Friday, July 18, 2025

Poor Chump, everybody's talkin'

 Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Another Message of Hope and Love from Virginia Foxx" 


gds



And we got three comics again this week at THE COMMON ILLS.  If you are not a community member, I will share that Isaiah also does a comic for each of the community newsletters -- one for each of them, every week.  

Meanwhile, here is Whitney Houston performing "I Am Changing" from the DREAMGIRLS soundtrack.



Things are changing for Convicted Felon Donald Trump.  Matt K. Lewis (LOS ANGELES TIMES) observes:

 

For an entire decade now, Donald Trump has been immune to alienating his supporters — a base so loyal they’d drink bleach if he told them it would own the libs (and some probably did).

Stormy Daniels? A spiritual growth opportunity for evangelicals to witness a modern-day King David. Inciting a Capitol riot? Boosted his Q-rating (not to mention his QAnon rating). Bombing Iran? Sure, a few “America First” types grumbled into their microphones about endless wars before dutifully moving on.

Trump himself bragged he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue, shoot somebody and not lose a single voter. He was right.

But the current wave of intra-MAGA criticism — over the Trump administration’s defensive insistence that Jeffrey Epstein (a) definitely committed suicide, and (b) never had a client list — feels categorically different.

Trump can usually smother an inconvenient news cycle by tossing a fresh carcass on the table, be it a deranged Truth Social post or a threat to jail an enemy.

This time, however, his suggestion that Rosie O’Donnell should have her citizenship revoked barely registered above ambient noise, as the mob kept hammering him over his refusal to release the Epstein files. His latest weapon of mass distraction is a not-so-subtle hint that he might fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. But even that hasn’t managed to shift the spotlight away from Epstein.


His supporters are crying in their beers.   Carl Gibson notes:

President Donald Trump's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case has resulted in a vast multitude of far-right media figures turning on the person they helped elect, according to a new analysis.

In a Thursday article in anti-Trump conservative outlet The Bulwark, author Will Sommer detailed how some of the biggest names in the MAGA media sphere have deemed Trump a heretic over the administration's insistence that the Epstein matter is closed and that the rumored "client list" purportedly including contact information for Epstein's criminal associates never existed. He listed multiple examples suggesting that Trump's biggest online advocates may not forgive him over the Epstein issue.

MAGA podcaster Tim Pool accused Trump of "trying to nuke his base." Anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines – who tied for fifth place against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in a 2022 competition — wondered "why on earth is [Trump] doing this?" Another Pro-Trump influencer Matt Walsh, who describes himself on X as a "theocratic fascist," also piled on.


Now let me note the discussion on Friday's MORNING EDITION (NPR): 


STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

President Trump's effort to silence talk about the Epstein files doesn't seem to be working.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Last night, The Wall Street Journal published an article describing what it said was a sexually suggestive note that Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. This is before Epstein was first arrested for sexually abusing girls. Trump's ties to Epstein, the financier who faced sex trafficking charges before dying by suicide in federal custody, have rocked the president this week.

Last night, Trump responded swiftly, threatening to sue The Wall Street Journal over the story and strongly denying the allegations. He called the letter fake. He also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek release of some of the files related to Epstein's criminal sex trafficking case and insists continued questions about the investigations are a, quote, "a scam."

INSKEEP: NPR's Stephen Fowler has been covering this story. Stephen, good morning.

STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: OK. We got to begin with The Wall Street Journal story. What do they report?

FOWLER: This exclusive claims that Trump sent a letter for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003 that included a drawing of a naked woman with the signature Donald below the waist, part of a leather-bound collection of letters from Epstein's friends and family. The letter supposedly concludes, happy birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret. NPR has not independently confirmed that story.

INSKEEP: Yeah. And I guess we should note the Journal has not published an image of this letter, but there's a description and the Journal says that they have reviewed the letter. How is the president responding?

FOWLER: Well, he said in an interview for the article on Tuesday, quote, "I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women." And in that interview, plus several Truth Social posts, Trump is threatening a lawsuit. The post said, among other things, that, quote, "the press has to learn to be truthful" and that Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp, said he would take care of it.

But since the story published, Trump said that he was, quote, "going to sue his" you know what "off," Steve.

