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350,000 Haitians in U.S. "at Risk of Losing Everything" After Trump Revokes Legal TPS Status
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"Cold-Blooded Murder": Families of Trinidadian Men Killed in U.S. Boat Strike Sue Trump Admin
Kristallnacht in the West Bank on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Settlers stage pogroms in the West Bank, Israel flirts with Nazis, Jewish leaders and institutions look away.
Luigi Mangione Won’t Face Death Penalty Despite DOJ’s Best Efforts
Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty. Mangione, who is on trial for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had his federal murder charges dismissed on technicality by a federal judge who determined that the shooting was not simultaneously committed during another act of violence. Prosecutors argued that stalking fulfilled that requirement, but the judge disagreed. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, a Biden appointee, left in place the stalking charges against Mangione, which would carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.Thompson was killed in December 2024 on his way to an investor conference. Mangione, who has a history of severe back pain, noted in an alleged manifesto that the U.S. has the “most expensive healthcare system in the world” but “ranks #42 in life expectancy.”“United [Healthcare] is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but [h]as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it,” he wrote. The U.S. actually ranks even lower in life expectancy at sixtieth in the world. It is by far the most expensive.This is a massive blow for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department, as they made a spectacle out of seeking the death penalty for Mangione. President Trump even claimed on Fox News that Mangione “shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me.... He shot him right in the middle of the back — instantly dead.... This is a sickness. This really has to be studied and investigated.” All of what Trump is was only alleged, undermining federal prosecutors’ case.So much posturing and tough talk, only to have their dreams of capital punishment deferred by a technicality. It seems like the DOJ will have to go back to the drawing board. Mangione’s attorneys have yet to comment. This story has been updated.
Senate Democrats’ ICE Proposals Are a Huge and Inexcusable Whiff
The horrible killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and the resulting national outrage have given congressional Democrats perhaps their best chance so far to rein in President Trump’s misuse of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies. But they are totally squandering this opportunity. They have coalesced around a lackluster list of reforms that fully addresses neither the current situation in Minneapolis nor the broader problem of Trump essentially creating a fascist national police force. Congressional Democrats and Republicans are on the verge of a temporary agreement to provide funding for the Department of Homeland Security and several other federal agencies to prevent a government shutdown. But Senate Democrats say they won’t agree to long-term funding for ICE and the broader DHS unless three core Democratic demands are met: a requirement that ICE agents wear body cameras and proper identification and not masks; a new code of conduct for how agents use force and independent investigations if they are accused of violating those rules; and the end of roving patrols by ICE officers and requirements that they have warrants and work with state and local police. That’s not nearly enough. Body cameras are just not useful. As we’ve seen across the country, as local police officers increasingly wear them, law enforcement agencies are able to put up all kinds of barriers to the release of the footage. It’s not an accident that the police violence Americans see often comes from videos taken by citizens. And there is no evidence that officers behave better because they fear abuse being caught on tape. After all, police killings of civilians are at almost the exact same level as they were in 2014, before the Black Lives Matter movement and the resulting widespread adoption of body cameras. ICE agents wearing body cameras isn’t necessarily bad. But it’s the kind of toothless reform that Republicans and the Trump administration should be offering to calm anger from Pretti’s killing, not one of the core demands from Democrats. “Cameras are only worthwhile if they are consistently used, and if the footage is reliably accessible and used to hold officers to account. Officers can, and frequently do, turn their cameras on late, off early, or not on at all,” the liberal group FWD.us concluded in a recent report. Similarly, while I hate the image of masked agents on American streets, many ICE agents seem quite comfortable showing their faces and making threatening comments to people protesting them. There is no evidence that unmasked ICE agents will be less abusive. In terms of codes of conduct, ICE already has restrictions and guidelines on use of force. So do local police departments. These policies always include exceptions if officers feel threatened or unsafe—and officers always plead self-defense after they kill or injure civilians. Law enforcement officers are rarely prosecuted and almost never convicted. So again, this should have been in the Republicans’ counterproposal, not one of three ideas from Democrats. Trying to end roving ICE patrols is a solid idea that actually gets at the abuses of the last year. ICE agents, instead of targeting specific sites or individuals accused of immigration crimes, seem to be essentially driving around cities looking for Latino-looking people. That proposal should have been joined by a long list of substantive demands. Most immediately, there is no way that Democrats should sign onto DHS funding until Customs and Border Protection and ICE personnel are completely gone