Tag: Hate

Trump Orders National Guard Deployed After Masked ICE Agents Clash With Protesters In LA Area [VIDEO]

Trump Orders National Guard Deployed After Masked ICE Agents Clash With Protesters In LA Area [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports:

A third day of protests against immigration raids was expected to take place in the Los Angeles area on Sunday, hours after President Trump took the extraordinary action of ordering at least 2,000 National Guard members to assist immigration agents clashing with demonstrators.

The announcement by Mr. Trump — who said that any protest or act of violence that impeded officials would be considered a “form of rebellion” — was an escalation that put Los Angeles squarely at the center of tensions over his administration’s immigration crackdown and made rare use of federal powers to bypass the authority of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.

Mr. Trump issued the order on Saturday as law enforcement officers faced off with hundreds of protesters for a second consecutive day in the Los Angeles area, in some cases using rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades. Mr. Newsom described Mr. Trump’s order as “purposefully inflammatory,” saying that the federal government was mobilizing the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle.”

The Associated Press reports:

Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby.

Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.

Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA’s fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.

The Washington Post reports:

The National Guard has not yet been deployed to the sites of any protests in Los Angeles County, according to its sheriff’s department. “We were told that the National Guard had been deployed, however they are not on the scene or the ground yet,” Deputy Sheriff Tracy Koerner said around 1:45 a.m. local time. Earlier Sunday, Mayor Karen Bass said the National Guard had not been deployed in the city limits.

The Los Angeles Police Department said at midnight that it detained “multiple” people who breached an area near the city’s Metropolitan Detention Center where the agency had declared an “unlawful assembly.” “Those detained will be arrested and booked for failing to disperse,” the force said on social media. Earlier, police said a section of Alameda Street was closed to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

The cult is celebrating on X, with some calling for the use of “live rounds” on protesters. Trump’s post below came at 2:41am, presumably upon his return from a UFC match where he was seated with Mike Tyson.

 

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emptywheel (check)
@emptywheel
SEIU CA President David Huerta was assaulted and arrested for peaceful protest. The injuries the assault caused required hospital care.
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JD Vance
@JDVance
Replying to @JDVance
For the far left rioters, some helpful advice; peaceful protest is good. Rioting and obstructing justice is not.

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NAACP
@NAACP
Deploying troops to communities already under pressure is not leadership—it’s provocation. The Trump Administration is weaponizing fear to divide and destabilize. We will not be silent. We stand with those targeted and terrorized. We fight for justice. Always.
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Gavin Newsom
@GavinNewsom
The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle. Don’t give them one.

Brian Allen
@allenanalysis
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In case you were wondering what sparked the LA standoff between protesters and federal agents, this is it. Immigrants showed up for routine ICE check-ins and were detained on the spot. Hauled into the basement. Held overnight like fugitives. No warning. No due process. Just snatched. “Land of the free,” right?

Republicans against Trump
@RpsAgainstTrump
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During his first term, Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper to shoot protesters. Esper refused. Now he has Pete Hegseth. God help us all
JD Vance now wants to use the chaos ICE is causing in Los Angeles as pretext to pressure politicians to pass the Republican budget bill that will saddle Americans with trillions of dollars of debt, skyrocket the deficit, take away people’s healthcare, and give massive tax breaks to the wealthy.

Jo
@JoJoFromJerz
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Weird how he didn’t call up the National Guard on January 6th.

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Crooks and Liars
@crooksandliars
Trump sends in his brown shirts to cause disruption so he can use the insurrection act or whatever fucked rational he comes up with to send in the the National G. Mussolini gives a thumbs up in his grave.
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MeidasTouch
@MeidasTouch
Trump lit the match, poured the gasoline, and now wants to use the blaze he is creating as pretext to burn it all down.

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Turnbull
@cturnbull1968

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I have $20 that says she shows up in LA, wearing a special commando outfit, hair extensions and a camera crew in tow.

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 Madden
@maddenifico

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A powder keg is about to explode: With masks to hide their identity, this is what a Nazi takeover of the streets of Los Angeles looks like. Trump’s cosplaying ICE Gestapo is carrying out a lawless assault against one of the most diverse cities in America.

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Teamsters California
@TeamstersCA

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SEIU California and 3 others

JerryRigEverything
@ZacksJerryRig

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I was told ICE was going to arrest gangsters and mobsters. But all I see is fat white guys in cosplay doin jobsite raids, school raids, and arresting mothers with kids who are applying for citizenship.

Stephen Miller
@StephenM

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You have no say in this at all. Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.
Mayor Karen Bass
@MayorOfLA
We will not stand for this.

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Molly Ploofkins
@Mollyploofkins

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Ask yourself why ICE is conducting raids in cities like LA and Chicago, where they face strong opposition, while massive agribusinesses in places like Kristi Noem’s South Dakota remain untouched.

Mike Nellis
@MikeNellis

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Your boss pardoned cop beaters at the January 6th riot
CBP
@CBP
Let this be clear: Anyone who assaults or impedes a federal law enforcement officer or agent in the performance of their duties will be arrested and swiftly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Attack a cop, and life long consequences will follow!

