FOXNews, the US Gestapo, and the Lies They Tell and Enforce

Ron Jacobs

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Having just spent a weekend in a place where FOXNews was blaring every time I was in a common space, I was reminded of how easily people can be propagandized. The trigger for this recurring realization took place on Friday when I first heard that Kilmar Abrego Garcia had been returned to the United States from El Salvador to face charges. As I watched the report, it became clear that the charges he was facing were based on an absurdly fantastical interpretation of existing law. Indeed, the reportage of Garcia’s charges made it seem like he was the mastermind of an operation beyond the greatest exploits of the CIA and the Mob. Drugs, pornography, human trafficking and more; you name anything in the criminal world and Mr. Garcia had organized it. At least that’s how FOXNews was reporting it. I watched people absorb this news getting angrier at Garcia by the minute. I knew what I was hearing was a lie. Simultaneously, I wondered how FOXNews could be reporting it. Where did they get the “facts” to rationalize such reportage? After all, even they base their interpretation of world events on some facts and what I was hearing sounded beyond ridiculous. Then they showed the press conference where Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, had announced Garcia’s return and arrest. To put it as honestly as possible, the Attorney General is a liar.

The grand jury indictment has only two charges. Both are essentially about giving a few undocumented people rides. There are no charges regarding narcotics or porn. Yet she makes public statements claiming Garcia was involved in all the above and conspired to transport thousands of undocumented people. Her so-called proof is that he was pulled over in Tennessee driving a van that had three rows of seats. The Tennessee cops found anything to hold him on. In essence, what the trumpists are doing is pretending that the phenomenon of migration is somehow a centralized industry with Garcia at its center. Bondi and her minions in government and the media are taking advantage of people’s ignorance and manipulating their prejudices. Anyone who remembers the 1960s knows that grand jury indictments are historically used to target political enemies. A few such examples of this from that time period are the cases against the Chicago 8/7, the Harrisburg 7—a group of religious and lay antiwar activists charged with conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger, and the arrest of Leslie Bacon in the 1971 bombing of the US Capitol—a bombing claimed by the Weather Underground, which Bacon had no connection to. In short, Garcia is a political football being kicked around to satisfy the xenophobic and racist elements of the criminal Trump administration.

By the time my Florida weekend was over, National Guard troops were stationed in parts of Los Angeles where protests against armed kidnappings by masked ICE agents had erupted after some of those agents raided a workplace and began throwing people at work into unmarked vehicles. Other workers and nearby residents attempted to block the vehicles and local police in riot gear moved in. The ICE agents fired tear gas and concussion grenades. Trump and his anti-immigrant spokespeople responded as expected. They attacked the protesters and the arrestees, calling them terrorists, criminals and the like. Indeed, as I finished this piece up on June 11, 2025, Trump continues his attacks, calling the protesters animals and armed invaders. Then Trump and his cabal federalized the California National Guard and sent 4000 of them to LA. Then they sent Marines. Liberals, including California Governor Newsom, vocally protested the federalizing of the Guard and questioned the use of the Marines. After all, US troops are not supposed to be used against US citizens except in cases considered to be insurrection.

Most readers can remember Trump doing the same thing in 2020 in the massive protests following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN. Some can recall the use of the Guard in the uprisings after police were acquitted of the beating of Rodney King in 1991. Fewer may recall the multiple times Guard and federal troops were used to quell uprisings in the 1960s; uprisings that probably reached their peak in 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and during the Democratic Convention in Chicago that year. In most if not all of these situations, the Guard was called into the protests by the governor of the respective state. Of course, when federal troops were called, they were ordered into duty by the President. In most cases, those orders were said to be given at the request of the local authorities. This is not the case in Los Angeles in June 2025. Trump, who supposedly represents a faction of the US polity that puts so-called states rights before any authority emanating from Washington, DC, is ignoring California officials and sending in the military. Furthermore, he and his henchmen (and women) are threatening to arrest any state officials who attempt to overturn the White House orders. This isn’t the first time the trumpists have threatened to arrest state government officials who disagree with the authoritarians in DC.

