The billionaire helped fund an effort to gin up fraud claims against the Democratic donation platform.
Trump’s claim that he can order the Justice Department to investigate a fundraising platform used by his political foes based on vague allegations is part of his ongoingeffort to use the government’s powers to target political enemies. It’s not a particularly realistic accusation—the fact sheet claims it’s targeting “straw donor” schemes, in which one person donates on behalf of another. Given the fairly strict limitations on campaign contributions, any straw donor scheme that wants to inject any noticeable amount of money into an electoral system that had $15.5 billion run through it is a great deal of tedious, high-risk work for a scammer.
On the other hand, in the post-Citizens United era, there are plenty of ways to inject unaccounted-for money—even, theoretically, foreign money—into the election. Super-PACs can accept unlimited donations from fairly easy-to-obscure sources, for instance, which makes the idea of anyone using a small-dollar conduit like ActBlue (or the GOP equivalent WinRed) fairly silly.
And notably, the funding for some of Trump’s “data” on an alleged ActBlue “fraud” seems to have come from just such a source: a super-PAC bankrolled by Elon Musk.
Last year, an opaque group called the Fair Election Fund began promising to pay “whistleblowers” who cited election fraud “with payment from our $5 million fund.” That never panned out, but the same organization found more success with a claim that 60,000 people who were named as small-dollar donors in the Biden-Harris campaign’s July Federal Election Commission report did not recall making the contribution when contacted by the Fair Election Fund.
As Mother Jonesreported last year, the Fair Election Fund appears to have generated this finding by blasting out ominous-sounding texts and emails telling ActBlue donors that their donations had been “flagged,” then tallying people who responded—accurately or not—by checking a box saying they did not recall making the contribution.
More at the link above
Israel carrying out ‘live-streamed genocide’ in Gaza, Amnesty says
Amnesty accuses US President Donald Trump of committing a ‘multiplicity of assaults’ on human rights.
Israel is perpetrating a “live-streamed genocide” in Gaza, committing illegal acts with the “specific intent” of wiping out Palestinians, Amnesty International has said.
Israeli forces in Gaza have violated the United Nations Genocide Convention with acts that include “causing serious bodily or mental harm to civilians” and “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”, the human rights organisation said in its annual report released on Monday.
Israeli air strikes have also frequently hit civilians who were following evacuation orders, while its forces continued to “arbitrarily detain and, in some cases, forcibly disappear Palestinians”, the rights group said.
DOGE has made a big impact on Washington. But government spending is up.
Elon Musk and his shadowy “tech support” team have ripped through Washington, reshaping the government and culling the federal workforce with astonishing speed and scope.
Nearly a quarter of a million workers have or are expected to leave their federal jobs. That includes more than 112,000 federal workers who have opted into the deferred resignation program, according to a POLITICO analysis of previous reporting and conversations with administration officials. It also includes some 121,000 workers across agencies who have been fired, according to a CNN analysis.
DOGE has hollowed out or shut down 11 federal agencies and says it has terminated more than 8,500 contracts and 10,000 grants. It has wiped out foreign aid and volunteerism in the U.S., slashed education spending and made sweeping changes to the way the government makes procurements, hires contractors and shares data.
DOGE, after promising $2 trillion in savings, now says it has saved the government $160 billion. But even these reported savings, so far, have not led to any meaningful decline in total government spending this year, according to the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model, which tracks weekly Treasury data.
In fact, the government has actually been spending more compared to this time last year, the model found.
Total spending rose by 6.3 percent, or $156 billion since Trump took office, compared to the first four months of 2024, said Kent Smetters, a Wharton professor who directs the model. Even when accounting for inflation, the federal government has still added $81.2 billion more spending to its books compared to the same period last year, he added.
May 1, 1865 Memorial Day was started by former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina to honor 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. They dug up the bodies and worked for 2 weeks to give them a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedom. They then held a parade of 10,000 people led by 2,800 Black children where they marched, sang and celebrated. More of the story
May 1, 1886 May Day was called Emancipation Day in 1886 when 340,000 went on strike (though it was Saturday it was a regular day of work) in Chicago for the 8-hour workday.
