The Big Ugly: Stephen Miller Uses His War on Home Depot to Invade California
Yesterday, Trump used the opportunity of a protest against brutal ICE action staged out of Paramount, CA (close to a Home Depot location) to federalize 2,000 California National Guard for force protection — a step towards, but still short of, invoking the Insurrection Act (see Steve Vladeck for a description of what Trump, legally, did; update: and an even more detailed description from Lawfare). Pete Hegseth has also floated sending the Marines to an American city, a suggestion Gavin Newsom called, “deranged.”
It’s all a transparent confrontation used to invade a blue city.
All this comes comes as the hours longshormen at LA ports work have dropped in half due to Trump’s trade war, and some of the workplaces ICE targeted were in the garment district, where actual manufacturing still occurs. In addition, Trump has promised to start cutting Federal grants to California, which led Gavin Newsom to point out that CA is a net donor to Federal taxes.
This was a natural escalation stemming directly from Stephen Miller’s shrill tantrums demanding that ICE focus more on law-abiding undocumented people rather than the criminal aliens he lied about during the election. The escalation comes in the wake of Elon Musk’s meltdown, which might otherwise make passage of Trump’s reconciliation bill funding a massive expansion of Miller’s gulag. It comes as a few libertarians — Tom Massie called for “Realistic border funding” and “No bloat for military industrial complex” in his pitch for a new “skinny” bill — focus on the huge funding for the gulag.
This inital use of federal troops in a blue city should be understood as an effort to build pressure to help pass the bill. It should also be used as an example of the danger of passing the bill — the kind of authoritarianism that Miller intends to wield if the bill does pass.
As Washington Examiner was the first to report (a testament to the kind of people who were pissed about this tantrum), two weeks ago Miller called senior ICE officials to a meeting in DC to berate them that they’re not meeting his impossible quotas for arrests, 3,000 people a day. During the meltdown he had at the meeting, Miller specifically ordered ICE to start staging arrests at Home Depot and 7-Eleven. Miller specifically berated ICE officials because they were focusing on the criminal aliens around which Miller built Trump’s re-election campaign.
ICE’s top 50 field officials were given roughly a week’s notice of an emergency meeting in Washington.
ICE’s 25 Enforcement Removal Operations, or ERO, field office directors and 25 Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, special agents in charge flew into Washington and descended on the agency’s Washington headquarters last Tuesday, May 20. There, they were met by Miller, ICE confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
“Miller came in there and eviscerated everyone. ‘You guys aren’t doing a good job. You’re horrible leaders.’ He just ripped into everybody. He had nothing positive to say about anybody, shot morale down,” said the first official, who spoke with those in the room that day.
“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recited.
One of the ERO officials in attendance stood up and stated that the Department of Homeland Security and the White House had publicly messaged about targeting criminal illegal immigrants, and therefore, ICE was targeting them, and not the general illegal immigration population.
“Miller said, ‘What do you mean you’re going after criminals?’ Miller got into a little bit of a pissing contest. ‘That’s what Tom Homan says every time he’s on TV: ‘We’re going after criminals,’” the ICE official told Miller, according to the first official.
The protests started in response to two things: Raids on work places and also the detention of a growing number of people without food in the basement of a federal building — the latter of which Representative Jimmy Gomez was protesting most of the day. At an early tiny peaceful protest, ICE assaulted and then arrested SEIU California President, David Huerta, injuring him badly enough to require hospital treatment, during their assault. He remains in custody. The assault-and-arrest bears similarities to the staged confrontation at Delaney Hall and ICE’s invasion of Jerry Nadler’s office in recent weeks.
Huerta’s treatment drew condemnation from Democratic leaders across the country, including LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Multiple Trump authoritarians, including Miller, responded to Bass’ condemnation of the violence ICE was wielding by insisting that “Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.”
From there, the protests against ICE grew, many of them mocking ICE. But ICE and LA Sheriffs (the LAPD deployed, but said it saw no violence) escalated. Nevertheless, protests remain localized (around the ICE facility and at the Federal building).
Numerous Administration keyboard warriors, including Miller, are tying the protest in Los Angeles to his Big Ugly bill, using the very same eliminationist language Trump’s used to kick off an assault on the Capitol.
The through-line here is crystal clear.
Ratchet up raids on peaceful people to hit impossible quotas (ICE came close, but did not meet, Miller’s 3,000 arrest quota on two days last week).