Amee Vanderpool
@girlsreallyrule

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This guy is living out his camo fantasy right now like it’s a game. Disgusting.
Acyn
@Acyn
Tom Homan: We are making Los Angeles safer. Mayor Bass should be thanking us. She says they are going to mobilize—guess what? We are already mobilizing. We are going to bring the National Guard in tonight

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Maine
@TheMaineWonk

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“Those aren’t protestors. Those are Feds.” Did I do this right, MAGA?

Turnbull
@cturnbull1968

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President Obama deported 3 million people and managed to do so without using stormtroopers and the National Guard. Like everything else, Obama was better at that too.

Brett Bruen
@BrettBruen

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Just so we are clear – this is what an insurrection actually looks like:

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Stephen Miller
@StephenM
An insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.

Marlene Robertson🇨🇦
@marlene4719

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This bloodthirsty fascist pig is longing to shoot people ever since his first term.

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Turnbull
@cturnbull1968

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Trump is sending in highly visible and armored ICE agents to LA and other big cities. He’s deliberately creating conflict so he can federalize the National Guard to go in and start hurting American citizens. That’s the end game.

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Jon Favreau
@jonfavs

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The person most responsible for the chaos and violence in southern California right now is @StephenM – who screamed at and fired ICE officials for not making 3,000 arrests per day Now he’s put ICE agents, police officers, protesters, immigrants, and innocent bystanders at riskShow more
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Duprey an hour ago

“Abducting people at work sites – meaning they have jobs.

“Capturing them at court dates – meaning they’re following the law.

“Blocking them from accessible higher education – meaning they’re striving for more.

“And peddling lies about jobless, lawless, driftless.

https://bsky.app/profile/anatosaurus.bsky.social/post/3lqt2xdvn3s2y

Houndentenor  Dupreyan hour ago

Are all of these even ICE agents? Mismatched uniforms, face masks and no IDs or badges displayed? This looks like bargain basement brown shirts.

Boo Hoo  Dupreyan hour ago

It’s even worse than just “capturing them at court dates”…they are dropping charges against the people for the sole purpose of arresting and deporting them as they are leaving the courthouse, It’s underhanded bullshit.

Ščŏŧŧ Ċ – Vive la résistancean hour ago
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No one is obstructing lawful actions, they’re stopping the illegal kidnapping and rendition of people, without due process.

Man_in_the_mists 2 hours ago

These jackboots are even openly attacking journalists .

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This is going to end in blood, and I doubt it’ll be limited to Los Angeles.

Stuart Wyman-Cahall an hour ago

THE WORLD IS INDEED WATCHING.

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Stultus 38 minutes ago

TACO will declare a national emergency and then suspend Habeas Corpus and initiate mass arrests. The captured true American Patriots protesting the Dear TACO will be sent to concentration camps. Who will stop him? More court orders.

 

Boo Hoo an hour ago

Legal or not, it’s going to take an escalation by the Mayor or Governor, telling their officers to arrest and detain ICE members for trespassing and kidnapping, to attempt to end this. Governor could just tell the National Guard to disobey. It’s going to take open defiance by those with the power to smack down these fascists who think they have all the power.

Elon Musk says he’s the only reason that Donald Trump won the election

ICE Agents Told To Get “Creative” And “Push Envelope”

Isn’t this a rouge thug agency that hides their faces and refuses to show ID?  How does anyone tell them apart from kidnappers, maybe a Proud Boy member pretending so they can abuse people they dislike.  Plus the creative ideas she has suggested are dubiously legal, possibly a crime.  Also as you see in the second one they already pretended to be utility workers causing issues for that company and lying to kids.  There is so much more than I can express here about what our country has become.  How can people hate that much.  I did not paste the hateful attacks on Pride Events by religious people making up stuff they think the right is doing like using the Trevor Project’s suicide hotline to claim that they are transing kids?  Or the woman who claimed walking into a store with pride merchandise is being assaulted with rainbows, the cloying fume of pride, and Legos of all colors.  When did just seeing that other people exist become an assault and a threat to yourself personally.  I don’t agree with fundamentalist Christians, but I don’t want to ban them or force their books from stores and libraries.  Why can not these people live and let live.  Just knowing people eat asparagus don’t make the evil even if I personally refuse to touch the stuff.  Anyway, the news has me very down and sad.  So much hate or bigotry and these people revile in both.  They love it.  They want it at the same time saying it is in the name of their god who as I remember preached the opposite of what they are doing, feed the poor, clothe the poor, help the immigrant as you were once an immigrant, judge not least you be judged, and so much more.   Hugs

ICE Agents Told To Get “Creative” And “Push Envelope”

The Guardian reports:

Senior US immigration officials over the weekend instructed rank-and-file officers to “turn the creative knob up to 11” when it comes to enforcement, including by interviewing and potentially arresting people they called “collaterals”, according to internal agency emails viewed by the Guardian. Officers were also urged to increase apprehensions and think up tactics to “push the envelope” one email said, with staff encouraged to come up with new ways of increasing arrests and suggesting them to superiors.

“If it involves handcuffs on wrists, it’s probably worth pursuing,” another message said. The instructions not only mark a further harshening of attitude and language by the Trump administration in its efforts to fulfill election promises of “mass deportation” but also indicate another escalation in efforts, by being on the lookout for undocumented people whom officials may happen to encounter – here termed “collaterals” – while serving arrest warrants for others.

Read the full article. Impersonating utility workers apparently falls under getting “creative.”