Regarding Trump’s fascism, it can be summed up in a couple of his comments regarding the protests against ICE in Lox Angeles. In classic simplistic drivel, he told the media regarding the protesters who supposedly spat on the cops: if they spit, we hit. I’m certain some of Trump’s supporters will see that couplet as another example of the wannabe dictator’s supposed wit.

Meanwhile, instead of demanding a complete retreat of the military from LA, many Democrats are afraid to tell their police forces to reject assisting ICE and the military, for fear their state or city might lose federal funding. Others are asking for an investigation. Besides the fact that this is about the most weak-kneed response that one could have, there’s the obvious truth that Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, et al. Could give a shit about any investigation, especially one mounted by Democrats. Indeed, the White House ignores court orders which would result in anyone like you and I getting tossed in jail. It’s more than worthwhile to note that in 1933, the Nazis began to nationalize the previously decentralized police forces across Germany. This series of actions was mostly completed by 1936 when Hitler appointed SS leader Heinrich Himmler as Chief of the German Police, who effectively centralized the police forces across the country under his control. This included the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei-loosely translated as homeland national police) and the Ordnungspolizei, made up of the local and other police forces centralized under one command in Berlin. Although US law enforcement is organized differently and subject to different laws, the possibility of the trumpists doing something similar increases with each previously illegal use of law enforcement by the regime in DC.

The only way the assault on US residents by ICE and other such agencies is for people to resist as they are in Los Angeles. This becomes clearer each time the trumpists attack, pushing what they consider to be legitimate government action further towards fascist territory. It’s a territory that becomes more difficult to exit the deeper a nation goes in.

Ron Jacobs is the author of several books, including Daydream Sunset: Sixties Counterculture in the Seventies published by CounterPunch Books. His latest book, titled Nowhere Land: Journeys Through a Broken Nation, is now available. He lives in Vermont. He can be reached at: ronj1955@gmail.com

 

Los Angeles socialist on resisting Trump’s racist deportations

By Thomas Malone & Isaac Nellist

Published 17 June, 2025

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About 30 people were detained and taken into custody. Outside of that clothing store the community came out to document what was happening, so the ICE agents barricaded themselves in the building and were surrounded by protesters. 

After a few hours, heavily militarised Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents came down and forced everybody out. They used flash bangs, tear gas, rubber bullets and riot shields to push people back and brought in vans to load everyone in one by one.

The militarised presence felt like an occupation of this random community. The community stopped the agents leaving the way they wanted to and pushed them out, until agents started using their weaponry to disperse protesters. 

SEIU California president David Huerta was arrested at another warehouse raid. He was there to observe and the agents decided to shove him to the ground and take him into custody. We held an emergency rally that afternoon outside the federal detention centre in Downtown LA which was attended by community groups, left-wing organisations, politicians and a couple of unions to protest that detention.

That evening is when the major protests kicked off. Throughout the weekend there were clashes with police. 

There has been a huge mobilisation of police, ICE officers, national guards and even US Marines to suppress the protests. What was the police presence like on the streets? What other tactics and weapons are being used on protesters? 

It’s similar to what police deployed against protesters during the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020. However it is much more localised; the major protests that caused all the stir were within a couple block radius, about a mile.

It was overkill when they started bringing out primarily LA Police Department (LAPD) riot and crowd control police with their batons, helmets and shields. The first day or two the police were relatively hands-off, until the evening when they started throwing tear gas. But as it has gone on they have started to deploy 40mm Less Lethal ammunition, pepper balls, tear gas, rubber bullets and other weapons they used during the BLM protests. 

The LAPD, the LA County Sheriff’s department, the California Highway Patrol and federal agents have been coordinating to disperse the crowds. Once Trump called in the [4000] National Guards [and 700 US Marines], they formed a backline behind the police to protect the ICE agents and other federal officers. However they have also been spotted participating in ICE raids. 

How are protesters responding to this huge crackdown? 

Following the protests over the weekend, LA mayor Karen Bass implemented a curfew from 8pm to 6am in the area where the protests have been taking place. During that window is when they have made the majority of arrests.

The viral things you see, such as throwing things at police, graffiti and vandalism, are taking place; protesters are trying to maneuver and move around as police push and pull you through different areas. 