May 1, 1890 May Day labor demonstrations spread to thirteen other countries; 30,000 marched in Chicago as the newly prominent American Federation of Labor threw its weight behind the 8-hour day campaign. More May Day info
May 1, 1933 Dorothy Day The Catholic Worker newspaper was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Dorothy Day said, “God meant things to be much easier than we have made them,” and Peter Maurin wanted to build a society “where it is easier for people to be good.” Peter Maurin Read more about the Catholic Worker
May 1, 1948 Senator Glen Hearst Taylor Senator Glen Hearst Taylor (D-Idaho) was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked for “Negroes” rather than using the “whites only” door, and convicted of disorderly conduct. Taylor was the Progressive Party candidate for Vice President, running mate of Henry Wallace. He was in Birmingham to address the Southern Negro Youth Congress.
May 1, 1965 Second Factory for Peace opened in Onllwyn, Dulais Valley, in south Wales, employing disabled miners. Tom McAlpine, active in the Committee for Nuclear Disarmament, and a supporter of cooperatives and industrial democracy, established Rowen Engineering in both Wales and Glasgow, Scotland.
May 1, 1966 500,000 Vietnamese marched for an end to the war dividing their country.
May 1, 1967 Soviet youths openly defied police and danced the twist in Moscow’s Red Square during May Day celebrations. In the early ‘60s the Twist had been banned in Buffalo, New York, and Tampa, Florida. The religious right claimed the Twist was actually a pagan fertility dance. Are you old enough to remember Chubby Checker?
May 1, 1971 Five days of anti-war May Day protests began in Washington, D.C., resulting in over 14,000 arrests—the largest mass civil disobedience in U.S. history.
May 1, 1986 One million South Africans demonstrated their opposition to apartheid in a strike organized by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) COSATU: a brief history
May 1, 2003 President George W. Bush landed in a jet on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast and, in a speech to the nation, declared major combat in Iraq over. The banner his staff posted on the ship read, “Mission Accomplished.” Since that presidential declaration more than 4500 American and allied troops and nearly 9000 members of Iraqi security and police forces (Jan. 2005 through July 2011) have lost their lives. In addition, tens of thousands (more than 32,000 Americans) injured in the hostilities. The number of Iraqi civilian deaths is open to dispute, but minimally stands at well over 100,000. Details of Iraq military casualties Civilian casualties
ICE is a thug unit run by a major thug. This family was badly mistreated, in some ways brutalized. I read earlier where the mother said the 20 ICE agents who broke into their home with no warring then wanted the women, one adult and the others teenagers to remove their clothing in front of them to get dressed before being forced outside in the rain. The report said the mother refused saying even her husband had not seen the children nude and she did not want them to do that in front of these men. They were ordered in their “underwear” outside in the rain where they were kept for hours. Is this the government / police any way people should be treated by law enforcement in the US. They so disrespected this family sure in the fact they were correct with no room for any doubt. They had no empathy, no common sense. In the time I was an axillary sheriff’s deputy we were trained never to act like that. We were taught to respect the rights of people but be aware they might be lying and the danger of the situation. Respect the rights of the people. All people on US soil, in the country regardless of status have due process rights. The right wing haters want to tell you that if you are here illegally you have no rights but SCOTUS has repeatedly said every person here does. Hugs
As for Marissa’s phones, electronics, and cash, they have no idea which agency has those belongings or how to get those items back.
At this time, there is not a fundraising campaign set up for the family. KFOR will share any details if that happens.
Original:
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A woman says her family’s fresh start in Oklahoma turned into a nightmare after federal immigration agents raided their home, taking their phones, laptops, and life savings – even though they were not the suspects the agents were looking for.
The agents had a search warrant for the home, but the suspects listed on the warrant do not live in the house.
The woman who actually lives in the house had just moved to Oklahoma City from Maryland with her family about two weeks earlier.
The woman, who News 4 will refer to as “Marisa”, and her three daughters came to Oklahoma looking for a slower, more affordable pace of life.
They rented a house in a seemingly safe northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood.
Her husband stayed back in Maryland a couple of extra weeks, planning to join them this weekend.
“I was like, ‘okay, Oklahoma’s my home now,’” Marisa said.
But any comfort they had disappeared Thursday morning when about 20 men, armed with guns, busted through the door.
“I don’t know who they were,” she said. “It was dark. All the lights were off.”