Chassegue2 days ago

“Creative” = “Get illegal” and “terrorize”. San Diego is still reeling from a raid on a restaurant at happy hour where employees were handcuffed until 4 of their colleagues were dragged off by masked men. When concerned community members began filming the encounter they were greeted by flash-bang grenades. This is fascism.

 

Tucson’s ABC affiliate reports:

Southside neighbors jumped into action Wednesday morning when they believed immigration officers were attempting an arrest near Sixth Ave. and Ajo Way. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told KGUN 9 that there is an ongoing investigation, but did not provide further details.

Christine Cariño called KGUN 9 because she believed there were ICE or HSI agents in her neighborhood. Cariño described their unmarked vehicles, claimed they asked her unusual questions, and claimed that they worked with Tucson Electric Power.

She began to suspect the individuals were immigration enforcement officers during the initial interaction. She explained how they initially asked her to help them find her neighbor. That’s when she questioned if they were ICE or HSI agents, despite having been told they were with Tucson Electric Power.

The Arizona Republic reports:

An Arizona power company is warning that it objects to anyone who may misrepresent themselves as one of its employees amid allegations that immigration officials posed as utility workers while attempting to detain a man at his home in south Tucson.

Tucson Electric Power’s statement come after local residents raised concerns that two men who introduced themselves to neighbors as utility workers and asked for directions to a specific house were actually federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Members of the Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus were quick to condemn the incident, saying it was “part of a broader pattern of concerning actions” by immigration authorities. State Rep. Mariana Sandoval, D-Goodyear, said in a statement that federal officials should investigate the incident and publish guidelines to prevent future occurrences.

The neighbor cited above appears in the video.

https://x.com/azcentral/status/1929916304674152847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1929916304674152847%7Ctwgr%5E29fb643998c9077d1359c2e1ee1b9321eb0638b1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2025%2F06%2Fice-accused-of-impersonating-arizona-utility-workers%2F
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Todd20036 2 days ago

When you have to break the law to accomplish your mission, you aren’t the good guy

Chris G. 2 days ago

Do ya notice how quickly and gladly ICE and other law enforcement agents go full on gestapo? If they could just shoot people dead for no reason, a lot of them would do it and high-five each other afterwards.

TrollopeReader  Chris G.2 days ago

there was a clip of the ICE director (either very mad, or very nervous –(watching his fingers tapping anxiously on the podium)) the other day answering the question on the facial coverings (hence my calling them ICEis ) ..

because nasty people were taking pictures of agents and Doxxing them! (and apparently their wives, children, etc etc ) …

well, oddly enough, in most places you can find the names of the local police officers, and who of those are on things like the SWAT team .. and they at least wear badge numbers, if not names ..

but nooooo ICEis agents are special and scared!

Randy503  TrollopeReader2 days ago

You mean they are being doxxed like the federal judges and the democratic state and federal reps?

amandagirl15701  TrollopeReader2 days ago

Ahhh. That explains the push to make it a crime to identify ICE officers. There was one the other day that was confronted over his white supremacist tattoos that were clearly visible on his right arm. I think it has more to do with them hiring from racist groups rather than protecting their “families”.

Randy503  Chris G.2 days ago

No question. My trump loving cousin works for a homeland security contractor. he is always talking about the “gangs” from the city who take over all the street festivals, all the parks (especially the suburban ones), all the malls and gallerias, and all other public spaces. He really thinks that there are roving gangs on marauding everywhere! And they are all black and brown people, naturally, and he insists they are all criminals, raping and murdering everyone. It’s why he will never go downtown.
He is totally anti-immigrant and would dearly love to deport every one of them for any reason or no reason. And if they die in the process, so much the better.

Randy503 2 days ago

I thought it was illegal to claim you were utility person? I recall back in olden times that sometimes men would pose as a utility person or cable guy to get access to people’s homes to steal things or even rape women. That’s why they started carrying ID cards that they were required to have them visible. I wonder if they violated some law?

moisturize me  Randy5032 days ago

The Boston Strangler pretended to be a utility worker to gain access to women’s apartments.

 

Randy503 2 days ago

I was an enumerator for the Census in 2020, and we were told how to look, dress conservatively, be respectful of the property, etc. We were required to wear our badges and to show it to any person who answers the door. We also had bags with US CENSUS 2020 emblazoned in large letters. Sometimes when I’d be walking down the street, bikers or car drivers would shout out a thankyou.
Even with all that, some people refused to open the door and speak with us, fearing whatever. We were instructed on how to handle that politely, and leave a note.
I can only imagine that ICE keeps doing these things for the next four years, the Census will not get a good count on huge swaths of people.

 

ICE officers stuck in Djibouti shipping container with deported migrants

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/05/djibouti-deportations-migrants-ice-trump/

Trump officials transferred the migrants to the East African nation in response to a judge’s order. They now face threats that include rocket attacks from Yemen.

June 6, 2025 at 5:51 p.m. EDTyesterday at 5:51 p.m. EDT

A U.S. Air Force plane used for deportation flights is stationed at Biggs Army Airfield in Fort Bliss, El Paso, on Feb. 13. (Justin Hamel/AFP/Getty Images)

By 

Nearly a dozen immigration officers and eight deporteesare sick and stranded in a metal shipping container in the searing-hot East African nation of Djibouti, where they face the constant threat of malaria and rocket attacks from nearby Yemen, according to a federal court filing issued Thursday.

