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Ábrego García Indictment: Legitimate Prosecution OR Trumped-Up Charges?
Glenn Kirschner
Jun 7, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi and her Department of Justice lawyers said repeatedly that it was impossible to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the United States.

Then, lo and behold, they arranged for Abrego Garcia's return to the US and waived around a two-count criminal indictment claiming that he has been involved in a criminal conspiracy from 2016 through 2025. In other words, if true, the first Trump DOJ let Garcia run a dangerous criminal conspiracy inside the United States with impunity during the entirety of Trump's first term.

This video does a deep dive into the indictment and exposes several reasons why the indictment looks suspect, and feels more like a Pam Bondi face saving vehicle and less like a righteous prosecution.



Transcript

So friends did you ever encounter a
circumstance where somebody was told to
do something maybe even ordered to do
something by a judge or a court and that
person said "Well uh I'm going to do it
not because I was told or ordered to do
it i'm going to do it because I want to
do it."
Well that brings us to Attorney General
Pam Bondi and Abrego
Garcia attorney General Bondi the
Department of Justice the Trump
administration were ordered by courts
trial court judge appeals court judges
and the United States Supreme Court to
return Abrego Garcia to the United
States and what did Pam Bondi say no
can't be done impossible he's in a whole
another country a sovereign nation we
don't have the authority or ability to
bring him
back well now Pam Bondi just brought
Abrego Garcia
back but the message she sent is well
I'm not not bringing him back because I
was ordered by courts to bring him back
no I'm bringing him back because I want
to bring him back because I want to
prosecute
him okay Pam
friends can I invite you to maybe sit
back get comfortable because we are
going to take apart the Abrego Garcia
indictment because
justice matters
[Music]
hey all Glen Kersner here so friends in
my 30 years as a federal prosecutor I
drafted and presented to grand juries
more indictments than I could ever count
so when I look at this twocount 10-page
indictment that a federal grand jury in
Tennessee returned against Abrago
Garcia I am
concerned i am skeptical and together
today I want to take you through that
indictment and highlight why there is a
strong argument that this is some
trumped up
but as always is a
legal term but as always let's start
with the new reporting this from ABC
News headline Kilmar Abrego Garcia newly
returned to the US appears in court on
charges of trafficking
migrants and that article begins
"Mistakenly deported Salvador and native
Kilmar Abrego Garcia appeared in a
Tennessee courtroom Friday hours after
he was brought back to the United States
to face criminal charges for allegedly
transporting undocumented migrants
within the US more than two months after
the Trump administration admitted it
mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia from
Maryland to his native El Salvador a
two-count indictment unsealed Friday
alleges that he participated in a
yearslong conspiracy to haul
undocumented migrants from Texas to the
interior of the country the return of
Abrego Garcia from his native El
Salvador follows a series of court
battles in which the Trump
administration repeatedly said it was
unable to bring him back drawing the
country toward the brink of a
constitutional crisis when the Trump
administration failed to heed the
Supreme Court's order to facilitate his
return
he Abrego Garcia made his initial court
appearance Friday evening in the middle
district of Tennessee answering "Yes I
understand." in Spanish when US
magistrate judge Barbara Holmes asked
him if he understood the charges against
him judge Holmes set a hearing for June
13 where Abrego Garcia will be arraigned
on charges and the judge will take up
the government's the Department of
Justice's motion to hold him in
pre-trial detention on the grounds that
he poses a danger to the community and
is a serious risk of flight he will
remain in federal custody in Tennessee
pending next week's hearing
now friends let's go right to the
indictment because I want to highlight
what I'll call the problem areas from a
prosecutor's perspective now first of
all this is a twocount indictment two
crimes are charged the first conspiracy
to transport aliens and the second
unlawful transportation of undocumented
aliens and some people may say well look
there's an indictment isn't that some
evidence that Abrego Garcia committed
these crimes the answer is decidedly no
and here's why I say that at the
beginning of every criminal trial the
judge will instruct the jury ladies and
gentlemen the indictment in this case is
not evidence and you may not view it as
evidence that the defendant did anything
or committed any crime an indictment is
merely the formal vehicle the document
that's used to bring a case to trial to
bring charges against somebody but it is
not evidence that can be used against
the defendant so no it's not evidence
what it is is it's a guide that the
prosecutors offer um laying out what
they believe the evidence will prove
what they think they can prove beyond a
reasonable doubt second question that
you may ask well the grand jury indicted
Abrago Garcia so they must have been
provided lots of evidence that he
committed these crimes friends here's
what I'll say about that a grand jury
indictment is only as good as the ethics
of the prosecutor who presents the case
to the grand jury now in my experience
the overwhelming majority of the
prosecutors are honest ethical they do
what they're supposed to do before the
grand jury for example they provide not
only incriminating evidence but what we
call Brady evidence evidence that's
exculpatory of the defendant might help
show he didn't commit crimes there's no
constitutional requirement that
prosecutors present that kind of
evidence but the Department of Justice
requires us to do it so this grand jury
indictment is only as good as the honor
and the integrity and the ethics of the
prosecutor who presented the case to the
grand jury let me hasten to add that on
the very day this grand jury indictment
was issued um down in the middle
district of Tennessee the chief of the
criminal division for the US attorney's
office in that jurisdiction the middle
district of Tennessee
resigned now he didn't say why but he
said after 15 years as a federal
prosecutor he takes his oath um very
seriously and the integrity of the
prosecutotorial practice is what guides
him and he felt compelled to resign on
the very day somebody down in Tennessee
asked the grand jury to vote out this
indictment against Abrego Garcia boy
there's an important data point
regarding what may have gone on
regarding this indictment hopefully
we'll be hearing more about that in the
near future now friends I want to start
with some of the dates and the time
frames that are set out in the
indictment and ultimately those dates
those time frames are really more of an
indictment of the Trump
administration a bad look a black eye
let's talk about why that is the case as
you can see the case is being brought by
prosecutors in the middle district of
Tennessee Nashville division and the
case is captioned United States of
America versus Kilmar Armando Abrego
Garcia and the grand jury charges
introductory allegations at all times
material to this indictment unless
otherwise indicated one from in or
around
2016 through in or around
2025 Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and
others known and unknown to the grand
jury conspired to bring undocumented
aliens to the United States from
countries such as Guatemala El Salvador
Honduras Ecuador and elsewhere
ultimately passing through Mexico before
crossing into Texas the co-conspirators
knew the undocumented aliens did not
possess authorization to enter the
United
States okay friends let's take on that
time frame because Donald Trump's
Department of Justice alleges in this
indictment that Abrego Garcia and others
were just running wild this big bad
conspiracy in the United States of
America transporting
undocumented aliens from
2016 to
2025 so for the four years during the
first Trump
administration this robust conspiracy
was running rampant in the United States
and Donald Trump and his Department of
Justice apparently did nothing about
it sounds like Trump was letting bad
folk run wild in the United States for
the entirety of his first
term
h let's take on another important date
you may recall that there were some
court proceedings involving Abrego
Garcia when in
2019 who was president trump this was
the Trump administration Trump's
Department of Justice when that court
hearing was held in
2019 and at that court hearing the Trump
administration the Department of Justice
could have presented all this evidence
judge Judge Abrago Garcia has been in
this big conspiracy for years 2016 to
2019 you know running wild committing
crimes moving undocumented aliens around
in the United States but they didn't say
any of that no there was a hearing and
you may recall that that hearing
resulted in a judge ordering that the
Trump administration may not deport
Abrego Garcia specifically to El
Salvador which of course is exactly
where the Trump administration ended up
sending Abrego Garcia in violation of
that court order but apparently the
Trump administration didn't breathe a
word of any of this in that 2019 court
hearing whose fault is that assuming
this indictment contains truthful and
accurate information about Abrego Garcia
being in this big old conspiracy from
2016 to 2019 whose fault is it that none
of that was brought to the attention of
the judge in 2019 that would be the
Trump
administration but wait there's
more after ago Garcia according to this
indictment had been in this big bad
dangerous conspiracy for almost a
decade 2016 to 2025 what did the Trump
administration do in 2025 in March did
they indict him for this parade of
horribles that they allege he's been
involved in for almost 10 years now no
they stuffed him on a plane and sent him
to El Salvador
if he had been committing all these
horrible
crimes why didn't you indict him rather
than kidnap him violate his
constitutional due process rights of
notice and opportunity to be heard and
send him to a prison in El Salvador
where the taxpayers were paying to
confine him
but friends be that as it may the Trump
administration went on to
unconstitutionally deport Abrego Garcia
to El Salvador and not long after judges
and courts started ordering the Trump
administration to facilitate his release
and his return to the United States
trial court judge in Maryland federal
court judge Senesis entered that order
the appeals court affirmed that order
the United States Supreme Court affirmed
that order directing the Trump
administration to facilitate his release
and return and what did the DOJ lawyers
go into court and say and what did Pam
Bondi tell us all on TV can't be done
they actually used the word impossible
at one point in time Abrego Garcia is
now in the custody and control of a
foreign country a sovereign nation we
can't bring him back can't be
done well turns out that was a lie
because they just facilitated the
release and return of Abrego Garcia and
he is now in the United States of course
to save face they decided to indict
him and now what I want to do is take a
look at the evidence they alleged they
have supporting this 11th hour
indictment after they told us it was
impossible to bring him back from El
Salvador and and friends when you go
through this indictment you are going to
see lots and lots of summary assertions
without facts without evidence without
dates without details no names no phone
numbers no amounts paid by anybody or
received by anybody just a lot of
summary conclusions that Abrego Garcia
did all kinds of bad stuff he did it
here he did it there he did it
everywhere and the only place you
actually see any facts any
evidence is in paragraph 30 and
paragraph 30 is titled transportation in
Tennessee and some of the allegations
include that on or about November 30
2022 a state trooper with the Tennessee
Highway Patrol conducted a traffic stop
on a Chevy Suburban and we are told that
Abrego Garcia was the driver of the
Suburban we're told there were nine
additional passengers in the Suburban
all of whom were Hispanic males and none
of whom had identification we are told
that Abrego Garcia falsely told the
state trooper that they were coming from
St louis um Abrego Garcia and multiple
passengers said they were heading to
Maryland we are told that they didn't
have any luggage with them we were told
that Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in cash in
his pocket now friends let me be clear
the facts laid out in paragraph 30 are
suspicious certainly suspicious to this
old
prosecutor so what did the Tennessee
state troopers who had their boots on
the ground and were assessing in real
time exactly what was going on there
what did they
do they didn't arrest ago Garcia
they apparently didn't arrest anybody
else who was in that Chevy Suburban and
they didn't so much as write ago Garcia
a traffic
ticket and yet when you go through this
10page
indictment paragraph 30 seems to be the
sum total of the specific detailed
factual
allegations anywhere to be found in the
indictment
you know it feels like they built the
entire 10-year conspiracy indictment
around that one traffic stop in
Tennessee that disclosed no overt clear
evidence of criminal conduct but friends
they must they must have
boatloads of other directly and sharply
incriminating evidence of Abrego Garcia
right well if they
do why didn't they include any of it in
this 10-page indictment because the
balance of it it's just a bunch of
summary assertions and conclusions
paragraph 30 is the only one that lays
out any detailed factual
allegations
and another question is why did the
chief of the criminal division in the
very US attorney's office that had the
grand jury issue this indictment the
chief of the criminal division who is in
charge of all federal prosecutions in
the middle district of Tennessee why did
he
resign on the very day this indictment
was
returned you know friends if I were part
of Abrego Garcia's legal team I would
seriously consider asserting my clients
right to a speedy trial what does that
mean that means within 70 days the
Department of Justice the federal
prosecutors must take Abrego Garcia to
trial on this
indictment and I would be surprised if
Pam Bondi's DOJ was up to that task you
know there's some other reporting that
this investigation into this alleged
10-year
conspiracy didn't even begin until after
the Trump administration had
unconstitutionally deported Abrego
Garcia to El Salvador and perhaps even
after they'd been ordered to facilitate
his return which they swore up and down
was impossible in how many ways does
this
stink here is ultimately what I hope we
see i'm not expecting Abrego Garcia's
lawyers to assert his right to a speedy
trial such that the trial must commence
in 70 days because I'm sure his lawyers
have a lot of investigating they feel
the need to do before they're ready to
go to trial but I want to see a scorched
earth
robust motions hearing in this
case so that DOJ has to lay all of its
cards on the table and prove to the
judge's satisfaction that this is a
legitimate
prosecution not trumped up
charges as a way to save face after they
unconstitutionally Ally deported a man
refused to facilitate his return had to
come up with some way to save face i'm
not doing this because I was ordered to
i'm doing it because I want to do it
because I have now charged Abrego Garcia
with crimes
yeah I want to see some scorched earth
motions hearings in this case so the
judge can get to the bottom of
it because
justice
matters friends as always please stay
safe please stay tuned and I look
forward to talking with you all again
tomorrow
[Music]