Marisa said the men identified themselves as federal agents with the U.S. Marshals, ICE, and the FBI.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service denied having agents present during the raid, telling News 4 they were “aware of the operation before it happened,” but did not assist in any capacity.
“I keep asking them, ‘who are you? What are you doing here? What’s happening,’” she said. “And they said, ‘we have a warrant for the house, a search warrant.’”
She said they ordered her and her daughters outside into the rain before they could even put on clothes.
“They wanted me to change in front of all of them, in between all of them,” she said. “My husband has not even seen my daughter in her undergarments—her own dad, because it’s respectful. You have her out there, a minor, in her underwear.”
Marisa said the names on the search warrant were not hers or anyone in her family.
She recognized them as names listed on mail still arriving at the house—likely former residents.
“We just moved here from Maryland,” she said. “We’re citizens. That’s what I kept saying. We’re citizens.”
She said the agents didn’t care.
“They were very dismissive, very rough, very careless,” she said. “I kept pleading. I kept telling them we weren’t criminals. They were treating us like criminals. We were here by ourselves. We didn’t do anything.”
Marisa said the agents tore apart every square inch of the house and what few belongings they had, seizing their phones, laptops and their life savings in cash as “evidence.”
“I told them before they left, I said you took my phone. We have no money. I just moved here,” she said. “I have to feed my children. I’m going to need gas money. I need to be able to get around. Like, how do you just leave me like this? Like an abandoned dog.”
Before they left, Marisa said one of the agents made a comment.
“One of them said, ‘I know it was a little rough this morning,’” she said. “It was so denigrating. That you do all of this to a family, to women, your fellow citizens. And it was a little rough? You literally traumatized me and my daughters for life. We’re going to have to go get help or get over this somehow.”
Now, Marisa said they have, quite literally, nothing.
“I said, ‘when are we going to get our stuff back?’ They said it could be days or it could be months,” she said.
Marisa said she is left with nothing but questions.
“What if I would have been armed,” she said. “You’re breaking in. What am I supposed to think? My initial thought was we were being robbed—that my daughters, being females, were being kidnapped. You have guns pointed in our faces.Can you just reprogram yourself and see us as humans, as women?A little bit of mercy. Care a little bit about your fellow human, about your fellow citizen, fellow resident. We bleed too. We work. We bleed just like anybody else bleeds. We’re scared. You could see our faces that we were terrified. What makes you so much more worthier of your peace? What makes you so much more worthier of protecting your children? What makes you so much more worthy of your citizenship? What makes you more worthy of safety? Of being given the right that they took from me to protect my daughters?”
Marisa told News 4 the agents wouldn’t even leave her a business card.
She said she has no idea who to contact to get her things back.
Marissa told KFOR the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the FBI were involved in this raid.
However, a representative for the U.S. Marshal’s Service says their team was not involved.
News 4 reached out to the FBI. Last week, a spokesperson said they were assisting on this case and directed inquiries to Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for Homeland Security told News 4 they are looking into it and will get back to us, but we have not heard from them.
As for Marissa’s phones, electronics, and cash, they have no idea which agency has those belongings or how to get those items back.
Ten years after the far-right Law and Justice Party was elected to power in Poland, and two years after their defeat in national elections, a last vestige of the party’s state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ policies has finally been eliminated.
On Thursday, a council in the southeastern Polish town of Łańcut officially abolished the country’s last remaining ‘LGBT-free’ resolution.
Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are twice as likely as their straight peers to attempt suicide or have thoughts of taking their own life, new figures have revealed.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday (9 April) revealed that not only is suicidal ideation higher among LGB+ people, but also that the risk of intentional self-harm is almost three times as high.
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Trump administration opens a “snitch line” to report trans kids getting health care
The new portal launch coincides with an investigation into a major children’s hospital.
In twin actions this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continued its efforts to end gender-affirming care for trans youth with the new whistleblower portal and the launch of an investigation of “a major pediatric teaching hospital” over the alleged firing of a nurse because she sought a religious exemption to avoid administering puberty blockers and hormones to minor patients.
That order has been blocked by multiple federal judges with temporary restraining orders, but the Trump administration continues to invoke it in its crackdown on doctors and hospitals.
