Top TikToker Khaby Lame detained by US immigration

By AFP
June 7, 2025


Image: — © AFP

US immigration agents detained and later allowed the “voluntary departure” of the world’s most-followed TikToker, Khaby Lame, after he “overstayed” his visa, authorities said Saturday.

“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Seringe Khabane Lame, 25, a citizen of Italy, June 6, at the Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada for immigration violations,” the agency said in a statement to AFP.

Lame entered the United States on April 30 and “overstayed the terms of his visa,” the statement said of the Friday detention, adding that he was released the same day.

The Italian national, who is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and has a following of more than 162 million on TikTok, “has since departed the US.”

Lame had not immediately posted publicly about the incident as of Saturday afternoon.

Since taking power in January, US President Donald Trump has delivered on campaign promises to tighten immigration controls and carry out a mass deportation drive — aspects of which have been challenged in US courts.

Lame holds top spot on the wildly popular TikTok social media app, with 162.2 million followers and has risen to fame for his short silent videos mocking the convoluted tutorials and tips that abound on the internet.

He punctuates his videos with a trademark gesture — palms turned towards the sky, accompanied by a knowing smile and wide eyes — as he offers his own simple remedies.

Khaby Lame holds top spot on the TikTok social media app, with 162.2 million followers
, who attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images /AFP – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Arturo Holmes

The idea for his content came to him while wandering around the housing project where his family lived in Chivasso, near Turin, after losing his factory mechanic’s job in March 2020.

His posts took off — helping him gross an estimated $16.5 million through marketing deals with companies in the period between June 2022 and September 2023, according to Forbes.

Wrongly deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia brought back to US, arrested upon landing


Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador from the United States, has been brought back to the US and arrested on human smuggling charges, officials said Friday.


Issued on: 06/06/2025
By: FRANCE 24

This undated photo shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the US legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador earlier this year. © via Reuters- Abrego Garcia Family

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement, was being returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally.

He is expected to be prosecuted in the US and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country in El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said.

“This is what American justice looks like,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday in announcing the return of Abrego Garcia and the criminal charges.

The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver’s license, according to the DHS report. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work.

‘No evidence’ in oft-cited footage

In response to the report’s release in April, Abrego Garcia’s wife said in a statement that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, “so it’s entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing.”

The Trump administration has been publicising Abrego Garcia’s interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the US.

Authorities in Tennessee released video of a 2022 traffic stop last month. The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were travelling without luggage. One of the officers said, “He’s hauling these people for money.” Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope.

An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the footage’s release in May that he saw no evidence of a crime in the released footage.

“But the point is not the traffic stop – it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

The move comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to US custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

AND SO IT BEGINS! FASCISM U$A!

Trump warns of 'troops everywhere' in LA if immigration raid protests escalate

Security forces clashed with protesters outside a Los Angeles detention center on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump spread across the city after days of unrest over immigration raids. Trump vowed "very strong law and order," hinting at possible wider troop deployments.


Issued on: 09/06/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24

Members of the National Guard were deployed to Los Angeles -- against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom © Frederic J. Brown, AFP


Security forces clashed with protesters outside a detention center in Los Angeles on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump fanned out across the city following two days of unruly protests over raids by immigration agents.

Trump on Sunday vowed the troops would ensure "very strong law and order," while appearing to leave the door open to deploying soldiers in other cities.

The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were "conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel."

Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns were stationed at a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles, where they joined Department of Homeland Security forces.

Law enforcement clash with demonstrators during a protest following federal immigration operations, in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, California early on June 8, 2025 © RINGO CHIU / AFP

Pepper spray and tear gas were fired into a small crowd -- including journalists -- as forces moved protesters back to allow a convoy of vehicles to enter the detention center.

Trump, asked about the use of troops, appeared to leave the door open to a more widespread deployment in other parts of the country.

"You have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it," he told reporters. "I think you're going to see some very strong law and order.""

Responding to a question about invoking the Insurrection Act -- which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force -- Trump said: "We're looking at troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country."

The deployment in California -- the first over the head of a state governor since the Civil Rights era -- was "purposefully inflammatory," Governor Gavin Newsom said.

"Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County -- not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis," Newsom posted on X Sunday.

"He's hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful."

Newsom's warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.

'Intimidation'

Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.

"I have no concern about that at all," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC's "This Week", accusing Newsom of "an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary".

As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as "heavy-handed."

"We have to be prepared to do what is necessary," he argued.

Demonstrators told AFP the purpose of the troops was not necessarily to keep order.

"I think it's an intimidation tactic," Thomas Henning said.

"These protests have been peaceful. There's no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights."

A protester holding a Mexican flag stands on a burnt car during a standoff with law enforcement in Los Angeles County,California, June 7, 2025. © Barbara Davidson, Reuters

Estrella Corral said demonstrators were angry that hard-working migrants who have done nothing wrong were being snatched by masked immigration agents.

"This is our community, and we want to feel safe," she told AFP.

"Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he's escalating, he's trying to make a show for his agenda."

US Democratic governors on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump's deployment of troops to quell protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, saying that authority should rest with state leadership.

"President Trump's move to deploy California's National Guard is an alarming abuse of power," the governors said in a joint statement. "It's important we respect the executive authority of our country's governors to manage their National Guards."
Protesters rally against immigration agents for second day in LA

01:59© France 24

'Good men and women'

The National Guard -- a reserve military -- is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.

Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants -- who he has likened to "monsters" and "animals" -- since taking office in January.

Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump's immigration policies so far.

A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday defended migrants living north of the border.

"Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!" she said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Troops sent by Trump reach protest-hit Los Angeles over governor’s wishes


By AFP
June 8, 2025


Members of the National Guard stand guard in front of a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025 - Copyright AFP Frederic J. Brown
Bastien INZAURRALDE and Gilles CLARENNE

Hundreds of National Guard troops took up positions in Los Angeles Sunday on the orders of US President Donald Trump, a rare deployment over the head of the state governor, after unruly protests against immigration raids.

The US military said 300 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had been sent to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, and were “conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel.”

Helmeted troops in camouflage gear and carrying guns could be seen in front of a federal complex — including a detention center — with the phrase “Our City” spray-painted on it in downtown Los Angeles.

The deployment overrode the protests of local officials, an extraordinary move not seen in decades that California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed as “purposefully inflammatory.”

It came ahead of more planned protests in the city, which has a large Latino population, including a call by organizers for a “mass mobilization” at City Hall at 2:00 pm local time (2100 GMT).

A separate Pride parade in support of LGBTQ rights — also under assault by the Trump administration — also began Sunday in Hollywood, with organizers posting on Instagram that they were working with local law enforcement to keep the celebrations safe.

“Trump is sending 2,000 National Guard troops into LA County — not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis,” Newsom posted on X Sunday.

“He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful.”

Newsom’s warning came after Los Angeles was rocked by two days of confrontations that saw federal agents firing flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward crowds angry at the arrests of dozens of migrants.

On Sunday pepper spray hung in the air from overnight, AFP reporters said.



– ‘Escalation’ –



Republicans lined up behind Trump to dismiss the pushback by Newsom and other local officials against the National Guard deployment.

“I have no concern about that at all,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC’s “This Week”, accusing Newsom of “an inability or unwillingness to do what is necessary”.

As for threats by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday to send in active-duty Marines on top of the Guard troops, Johnson said he did not see that as “heavy-handed.”

“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary,” he argued.

Demonstrators that AFP spoke to said troops were not really being sent in to keep order.

“I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” said Thomas Henning.

“These protests have been peaceful. There’s no one trying to do any sort of damage right now and yet you have the National Guard with loaded magazines and large guns standing around trying to intimidate Americans from exercising our first amendment rights.”

Estrella Corral said demonstrators were angry that hard-working migrants who have done nothing wrong were being snatched by masked immigration agents.

“This is our community, and we want to feel safe,” she told AFP.

“Trump deploying the National Guard is ridiculous. I think he’s escalating, he’s trying to make a show for his agenda.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said the move demonstrated “Trump’s authoritarianism in real time.”

“Conduct massive illegal raids. Provoke a counter-response. Declare a state of emergency. Call in the troops,” he wrote on social media, adding: “Unacceptable.”



– ‘Unacceptable’ –



The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.

It is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed a National Guard without a request by a state governor, the former head of Human Rights Watch, US activist Kenneth Roth, posted on X.

Trump has delivered on a promise to crack down hard on undocumented migrants — who he has likened to “monsters” and “animals” — since taking office in January.

Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, but the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against Trump’s immigration policies so far.

A CBS News poll taken before the Los Angeles protests showed a slight majority of Americans still approved of the immigration crackdown.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday defended migrants living in north of the border.

“Mexicans living in the United States are good men and women, honest people who went to the United States to seek a better life for themselves and to support their families. They are not criminals! They are good men and women!” she said

Trump orders National Guard to control LA immigration 'riots'

Trump and CA Governor Newsom clash over deployment of National Guard in LA

Copyright AP Photo

By Euronews with AP
Published on 08/06/2025

Claiming that state officials “cannot perform their duties,” US President Donald Trump dispatched the National Guard to control Los Angeles' immigration “insurgencies”.

Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom after a second day of clashes between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear.

Newsom wrote on social media: “The federal government is creating chaos so it can have an excuse to escalate things. This is not the way any civilised country behaves”.

He described the decision to deploy the National Guard as a “deliberate and cowardly” action, adding that it would “only escalate tensions.”

Trump reacted to Gavin Newsom in a posting on his “Truth Social” platform on Saturday, writing, “If Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles can't fulfill their duties that everyone knows they can't, then the federal government will step in and solve the problem of rioters and looters the way it needs to be solved!!!”

Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.

Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA's fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.

The White House announced that Trump would deploy the Guard to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.” It wasn't clear when the troops would arrive.

In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the U.S. military.

