President Donald Trump has threatened to unleash ‘the most powerful and lethal weapons ever built’ if Russia supplies nuclear warheads to Iran.
A judge has shut down arguments pushed by the Trump administration and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in a ruling surrounding the high-profile case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Tennessee Magistrate Barbara Holmes ruled Sunday that Abrego Garcia is not the dangerous gang member Trump allies like Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly claimed he is.
Abrego Garcia is pending trial on human smuggling charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In March, the Trump administration admitted to mistakenly deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. The Supreme Court ordered them to facilitate his return to the United States.
In her 51-page report, Holmes disputed claims made by the U.S. government that Abrego Garcia was a member of international crime gang MS-13.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-embarrasses-stephen-miller-in-high-profile-court-ruling
To the editor: While it’s nice that the Dodger Stadium grounds denied entry to federal agents, it is but a gesture (“Federal agents denied entry to Dodger Stadium parking lot: Here is what really happened,” June 19). The ownership, management and players of the Dodgers owe the people of Los Angeles and this nation a public letter of apology for having attended the White House and bowed to the authority of President Trump, despite his daily inhumane and antidemocratic words and actions. Not a single one of them had the courage to speak up on that day.
To the editor: I haven’t been to a Dodgers game since Sandy Koufax, but as an ex-Angeleno, I just might have to buy season tickets next year for the brave stand the Dodgers took on June 19 against federal immigration agents.
It wasn’t performative, it was restorative. And it is inspiring to watch a large, powerful organization stand up to power and injustice and to agents wearing masks.
To the editor: I applaud the Dodgers for denying federal agents entry into the stadium grounds. There was no reason for their presence there.
We must, however, remember that in the late 1950s, Walter O’Malley and the Dodgers evicted many innocent Mexican Americans so they could build their stadium. We must remember our history to preserve our future.
Elon Musk has accused one of President Donald Trump’s top aides of committing a federal crime.
Weeks after the epic breakup between the president and the world’s richest man, Musk has continued to snipe at Sergio Gor, the director of the presidential personnel office, who he believes fueled his falling out with Trump.
Earlier this week, Musk described Gor as a “snake” after the New York Post reported that, even though Gor is in charge of vetting thousands of executive branch employees, he himself hasn’t been fully vetted.
But on Friday, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency ramped up his attacks, writing on X: “He deliberately lied about where he was born on Federal forms. That’s a serious crime.”
“Gor is breaking the law,” Musk later added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House about Musk’s latest comment, which came in response to a series of posts by Ukraine-born American race car driver Igor Sushko accusing Gor of being a “Russian spy.”
Sushko had posted a series of articles relating to the White House aide, including a New York Post story questioning where Gor was born; details of a fact-finding trip he took to Russia while working for Senator Rand Paul; an archive of Gor’s high-school email suggesting it referred to him as “Russian-Maltese”; and a now-retracted investigation by former Washington Post reporter-turned-independent journalist Brian Krebs.
Central to Musk’s attack is the claim that Gor failed to file his own SF-86, the critical vetting form required for permanent U.S security clearance. This was despite Gor being responsible for vetting thousands of executive branch employees.
Among other things, the form covers citizenship, employment history, relatives, foreign contacts and travel, financial activities, and drug use. The White House, however, insisted earlier this week that Gor filled out the form, has the relevant clearance, and is a “trusted adviser to President Trump.”
Underpinning Musk’s accusation is a long-standing rift with Gor, who says the 38-year-old fueled his spectacular falling out with Trump earlier this month.
Things got particularly messy when Gor encouraged Trump to rescind his nomination for Jared Isaacman—Musk’s personal friend—to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) just days before his Senate confirmation vote. Trump at the time cited Isaacman’s “prior associations”—a reference to Isaacman’s past donations to Democrats—as the reason for withdrawing his nomination.
And that last tidbit is probably the real issue here — F’Elon Musk’s buddy won’t be running NASA, which would have removed a lot of regulatory obstacles from Musk’s path, not to mention helping to ensure a steady stream of lucrative government contracts.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor, just won’t get off the phone, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night that Trump 2.0 has Miller’s fingerprints all over it, with Miller “emerg[ing] as a singular figure in the second Trump administration, wielding more power than almost any other White House staffer in recent memory—and eager to circumvent legal limitations on his agenda.”
Miller has drafted or edited each of Trump’s signed executive orders, according to the report, giving him considerable influence over Trump’s second term. This comes after the president refused to give him a leading role at the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly telling aides he didn’t see Miller as leadership material, according to the report.
Also of note — Miller appears to be getting under the skin of GOP aides on Capitol Hill who say they can’t get him off the phone.
https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-2672408339
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ar-AA1H8sPE
President Donald Trump said on Friday that farmers may be able to keep employing undocumented migrant workers without fearing enforcement raids under a system in which they would take “responsibility” for them.
“We’re looking at doing something where in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire, and let them have responsibility, because we can’t put the farms out of business, and at the same time, we don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals,” Trump told press on Friday.
It was not immediately clear how the system would work, and is the latest of several changes of tune regarding the matter.