BREAKING: Supreme Court drops BOMBSHELL ruling
By Brian Tyler Cohen
Jun 7, 2025

Democracy Watch episode 319: Marc Elias discusses the Supreme Court allowing DOGE access to social security information.

Trump confirms China trip after 'very good' call with Xi
by Laura Bicker, China correspondent and Ruth Comerford
BBC News
June 5, 2025
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qg23gqllwo


Reuters President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping exchange a look at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. Reuters

-- Triumph of the Will, directed by Leni Riefenstahl (Illustrated Screenplay and Screencap Gallery

Donald Trump has said he will visit China after speaking to its leader Xi Jinping over the phone.

The US president said he had reciprocated with an invite to the White House during the "very good talk" - though such a trip has not been confirmed by either side.

Thursday's call is the first time the two leaders have spoken since Trump launched a trade war with Beijing in February. Chinese state media reported that the call happened at the White House's request.

Trump wrote on social media that the hour-and-a-half conversation was primarily focused on trade and had "resulted in a very positive conclusion for both countries".

China says US has 'severely violated' tariffs truce
China hits back after Trump claims it is 'violating' tariff truce

"He invited me to China and I invited him here," Trump said of the call with Xi while meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office.

"We both accepted, so I will be going there with the first lady at a certain point and he will be coming here hopefully with the first lady of China."

The Chinese readout of the conversation mentioned its invitation but not the reciprocal one to the White House.

According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi reportedly told Trump that the US should "withdraw the negative measures it has taken against China".

The Chinese leader was also said to have told Trump that China always kept its promises and since a consensus had been reached, both sides should abide by it - a reference to a recent deal between the two nations struck in Geneva.

Both sides have accused the other of breaching the deal aimed at dramatically reducing trade tariffs - a deal Trump touted as a "total reset".

It came after Trump raised tariffs on imports from a number of countries, but reserved the highest rates for China. Beijing responded with its own higher rates on US imports, sparking tit-for-tat increases that peaked at 145%.

The tentative truce struck in May brought that US tariff on Chinese products down to 30%, while Beijing slashed levies on US imports to 10% and promised to lift barriers on critical mineral exports.

The agreement gave both sides a 90-day deadline to try to reach a trade deal.

But since then, talks have seemed to grind to a halt amid claims on both sides that the deal had been breached.

The US has accused China of failing to restart shipments of critical minerals and rare earth magnets vital to car and computer industries.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has denied the claims and accused the US of undermining the deal by introducing new restrictions on computer chips.

Trump introduced new export restrictions on semiconductor design software and announced it would revoke the visas of Chinese students.

The US president said following the call that "there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products".

He told reporters in the White House: "Chinese students can come, no problem, no problem - its an honour to have them frankly. But we want to check them."


Reuters US President Donald Trump chats with first lady Melania Trump as they tour the Conservation Scientific Laboratory of the Forbidden City with Chinese President Xi Jinping Reuters

Trump appearing alongside Xi and first lady Melania Trump during his previous visit to China in 2017

Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Washington that it should handle Taiwan "with caution" to avoid conflict, just days after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said China posed an "imminent" threat to the self-governed island.

Hegseth told the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore that Beijing was "credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power".

"There are moments during the process of imaginative creation when seemingly diverse fantasies start to beat in time and then swell into a single resonance. A great chord is struck and held for a while. Both participants and listeners seem overcome with the primordial, archetypal purity of the sound. Everything then becomes a signifier for this great imaginative chord. At this moment the sacred place is truly born; its imaginative history begins. It then has its own coherence and logic ... We have come a long way from the vague Romantic generalizations so common earlier in the century."

-- The Myth of Shangri-La: Tibet, Travel Writing and the Western Creation of Sacred Landscape, by Peter Bishop

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be reunified, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this. The US supports Taiwan militarily but does not officially recognise it due to the "One China" policy.

According to the readout of Thursday's call given to Chinese media, Xi stressed that the US should handle the "Taiwan issue prudently to prevent a small number of Taiwan Independence separatists from dragging China and the US into a dangerous situation of conflict and confrontation".

The call between Trump and Xi is long awaited and comes after months of silence between the two leaders.

The White House has touted the possibility they might talk from week one of Trump's presidency - and earlier this week he finally vented his frustration on social media.

Trump wrote: "I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!"

Trump has made it clear that he likes to be involved in negotiations. But this is not the way China does business.

Beijing prefers to appoint a negotiating team led by a trusted official. Any calls or meeting between heads of state are usually thoroughly planned and highly choreographed.

Zhou En-Lai, Panchen Lama, Mao Tse-Tung and His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Beijing, China in 1956. (Photo courtesy Tibet Images)

The Chinese will also not want to be seen to bend to Washington's demands.

GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 95814
(916) 445-2841

June 8, 2025

Hon. Pete Hegseth
Secretary of Defense
Washington, DC 20301

via email only

Re: Federalization of the California National Guard

Dear Secretary Hegseth:

On June 7, 2025, President Trump issued a memorandum to your office entitled "Deportment of Defense Security for the Protection of Deportment of Homeland Security Functions." The memorandum purports to invoke 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to "call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard ... to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property." The memorandum further directs "actions as necessary for the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with the Governors of the States and the National Guard Bureau in identifying and ordering into Federal service the appropriate members and units of the National Guard under this authority."

Section 12406 states that "the President may call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary" to (1) repel an invasion of the United States by a foreign nation; (2) suppress a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States; or (3) execute the laws of the United States when the President is unable to do so with regular forces. Section 12406 further states that "[o]rders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States."

Last night, the Adjutant General of California received a memorandum from your office with the subject line "Calling Members of the California National Guard into Federal Service," which states that "[t]wo thousand members of the California National Guard will be called into Federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days." Notably, this directive did not issue "through the governor[] of the State[]" as required by section 12406: the Department of Defense did not transmit this directive to the Office of the Governor, nor was it approved or ordered by the Governor of California. This directive is also inconsistent with the President's memorandum, which anticipates "coordinat[ion] with the Governors of the States" in identifying and ordering units of the National Guard into federal service.

At present, law enforcement authorities from the City and County of Los Angeles are safeguarding public safety, and, as demonstrated by the robust low enforcement response yesterday evening to protect federal facilities, local law enforcement resources are sufficient to maintain order. In dynamic and fluid situations such as the one in Los Angeles, State and local authorities are the most appropriate ones to evaluate the need for resources to safeguard life and property. Indeed, the decision to deploy the National Guard, without appropriate training or orders, risks seriously escalating the situation.

There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation, while simultaneously depriving the State from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required. Accordingly, we ask that you immediately rescind your order and return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California, to be deployed as appropriate when necessary.

Sincerely,

David Sapp
Legal Affairs Secretary
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

cc. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (via email only)

****************************

Presidential Actions
Department of Defense Security for the Protection of Department of Homeland Security Functions
Presidential Memoranda
June 7, 2025
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential ... functions/

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

SUBJECT: Department of Defense Security for the Protection of Department of Homeland Security Functions

Numerous incidents of violence and disorder have recently occurred and threaten to continue in response to the enforcement of Federal law by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions and supporting the faithful execution of Federal immigration laws. In addition, violent protests threaten the security of and significant damage to Federal immigration detention facilities and other Federal property. 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.

In light of these incidents and credible threats of continued violence, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard under 10 U.S.C. 12406 to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations. Further, I direct and delegate actions as necessary for the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with the Governors of the States and the National Guard Bureau in identifying and ordering into Federal service the appropriate members and units of the National Guard under this authority. The members and units of the National Guard called into Federal service shall be at least 2,000 National Guard personnel and the duration of duty shall be for 60 days or at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense. In addition, the Secretary of Defense may employ any other members of the regular Armed Forces as necessary to augment and support the protection of Federal functions and property in any number determined appropriate in his discretion.

To carry out this mission, the deployed military personnel may perform those military protective activities that the Secretary of Defense determines are reasonably necessary to ensure the protection and safety of Federal personnel and property The Secretary of Defense shall consult with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security prior to withdrawing any personnel from any location to which they are sent. The Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security may delegate to subordinate officials of their respective Departments any of the authorities conferred upon them by this memorandum.

DONALD J. TRUMP

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=82BrHeqshLo


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H3pZphjDH8s

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... 235345116/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HLJ1x933cLI

Headlines
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
June 09, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/9/headlines



Trump Deploys National Guard to L.A. as Protests Continue over Militarized ICE Raids
Jun 09, 2025

In defiance of local officials, President Trump has deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles after protests erupted in response to ICE conducting military-style raids in and around the city. This marks the first time since the 1960s a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also placed on high alert 500 marines at Camp Pendleton. White House adviser Stephen Miller described the ICE protests as an insurrection. On Sunday, Trump warned this could be just the beginning of deploying troops into U.S. streets.

President Donald Trump: “We’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart.”

Earlier today, Trump wrote on social media, “Looking really bad in LA. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!”

California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to sue the Trump administration today. He wrote, “Commandeering a state’s National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral.”
On Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried the ICE raids and the Trump administration’s response.