A federal judge in Boston interrupted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flight taking immigrants from Cuba, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Mexico to South Sudan more than two weeks ago. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy said the flight violated his order prohibiting officials from sending immigrants to countries where they aren’t citizens without a chance to ask for humanitarian protection. He instructed officials to arrange screenings.

Trump officials could have flown the immigrants back to the United States. Instead, they were taken to Djibouti, where in late May officers turned a Conex container into a makeshift detention facility on U.S. Naval Base Camp Lemonnier, according to Mellissa Harper, a top ICE official, who detailed the conditions Thursday in a required status update to the judge.

Three officers and eight detainees arrived at the only U.S. military base in Africa unprepared for what awaited them. Defense officials warned them of “imminent danger of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in Yemen,” but the ICE officers did not pack body armor or other gear to protect themselves. Temperatures soar past 100 degrees during the day. At night, she wrote, a “smog cloud” forms in the windless sky, filled with rancid smoke from nearby burning pits where residents incinerate trash and human waste.

The Trump administration has urged the Supreme Court to stay Murphy’s April order requiring screenings under the Convention Against Torture, which Congress ratified in 1994 to bar the U.S. government from sending people to countries where they might face torture. In a filing in that case Thursday, officials told the Supreme Court that Murphy’s order violates their authority to deport immigrants to third countries if their homelands refuse to take them back, particularly if they are serious offenders who might otherwise be released in the United States.

Matt Adams, a lawyer for the detainees and legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said the government is delaying interviewing the men to determine whether they have a reasonable fear of harm. The judge ordered the government to provide the detainees with access to their lawyers, but Adams said they haven’t spoken to them.

Lawyers fear the Trump administration is delaying the screenings in hopes that the Supreme Court stays Murphy’s order and clears the way for officers to deport the men to South Sudan. He said detainees are likely to prevail in proving they have a credible fear of being tortured because South Sudan is on the brink of civil war and they are not citizens of that country.

“What person wouldn’t have a reasonable fear of being dropped into a war torn country that they know nothing about?” he said.

While Djibouti is one of the hottest inhabited places on earth, a Navy guide to Camp Lemonnier says it has air conditioning, WiFi, a Pizza Hut, a Planet Smoothie, and a medical clinic. It also has a movie theater, a restaurant called “Combat Cafe,” a gym and a swimming pool.

But Harper wrote that the officers and detainees staying in the shipping container have not had access to basic necessities. Officers and detainees began to suffer symptoms of a bacterial upper respiratory infection soon after deplaning, including “coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, and achy joints.”

Medication wasn’t immediately available. She wrote that the flight nurse has since obtained treatments such as inhalers, Tylenol, eye drops and nasal spray, but they cannot get tested for the illness to properly treat it.

“It is unknown how long the medical supply will last,” Harper wrote, though the camp guide has a clinic on-site.

The officers spend their days guarding eight immigrants convicted of crimes that include murder, attempted murder, sex offenses and armed robbery, court records show. Harpersaid Defense Department employees “have expressed frustration” about staying in close proximity to violent offenders.

Harper said ICE has had to deploy more officers available to work in “deleterious” conditions to give the initial crew a break. Currently 11 officers are assigned to guard the immigrants and two others “support the medical staff,” she said. They work 12-hour shifts guarding immigrants, taking them to get medication, and to use the restroom and the shower in a nearby trailer, one at a time. Officers pat down the detainees, searching them for contraband.

At night and on breaks, officers sleep on bunk beds in a trailer, with one storage locker apiece. Some wear N95 masks even while they sleep, because the air is so polluted it irritates their throats and makes it difficult to breathe. The area is dimly lit, which Harper wrote poses a security risk to the officers.

Department of Homeland Security officials seized on the court filings to criticize the judge.

“This Massachusetts District judge is putting the lives of our ICE law enforcement in danger by stranding them in [Djibouti] without proper resources, lack of medical care, and terrorists who hate Americans running rampant,” said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin on X. “Our @ICEgov officers were only supposed to transport for removal 8 *convicted criminals* with *final deportation orders* who were so monstrous and barbaric that no other country would take them. This is reprehensible and, quite frankly, pathological.”

A lawyer for the detainees said they are also worried about their clients’ health, and said the government is responsible for the current situation. Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the detainees and executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, noted Murphy gave the government the option of returning the men to the United States.

“The government opted to comply overseas,” she said. “This is a situation that the government created by violating the order and easily can remedy with a single return flight.”

Family members who finally reached the detainees by phone said the trailer where they are being kept has air conditioning, but that they remain in leg irons and without sufficient access to medicine.

Murphy had said DHS abruptly launched the deportation flight even though it plainly violated his April 18 preliminary injunction barring them from removing people without due process. Federal law prohibits sending anyone — even criminals — to countries where they might be persecuted or tortured.

Although McLaughlin said officials couldn’t deport them to their home countries, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference last month that the U.S. government did not inform her of the Mexican national sent to Djibouti, Jesus Munoz Gutierrez, who was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida 20 years ago, court records show.

She said the U.S. would have to follow protocols to bring him to Mexico, if he wishes to be repatriated, and she said he could be detained upon arrival. She said Mexico is reviewing the case.

