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Daily Beast: MAGA Couple Regrets Trump Vote After Terrifying Border Patrol Stop

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The husband and wife, both citizens, were stopped on their way to a dentist appointment.

The joke’s on you, bubba!

What do you expect when you vote for a bigoted racist with 34 felony convictions?

Two Trump voters allege that Border Patrol agents racially profiled them after they were stopped and questioned on the way to the dentist.

George and Esmeralda Doilez, both U.S. citizens, were driving to an appointment in Southern California on Wednesday when a dark SUV started to follow them.

George told a San Diego NBC affiliate that the SUV put on a siren, pulled them over, and a group of masked Border Patrol agents got out to question them.

The Doilezes told NBC7 that they had been scoping out potential camping sites in the area on the way to the dental appointment.

George and Esmeralda voted for Trump in 2020, both of their first time voting, and again in 2024.

In a video of the interaction, a Border Patrol agent questions George through the car window.

“If you have a dentist appointment, it probably wasn’t the best idea to be out in the middle of nowhere,” the agent tells him.

“We have the right to travel anywhere we want to travel,” George says.

“You’re absolutely right, you do, and I actually have the right and authority to stop you,” the agent replies. “It’s called reasonable suspicion.”

The stated reason for the stop was that a “known alien” had been detected in the area, which is about 9 miles from the Southern Border. The agent said the Doilezes had aroused suspicion by making several U-turns.

But the couple said they thought the true rationale for the stop was their skin color.

“Why are we not allowed to be here? Because we’re not white? Our skin doesn’t match?” George told NBC7.

The agent called a K-9 unit, which detected a small amount of legally purchased cannabis in the car.

Citing that finding as probable cause, the agents searched George and Esmeralda’s car before letting them go about 30 minutes after the encounter began.

“I’m gonna go ahead and let you off with a warning,” the agent said after he told them he could have ticketed them for having marijuana.

In the wake of the incident, which left George “terrified” and his wife “shaking and crying,” the couple said that they regretted their votes for Trump.

“I feel shame, guilt, and anger at the same time because of the promises that he made that he lied to us about, going after the worst of the worst,” Georgesaid. “He lied on those and he stole our vote.”

Despite Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies dictating that the agency cannot lawfully detain U.S. citizens, the agencies have detained dozens of citizens—including an electrician in New York and a tow yard employee near Los Angeles—per CNN.

Echoing Doilez’s frustration with Trump’s promise to target the “worst of the worst,” internal ICE data obtained by NBC shows that about half of those in custody have been neither convicted nor charged with a crime.

“Complying is going to get you in a prison concentration camp,” George said. “That’s what it’s going to do eventually. Maybe it might be sooner than we all think.”

A spokesperson for Customs and Border Patrol said in a statement to the Beast that the incident was a “lawful stop based on reasonable suspicion” and that “the claim that the stop was based on racial profiling is baseless.”

“Border Patrol Agents acted within their legal authority throughout this incident and remained focused on CBP’s mission: securing the border,” the statement said.

MAGA Couple Regrets Trump Vote After Terrifying Border Patrol Stop
The husband and wife, both citizens, were stopped on their way to a dentist appointment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-couple-regrets-trump-vote-after-terrifying-border-patrol-stop

KTLA: 2 Los Angeles protesters charged with assaulting federal officers at immigration rally

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Resist ICE!

Support the resistance!

A federal grand jury has indicted two Southern California residents on charges that they allegedly assaulted federal officers during an anti-immigration enforcement protest last month outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

Erin Petra Escobar, 34, of the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles, is charged with one felony count of assault on a federal officer or employee and one misdemeanor count of depredation of government property. Nick Elias Gutierrez, 20, of Hawthorne, faces two felony counts: one for assault on a federal officer or employee, and another for assault on a federal officer or employee resulting in bodily injury.