Mayor Karen Bass: “What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration. When you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you cause fear, and you cause panic. And deploying federalized troops is a dangerous escalation.”

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has threatened to have Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom arrested if they interfere with federal immigration enforcement.

Officers in L.A. Fire Rubber Bullets, Flashbang Grenades & Tear Gas at ICE Protesters & Journalists
Jun 09, 2025

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said Trump is “moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism.” California state Senator Scott Wiener said, “This is what fascism looks like.”

On Sunday, police forces in Los Angeles fired rubber bullets, flashbang grenades and tear gas at protesters. Police made 27 arrests. Last night, police declared all of downtown Los Angeles an unlawful assembly. Earlier in the day, officers repeatedly fired rubber bullets at protesters. One hit an Australian journalist as she was reporting from the streets.

Lauren Tomasi: “After hours of standing off, the situation has now rapidly deteriorated, the LAPD moving in on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through the heart of L.A.”

Bystander 1: “You just [bleep] shot the press!”

Bystander 2: “Are you OK?”

Lauren Tomasi: “Yeah, I’m good. I’m good.”

Bystander 1: “Are you OK?”

Bystander 3: “Are you OK?”

Federal Agents Detain SEIU Labor Leader David Huerta in Los Angeles
Jun 09, 2025

Over the past week, federal immigration agents arrested about 118 people in the L.A. region. On Friday, agents also arrested David Huerta, president of the California branch of the Service Employees International Union. He was charged with obstruction and needed to be treated at the hospital with injuries. He remains in custody. We’ll go to Los Angeles after headlines.

Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Flotilla Carrying Greta Thunberg & Other Activists
Jun 09, 2025

Israeli Navy commandos have intercepted a boat carrying activists with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition who were attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila issued this warning just before Israeli forces raided the ship, the Madleen, in international waters about 100 nautical miles from Gaza.

Thiago Ávila: “Everyone, we are under attack. Please sound the alarm. They are throwing a lot of substances and objects on us. Quadcopters, the most dangerous ones. … Right now they are jamming our comms. They are saying random stuff just to jam our communication. They are doing this so that we cannot get help.”

Passengers on the ship included the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who recorded this message before the Israeli raid.

Greta Thunberg: “My name is Greta Thunberg, and I am from Sweden. If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel. I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible.”

Israeli forces are now bringing the boat to the Israeli port city of Ashdod. U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese condemned the Israeli raid on the ship. She wrote online, “While Madleen must be released immediately, every Mediterranean port should send boats with aid, solidarity, and humanity to Gaza. They shall sail together — united, they will be unstoppable. Breaking The Siege is a legal duty for states, and a moral imperative for all of us.” We will have more on this story later in the program.

More Palestinians Fatally Shot Attempting to Get Aid in Gaza
Jun 09, 2025

In Gaza, hungry Palestinians are continuing to be shot dead while attempting to get aid. On Sunday, Al Jazeera reports at least five people were killed and more than 70 wounded after Israeli forces opened fire near an aid site. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed near aid sites over the past two weeks since the launch of a shadowy U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid operation.

On Sunday, Palestinians gathered in Khan Younis for the funeral of Khaled Doghmah, a father of five who was fatally shot while trying to feed his family. This is his aunt Salwah.

Salwah Doghmah: “He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them because they don’t have a pinch of flour at home. They can’t find food to eat. He was going to get aid to sustain his house, to feed them. He was walking there, on his way. He did not reach the distribution site and was shot.”

Russia Escalates Attacks on Ukraine After Trump Likened War to Playground Fight
Jun 09, 2025

At least four people have died in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as Russia launched a major drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city. At least 60 people were injured. Meanwhile, Russian forces are moving closer to the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy. A number of nearby villages have already fallen. This all comes days after President Trump compared Russia and Ukraine with children fighting in a park.

President Donald Trump: “Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”

In an interview with ABC News, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded by saying, “We are not kids with Putin at the playground. He is a murderer who came to this park to kill the kids”

New Trump Travel Ban Goes into Effect, Bars Citizens from 12 Nations
Jun 09, 2025

President Donald Trump’s new travel ban has gone into effect. The impacted countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and the Republic of Congo. New travel restrictions have also been placed on seven additional countries. Critics of the ban include Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, who wrote on social media, “This ban, expanded from Trump’s Muslim ban in his first term, will only further isolate us on the world stage.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back Brought Back to U.S. to Face Newly Unsealed Charges
Jun 09, 2025

The Trump administration has returned Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States more than two months after the Maryland father was wrongfully sent to a maximum-security mega-prison in El Salvador. But instead of reuniting with his family, Kilmar was brought to a courtroom in Tennessee. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed a grand jury had indicted him for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney criticized the government’s move. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said, “Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice.”

The chief of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville resigned in protest over the indictment. Ben Schrader had worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for 15 years.

Supreme Court OKs DOGE Access to Social Security Records of Millions
Jun 09, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency can have access to sensitive records held by the Social Security Administration about millions of people. The court’s three liberal justices dissented. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that the decision “creates grave privacy risks for millions of Americans.” In a separate ruling, the justices ruled DOGE can keep much of its inner workings secret for now without having to comply with requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

Supreme Court Tosses Mexico Lawsuit Against U.S. Gun Manufacturers
Jun 09, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a $10 billion lawsuit by the Mexican government against U.S. gun manufacturers. Mexico had accused Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock and other companies of fueling violence in Mexico by knowingly allowing its guns to be smuggled into the hands of drug cartels. The court ruled that gunmakers are shielded from liability under U.S. law.

Colombian Senator Shot During Campaign Rally in Bogotá
Jun 09, 2025

In news from Colombia, Senator Miguel Uribe was shot and seriously injured during a campaign rally in Bogotá on Saturday. Uribe is a member of the right-wing Democratic Center party and is running for president in the 2026 election. He is the grandson of former Colombian President Julio César Turbay Ayala.

Another Critic of Bukele Is Arrested in Escalating Crackdown on Dissent
Jun 09, 2025

El Salvador is escalating its crackdown on critics of President Nayib Bukele. On Saturday, Salvadoran police arrested prominent constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya, who has publicly called Bukele a dictator. His arrest follows the recent detention of Ruth López, an anti-corruption lawyer with the organization Cristosal. Over the weekend, Cristosal warned that Anaya’s arrest marks a “disturbing escalation in the criminalization of those who defend the rule of law in El Salvador.”

“Open Borders, Break Down Walls”: Pope Leo Warns Against Nationalist Political Movements
Jun 09, 2025

Pope Leo has openly criticized nationalist political movements. He had made the comments on Sunday during Mass at the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV: “Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for 'security' zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms. … Let us invoke the spirit of love and peace, that he may open borders, break down walls, dispel hatred and help us to live as children of our one father who is in heaven.”

U.N. Ocean Conference Opens in France as Momentum Grows to Ratify High Seas Treaty
Jun 09, 2025

The United Nations Ocean Conference has opened in the southern French city of Nice. Organizers are pushing for the ratification of the High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and sea by 2030. The treaty will only go into force after 60 countries ratify the treaty. This is Yann Laurans of WWF France.

Yann Laurans: “We have witnessed a lot of international conferences that eventually issue a very ambitious text, but with really no teeth. We want a text to have teeth to be able to really impose constraints and be accompanied with funding. We need funding. We need money to actually preserve the ocean. We need money to control. We need money to support the people that live out of the ocean. And that’s what we want. We’re not sure it will happen yet, so that’s why we are putting pressure on our governments.”

NOAA: Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere Reaches Highest Level in Millions of Years
Jun 09, 2025

In climate news, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has revealed global carbon dioxide levels exceeded 430 parts per million last month. Researchers say this is the highest amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere in as many 30 million years — long before humans roamed the planet.

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L.A. Under Siege: Trump Sends in National Guard as Protests Continue over Militarized ICE Raids
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
June 09, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/9/l ... transcript



In Los Angeles, mass street protests have broken out in response to immigration raids. Local police and Border Patrol are cracking down on protesters, while the Trump administration has called in the California National Guard. “They shot thousands of rounds of tear gas, flashbang grenades, all kinds of repressive instruments,” says Ron Gochez, community organizer with Unión del Barrio who helped organize some of the protests. He notes many of the protests have also been successful at turning back immigration agents, preventing ICE arrests and detention. “If we organize ourselves, if we resist, we can defend our communities from ICE terror, from the Border Patrol or from any federal agency that wishes to separate our families.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Los Angeles, where President Trump has deployed the California National Guard in defiance of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. This comes after protests erupted against ICE’s military-style raids in and around L.A. The Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also threatened to deploy 500 active-duty marines from Camp Pendleton. White House adviser Stephen Miller labeled the ICE protests an “insurrection.” On Sunday, Trump warned this could be just the beginning of deploying troops on U.S. streets.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart.

AMY GOODMAN: Earlier today, Trump wrote on social media, “Looking really bad in LA. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” unquote.

California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to sue the Trump administration today. He wrote, quote, “Commandeering a state’s National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral,” unquote. This marks the first time since the 1960s a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said Trump is, quote, “moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism.” California state Senator Scott Wiener said, quote, “This is what fascism looks like,” unquote.

On Sunday, police forces in Los Angeles fired rubber bullets, flashbang grenades and tear gas at protesters who gathered to condemn the ICE raids and deployment of the National Guard. Sunday night, L.A. police declared all of downtown Los Angeles an unlawful assembly.

Over the past week, federal immigration agents arrested about 118 people in the L.A. region. On Friday, agents also arrested David Huerta, president of the California branch of SEIU — that’s Service Employees International Union. He was charged with obstruction, needed to be treated at the hospital because of his injuries. He remains in custody.

On Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried the ICE raids and the Trump administration’s response.

MAYOR KAREN BASS: What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration. When you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you cause fear, and you cause panic. And deploying federalized troops is a dangerous escalation.

AMY GOODMAN: This comes as Trump’s border czar Tom Holman has threatened to have Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom arrested if they interfere with federal immigration enforcement. Homan spoke to NBC’s Jacob Soboroff.

TOM HOMAN: You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement from doing their job.

JACOB SOBOROFF: Do you — do you think that the mayor of L.A. is doing that?

TOM HOMAN: If she crosses that line, we’ll ask DOJ to prosecute. Do I think she’s crossed the line? I don’t think she crossed the line yet. But I’m telling you that the warning we’re sending is we’re not going to tolerate people attacking our officers.

AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, police in Los Angeles made at least 27 arrests. Officers repeatedly fired rubber bullets at protesters. One hit an Australian journalist as she was reporting from the streets.

LAUREN TOMASI: After hours of standing off, the situation has now rapidly deteriorated, the LAPD moving in on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through the heart of L.A.

BYSTANDER 1: You just [bleep] shot the press!

BYSTANDER 2: Are you OK?

LAUREN TOMASI: Yeah, I’m good. I’m good.

BYSTANDER 1: Are you OK?