Murphy has also ordered the government to return a gay Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico, where he said he had been kidnapped. The man returned Wednesday.

Immigration during Trump’s second term

Trump’s aggressive crackdown: Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has made immigration enforcement one of his top priorities. He issued a series of executive orders that include declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, deploying hundreds of troops there and attempting to end birthright citizenship for the children of noncitizens, a move that a federal judge has temporarily blocked. The administration has also largely closed access to the asylum process, suspended refugee resettlement and ended temporary humanitarian protections for about 350,000 Venezuelans who sought refuge in the United States. These policies have created widespread panic and confusion in immigrant communities across the country.

More resources diverted: Trump has promised to deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally, and administration officials have directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per dayto at least 1,200 to 1,500. To meet these goals, the administration has enlisted personnel from the FBI, U.S. Marshals, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. To quickly increase ICE’s detention capacity, the administration has begun to send migrants to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Pushback in the courts: Advocacy groups and others have filed lawsuits over many of Trump’s new policies. Officials in 22 states, plus D.C. and San Francisco, have sued over Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigrant Justice Center and others have challenged the Trump administration’s claim that there is an “invasion” on the border to justify summarily expelling migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum.

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The comments overwhelmingly criticize the Trump administration for the situation faced by ICE officers and deportees in Djibouti, arguing that the administration’s decision to send them there, rather than returning them to the U.S. as per a judge’s order, is the root cause of the… Show more

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Locals Furious Over Closure Of Dupont Circle [VIDEO]

Locals Furious Over Closure Of Dupont Circle [VIDEO]

The Washington Post reports:

Mayor Muriel Bowser addressed the closure for the first time in a public radio appearance Friday afternoon. She called the closing an “unfortunate error” and said she would “continue to try to lean on” the National Park Service “for a different decision.” At the same time she appeared to defend the decision, saying police had “a lot of events to be responsible for” and that “unfortunately, the public safety issue rose to the top over the public celebration.”

A cyclist draped in a rainbow Equality flag chanted “shame” as she rode loops around the park. Passersby, turned away by police from entering the circle, shouted expletives. A man, driving top-down in a convertible through the snarled traffic around Dupont Circle, shouted, sarcastically: “Oh no! I’m a heterosexual man, and I must be protected from Pride!

The park has been a historic gathering place that has hosted celebrations following the first Pride events in the 1970s, AIDS protests in the ’80s and ’90s and vigils after violent attacks on the LGBTQ community, including a vigil for the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and a Black Trans Lives Matter rally.

The Advocate reports:

Earlier this week, D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto and Zachary Parker announced that the Metropolitan Police Department had withdrawn its request to close the park following backlash from community members. But federal officials proceeded with the shutdown anyway and have not responded to requests for comment.

“I am extremely disappointed and frustrated that Dupont Circle Park will be closed this weekend despite MPD’s commitment to keep folks safe there,” Pinto said in a statement to The Advocate.

“This closure is disheartening to me and so many in our community who wanted to celebrate World Pride at this iconic symbol of our city’s historic LGBTQ+ community. I wish I had better news to share.”

News radio station WTOP reports:

Underscoring their desire to implement the closure, USPP highlighted criminal incidents that were initially pointed out in Smith’s April 22 letter. Those incidents, which took place during the District’s Pride celebration, included damages to the park’s historic fountain in 2023 that amounted to approximately $175,000.

In 2019, panic erupted at the park after loud popping sounds were perceived as gunshots being fired. However, it was later determined no firearm had been discharged. Seven people were transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries prompted by the chaos that had initially broken out.

Washington’s ABC affiliate reports:

Police responded to recent incidents of vandalism to Pride decorations in D.C. The suspects tore down rainbow wraps from poles in the area, according to two incident reports from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). One incident is listed as a suspected hate crime. The suspects got away in both cases, according to MPD.

Chris De Anda said he wrapped himself around one of the poles to block the suspect from ripping off the rainbow wrap, thinking that would stop him. It didn’t.

“He starts to rip down the flag, rips my arms off trying to get into them to pull down the paper a little bit more, but the entire time I basically hold on to it,” de Anda described, saying the man scratched his arms a bit to get to the flag.

Watch the videos.

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weshlovrcm19 hours ago edited

The lawless, corrupt occupation regime in DC is doing this on purpose as a way to inconvenience, snub and insult the lgbt community. Their long term goal is to silence, cancel and eradicate lgbt Americans, so expect increasing instances of these kinds of things, and worse.

ASFT19 hours ago

““unfortunately, the public safety issue rose to the top over the public celebration.””

But not for celebrations with red-blooded, patriotic, straight cis het christians, for some reason.

ASFT19 hours ago

And as mentioned this morning in the comments, if they were really worried about the fountain, they would just block that off, not thole damn circle

Raging Bee 19 hours ago

So…a bunch of bigots have been vandalizing things in Dupont Circle, so they close it all off so the people who AREN’T the bigoted vandals can’t go there? Kinda sounds like they’re letting the bigots win here…

BartmanLA 19 hours ago

Childish petty thin skinned MAGA cultists in the White House just can’t let anyone celebrate anything that isn’t specifically a “Christian” event. I wonder what would happen in Thousands just show up to DuPont Circle enmass, what are they going to do, arrest them all???