from Minneapolis. The killings of Renee Nicole Good and Pretti and the siege of Minneapolis are the immediate cause of this crisis. Trump fully withdrawing forces from the city would be an important acknowledgment that his administration’s policies in the Twin Cities have been autocratic and deadly. The Senate Democrats’ demands are so meager that ICE and CBP could likely remain in Minneapolis even if the party’s conditions are met. Second, Democrats should be doing much more to stop ICE from terrorizing communities and creating a climate of fear for not only illegal immigrants but legal ones too. Banning ICE from enforcement actions at houses of worship, day cares, courts, and hospitals is essential. A proposal from House Democrats to bar ICE from detaining American citizens should have been included in the Senate proposal too. Third, Democrats should use this funding fight to limit Trump from using CBP and ICE as a national police force and, really, a standing army. Democrats should insist that Customs and Border Protection agents, whose job is to defend the border, are never be sent to nonborder areas like Chicago and Minneapolis. After all, it was CBP agents, not ICE, who killed Pretti. As law enforcement journalist Jessica Pishko explained in a recent episode of TNR’s show Right Now, CBP agents are even less trained in policing in urban settings than ICE agents and are more violent toward civilians. And combining CBP personnel with ICE gives the Trump administration the ability to send hundreds or even thousands of law enforcement personnel to a city without involving the National Guard, which usually requires the sign-off of a governor. Finally, as long as ICE and CBP exist and Trump is in office, he will use them in dictatorial ways. So while Democrats can’t abolish these agencies, they can try to shrink them. Democrats must demand substantial cuts to the ICE and CBP budgets, at least 10 percent. The Republican-controlled Congress approved a massive increase to ICE and the broader DHS budget last year. The administration is using that money to go on a hiring spree, offering signing bonuses and loan forgiveness for people who sign up to work for ICE. And since immigration levels are low right now, the odds that these officers will show up in blue cities are high. Democrats need to claw back whatever money from ICE they can. This isn’t an exhaustive list. Groups such as FWD.us and Indivisible are also pushing aggressive proposals. But the point is that the Democrats’ opening bid should have been much bolder.“By starting negotiations without challenging the premise that ICE should be the 13th largest army in the world, by refusing to go after the source of their power—their obscene budgets—congressional Democrats begin ‘negotiations’ in an already right-wing, weakened framework,” says left-leaning writer and podcast host Adam Johnson. “Their unwillingness to meaningfully and substantively rein in the power of Trump’s DHS by seeking to slash their $170 billion-plus budget shows they are unable, or unwilling, to meet the moment.” Trump is in a very weak position right now. His administration has killed two people, in videos seen by people across the country. Americans are outraged at ICE. I doubt Trump and congressional Republicans would go along with most of the changes I proposed. But the Democrats’ starting point should have been eight or 10 serious proposals for real change, both to have a strong place to negotiate from and to inform the public what really needs to happen at ICE. Instead, the GOP is likely to adopt trimmed-down versions of one or two of the Dems’ small-bore ideas, Dems will fold, and there will be little change with ICE or CBP’s actions on the ground. We are seeing the usual Democratic fear and reflexive centrism. Party leaders think talking about affordability is their salvation and crime, and immigration their Kryptonite. There is little evidence for that second view. There is a moral case for forcing major changes to Trump’s immigration policies and increasingly an electoral one too. If a newly hired ICE agent kills someone in Chicago or Denver, a body camera will not keep that person alive and almost certainly won’t ensure that their killer faces any jail time. The Democrats are pushing reforms that they know won’t work because they are doing performative, perfunctory opposition to try to quiet their base, instead of real legislating and fighting to dismantle Trump’s ICE and CBP. It’s a huge whiff on one of the defining issues of this era. The time to end invasions of American cities and monstrous raids was yesterday, not 2029.
Car With Trump Flag Rams High School Student Protesting Against ICE
A girl was injured after being hit by a car sporting a large Trump flag on Thursday afternoon. The driver of the vehicle then sped away to screams from a crowd of high school students protesting ICE.The incident took place outside Fremont High School in Fremont, Nebraska. In video captured by Veronica Sandoval of News Channel Nebraska, a young man is seen entering a red SUV with a Trump flag mounted on the back. The young man reportedly drove past the protest multiple times before the incident, and student protesters heckled him from the side of his car before he began to drive away once more.One girl in the crowd ran toward the car from the front, seemingly attempting to stop it. The car did not stop but accelerated slightly, striking the girl and throwing her to the ground. The SUV then stopped for a split second before accelerating again, away from the scene.News Channel Nebraska reported that police and paramedics responded to the injury, and that the girl was alert and talking with first responders. She was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to a hospital.It’s the latest in a growing number of protest incidents that have turned violent, with one of the most notable being the shooting and killing of Minnesota poet Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross after Good attempted to drive her car away from him.