BYSTANDER 3: Are you OK?

AMY GOODMAN: In a minute, we’ll go to Los Angeles to speak with one of the people who helped organize the protests against the ICE raids. But first, on Sunday, Democracy Now! reached Janet Martinez, the co-founder of Indigenous Communities in Leadership, or CIELO, in Los Angeles to talk about the impact of the ICE raids and arrests.

JANET MARTINEZ: Around 34,000 Indigenous people live in Los Angeles County, which is around 40% of the Indigenous population, based on the census data alone, which we know is an undercount. So, for us, we know a lot of community members have been impacted by the recent raids by ICE all over Los Angeles. We’ve gotten calls from the Zapotec community, from the Mixtec community and K’iche’ communities that have been detained during these raids.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we are joined in Los Angeles by Ron Gochez, community organizer with Unión del Barrio and a high school history teacher. His group helped organize some of the protests in Los Angeles.

There’s so much to discuss, Ron. Can you describe the weekend? It didn’t even start with the protests. You had President Trump threatening to cut off aid to California, federal aid. You had the ICE raids. And then talk about what happened even before, then Trump announced that he would deploy the National Guard, and Hegseth said he’s put the Marines on high alert.

RON GOCHEZ: Yeah. Good morning. Thank you for having me today.

This weekend was marked with absolute and total violence, brutal repression and attacks, coordinated attacks against our community. ICE agents have been around all over Southern California, kidnapping people, tearing apart families. And we see this as an attack against our people. And so, that’s why you see young people, the community coming out and resisting this repression. We are tired, sick and tired of these attacks that are dividing and separating our families. And so, that’s why, when we have these protests, they have been peaceful. But when the repression comes from the state, whether it’s the sheriffs, the LAPD or, on Saturday, for example, in Paramount, California, it was the Border Patrol, it was brutal violence. They shot thousands of rounds of tear gas, of flashbang grenades, of all kinds of repressive instruments used against the community.

But what they didn’t think was going to happen was that the people would resist and would fight back. And that’s exactly what happened in Paramount and in Compton, California, where for eight-and-a-half hours, the people combated in the streets against the Border Patrol. And after eight-and-a-half hours of battle — and it was a battle, because there were people throwing back tear gas, people throwing anything that they could to defend themselves and to defend the workers that were being surrounded by over 100 Border Patrol agents. After eight-and-a-half hours, the Border Patrol, the sheriffs had to retreat. They had to retreat because of the fierce resistance of the community. And the hundreds of workers that were in the factories around them were able to escape. They were able to go to their cars and go home. That was only thanks to the resistance that allowed them to go home that night.

And so, that is one clear sign that if we organize ourselves, if we resist, we can defend our communities from ICE terror, from the Border Patrol or from any federal agency that wishes to separate our families. And so, because of that, while that was happening, while that resistance was happening, we saw President Trump give the order of the National Guard. And so, for us as Indigenous people to these lands, to this continent, this is nothing new. The military going after us is nothing new. The United States in this part of the country is the result of a military invasion of Mexico. And so, we know — we know what’s coming. It’s more repression. But what they have to know is that they’re also going to face more resistance from the community. We don’t want to be violent, and we don’t advocate for violence, but when they use brutal violence against our people — and kidnapping mothers and fathers from children is violent — when they do things like that, we have every right, every historic right, to defend our communities by any ways that we can, and we’re going to continue to do so.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Ron, you mentioned Paramount on Saturday. For those people who are not familiar with that town, south of Los Angeles. There’s also been a change in the Trump administration tactics. Originally, they claimed they were going after criminals. Now, increasingly, they’re being — they’re being pushed to increase the arrest numbers, so they’re hitting workplaces. So, could you talk about this change and how this is affecting the community?

RON GOCHEZ: Yeah. The fascist Trump administration is trying to lie and confuse the American people into supporting this repression, into supporting these immigration raids, by having the general public think that they’re going after criminals. But now what’s publicly known, what’s painfully clear, is that the majority of these raids are going after workers, working-class people. They’re not going after criminals. They’re going at Home Depots. They’re going at construction sites. You know, they’re going to factories where people are working, where they’re creating the resources necessary for this society to exist. And so, I think everyone now knows that it’s a lie. They’re going after anyone and everyone who has brown skin specifically. And, you know, they’re attacking pretty much anybody. You have the Asian community. You have Black immigrants under attack. You have anybody in this country who isn’t a white male, basically, who is under attack.

So, I think working people everywhere should see this as an attack on working-class people, and they should all unite in solidarity to repel these attacks against our community. And so, again, we’ve proven time and time again, when we organize ourselves, we can defend ourselves. At this moment, it’s 5:30 or so in Los Angeles, or 5:00 in the morning in Los Angeles. We already have people all over Los Angeles right now patrolling the streets of Los Angeles, looking for any ICE activity. That’s the work that we do on a daily basis to protect our communities. So, on one hand, there’s street protests, and those are important, but the other part is organized and coordinated resistance, by patrolling our streets, defending our streets. We can’t protect the entire city of Los Angeles, but in our neighborhoods, in our barrios, we can defend ourselves, and we are doing that.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what is your sense of the response of California’s Governor Newsom and also the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, so far?

RON GOCHEZ: Yeah. We understand that they’re — you know, they’re against what’s happening. But we also have to say that talk is cheap. Governor Newsom can order the National Guard to stand down. If he’s against President Trump using them against us, well, he can order them to stand down. He has not done so. Here in the city of Los Angeles, Karen Bass is saying that she’s against the raids that are happening. Well, why are her police officers aiding and collaborating with ICE, with the Border Patrol to attack the community. If they are really there to serve and protect, as it says on their vehicles, then those rubber bullets and that gas that they’re shooting right now, they’re aiming at the wrong people. It shouldn’t be aimed at us. It should be aimed at the agents who are trying to kidnap the people in our community.

But, obviously, we know we cannot expect help or support from the police, from the sheriffs here in Los Angeles. Even though we live in a state that’s run by a Democrat as the governor, we have a Democratic Party mayor, we have Democratic Party councilmembers, we cannot expect for them to defend the people. Only the people will organize and defend themselves, and that’s what we’re doing right now.

AMY GOODMAN: Ron Gochez, this is a very interesting point, because it was being portrayed in different ways yesterday. When the LAPD moved in and was clearing people from away from — was it Alameda? — the federal building, in some media reports, they were saying they were clearing protesters away so that they wouldn’t be directly confronting the National Guard, which the mayor has criticized, you know, the National Guard in full — what they say, full “battle rattle.” But you’re saying that although Governor Newsom could — may sue today, he could actually tell the National Guard to stand down. And do you see any possibility of the LAPD confronting the National Guard, and maybe if Hegseth calls out the Marines, on the streets?

RON GOCHEZ: No, we don’t anticipate that at all. I have personally been physically removed from an ICE raid here in South Central Los Angeles by the LAPD. So, when the mayor says that the LAPD doesn’t collaborate with ICE or with federal agencies, it’s a total lie. While you may not have LAPD officers on the streets asking people for their citizenship or detaining people for immigration reasons, what you do have is the LAPD, the L.A. County sheriffs, the CHP or any law enforcement agency that’s here locally, they are collaborating. They are protecting the operations. They close down the streets around operations so that ICE can do their kidnappings of our people. And so, that is a direct collaboration. And here in Los Angeles, if it wasn’t for the repression of the LAPD, of the L.A. County sheriffs, you would have thousands of more people who would be resisting against these ICE raids. But it is the police, it is the sheriffs who are basically protecting the operations and protecting everything that’s happening against our community. So, do we anticipate, do we expect the police to join our side? No.

But what we do say, what we can say, is that a lot of those police officers here in Los Angeles, a lot of those sheriffs and a lot of those National Guardsmen and even marines, if they come here, a lot of them are Mexican, are Central American, are the sons and daughters of immigrants. In fact, here in Los Angeles, there’s something like — there’s hundreds of LAPD officers who are DACA, meaning they’re undocumented, as well. And so, they have to see that they’re being used by the Trump administration to use violence against their own people. So, we, as Unión del Barrio, do call on them to stand down. Do not raise your weapons against your own people. These are your — this is like your mother, your auntie, your father, that you’re repressing. So, we do call on them to join us. Stand on the right side of history. Do not support the Trump administration. Support the people. Because what we’re doing is fighting for justice. We’re fighting for the righteous, the right to live and to exist and to work and to feed our families. There’s nothing extreme about that. We just simply want to work, we want to live, and we want to have a dignified life like anyone else deserves.

So, we’re seeing resistance right now, from the people in Gaza resisting and fighting for their lives, to us right here on our own historic homeland, our Indigenous land here. We’re fighting for our lives, as well. And we’re going to continue to do so, whether it’s the police, the National Guard. You know, we don’t want violence. We don’t want violence. But we also aren’t going to sit by and see our people be kidnapped and see our community be attacked by any federal agency or local law enforcement. We won’t do it.

AMY GOODMAN: Ron, what’s happening to those who have been detained? Angelica Salas, the executive director of the immigrant rights group CHIRLA, said lawyers don’t have access to people detained Friday. Have they been released? What’s their status? And do you know about the status of David Huerta, the head of SEIU, the Service Employees International Union? We heard he was sent to the hospital with injuries, and he’s been detained.

RON GOCHEZ: Yeah. What we know right now is there is no due process for the majority of the people. People who get detained, we have reports, and we have confirmed reports, that people who get picked up in the morning in Los Angeles, by the same day in the evening are already in Mexico City. That is confirmed. You cannot have due process in less than 24 hours. It’s absolutely impossible. And so, people are just being shipped immediately, you know, across the border and to many places. We have confirmed cases of Mexican citizens, Mexican nationals, who have been deported to Guatemala and dumped into Guatemala, a country that they have never been to and don’t belong in. And so, that’s what’s happening on the ground here in Los Angeles.

Yesterday or Saturday, I don’t know, today — it’s just been one long day of resistance for us. But, you know, elected officials have gone to the detention center, where hundreds of our people are being kept. And they demanded to be allowed to enter so that they can view the conditions that the people are living in, places like — these are basements that have no restrooms, and they have no sanitary conditions for the people. There’s not enough food and water for the people. Those are the reports that we’re getting. They were denied entry. They were not allowed to see inside, to see how these people are being treated.

So, it’s a real crisis right now for our community, and that’s why we don’t want to wait until our people are kidnapped and taken into detention to take action. That’s why we do community patrols every day in the morning around our communities to try to prevent our people from being kidnapped. And when we say “kidnapped,” that is the exact word that we need to use, because the state is using brutal violence to separate us, to take us against our will from our families, from our homes, from our jobs, and to take us somewhere else. So, that, by definition, is a kidnapping. And that’s what we’re fighting against, because we know that our people are not going to — they’re not going to have due process. If lawyers and elected officials aren’t being allowed to enter detention facilities to see their conditions that the people are living in, what makes us think that the people inside are going to have any type of human rights? We know that it’s not happening.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Ron, I wanted to ask you about President Trump’s calling in of the National Guard, the use of flashbang grenades, of rubber bullets, of tear gas against the protesters. A reminder that back on January 6th, when a mob stormed the Capitol and tried to prevent the certification of election, there was no use of flashbang grenades or of tear gas or of rubber bullets against that mob. And yet, here it has been used, and the president is claiming there’s an insurrection.