The indictment alleges that on July 17, a small group of protesters gathered outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and United States Courthouse to protest recent immigration enforcement operations. Court documents allege that Escobar was seen using a permanent marker to write on and damage federal property. When officers approached to detain her, Gutierrez allegedly grabbed an officer’s bulletproof vest straps and shook him. During the struggle to detain Gutierrez, one officer dislocated his left ring finger.

Escobar and Gutierrez were eventually arrested. While being transported to a nearby holding cell, Escobar allegedly spat into the face of one of the officers, according to prosecutors.

Both defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on August 15 in United States District Court in Los Angeles. They are currently free on a $5,000 bond.

If convicted, Escobar faces a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison for the assault charge and up to one year for the depredation charge. Gutierrez faces up to 20 years for the assault resulting in injury count and a maximum of eight years for the assault charge.

The United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s General Crimes Section.

An indictment contains allegations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

2 Los Angeles protesters charged with assaulting federal officers at immigration rally
A federal grand jury has indicted two Southern California residents on charges that they allegedly assaulted federal officers during an anti-immigration enforcement protest last month outside a fed…

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/protesters-charged-assaulting-federal-officers-immigration-rally

KEYT: Nursing mother unlawfully detained by ICE, attorney says

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The attorneys for a nursing mother in the Twin Cities who has spent more than three weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody argue she is unlawfully detained and will petition in federal court on Tuesday for her release.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, 26, has two young children who are U.S. citizens and lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and was taken into custody on July 17. Gloria Contreras Edin and Hannah Brown, who are representing her pro bono, submitted a writ of habeas corpus petition challenging her continued detention.

They argue she should be released on bond in accordance with an immigration judge’s earlier decision on July 31, to which the Department of Homeland Security filed an automatic stay, which has kept her in the Kandiyohi County Jail.

“I’ve had over 1,000 cases before the immigration courts, and in all of my years and in all of my experience, I haven’t seen anything like this before, especially when someone is lactating, has small baby at home, no criminal history, and then being detained for so long,” Contreras Edin said in an interview. “It just goes against ICE’s policies. It just seems wrong.”

There is a hearing on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in St. Paul seeking emergency relief. In court filings, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Maldonado’s detention is “fully supported by statute, regulation and the Constitution” and that “her detention is lawful because she is an applicant for admission who is not ‘clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted’ to the United States,” writing that Maldonado “herself does not claim that she has lawful status to remain in the United States.”

The government is asking the judge to reject the motion for a temporary restraining order.

“We should respect the fact that our country can and should enforce immigration laws. I think that’s important,” Contreras Edin said. “But I also think that we should recognize an element of humanitarian interests and concerns, right? We don’t want a US citizen baby being deprived of his mother’s milk. This is about a mother and a baby.”

Maldonado came to the U.S. as a teenager in 2017 and had a removal order in 2019 for failing to attend a hearing. But an immigration judge reopened her case last year after finding she wasn’t given notice of that court appearance, her attorney said.

Since then, she has been doing “everything right,” Contreras Edin explained, and filed for asylum, obtained work authorization and has no criminal history. Her arrest on July 17 came as a surprise.

“In my practice during removal proceedings, someone like Ms. Maldonado would have normally been released on a bond and then proceed with a non-detained docket, and would have been allowed to appear before an immigration judge while being able to be with her family and her children,” she said.

Contreras Edin described her client as depressed and distraught and said she has to pump breast milk and dump it in the sink.

“She’s imagining the wailing of her baby every night, and that’s what she goes to bed to, and now her milk is turning green,” she said.

Her children are currently staying with relatives.

When asked about Maldonado’s case, a spokesperson for ICE provided the following statement to WCCO: “By statute, we have no information on this person.”

Contreras Edin said she is hopeful a judge will authorize the release of Maldonado, pointing to a similar case involving a Turkish graduate student at the University of Minnesota who was detained by ICE and later released.

