Tag Archives: White House

Independent: She was Stephen Miller’s high school class president. Now she’s fighting his deportation efforts

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California attorney is fighting Miller’s mass deportation efforts by working as an immigration lawyer

Cynthia Santiago, an attorney in Southern California, won her high school presidential class race the same year Stephen Miller, the current White House Deputy Chief of Staff, lost the class speaker race. More than 20 years later, Santiago is trying to fight Miller’s mass deportation efforts.

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Recalling the day she won her class election at Santa Monica High School, Santiago said that Miller was “booed” off stage for giving an incendiary speech about picking up trash.

A video of the moment, posted online years ago, shows Miller on stage asking his fellow students, “Am I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up my trash, when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?”

A school newspaper clipping, obtained by The Daily Beast, says Miller’s microphone was turned off and he was escorted off stage for what school officials said was going “over time.”

Writing for the Santa Monica Lookout in 2002, Miller advocated for all announcements to be written in English only, claimed “very few” Hispanic students were in honors classes, and asserted that the school’s political correctness would make Osama bin Laden “feel very welcome at Santa Monica High School.”

It seems Stephen Miller was brain dead at an early age and has never recovered.

Stephen Miller’s high school class president is fighting his deportation efforts
California attorney is fighting Miller’s mass deportation efforts by working as an immigration lawyer

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/stephen-miller-deportation-high-school-classmate-b2768997.html

CNN: DHS posted an image calling for help locating ‘all foreign invaders.’ It was previously circulated by far-right accounts

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On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a striking graphic on its official X account. Uncle Sam, a symbol of American patriotism, is depicted nailing a poster to a wall that reads, “Help your country… and yourself.” Written underneath the poster is the sentence, “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS,” and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement hot line.

The post — which DHS and the White House also posted to Instagram — prompted a flood of criticism, with some social media users comparing the post to authoritarian propaganda. On Thursday, at least two far-right X accounts claimed to have a hand in creating or disseminating the image before it was shared by DHS. A source within DHS told CNN the agency did not create the graphic.

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The Uncle Sam graphic is reminiscent of media used previously by other governments to provoke fear, especially of immigrants, said Elisabeth Fondren, a journalism professor at St. John’s University who has studied government propaganda and communications during war times.

“This poster fits within a long history of anti-immigrant rhetoric and, yes, state propaganda,” Fondren said. “It evokes these remnants of Cold War, fake propaganda by the Russians, or, you know, authoritarian fear mongering messages … but what I think is so interesting is that this is a call to action in an environment where we’re not in a war.”

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Perhaps from here:

The image of the Uncle Sam poster was posted on X last Friday, around the time tensions in Los Angeles escalated, by podcaster C. Jay Engel, who describes himself as “Christian nationalist adjacent” and has claimed that “nations cannot survive replacement migration.” After DHS shared the Uncle Sam image, Engel posted: “This image came from my account. NEVER STOP POSTING.”

“The question is, ‘Is there room for like-minded Christians and patriots in Tennessee?’” the podcaster, Engel, said in an October podcast, in response to a listener’s question. “Yes, there’s an imperative for like-minded Christians to gather and fight with us.”

Or maybe:

Although Engel circulated the image of the Uncle Sam poster, another X user claimed to have created the image. That pseudonymous X account, which has the words “Wake Up White Man” in its biography, is full of nativist rhetoric and reposted another X user who declared: “Whites deserve our own nations, like everyone else is allowed to have.” The pseudonymous account appears to have been the first to post the image.

It’s beyond disgusting that Homeland Security is sourcing such material from white supremacists.

DHS defends social media post calling for public to help ICE locate ‘all foreign invaders’ | CNN Politics
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a striking graphic on its official X account. Uncle Sam, a symbol of American patriotism, is depicted nailing a poster to a wall that reads, “Help your country… and yourself.” Written underneath the poster is the sentence, “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS,” and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement hot line.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/12/politics/dhs-social-media-post-ice-deportations-criticisms

Deadline: John Oliver Says “Slippery Slope To Authoritarianism Under Trump” Is Here With POTUS Response To L.A. Anti-ICE Protests

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John Oliver, like his fellow late-night hosts before him, is ringing the alarm on president Donald Trump’s authoritarianism.