RON GOCHEZ: Yeah, we know that the violence is going to be against us, against our community. And, you know, sometimes people think, “Oh, well, you know, it’s not that bad. You know, it’s just a little bit of tear gas.” No, we saw — we’ve seen people be seriously injured. On Saturday, in Compton, California, when we were there on the frontlines of the resistance against the sheriffs and against the Border Patrol, we saw a guy standing in front of us who got hit in the face with a — I don’t know if it was a rubber bullet or what it was, but his face was completely split open, and he was just gushing blood everywhere. You know, these things can be lethal. If these rubber bullets hit you in the eye, if they hit you in the right place, they can absolutely be lethal.

And so, we understand that the violence that’s being used against us is lethal. We understand the violence is being used against us on a daily basis, whether it’s by the Border Patrol or the police. It’s violence against the community. And so, we have every right to defend ourselves, by any means necessary, because that is our — the livelihood, the well-being of our families is what’s at stake. Children have been gassed here in Los Angeles.

And so, whether it’s the National Guard, whether it’s local police, we have to resist this, because in Los Angeles, we clearly understand what’s happening. The Trump administration is trying to make an example of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the heart of the Mexican and Central American community here in the United States. And so, they think that if they can break us, they can break anyone in the country. And so, we understand that, and that’s what we know. We cannot afford to fail. The resistance will continue. Whether they keep threatening us or not, we will continue. We will be peaceful every time that we can. But if we face violence, where we have to defend ourselves, we have every human right to do so, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Ron Gochez, we want to thank you for being with us, high school history teacher, community organizer with the group Unión del Barrio, organizer of a number of the protests that have taken place in Los Angeles.

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“Absolutely Unprecedented”: Trump Deploys National Guard to L.A. & Hegseth Threatens to Send in Marines
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
June 09, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/9/t ... transcript

-- "Preventing the Use of the National Guard to Evade the Posse Comitatus Act"

As protests against ICE raids spread across the city, President Trump has deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles, the first time in decades that a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request. Trump’s border “czar” Tom Homan threatened to arrest California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, while Newsom says he plans to sue. “This is absolutely unprecedented. It’s extremely dangerous,” says legal expert Elizabeth Goitein. “It’s going to escalate tensions rather than deescalating them.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

We look more now at how President Trump has deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles in defiance of local and state officials, after protests erupted in response to ICE conducting military-style raids in and around the city. This marks the first time in some 60 years a president has deployed the National Guard without a governor’s request. Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has threatened to deploy 500 active-duty marines at Camp Pendleton. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom responded on X, quote, “The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens. This is deranged behavior,” the governor wrote. Trump warned Sunday this could be just the beginning of deploying troops into U.S. streets.

Is all of this a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. That’s the question of lawyer Elizabeth Goitein, who is the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Elizabeth Goitein, thanks so much for joining us again on Democracy Now! You wrote this piece in May. You warned about the possibility of the National Guard being called up to patrol the streets. And let’s be clear: not just of L.A. The memo that President Trump has used to deploy the National Guard, and then possibly the Marines in L.A., does not mention Los Angeles, which means it could be across the country. Explain the legality of all of this.

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Well, that’s a tough order. The Posse Comitatus Act ordinarily prohibits federal armed forces, and that includes the federalized National Guard, from participating directly in law enforcement activities, which includes activities involved in quelling civil unrest, unless Congress has expressly authorized it. Now, under the Insurrection Act, that is an authorization, a broad authorization, for the president to deploy troops to quell civil unrest or to enforce the law in a crisis. But as broad as that law is, the Department of Justice has historically interpreted it much more narrowly in keeping with the Constitution and tradition. And basically, the rule is that the military should not be deployed except as an absolute last resort in situations where state and local officials are either just completely overwhelmed and ask for help, or the state and local officials are sitting back and doing nothing and sort of letting the problems unfold, which is pretty much what happened during the civil rights era.

Now, President Trump hasn’t even invoked the Insurrection Act, which is this exception to the Posse Comitatus Act. He is using an obscure law in a way that it has never been used before. It is questionable whether this law constitutes a sort of an independent waiver of the Posse Comitatus Act. He is also relying on a claim of inherent constitutional authority to deploy troops to protect federal personnel and property and functions. This is an executive branch claim that’s been made for decades, but in the sort of robust form that this claim is being made now, it has not been tested by the courts, so there are definitely legal questions. And at bottom, under any law or any legal theory, it is not appropriate to authorize the deployment of federal troops anywhere in the country where there is either a protest against ICE activity happening, whether or not there’s any violence involved, or where a protest is likely to occur — in other words, the protest isn’t even happening, let alone have reached a point where it’s overwhelming state and local authorities. And that’s what this order purports to do. This is absolutely unprecedented. It’s extremely dangerous. And again, it would be an abuse of any law that the president was relying on.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Elizabeth, you mentioned during the civil rights era. There were numerous or several instances of National Guard or U.S. military being called into the South: in Little Rock in 1958; in 1962, in the rioting against the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi; and again in 1965 in Alabama. What were the reasons then that the federal government used?

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Right. In those situations, the state or local authorities, in some case — in some cases, they were the problem, such as in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the governor basically said, “The Arkansas National Guard is not going to let this happen. They are going to block the desegregation of schools in Little Rock,” despite the fact that there was a federal court order requiring desegregation. And then, so, in some cases, it was literally the case that the state and local authorities were causing the problem, and they were rebelling against the authority of the United States. What President Eisenhower did in 1957 was that he federalized the Arkansas National Guard and then ordered them to stand down and sent active-duty armed troops into Little Rock to enforce the desegregation order.

And then, in other cases, there were, you know, people exercising their civil rights, marchers, protesters who were being threatened by white mobs and attacked by white mobs who opposed their civil rights. And the state and local authorities would do nothing to protect them, and, in fact, were standing shoulder by shoulder with the white mobs. And those are the kinds of instances where deploying the military, especially back then, when federal law enforcement was — did not have the same capacity that it does today. And so, deploying the military was not only appropriate, but necessary in those cases.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I wanted to ask you: What are the powers of Governor Newsom to stop this or to object to what is going on?

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: Well, it’s important that he object, and he has been objecting. He’s been saying — he’s not only been saying, you know, this is unlawful, but he has also — or, in so many words, but he has also been saying this is dangerous. This is going to be inflammatory. It’s going to escalate tensions rather than deescalating them. We want safety for everyone in this scenario. We want peace, and we want calm. And frankly, before the National Guard arrived, things had really settled down, and things were peaceful. They were stable. And the governor said, “If you deploy the National Guard, it’s going to be very incendiary, and things are going to erupt, and that creates a public safety problem.” And we are seeing that. I mean, that is exactly what has happened.

I mean, one of the reasons why we don’t have the military enforcing the law and serving as domestic police in this country is because it’s not their job, it’s not their training. You know, our military is the best fighting force in the world, and they are trained to fight and destroy an enemy. They are not trained — and within the National Guard, most of them are not trained — they don’t have this extensive training that police officers have in exactly this endeavor, which is to handle civil unrest with civilian populations in a manner that respects constitutional rights and in a manner that, you know, is going to deescalate rather than make things worse. Now, I’m not going to say that it happens perfectly and that the police, you know, are always acting as a model of this. But when you introduce soldiers into the equation with their very, very different training and mission, then it really does increase the risks, not only to the civilians, but actually to the soldiers themselves. So, that is still another reason why we don’t have soldiers, rather than just defending and protecting the United States against, you know, hostile foreign powers, turning their power against people inside this country.

AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, Elizabeth, we just have a minute. Our previous guest, Ron Gochez, said that the governor, Governor Newsom, could tell the National Guard to stand down. That’s my first question. Number two, Homan has threatened to have both Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, and the governor arrested, and the governor said, “Go right ahead.” Your response to both?

ELIZABETH GOITEIN: It’s such a shame that we are in the situation where we have to have comments like this. I think what — unfortunately, I’m afraid that what we are likely to see is a continuing sort of escalation of the situation. But I think there are legal remedies here. As I said, there are, you know, very serious legal questions about the president’s memorandum. And it is possible for people who have been directly harmed by this, and, you know, also for states that are in this position, to bring legal challenges, and hopefully something like that can maybe bring an end to what we are seeing.

AMY GOODMAN: And we thank you so much for taking the time. I know you’re extremely busy at this moment as you take on the question of is this a violation, when they talk about calling out the Marines, when they deploy the National Guard, to the Posse Comitatus Act. Elizabeth Goitein is co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Headlines
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Jun 10, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/10/headlines



Trump Sends U.S. Marines into L.A., Doubles National Guard Presence Amid Anti-ICE Protests
Jun 10, 2025

Protests continued in Los Angeles Monday, as the Trump administration announced it’s sending 700 U.S. marines to the city. They’re expected to arrive in L.A. by this evening, deployed from nearby Camp Pendleton, in addition to another 2,000 National Guard who were sent to crack down on protests that erupted after a wave of ICE raids across L.A. This will bring the total National Guard presence in L.A. to 4,000. California is suing in response to Trump’s deployment of National Guard and Marine forces, which Governor Gavin Newsom called a “blatant abuse of power.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass accused the Trump administration of fomenting chaos and making L.A. a “test case” for imposing authoritarian rule against more U.S. cities.

Mayor Karen Bass: “We need to stop the raids. This should not be happening in our city. It is not warranted, and it does any — the only thing it does is contribute to chaos. This was chaos that was started in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, the city was peaceful. On Friday, it was not, because of the intervention of the federal government. And it’s — again, I don’t think our city should be a test case, a laboratory.”

We’ll speak with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who brought the lawsuits against Trump, later in the broadcast.

Union Leader David Huerta Charged and Released on Bond After ICE Arrest
Jun 10, 2025

David Huerta, head of the SEIU in California, was released on bond Monday, following his arrest by ICE Friday, which provoked widespread outrage. Huerta was charged with conspiring to impede an officer, which could result in a six-year federal prison sentence if convicted. Huerta called for justice for all detained immigrants following his release.

David Huerta: “So, I just want to say that when we’re here and there’s protests outside, that means in there, they’re in lockdown right now. They’re in lockdown. They cannot come out of their cells, not even to eat. They cannot come out.”

Earlier Monday, loved ones of detained warehouse workers rallied outside a clothing manufacturing plant that was raided by ICE on Friday.

Carlos: “This state loves to boast about it being the best. This whole country boasts about being the best. But how can we claim that if we can’t uphold basic human rights and due process? I also want to ask: Where is the sanctuary California promised us, when our police departments choose to defend ICE officials instead of its own people?”

