Tren de Mentiras*
Monday, May 19, 2025
* Spanish for “Train of Lies”
“New Footage Confirms ICE Lied and Had No Reason to Detain Mahmoud Khalil”
“Newly released surveillance footage from Columbia University shows Mr. Khalil complied and cooperated with officers in his lobby on March 8 after ICE agents illegally entered his private Columbia-owned apartment building without a judicial warrant. This directly contradicts the Trump administration’s false claims that Mahmoud Khalil attempted to flee when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers illegally arrested him in retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights. In light of the new video evidence, Mr. Khalil’s legal team filed a renewed request with the immigration court that his case be terminated based on ICE’s egregious actions in arresting Mr. Khalil without a warrant or any legal basis whatsoever. The video … confirms the Trump administration’s previous admission that ICE officers lied to Mr. Khalil about having a warrant when arresting him, and that the post-hoc any attempts by ICE to justify his arrest by alleging he tried to flee are unequivocally false.”
“The recently obtained footage further confirms that Mr. Khalil fully complied with the orders of the ICE officers conducting his illegal arrest, refuting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) false assertions to the immigration court that he attempted to flee arrest,” said Johnny Sinodis who, with his partner Marc Van Der Hout, is representing Mahmoud Khalil in his immigration proceedings. “The egregious conduct of ICE in not only conducting this illegal arrest, but also lying about the circumstances to Mr. Khalil, his attorney, and the Court, require that his removal proceedings be terminated. Further highlighting ICE’s rampant illegality, a DHS whistleblower revealed just last week that DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) initiated an investigation into Mr. Khalil’s unlawful, warrantless arrest days before that office was dissolved in March 2025, showing even DHS itself was concerned with the manner in which Mr. Khalil was taken into custody.”
SCOTUS NEWS:
On February 5, 2025, DHS Sec. Noem terminated the 2023 Designation of Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status. Litigation ensued, and a federal district court blocked that termination nationwide, finding that “the Secretary’s action threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States. At the same time, the government has failed to identify any real countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries. Plaintiffs have also shown they will likely succeed in demonstrating that the actions taken by the Secretary are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus.” Noem asked the district court for a stay: denied. She then asked the Ninth Circuit for a stay: denied. Noem then asked the Supreme Court for a stay. This morning, 8-1, the Supremes (Justice Jackson, dissenting) granted the stay.
This is alarming and astonishing to me, mostly because the briefs at the Supreme Court in this case make it crystal clear that Noem’s position is, to use a technical legal term, BS. Prof. Ahilan Arulanantham, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, said, "This is the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history," [and it was] "truly shocking" that the Supreme Court authorized the move without giving the case more consideration.” … “The humanitarian and economic impact of the court’s decision will be felt immediately, and will reverberate for generations.”
The case now returns to the Ninth Circuit for more litigation. Meanwhile, expect ICE Barbie and her goons to go nuts all over the USA, arresting anyone who looks Venezuelan. Could be you!
[Lalo Alcaraz, La Cucaracha, May 19, 2025.]
L.A. TIMES OP-ED BY PROF. KAREN MUSALO:
“The U.S. failed refugees during the Holocaust. Trump’s Libya plan would too”
“In both Trump administrations, there have been multiple ways in which the president has attempted to eviscerate and undermine the protections guaranteed by treaty obligation and U.S. law. The most drastic among these measures have been the near-total closure of the border to asylum seekers and the suspension of entry of already approved and vetted refugees. However, none of these measures has appeared so clearly designed to make a mockery of the post-World War II refugee protection framework as the administration’s proposals and attempts to send migrants from the U.S. to Libya and Rwanda.”
LAWMAKERS DEMAND ANSWERS:
“Lawmakers Demand Answers from ICE Over Warrantless DC Restaurant Raids”
“A coalition of House lawmakers led by Democratic Reps. Nydia Velázquez (NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) is demanding answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after agents allegedly entered numerous Washington, D.C. restaurants without judicial warrants, sparking fears across the city’s immigrant and small business communities.”
BONDI’S LAWYERS SUCK:
“Government Lawyers Trying to Deport Mahmoud Khalil Won’t Stop Whining”
“A judge asked a very basic legal question and the Trump administration lawyers complained that they were very busy.”
BORDER WALL NEWS:
“Trump’s new border wall will threaten wildlife in an area where few people pass”
“Donald Trump is forging ahead with a new section of border wall that will threaten wildlife in a remote area where many rare animals – but very few people – roam. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has invited private sector companies to bid for contracts to erect nearly 25 miles of barrier on the US-Mexico border, across the unwalled San Rafael Valley south of Tucson, Arizona, one of the most biodiverse regions in the US. … Erick Meza, borderlands coordinator for the Sierra Club environmental advocacy group, said walling the valley would be “catastrophic for the environment and wildlife”. … The valley is almost devoid of people. And it lacks the telltale signs of migration in the borderlands: ripped clothes on bushes, discarded backpacks and empty water bottles. In five years, a camera by the river has never captured an image of a migrant crossing into the US, even though it’s one of the few parts of the valley with shade and water.”
FOR NERDS ONLY:
Non-lawyers, please avert your eyes. Immigration lawyers, please read:
“When Are Future Predictions Clearly Erroneous? Matter of A-A-R-”
“Immigration Judges make regular predictions about the risk of persecution or torture to those facing deportation. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) has to review these predictions speculatively, while the at-risk individuals are still in the U.S. But the Immigration Judge’s predictions don’t have to be found correct on appeal; they must be allowed to stand as long as they are not “clearly erroneous.” The meaning of that term will be explained in much detail below.”
Ya basta for today. THANK YOU! to all subscribers, free and paid. Comments welcome. Stay woke!
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