INSKEEP: OK, interesting. But Trump is now asking his attorney general to release something related to the Epstein case. What's going on now?

FOWLER: Well, after Trump threatened The Wall Street Journal, he made another post that said, quote, "based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony, subject to court approval." So up until a week ago, Bondi and other Trump administration officials were the ones pushing claims that there were files to be released exposing the truth about the life and death of the convicted sex trafficker.

Now what Trump is asking Bondi to do is probably not the Epstein files people may be expecting or hoping for. Now Bondi said she would be prepared to move in court to have these documents released. They will likely have redactions to protect privacy of victims in the case and likely not have very much in the way of new information.


Like Harry Nilsson used to sing . . . "Everybody's Talkin'."






This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:

Friday, July 18, 2025.  Chump's war on immigrants, his war on NPR and PBS, everything is tied to the reality that Donald Chump is a slave serving the super wealthy -- a detail that some in MAGA are finally waking up to. 


We're starting with public media which is under attack from Donald Chump.



David Folkenflik (NPR) notes one of the week's big developments:

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have passed legislation on a narrow, party-line basis to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting for the next two years. That's $1.1 billion previously approved by the Republican-led Congress and President Trump. The reversal is notionally due to the need to cut funds to help pay for new Republican priorities, including an expansion of immigration enforcement and extension of Trump's prior tax cuts.

Yet Trump had campaigned on retribution and made the news media a core element of his grievance. Public broadcasting has offered a ready target, given the government funding, and he has repeatedly claimed NPR and PBS demonstrate ideological bias.


NPR and PBS -- and other public media -- do have a bias -- they are anti-stupidity.

An administration that's purged climate change from all federal government pages, can't handle science.  An administration that puts a fool in charge of public health -- a fool who thinks vaccines cause autism -- can't handle science.  

If NPR and PBS were like FOX "NEWS" and just told lies, Chump wouldn't claim they had a bias.  The threat to Chump is that NPR and PBS and other public media are science-based and fact-based.

Earlier this month, Ruth wrote about how important NPR and PBS are in "Chump attacks NPR and PBS:"


We need NPR and we need PBS.  The cloven hoofed Jonathan Turley would beg to differ but he is a turncoat and a liar.  In fact, he is a work write-up waiting to happen.  Tick-tick-tick-tick.  

NPR gives us news and it gives us explorations.  I am not a Terry Gross fan but she can have a guest that makes me tune in.  And I really do not like her.  When she has a great guest though, she is worth listening to even for me because you have a real exploration of a topic and not just silly soundbytes. PBS?  We get THE NEWSHOUR which remains America's strongest news hour or news half hour.  No one does the evening news better.  In addition, we get documentaries and we get NOVA and AMERICAN MASTERS and children's programming and cooking shows and gardening shows and some great dramas and, if we are lucky, Britcoms.  I do not have Britcoms currently.  I do have a movie on Saturday nights (AIRPLANE! is this weekend).  AMANPOUR & COMPANY and LIDIA'S KITCHEN.  Sometimes I will watch AUSTIN CITY LIMITS based on the musical guest.  My PBS station (CPTV) offers BBC NEWS as well.  I love POV.  I could honestly live with just PBS.  

I have YOUTUBE TV.  I dropped cable years ago.  I went with YOUTUBE TV because of Stan's praise for it.  Which includes, I can watch a program and pull up the schedule to see what else is on.  Or I can watch a program and pull up the things I have recorded to see if there is something else I want to watch.  Try to do that on HULU LIVE TV and the program you are watching stops.  I also like YOUTUBE TV because many of the streaming TV services do not offer PBS.  

But if I had only over air TV, I could survive on just PBS because it offers so much.  And I am someone who will fold laundry in front of the TV, chop vegetables in front of the TV.  If I am home and not reading, I have the radio on -- or radio via the internet -- or a record on the stereo or PBS on as I go through the house doing chores.  And I dust and vacuum daily, by the way.  My family makes fun of me (kindly) about that.  That is how I did it raising the kids and it is how I do it now. But, no, I do not expect that from other people and their homes and I am fully aware that most people did not have eight hours a day to straighten and clean their homes to begin with.

