Tag Archives: Trump Administration

Western Journal: Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate

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You almost wish Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would make congressional Democrats write it 100 times on the Capitol Hill blackboard: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are not for photo opportunities.”

However, she has issued guidance that works just as well: On Wednesday, the DHS released new restrictions that bar lawmakers from turning ICE facility visits into spectacles, including advance notice of the visit and limits on the detainees they can meet with individually.

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The new DHS guidelines require lawmakers to give ICE field offices 72 hours notice and their staff to give 24 hours notice before any visits.

Furthermore, if they want to meet with any of the inmates, they have to provide a list of who they want to speak to or give 48 hours notice to allow for the creation of a sign-up list for detainees who want to speak to lawmakers.

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Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi was the go-to guy for the freakout du jour when it came to DHS’ new visitation guidelines.

“There is no valid or legal reason for denying Member access to ICE facilities and DHS’s ever-changing justifications prove this,” said Thompson, who apparently lacks access to social media or this show on cable that airs 24 hours a day that some people like to call “the news.”

“To be clear, there is no agency or department that is ‘too busy’ for oversight. If ICE has nothing to hide, DHS must make its facilities available,” he said via a statement.

“Kristi Noem’s new policy to block congressional oversight of ICE facilities is not only unprecedented, it is an affront to the Constitution and Federal law. Noem is now not only attempting to restrict when Members can visit, but completely blocking access to ICE Field Offices — even if Members schedule visits in advance. No matter how much she and [President] Trump want to force us to live under their authoritarian rule, ICE is not above oversight and the Department must follow the law,” he added.

“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country, which are holding migrants — and sometimes even U.S. citizens — for days at a time. They are therefore detention facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time. DHS pretending otherwise is simply their latest lie.”

Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate
“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country,” one prominent Democrat said in response.
Noem Nails It: DHS Releases New ICE Visitation Rules Maxine Waters and Jerry Nadler Will Hate

Guardian: Ice’s ‘inhumane’ arrest of well-known vineyard manager shakes Oregon wine industry

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Friends and family of Moises Sotelo ‘disappointed and disgusted’ after respected fixture detained outside church

In the early morning hours of 12 June, Moises Sotelo woke up to go to work in the rolling hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country, a place he has called home for decades.

But this morning was not business as usual. A car tailed Sotelo as soon as he left his driveway, according to an account from his co-worker. Trucks surrounded him just outside of St Michael’s Episcopal church, where he was detained by federal immigration agents. By the end of the day, Sotelo was in an Ice detention facility.

“He was in chains at his feet,” Alondra Sotelo-Garcia told a local news outlet about seeing her father arrested. “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.”

His detention has sent shockwaves through the tight-knit Oregon wine community. Sotelo is a fixture of local industry – in 2020 he was awarded with the Vineyard Excellence Award from the Oregon Wine Board and in 2024 he established his own small business maintaining vineyards.

Left in the lurch is Sotelo’s family, the church he attends, the employees of his small business, the vineyards he works with and friends made along the way. Requests to Ice from family or attorneys regarding next steps in Sotelo’s detention are hitting dead ends.

Ice’s ‘inhumane’ arrest of well-known vineyard manager shakes Oregon wine industry
Friends and family of Moises Sotelo ‘disappointed and disgusted’ after respected fixture detained outside church

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/oregon-vineyard-manager-arrest-ice

Daily Beast: Trump Judge Gave Jew-Hating Neo-Nazi Coveted Academic Prize

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Prior to his suspension, Preston Damsky won an award for his paper arguing against voting rights for nonwhites.

The University of Florida has suspended one of its students over racist social media posts—but not before he won an award for a paper arguing the Constitution only protects non-whites.

The college placed Preston Damsky, a 29-year-old law student, on leave earlier after he posted a series of racist messages to his X account that included suggesting Jewish people should be “abolished by any means necessary,” The New York Times reports.

Before his suspension, Damsky had written a paper for one of his legal seminars in which he argued “We the People” in the Constitution should be understood as referring solely to white people, that voting rights ought to be revoked for non-whites, and that shoot-to-kill orders should be issued for “criminal infiltrators at the border.”