Nursing mother unlawfully detained by ICE, attorney says | News Channel 3-12
By Caroline Cummings Click here for updates on this story TWIN CITIES, Minnesota (WCCO) — The attorneys for a nursing mother in
Nursing mother unlawfully detained by ICE, attorney says

NBC News: U.S. citizen detained by ICE in L.A. says she wasn’t given water for 24 hours

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Andrea Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. The DOJ later dismissed her case.

A U.S. citizen who was detained by immigration agents and accused of obstructing an arrest before her case was ultimately dismissed said she is still traumatized by what happened.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Andrea Velez in downtown Los Angeles on June 24. She was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect.

The Justice Department dismissed her case without prejudice. It did not immediately reply to a request for comment Tuesday.

Velez, a production coordinator for a shoe company, recalled seeing federal agents when her mother and sister dropped her off at work.

“It was like a scene,” she told NBC Los Angeles. “They were just ready to attack and chase.”

Velez said someone grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. She said that she tried to tell the agent, who was in plainclothes, that she was a citizen but that he told her she “was interfering with what he was doing, so he was going to arrest me.”

“That’s when I asked him to show me his ID, his badge number,” she said. “I asked him if he had a warrant, and he said I didn’t need to know any of that.”

A federal criminal complaint alleged that an agent was chasing a man and that Velez stepped into the agent’s path and extended her arm “in an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending the male subject he was chasing.”

The complaint said Velez’s arm hit the agent in the face.

Velez said she denied any wrongdoing and insisted she was a U.S. citizen. She was taken to a detention center in downtown Los Angeles, where she gave officers her driver’s license and her health insurance card, but she was still booked into jail, she said.

She said she spent two days in the detention center, where she had nothing to drink for 24 hours.

Velez said that the ordeal traumatized her and that she has not been able to physically return to work.

“I’m taking things day by day,” she told NBC Los Angeles.

Her attorneys told the station that they are exploring legal options against the federal government.

Her story echoes those of others who have said they were wrongfully detained by immigration agents under President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.

Job Garcia, a Ph.D. student and photographer, said he was immigration agents tackled him and threw him to the ground for recording a raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles. He was held for more than 24 hours before his release. In July, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said it was seeking $1 million in damages, alleging that Garcia was assaulted and falsely imprisoned.

In June, a deputy U.S. marshal was briefly detained in the lobby of a federal building in Tucson, Arizona, because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE,” the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.

And in May, Georgia college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal was granted bond after she was detained by immigration agents after local police pulled over the wrong car during a traffic stop.

U.S. citizen detained by ICE in L.A. says she wasn’t given water for 24 hours
Andrea Velez was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. The DOJ later dismissed her case.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna224493

Democracy Now: Community Organizer Slams “Fascist ICE Agents” After Arrest of U.S. Citizen Documenting Raids

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Click one of the links below to read the transcript.

Community Organizer Slams “Fascist ICE Agents” After Arrest of U.S. Citizen Documenting Raids
As immigration raids and arrests continue to terrorize communities across the United States, we look at grassroots efforts to fight back. ICE has faced widespread backlash over the arrest of community advocates swept up while documenting raids across the country, many of them U.S. citizens. In Los Angeles, nurse and community activist Amanda Trebach was released from federal custody this weekend without criminal charges, after she was violently arrested early Friday morning while recording the operations of federal immigration agents in the area. Trebach, who is part of the community group Unión del Barrio, was released Saturday after intense community pressure.
“This is just another example of the Trump administration and their fascist ICE agents — or whoever they are, because they’re unidentified — violating the rights and breaking the law that they’re supposed to protect,” says Ron Gochez, an organizer with Unión del Barrio.

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/11/los_angeles

Law & Crime: ‘It violates my order’: Federal judge calls out DOJ for making ‘completely novel’ pro-Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba argument he specifically didn’t want to hear yet

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Though he refused to dismiss a drug-trafficking indictment, a federal judge said he wants to hear more about whether U.S. Attorney General Pam [“Bimbo #3”] Bondi unlawfully reappointed acting U.S. Attorney Alina [“Bimbo #4”] Habba to her role, opening the door to scrutiny of the Trump administration’s method of apparently sidestepping a court and the U.S. Senate’s blocking of certain nominations.