So when they attack PBS and NPR, they are really attacking us.  

I encounter people sometimes who hate PBS and do not watch it or hate NPR and do not listen to it.  And I will speak with them and find out their interests and usually be able to recommend one show that they should catch.  The reality usually is that people who do not watch it or listen to it do not really know what it offers.  Once they do, they tend to find something of value because it is "public" TV and "public" radio -- meaning that it serves us. 


"Public media."  We say that because, as Ruth noted earlier this week "Chump continues his attack on NPR, PBS and Native Americans" -- Native American media is being attacked by Chump and by GOP members of Congress:


As bad as the attack on PBS and NPR is, it goes beyond that.  Margery A. Beck (AP) reports, "Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders."  There are 59 tribal stations in the US. Native Public Media notes, "Native stations play a vitally important role in the communities they serve. Native stations serve as an essential source of news, deliver critically important health information, provide a forum for discussion and debate around the issues that affect their communities, broadcast life-saving information in times of emergencies, air extensive cultural content, promote language preservation, and provide jobs as part of the local economy."  NPM president Loris Taylor writes:

Tribal radio stations operate on tight budgets. Most cannot apply for competitive federal energy grants while also maintaining daily broadcast services. Asking them to pivot to climate funding, without a clear and dedicated pathway, sets them up to fail.


We call on Congress to reject any measure that would eliminate or reduce CPB funding for Tribal media. Instead, we urge lawmakers to follow Senator Rounds’ lead in recognizing the importance of Tribal stations and take it further. Rather than replace CPB, strengthen it. Protect this cornerstone of Tribal sovereignty, cultural preservation, civic engagement, and emergency response.


The future of Tribal media and the communities it serves depends on it.



Francene Blythe-Lewis, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Navajo and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is the president and chief executive officer of Vision Maker Media. Her father, Frank Blythe, founded the nonprofit organization in 1976 with seed money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and wanted to bring contemporary Native storytelling to public television.

“At the time, public leaders and programmers and station managers, they were all wanting the iconic Indian history, Indian Wars, Indian chief stories and biographies,” she said. “And so he really fought hard to set a precedent of bringing the lives and experience of Native Americans in the times that we are in to public television.”

The impending proposal to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would “almost virtually eliminate” Vision Maker Media and be “extremely tragic.”

Without organizations like Vision Maker Media, Blythe-Lewis said new generations would lose awareness of Native people, cultures and communities.

“That is the tragic part, because we’re very much a part of civil society. We’re very much part of political influence. We’re very much a part of, you know, this whole fabric of American culture and so too, because we’re the original peoples to the land, our history is critical to remain sort of the foundation of finding and founding of America.”


This was money well spent to inform and educate.  But as Mammy Yokum Linda McMahon makes clear daily, the administration doesn't do public education.  Instead they are at war with it. 

 

The above re: public media?  It's the same as THE WALL STREET JOURNAL report, the same as everything going on with this crooked administration.  

 

On THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE, Stephanie and her guests discussed THE WALL STREET JOURNAL's report last night about Chump's birthday greeting (obscene birthday greeting) to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.



Leigh Ann Caldwell's excellent analysis above noted the betrayal MAGA was feeling due to the lies from Chump and the administration regarding  Jeffrey Epstein.  It goes to the heart of the lies he's told since 2015 repeatedly.  He was going to be the savior who ended pedophile rings.  When he first started saying that, Epstein was alive and Chump's good friend.  While Chump was president, Epstein was arrested and imprisoned and died in jail.  After Chump loses the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Chump begins portraying himself as a truth teller who will release documents -- he tells FOX "NEWS" as a candidate in 2024 that he'll release the JFK assassination files and the Epstein files and blah blah blah.

And then last week, Americans are greeted with a lie that there are no documents to release.  

David Jolly:  But there's also the theme of a ruling class in America -- the super wealthy.  People who can escape accountability.  The law applies to them differently than the law applies to someone who maybe gets picked up off the streets for maybe, for instance right now, during an ICE raid.  And so we have the disparity, we have the victims who are also being lied to.  Look, this is a moment where the American people -- regardless of party -- the numbers are wild, Stephanie -- they're demanding transparency and accountability.  Some surveys show that 90 percent of the American people want transparency and accountability.   