Use protests against that draconian invasion to arrest Democratic leaders and invade a blue city.
Point to the chaos created by Miller’s draconian ICE raids to demand passage of the Big Ugly bill, which will codify and expand precisely that kind of draconian ICE raid.
Create chaos, and then use that chaos to try to codify authoritarian power.
I wonder if the thought ever enters into Miller’s brain that no one has a relationship with Trump wherein they do not eventually become damaged goods? Perhaps he thinks he is smart enough to avoid this from happening. Perhaps he thinks he is smart enough to take over from Trump at some point in time. One thing for sure is that Miller thinks he is smarter than he really is and therein lies is greatest weakness.
He is already damaged goods.
Did he acquire depravity or was he born that way?
Miller’s 4th grade teacher said he used to put glue on his arm and then eat it off. So he was born with it.
Sniffing glue is bad for your brain, so I’d imagine eating glue isn’t good for it.
ExRacerX,
We’re talking elementary school here. 99.9% chance the glue Miller was eating was Elmer’s School Glue or a cheap off brand facsimile. So, no brain damage whatsoever.
However, still eating glue in 4th grade is pretty odd, likely a cry for attention or help. ( former elementary art teacher of 20 years).
Miller may be smart enough for his needs. He’s clearly happy to be a power behind the throne, and clearly has some agreement with Vought, the other Rasputin in the White House, with areas of responsibility. They are both long-term radical idealogues who have cracked the code of working through Trump to advance their agendas. As long as Trump survives, so do they.
Maybe we just start spreading the word that Miller is the real “secret president” and Trump is just his stooge. Past experience shows he gets the door in minutes if that theme gains traction
The word that Miller is the “secret president”–especially when domestic policy is involved–has been going around since roughly January 20 at noon-thirty. Trump won’t care as long as Miller continues to execute the MAGA plan, just as he didn’t care as long as Musk carelessly executed the “drain the swamp” plan of slashing the government, and took the rap for it.
You notice we’re all blaming Stephen Miller here, right? The person we’re not pinning the worst of this on is Donald Trump. Truman was right: the buck stops on POTUS’s desk. Make Trump pay for this.
We had a similar dynamic with Musk and DOGE. Most people blamed Musk, who had no real authority except that delegated to him by Donald Trump.
Miller, though, is more important to Trump than Musk. He has no reach or stature independent of him, but he does much more for Trump than Musk. He turns Trump’s power vacuum, paranoia and emotional hatreds into policy.
So, Hegseth is now threatening to deploy the Marines. In case any of them refuse to obey illegal orders,
Hegseth’s firing of experienced JAGs and replacing them with true believers will come in handy.
Retired Rear Admiral Who Served Under Trump Warns of Plans to Politicize Military Justice System [Military.com]
“A top retired Navy legal official is sounding the alarm over what he sees as a growing and dangerous politicization of the military legal system and the lawyers who run it.
In a public talk last week and in an interview with Military.com on Thursday, retired Rear Adm. Jim McPherson warned that the Trump administration and leaders in the Pentagon have politicized the selection process for the top lawyers in all three military branches by going around the traditional selection process and requiring nominees to answer screening questions about specific policies favored by the administration. …”
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/06/05/retired-rear-admiral-who-served-under-trump-warns-of-plans-politicize-military-justice-system.html
What’s going on in L.A. with Trump sending in the National Guard?
Understanding the situation depends heavily on your news source.
Outlets like RedState, The Gateway Pundit, and Breitbart have framed the protests as:
“A breakdown of law and order in Democrat-run cities,”
“Mob rule by illegal immigrants and leftist agitators,”
and “Proof that only Trump can restore order.”
Fox News echoes this, referring to “violent mobs” and “insurrection,” citing unverified claims of “crowds of over 1,000 rioters.” OAN uses phrases like “Paramount on the brink” and “California drowning in chaos.” Newsmax follows the same narrative.
But The Los Angeles Times, AP, Reuters, CNN, and others tell a different story—one grounded in facts. According to these sources, the unrest was limited in scope and duration, and city police—with help from the county sheriff—had largely contained the situation.
Protests erupted following large-scale ICE raids in majority-Latino neighborhoods, especially in Paramount. There were some confrontations: tear gas was deployed, projectiles were thrown, fires were set in trash bins, and a few windows were broken or buildings tagged. But it was nowhere near the level of unrest seen in 2020 or the 1992 L.A. riots.