“If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” Hegseth said on X.

Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back.

Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.

Standoff in Paramount

Earlier in Paramount, immigration officers faced off with demonstrators at the entrance to a business park, across from the back of a Home Depot. They set off fireworks and pulled shopping carts into the street, broke up cinder blocks and pelted a procession of Border Patrol vans as they departed and careened down a boulevard.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said federal agents made more arrests of people with deportation orders on Saturday, but none at the Home Depot. The Department of Homeland Security has a building next door and agents were staging there as they prepared to carry out operations, he said on Fox11 Los Angeles. He didn't say how many people were arrested Saturday or where.

Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told multiple news outlets that community members showed up in response because people are fearful about activity by immigration agents.

“When you handle things the way that this appears to be handled, it’s not a surprise that chaos would follow,” Lemons said.

Some demonstrators jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones.

“ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman said through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”

More than a dozen people were arrested and accused of impeding immigration agents, Essayli posted on X, including the names and mug shots of some of those arrested. He didn't say where they were protesting.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the work the immigration authorities were doing when met with protests is “essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.”

The president’s move came shortly after he issued a threat on his social media network saying that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not “do their jobs,” then “the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

Speaking on TV station ABC7, Bass said that “we certainly want to make the opportunities available for people to exercise their First Amendment rights, but the minute that things turn to violence ... that is not acceptable and people are going to be held accountable.”

She said she had spoken with members of the Trump administration and insisted that she and Newsom were in control and there was no need for the National Guard to be deployed.
Arrests in Los Angeles

Protests kicked off a day earlier in Los Angeles after federal authorities arrested 44 people for violating immigration law Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security later said recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with prior criminal histories.

David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union, was also arrested Friday while protesting. The Justice Department confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release, warning of a “disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.”

The Trump administration's continued warnings and threats come as the Los Angeles Police Department says protests across the city are now proceeding “peacefully.”

'Don't shoot!' Maxine Waters begs National Guard not to use guns at protest

David Edwards
June 8, 2025 

RAWW STORY

Fox Live/screen grab

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) pleaded with National Guard troops not to use their weapons against protesters.

The California lawmaker showed up at an anti-ICE demonstration near Los Angeles on Sunday after President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to be deployed.

"There's no reason to shoot anybody!" Waters shouted to the service members. "Don't allow them to make your service a service where you're killing people."

"Don't do it. Defy them!" she added. "Don't shoot those guns for anything!"

Watch the video below from Fox Live or at the link.

Masked agents launch sweeping immigration raids in LA and New York


Masked and heavily armed federal agents carried out sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles while plainclothes agents in New York pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a courthouse on Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city," LA Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.


Issued on: 07/06/2025 - 
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: FRANCE 24

01:46

Two migrants are forcefully detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the hallways of immigration court in New York City after appearing for an appointment with immigration authorities. © Charly Triballeau, AFP



Masked federal agents wrestled migrants into handcuffs and unmarked vehicles in two of the most diverse cities in the world on Friday.

Agents used extreme tactics, conducting unprecedented raids on at least three areas of Los Angeles to detain dozens of people.

At one sweep less than two miles from Los Angeles City Hall, agents threw flash-bang grenades to disperse angry crowds of people following alongside a convoy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles as protesters hurled eggs and epithets at the agents, media reported.

"As a Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," LA Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city."

Plainclothes federal agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement wait in a hallway outside of an immigration courtroom in New York City. © Charly Triballeau, AFP

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller – the right-wing architect of some of the president's most extreme immigration policies and who grew up in LA's Santa Monica – insisted on social media platform X that Bass had "no say in this at all".

"Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced," he wrote.
Clashes with protesters

Service Employees International Union leader David Huerta was briefly detained while documenting one of the raids in Los Angeles, according to media reports.

"Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals," Huerta said in a statement after his release.

Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe told the Los Angeles Times that federal agents were executing search warrants related to the harbouring of people illegally in the country.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Friday afternoon to demand the release of detainees, broadcaster ABC7 reported.

The largely peaceful rally was later ordered to disperse by police, with some violent clashes between protesters and riot police being reported.

NY courthouse arrests

Across the country, plainclothes agents in New York pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a courthouse Friday.

AFP saw the officers yell for the men not to move before forcing them to lie face-down on the ground as they were handcuffed and arrested.

It was not immediately clear why the two men were arrested.

Dominican national Joaquín Rosario, 34, is detained by a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent at the exit of the courtroom where he voluntarily attended an immigration hearing. © Charly Triballeau, AFP

ICE agents have intensified such operations in and around American immigration courts in recent weeks.

The Department of Homeland Security revoked regulations that limited agents' access to protected areas such as courts after Trump returned to office in January.

One of the men arrested in New York was Joaquin Rosario, a 34-year-old Dominican who arrived in the United States a year ago, registered as he came in and who had his first immigration hearing Friday, his relative Julian Rosario said.

"He was at ease. He did not think anything was going to happen," the relative said, adding that Rosario was so unworried he had not brought his lawyer with him.