 

A few news articles I wanted to share. Crazy, hateful, and mean.

Trump Admin “Effectively Legalizes” Machine Guns

DOJ Wants To Make It Easier To Indict Congress Reps

 

AP: How Trump Is Scrubbing His Admin’s Records

FDA Approves New COVID Vax With Strict Conditions

 

Federal Judge Rules That DHS Must Keep Custody Of Migrants Shipped To South Sudan Pending His Ruling

Inside The Christianist Plot To Quash Gaza Protests

Wow. A group that initially included no Jews hatched a plan to make support for Palestine a crime. The US is following their playbook and supporting the mass killing & removal of Palestinians.Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement http://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u…

— David Schatsky (@dschatsky.bsky.social) 2025-05-18T10:24:52.522Z

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi: “America Is Sliding Into Autocracy”

Rule Change Would Let Trump Fire Federal Statisticians

Cooking the books? Fears Trump could target statisticians if data disappointsProposed rule change could pave way for president to fire economists whose figures prove politically inconvenientwww.theguardian.com/us-news/2025…

— Lauren Ashley Davis (@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social) 2025-05-18T17:03:59.368Z

Major Corporate Sponsors Withdraw From NYC Pride

Here’s the list:

Anheuser-Busch
Booz Allen Hamilton
Citi
Comcast
Deloitte
Diageo
Garnier
Nissan
PepsiCo
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Skyy Vodka
Target
Mastercard

US Army To Alter Birth Records Of Transgender Troops

Exclusive: US Army to change transgender soldiers' records to birth sex reut.rs/4dvNxhZ

— Reuters (@reuters.com) 2025-05-21T15:40:15.551Z

Hegseth Leads Pentagon Prayer For “Divine” Trump

FDA Orders New Warning Labels On COVID Vaccines

Felon Explodes At “Idiot, Jerk, Fake News” Reporter For Asking About Qatari Jet: “You Are Not Smart Enough”

 

Israel announces major expansion of settlements in occupied West Bank

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j5954edlno

David Gritten

BBC News
Reporting fromLondon
Yolande Knell

Middle East correspondent
Reporting fromJerusalem
AFP An aerial view shows people around a portable building under construction at the illegal Israeli settler outpost of Homesh, near the Palestinian village of Burqa, in the occupied West Bank (29 May 2023)AFP
Israeli ministers said the settler outpost at Homesh will be retrospectively legalised (file photo from May 2023)

Israeli ministers say 22 new Jewish settlements have been approved in the occupied West Bank – the biggest expansion in decades.

Several already exist as outposts, built without government authorisation, but will now be made legal under Israeli law. Others are completely new, according to Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Settlements – which are widely seen as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this – are one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians.

Katz said the move “prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel”, while the Palestinian presidency called it a “dangerous escalation”.

The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called it “the most extensive move of its kind” in more than 30 years and warned that it would “dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further”.

BBC team’s tense encounter with sanctioned Israeli settler while filming in West Bank

Israeli settlers are seizing Palestinian land under cover of war – they hope permanently

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for their hoped-for future state – in the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to grow. However, expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

On Thursday, Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich – an ultranationalist leader and settler who has control over planning in the West Bank – officially confirmed a decision that is believed to have been taken by the government two weeks ago.

A statement said they had approved 22 new settlements, the “renewal of settlement in northern Samaria [northern West Bank], and reinforcement of the eastern axis of the State of Israel”.

It did not include information about the exact location of the new settlements, but maps being circulated suggest they will be across the length and width of the West Bank.

Katz and Smotrich did highlight what they described as the “historic return” to Homesh and Sa-Nur, two settlements deep in the northern West Bank which were evacuated at the same time as Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.

Two years ago, a group of settlers established a Jewish religious school and an unauthorised outpost at Homesh, which Peace Now said would be among 12 made legal under Israeli law.

Nine of the settlements would be completely new, according to the watchdog. They include Mount Ebal, just to the south of Homesh and near the city of Nablus, and Beit Horon North, west of Ramallah, where it said construction had already begun in recent days.

The last of the settlements, Nofei Prat, was currently officially considered a “neighbourhood” of another settlement near East Jerusalem, Kfar Adumim, and would now be recognised as independent, Peace Now added.

Map of the Israeli-occupied West Bank showing the approximate locations of 22 new settlements announced by Israeli ministers (29 May 2025)

Katz said the decision was a “strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel, and serves as a buffer against our enemies.”

“This is a Zionist, security, and national response – and a clear decision on the future of the country,” he added.

Smotrich called it a “once-in-a-generation decision” and declared: “Next step sovereignty!”

But a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – who governs parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control – called it a “dangerous escalation” and accused Israel of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”.

“This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters news agency.

Lior Amihai, director of Peace Now, said: “The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal.”

Elisha Ben Kimon, an Israeli journalist with the popular Ynet news site who covers the West Bank and settlements, told the BBC’s Newshour programme that 70% to 80% of ministers wanted to declare the formal annexation of the West Bank.

“I think that Israel is a few steps from declaring this area as Israeli territory. They believe that this period will never be coming back, this is one opportunity that they don’t want to slip from their hands – that’s why they’re doing this now,” Mr Ben Kimon told the BBC’s Newshour programme.

Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, in a move not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.