Indian Restaurant Manager Exposes JD Vance’s “Crazy” Minneapolis Story
Vice President JD Vance’s story about protesters mobbing off-duty ICE and Border Patrol officers in a Minneapolis restaurant is being challenged by local police—and the restaurant manager.On Sunday, Vance posted a story on X about officers at dinner being doxed (in this case, just having their restaurant choice revealed) before protesters supposedly mobbed them. Vance claimed that the officers were locked inside the restaurant and that local police refused to help them because the authorities had instructed them not to do so. According to Vance, the off-duty officers only got help from their fellow federal agents.But the manager of the restaurant that night said Vance’s retelling was off. Balli Singh of Darbar India Grill & Bar told Politico that he didn’t even know Vance was talking about his restaurant until the publication contacted him on Thursday and that the real story was very different. He said two men came into the restaurant at 8:30 p.m. on January 19 and asked why so many restaurants were closed or only offering takeout.Singh said that ICE activity might have been the reason, to which one of the men said, “ICE is not problem.” The officers were in the middle of eating when some people came to the restaurant and told Singh that they suspected ICE was there. Singh said more people started to arrive and gathered near the men’s car. The agents told their server they were being harassed.“One guy actually told me, ‘Brother, don’t come between this,’” Singh said, referring to one of the agents. “‘We’ll teach them a lesson.’” Only a few minutes later, uniformed officers arrived and the two men left shortly after that.A Department of Homeland Security report of the incident claimed that one of the protesters who arrived locked the two agents in the restaurant, which Singh said he didn’t see anyone do, “even after in my cameras,” he added.Local police have also fact-checked Vance’s retelling. “MPD monitored the situation and determined that the federal agents had sufficient resources available to manage the incident,” said Sgt. Garrett Parten, a public information officer for the department, in a statement to Politico about the incident.“Records indicate the two individuals, and the assisting federal resources were able to leave the area within approximately 15 minutes of the initial 911 call. MPD was later notified that one of their vehicles had been left behind,” Parten said. “MPD monitored the vehicle until the agents were able to return and recover it.”It seems that DHS agents may have exaggerated the incident to Vance, who took their account at face value and shared it to bolster the Trump administration’s narrative that Minneapolis protesters are aggressors against federal agents who are just trying to enforce immigration law. But it’s obvious to anyone on the ground or seeing video of these agents’ violent actions that the administration is telling lies.
Trump Implies Alex Pretti Deserved What Happened to Him
For all his platitudes in the wake of Alex Pretti’s death, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to care about or respect the slain ICU nurse one bit.In a Truth Social post late Thursday night, the president coldly referred to Pretti as an “agitator” and claimed that his “stock has gone way down.”“Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” Trump wrote.Pretti was identified in previously unseen footage Thursday, tying him to another clash with officers 11 days before ICE agents killed him. In the clip, he can be seen shouting, spitting, and kicking a government SUV before several agents tackled him to the ground.CNN reported Tuesday that an earlier incident between Pretti and ICE agents had left him with a broken rib, though they cited an anonymous source and did not make mention of where or when it allegedly happened.A representative for the family told the Minnesota Star Tribune Wednesday that they could not confirm if Pretti broke his rib interacting with officers, but recalled that a previous altercation between Pretti and federal agents had torn his clothes and left him in pain with unknown injuries, which the representative noted Pretti did not seek medical treatment for.“It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control,” Trump continued. “The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”In just a few short weeks, Operation Metro Surge has conducted militarized raids across Minnesota, terrorizing residents and killing two U.S. citizens while carrying out Trump’s immigration agenda.In defense of the plan, Trump and his allies have challenged the Second Amendment, suggesting that Pretti deserved to die for carrying a gun—despite the fact that he was licensed to do so. They also unsuccessfully tried to smear Pretti and the other victim, award-winning poet Renee Nicole Good, as “domestic terrorists” intent on killing federal officers.But their deaths—and the ensuing smear campaign—were not received well by the American public. Instead, protests ensued across the country, demanding an immediate end to ICE’s brutality. People of all stripes flooded town halls and Republicans and Democrats alike vented their frustrations, booing at a recent Homeland Security funding package that provided ongoing support for ICE.Trump initially appeared wary of the boiling tensions. Earlier this week, he tapped border czar Tom Homan to oversee the agency’s presence in Minnesota, replacing Customs and Border Protection chief Greg Bovino in the process. On Thursday, Homan told reporters that he was working on a “drawdown” plan to scale back the number of agents occupying the North Star State.None of that appeared to matter by that evening, though, when a reporter asked Trump if the administration was finally going to scale back in Minnesota. “No, no. Not at all,” Trump replied.
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