The Trump administration continues to characterize evidence-based trans healthcare as “mutilation”, despite every major medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Endocrine Society, supporting the practice.
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Corporations are scaling back Pride support to avoid right-wing backlash
Fortune 1000 companies fear backlash amid Trump’s executive orders on DEI and transgender Americans.
A new survey of Fortune 1000 companies reveals that corporations are dramatically scaling back their public expressions of support for the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a trend LGBTQ+ organizations across the country have already reported in the lead-up to Pride celebrations this year.
Nearly two-fifths of corporations plan on reducing engagement for Pride Month this June, according to a survey of corporate executives by Gravity Research.
Among 49 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed, those who said they were scaling back financial and public support cited pressure from conservative activists and the president, whose executive orders have gutted diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and targeted the transgender community, Forbes reports.
Among 49 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed, those who said they were scaling back financial and public support cited pressure from conservative activists and the president, whose executive orders have gutted diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and targeted the transgender community, Forbes reports.
Hungary passes constitutional amendment banning Pride as protesters hold “Gray Pride” protest
Supporters of the law said that it would protect children from knowing that LGBTQ+ people exist
Tens of thousands of Hungarians filled the country’s capital Saturday to protest a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, including Pride celebrations.
The Assembly Act declares that a child’s rights to moral, physical, and spiritual development supplant any right other than the right to life, including peaceful assembly.
Like Russia, its ally in a politically motivated campaign against the “degenerate West,” Hungary has instituted “gay propaganda” laws prohibiting the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors.
It’s “a clear message” for transgender and intersex people, Döbrentey said: “It is definitely and purely and strictly about humiliating people and excluding them, not just from the national community, but even from the community of human beings.”
Librarians in UK increasingly asked to remove books, as influence of US pressure groups spreads
Anecdotal evidence suggests a rise in requests to take books off shelves, particularly LGBTQ+ titles
Requests to remove books from library shelves are on the rise in the UK, as the influence of pressure groups behind book bans in the US crosses the Atlantic, according to those working in the sector.
Most of the UK challenges appear to come from individuals or small groups, unlike in the US, where 72% of demands to censor books last year were brought forward by organised groups, according to the American Library Association earlier this week.
However, evidence suggests that the work of US action groups is reaching UK libraries too. Alison Hicks, an associate professor in library and information studies at UCL, interviewed 10 UK-based school librarians who had experienced book challenges. One “spoke of finding propaganda from one of these groups left on her desk”, while another “was directly targeted by one of these groups”. Respondents “also spoke of being trolled by US pressure groups on social media, for example when responding to free book giveaways”.
The types of books targeted may also differ. “Almost all the UK attacks reported in my study centred on LGBTQ+ materials, while US attacks appear to target material related to race, ethnicity and social justice as well as LGBTQ+ issues,” said Hicks.
This supports the findings of an Index on Censorship survey last year, in which 28 of 53 librarians polled reported that they had been asked to remove books from library shelves, many of which were LGBTQ+ titles. In more than half of those cases, books were taken off shelves.
Tennessee county sued for banning books without even reading them
They’re accused of just using an anti-LGBTQ+ organization’s book ban list to deny students access to tomes like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
The plaintiffs in this case are three families, who wish to remain anonymous, of two freshmen and a senior who will attend a Rutherford County school next year. Joining in on the lawsuit is PEN America, a nonprofit freedom of expression advocacy group for writers. Thirty-two writers in the organization have seen 53 of their books included in the ban.
More than 145 books have been removed from school libraries in the district. The Board of Education began banning material in early 2024 through informal requests by school board members initially, without any public discussion or input from members of the board, according to the ACLU’s lawsuit.
Concerningly, the lawsuit claims that the board had indicated that, rather than reading any of the material they were suppressing, they relied on a rating system created by individuals with ties to the far-right group Moms for Liberty. Through this system, books are classified as inappropriate material if they include LGBTQ+ characters, racial, social, or religious commentary, profanity, and written depictions of nudity.
Trump DOJ Ordered ICE to Invade Homes Without Search Warrant
The Justice Department quietly authorized immigration agents to seize power in arresting people under the Alien Enemies Act—no warrant required.