He is the Deep State.  Chump is now the deep state denying the files.  

Alicia Menendez did a great job on THE BRIEFING last night but I can't find the two segments I wanted to highlight on YOUTUBE (there's less than two minutes of one segment that is posted on BLUESKY -- BLUESKY took away the embed option months ago which is why we no longer rush to note BLUESKY).

 Lawrence O'Donnell did a great job last night as well.




But it's really the combination of Leigh Ann Caldwell's analysis and David Jolly's comments that captures it.  Donald Chump rages against the Deep State and presents as the hero of the people.  But he's not.  He's the servant of the super wealthy.

That's what's going on with Epstein his admirers fear.

It's certainly what went down with his 'big' 'beautiful' bill that steals billions from the American people and hands them over to . . . the super wealthy.

Native Americans are going to suffer due to his attack on public media but they don't matter.  Only the super wealthy matter to Chump.

He is their servant.

And that's why the Epstein matter is so important to MAGA and outraging them.  His attempts to bury evidence regarding Epstein's crimes make clear that he is not about We The People, he is not about working people, he is just about serving the super wealthy.

Stephanie noted at the top of her segment that there were all these things going on but it was Epstein that was outraging Chump's supporters.  

Because that's what they can't deny to themselves.  They can pretend that the tax bill isn't as bad as it really is because it's not gone into effect yet.  They can pretend regarding the econoy and a lot of other things.  But on Epstein?

He promised them he would release the files.  Now he won't.

And he's tried everything including his usual attempt to blame Joe Biden.

There's no one to blame for this but Chump.  And it goes to the heart of the matter that he was not a change agent, he was not going to shake things up, he's just a tool of -- a slave to -- the super wealthy.

Let's turn to immigration.  At AMNY, Jumaane D. Williams observes:
 

A toddler in a red and white dress told me she was four years old. Her family told me she was here for her court date.

A series of young men were granted a court date by a judge, a moment of relief, only to be ambushed by a gang of ICE agents before they’d even cleared the doorway. One was violently manhandled. Another collapsed into the corner, head in his hands.

These men were pulled down an unmarked hallway and into anonymity, possibly to be trafficked toward a deadly prison in El Salvador or South Sudan or Florida for the crime of coming to America for a better life, and expecting better of us. 

And lining every hallway, a masked force of anonymous goons looming over the proceedings and ready to pounce, under the guise of “just doing my job” and the cover of a total lack of accountability. Who care more about keeping order than keeping a conscience.

It’s not clear whether the people being seized always know what’s being said to them in these moments of arrest, and very clear they don’t know why. They are being thrust unaware into the most traumatic experience of their lives – alone.

A frantic woman was asking anyone she could for any sign of her partner who had come for his lawful hearing. Forty-five minutes later, her six year old daughter heard the truth – her father had been kidnapped by the government, without cause or a chance to say goodbye. Still she asked us, “Where is my daddy?” up to the moment of an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital.

Words can’t convey the panic of a New Yorker suddenly pinned to the wall, the dread that hangs over the waiting room, the desperation of a mother and daughter begging for information about their family. 

I can’t get these sickening sights and sounds out of my head – and maybe that’s a good thing.

I witnessed these scenes in Manhattan over a matter of hours – but what I saw is happening on a constant loop in buildings just out of sight of the Statue of Liberty.

And I don’t blame people for not knowing that. 

Intentionally or not, our minds and media are often vague about the Trump administration’s crimes against our neighbors and rights. People hear about an “immigration crackdown,” maybe one that’s gone far beyond the so-called “criminals,” but it is in the details that the grotesque reality is revealed.

These aren’t vague issues –they’re specific cruelties. It’s not just an abstract overreach or a constitutional question. It’s an extra-legal abduction racket, the kind we’d hope the government would root out – but the government are the perpetrators. 


Here the goons are in NYC.  Little bitch boys and cowards in masks.  



Secret Service doesn't need masks.  Constables don't need masks.  CIA agents don't even need masks.  But bitch boys and cowards need masks.  But even with masks, they can't hide from themselves and their own actions will haunt them forever -- and should.  They're destroying lives.  