Chief U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Matthew Brann, sitting by designation in the criminal cases of Julien Giraud Jr. and Julien Giraud III after the New Jersey district court declined to appoint [“Bimbo #4”] Habba itself upon the expiration of her 120-day acting limit, decided Friday that the Girauds were “not entitled to dismissal.” At the same time, the defendants made a persuasive enough case for “additional argument regarding the legality of Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s appointment” and the authority of the assistant U.S. attorneys under her command or supervision.

“I begin with dismissal of the indictment, which I conclude is not available, and then turn to injunctions against Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba and anyone acting under her authority, which I conclude would be appropriate if the Girauds prevail on the merits,” the judge wrote.

Regarding dismissal, Brann determined that the Girauds could not credibly argue their indictment, obtained through the Senate-confirmed then-U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, is “somehow retroactively taint[ed]” by Habba’s appointment, whether or not that was lawful.

But the Girauds can still make their best pitch for blocking Habba, and her assistants, from prosecuting them going forward.

“The Girauds argue in the alternative that Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba should be enjoined from prosecuting their case, and that any AUSAs acting under her supervision be similarly barred. As discussed in the previous section, the Court generally agrees that this remedy would be the appropriate response to the constitutional and statutory violations the Girauds claim,” the judge wrote. “This relief raises two questions: (1) can the Court bar Ms. [“Bimbo #4”] Habba from participating in the Girauds’ prosecution, and (2) does a bar on Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s participation extend to AUSAs?”

“As to the first question, I conclude that the answer is yes,” Brann added.

The answer to the second question, about [“Bimbo #4”] Habba’s AUSAs, was more nuanced. Brann indicated he would not go so far as to block the whole office from prosecuting, but that he could when these prosecutors “do so under Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s authority” — again, if her reappointment was illegal.

“To be clear, the Court is not suggesting that it might impose the ‘officewide disqualification’ the Government fears,” the judge said. “Instead, the Court agrees that a valid remedy for the violations the Girauds’ assert, if I find that they occurred, may be to bar AUSAs from engaging in prosecutions when they do so under Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s authority.”

The line prosecutors or a higher-up DOJ official could still legally come to court under AG [“Bimbo #3”] Bondi’s authority, with [“Bimbo #4”] Habba in effect recusing herself and not putting her name and title on any filings, Brann said.

“The Court sees no reason why AUSAs acting directly under the delegated authority of Ms. [“Bimbo #3″] Bondi, or possibly another Department of Justice official with sufficient authority to extend Ms. Bondi’s powers to AUSAs in New Jersey, would need to be disqualified,” he explained. “Moreover, so long as it is clear that they are acting under Ms. [“Bimbo #3”] Bondi’s—and not Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba’s—authority (essentially a temporary recusal until this matter is resolved), there would appear to be no issue with all of District of New Jersey’s AUSAs moving prosecutions forward now.”

Along the way, even as the judge blasted as “misplaced” the Girauds’ challenge of Habba’s authority for relying on U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s Appointments Clause-based dismissal of special counsel Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago prosecution of Trump, Brann also had some stern words for the DOJ.

The judge noted that he had ordered both the defendants and the DOJ to submit briefs under the assumption that [“Bimbo #4”] Habba was unlawfully appointed, yet the DOJ included an argument that said [“Bimbo #4”] Habba was lawfully appointed one way or another.

Recall that in order to keep [“Bimbo #4”] Habba as acting U.S. attorney Trump pulled her nomination. [“Bimbo #4”] Habba resigned before her acting 120-day stint technically expired and before her first assistant Desiree Leigh Grace’s appointment by court as U.S. attorney became effective.