Adam Greenfield was home nursing a cold when his girlfriend raced in to tell him Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were pulling up in their trendy San Diego neighborhood.
The author and podcast producer grabbed his iPhone and bolted out the door barefoot, joining a handful of neighbors recording masked agents raiding a popular Italian restaurant nearby, as they yelled at the officers to leave. An hour later, the crowd had grown to nearly 75 people, with many in front of the agents’ vehicles.
“I couldn’t stay silent,” Greenfield said. “It was literally outside of my front door.”
More Americans are witnessing people being hauled off as they shop, exercise at the gym, dine out and otherwise go about their daily lives as President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively works to increase immigration arrests. As the raids touch the lives of people who aren’t immigrants themselves, many Americans who rarely, if ever, participated in civil disobedience are rushing out to record the actions on their phones and launch impromptu protests.
…
A college student was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after a cop noticed she had ‘a bit of an accent’ during a routine traffic stop.
Caroline Dias Goncalves, 19, was pulled over on the Colorado Interstate 70 on June 5, accused of driving too close to a semi-truck.
The University of Utah nursing student complied with the officer, identified as Investigator Alexander Zwinck, by handing over all of her documentation and paperwork.
In bodyworn camera footage seen by DailyMail.com, Zwinck told Goncalves he would let her off with just a warning, asking: ‘Where are you from? You have a bit of an accent.’
Goncalves answered: ‘I’m from Utah.’
Zwinck asked how long she’d been living in Utah and whether she was ‘born and raised there’, to which she cautiously answered: ‘No. I was born in, um, gosh I always forget the town.. down in Brazil.’
‘My parents moved here,’ she added.
Zwinck appeared unfazed by her answer, moving on to ask her questions about her boyfriend, her weekend plans and her dreams of becoming a nurse.
After explaining to her once again that he was giving her a warning which would not require any following up, he sent her on her way, wishing her safe travels and urging her to give semi trucks on the road a little more space.
But minutes after the friendly interaction, Goncalves was pulled over again by ICE agents as she exited the freeway, and taken into custody.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has since revealed that Zwinck was part of a group chat with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners which was used to improve multi-agency cooperation to stem the drug trafficking trade.
‘We were unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts, including immigration,’ the statement read.
‘We have since removed all Mesa County Sheriff’s Office members from the communication group.’
…
Goncalves is now being held in Denver Detention Facility.
She is one of 2.5 million Dreamers in the United States, referring to undocumented migrants who were brought to the US as young children.
It is understood her family arrived in the US on a tourist visa, which they overstayed. Her father then applied for asylum, and that case is pending.
Goncalves earned a coveted TheDream.US national scholarship, which allows undocumented youth to help finance college.
While her asylum claim was pending, she had been granted temporary rights to work.
A GoFundMe set up by a friend to help Goncalves’ family cover legal costs associated with her detention has already raised $25,000.
‘Caroline has always followed the law, passionately pursued her education, and dreamed of a future full of opportunity,’ the fundraising page reads.
‘Yet she now finds herself unlawfully detained, frightened, and far from the safety and support she deserves.’
Before the Los Angeles Dodgers’ June 14 home game against the San Francisco Giants, Dominican American singer Nezza performed — defiantly, she said — “El Pendón Estrellado,” a Spanish-language rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” She said a team official explicitly demanded that she perform the national anthem in English but that she refused. (The Dodgers did not release a statement regarding Nezza’s performance or confirm her story that she violated the team’s wishes.)
Nezza’s performance, a protest against what Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been doing in Los Angeles, arose out of her imagining her parents “being ripped away from me,” she said. Not surprisingly, Nezza’s performance was polarizing, with some cheering and others expressing outrage. Among the responses was an editorial from CALÓ News demanding that the Dodgers support a community under attack from the federal government.
“Dodgers, your silence speaks volumes,” CALÓ News wrote Tuesday. “The Latino community of Los Angeles has shown up for the Dodgers. Where are you now that we need you?”
That question seems to have been answered Thursday when the team announced that it had turned away ICE agents who had attempted to enter Dodger Stadium’s parking lot. “They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization,” the team wrote on X.
New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander has told Newsweek that ICE agents expressed feeling “overworked” shortly after detaining him at a downtown court earlier this week.
“I talked to the ICE agents afterward, and it’s clear to me they are being overworked,” Lander said in an interview on June 19.
“I asked what their shifts were. And they say, we really don’t have shifts anymore,” he added.
Poor crybabies should get respectable jobs.
Lander and other critics called the arrest further evidence of what they described as a drift toward authoritarianism by the Trump administration.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Newsweek: “Like many Democrat politicians before him, Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander seems to think obstructing federal law enforcement is his ticket to fame. Unfortunately, it’s just his ticket to being arrested.”
More often than not, these bogus “obstructing” charges are dropped. They are nothing more than harassment.
In response for comment to the suggestion ICE agents are being overworked, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin: “Under Secretary [Bimbo #2] Noem, we are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe.”
Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true. Arresting and deporting non-criminal aliens does nothing to make America safe.
