Tag Archives: united states

Guardian: A hidden measure in the Republican budget bill would crown Trump king

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The bill could stop federal courts from enforcing their rulings, eliminating any restraint on Trump

Robert Reich

So what’s the next step? Will the supreme court and lower courts hold the administration in contempt and enforce the contempt citations?

Trump and his Republican stooges in Congress apparently anticipated this. Hidden inside their Big Ugly Bill is a provision intended to block the courts from using contempt to enforce its orders. It reads:

“No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued …”

Translated: no federal court may enforce a contempt citation.

The measure would make most existing injunctions – in antitrust cases, police reform cases, school desegregation cases and others – unenforceable.

Its only purpose is to weaken the power of the federal courts.

…

But the provision inside the bill that neuters the federal courts is even worse. It would remove the last remaining constraint on Trump, and thereby effectively end American democracy.

A hidden measure in the Republican budget bill would crown Trump king | Robert Reich

The bill could stop federal courts from enforcing their rulings, eliminating any restraint on Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/27/a-hidden-measure-in-the-republican-budget-bill-would-crown-trump-king

The Daily Yonder: ICE Returns to Intimidation Tactics from the First Trump Term

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Immigration agents target community organizers involved in protecting the rights of farm workers. Activists say the tactics are meant to undermine the trust of migrants in organizations trying to help them.

Early one late March morning, Farmworker activist and union leader Alfredo Juarez Zeferino was taking his partner to her job on a tulip farm in the picturesque Skagit Valley, Washington, when the couple was stopped by immigration enforcement.

According to reporting in The Stranger, Zeferino called Rosalinda Guillen, a long-time organizer and founder of Community to Community (C2C), at 7:23 am on March 25, 2025. In the background, she could hear Zeferino’s partner crying as Zeferino told ICE officers to leave her alone, before the chaotic phone call abruptly ended. 

Zeferino was arrested that day and has remained in a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, despite the efforts of activists and legal aid.

At 25, Zeferino is already an accomplished organizer; he was a founding member of local farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, won a Peacemaker Award from the Whatcom Peace & Justice Commission, and sat on the now-defunct Bellingham Immigration Advisory Board. 

Zeferino’s detention seems to be a part of a pattern of targeted immigration enforcement against immigration labor movement leaders. Fabiola Ortiz Valdez, the director of organizing for the Food Chain Workers Alliance, an organization that connects immigrant labor organizers across the US and Canada, has seen an increase in immigration and labor activist detentions by immigration officials.

“We have seen ICE and immigration enforcement targeting workers; we also see harsher targeting for organizers as well,” Ortiz Valdez said, adding “I think that our members and organizations understand that the immigration laws in this country have always meant to do what they’re doing right now, which is create a more exploitable workforce within the United States. So it’s not surprising, but it’s definitely very alarming.”

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Migrant Justice filed a lawsuit in 2018 to stop the targeting. In 2020, they settled successfully with ICE, which dropped their deportation cases against the plaintiffs, paid restitution, and committed to not targeting Migrant Justice and its membership in the future.

But apparently they are still doing exactly that!

ICE Returns to Intimidation Tactics from the First Trump Term | The Daily Yonder

Early one late March morning, Farmworker activist and union leader Alfredo Juarez Zeferino was taking his partner to her job on a tulip farm in the
ICE Returns to Intimidation Tactics from the First Trump Term

Raw Story: This ‘lie detector test’ is being failed by Trump: expert

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The former chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers warned Monday that the bond markets are flashing red over Donald Trump’s economic agenda.

In a sharply worded MSNBC op-ed titled, “The Bond Market is an Economic Lie Detector Test,” Jared Bernstein, a Biden administration economist, argued that markets are reacting to “a toxic combination” of MAGA-inspired policies that threaten to both raise interest rates and slow growth.

Trump “is failing” the test, according to Bernstein, and “that’s bad news for your wallet,” he added.

This ‘lie detector test’ is being failed by Trump: expert

https://www.rawstory.com/bond-market

Variety: NPR Sues Trump Over Executive Order to Cut Funding: ‘Clear Violation of the Constitution’

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National Public Radio is suing President Trump, alleging his executive order seeking to cease all federal funding to NPR and PBS is a “clear violation” of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

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Trump on May 1 issued an executive order seeking to cut all federal funding to NPR and PBS, alleging they have engaged with “biased and partisan news coverage.” The order instructs the board of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting to “cease direct funding to NPR and PBS” to the “maximum extent allowed by law.”