The Last Week Tonight host wasted no time getting down to brass tacks, addressing the Los Angeles protests that were spurred by the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller-led escalation of ICE raids, with agents targeting a Home Depot parking lot occupied by day laborers to meet increased deportation quotas last week.

Referring to a clip of Trump’s Fort Bragg speech, where POTUS claimed the City of Angels would be “on fire” akin to the devastating Palisades and Eaton blazes earlier this year if he hadn’t mobilized thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines, Oliver remarked: “I know I’m not saying anything new right now, but he is such a dick. There is just no reason to bring up the traumatic fires that are still very much on people’s minds in L.A., for the same reason you shouldn’t open a toast at a retirement party with, ‘Wow, only milestone left after this is death.’ Yeah, everyone knows that, and we’re all trying not to think about it.”

John Oliver Says “Slippery Slope To Authoritarianism Under Trump” Is Here With POTUS Response To L.A. Anti-ICE Protests
John Oliver rang the alarm on Donald Trump’s authoritarianism over his response to the largely peaceful L.A. protests against escalating ICE raids

https://deadline.com/2025/06/john-oliver-trump-los-angeles-protests-ice-authoritarian-1236434562

Newsweek: Texas man with two US citizen children detained by ICE

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A Texas man with two children who are United States citizens was apprehended by federal immigration agents following a traffic stop that turned into a life-altering encounter for his family.

Pablo Jose Morales Petzey, 32, from Guatemala, was detained on June 6 after local police pulled him and his wife over on Highway 6 while they were on their way to a landscaping job. The officer cited a missing license plate, which the family said had fallen off the vehicle unknowingly. The officer called federal authorities after discovering Morales’s immigration status.

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Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, told Newsweek the arrest has left their family broken, and their two children, 4-year-old Victoria and 3-year-old son Angel, are struggling to cope with the sudden absence of their father.

“My son Angel has autism and struggles to talk. The only words he says are ‘papa’ and ‘mama,’ and now he just looks out the window to see when his dad will return,” Rodriguez said.

“My daughter cries when she thinks of him in the truck when the police told him to get off, and she started to scream, ‘Why are they taking my dad? Why is he all chained up?’ I just told her everything will be OK with a knot in my throat with nothing else to say.”

One more family cruelly separated!

Texas man with two US citizen children detained by ICE
“They took him with handcuffs and a chain,” his wife, Laura Rodriguez, told Newsweek.

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-man-us-citzen-children-detained-ice-2086161

MSNBC: Maddow Blog | ‘No Kings’ protests, special election results leave no doubt about the backlash to Trump

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In elections and special elections throughout the country, results like these have become rather common lately. After last week’s special elections in multiple states, The Downballot reported, “Overall, in 29 special elections this year, Democratic candidates have run 16.4 points ahead of the 2024 presidential results on average.” G. Elliott Morris, the former director of data analytics at FiveThirtyEight, published a related analysis that pointed in the same direction.

‘No Kings’ protests, special election results leave no doubt about the backlash to Trump
Between activism, election results and protest turnout, the prevailing political winds suggest the backlash to the president is real.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/no-kings-protests-special-election-results-leave-no-doubt-backlash-tru-rcna213209

News Nation: US Border Patrol to lead DHS operations in Los Angeles

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President Donald Trump’s mission of achieving the largest mass deportation in history has been snagged by disappointing migrant apprehension numbers, leading to not only a shift in where the operation will focus, but also, in one case, which federal immigration agency is running point, NewsNation has learned.

Multiple sources within Customs and Border Protection tell NewsNation that the U.S. Border Patrol has been designated as the lead agency for the Department of Homeland Security’s operations in Los Angeles. Sources said that Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino is now running point on the ground amid migrant arrest numbers that have proven disappointing to the Trump administration.

Bovino will report to the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that both the Border Patrol and ICE fall under. However, the shift in Los Angeles is significant as Border Patrol has never had removal authority as ICE has.

It’s a long article — click on the links below to read the rest:

US Border Patrol to lead DHS operations in Los Angeles

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/border-patrol-dhs-ops-los-angeles

Alternet: ‘Ignorant president’: Trump brutally mocked after committing massive gaffe about Britain

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In President Donald Trump faced backlash Monday after suggesting the United Kingdom remains part of the European Union.

During a press briefing in Alberta, Canada, with British Prime Minister Kier Starmer, Trump remarked, “You all know the great PM of the UK, and we just signed a document.” He continued, “We just signed it, and so we have our trade agreement with the EU.”