The Justice Department quietly invoked the Alien Enemies act last month to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the power to conduct warrantless searches of people’s homes as long as they suspect them to be an “alien enemy.” USA Today obtained the memo that contained this order on Friday.
In the memo, the Justice Department defined an “alien enemy” as anyone who is 14 years of age or older, not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, a citizen of Venezuela, and “a member of the hostile enemy Tren de Aragua,” per the Alien Enemy Validation Guide, a document that has already been slammed by immigration experts.
The broad definition has already resulted in the apprehension and deportation of more than 200 men to El Salvador who just happened to have tattoos, like gay makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero.
This type of order will likely lead to more indiscriminate arrests and wanton racial profiling. The memo, which is from March 14, is another massive departure from the U.S. immigration norms.
White House Confirms Trump Is Exploring Ways To ‘Deport’ U.S. Citizens
The administration could try removing American citizens if it identifies a pathway it can claim to be legal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that President Donald Trump is exploring legal pathways to “deport” U.S. citizens to El Salvador, where the administration has already arranged to house deported immigrants in a prison known for its human rights abuses. (Watch the video, above.)
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he “love[s]” the idea of removing U.S. citizens, adding that it would be an “honor” to send them to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — an eager partner in Trump’s schemes.
“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” Trump wrote. “Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”
Shocking report reveals HIV deaths will explode due to Trump’s foreign aid cuts
Nearly 500,000 children could die from AIDS by 2030 without PEPFAR funding.
Nearly half a million children could die from AIDS-related causes by 2030 without restoration of PEPFAR programs cut by the Trump administration, a new study published in the Lancet reveals.
The new health policy analysis estimates that one million children could become infected with HIV and nearly half a million could die from AIDS by 2030. Additionally, 2.8 million children could experience orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa (because their parents died from preventable HIV-related illnesses) if the PEPFAR funding isn’t restored.
A study released by UNAIDS in March showed an uptick in new HIV infections has already started as local HIV prevention programs funded by PEPFAR have been thrown into chaos.
Men who have sex with men, girls, and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 not pregnant or breastfeeding, and sex workers and people who inject drugs “can not” be offered PrEP during the pause or “until further notice,” Trump administration officials wrote.
Trump’s D.C. U.S. attorney pick appeared on Russian state media over 150 times
Nominee Ed Martin did not initially disclose his RT and Sputnik appearances from 2016 to 2024 to the Senate. The State Department has said the networks act like arms of Russian intelligence.
Starmer told UK must repeal hate speech laws to protect LGBT+ people or lose Trump trade deal
‘Good chance’ of agreement, says JD Vance – but a source close to the administration says his concerns over Britain’s hate speech laws ‘are still a red line’
Australian with working visa detained and deported on returning to US from sister’s memorial
Man who says he had previously left and re-entered the country multiple times alleges border officials called him ‘retarded’ and boasted ‘Trump is back in town’
The racism in this tRump administration is incredible. They are desperate to remove anything positive done by people who are not white cis straight males. They want nothing that shows women or brown / black people. They want segregation back. They want subservient women who have to do as a male tells them. They are desperate to have a white straight cis male dominated society. The adminstartion is full of white supramcists who believe that teaching the true history, that telling people the truth is “… improper ideology”. Hugs
Attorney Lindsey Halligan is reportedly consulting Vice President JD Vance to “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties. According to a recent Washington Post article, Halligan told Trump the Smithsonian needs “changing,” and he has since ordered her to act.
Critics warn: it’s not just history being erased—it’s identity.
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE – Black Press USA has learned that Trump officials are sending back exhibit items to their rightful owners and dismantling them—starting with the 1960 Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in exhibit.
“This president is a master of distraction and is destroying what it took 250 years to build. Here’s another distraction in his quest for attention. Another failure of his first 100 days,” said North Carolina Rep. Alma Adams, responding to efforts to physically remove the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth’s lunch counter exhibit from the National Museum of African American History and Culture—affectionately known as the “Blacksonian.”
The exhibit features portions of the original lunch counter and highlights the story of four Black male students from North Carolina A&T who were brutally attacked after sitting at the whites-only counter Feb. 1, 1960. When denied service, the students refused to leave. Their defiance ignited a wave of lunch counter sit-ins across the South and became a major flashpoint in the Civil Rights Movement.