AFP Israeli soldiers patrol outside the construction of a portable building at the Homesh site in the West Bank on 29 May 2023.AFP
Israeli soldiers accompanied settlers establishing the Homesh outpost in May 2023

This latest step is a blow to renewed efforts to revive momentum on a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict – the internationally approved formula for peace that would see the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel – with a French-Saudi summit planned at the UN’s headquarters in New York next month.

Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned what it called a “flagrant violation of international law” that “undermines prospects for peace by entrenching the occupation”.

UK Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer said the move was “a deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood”.

Since taking office, the current Israeli government has decided to establish a total of 49 new settlements and begun the legalisation process for seven unauthorised outposts which will be recognised as “neighbourhoods” of existing settlements, according to Peace Now.

Last year, the UN’s top court issued an advisory opinion that said “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful”. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also said Israeli settlements “have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”, and that Israel should “evacuate all settlers”.

Netanyahu said at the time that the court had made a “decision of lies” and insisted that “the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land”.

FBI To Investigate “Targeted Violence Against Religious Groups” After Hate Group Rally In Seattle Gayborhood

FBI To Investigate “Targeted Violence Against Religious Groups” After Hate Group Rally In Seattle Gayborhood

I watched videos of this protest and the complete violence of the police going full out assault against the gay protestors who were just standing there.  The Christian group in anger at what the mayor said about them, so the next day blocked access to the town hall not letting reporters, workers, or people in the community into the town hall.  The Christian group did not have a permit and violated sound level ordnances but the police did not try to remove them or force them to let people through to the town hall.  But the police did again violently attack the counter protestors from the neighborhoods.  It seems clear the police are pro the Christian haters who want conversion therapy done on LGBTQ+ kids to wipe out anyone not straight and cis. The police chaplain is on the fly for the hate group as you can see below.    The Christian hate group wants to force everyone to live as their church doctrines demand.  They are extremely hateful towards the LGBTQ+ community.  They demand that people respect and accommodate their views but refuse to accept the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, not accept the rights that the LGBTQ+ communities are due.   I will post the rest of the post by Joe. My. God.  but at the end I will post a video that streamer Vaush made on this subject also.  As Vaush says the prosecutors refused to press charges on many the police arrested.  Maybe because they were innocent protestors viciously attacked by bigoted police.   Hugs

May 28, 2025

The Seattle Times reports:

In the days after a chaotic confrontation between police and protesters at a conservative Christian rally on Capitol Hill, several groups have questioned why the demonstration was held at Cal Anderson Park and how the city could have better prepared.

The rally, advocating “freedom from same sex attraction” and ”the sacrality of biological gender,” was permitted in the heart of the state’s most LGBTQ+-friendly neighborhood, in a park named for the state’s first openly gay elected official. It attracted scores of protesters who scrapped with police. Twenty-three people were arrested.

Local LGBTQ+ advocates and at least one City Hall politician expressed anger the permit was granted for Cal Anderson, alleging the location was intended to rile the neighborhood’s residents.

Seattle’s ABC affiliate reports:

The Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced via a social media post on Tuesday evening the FBI will investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups regarding last weekend’s chaotic Cal Anderson Park rally.

Dan Bogino posted the announcement on X at 5:15 p.m., writing, “We have asked our team to fully investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert. Freedom of religion isn’t a suggestion.”

MayDay USA, which describes itself as a Christian Pro-Life organization, held the rally at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. It was met by LGBTQ+ protesters in a competing rally. At some point, police were called in, and there were multiple scuffles between the group and officers.

From my first post about the incident…

Seattle’s Fox affiliate reports:

One of the prominent supporters of Mayday USA is former Spokane Valley state representative Matt Shea, of the “On Fire Ministries,” according to the Radical Women Seattle. Mayday USA organizers have set up a tour of five cities in the country, with Saturday’s event being held in what is considered the heart of the LGBTQ+ community in Seattle on Capitol Hill.

Seattle’s NBC affiliate reports:

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said the far-right rally was specifically held at the park in Seattle’s known LGBTQ+ neighborhood “to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values.”

In a statement, Mayor Harrell called Seattle “a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice.” Harrell said anarchists joined the counterprotesters, which resulted in violence and arrests. He said the event organizes shut down the event early after being asked to do so.

Matt Shea, the far-right extremist cited above, has appeared here multiple times, most recently in February 2023 when a church then-affiliated with Shea was ordered to pay Planned Parenthood nearly $1 million in legal fees and a fine related to protests that “interfered with patient care.”

He first earned national headlines in 2019 when leaked chats showed his violent fantasies about executing non-Christians and when it was learned that he had participated in militia drills to train young men for “biblical warfare.”

Shea advocates for the creation of a 51st US state based on “biblical law.” He has also said that all American men who fail to avow allegiance to Jesus should be executed.

He was expelled by the Washington state Republican caucus but refused to resign even after the feds found that he had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States” by helping plan the armed takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.

Shea did not seek reelection in 2020 and is now the pastor of Covenant Christian Church in Spokane.

Trump administration seeks to end basic rights and protections for child immigrants in its custody

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/22/trump-children-flores-settlement-agreement

Flores Settlement Agreement limits how long children can be detained and requires they be provided with food, water and clean clothes

Detained children line up in the cafeteria at the Karnes County Residential Center in Karnes City, Texas, on 10 September 2014. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

The Trump administration is trying to end a cornerstone immigration policy that requires the government to provide basic rights and protections to child immigrants in its custody.