Australia Condemns LAPD Shooting of Reporter, One of Many Attacks on Reporters Covering L.A. Protests
Jun 10, 2025

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he’s contacted the U.S. government over what he called the “horrific” shooting by L.A. police of Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi, who was hit by a rubber bullet while she covered the protests. The group Reporters Without Borders condemned attacks on journalists covering the demonstrations in L.A., which have impacted at least 27 media workers between Friday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, the city of Glendale in Los Angeles County announced Sunday night it’s ending its agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to detain immigrants arrested by ICE amid the popular revolt.

Democratic Reps. Barred from Visiting ICE Detention Facilities
Jun 10, 2025

Several Democratic congressmembers from California and New York say they were blocked from entering Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails for safety inspections over the weekend to check on people arrested during recent mass raids. Among the group is California Congressmember Maxine Waters, who on Sunday attempted to inspect conditions at the Metropolitan Federal Detention Center, where David Huerta, president of the California branch of the Service Employees International Union, was jailed.

Here in New York, Congressmembers Nydia Velázquez and Adriano Espaillat said they were blocked from inspecting an ICE facility in Manhattan, 26 Federal Plaza, where advocates say over 100 immigrants recently arrested at federal court hearings are now being detained in overcrowded cells. The detainees have also been reportedly forced to sleep on bathroom floors.

RFK Jr. Fires Entire CDC Vaccination Panel
Jun 10, 2025

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control’s vaccine advisory panel, accusing the panel of “conflicts of interest.” The move was roundly condemned by medical associations and public health experts. Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC, said, “Nobody has done more than Secretary Kennedy to sow unwarranted doubt about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and this decision demonstrates a complete lack of caring about the health and safety of every American.” The committee’s recommendations are considered binding and affect which vaccinations must be covered by insurance. Kennedy had vowed to keep the committee in place during his confirmation hearings.

Hundreds of NIH Employees “Dissent” to Challenge Agency Firings, Termination of Grants and Contracts
Jun 10, 2025

Some 340 employees at the National Institutes of Health penned a scathing letter to agency Director Jay Bhattacharya, objecting to the termination of over 2,000 research grants and the cancellation of over $12 billion in grants and contracts. The letter, entitled the “Bethesda Declaration,” reads, “We dissent to administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.” Some 5,000 NIH workers have been fired in the new administration.

Separately, Public Citizen on Monday published an open letter signed by 6,000 medical professionals admonishing the Trump administration’s cuts to health agencies and the Republican plan to slash Medicaid in the current spending proposal. The health workers wrote, “We are certain this will cost lives.”

Shooter Kills at Least 9 People in Austria High School Shooting
Jun 10, 2025

In Austria, at least nine people were killed in a mass shooting at a high school in the city of Graz. Several students are among the victims, and the suspect has also been reported dead.

Jair Bolsonaro’s Attempted Coup Trial Kicks Off in Brazil
Jun 10, 2025

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to take the stand this week as a Brasília court considers attempted coup charges against the disgraced leader, who’s accused of masterminding a far-right conspiracy plot to cling to power after his 2022 reelection loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The coup plot allegedly included a plan to assassinate Lula and a Supreme Court justice.

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Chaos & Cruelty: Trump Deploys Thousands of Soldiers to Put Down Anti-ICE Protests in Los Angeles
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Jun 10, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/10/ ... transcript



President Trump has inflamed tensions over immigration raids in Los Angeles, which his top adviser Stephen Miller described as an insurrection. “They want protesters to react violently to distract from what is really happening, which is that families are being separated, our communities are being devastated, and the people of Los Angeles are standing up to say, 'We will not stand for this,'” says Jean Guerrero, New York Times contributing opinion writer and author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Meanwhile, she notes Trump’s budget bill would fund a massive expansion of federal immigration enforcement and turn it into a threat to the civil rights of everyone.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Los Angeles as the Trump administration sends more troops into the city following four days of protests against military-style immigration raids. The Pentagon has deployed 700 marines to Los Angeles, and President Trump has deployed an additional 2,000 members of the National Guard, bringing the total National Guard members to 4,000. On Monday, the state of California sued to block the use of National Guard troops. We’ll speak to California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta later in the broadcast. On Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass decried the militarized response.

MAYOR KAREN BASS: We didn’t need the National Guard. Why on Earth? What are they going to do? Do you know what the National Guard is doing now? They are guarding two buildings. They are guarding the Federal Building here, in downtown, and they’re guarding the Federal Building in Westwood. That’s what they’re doing. So, they need marines on top of it? I don’t understand that. That’s why I feel like we are part of an experiment that we did not ask to be a part of.

AMY GOODMAN: Despite the Trump administration’s militarized response, community protests against ICE raids are continuing in Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, on Saturday, the day that President Trump will be celebrating his 79th birthday, and there will be Abrams tanks in a birthday parade in Washington, D.C., rolling through the streets of the capital.

We go now to Los Angeles, where we’re joined by Jean Guerrero. She’s contributing opinion writer at The New York Times and author of the book Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda.

Jean, why don’t we start off by you describing the protests on the streets? Have you been to them? And talk about this unprecedented use of military power, and the Republican Party, the party that champions states’ rights, President Trump going against the state’s rights to bring in the U.S. military, against the wishes of the local mayor, Karen Bass, and the governor of California, Governor Newsom.

JEAN GUERRERO: Absolutely, Amy. It’s great to be here.

I want to be clear about what is happening here. The federal government is going into the diverse communities of Los Angeles to terrorize them. They are showing — ICE is showing up outside of schools, outside of Home Depots, outside of other workplaces. They’re snatching people off of the streets, off of their — outside of their homes, in front of their children, often without warrants.

But what’s happening in these protests is that people of all races and backgrounds are putting their bodies on the line to protect their friends, their neighbors, their family members from these arrests. And it is a beautiful thing to see. I was just at one of the protests yesterday, where I spoke to grandmothers, you know, white grandmothers, who are going out to protect people that they love and who they’re afraid could be picked up by ICE. I spoke to Latinas who are, you know, afraid of being racially profiled and arrested because of the indiscriminate nature of these arrests, but they are nevertheless putting their bodies on the line, because they’re citizens and they believe in using their privilege to defend the people that they care about.

And these protests have been largely peaceful. You know, these are people who want to tell ICE that they are not welcome in their communities. And what we’re seeing is a provocation. You know, the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines against the wishes of California’s leaders, it is an attack on the sovereignty of the state of California, and it is an effort to provoke Angelenos into a violent confrontation. They want protesters to react violently to distract from what is really happening, which is that, you know, families are being separated, our communities are being devastated, and the people of Los Angeles are standing up to say, “We will not stand for this.” But the administration is trying to bait them into violence, to brand them as rebels and justify sweeping federal crackdowns and to create the viral images that will distract Americans from the appalling reality that ICE is kidnapping valued community members and destroying families here in Los Angeles.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Jean, you’ve posted on social media, quote, “Trump’s immigration agenda is not about law and order. It’s about re-engineering the racial demographics of this country.” Could you elaborate, especially in terms of the fact that Stephen Miller, Trump’s key adviser, has called this a “fight for civilization”?

JEAN GUERRERO: Yeah. You know, this crackdown is personal for Stephen Miller. As I report in my book, Hatemonger, when he was a high school student in Los Angeles, he frequently antagonized his Latino and immigrant classmates, telling them to, quote, “speak English” and to go back to their home countries. Back then, he was criticized for his views, and he has spent his career trying to punish the communities that rejected him.

These mass deportations are not about border security. They’re not about crime. They’re about erasing the multicultural fabric of places like Los Angeles. And, you know, I want to repeat that this is not about cracking down on crime. Let’s remember that on his first day in office, President Trump pardoned the people who violently assaulted law enforcement during the storming of the Capitol on January 6th. So, Trump and Miller are not against crime. They’re not against gang members. In fact, in my book, I extensively document Miller’s early dreams of being a gangster. What they’re doing is they’re running a mafia state that scapegoats immigrants as a pretext for the subjugation of us all.

So, again, they do not care about law and order. Miller’s central obsession was never illegal immigration. It was always legal immigration. This is why, from day one, you saw the strangling of refugees — access to refugees, a suffocation of the asylum system, strangling of green card access, the attack on birthright citizenship, trying to now invoke the Insurrection Act to deport people indiscriminately, simply based on the color of their skin. So, again, this is not about national security. It is an ideological project of demographic engineering cloaked in the language of law enforcement. And L.A. is resisting.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you talk about the number of journalists who have also been injured by law enforcement these past few days in Los Angeles?

JEAN GUERRERO: Yes. Several journalists, including colleagues of mine, have been hit with nonlethal rounds. Some have been hospitalized. I believe PEN America has recorded at least 27 attacks on L.A. journalists since June 6th. Reporters are being shot with rubber bullets and chemical munitions. And this is very concerning, because these so-called nonlethal rounds can, in fact, be fatal. The respected Chicano journalist Rubén Salazar was killed with a tear gas canister in 1970 while covering protests here in L.A., and that memory lingers for journalists here in the city, especially for Latino journalists who are trying to expose the injustices that are happening in their communities.

AMY GOODMAN: Jean Guerrero, if you can talk about what is happening in — Los Angeles right now is where all of the attention is, because of this unprecedented calling out by Trump and Hegseth, the defense secretary, of the Marines and thousands of National Guard, federalizing them. But, in fact, this is happening all over the country. If you can talk more about the two men you wrote a book about, your book, Hatemongers: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda? You have Stephen Miller saying that the ICE agents have to go to 7-Elevens, have to go to Home Depots — this is very different than Trump talking about getting the murderers and rapists — and bringing up the number to 3,000 arrests a day. So, you see mass arrests taking place in Texas. You see them in Arizona. We’re not even at this point paying attention because of the militarization of Los Angeles.

JEAN GUERRERO: Exactly, yeah. I mean, what you’re seeing is sort of exponentially what we saw during the first administration, which is resources are being diverted from serious homeland security investigations, from serious drug trafficking and human trafficking investigations, to try to meet these quotas of human beings rounded up to satisfy Miller’s appetite for cracking down on immigrants, whether they’re legal or whether they’re here illegally.

And one thing that has not gotten enough attention and which I want to underscore is that what’s happening in L.A. is people are risking their safety not only to resist what is happening, not only to resist these kidnappings of their valued community members, but to document and to expose and to bear witness to what is happening. They’re recording videos of mothers being torn from their children, being arrested outside of courthouses, of pregnant women being roughed up on the streets and being detained, of fathers being separated from their weeping daughters. And these images are crucial, because each act of documentation is chipping away at the alternate reality that Trump and Stephen Miller have created, this alternate reality in which they are cracking down on gangsters and rapists and serious criminals. I cannot emphasize the importance of this enough.

The administration is ramping up deportations to a never-before-seen level, which means that they are more visible than ever. They used to happen in the shadows. Now people can can see it happening everywhere. And people are taking out their phones. They’re recording what’s happening to their family members, to their friends, you know, to their neighbors down the street. And as a result, these deportations, these arrests are becoming much harder to misrepresent, and this is a threat to the narrative that Trump and Stephen Miller have spent years putting out there.