Adams added, “We are long past the time when you can erase history—anyone’s history. You can take down exhibits, close buildings, take down websites, ban books, and try to change history, but we are long past that point. We will never forget!”
Black Press USA has also obtained a letter from Dr. Amos Brown, long-standing civil rights leader and pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco—also known as the home church of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The letter notifies Dr. Brown that the museum is returning a Bible and George W. Williams’s History of the Negro Race in America, 1618-1880, one of the first books on racism in the U.S. Black Press USA has obtained emails from April 10 and 15, 2025, confirming the transfer.
The excerpt obtained by Black Press USA reads:
Dear Reverend Brown, “I wanted to alert you that the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will be returning your Bible and book we borrowed for our exhibition, Segregation.” (Email to Dr. Amos Brown)
These artifacts have been on display since the museum’s opening in September 2016. Dr. Brown has confirmed he will accept their return.
For Dr. Amos Brown, the artifacts meant something.
“Those two books and the summary of my civil rights activism and my picture right there next to Medgar Evers, John Lewis, and Fred Shuttlesworth in the desegregation of civil rights exhibit… That book [History of the Negro Race in America] inspired me before there were even African studies published. In my home, in that 3rd Street Baptist Church, we studied that book. The Bible—that’s my father’s Bible and the Bible I used in the Civil Rights Movement. When we went on demonstrations, we always had the Bible.”
While civil rights leaders are seeing their history returned behind the scenes, other actors are influencing the future of national memory.
Attorney Lindsey Halligan is reportedly consulting Vice President JD Vance to “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties. According to a recent Washington Post article, Halligan told Trump the Smithsonian needs “changing,” and he has since ordered her to act.
Halligan stated, “I would say that improper ideology would be weaponizing history. We don’t need to overemphasize the negative to teach people that certain aspects of our nation’s history may have been bad.” That overemphasis, she argued, “just makes us grow further and further apart.”
These people are not undocumented. They had immigration papers. Plus the Tren de Aragua gang do not have common tattoos nor hand signals. So everything the government claims is again suspect and wrong. I offer the quotes below. They had papers saying this person is not subject to removal but ICE took them anyway. Hugs
“Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” Cano wrote in his resignation, obtained by KOAT. “The very first time I ever heard that the boys could possibly have any association with Tren de Aragua was when I was informed of that by [the] agents on the day of the raid.”
He added that each of the men had immigration paperwork that suggested that they were not subject to removal. “Their papers stated in the upper right-hand corner, ‘This Person is Not Subject to Removal.’ They each had a specific court date regarding their asylum hearing,” Cano stated.
Story by Kelly Rissman
• 23h
Immigration authorities raided a former New Mexico judge’s home, where they accused him of harboring an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member, and took him into custody.
Former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano, 67, and his wife, Nancy Cano, 68, were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcementx Thursday after a tipster claimed that undocumented migrants associated with the Venezuelan gang were staying at their home. The couple has been charged with tampering with evidence, jail records show.
The investigation began in January 2025 after ICE received an anonymous tip that “an illegal alien from Venezuela and a suspected member of a criminal gang, was residing with other illegal aliens in the United States” at the judge’s home in Las Cruces and was in possession of firearms, according to court filings.
Two search warrants were executed at the Canos’ home on February 28, during which authorities seized four guns and took three immigrants into custody, documents say.
The judge resigned in March after federal authorities accused the couple of housing an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, at their home.
A former New Mexico judge, Joel Cano, and his wife, Nancy Cano, were arrested after ICE accused them of harboring members of a Venezuelan gang (Dona Ana County Jail)
“Let me be as crystal clear as possible,” Cano wrote in his resignation, obtained by KOAT. “The very first time I ever heard that the boys could possibly have any association with Tren de Aragua was when I was informed of that by [the] agents on the day of the raid.”
He added that each of the men had immigration paperwork that suggested that they were not subject to removal. “Their papers stated in the upper right-hand corner, ‘This Person is Not Subject to Removal.’ They each had a specific court date regarding their asylum hearing,” Cano stated.
He continued: “I have three grandkids that I love dearly. Their ages are 15, 8 and 6. There is no way in the world that I would have allowed my grandkids to have any contact with the boys if I had sensed danger.”