The comment quickly circulated on social media, with many pointing out that the UK officially left the EU in 2020.

Definitely not “real genius stuff”!

‘Ignorant president’: Trump brutally mocked after committing massive gaffe about Britain

https://www.alternet.org/trump-mocked-britain

Raw Story: ‘Deep brain rot’: Ex-Republican blasts GOP over ‘deranged’ assassin theories

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Former Republicans Tim Miller and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace were incensed by the behavior of former colleagues over the assassination and threats to Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota over the weekend.

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“I mean, all the way up to Elon Musk, richest man in the world, former shadow president, two United States senators, Mike Lee and Bernie Moreno, and a bunch of other very prominent right wing media folks, are still up until this moment, trying to claim that this person is a marxist. They invented some rationale that I guess one of the victims had voted against something that Gov. Tim Walz was pushing through with regards to health care for undocumented immigrants or something.”

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“I mean, this is like a deep brain rot, and it is infecting all of their followers,” Miller said. “It’s infecting people all around the country.”

He noted that these kinds of statements only “incite people more.” By claiming the left is behind the violence is “radicalizing people more towards the victims.”

‘Deep brain rot’: Ex-Republican blasts GOP over ‘deranged’ assassin theories

https://www.rawstory.com/minnesota-assassin

Knewz: Kristi Noem’s Pentagon Request Sparks Firestorm

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Knewz.com is reporting that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to authorize U.S. military personnel in Los Angeles to detain civilians amid ongoing immigration-related protests. This request came shortly before President Trump ordered the deployment of U.S. Marines to support operations in the area. The move has sparked legal debate, as it potentially challenges long-standing restrictions on the military’s role in domestic law enforcement.

Noem urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to direct Department of Defense forces to either “detain, just as they would at any federal facility guarded by military, lawbreakers under Title 18 until they can be arrested and processed by federal law enforcement, or arrest them.”

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Experts warn Noem’s request could escalate tensions and erode civil liberties by blurring military and civilian law enforcement roles.

Kristi Noem’s Pentagon Request Sparks Firestorm

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kristi-noem-s-pentagon-request-sparks-firestorm/ss-AA1GLJiF

NBC News: ICE detains Utah college student after brief traffic stop, raising questions

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A sheriff’s deputy in Colorado briefly pulled over Caroline Dias Goncalves before immigration agents detained her. Now county officials are conducting a review.

Caroline Dias Goncalves, a student at the University of Utah, was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5 when a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office did not say why. Relatives told The Salt Lake City Tribune the deputy claimed she was driving too close to a semi-truck.

The stop lasted less than 20 minutes, and “Dias Goncalves was released from the traffic stop with a warning,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release Monday.

Then, shortly after she exited the highway, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to an immigration detention center.

“She has no criminal record and she was not shown a warrant,” her attorney, Jon Hyman, said in an email.

Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. The word “Dreamer” refers to undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Dias Goncalves was born in Brazil and was brought to the United States as a 7-year-old. She has lived in Utah since she was 12 and has an asylum case pending.

Friends and relatives question how immigration authorities were alerted to her location.

As part of an ongoing “full administrative review,” the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office determined that the deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was part of a communication group that included local, state and federal law enforcement partners participating in “a multi-agency drug interdiction effort focusing on the highways throughout Western Colorado.”

“We were unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts, including immigration,” the sheriff’s office said. “We have since removed all Mesa County Sheriff’s Office members from the communication group.”

Meanwhile in Georgia:

Dias Goncalves’ immigration detention mirrors that of fellow 19-year-old Dreamer Ximena Arias-Cristobal in Georgia.

Police in Dalton wrongly pulled Arias-Cristobal over last month, putting her on the radar of immigration authorities and making her susceptible to deportation.

Since her release from immigration detention, Arias-Cristobal has been speaking up about the growing risks Dreamers face as the Trump administration steps up the pace of deportations of immigrants who do not have criminal charges or convictions, despite Donald Trump’s campaign promises to prioritize deporting violent criminals.

ICE detains Utah college student after brief traffic stop, raising questions
A sheriff’s deputy in Colorado briefly pulled over Caroline Dias Goncalves before immigration agents detained her. Now county officials are conducting a review.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-detains-utah-university-student-traffic-stop-colorado-rcna213231