[“Bimbo #3”] Bondi promptly fired Grace and then reinstalled Habba, citing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act when naming Habba first assistant in the U.S. attorney’s office. At the same time, just in case anyone questioned that legal authority, Habba was named a “Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General” under a federal statute governing the commission of special attorneys, giving her the power to act as a U.S. attorney through another means.

Brann said the DOJ violated his order by citing the latter authority in support of [“Bimbo #4”] Habba, putting the proverbial “cart before the horse.”

“The Government’s argument to the contrary puts the cart before the horse. It argues that no remedy is available to the Girauds by simply rejecting the premise—which I ordered them to assume—that Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba has been illegally appointed, instead contending that she is legally exercising the powers of the United States Attorney through a delegation of the Attorney General’s power to conduct and supervise ‘all litigation to which the United States . . . is a party’ as a ‘Special Attorney’ or in her role as the First Assistant United States Attorney,” he wrote.

“But that is explicitly a merits argument: the Girauds are only entitled to no remedy if the Court finds that Ms. [“Bimbo #4”] Habba’s appointment as a Special Attorney is valid or that Ms. [“Bimbo #3″] Bondi can delegate a First Assistant a level of authority commensurate with the United States Attorney’s,” Brann continued. “Because it violates my Order, I do not consider the argument at this stage.”

The judge added that the DOJ’s maneuvering has “extreme implications that it openly embraces,” making a full briefing and oral argument on the “completely novel question” appropriate.

“[B]y using the Special Attorney designation and delegation, Ms. [“Bimbo #4″] Habba may exercise all of the powers of the United States Attorney without being subject to any of the statutory limitations on that office,” Brann wrote, summarizing the DOJ’s argument. “Whether the Attorney General may statutorily or constitutionally delegate all of the powers of a specific office created by separate statute and constrained by its own statutory limitations in order to evade those limitations is a completely novel question, and one that inherently implicates the Appointments Clause and thus the merits of the Girauds’ motion. I defer resolving it until it has been fully briefed.”

Federal judge dings DOJ for making pro-Alina Habba argument he specifically didn’t want to hear
Though he refused to dismiss an indictment, a judge said he wants to hear more about whether Pam Bondi unlawfully reappointed acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
‘It violates my order’: Federal judge calls out DOJ for making ‘completely novel’ pro-Alina Habba argument he specifically didn’t want to hear yet

Newsweek: Woman With Green Card Detained by ICE After 14 Years in US, Boyfriend Says

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A Colombian immigrant and green-card holder who has lived in Oklahoma for more than a decade and has American children has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to her boyfriend.

Newsweek reached out to ICE via email for comment.

A GoFundMe was recently created to help raise funds for legal fees pertaining to the detainment of Daniela Villada Restrepo, who lives in Oklahoma City and works in health care. She has three children, all born in the U.S. She is a lawful permanent resident, meaning she has a green card.

Why It Matters

Restrepo’s case underscores more widespread concerns by immigrants and attorneys warning caution about potential arrest and detainment, even to those without criminal records. Newsweek could not verify whether Restrepo has any type of criminal background.

President Donald Trump has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and immigrants residing in the country illegally and legally, with valid documentation such as green cards and visas, have been detained. Newsweek has reported dozens of cases involving green-card holders and applicants who were swept up in raids and various arrests.

What To Know

According to her boyfriend, Scott Sperber, ICE agents detained Restrepo on April 12 when she missed a mandatory mental health court appointment, incurring a warrant. ICE records show that she is being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, which Sperber claims is unable to provide her mental health therapy.

Her Facebook page says she is originally from Medellín, Antioquia, in Colombia.

“Daniela has since been held in an ICE detention center located in Alvarado, Texas, unable to complete her mental health therapy,” Sperber wrote on the GoFundMe page he started on July 23. “Prior to this detainment, Daniela has legally lived in America for almost 14 years. She was married to an American citizen for almost 10 years, and she has three children living in the United States that are American citizens.”

Newsweek reached out to Sperber via the GoFundMe page for comment.