Ortego-Lopez installed a glass door for Nancy Cano in late 2023, according to court documents. He continued doing a few jobs for her in 2024 and after he was evicted from his apartment in April 2024, she offered him a stay in their “casita,” a small house on their property. There, Ortego-Lopez was given access to guns, the filing says.
Ortega-Lopez allegedly posted photos of himself on social media holding guns. Agents also looked at the social media accounts of the other undocumented immigrants staying at the judge’s house that suggests “clear indicators” of association with the Venezuelan gang.
“These indicators included tattoos, clothing apparel and displaying hand gestures,” the government wrote.
Nancy Cano has been accused of witness tampering after she allegedly let Venezuelan gang members live in a ‘casita’ on her property (Dona Ana County Jail)
The president’s order states that “all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of [Tren de Aragua], are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.” The ACLU sued administration officials over their use of the Alien Enemies Act and a judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the migrants from being deported. Still, the planes flew to El Salvador; the judge this month said he found “probable cause” to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt.
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration has the authority to deport migrants under the centuries-old act but also ordered that the government provide detainees an opportunity to contest their removals in court districts nearest to the detention centers where they are being held.
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April 26, 1954 The Geneva Conference began for the purpose of bringing to an end the conflicts in Korea and Indochina. This followed the defeat of the French in Vietnam at Dien Bien Phu. France had been trying to reassert colonial control over Indochina following World War II. The conferees included Cambodia, France, Laos, the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. As a result, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned pending elections on reunification to be held in 1956; those elections were never held.
April 26, 1966 Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales founded the Crusade for Justice, a Chicano activist group, in Denver, Colorado, and marked his departure from the Democratic Party. It was the beginning of a nationalist strategy for the attainment of Chicano civil rights. Read more video Democracy Now
April 26, 1968 A national student strike against the Vietnam war enlisted as many as one million high school and college students across the U.S.
April 26, 1986 A major accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine near the border with Belarus, both then part of the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere. Only after Swedish authorities reported the fallout over their country 1385 km away (860 miles), did Soviet authorities reluctantly admit that an accident had occurred. During a fire that burned for 10 days, 190 tons of toxic materials were expelled into the atmosphere (3% of the reactor core). Winds blew 70% of the radioactive material into neighboring Belarus. The explosion at Chernobyl was the world’s largest-scale nuclear accident. Approximately 134 power-station workers were exposed to extremely high doses of radiation directly after the accident. About 31 of these people died within 3 months. Another 25,000 “liquidators”—Soviet soldiers and firefighters who were involved in clean-up operations — have died since the incident of diseases such as lung cancer, leukemia, and cardiovascular disease. 400,000 were evacuated and over 2,000 towns and villages were bulldozed to the ground in areas considered permanently contaminated. Deaths and illnesses directly attributable to radiation exposure continue. “Chernobyl is a global environment event of a new kind. It is characterized by the presence of thousands of environmental refugees, long-term contamination of land, water and air, and possibly irreparable damage to ecosystems.” – Christine K. Durbak, Chairwoman of the World Information Transfer, New York Chernobyl for Kids
April 26, 1998 Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a leading human rights activist in Guatemala, was bludgeoned to death two days after a report he had compiled was made public. The report blamed the U.S.-backed Guatemalan military government and its agencies for atrocities committed during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war. About Bishop Gerardi’s murder (Democracy Now)
This is why I keep saying we must be vocal and show our displeasure with companies that pull back out of fear. We must voice it also with our money. I used to shop Target, but until they reverse their polices I won’t spend a dime in any of their stores. I know you can search and there are websites that show pro-LGBTQ+ stores and those who betrayed the LGBTQ+. But the right learned from the protests and tactics used by the LGBTQ+ in the past. We were vocal, we were loud, we worked both behind the scenes with companies and we made it clear we have disposable money to shop. A lot of gay people still do. Hugs
Murray is a Forbes news reporter covering entertainment trends.
Nearly two-fifths of corporations plan on scaling back engagement for LGBTQ Pride Month this June, an uptick from the same survey last year, while another two-fifths said their support would remain unchanged, according to a survey of corporate executives by Gravity Research, as some LGBTQ Pride organizations nationwide report fewer corporate sponsorships than past years.