The other detainee appeared to be Asian. He arrived accompanied only by one of many immigration advocacy group volunteers who walk immigrants to and from the courtroom.

The volunteers screamed out as the agents arrested the two men but it did nothing to halt the raid.

A man is detained by plainclothes officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement after appearing for his court hearing in New York City. © Charly Triballeau, AFP

'Illegal abductions'

Human rights groups are outraged by such operations, arguing that they sap trust in the courts and make immigrants wary of showing up for appointments as they try to gain legal US residency.

"They're illegal abductions," said Karen Ortiz, a court employee who was demonstrating Friday against the sudden arrests of migrants.

"We need to sound the alarm and show the public how serious this is, and one way we can do that is actually physically putting ourselves between a masked ICE agent and someone they're trying to detain and send away," she told AFP.

Trump has dramatically tested the limits of executive power to crack down on foreigners without papers since he returned to office, arguing that the United States is being invaded by criminals and other undesirables.

In fact, crossings at the US-Mexico border had already fallen sharply throughout 2024 from a high in late 2023. And even illegal immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than US-born nationals, according to multiple studies and the government's own statistics.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Op-Ed: National Guard in LA – Melodrama and lousy illegals numbers tell the story

By Paul Wallis
June 8, 2025


Members of the National Guard stand guard in front of a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025 - Copyright AFP Frederic J. Brown

The deployment of 2,000 National Guard has generated more headlines than the trashing of the southern states in the big tornadoes a couple of weeks back. In a city the size of LA, 2000 people could get lost in a street fair, armed or not.

The “riots” appear to have involved a few bottles being thrown, like a rowdy weekend. Even FOX News hasn’t cited any serious casualties among protesters or law enforcement. By global standards, the anti-ICE riots seem strangely unremarkable.

. Next, it’s the Marines, “if necessary”.

Marines? Bit of a comedown from Iwo Jima, isn’t it? I can see it now – “How we stormed the beaches of the takeout counter at Wendy’s”, etc.

Meanwhile, politics continues to very expensively dwarf realities.

A quick rundown:

Trump declared war on illegal immigrants in his campaign.

LA is very much a Latino city, and Latinos were very conspicuously among those targeted for deportation.

A very large amount of money is being spent deporting people who usually make low wages. This huge hit to the budget was predicted by just about everyone.

Six months of ICE at work have achieved around 72,000 actual removals according to TRAC Immigration. The service has a few other highly unflattering things to say about the administration’s cheering for itself. Like the Biden administration removing about three times more illegal immigrants, without the chronic dysfunctions and questionable legalities.

$150 billion is in the budget for immigration enforcement. In another six months, the number of removals would be 150,000 at the current rate. There are believed to be about 10 million illegal immigrants in the US. Do the numbers and figure out the time frames.

Given the number of people allegedly trying to get into the US over the years, you can assume that they haven’t stopped coming. Numbers were already dropping from January 2024. They’re still coming, and the lowest number for one month was around 50,000 in January 2025.

On that basis, about 300,000 people would have entered the US since Trump took office, and ICE has removed 72,000 in the same length of time. Also note that simply because these are illegal entries, the likely numbers are somewhat higher.

Not too impressive, is it?

On the even less impressive side, we have a supposed desire to Federalize the National Guard. This issue has a severe sting in it. Usually, the National Guard is under state control, unless there’s a war. The President, or blurry, unfocused alleged president in this case, takes command during wartime.

Russia has a similar system, except that Putin already directly controls their national guard. Encouraging, isn’t it?

Many critics, credible or otherwise, have stated that Trump wanted to use a domestic issue to impose martial law and become a dictator.

Well, he can’t do it like that.

You can’t declare war on your own country.

Not even in the name of national security.

You can bankrupt it, neglect it, and humiliate it, but you can’t nuke it or “conquer” it.

Seems unfair, doesn’t it?

It’s cost trillions, anyway.

“We have met the enemy, and this time he really is us.”

Trump deploys troops to crush dissent — and escalate his war on America

Robert Reich
June 8, 2025 

What is our moral responsibility as citizens of the United States when the President of the United States moves to deploy thousands of American soldiers against us?

Trump signed a memo late yesterday ordering 2,000 members of the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles County after federal immigration agents in riot gear squared off with hundreds of protesters for a second consecutive day.

Trump’s action is extreme although technically legal. Governor Gavin Newsom did not call in the Guard. Title 10 of the United States Code allows a president to federalize the National Guard units of states to suppress “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” In a presidential memo, Trump said, “To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”


Why is he doing it, and why now?


Because Trump can’t stand to be humiliated — as he has been in the last two weeks. By senate Republicans refusal to quickly enact his so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. By Xi Jinping’s refusal to back down on trade (and restrict shipments of China’s rare earths, which American industry depends on). By Putin’s refusal to end the war in Ukraine. By the federal courts pushing back against his immigration policy. And, now, by insults and smears from the richest person in the world, who has a larger social media following than does Trump.