As of the afternoon of August 4, the page had received just two donations totaling $80.

Sperber described his girlfriend as a “wonderful mother and wonderful companion who has had some trials in her life with abusive relationships. She has been fighting to heal and progress.”

She has worked for the Oklahoma State Health Department for nearly five years and as director of patient care services at The Bilingual Clinic PLLC, a business started by her ex-husband and father of her children.

“She is bilingual and has always strived to help provide the best care for those here in America with language barriers,” Sperber said. “She has a character that is caring and loving. Daniela wants, above all, to continue living here legally in the United States so she may care for her children and experience the joy of watching them grow up as any parent would.”

Daniela’s Facebook and Instagram accounts use the name “Daniela Deweber,” writing in a March post on Facebook: “Daniela Villada Restrepo is the name my parents gave me, Daniela Deweber is my married name.”

The GoFundMe was started by Sperber because of legal fees associated with Restrepo’s hopeful release, as well as limited funds due to multiple health situations.

What People Are Saying

ICE, on X on August 4: “ICE is targeting illegal aliens, not law-abiding citizens.”

What Happens Next

A lawyer has been hired in Restrepo’s case.

Sperber, who said he is just starting to recover financially following an automobile accident, is also his grandfather’s sole caregiver. The grandfather receives medical treatment for skin cancer.

“With all of these overbearing aspects of financial life at play, I do not have the adequate funds to pay for her legal fees, her awarded bond, nor to pay her attorney to continue the fight,” Sperber said. “Also, I don’t have adequate financial means to pay for all my grandfather’s health-related financial obligations.

“I am living day by day, one step at a time, and it has become so overwhelming I am finally choosing to ask for help.”

Woman with green card detained by ICE after 14 years in US, boyfriend says
The Oklahoma resident originally from Colombia was married to an American citizen and has three children living in the U.S.

https://www.newsweek.com/green-card-ice-immigration-detention-citizen-2108666

Newsweek: Nurse in US for 40 Years Self-Deports—’It’s Really Gotten Insane’

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Matthew Morrison, a 69-year-old Irish immigrant and nurse in Missouri who became an immigration example in the late 1990s, left for Ireland on July 21 after living in the United States for 40 years due to fears of removal by the Trump administration.

Why It Matters

Morrison’s self-deportation has brought further attention to the complicated realities faced by long-term undocumented immigrants in the U.S., especially those with historic convictions or high-profile political backgrounds. His case, uniquely tied to historic U.S.–Ireland relations, was previously referenced during the Clinton administration as part of U.S.’s efforts to support the Northern Ireland peace process.

Morrison’s departure also underscores the anxiety and uncertainty experienced by noncitizens who fear changes in immigration enforcement policies, particularly those perceived to be at higher risk during political shifts.

What To Know

Morrison worked for roughly 20 years as a psychiatric nurse supervisor in Missouri, including stints at a children’s hospital and several state mental health facilities. He also presented at the St. Louis County Police Academy on topics including mental health and de-escalation tactics.

He told The Marshall Project that he voluntarily left the U.S. due to fear of detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under President Donald Trump‘s administration.

“I would bite the dust in an ICE holding cell,” Morrison said prior to going home to Ireland. “There is nothing to stop them from deporting me to Ecuador, South Sudan or whatever. It’s really gotten insane here. It’s crazy what they are doing now, the Trump administration. You know what I mean?”

Morrison told The Marshall Project that although his work authorization expires in October, he didn’t want to spend the next few months in anxiety worrying about being deported.

On July 21, he and his wife reportedly boarded a one-way flight from Cleveland to Dublin and left behind a life in the St. Louis area that includes grown children, grandchildren and friends.

“I’ve come full circle,” Morrison said. “I came here as an immigrant and I am leaving as an immigrant, despite everything in between. The whole thing is a crazy, stressful situation.”

Morrison first arrived in the U.S. in the mid-1980s after serving time in prison in Northern Ireland due to his involvement with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during “The Troubles.”

