wrong.’ Why did it fall so short of its promise?

The email came while James Harter was on vacation with his husband in Quebec City, Canada. He was checking his computer in their RV when he read the no-nonsense subject line: Certificate of Pardon.

He had no idea just how uncommon that email was ….

Fast forward one year:

Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have been erased under the new administration’s zeal to refocus the military on lethality. Thousands of transgender service members are being discharged and banned from serving. And the Pentagon is considering renaming ships, including the USNS Harvey Milk, named for the slain gay rights activist and veteran who was discharged over his sexuality, among other ships that don’t fit a “warrior” ethos. 

While The War Horse had previously reported on the low number of pardon applications for LGBTQ+ veterans, records disclosed last month by the Office of the U.S. Pardon Attorney are the first to reveal just how few have been granted: two from the Navy, one from the Air Force, and one from the Army.

What a difference a year makes, when bigots like Hegseth & Trump are now running the show.

https://19thnews.org/author/leah-rosenbaum-the-war-horse

CBS News: Judge finds Trump executive order punishing Susman Godfrey unconstitutional

A federal judge on Friday struck down President Trump’s executive order that sought to punish the law firm Susman Godfrey, ruling that it is unconstitutional and blocking the administration from enforcing it.

The decision from U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan caps an unbroken streak of victories for the four major law firms that were targeted by Mr. Trump as part of his efforts to go after his perceived enemies and chose to challenge his directives in court, rather than commit millions of dollars in free legal services, as nine other firms have done.

And if you’re looking for a law firm, pick one that stood up for themselves rather than sucking up to King Donald. Ask yourself, “Do I want someone who will actually represent me, or do I want a suck-up?”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-strikes-down-trump-executive-order-punishing-susman-godfrey-law-firm

Washington Post: Many here wanted Trump to enforce immigration law, but ‘it’s going overboard’

Interviews with more than four dozen people in this swing region encompassing northern Los Angeles County show how much tactics matter in the immigration debate.

Jesus Martinez, a 36-year-old aerospace worker, said he initially supported President Donald Trump’s decision to send the military to quell immigration protests in California. But he has grown increasingly uneasy after seeing images of ICE raids near schools and at workplaces where families are being separated.

“It’s going overboard. It’s too much,” said Martinez, a former Democrat who 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.”

In this working-class and heavily Latino area known for its wildflower blooms, a region that moved toward Trump in the 2024 election, voters from both parties voiced support for Trump’s promises to deport immigrants who are here illegally, especially those with criminal records. But they drew lines — some over the scope of those deportations and, to a lesser extent, over his decision to crack down on immigration protesters with the military.

“When you already have aggressive people and then you’re sending in people like that, I feel like it just makes it kind of worse,” said Christian Strand, a 19-year-old EMT from Palmdale, a majority-Latino city, referring to the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines. “It’s creating more of a pushback, because the aggression is rising.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/17/trump-california-immigration-voters

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/many-here-wanted-trump-to-enforce-immigration-law-but-it-s-going-overboard/ar-AA1GUEAR

Reuters: US judge blocks Trump passport policy targeting transgender people

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans nationwide that reflect their gender identities, after finding it was likely unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston issued a preliminary injunction that expanded an earlier order she issued in April that had stopped the U.S. State Department from enforcing the policy in the case of just six people.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-trump-passport-policy-targeting-transgender-people-2025-06-17

Washington Post: Trump accelerates push to reward loyalty in federal workforce

Many critics say the administration is scrapping a nonpartisan, merit-based civil service in favor of a biased, politicized system.

President Donald Trump is accelerating efforts to transform the nonpartisan, merit-based federal workforce into one that demands and rewards loyalty to the president, according to civil servants, public service experts and employment attorneys.

The ongoing shift would ditch decades-old rules that were intended to ensure that federal hiring, retention and promotion decisions are based largely on employees’ skills and experience, say the workers, experts and attorneys.

The House-passed budget proposal under consideration in the Senate would give new federal workers an ultimatum to accept “at-will” status — meaning they could be more easily fired — or pay a higher retirement contribution. The administration also unveiled a plan to require job applicants to write short essays describing how they plan to advance Trump’s priorities. And Trump has revived his previous efforts to reclassify thousands of federal employees and blur the line between political appointees and career professionals.

“These employees could be replaced with partisan loyalists — people who will obey any order, regardless of the Constitution,” said Joe Spielberger, senior policy counsel at the Project on Government Oversight. “This elevates loyalty to an individual president over the oath of office and the best interests of the public.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/16/trump-civil-service-loyalty-firings

Also here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-accelerates-push-to-reward-loyalty-in-federal-workforce/ar-AA1GN8nG

Independent: Popular Oregon vineyard owner arrested by ICE agents outside his church: ‘Everything was taken from him’

A popular Oregon vineyard owner was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody outside his church in Oregon on Thursday.

Moises Sotelo-Casas was detained outside of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Newberg, about 25 miles outside of Portland. His daughter, Alondra Sotelo-Garcia, told KGW8 that he’s now being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington.

She found out about her father’s detention when a neighbor spotted his truck and told her mother, she said. After confirming the car indeed belonged to her father, she tracked his location to an ICE detention facility in Portland and saw him later that day.

“I was crying, I was a mess,” she told the outlet. “He was in chains at his feet,” she said. “Shoelaces were taken off, his belt was off, he didn’t have his ring, he didn’t have his watch. Everything was taken from him.”

She said she understands that ICE is seeking to detain criminals, but reiterated that’s not who her father is.

The TV station said it couldn’t find any records for Sotelo-Casas.

Another family broken up to assuage the of egos Bimbo #2 Noem, Homan, Miller, etc., no criminal records to be found.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/oregon-vineyard-owner-ice-arrest-church-b2770978.html