So what does Trump do when he’s humiliated? He deflects public attention. Like any bully, he tries to find another way to display his power — especially over people whom he doesn’t consider “his” people.

He has despised California since the 2016 election when the state overwhelmingly voted against him.

And what better Ground Zero for him to try out his police state than Los Angeles — a city teaming with immigrants, with Hollywood celebrities who demonize him, and wealthy moguls who despise him?

He is calling out the National Guard to provoke violence. As Governor Newsom said, “that move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”

Trump wants to escalate tensions. He wants a replay of the violence that occurred in the wake of the George Floyd murder — riots, mayhem, and destruction that allow him to escalate his police state further — imposing curfews, closing down parts of Los Angeles, perhaps seeking to subdue the entire state. And beyond.


Please do not give him this. Don’t fall into his trap.

We cannot be silent in the face of Trump’s dictatorial move. Silence is acquiescence. We must be brave in resisting him. But we must not succumb to violence.

What is needed is peaceful civil disobedience. Americans locking arms to protect those who need protection. Americans sitting in the way of armored cars. Americans singing and chanting in the face of the Americans whom Trump is drafting into his handmade civil war.

Americans who do not attempt to strike back, but who do what many of us did during the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements — peacefully but unambiguously reject tyranny. To be brave and non-violent in the face of tyranny, to be strong and restrained, to resist with our hearts filled with anger but not succumb to that anger — is difficult. But Martin Luther King Jr. taught us its importance, and George Lewis taught us how.

A humiliated Trump is the most dangerous Trump. But he will overreach. He already has. And this overreach will ultimately be his undoing.

As long as we keep our heads.

May we look back on this hellish time and feel proud of what we did.

Be strong. Be safe. Hug your loved ones.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/

'This is the big one': Ex-DHS official raises alarm over Trump's plans for LA

Tom Boggioni
June 8, 2025 
RAW STORY



A former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official during Donald Trump's first term as president claimed that what is happening in Los Angeles is exactly what the president has been hoping for so he can unleash the military on Americans.

Speaking on MSNBC's "The Weekend," former DHS chief of staff Miles Taylor stated the protests in Los Angles against militarized ICE agents do not rise to the level of insurrection that Trump's inner circle is claiming, but it has handed him the pretext to do what he has always wanted to do.

As he explained, "This is, in my opinion, the single most significant act you've seen yet in the Trump administration. People are going to start to come to that realization over the next few days. This is the big one, this is the one that people like me were warning about when I came forward first in 2020 and started talking about the things I was most worried about that I saw in the first Trump administration that the president wanted to do."

"At the top of that list was deploying the U.S. military on U.S. soil to enforce domestic law," he recalled. "We had stopped Donald Trump in 2019 from invoking the Insurrection Act because we and our lawyers didn't think the way he wanted to do it was legal. In fact, I rushed to the White House as he was planning to make the State of the Union address and he wanted to insert a line about how he was invoking the act and deploying the U.S. military on U.S. soil. We felt like that was a dangerous slippery slope so that Donald Trump would end up taking control of national law enforcement."

"Make no mistake, his own lieutenants were worried he would create a de facto police state if he was going to be deploying the military on U.S. soil," he added.

"What is happening in Los Angeles is not a rational response to what they're seeing on the ground," he pointed out. "This is indeed, in my view, pre-planned to be able to give the president justification to invoke the Insurrection Act and it made sense that where they decided to do these raids was Los Angeles."

"I very firmly believe in the White House they suspected the response would be protests, and then they could use the protests as a response to use the Insurrection Act," he elaborated. "But this is much, much bigger than Los Angeles. I'm telling you, from the first term, if Donald Trump had gotten the authority to use the military on U.S. soil to enforce domestic law, it was going to go much beyond enforcement of immigration law. That was our fear and we are seeing potentially the early innings of that play out in real-time."


You can watch below or at the link.

'Order will be restored': Trump drops major new action to 'liberate Los Angeles'

David McAfee
June 8, 2025

RAW STORY


U.S. President Donald Trump walks with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as he visits the Department of Justice to address its workers, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at protests in California, and ordered his top officials to "liberate Los Angeles."

The president took to his own social media site, Truth Social, over the weekend to unleash the escalation in tensions surrounding the protests involving the administration's policies surrounding immigration enforcement.

"A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals," Trump claimed without citing any specific data. "Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve."

Going even further, Trump ordered "all such action" be taken to stop protesters.

"I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant Departments and Agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots," the president wrote. "Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

See the full post here.

'How can you justify it?' CBS host grills Kristi Noem on masked officers

David Edwards
June 8, 2025 

RAW STORY

CBS/screen grab

CBS host Margaret Brennan pressed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about how she could justify enforcing a no-mask rule on protesters when her officers were allowed to hide their faces

"President Trump said masks will not be allowed to be worn at protests," Brennan told Noem in a Sunday interview. "Who's going to enforce that and how? And how can you justify it when law enforcement officials have their faces covered?"