In 1985, he married his American pen pal, Francie Broderick, and had two children, Matt and Katie. Morrison later remarried to his current wife, Sandra Riley Swift.

He once served as a symbolic figure in American–Irish diplomacy. The former member of IRA previously spent 10 years in prison, convicted of attempted murder in a 1976 raid on a British barracks. Other ex-IRA men, all in the New York area, faced deportation for similar reasons.

In 1995, Morrison’s wife flew to Belfast while President Bill Clinton was in the region, attempting to garner his attention and protect him from deportation, according to the Associated Press. By 1997, the family received more than $70,000 in donations to help with legal fees.

The case for Morrison and others like him drew support from local and international lawmakers, notably due to IRA members being characterized by the U.S. government as terrorists.

The Missouri Legislature passed a resolution in 1996 urging the Immigration and Naturalization Service to drop deportation proceedings against him. Members of the Derry City Council in Northern Ireland followed suit across party lines, approving a resolution urging Clinton to suspend his deportation.

Morrison’s struggle won support from countless Americans, including neighbors in this suburban St. Louis community to state legislators to members of Congress.

The Irish Northern Aid, a nonprofit organization that helps families of Irish political prisoners, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians also have come to his defense.

In 2000, the Clinton administration ultimately terminated the deportation process against Morrison and five others. Then-Attorney General Janet Reno said in a statement that she had been advised by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to drop deportation proceedings to “support and promote the process of reconciliation that has begun in Northern Ireland.”

Clinton at the time said the termination was “in no way approving or condoning their past criminal acts.” However, the ex-president echoed the sentiment of contributing to peace in Europe.

What People Are Saying

Matthew Morrison’s son, Matt, 37, to The Marshall Project about his father’s scheduled check-in with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in June in St. Louis: “We were terrified that they were just going to take him right there…He has to live under that fear of somebody knocking on the door and dragging him out of the house, just like they did in Derry when he was young. I hate it. I am just worried about him. Until recently, I hadn’t heard him cry about it.”

Morrison’s daughter, Katie, to The Marshall Project: “Even though he’s still alive, I feel like I am grieving. It’s a huge loss for me and my children.”

What Happens Next?

Swift has a house in St. Charles, Missouri, as well as family in the U.S., The Marshall Project reported. After helping Morrison transition into an apartment in the town where he grew up, she wrote in a social media post that she’s going to travel between both countries for a while.

Nurse in US for 40 years self-deports—“It’s really gotten insane”
“I’ve come full circle,” Matthew Morrison said. “I came here as an immigrant and I am leaving as an immigrant, despite everything in between.”

https://www.newsweek.com/immigration-deportation-ice-nurse-irish-army-2108527

Newsweek: Trump administration announces major tourist visa change

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The State Department is proposing a rule requiring some business and tourist visa applicants to post a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, a step critics say could put the process out of reach for many.

According to a notice set for publication on Tuesday in the Federal Register, the department plans a 12‑month pilot program targeting applicants from countries with high visa overstay rates and weak internal document security.

Under the plan, applicants could be required to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 when applying for a visa.

Why It Matters

This move marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and revisits a controversial measure briefly introduced during Trump’s first term.

A previous version of the policy was issued in November 2020, but was never fully enacted due to the collapse in global travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. That version targeted about two dozen countries, most of them in Africa, with overstay rates exceeding 10 percent.

What To Know

The new visa bond program will take effect on August 20, according to documents reviewed by Newsweek and a notice previewed Monday on the Federal Register website. The Department of Homeland Security says the goal is to ensure the U.S. government doesn’t incur costs when a visitor violates visa terms.

“Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure and who are nationals of countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering citizenship by investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot program,” it said.

Under the plan, U.S. consular officers can require a bond from visa applicants who meet certain criteria. This includes nationals of countries with high visa overstay rates, countries with deficient screening and vetting, and those that offer citizenship-by-investment programs, particularly where citizenship is granted without a residency requirement.