There were: no fatalities, no burned buildings, no overrun precincts, and no confirmed incidents of mass looting reported by credible sources.
After reviewing both the coverage and the available footage—or the lack thereof from conservative media—it’s clear that while some unrest occurred, there is no evidence of widespread looting or out-of-control violence. Instead, I see peaceful protesters, community members, and even union leaders being swept up.
That suggests the federal response wasn’t about restoring order—it was about making a statement. And the louder people objected, the more that objection was used as proof of lawlessness. That’s not public safety. That’s provocation.
This latest move by Trump appears less about law enforcement and more about fulfilling a long-feared promise: to send federal force into Democratic cities, regardless of local or state opposition. While claiming to target hardened criminals, his administration has instead swept up working people, neighbors, and union leaders—turning immigration enforcement into political theater.
It’s not just overreach; it’s an escalation that creates the very conflict he then uses to justify his actions. Arresting people without criminal records, detaining organizers, and ignoring local leadership isn’t about safety—it’s about dominance.
And when people protest, their voices are labeled as threats. That’s the cycle: provoke, inflame, and then punish the objection as proof of his own righteousness—all while advancing an authoritarian goal.
And the right-wing media is abetting that effort.
[Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. We adopted this minimum standard to support community security. Because your username is too short, your username will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. Please also choose and use a strong>UNIQUE email address; the one you used has been attempted by others. We don’t even care if it’s a valid/working email address, only that it’s unique and you use it each time you comment. /~Rayne]
As a long-time resident of the area – it’s peaceful. 99% of the residents aren’t up in arms – but we certainly know what’s going on. (I suspect this is normal in most cities, no matter what the far right says.)
FYI NewsNation was covering it, Saturday. That evening they were showing re-runs of the morning protest since not much was happening by 9pm. Today is peaceful, National Guard looks bored.
I think part of it is that most people have no clue how large the area is. (I’m in the city of L.A. – it’s more than 30 miles to downtown from here. It’s another 20 miles from there to Wilmington and San Pedro.)
Marcy, your ability to pull so many facts together so quickly and accurately summarize situation in its entirety, is a gift for all of us. The situation in Los Angeles really hits home for me, as Los Angeles is where I spent the first twenty years of my life, before migrating to the Bay Area to finish college.
I know nothing about what sparked the disorder, but would not rule out the possibility of agents provacateurs.
Remember “umbrella man” in Minneapolis, who started the looting by smashing a window, then left the scene.
There was NO provocation or disorder from civilians. There was no looting, or rioting. There were civilians watching with alarm and outrage at the actions of ICE in THEIR neighborhoods, people trapped in their cars after ICE blocked off intersections, getting gassed out with outrageous amounts of tear gas. There were civilians and press getting targeted with illegal usage of the ICE/DHS war toys – tear gas canisters shot directly at people’s heads, and on.
You’re presuming disorder. Thus far the clearest cases of violence are from ICE: Both assaulting Huerta and then running a car into a female protester.
I should have put “disorder” in quotes. I don’t know what happened, just that something happened. And of course, obviously, ICE instigated the whole situation and are acting like hoodlums.
There’s no evidence they think they need agent provocateurs. All their tactics in every area have been based in simple brute force, which very much aligns with Trump’s way of thinking. The closest they’ve come has been Proud Boys pretending to be Antifa, which is not the government and gives you an idea of how bright the Proud Boys are. Umbrella man may have also been a free-lancer like Rittenhouse or a simple shit-disturber.
Of course there are agents provocateurs! That seems to be a significant part of the function of HSI swarmers, untrained in crowd control or any other relevant skill, and Trump’s Black–masked, nameless–ICE forces. They very much want to provoke the kind of disorder Stephen Miller can then pin on Democrats, immigrants, and those who sympathizes with immigrants…or empathizes with anyone.
On this Sunday morning, I am fully expecting to hear stories of ICE showing up in the churches led by my Hispanic brothers and sisters, looking to arrest and terrorize folks who came to worship and seek peace.
Archbishop Oscar Romero is much on my mind these days.
Cesar Chavez has been on mine.
https://ln5.sync.com/4.0/dl/600271900#mpqxvyfy-c2j3wwyw-vk7396v9-sme46ibu
I was there with a group from CISPES and was one of the 479 arrested; spent the night in the DC jail with the pastor of Luther Place Memorial Church who later wrote a book, The Mystery of Eve and Adam: A Prophetic Critique of the Monarchy.