"You know, what I would say is that the law is going to be enforced and that what the laws are in this country is what we are doing and our ICE officers and our law officers out there that are in these situations where people have questioned why they have their faces covered," Noem replied. "It's for the safety of those individuals or the work that they're doing as far as protecting their identity, so they can continue to do investigative work."

"But are you tasking the National Guard soldiers with removing masks from protesters?" Brennan asked.

"No," Noem remarked. "National Guard soldiers are there to provide security for operations and to make sure that we have peaceful protests. So, that's what their work is. And I won't get more specific on that just because we never do when it comes to law enforcement operations."

"We're doing the same standard procedures we always do and have for years in this country with our National Guard and with our, you know, law enforcement folks that are on the ground working with these communities," she added.

Watch the video below from CBS or at the link. .

'No, no, no, no, no': GOP lawmaker shut down over LA protest violence blame

Tom Boggioni
June 8, 2025 

RAW STORY


Nicole Malliotakis, Xochitl Hinojosa (CNN screenshot)

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) got a lesson on how the government works on CNN on Sunday when a former DOJ official explained to her that the escalation of violence in Los Angeles can solely be linked back to Donald Trump's firing spree since taking office.

During the panel segment on CNN's "State of the Union," the New York Republican claimed that the president had no choice but to send the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell the protests of ICE immigrant sweeps despite Califonia lawmakers saying there is no need.

With the pro-immigrant, anti-ICE protests growing, Malliotakis asserted, , "You see an ICE agents attacked, you've seen their cars put on fire, stones thrown at them –– this is unacceptable and you're also talking about enforcement of our immigration laws."

As she stated people who have been taken into custody have been, "... gang members, these were drug traffickers, human smugglers, people who committed robbery, child abuse, sex, offense, the worst of the worst," she was interrupted with, "Are you sure that they were?" to which she responded, "Well that's what the reporting says."


After adding, "The fact that, look, we would not have this situation in Los Angeles if it were not that they had this sanctuary status that refuses cooperation with ICE agents. It makes it more dangerous for everyone, the agents and the community when the ICE agents have to go in there and find these criminals instead of the city and state turning them over," former DOJ Public Affairs Director Xochitl Hinojosa took exception.

"Well, it was also children and mothers, and there's video of violence against these ––are mothers and small children and the videos are terrible," she told the GOP lawmaker. "What I'll say is it is a president's responsibility to de-escalate a situation anytime there is violence in our country. Then they should work with local law enforcement to do that."

"What happened here is sending in the National Guard only escalates it," she continued. "Hegseth saying that he wants to send in the Marines that are equipped for war only escalates it. You know, arresting the president of SEIU and going in and conducting raids only escalates. The interesting part about this is the Department of Justice would normally go in through the Community Relations Service; they did this with George Floyd. They've done this with a whole bunch of other instances where they go in and they work with state and local law enforcement to de-escalate what is happening."

"The problem here is that Trump essentially fired everyone in the Community Relations Service, he did, I worked there" she continued as the GOP lawmaker objected. No, no, no, no, no! The federal government's role is to help state and. local law enforcement, to deescalate. He essentially got rid of all of those employees because he does not believe in civil rights, and instead he's escalating it by sending in the National Guard."

You can watch below or at the link.

LA unrest marks latest clash of US presidents, states over National Guard


By AFP
June 8, 2025

US President Donald Trump took the extraordinary step of deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles to address unrest over raids by federal immigration agents - Copyright AFP ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
Michael Mathes

Donald Trump’s deployment of California’s National Guard marks the first time in decades that a US president openly defied a state governor and sent troops to an emergency zone.

By ordering 2,000 guardsmen to Los Angeles to help quell protests against raids by US immigration agents, Trump essentially mounted a takeover of the state’s military regiments to address “lawlessness” on the city’s streets.

The National Guard is a reserve military rooted in the 17th century local militias created in the American colonies before the country’s founding.

Since then the guard has had multiple responsibilities: domestic disaster relief and security, homeland defense and prevention of civil unrest; and acting as reserve forces for US military deployments overseas.

Presidential orders to deploy guardsmen domestically are not uncommon.

But clashes between a president and governor over deployments — or the lack thereof, such as during the US Capitol riot by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021 while he was still in office — have been rare.



– Los Angeles, 2025 –



The White House said Trump relied on a seldom used law, known as Title 10, that permits National Guard federalization in times of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision “purposefully inflammatory.” But Trump’s order proceeded, and the guard troops were on LA streets Sunday.

“This is the first time since 1965 that a president has deployed the National Guard without a request by a state governor,” Kenneth Roth, a longtime former Human Rights Watch executive director, posted on X.

“Then it was (president Lyndon) Johnson protecting civil rights protesters. Now it’s Trump creating a spectacle so he can continue his immigration raids.”

Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice warned of a “shocking abuse of power” by Trump, whose memorandum authorizes federalization of National Guard troops “at locations where protests against (federal immigration) functions are occurring or are likely to occur.”