And so, I really believe that if Los Angeles refuses to be baited into violence, and instead stays disciplined and continues to dedicate themselves to relentless exposure of how ICE is kidnapping innocent people and what they’re actually doing to valued members of our community, I think this can all end up backfiring on the Trump administration, and that Trump’s attempt to provoke chaos in our communities will end up collapsing under its own cruelty.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Jean Guerrero, I wanted to ask you about the conflict, obviously, that has arisen between the elected officials in California and the Trump administration. You know, I was there as a reporter back in 1992 at the Los Angeles riot back then. And there really is no comparison between the events of the past weekend and 1992. Back then, 60 people — more than 60 people were killed, 12,000 were arrested, over a thousand buildings were damaged. And even by the time that President George H.W. Bush brought in the National Guard, 30 people had already been killed. And he did so at the request of a Republican governor, Pete Wilson, and a Democratic mayor, Tom Bradley. Talk about the difference between how the elected officials are responding here and the excuse that Trump has used to call in the National Guard and the Marines.

JEAN GUERRERO: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, a majority of these protests are peaceful, as I mentioned. You know, you see children at these rallies. These are demonstrations of people who are simply trying to peacefully demonstrate and tell the federal government that they do not want these kidnappings of the people that they love in Los Angeles.

The last time that you had a president issue this — you know, send the National Guard against the governor’s wishes, I believe, was in 1963 to enforce desegregation in Alabama. So, it is really unprecedented. And honestly, it’s textbook authoritarianism. I mean, you now see, you know, Trump talking about arresting Newsom and other California leaders. And on the one hand, this is shocking, but on the other, it’s completely predictable. I mean, this is what authoritarian governments do. They use immigrants as a pretext to go after the opposition. And immigrants are just the first target. If you look at the white nationalist literature that inspired people like Stephen Miller, it vilifies not only law-abiding immigrants, but anyone who defends them. The worst villains are not immigrants in this literature, even though they are described as monsters and as beasts and as threats to Western civilization. The worst villains in this literature — and I’m talking about books like The Camp of the Saints, which Stephen Miller has openly promoted — the worst villains are the white allies of immigrants, the politicians and the activists and the ordinary people who show them empathy. Those are the people who are, quote, “tainted by the milk of human kindness,” as one of Miller’s formative books puts it.

And so, the logical conclusion of Trump’s policies is not just ethnic cleansing, it is ideological cleansing. It’s a purge not just of people, but of principles. They want to root out anyone who believes in compassion for the stranger, who believes in immigrant rights, who believes in a multicultural or multiracial democracy. This is a vision of America where you are American only if you choose hate. And if you choose love or compassion, you are part of what is poisoning the blood of this country. And so, I’m not surprised to see the president coming after innocent people who are not just the immigrants in our communities, but the people who are defending them, who are white, who are Black, who are Brown, who are of all different colors, and who are simply expressing their humanity and their compassion for the other.

AMY GOODMAN: Jean Guerrero, you contributed to a New York Times piece Monday headlined “Seven Hidden Ways Trump’s Megabill Would Remake America,” in which you wrote, quote, “This bill would pave the way for the largest investment in federal immigration enforcement since the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 — one that would turn that department into a Trojan horse for an assault on the civil rights of all Americans.” Can you lay out your concerns? We just have a minute.

JEAN GUERRERO: Absolutely. So, nearly two-thirds of Americans live in what is known as the 100-mile border enforcement zone, where people, under this bill — I mean, they already face the risk of warrantless seizures, of racial profiling, of constant surveillance, and this bill just makes it easier and more certain that all Americans in this country, and particularly if you live within that zone, are going to not be able to walk on the street without fear of being detained. You already have detentions and deportations of U.S. citizens, of law-abiding immigrants, without due process. And I think what this bill is doing is it’s providing the government with the resources to be able to continue to do that at levels that we have never before seen in this country.

AMY GOODMAN: Jean Guerrero, I want to thank you very much for being with us, New York Times contributing opinion writer and author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda, speaking to us from Los Angeles.

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California AG Bonta Sues Trump for Deploying Troops, Warns President Is Trying to Provoke Violence
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Jun 10, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/10/ ... transcript



The Trump administration is sending 700 marines and an additional 2,000 members of the National Guard into Los Angeles following four days of protests against militarized immigration raids. Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, sued to block the use of National Guard troops on Monday. “Unfortunately, I think [Trump] wants conflict,” said Bonta. “He wants something to erupt so that that provides the basis for him to try to grasp and seize additional power.” Bonta’s office is pursuing more than two dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

As we continue to cover the Trump administration sending troops into the streets of Los Angeles, we’re joined by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. On Monday, he sued the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The lawsuit came a day after Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, threatened to arrest Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for obstructing immigration enforcement. On Sunday night, Governor Newsom responded to Homan’s threat during an interview on MSNBC.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: Come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy. You know? I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community. I care about this community. The hell are they doing? These guys need to grow up. They need to stop. And we need to push back. And I’m sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let’s go.

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, President Trump told a reporter he would support Homan arresting Newsom. He said, quote, “I would do it I were Tom.” Listen carefully.

REPORTER: He’s daring Tom Homan to come and arrest him. Should he do it?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great.

AMY GOODMAN: “I think it’s great,” said the president.

We’re joined now by Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California.

Welcome to Democracy Now! If you can start by explaining your latest lawsuit — what is it: 23 or 24 against President Trump? — around the National Guard? And then, are you planning to sue around his deployment of 700 marines?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: Thank you for having me. I’m honored to be with you.

We’ve brought 25 lawsuits in 20 weeks, more than one a week, because that is how blatantly and brazenly, consistently and frequently the president has violated the law. He is a repeat offender when it comes to breaking the law.

And yesterday, we filed our lawsuit against the Trump administration for their unlawful deployment of the National Guard into Los Angeles. They rely on a law — It’s called 10 USC § 12406 — which requires a rebellion, which there is not; a invasion, which there is not; or the inability for the federal government to execute the laws with the, quote, “regular forces,” which doesn’t exist, either. So, none of the required elements of the law are there to trigger the use of the authority to deploy the National Guard. And the law also requires that the president issue the order to bring in the National Guard through the president — or, through the governor, excuse me, meaning the governor has to consent to it. And Governor Newsom has strenuously objected to the National Guard coming in.

So, we believe, on the plain and unambiguous language of the law, there’s no authority to call in the California National Guard. The California National Guard is a joint operation. The commander-in-chief is the governor of California in most times, but the president, if there is a clear statutory authority, can call them in. There is no clear statutory authority here. So we’re asking the court to declare invalid the president’s order to call in the National Guard, and to order them unlawfully present.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Attorney General, at a —

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: And, excuse me, and the Marines.

AMY GOODMAN: Attorney General, at a —

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: Sorry, and we’re also looking closely at the Marines.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: At a news conference on Monday, ahead of filing the lawsuit, you accused Trump of, quote, “trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends.” What do you think Trump’s aim is here?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: He wants conflict. He wants chaos. He wants confusion. We, on the other hand, in California, we want peace. We want calm. We have the largest sheriff’s department in the nation, in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the third-largest police department in the nation, in the L.A. Police Department. They are very well resourced, highly trained men and women, fully capable of addressing any issues that are attendant to the mostly peaceful protests. They have, fully within their resources, the ability to address all challenges when it comes to public safety.

The president, by bringing in — first, authorizing 2,000 National Guard members, and then another 2,000, and then 700 marines, he is unnecessarily and counterproductively escalating. He’s inflaming tensions. He’s provoking a situation. Unfortunately, I think he wants conflict. He wants something to erupt so that that provides the basis for him to try to grasp and seize additional power. His throughline and his modus operandi is to just seek more power. That’s why he calls everything that’s not an emergency an emergency. He calls things that aren’t an invasion an invasion. He uses that language very specifically, because those are the triggers to give him more authority. But he can’t change the facts on the ground just by lying about that factual scenario. And unfortunately, we think chaos and confusion is the end goal, and that’s why we’re urging everyone to be peaceful, lawful, safe in their protest and exercises of their First Amendment rights.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’ve also said that the January 6th, 2020, events in Washington were far closer to meeting the definition of a, quote, “rebellion” under the section of law that Trump is evoking, yet, obviously, he defended many of the protesters back on January 6th. Your response to the double standard here?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: Absolutely consistent with President Trump’s ongoing hypocrisy. He says, for example, he’s going to go after undocumented violent criminals, and he goes after 2-year-old children and people lawfully present and refugees seeking safety when they have persecution and violence at home. And to call what’s happening in Los Angeles a invasion or a rebellion just defies credulity, and especially when there was something closer to a rebellion, a armed attempt to overthrow the leadership of the United States and place in power a president who wasn’t duly elected, and displace someone who was duly elected. But he stood by and was not involved in that situation, though he tries to insert himself into what’s happening in California when it’s fully under control with the local law enforcement. So, his throughline is to seize as much power as possible, lie about the facts on the ground to justify those seizure attempts, and is often, as you’ve just recognized, hypocritical.

AMY GOODMAN: Attorney General, will you investigate whether the FBI has provocateurs provoking violence in L.A.?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: You know, we’re interested in evidence, in facts. If there is information shared with us that leads us to believe there is unlawful conduct, we’ll go where the facts go and where the law takes us.

Right now my understanding about what’s happening on the ground in Los Angeles is there are mostly peaceful protesters exercising their time-honored and constitutionally supported rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of speech. Unfortunately — and I’ve seen this time and time again — when you have peaceful protests, there are often those who use those protests as a cloak for their participation in unlawful activities and chaotic activities. They have nothing to do with the underlying subject matter that’s being protested, but they use the opportunity to create some chaos and some division. Those folks need to be held accountable, arrested, prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That is not what we need right now, and that is not consistent with First Amendment rights and uplifting our democracy.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Also, have you heard or been in communication with attorneys general in other parts of the country? Are they actively preparing for an event like this to happen in their state, as well?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: I’m proud to say that the Democratic attorneys general talk consistently, regularly. We prepared for months before the presidential election. We’ve been talking every week, and often every day, in preparation for the unlawful actions and undemocratic actions and unconstitutional actions that define this presidency. We spoke yesterday at length. They were very supportive. Many reached out to me over the weekend as the events unfolded in Los Angeles, and for that, I’m grateful for the camaraderie, for the collaboration, for the teamwork.

And yes, the Democratic attorneys general are very well aware of what the executive order says. It is not specific to Los Angeles, nor is it specific to California. It applies potentially nationwide, including in any one of their states. That’s why the Democratic governors spoke out against this unprecedented and unnecessary and counterproductive step taken by the Trump administration to deploy National Guard. And it’s also why Democratic attorneys general are on high alert for what happens next. Los Angeles and California may be the first place, but, unfortunately, may not be the last place where this unlawful action by the president takes place.