There has been a big use of group chats like Signal, some with hundreds of members, to coordinate with people. They will give updates on police movements. I would not say it is exceptionally coordinated, but it allows people on the ground to get warnings and call out to others so they can avoid the police as much as possible. The chats also indicate when federal agents and ICE agents are around and how to counter protest them and stop their raids, to varying success.

Who is participating in the protests? Are there any leadership structures? Is the organised left involved?

A large portion of it, especially throughout the first weekend, was not organised; mostly average people with a general disdain for Trump, ICE and the police.

Outside of a couple of specific union-sponsored rallies — such as the June 9 rally sponsored by the Labor Federation, SEIU and other supportive unions to free Huerta and the 400 or so other people who have been taken into federal detention — there are limited leadership structures. 

The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) have been taking the de facto lead on some actions by publishing details and getting fliers printed, but I would not say they are the organising force. 

When police are confronting protesters, some groups like PSL, the Revolutionary Communist Party and other smaller tendencies will give callouts to give tactical advice, though protesters do not always take on the advice. Combined with the signal chats it allows for some communication between protesters. 

Besides that, the organised left are showing up to the protests and promoting them in their networks. Other groups are getting involved in the RRN or tracking the movements of ICE agents. 

Can you tell us about the RRN?

The RRN has been around for a long time and is coordinated by a variety of social and immigrant justice and law groups. It is usually coordinated by geographic area.

They have a hotline you can call and report if you see ICE or Homeland Security agents in the neighbourhood. Then the RRN paid and unpaid organisers who receive the report will go to the site and document whatever they can, including names of those who are taken. 

Can you talk about Trump’s mass deportation agenda? Who is being targeted? What similarities and differences are there with the Democrats' approach? 

Trump’s focus on mass deportations has been successful in the “shock and awe” aspect, it is absolutely terrorising immigrant communities all over the place, not just in LA.

The Trump administration is pushing quotas on ICE and other agencies to arrest a certain amount of people. The figure we have heard is that they wanted 3000 arrests in this LA operation — they are at about 400.

They are targeting the lowest hanging fruit, places that a racist person would imagine you could find undocumented or improperly documented immigrants, specifically Hispanic and Latino communities, or places where there might be day labourers doing under-the-table work such as Home Depots, car washes, restaurants and other places of work. They are focussing on public areas where they do not need a warrant or permission to just scoop people up and go. 

The big difference between this and the Joe Biden administration is the shock and awe visual element. Seeing armed FBI agents in armoured vehicles come down and forcibly push everyone out so they can round up a couple dozen people is designed to send a message to the communities that they are attacking.

Homeland Security has been placing ads on TV and radio that say “If you are undocumented, we will find you and we will deport you.” They are picking up any random brown person they see on the streets to meet their quota.

The Trump administration claims it is targeting “hardened criminals and drug traffickers” and people who aid and abet them, but also acknowledge there will be “collateral” arrests of other people around. They treat anybody who is improperly documented in any form as the exact same criminality, and therefore need for arrest and deportation. If you’ve been here for 30 years and simply do not have the right papers, you are just as bad as a murderer or a human trafficker to them. 

I do not think the Democrats take the same approach, even though their policies are inhumane as well and they keep the same systems up and running. 

Huerta and other unionists have been targeted in these raids. Palestine solidarity activists and students have also been arrested and threatened with deportation. What does this reveal about Trump’s agenda? 

This is slowly turning into a similar spectacle as the crackdown on Palestine solidarity activists. Right now they are trying to lump in organised labour and immigrant rights groups with what they see as “agitators”, such as socialists and protesters. 

Huerta was basically observing an ICE raid and they are charging him with “conspiracy to impede an officer” — a felony that could result in up to six years in prison for doing what the RRN has been doing for years. 

This feels more like a Red Scare-esque crackdown on dissent, though not as coherent. 

A federal prosecutor was quoted in the LA Times saying: “We know that unions were there [at the protests], we know that officials and organisers were there, and we will identify you, find you and get you.” This has been a repeated message from the federal government. 

Even as we talk right now, one of the Senate’s subcommittees is trying to subpoena the PSL, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the Union del Barrio to make them show all of their communications from November 2024 to now and cease and desist aiding and abetting the protesters. 