The protections, which are drawn from a 1997 consent decree known as the Flores Settlement Agreement, limit the amount of time children can be detained by immigration officials. It also requires the government to provide children in its custody with adequate food, water and clean clothes.

The administration’s move to terminate the Flores agreement was long anticipated. In a court motion filed Thursday, the justice department argued that the Flores agreement should be “completely” terminated, claiming it has incentivized unauthorized border crossings and “prevented the federal government from effectively detaining and removing families”.

Donald Trump also tried to end these protections during his first term, making very similar arguments.

law enforcement officer walk with a detained person
Ice arrests at immigration courts across the US stirring panic: ‘It’s terrifying’
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The move to end protections follows a slew of actions by the Trump administration that target children, including restarting the practice of locking up children along with their parents in family detention. Immigration advocacy groups have alleged in a class-action lawsuit filed earlier this month that unaccompanied children are languishing in government facilities after the administration unveiled policies making it exceedingly difficult for family members in the US to take custody of them. The president and lawmakers have also sought to cut off unaccompanied children’s access to legal services and make it harder for families in detention to seek legal aid.

“Eviscerating the rudimentary protections that these children have is unconscionable,” said Mishan Wroe, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. “At this very moment, babies and toddlers are being detained in family detention, and children all over the country are being detained and separated from their families unnecessarily.”

The effort to suspend the Flores agreement “bears the Trump administration’s hallmark disregard for the rule of law – and for the wellbeing of toddlers who have done no wrong”, said Faisal al-Juburi of the Texas-based legal non-profit Raices. “This administration would rather enrich private prison contractors with the $45bn earmarked for immigrant detention facilities in the House’s depraved spending bill than to uphold basic humanitarian protections for babies.”

The Trump administration in 2019 asked a judge to dissolve the Flores Settlement Agreement, but its motion was struck down. During the Biden administration, a federal judge agreed to partially lift oversight protections at the Department of Health and Human Services, but the agreement is still in place at the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies.

“Children who seek refuge in our country should be met with open arms – not imprisonment, deprivation and abuse,” said Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law.

The settlement is named for Jenny Flores, a 15-year-old girl who fled civil war in El Salvador and was part of a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread mistreatment of children in custody in the 1980s.

Since the settlement agreement was reached in 1997, lawyers and advocates have successfully sued the government several times to end the mistreatment of immigrant children. In 2018, attorneys sued after discovering unaccompanied children had been administered psychotropic medication without informed consent.

In 2024, a court found that CBP had breached the agreement when it detained children and families at open-air detention sites at the US southern border without adequate access to sanitation, medical care, food, water or blankets. In some cases, children were forced to seek refuge in portable toilets from the searing heat and bitter cold.

 

Trump ambushes South Africa’s president with video footage in Oval Office

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/21/trump-south-africa-president-video-footage-oval-office

A US and a South African delegation sit in the Oval Office.

President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with President Trump in the Oval Office on May 21. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In a shocking moment during President Trump‘s meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, Trump requested that videos be displayed purporting to show evidence of violence against white people in the country.

The big picture: Trump, who cut all foreign assistance to South Africa, has embraced the false accusations of genocide against white South Africans as justification for granting them refugee status in the U.S.

  • A South African court in February dismissed claims of a “white genocide” as not real.

Driving the news: In a stunning scene reminiscent of the Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump asked for the lights to be dimmed before playing the videos.

  • While Trump watched the video, Ramaphosa looked away, appearing uncomfortable.
  • At one point, speaking over the video, Trump said the screen was displaying “burial sites.” Ramaphosa inquired where the scene was located, adding, “This I’ve never seen.”
  • Later on, Trump paged through articles from the “last few days” while repeating, “death, death, death.”

Catch up quick: In the question that preceded the video display, a reporter asked Trump what it would take for him to be convinced there was no genocide in South Africa — an inquiry Ramaphosa answered.

  • “It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans,” Ramaphosa said.
  • Trump jumped in, saying there were “thousands of stories” and “documentaries.”
  • “It has to be responded to,” he said before the footage began.

Context: The video played in the Oval Office featured the voice of Julius Malema, a firebrand politician and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, who was ejected from Parliament.

  • Ramaphosa clarified that the utterances in the footage were not “government policy,” saying, “We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves.”
  • South Africa’s Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen — who is white — reiterated Ramaphosa’s point, emphasizing that the two people in the video are opposition leaders. He said his party, the Democratic Alliance, chose to join forces with Ramaphosa’s “to keep those people out of power.”

Trump interjected, “You do allow them to take land … and then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer, and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them.”

  • South Africa recently passed the Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take some land and redistribute it as part of a long-running effort to lessen the racial and economic disparities created by apartheid.
  • White people make up 7.3% of South Africa’s population and own 72% of the farmland.

Ramaphosa acknowledged there is “criminality” in the country — but said the majority of people killed have been Black people.

  • Trump claimed the “farmers are not Black” and said, without evidence, that people were being killed “in large numbers” and were decapitated. He repeatedly lashed out at reporters, saying, “The fake news in this country doesn’t talk about that.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.