Trump’s order “is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press,” NPR CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement. “It is an affront to the rights of NPR and NPR’s 246 Member stations, which are locally owned, nonprofit, noncommercial media organizations serving all 50 states and territories. Today, we challenge its constitutionality in the nation’s independent courts.”

She noted that the executive order “is directly counter to Congress’s long standing intent, as expressed in the Public Broadcasting Act, to foster vibrant institutions that achieve that mission, serving all Americans independent of political influence. The Order threatens the existence of the public broadcasting system, upon which tens of millions of Americans rely for vital news, information, and emergency alerts.”

NPR Sues Trump Over Executive Order to Cut Funding: ‘Clear Violation of the Constitution’

NPR sued President Trump, alleging his executive order seeking to cut public media funding is a “clear violation” of the Constitution.

https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/npr-sues-trump-cut-funding-violation-of-the-constitution-1236410731

Fort-Worth Star Telegram: ‘My Head is Spinning’: Deportation Draws Backlash

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U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has warned the Trump administration about its handling of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case, a Salvadoran national mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Key officials have admitted ignorance about crucial details in court proceedings, raising concerns about compliance with the judge’s order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. Xinis has reportedly set a new compliance deadline and scheduled an in-person hearing.

Xinis said, “Evidently missing from the defendants’ filing is the privilege log that this court ordered to be produced.” She added, “Failure to file the privilege log or otherwise respond will be construed as an intentional refusal to comply with this court’s orders.”

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Xinis said, “You haven’t complied, and you haven’t in bad faith.”

Xinis has identified officials’ ignorance as noncompliance with her order to produce witnesses with direct knowledge of Abrego Garcia’s situation.

…Xinis stated, “The whole reason we’re here is because I’ve said repeatedly you’ve done nothing, and now you tell the world you’re not going to do anything.

‘My Head is Spinning’: Deportation Draws Backlash

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/my-head-is-spinning-deportation-draws-backlash/ss-AA1FwI5y

Christian Post: Evangelical pastor detained by ICE despite stay of removal, no criminal record

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An Evangelical pastor in Florida who entered the United States illegally several years ago but was allowed to stay under certain conditions has been detained by authorities.

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Ambrocio had been living in Florida for 20 years. While he entered the country illegally, he had been allowed to remain via a stay of removal, which required that he meet with ICE officials for the last decade at least once a year, remain employed and not commit any crimes.

However, when Ambrocio met with ICE officials on April 18, he was detained, to the surprise of his local neighborhood, as National Public Radio reported last week.

“For my kids, it’s like the world ended,” Ambrocio’s wife, Marleny, told NPR.

The couple has five children aged between 12 and 19, all U.S. citizens.

Evangelical pastor detained by ICE despite stay of removal, no criminal record

An Evangelical pastor in Florida who entered the United States illegally several years ago but was allowed to stay under certain conditions has been detained by authorities

https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-pastor-detained-by-ice-despite-stay-of-removal.html

WCCO Radio Minneapolis: Federal judge dismisses consent decree between U.S. Justice Department and Minneapolis

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As expected, a federal judge today granted the United States’ motion to dismiss its consent decree against the City of Minneapolis.

In the filing, the court states:

“The Court has grave misgivings about the proposed consent decree serving the public interest.”

The document adds that the consent decree is “superfluous” due to the city and Minneapolis Police Department entering into an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

Fortunately the police chief is committed to the reforms:

Last week, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said they will continue with reform measures despite the dismissal.

Federal judge dismisses consent decree between U.S. Justice Department and Minneapolis

As expected, a federal judge on Tuesday granted the United States’ motion to dismiss its consent decree against the City of Minneapolis. The court states it “has grave misgivings about the proposed consent decree serving the public interest.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-judge-dismisses-consent-decree-between-u-s-justice-department-and-minneapolis/ar-AA1FB0xi

AsAmNews: Green card holders face extra scrutiny and detention at airports

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U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is warning travelers this summer holding green cards that they could face detention when traveling through airports.