I dutifully put the arrest on my SF-71 when I applied for (and got) a position as an asylum officer.
Replying to my post: that should be SF-171. It’s been a long time.
SOTH Mike Johnson has no problem with Trump sending in forces, stating such on ABC’s This Week.
Jonathan Karl: “Do you have any problem or any concerns about the president sending in the National Guard to a place where local authorities say that they’re not needed and could be harmful?”
Mike Johnson: “I have no concern about that at all,” Johnson insisted. “I think the president did exactly what he needed to do.”
Jonathan Karl: “You don’t think sending the Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy-handed?”
Mike Johnson: “We have to be prepared to do what is necessary, and I think the notice that that might happen might have the deterring effect.”
“what is necessary” is to divert attention from the trump-Musk feud. Both Musk and trump are afraid of the potential fallout. For Musk, it can hurt his business now and in the future. For trump, it can damage his political stranglehold on the GOP members of congress.
This administration’s game is to fuel enough chaos to declare an “emergency”, and… who knows? Maybe the “emergency” becomes so urgent that —gee wiz!— we have to suspend elections.
Excellent piece!
What’s happening in California is all about Trump trying to show the world and Californians specifically that he and only he is in-charge of California’s future.
Yes, Trump’s public social media dispute with Musk is a contributing factor, and Stephen Miller’s hatred of California since he attended Duke is well documented and a contributing factor, too.
Trump wants to inflict as much financial pain on California as he can for as long as he is president.
And if J.D. Vance is ever president, he will try to destroy California as well.
The MAGAt leadership, notably Trump and Miller, view California as an enemy state that must be conquered.
Stephen Miller went to high school in Santa Monica, CA. and grew-up in SoCal.
True. His xenophobia started rearing its ugly head during high school and even his family is bewildered by his hatred of anything non-white. Yet here we are.
Jean Guerrero (author of ‘Hatemonger’ a deep dive into Miller’s background)
Puts it this way
“there was a lot of actual resentment present in his early years, particularly towards students of color, and the trolling was often a mask for that resentment….He started to express his conservative and contrarian views at a time when his family had lost a lot of money, and he had to move from a very affluent part of Santa Monica to a less affluent part. And he looked around at his high school, his very diverse public high school, where otherwise he might’ve attended a mostly white private high school and he was clearly annoyed that so many of his class were getting special attention and having their voices elevated. And this is when he starts to express his resentments out loud. He becomes more vocal and more aggressive.”
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21363270/stephen-miller-covid-trump-white-house-hatemonger
She also notes on Miller’s enduring relationship with Trump (cf everyone else)
“The most important is that Miller gets Trump — emotionally, psychologically, even spiritually. Part of it is that Miller grew up in a family that was very similar to Donald Trump’s. Several people described Miller’s father to me as “Trump-like.” He was tangled up in numerous legal disputes and bankruptcies related to his real estate company over the years, as Miller was growing up. He is described in court documents as being a master of evasion and manipulation. He was described to me as being very combative. I think this experience helps Miller manage his relationship with Trump, helps him manage Trump’s personality.
The other part of it is that Miller is always tasks himself as a devoted vehicle for Trump’s agenda and is careful not to overshadow his boss. And this is partly one of the sources of his power within the White House. Whenever he wants something done, he invokes Trump. He invokes Trump’s desires, Trump’s demands. He invokes Trump’s name. So he’s constantly channeling Trump… “
Trump’s hatred of California has more to do with Hollywood snubbing him and not embracing him as he thought they should.
So he wanted more lines on Home Alone?
I can see that being a thing.
Thanks. I’m familiar with Miller’s upbringing in Santa Monica, CA; however, it was Miller’s published/public OpEd pieces/columns while attending Duke that caught the attention of conservatives in the Republican Party like Michele Bachmann & John Shadegg and, later, Jeff Sessions, thereby putting Miller on the path to meeting and working for Trump.
Trump certainly knows how to pick racist punks who think like him.
And conversely, a heretofore fringe movement advocating for California’s secession from the USA is gaining steam.
The previous lots have been pushed by Russian tools. This time may be different.
The fringe movement has always been there in various forms.
They rear their ugly head every so often.
I’m a Californian, and while secession seems no less delusional than it ever did, it’s also a more attractive fantasy than it used to be.