Public approval of President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration has dropped to its lowest level since his return to the White House, as Americans express a growing unease with his aggressive enforcement tactics.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Wednesday shows an outright majority of Americans—51 percent—now openly disapprove of the president’s hardline approach to immigration enforcement, marking a dramatic shift from earlier this year when it was seen as his strongest issue.


Two things here.  The more Americans see what's taking place, the more they reject Chump's war on immigrants.  Second, that's another reason Mark Cuban's ridiculous notion (see Wednesday's snapshot) needs to be rejected.  It's not our job to save Chump or his policies.  Democrats came up with immigration plans and Republicans shot them down.  Chump pushed this policy through -- illegal and inhumane -- and now that the public has decisively turned against it, we do not need to kiss Chump's boo boo and make it better.  What he has done is outrageous and horrifying.  Democrats should not now try to normalize it just because Cuban thinks that's a 'quick fix.'  We can't normalize this and the American people don't want it normalized.


The cruelty of Chump's inhumane practices are something he and the GOP need to own.  We shouldn't sully ourselves to help him look better and shame on Cuban for pretending we should.  They're the ones being cruel and they like being cruel.  Michael Luciano (MEDIAITE) notes:

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) advised U.S. citizens to avoid associating with undocumented immigrants, lest they be arrested during an immigration raid by federal agents.

The Trump administration is carrying out scores of raids across the country at factories, farms, restaurants, schools, and other locations to enact the president’s mass deportation policy. President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration, which was once seen as his strongest or second-strongest issue, is polling at its lowest level of the term so far, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Wednesday. Just 41% of Americans approve, and only 28% agreed with the statement that “immigration arrests at places of work are good for the country.”


I believe the phrase we're all thinking right now is: "What the literal f**k!"  


He's stoking fear, othering and justifying -- so very Mark Cuban of him -- what's being done to immigrants.  


The administration's actions are not excusable but that's what an idiot elderly man named "Tommy" thinks.  Chicken Hawk Tommy never served.  We grasp that, right?  He didn't sign up to go to Vietnam nor did he protest it.  Little Chicken Hawk Tommy might need to meet George Retes.  We noted George in yesterday's snapshot. He's a veteran of the US military.  He's 25.  Glass House Farms was raided by ICE gestapo agents.  At least one person is dead.  George is a security guard at Glass House Farms and when ICE Nazis came crawling, he identified himself from inside his car as that and as a US citizen.  It made no different as they busted his window, pepper sprayed him and hit him with tear gas because, well, they can and then they dragged him from his car.  This passes for how they carry out arrests these days.   Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) notes 


"It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back," Retes said.
[. . .]
Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter's birthday party Saturday.

He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.

On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges.

"They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around," Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being "locked up for three days with no reason and no charges."





This is America right now.  Under the Chump Reich, this is America.

And if you're feeling sorry for cowardly Tommy who couldn't enlist, please note that when he offered his 'brilliant' advice that we noted earlier, he was informed veterans were being arrested by ICE.  Back to Michael Luciano's report:

So Senator, do you care if U.S. citizens accidentally get detained in ICE raids?” Manríquez asked.

“If U.S. citizens?” Tuberville said, seeming surprised.

“Yeah, it’s been happening a lot,” the reporter replied. “It’s been having a lot with veterans in particular.

“Well, first of all, don’t put yourself in a situation where that happens,” Tuberville responded. “And I’m sure with all the illegals we have in this country, you’re gonna probably have some mistakes happen. That’s gonna happen. But again, as long as we take care of it the right way, understand they are our system, let them go. But again, if you’re gonna be hanging around people that are not citizens of this country, some things like that are gonna probably happen.”


That's 70 year old Tommy Girl for you.  Yellow streak down his back and vengeance in his eyes, headed to hell for eternity. 


Tommy's got a pal he can scissor in hell with, one Ralph Norman.  Ailia Zehra reports:


Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) are facing backlash over their responses to a reporter asking whether they “care if U.S. citizens accidentally get detained in [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE raids.”

"No, I'm not concerned about that," Norman said in response to the question asked by a reporter on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
"I am concerned about law and order," he said. When the reporter pressed him about U.S. citizens getting detained and said "it's happening a lot," Norman said: "I don't believe that."