There’s been much concern following reports that ICE agents have detained individuals returning to the U.S. from the Philippines.

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“As part of CBP’s national security mission, officers routinely determine the admissibility of foreign nationals using longstanding U.S. immigration law,” CBP said in a statement to the Inquirer. “Lawful permanent residents convicted of offenses considered to be crimes involving moral turpitude, including aggravated felonies, can legally lose their status and be removed. Crimes involving moral turpitude include offenses such as grand theft and the use or distribution of controlled substances.”

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A Homeland Security commercial running on both radio and TV features Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem proclaiming that under President Trump, the United States has been made safer as murderers and rapists are being deported.

However, its apparent nonviolent offenders are also being caught into this dragnet despite their legal immigration status. Protesters deemed acting against the interest of the Trump administration’s U.S. policy are also being deported.

Green card holders face extra scrutiny and detention at airports – AsAmNews

Filipino green card holders returning from Philippines are being apprehended by immigration agents at the airport for non-violent past criminal offenses.
Green card holders face extra scrutiny and detention at airports

Talking Points Memo: The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

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The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, he was operating on a fringe legal theory that a right-wing faction has been working to legitimize for more than a decade.

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Hard-liners have referred to immigrants as “invaders” as long as the U.S. has had immigration. By 2022, invasion rhetoric, which had previously been relegated to white nationalist circles, had become such a staple of Republican campaign ads that most of the public agreed an invasion of the U.S. via the southern border was underway.

Now, however, the claim that the U.S. is under invasion has become the legal linchpin of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.

The claim is Trump’s central justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport roughly 140 Venezuelans to CECOT, the Salvadoran megaprison, without due process. (The administration cited different legal authority for the remaining deportees.) The Trump administration contends they are members of a gang, Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is directing to infiltrate and operate in the United States. Lawyers and families of many of the deportees have presented evidence the prisoners are not even members of Tren de Aragua.

The contention is also the throughline of Trump’s day one executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” That document calls for the expansion of immigration removal proceedings without court hearings and for legal attacks against sanctuary jurisdictions, places that refuse to commit local resources to immigration enforcement.

So far, no court has bought the idea that the U.S. is truly under invasion….

And therein lies the problem: The Trump regime is off pursuing an unconstitutional tangent to solve a problem that is improperly framed as an “invasion”.

It’s a long well-researched article. Please click on the link below and read the entire article.

The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

This article first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-invasion-invention-the-far-rights-long-legal-battle-to-make-immigrants-the-enemy

Talking Points Memo: More Than 50 Men Entered The US Legally Only To Later Be Sent To CECOT, Report Finds

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More than two months after the Trump administration flew more than 200 people to a detention camp in El Salvador, there’s still a lot that remains unclear.

We still don’t know who, exactly, the government sent there. We don’t know how many people were aboard each plane that went from Texas to El Salvador on March 15; we don’t know who was removed under the wartime Alien Enemies Act, and who was removed under more standard immigration authorities. The question of whether non-citizens that the U.S. government is paying El Salvador to hold are entitled to habeas corpus protections is also, somewhat ominously, unanswered.

It’s shocking given the lawlessness of the operation: the Trump administration sought to shield these removals from judicial scrutiny from the start, and, per the finding of one federal judge, sought to delay a court hearing until the airplanes could depart for El Salvador.

A report published this week by the Cato Institute adds another egregious fact to this story: many of those sent to El Salvador entered the United States legally.

The researchers behind the study attempted to learn as much as they could about a list of 238 men rendered to CECOT, the El Salvador prison, on March 15, obtained and reported by CBS News. They found that at least 50 of the more than 200 men sent to El Salvador complied with U.S. immigration law as they entered the country.

Their resulting removal and indefinite confinement in El Salvador has been a betrayal, David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute and the author of the study, told TPM.

So much for due process and the Bill of Rights in Trump’s Amerika!

More Than 50 Men Entered The US Legally Only To Later Be Sent To CECOT, Report Finds

More than two months after the Trump administration flew more than 200…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/more-than-50-men-entered-the-us-legally-only-to-later-be-sent-to-cecot-report-finds