“Trump has authorized the deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE activity might occur,” Goitein posted on X. “That is a huge red flag.”



– Alabama, 1965 –



A landmark civil rights moment led to a National Guard clash between a president and a segregationist governor.

With demonstrators led by Martin Luther King Jr on a five-day march from Selma to Alabama’s capital Montgomery, governor George Wallace pledged National Guard security — but then reneged.

The U-turn incensed Johnson who, in defiance of Wallace, called up the guard. The march was protected by thousands of Army soldiers and federalized guard members.



– Arkansas, 1957 –



When the Little Rock school system was ordered desegregated, Arkansas’ pro-segregationist governor Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard to surround a high school and prevent nine Black students from entering.

President Dwight Eisenhower bristled at the standoff and told Faubus the guard must maintain order so the Black students could attend. Instead, Faubus pulled the guardsmen, leaving security to local forces.

Eisenhower issued an executive order federalizing the Arkansas National Guard, and ordered 1,000 US Army troops to join them.



– Kent State, 1970 –



Perhaps no anti-Vietnam war protest was more pivotal than at Ohio’s Kent State University, where students slammed Richard Nixon’s war expansion.

As unrest swelled, the National Guard opened fire, killing four students and wounding nine others.

The shootings sparked outrage, but also led to reforms regarding how the guard handles civil unrest and use of force.



– Hurricane Katrina, 2005 –



The massive hurricane left much of New Orleans underwater, leading to the largest-ever peacetime deployment of the National Guard.

But critics accused then-president George W Bush of favoring a militaristic response over humanitarian relief.

Louisiana’s governor, Kathleen Blanco, warned that many among the thousands of National Guard and federal troops were battle-tested Iraq war veterans.

“These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will,” she reportedly said.



– Outside White House, 2020 –



June 1, 2020 saw a brutal crackdown on demonstrators following the police murder of African-American George Floyd.

With people aggressively protesting near the White House, the National Guard joined police to maintain order. Flash grenades and tear gas were deployed.

Unlike in the nation’s 50 states, the DC National Guard is under direct command of the US president, who at the time was Trump.

WorldPride marches in Washington as Trump dismantles LGBTQ rights in America
Americas

Rainbow flags flooded the streets of Washington on Saturday as the US capital welcomed the global WorldPride festival in a show of support for LGBTQ rights, which are under assault from the Trump administration. Activists from around the world came to show support for the American community as its far-right government revokes LGBTQ protections.


Issued on: 08/06/2025 

By: FRANCE 24

The WorldPride festival, a rotating global event advocating for LGBTQ equality worldwide, is being hosted in Washington this year. © Amid Farahi, AFP
"We just have to show this administration, that we are united, that we cannot be broken," said Amy Froelich, a 46-year-old artist and teacher, dressed in a rainbow-coloured jumpsuit.

"We need to be an ally to our brothers and sisters and our trans community," she said, seated next to her wife on green chairs near the starting line for a massive parade that marks the culmination of weeks of festivities.

"All of our laws and any protections that we've been working so hard for [are] getting reversed."

The WorldPride festival, a rotating global event advocating for LGBTQ rights worldwide, is being hosted in Washington this year – a stone's throw from the White House and a president seemingly intent on rolling back rights that have been hard won by that community.




Since returning to power in January, US President Donald Trump and his right-wing administration have rescinded LGBTQ protections gained in recent decades, in particular targeting members of the trans community.

On his first day in office, Trump declared the federal government would recognise only two genders – men and women – despite the scientific community's contention that this stance is "overly simplistic" given the biological variety among human beings.

He has since targeted transgender people in a slew of other orders, including banning them from serving in the military.

Transgender American actress Laverne Cox, best known for her role in the series "Orange is the New Black", addressed the crowd at the parade starting line.

"I knew I had to be here, surrounded by community, because you give me so much hope," she said.

"I don't have any faith in our government ... but I have faith in you."

Since returning to power in January, Donald Trump and his administration have slapped back LGBTQ rights. © Amid Farahi, AFP

'People are hiding again'

A few metres away, standing on the roof of the first bus in the parade, Yasmin Benoit, who came from Britain to show support for the American LGBTQ community, waved to the crowd.

"We are literally on Trump's doorstep right now, and I'm sure he's not thrilled about all of this," the 28-year-old model and activist told AFP.

Benoit said she had been detained by border police upon her arrival in the United States, but was finally allowed to enter.

"It's definitely not the easiest place to come to, but I feel like that makes it a little more important to try," she said.

Participants attend a parade during WorldPride 2025 Celebrations in Washington DC. © Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images North America, AFP

Trump's policies are on the minds of many taking part in this year's festival.

"It's been a big dark cloud since he was elected, really," said Ginny Kinsey, sitting in the shade with a friend.

Her wife, she said, had been working as a federal civil servant, but had been forced to change careers amid government funding cuts.

"My wife just switched jobs in the government, and she made the decision to not be out at her new job [like] she was in her previous job," she said.

"People are just hiding again."