Just for the idiot Norman, let's note Aretha's version of "What A Fool Believes."






Fortunately, not everyone is as butt-ass-stupid as Tommy and Ralph.  In fact, even some Republicans have caught on to the damage Chump is doing -- including damage to this country's economy.  Michael Luciano reports:


Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) sounded the alarm on President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan, stating that if the administration tries to deport every undocumented immigrant, the economy will crash.

[. . .]

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal relayed remarks from a pair of House Republicans who expressed concern at the ongoing raids on businesses in the food industry.

The Journal said Stutzman took out his phone to reveal a message from a poultry farmer in his district. Stutzman stated that he has received several such messages.

“I have people they call me. They’re like, ‘I’m not sure if my crew is going to show up for work Monday morning, because if there’s a raid, or something like that, right?” the lawmaker said. “If you try to deport all of them, you’re gonna crash the economy.”



This is not the United States, this is not democracy.  These are gestapo tactics and they have no place in this country.  Lives are being destroyed.  Ailia Zehra reports:


Delegates at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) 35th General Synod overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution this week, condemning the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids as “domestic terrorism” and accusing President Donald Trump's administration of “weaponizing the Constitution.”

Religious News Service reported Tuesday that the resolution targets immigration enforcement operations “carried out by ICE agents working without uniforms, wearing masks or refusing to identify themselves,” condemning these tactics as threatening and abusive.

Titled “Responding to the federal government’s attack on immigrants, migrants, and refugees,” the resolution urges the church to divest from for-profit private detention firms, specifically naming CoreCivic, GEO Group, and Management and Training Corp.— while allowing congregations to go further if they choose, according to the report.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Mark Kelly's office:

Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) led a group of 21 Senate Democrats in pressing the Trump administration on its recent initiatives to weaponize immigration court hearings as an inhumane trap to arrest immigrants—who are just trying to follow the law—by terminating their immigration court cases and deporting them without adequate due process. 

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons, the senators condemned these actions as an affront to due process. 

“We are extremely concerned by reports of a recent initiative to arrest and detain noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, and in many cases, dismiss their immigration cases without advance notice and while hiding the government’s intent to arrest them,” wrote the senators. “These actions prevent noncitizens from having their fair day in court and raise serious legal and due process concerns. They also make clear that this Administration is not targeting the worst criminals and threats to public safety, instead redirecting staff and resources away from drug trafficking and human trafficking and towards these operations targeting noncriminal immigrants who are following the law and showing up for their day in court.” 

The senators then admonished the misuse of expedited removal (ER) as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts: “ER historically has applied only to a noncitizen who ‘is arriving in the United States’ and certain other noncitizens apprehended close to the border less than 14 days after arrival in the United States […]. ICE is now expanding the application of ER to noncitizens in the interior of the United States who have developed significant ties to the United States, including by lawfully working and attending school. Arresting law-abiding individuals and placing them in ER deprives them of the opportunity to have their fair day in court with the due process protections in immigration court proceedings.” 

The senators then raised serious due process concerns: “Due process requires notice that is reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties and that affords[s] a reasonable time to make an appearance. Here, it appears that the ICE attorneys are being told to dismiss immigration cases and place noncitizens in expedited removal. At the same time, immigration judges are being told that they may dismiss such cases without any briefing or opportunity to respond. In addition, often noncitizens have not been notified of the purpose of their dismissal, in order to respond or contest the dismissal of their immigration cases, or the placement of their case into expedited removal. Taken together, these actions raise serious due process concerns.” 

The senators concluded by articulating the horrible situation this puts immigrants in with no benefit to our country: “These actions also place noncitizens in an impossible position. If noncitizens who fear arrest do not attend their immigration court hearing, they may receive an in absentia removal order that will newly subject them to swift detention and removal. If they do attend, they risk arrest, detention, and a swift deportation, possibly to South Sudan, Libya, or El Salvador—countries they may have no connection to. This manipulation of existing laws to enact this Administration’s mass deportation agenda is creating chaos in our immigration system while doing nothing to make our communities safer.” 

In addition to Kelly, Durbin, and Padilla, the letter is signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

Read the full letter here. 



The following sites updated:


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