The media and politicians are pushing this idea of “good” and “bad” protesters, just like they did during the BLM protests. But the Trump administration does not care about that distinction; it considers them all as “bad” and worth prosecuting. 

Are there protests against ICE and deportations happening elsewhere? Is there potential for this to grow into a national movement?

We are starting to see it begin to spread as it is clear that the Trump administration is not letting up in trying to make an example of LA and the political leadership here. California is a Democrat supermajority state, so the Republicans are using LA as a flashpoint.

There is a potential for it to spread as Trump exacerbates the situation.

The National Guard being called in without the state governor’s permission is unprecedented. The last time it happened was during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, when they were sent to desegregate schools. This is a massive overreach on the federal level that, separately from the protests spreading, could lead to a constitutional crisis for us. 

If the protests spread there will be major suppression and the cycle will continue. I have hope that the movement will spread, but the fear I have is that they will use what the Democrats did to prosecute the January 6 rioters — using photos and videos, social media posts and geolocating data — to identify and arrest people down the line. 

However there will be continued pushback as time goes on. 

Any final comments?

Follow what left-wing groups and outlets are saying, including our publication The Call, and on the ground reporting on social media. If you only look at the corporate media’s coverage you will get a skewed view of what is happening.

 Solidarity Under Arrest: The Union Fight for Immigrant Workers in California

Hayley Brown

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Late last week, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California President David Huerta was arrested while serving as a community observer during a wave of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles. Huerta’s arrest was caught on camera in a harrowing video that shows officers shoving him to the ground; Huerta sustained multiple injuries and was later hospitalized. He has since been federally charged with felony conspiracy to impede an officer, despitenumerous witnesses noting that he was there as an observer, which is perfectly legal.

Police have a long history of reacting to shows of labor solidarity with violence, and their treatment of Huerta on Friday was no exception. In this case, the immigrant workers Huerta risked his safety to defend were being targeted for their political value as scapegoats. The Trump administration is using immigrant workers as a political distraction to keep working people from zeroing in on the real problem: the ultra-wealthy individuals and corporations who are concentrating power and hoarding resources while the social contract erodes for the working class. The raids are designed to instill fear, divide communities; this is a dynamic that the labor movement understands well, and Huerta’s actions suggest that they are prepared to counter it with worker solidarity.

That this particular incident took place in California is also noteworthy. A markedly higher share of union members in California were born outside of the United States compared to the national average (Figure 1). Foreign-born union members have remained exceptionally prominent in California even as the foreign-born share of the labor movement has increased in the US as a whole over the last several decades. Between 2021 and 2024, about a quarter of California’s union members were foreign-born, a rate exceeded only in Nevada and New York (Figure 2).

Figure 1

Figure 2

California’s labor movement has long been a multicultural coalition. The state was the starting point for the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), a predecessor of the United Farm Workers (UFW) and one of the first major labor organizations to place immigrant and Latino workers at the center of its mission. And today, SEIU, UNITE HERE, the United Farm Workers, and others have made it clear that they will stand with their immigrant members.

President Trump wants to convince the public that immigrant workers are the problem. While he initially claimed that he would focus narrowly on dangerous “illegal” immigrants, his regime has made it clear that their aims have little to do with protecting public safety. Instead, Trump and co. have been rapidly expanding the “illegal” category by revoking protected status for Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, cancelling student visas, and refusing to honor the US’s obligations to asylum seekers under international law. ICE has also made a sport out of disregarding the due process rights of those they detain. The regime’s actions make it clear that ICE’s immigration raids are not about public safety or legal order. They are political theater. But the real threat to economic justice comes from the wealthy benefactors who have invested wholeheartedly in Trump’s decidedly anti-worker regime. Huerta’s brave stance demonstrates that California’s labor movement cannot be distracted from standing with workers when it matters. In California, and increasingly throughout the rest of the US, Trump’s escalating plan to terrorize and scapegoat immigrants will struggle to find mass purchase because immigrants are not outsiders – they are valued members of their communities and their workplaces, and they are not alone.

The arrest of a union leader for defending immigrant workers is a test. In California, the labor movement is passing that test. It understands that when one group of workers is made vulnerable, all workers lose power. And it understands that the only way to stop the heist is by standing together.

This first appeared on CERP.

Hayley Brown is a Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.