'As human as anybody else'

Trying to cool off with his fan under the blazing Washington sun, Bill George, 74, said he had come "to celebrate who we are".

"We're as human as anybody else."

The retiree, who came out in 1975, has taken part in a number of demonstrations for LGBTQ rights, as well as for human rights and civil rights over the years.

"Conservatism is a wave that is actually attacking us again," he told AFP, adding that he was furious with the Trump administration.

"We will protest everything that he's doing that we think is unfair."

Activists carry a 1,000-foot Rainbow Flag down a parade route during the WorldPride 2025 Celebrations in Washington, DC. © Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images North America, AFP

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Poland and Portugal celebrate start of pride month with parades

Copyright Armando Franca/Copyright 2018 The AP. All rights reserved.

By Katarzyna-Maria Skiba & Manuel Ribeiro
Published on 07/06/2025 - 

For both countries, it was an opportunity to celebrate LGBTQ+ identity as well as demand political changes.

Both Poland and Portugal marked the beginning of pride month with parades held on Saturday afternoon.

The month of June is celebrated as pride month across the world, with festivals, demonstrations, parades, and other events bringing light to LGBTQ+ issues.
Polish cities host Pride Marches one week after critical elections

In Poland, Pride marches were held in the cities of Gdańsk and Wrocław, just one week after the election of conservative-nationalist Karol Nawrocki, who was endorsed by the Law and Justice party.

This was the 17th Pride Parade in Wrocław, and the 10th to take place in Gdańsk. In Wrocław, demonstrators set of from Freedom Square at 14:00, while the "Tri-City Equality March" encompassing the coastal cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot took off at 16:00. Both marches aimed to showcase the cities as inclusive towards all of their residents.

Several political leaders confirmed their participation in the marches, including Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, Minister of Equality Katarzyna Kotula, Mayor of Gdańsk Agnieszka Dulkiewicz and Mayor of Sopot Magdalena Czarzyńska-Jachim.

City councilor and president of the Tolerado Association for LGBTQ+ rights, Marta Magott said in an interview with the official website of Gdańsk that the annual march is a "reminder of freedom, solidarity, and equality".

The event was significant in Poland, which still ranks as the second-worst country in the EU for LGBTQ+ people, after Romania, according to the advocacy group ILGA-Europe, which publishes an annual "Rainbow Map" ranking the countries based on political and social factors.

Poland had occupied the top spot in the rankings for six years, and made marginal progress since the election of the coalition government in 2023, according to the organization. Portugal, on the other hand, is in 11th place.

A Pride March will also take place on June 14 in Warsaw.

Gay Pride March in Lisbon warns of rise of the far-right

FILE. A reveler, with a heart shaped gay flag painted on his face, takes part in the Gay Pride parade in Lisbon, Saturday, June 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)Francisco Seco/AP

At the 26th LGBTQI+ Pride March in Lisbon on Saturday, thousands of people lined the avenues of the capital's downtown to defend human rights, equality and non-discrimination.

The march left Praça do Marquês de Pombal at 16:30 with one of this year's mottoes being "Resist and not just Exist", according to a joint manifesto published by one of the organising movements on social media.

At a time when the far-right is closer to political power and institutions in Portugal and Europe, hate speech and discrimination against LGBTQ+ minorities are resurfacing in national society, after more than 50 years of achievements in Portugal for equality and non-discrimination rights.

"The political forces that deny our rights are gaining institutional space, marching is reaffirming that we don't back down, that we exist, that we resist," says the Associação ILGA Portugal - Intervenção Lésbica, Gay, Bissexual, Trans e Intersexo (ILGA) on its Facebook account.

"Hate speech is trying to become normalised," adds ILGA, and "we cannot ignore the fact that freedom and democracy are under attack," warns. The group recalled that during the 48 years of dictatorship, the fascist regime denied the existence of homosexuals and lesbians, who were persecuted. Portugal lived under a dictatorship for almost 48 years.

Related

Which European countries are the most and least progressive when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights?

Founded in 1995, ILGA Portugal is the oldest association defending LGBTQ+ people and their families against discrimination. It is part of ILGA World and the Platform for Fundamental Rights of the European Union Agency. "We are marching for the right to live with dignity, for all the people who came before us, for those who are here and for those who are yet to come."

"This is a right that has been won over the years in Portugal, and today it is under threat," said Mariana Mortágua, coordinator of the Left Bloc party, participating in the parade. “Nowadays, it's difficult to demonstrate for human rights without being threatened by extreme right-wing forces and without the government doing something about it”, Mortágua added in statements to Portuguese national television, RTP.

"We have to keep fighting for rights," said Hélder Bértolo of the March's organising committee, "it's important to be here, to raise our voices," he added regarding the threat of acquired rights being broken in the face of the rise of the radical right. Bértolo said these rights "have faded", especially in countries like Hungary. "Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and other European countries are also moving in this direction", the spokesperson told reporters.

The 2025 edition also saw the participation of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), which joined the 18 associations and groups with political intervention in defence of the LGBTQ+ community.