John L. Badalamenti, a sitting federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump, taught the class for which Damsky wrote that report. Badalamenti granted Damsky a “book award,” reserved for the seminar’s top student.

Trump Judge Gave Jew-Hating Neo-Nazi Coveted Academic Prize
Prior to his suspension, Preston Damsky won an award for his paper arguing against voting rights for nonwhites.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-judge-gave-jew-hating-neo-nazi-coveted-academic-prize

Robert Reich: The Dogs of War

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What’s really going on.

As a result, he’s probably getting decent advice about what’s good for Trump but not about what’s good for America or the world. It’s an inevitable consequence of purging from the government anyone more loyal to the United States than to him. Besides, Trump only listens to information he wants to hear.

1. Why is Trump taking us into war with Iran?

2. Is (or was) Iran building a nuclear weapon?

3. Is Trump getting good information and advice?

4. Will Iran now cave and agree to destroy its remaining stockpile of enriched uranium and allow inspectors to confirm that the stockpile is gone?

5. Have the bombings wiped out Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons?

6. What’s the worst Iran can now do to the United States in retaliation?

7. Will the American public “rally ‘round the flag” and support Trump in this war

8. Will he send in American ground troops?

9. What’s Congress likely to do now?

10. Bonus question: Where does the phrase “dogs of war” come from?

The Dogs of War
What’s really going on

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-dogs-of-war

SFGate: From San Diego to the Bay Area, California restaurants are on edge over immigration raids

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Brandon Mejia usually spends his weekends conducting a symphony of vendors serving pupusas, huaraches and an array of tacos at his two weekly 909Tacolandia pop-up events.

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But in the past week, that’s all come to a screeching halt. As the Trump administration ramps up immigration raids in California, some restaurants, worried about their workers or finding that customers are staying home more, are closing temporarily. Many street vendors are going into hiding, and some food festivals and farmers markets have been canceled.

Mejia called off all Tacolandia events last week. His mind raced about whether agents would come for his vendors as videos surfaced on social media of taqueros, farm workers and fruit vendors vanishing in immigration raids around LA and neighboring Ventura County.

“A lot of these vendors, their goal is to have restaurants. They want to follow the rules,” said Mejia, who was born and raised in San Bernardino in a family from Mexico City. But after conferring with vendors, they decided the risk was too high: “Some people have told me that their relatives have got taken, so I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

After a week of mass protests and more raids at farms, grocery stores and at least one swap meet, Mejia and many others remain on edge. Mejia said some small food businesses are getting desperate, trying to decide whether to risk reopening or stay closed while their own families grow hungry.

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From San Diego to the Bay Area, California restaurants are on edge over immigration raids

https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/from-san-diego-to-the-bay-area-california-20385093.php

CNN: Wife of Colorado attack suspect says she and her 5 children are ‘suffering’ in ICE custody

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The wife of an Egyptian man accused of carrying out an antisemitic attack in Colorado earlier this month says she was in “total shock” when she learned what her husband had allegedly done, detailing the “grieving and suffering” her family is enduring in after federal custody, in a statement released Wednesday.

Hayam El Gamal, 43, and her five children were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement two days after federal prosecutors say her husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, drove to downtown Boulder with a homemade flamethrower and Molotov cocktails and attacked demonstrators at a peaceful event to support Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring at least 12 people.

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But El Gamal says she and the children were not aware of Soliman’s plan to hurt innocent people.

“Why punish any of us, who did nothing wrong?” El Gamal said in the statement. “We are treated like animals by the officers, who told us we are being punished for what my husband is accused of doing.”

On June 3, El Gamal says she and her children were arrested, put on a flight in the middle of the night and transferred from Colorado to the Dilley Family Detention Center in southern Texas.

In the two weeks that have passed, El Gamal said her eldest daughter turned 18 in federal custody and her younger children – aged 4, 4, 7 and 15 – were “forced to watch officials rough-up” another detainee.

“They cried and cried, thinking they would be roughed-up, too,” El Gamal said. “How much longer will we be here for something we didn’t do?”