Visitors subject to the bond will receive it back upon leaving the U.S., naturalizing as a citizen, or in the event of death. If a traveler overstays, however, the bond may be forfeited and used to help cover the costs associated with their removal.

Citizens of countries in the Visa Waiver Program are exempt, and consular officers will retain the discretion to waive the bond on a case-by-case basis.

What Countries Could End Up Being Affected

The U.S. government has not provided an estimate of how many applicants may be affected. However, 2023 data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that countries with particularly high visa overstay rates include Angola, Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cabo Verde, Burkina Faso, and Afghanistan.

The list of affected countries will be published at least 15 days before the program begins and may be updated with similar notice. In the 2020 version of the pilot, countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen were included.

What People Are Saying

The public notice stated: “The Pilot Program will help the Department assess the continued reliance on the untested historical assumption that imposing visa bonds to achieve the foreign policy and national security goals of the United States remains too cumbersome to be practical.”

Andrew Kreighbaum, a journalist covering immigration, posted on X: “It’s getting more expensive for many business and tourist travelers to enter the U.S. On top of new visa integrity fees, the State Department is imposing visa bonds as high as $15,000.”

What Happens Next

Visa bonds have been proposed in the past but have not been implemented. The State Department has traditionally discouraged the requirement because of the cumbersome process of posting and discharging a bond and because of possible misperceptions by the public.

There’s always a country that wants your money — go where you’re wanted and the heck with Amerika!

Trump administration announces major tourist visa change
The State Department says the measure is intended to ensure the government does not incur costs if a visitor violates visa terms.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-admin-visas-tourist-business-major-change-2108642

SFGATE: Calif. cannabis farm breaks silence weeks after deadly ICE raid

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Glass House Brands released its first public comment Monday since the California company faced a violent raid from federal authorities last month that left one man dead and hundreds arrested. 

On July 10, federal agents searched two of the company’s Southern California cultivation facilities — one in Ventura County and one in Santa Barbara County — in an operation that quickly descended into chaos. Officers fired tear gas inside the facilities and searched for immigrants as hundreds of protesters gathered outside to protest the Donald Trump administration’s action. One worker fell from a green house and later died, marking the first known death in Trump’s immigration crackdown. 

Following the raid, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had arrested at least 361 people suspected of being in the country illegally, as well as 14 “migrant children,” although the agency hasn’t shared any court documentation behind those figures. 

Glass House, one of California’s largest legal cannabis companies, had not issued any public comment in the weeks following the raid other than a post to X on July 11 confirming it was being raided. 

On Monday, the company broke its silence with a news release that outlined details of the operation, including that nine company employees were detained or arrested. The company said any other people arrested would have been employed by farm labor companies that provide employees for the farm, which is a common practice at agricultural facilities.

Glass House said that it has not been able to determine the identities of the alleged minors but said that if minors were at the facility “none of them were Glass House employees.”

There has been widespread fear in the cannabis industry that federal agents could have been conducting a much broader operation investigating the cultivation of marijuana itself, which is still federally illegal and could lead to federal criminal charges against the company and its staff. Video apparently taken during the raid and posted to social media showed a federal agent saying, “This is not an immigration raid.”

Monday’s news release countered that narrative, saying the raid was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that the search warrant was authorized specifically for “evidence of possible immigration violations.” Glass House said that “very few documents were seized pursuant to the search warrant.”

The company did not say if its farming operations have been delayed or stalled, which could strike an economic blow to the public company during the summer harvest season, but did say it has since improved its labor practices to comply with federal immigration law, increased age controls for anyone entering its farms, and signed a labor peace agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The company had previously been accused of working with a “fake union” that never attempted to unionize or represent any employees at the company.

Calif. cannabis farm breaks silence weeks after deadly ICE raid
The raid marked the first death in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/calif-cannabis-farm-breaks-silence-ice-raid-20800994.php