Cede eastern WA and OR to Idaho, bring the remainder into CaliCascadia, and I’m all in.
You’re parroting Russian propaganda. Look how easy it is to slip into it with a Russian asset in the White House fomenting conflict intended to fragment the United States.
i know this will come off as hopelessly naive, but i truly don’t understand how our militarized Police/ICE/DHS are allowed to intentionally misuse their war toys – firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets directly at civilians’ heads which can cause massive brain damage and death – and suffer no consequences while We The People have to pay out the multi-million dollar settlements.
Independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was on the ground giving great updates throughout the day, then took a direct hit to his head from a tear gas canister and taken to the ER. He suffered a hematoma, but is back reporting. If you are on Bluesky, follow him at @acatwithnews (dot) bsky (dot) social.
From where I sit it looks like Taco Krasnov and chief propagandist Goebbels light are trying for another Kent State massacre. If it is true then this will get ugly extremely quickly.
I wonder what percentage of the CA NG is of Hispanic descent – but I would wager it mirrors the general population in CA. If so how will these folks react – NG and protesters – to brother on brother violence?
Putin must be delighted with his agent in the White House – channelling his inner Nikta Khrushchev with “we will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the United States. We will bury you from within” allegedly from a 1956 speech.
Naked corruption and a power grab – pure and simple.
This is provocation, pure and simple. This administration lives by press coverage. The only antidote is massive non violent protests. It is my hope that SEIU calls for a national strike. It must be demonstrated that any conflict is being brought upon American citizens by this regime.
Marcy,
Agreed. The big ugly, is a legislative priority in search of distracting cover:
Emptywheel.net quote-to the tune of Send in The Clowns,-“At an early tiny peaceful protest, ICE assaulted and then arrested SEIU California President, David Huerta, injuring him badly enough to require hospital treatment, during their assault.” Que Pretorian Guards, entering in full battle dress, before the cameras, CA National Guard, Trump’s SoCal, executive lever pull, will sadly detract from dear leader DC’s June 14th, birthday parade, while simultaneously thousands of citizens around the country celebrate No Kings Day, on the beach and in the parks and down the streets. Locations near your zip can be found at NoKings.org. Wes Scoop Nisker always ended his news reporting with “Stay high and keep your priorities straight”. We are in this together. Peace.
Yogarhythms and family
Scoop was also famous for: “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.”
Los Angeles is the perfect venue for staging ICE raids if the primary intent is to provoke a large protest – large population of Hispanic-Americans, a media capital that guaranties coverage, lots of young people, George Floyd protests that distracted police long enough for looters to take advantage. And just about any protest will snarl traffic and divert police.
And to the extreme right wing Yarvin followers like Stephen Miller, blue California (coastal) and, in particular, L.A. is one of the seats of power for the enemy – The Cathedral (the media, especially movies and music, liberal bureaucrats and politicians, elite academicians). Add to that the animosity that arises from envying the So Cal lifestyle. I wouldn’t discount the hatred. And I hope the political leaders aren’t underestimating it either.
Looks like ABC has joined the Don’t-poke-the-bear-what-first-amendment?-pussy-wagon by suspending Terry Moran for exercising his free speech right about Miller and Trump.
(via Yahoo news)
I was initially wondering about command and control. This clarifies that NORTHCOM assumed command of the forces.
From Northern Command’s Facebook account:
“The Secretary of Defense directed U.S. Northern Command to assume command of 2,000 California Nation Guard forces to protect federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area in support of the lead federal agency. As necessary, active-duty Marines also may be employed to augment and support the protection of federal functions. Additional information will be provided as units are identified and deployed.”
[Note that the first instance is “to protect federal personnel and federal property”, but the second instance is to “augment and support the protection of federal functions” – which is worrisome.]
On X From Northern Command, 8:03 AM – June 8, 2025:
“#USNORTHCOM can confirm that elements of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from the California National Guard have begun deploying to the Los Angeles area, with some already on the ground. Additional information will be provided as units are identified and deployed.”
Units of the 79th are generally from Southern and Central California.
Oddly missing from this callup are elements of the 49th Military Police Brigade.
The “control” part of command and control established, I’m unclear about who will have operational control. That slobbering thug Homan?
Just as FYI, Facebook is censoring links to this article (or perhaps to your site as a whole, I don’t know). Within mere seconds of my sharing an excerpt with a link here, I was notified that the post had been removed pursuant to enforcing community standards on spam.