Conditions in the detention center are inhumane, according to El Gamal, who says detainees are always being watched and woken up in the middle of the night.

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“Now my seven-year-old is about to have her birthday in jail, and my fifteen-year-old, too,” El Gamal added. “All they want is to be home, to be in school, to have privacy, to sleep in their own beds, to have their mother make them a home-cooked meal, to help them grieve and get through these terrible weeks.”

And the legal basis for the family’s detainment?

The exact reason for the detention of Soliman’s wife and children is not clear, according to Eric Lee, the family’s immigration attorney based in Michigan.

The family entered the United States in August 2022, Lee told CNN Wednesday, before overstaying their visas. However, that’s not why they were detained, he said.

“The issue here is whether they can be detained when the government has explicitly stated that its reason for detaining them is not because their visa overstays, but is because of their family relationship to their husband/father,” Lee told CNN Wednesday.

Once detained, El Gamal and the children were placed under expedited removal, a process that allows immigration officials to remove noncitizens without a hearing before an immigration judge, Lee says.

At the time of their detention, DHS did not provide additional details on the expedited removal process.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said the agency is “investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.”

El Gamal has not been charged with a crime, according to Lee, who notes there is no legal basis for deporting Soliman’s family.

“The government can’t detain individuals for unlawful purposes,” Lee added.

Wife of Colorado attack suspect says she and her 5 children are ‘suffering’ in ICE custody | CNN
The wife of a man who told investigators he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people” when he threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators raising awareness of Israeli hostages.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/18/us/colorado-attack-suspect-family-ice-detention

Axios: Senate Democrats press Hegseth on domestic military deployment plan

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Senate Democrats on Wednesday demanded the Trump administration to share its plans to deploy active duty military in cities across the U.S.

President Trump’s decision to send active duty Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles following pro-immigrants’ rights protests sparked more demonstrations nationwide.

  • Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparked additional backlash after she said the goal is to “liberate” Los Angeles from its elected Democratic leaders during a press conference where Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed.
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that the Trump administration would not respect district court orders to disband troops, but that it would abide by a Supreme Court ruling.

“I have been deeply disturbed and alarmed by the use of active-duty troops, Marines in Los Angeles,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.

  • “And President Trump has made clear his intentions to continue to use the military to suppress dissent and likely inflame tensions there and elsewhere all under the guise of enforcing the law. What he’s doing may well be illegal.”
  • Hegseth pushed back on the claim that the deployments have been illegal, but he did not confirm whether contingency plans were in place for using military in other cities.

“I take it from your answer that you do have contingency plans for the use of military in other cities,” Blumenthal said.

Hegseth did not address Blumenthal’s request.

Hegseth is a slimy, slippery snake who will never give an honest answer to a direct question.

Senate Democrats press Hegseth on domestic military deployment plan
Blumenthal said he was “deeply disturbed and alarmed” after Marines were sent to Los Angeles.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/18/hegseth-senate-testimony-blumenthal-military-domestic-protests

Newsweek: Support for ICE flips

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Public opinion on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has undergone a dramatic shift, as new polling has revealed a reversal in support for the agency.

The polling comes after President Donald Trump sent 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to reported violence against law enforcement, specifically ICE agents carrying out deportation raids in the city amid protests of White House immigration policies.

Trump faced criticism over the decision to send in troops, as nationwide protests taking place over the weekend were attended by an estimated 4 to 6 million people, and polls show that public opinion about ICE may be shifting.

According to the latest YouGov/Economist poll, conducted between June 13 and June 16 among 1,512 adults, ICE’s net favorability rating currently stands at a net -5 points, with 42 percent holding a favorable opinion, and 47 percent holding an unfavorable opinion.

That is down from a week ago, when a survey by the same pollsters put ICE’s net favorability at +2 points, with 45 percent holding a favorable opinion, and 43 percent holding an unfavorable opinion.

Both polls had a margin of error of between plus or minus 3.3 and 3.5 percentage points.

Support for ICE flips
President Donald Trump’s recent approval ratings on immigration issues have also dropped.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-donald-trump-approval-rating-polls-immigration-2087184

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

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?