Some Pride organizations have reported corporate donors have scaled back funding this year. (Photo … More
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Key Facts
Of the 49 executives surveyed from Fortune 1000 companies, those who said they were pulling back on Pride support cited pressure from conservative activists and President Donald Trump, who has signed executive orders gutting diversity, equity and inclusion and targeting the transgender community.
Of the 39% of companies who said they would reduce Pride Month engagement this year, 43% said they would reduce external shows of support, which includes having a visual presence at or financially sponsoring Pride marches, offering a Pride merchandise line, updating social media branding and partnering with influencers for Pride-themed sponsorships.
Fewer respondents, 19%, said their decreased engagement for Pride would be internal, including internal communication with employees about commitments to equality and offering employee resource groups.
About 41% of the companies surveyed said their support for Pride will remain unchanged this year, while the rest responded “don’t know” or “haven’t decided.”
Last year just 9% of companies told Gravity Research last year they would alter their Pride Month engagement plans.
Crucial Quote
Gravity Research president Luke Hartig told Forbes the survey “reveals just how dramatically the cultural and political tides have turned,”stating two-fifths of companies scaling back Pride Month engagement “would’ve been unthinkable just five years ago.” Hartig said, though, “most are holding firm internally, continuing to show up for LGBTQ+ employees and allies via events, partnerships with ERGs, and reiterating workplace inclusion.”
What Did Corporate Leaders Say About Reducing Pride Month Engagement?
One corporate leader told Gravity Research their company would reduce their acknowledgement of Pride Month on social media to “minimize public visibility that could trigger attention.” An unnamed corporate executive at a Fortune 500 consumer staples company told Gravity Research it has “reduced risk across all heritage month events” by “focusing internally and doing what’s right for our people and not necessarily shouting to the world about it.” Some executives told Gravity Research they are preparing talking points in response to their Pride Month activities, including one financial executive, who said their company has provided HR employees with prepared responses for employees who question its Pride Month support. The financial executive also said their company is planning to take a “more conservative approach to how we are acknowledging Pride month on our social media channels.”
Surprising Fact
Business-to-consumer companies (71%) are more likely than business-to-business companies (53%) to prepare for Pride Month-related backlash, Gravity Research reported, which it says shows “increased public pressure and threat of consumer backlash.”
Which Pride Organizations Have Lost Corporate Sponsors?
Some of the United States’ biggest Pride organizations have said corporate sponsors pulled back financial support this year. Anheuser-Busch, the alcoholic beverage company that battled a wave of conservative backlash in 2023 over a partnership between Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, declined to support St. Louis Pride in 2025 after more than 30 years of sponsorship, St. Louis Pride said in an Instagram post. San Francisco Pride organizers told Forbes Anheuser-Busch also declined to support the organization this year, as did previous sponsors Comcast and alcoholic beverage company Diageo, representing a loss of $200,000 in corporate sponsorship funding. Pride Houston’s board of directors told Forbes some corporate sponsors reduced support by as much as 75%, totaling $100,000 in lost funds. Chris Piedmont, media director for NYC Pride, told Forbes some corporate sponsors have scaled back budgets, though he did not name specific companies. The loss of funding has led some organizations to turn to crowdfunding, including St. Louis Pride and Twin Cities Pride in Minnesota, which cut ties with Target after the company walked back its diversity, equity and inclusion measures in January.
Key Background
Some companies have faced backlash among conservative activists in recent years for their support for LGBTQ pride, notably Bud Light, which lost its spot as the top beer in the United States after facing a consumer boycott over its partnership with Mulvaney. Within about a month of the Bud Light boycott, which began in April 2023, Bud Light’s sales were down 26% compared to the year prior. Other companies that faced online attacks and boycotts included Nike, which also partnered with Mulvaney in 2023, and Target, which sparked outrage for selling a swimsuit marketed for trans women. In response to backlash, Target removed some of its LGBTQ pride items from stores. Target has faced renewed boycotts in recent weeks after it joined a wave of companies walking back diversity, equity and inclusion standards, angering critics who viewed the company as a longtime LGBTQ ally. Target’s foot traffic in stores has been down year-over-year for 11 straight weeks, beginning with the week after it dropped DEI commitments in January, Retail Brew reported.
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