I was censored in the same way on fb a few years ago, my feeds were subsequently diminished, I was limited in my contacts & ultimately was informed I needed to sign in to my account in order to do anything. I can’t even close my account.
I hate it when I agree with Bill Kristol:
“The military isn’t being employed to carry out an immigration policy. The immigration policy, and especially the way the administration is choosing to carry it out, is an excuse to call out the military” (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social)
Take a look at the list of Northern Command’s Press Releases.
https://www.northcom.mil/Newsroom/Press-Releases/
Retribution Regime angry and abusive inciting violence just like January 6th Insurrection. Trump is sadistic. Always in fight mode, where his henchmen fight his fights. No surprise from a corrupted cruel criminal and his followers.
“Fascism is fascism. Terrorism is terrorism. Oppression is oppression.” Harry Belafonte
Dr Wheeler may be correct that the ICE provocations may be an inducement to pass Trmp’s prize legislation but they are also a pretext for the invokation of the Insurrection Act and martial law. Trmp et alia are obviously salivating at the prospect of being able to act out in the ways they have always dreamed of.
I’m visiting LA now and have been thinking of this passage from Sebastian Haffner’s Defying Hitler since I saw the footage of protestors dogging ICE’s heels in the street:
Are too many of us engaging in that same “disgusting Marxist trick”?
[Moderator’s note: You used 1126 words of copyrighted material, exceeding Fair Use by +3X. Don’t do this again, ever; learn how to extract excerpts under 300 words. You also failed to offset the excerpt so that it was readily distinguished from your own words. Learn how to do this or risk having comments like this spiked. /~Rayne]
Seriously? Break that up into several comments, or edit it, please.
Thank you for this quote from Sebastian Haffner’s memoirs which were written in 1939, but published only posthumously.
The underlying historic event happened already in January of 1933, see the Wikipedia entry “Köpenick’s week of bloodshed.”
Haffner (1907-1999) was an important voice in then-West Germany during the Cold-War period.
I’m thinking that protestors should shows up with pots and pans (and metal pan lids) and wooden or plastic spoons to bang them with. Lots of noise, nothing that should get charges at more than local level.
Agent krazsnov has declared it banned for protesters to wear masks. I say we should all start wearing masks. This issue also reminds me of the four dead in Ohio. Would they have died if the National Guard had not been wearing gas masks? I think when the people with guns see their anonymity reflected in their companions it takes away an inhibition. Ice agents are emboldened by their masks of anonymity.
It also probably hides the fact that some are pardoned J6ers acting as SA wannabes. The tattoo report from this week is no accident.
I wonder what Bondi’s going to do with the Proud Boys’ demand for 100M$ as reparations or something. If Convict-1 / Krasnov / TACO caves as expected not only does it blow all of the alleged DOGE savings but also provide funding for more RW terrorism that Patel’s DoJ no longer looks for.
Convict-1 / Krasnov / TACO always wanted his own private army, and I can only guess that Wagner Group and whatever Erik Prince’s formerly Blackwater is called now is too pricey.
I was always under the impression that accepting a pardon came with it the admission of guilt. How can you sue for something you’ve admitted guilt for?
I was a student at Kent State when the shootings happened. I know what I saw and experienced. But there have been many misunderstandings and misrepresentations, even by people who were there. KSU has provided this article which I find helpful:
“The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search for Historical Accuracy” – by Jerry M. Lewis and Thomas R. Hensley
https://www.kent.edu/may-4-historical-accuracy
This is the same play they used in downtown Portland in 2020. Rely on the clickbait-y news media to blow contained protest out of proportion, and then send in the thugs.
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment using what may be your real name, triggering auto-moderation; it has been edited to reflect your established username. Please check your browser’s cache and autofill; future comments may not publish if username does not match. /~Rayne]
No surprise, after the shenanigans in Newark NJ, but ICE refused access to their Adelanto detention center by U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (and two of her fellow CA reps) to do their Congressionally-mandated oversight of the facility. The Adelanto ICE center is 90 miles from L.A. in the Mojave desert. Also, reportedly, detainees (some of whom have been in detention for 2-3 days) have had no access to attorneys and their families don’t know exactly where they are.
That is some violence right there.
The software for detainees money accounts is wonky, too.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/ice-software-outage-deprives-detainees-20353757.php
My understanding is that the admission of guilt, as well as a sincere effort to repair harms caused, were requirements to be considered by Office of the Pardon Attorney within the Department of Justice, but are not referenced in the Constitution. In all previous administrations, an application to the OPA was the first step in requesting a pardon. Trump’s process, of course, bears no relation to a traditional pardon. He apparently takes suggestions from his inner circle, or anyone with his cell phone number, and proceeds from there. A few of Clinton’s and Biden’s were questioned, but nothing to the extent of Trump’s mob boss pardons.
Newsom blew it by not calling in the National Guard first, even if to just stand by. Let the police handle it, and then afterward everyone goes home. Now we’re stuck with Trump calling in the guard and all the problems that entails. This was predictable.
If only the governor had punched himself in the face first, then the president would not have had to punch him in the face. Seems a bit like blaming the victim.
You seem to assume that this is a land-rush type situation where he who gets there first gets the prize. If Newsom had activated the Guard, that does not stop Krasnov from federalizing them. All it would have done was accelerate the time line for them to be boots on the ground.
Your dog won’t hunt. As Snowdog said, the president can federalize the National Guard at any time. Complying in advance with dictators who change their mind on a whim is always a bad move.
C’mon. It’s not complying in advance to anything. And there are lots of advantages to having taken the initiative before it’s control is (maybe) wrested away. It’s not punching yourself in the face or anything like that. It’s not worrying about whether they get federalized, which would be real complying in advance. It’s a missed opportunity.
Are all these ICE arrests done with actual warrants from actual judges?
I highly doubt they have the time and capacity to sort/vet who’s who anywhere, let alone getting a real judge to sign off.
It’s a crap shoot and they know it and not legal.
It’s a Nazi rampage on our soil.
I doubt they have anything more than an ‘administrative’ warrant if even that much. There are two data points to consider as confirmation: Judge Dugan in WI noted as ICE did in its report that the warrant they used to disrupt her courtroom was not signed by a judge, and the recent roll-up of the MA high school student as collateral based on a policy confirmed by Homan(IIRC) that targets of opportunity will be hauled in. EW’s post when the judge was perp-walked had several notes and comments on the authorities for the two types of warrants.
That’s even before considering how slowly (if at all) the defendants in the gulag see the evidence against them. The kid in MA talked about that in his interviews after release. We know that American citizens have been gulaged and deported with CYA retconning by ICE. Don’t think that they care about legalities when they have the guns and a quota to fill. It’s the Stanford study in action.
Who is holding them accountable? Not scotus.
As I wrote above, I grew up in Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, prior to December 2014, there was a family-owned 24/7 restaurant chain that originated in SoCal. The family sold the restaurant to a NYC hedge fund company in December 2014.
My brother worked at this company his entire working life until recently – working ten years for the hedge company that operated the restaurant the same way, minus the bonus incentives of the prior owners. He got the job when he was 15 as a bus boy and worked his way up to General Manager over several locations.
Given what happened in Paramount, I asked him: Did the company ever knowingly hire non-legal workers? He said all of the time. He said no one legal would wash dishes. No one. It just would not happen.
The company’s legal council’s position is that the restaurant management staff were not authorities of what a legal document looks like, therefore, the hiring managers took it on faith that when a person presented “documents” of right to work, management staff accepted the documents.
Only one time did my brother get called onto the carpet by Immigration. For his punishment, he was required to take a class about hiring non-legals and would be fined the next time it was determined he hired non-legal workers. He said his work-around was another manager who had not taken the class would sign the I-9s after verifying what was written on the paper was exactly what the “document” presented stated.
My brother said some of the documents were perfect, even though he knew they were not. Other times, the documents were very amateurish, he still accepted the documents.
When someone puts in the effort, often times facing dangerous conditions, to come from another country better their lives – they will happily perform jobs that legal residents will not.
When there is a will, there is a way.
I am sick-to-death of naturalized American ladder-pullers, pulling the ladder of others behind them.
BBC.com has an article of what six voters had to say about Trump sending in troops/military to Los Angeles.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj93x2egd0jo
One Mexico-born Texas resident – a naturalized US citizen – supports the deployment of troops to put down “shameful” protests in California.
Shameful protests? Protesting the disruption of lives of non-criminals simply because these folks came to America for a better life and didn’t ask permission first?
Imagine if there were no country borders – nothing to kill or die for – living life in peace.