AMY GOODMAN: Rob Bonta, can you explain what Los Angeles being a sanctuary city and California being a sanctuary state means? But first, one protest leader suggested the other day that Governor Newsom can order the National Guard to stand down. Is that true?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA: Let me answer the second question first. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard. And unless or until there’s a specifically triggered statute that authorizes the president to call in the National Guard — and that is rare and infrequent and has not occurred here — then the governor is the commander-in-chief. But the president can be involved when there’s clear statutory authority.

Right now the president has called in the National Guard. The National Guard, guardspeople themselves, they should have clear directions with clear orders and a clear mission. That’s why we’re going to court, to make it clear, to make it clear that the president’s orders are invalid and unlawful. And then they would come back under the leadership and command of Governor Newsom. But it needs to be clear, in our view, through the court, not some wrestling match between the governor and the president where the National Guard’s people are left confused. We go through the normal process, the appropriate process, which is the courts, to declare invalid the president’s actions.

Los Angeles and California, to your first question, are pro-public safety jurisdictions. We want to use our public safety resources, our law enforcement resources, on tackling criminal laws, enforcing criminal laws, on investigating, arresting and prosecuting criminals, people who rob, people who murder, people who rape. And we will leave the immigration, the civil immigration enforcement — it’s not criminal — the civil immigration enforcement, to the agencies and departments in the federal government who work on that. We think by deploying our resources to enhance public safety, we have a safer community. By not being directly involved in most cases, with some exceptions in the statute, in civil immigration enforcement, more victims will come forward to report crime. More witnesses will come forward to cooperate with law enforcement. It makes our communities safer. That is our choice. And it’s fully consistent with our constitutional rights under the 10th Amendment to use our not unlimited and often scarce law enforcement resources to enhance public safety and to leave civil immigration enforcement to the federal government. The federal government can do their job. If they do it lawfully, we will not obstruct, we will not interfere. But they cannot conscript, commandeer, draft into service, force local law enforcement to do their job for them. They must do their job, while we decide — while we have decided to focus on enhancing public safety through enforcement of criminal laws, not civil immigration enforcement.

AMY GOODMAN: Rob Bonta, we want to thank you for being with us, attorney general of California, speaking to us from Los Angeles.

*********************************

Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Lawyer: Trump Admin’s Trafficking Charges Must Be Viewed with “Suspicion”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Jun 10, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/10/ ... transcript



Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was wrongfully sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, is now in federal custody in Tennessee after being returned to the United States over the weekend. He now faces federal criminal charges that he was illegally transporting undocumented immigrants within the U.S. “He’s still far away from what we want, which is for him to be freed and returned to his family,” says Chris Newman, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia’s family and legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Newman draws connections between the L.A. anti-ICE protests and Abrego Garcia’s first encounter with law enforcement in 2019 at a Home Depot, where a now-fired Maryland police officer accused him of being a potential MS-13 gang member and handed him over to ICE.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

We turn now for an update on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was wrongfully sent to a maximum-security mega-prison in El Salvador in March, now facing federal charges in Tennessee, after being returned to the U.S. last week. A two-count indictment, unsealed Friday in Nashville, alleges Abrego Garcia was illegally transporting undocumented immigrants within the United States. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges. In an unusual move, she also described allegations against Abrego Garcia that were not in the indictment, and seemed flustered when questioned about this by Wall Street Journal reporter Sadie Gurman.

SADIE GURMAN: Maybe I misunderstood you, but you were mentioning, you know, that he had some involvement in these — in a murder, you know, or was connected to groups that had — you know, involved with this other smuggling ring. But to be clear, the only charges he’s facing right now are the, like, you know, human smuggling charges, just this —

ATTORNEY GENERAL PAM BONDI: Yeah.

SADIE GURMAN: That’s the one offense. But the other things that you have talked about are not actually in the indictment?

ATTORNEY GENERAL PAM BONDI: No, co-conspirators allege that. And we were clear to say that. He is charged with — it’s not only — very serious charges of alien smuggling. And again, there were children involved in that. You know, human trafficking, not only in our country, but in our world, is very, very real.

AMY GOODMAN: A hearing set for Friday will determine whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in custody.

For more, we’re joined by Chris Newman, a lawyer for the Kilmar’s family and legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, based in Los Angeles.

Thanks so much for being with us. Start off by talking about his case. As I listened to one of his lawyers speaking the other day, he said he learned that Kilmar was in the United States from the media, the way the rest of people learned.

CHRIS NEWMAN: That’s correct. We all did. We are obviously relieved that he is now back in the United States, a little bit closer in proximity to his wife and family. That’s certainly much better than being in, functionally, a black site in El Salvador. But he’s still far away from what we want, which is for him to be freed and returned to his family.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And has his wife or his mother been able to see him now that he’s back in the United States?

CHRIS NEWMAN: They’ve been able to speak to him for the first time. And remember, we didn’t even know if he was alive after April 17th. The last time that, you know, we had heard from him was through Senator Van Hollen, when he and I went to El Salvador, and we were able to, you know, briefly get proof of life and make sure that his health was OK. He wasn’t aware of all the allegations that were being hurled at him by the president of the United States, by all of the legal accusations against him. And then, after that, we had no contact. No one had contact with him. But, thankfully, Jennifer is now able to at least talk to him by phone, and hopefully we’ll be able to see him soon.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And can you talk about the significance of these federal charges in Tennessee that have been unsealed?

CHRIS NEWMAN: Well, they have to be treated with the highest amount of suspicion, given the unprecedented amount of defamation and disinformation that has been directed at Kilmar and his family. You know, I went to law school 20 years ago. I studied history. Never have I ever heard of or am aware of a case where the president of the United States has been as invested in the criminal prosecution of an individual person. I think it’s astonishing. I think we’re going to have to fight very, very hard to make sure that he gets a fair trial, given the extent to which, you know, the court of public opinion has been, for example, tainted by all of the really, truly awful things that have been said by the president and his cronies.

AMY GOODMAN: Chris Newman, you’re also the legal director of NDLON, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, in Los Angeles. And I’m wondering if you could make a connection between — I mean, we’re seeing the protests, but we see much less of immigrants being arrested and hauled away, or how many across this country are now being jailed, from Los Angeles to Dallas, from Phoenix to Chicago. If you can make a connection between what happened to Kilmar and what’s happening on the streets right now of L.A.? And particularly talk about the focus, as Kilmar was, on day laborers, even unions coming out to support Kilmar, and going down, union leaders, to see him, try to be able to visit him in the Salvadoran prison, before he was moved back here.

CHRIS NEWMAN: Gosh, I’m so happy that you asked me that question, Amy, because the story for Kilmar began when he was seeking work at a Home Depot near his home. He was falsely accused of being a gang member by a corrupt local police, who subsequently was fired and himself pled guilty for misuse of confidential informant information. I’m so grateful to Greg Sargent from The New Republic for unearthing that story. It hasn’t been discussed enough. When he was taken into custody after those false charges of him being a gang member or violent or etc., they said, “Oopsie! We made him a mistake.” But they handed him over to ICE. Now, at this point, it’s important to understand, had there been a sanctuary policy in place of the kind that we have in California, Kilmar never would have been transferred to ICE in the first place. He then won, functionally won, his immigration case, won withholding of removal, got work authorization, joined a union, was bettering his life, when he was then picked up in this alien enemies, you know, sweep and stunt. The attorney, by the way, who admitted mistake in federal court, Erez, is somebody I know, because he was opposing counsel challenging our sanctuary policies in Los Angeles. This guy is a believer. He was a Trump guy. And he admitted mistake. And then, of course, President Bukele then says, “Oopsie!” when he is outside of U.S. airspace.

And I think the nexus, to your point, Amy, is the following. You know, I’ve been down to El Salvador three times in the last month trying to liberate Kilmar. But what people in El Salvador say is that, number one, there are tens of thousands of people in El Salvador in similar situations as Kilmar. No one knows where they are, if they’re alive, what they’re being charged for, why they’re being put in CECOT or other prisons. But, number two, what they said to every single congressman is, “You in the United States need to act fast, because El Salvador is, in essence, the Ghost of Christmas Future for what’s to come in the United States.” In El Salvador, Bukele has become authoritarian. He’s become a fascist. He’s removed all the guardrails. And everyone in El Salvador said, “You all need to work now to preserve the rule of law and the guardrails, because we can see that Trump is, in essence, importing the political technology of President Bukele in El Salvador.”

And what we see in Los Angeles is people trying to protect the innocent the best way that they know how, by going out into the streets. And yes, it’s messy. I’m so grateful that you asked that question of Attorney General Bonta. I really do hope that he investigates the role of Kash Patel and other — you know, it’s hard to even say it, but, like, Dan Bongino, who’s, I don’t know, the number two in command in the FBI. I think it’s very important that we investigate the role of whether or not there are federal agents as provocateurs, because on Fox News, Sean Hannity says that it’s the protesters, immigrants, anarchists throwing bottles. It is equally as likely that there are federal agents that are themselves trying to stoke violence. I’ve seen it before. You know, you know I was counsel on the case challenging S.B. 1070 and challenging Joe Arpaio. That was a common practice, that they would put undercover, plainclothes people to disguise themselves among protesters in order to provoke violence, to then deter protest, because, again, the other message is, if these protests are perceived to be unsafe, then people are deterred from going out and expressing their First Amendment rights.

But, you know, I’m confident, in Los Angeles, we’re not going to fall for that. We, the immigrant rights, the civil rights community, we are going to show the best of Los Angeles, the beauty of Los Angeles. And hopefully, Attorney General Bonta does his part, as well, by investigating the role of the Trump administration in provoking violence.

AMY GOODMAN: Chris Newman, we want to thank you for being with us, legal director of NDLON, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, based in Los Angeles, and lawyer for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s family.

Trump's Callous Deportations Of Undocumented Workers Hurts Families, The Economy AND US Tax Revenue
by Glenn Kirschner
Jun 10, 2025

The Trump administration has been peddling to the American people that its deportation effort would focus on immigrants who had been convicted of crimes. However, new reporting suggests that is not the case.

The administration is mindlessly and callously sweeping up undocumented men, women, and children. Given that statistics show undocumented workers pay an estimate $100 billion dollars in taxes each year, this aimless deportation operation will 1. hurt human beings and families, 2. hurt the US economy, and 3. hurt US tax revenue. So Trump's deportation policy is a lose-lose-lose proposition.



Transcript

So friends, the Trump induced chaos in
California that is a product of these
mindless, callous, immigration sweeps,
immigration sweeps that aren't targeting
or focusing on immigrants who've
committed crimes, no, they're just
gathering up undocumented men, women and
children.
Friends do you know how much
undocumented workers pay in taxes each
year An
estimated
$100
billion going into the government's
coffers into the
treasury Let's talk about that because
justice matters
[Music]
Hey all, Glenn Kirschner here. So friends,
let's be clear. Donald Trump's ICE agents
aren't going after immigrants who have
committed crimes. They're simply
gathering up undocumented men, women, and
children, undocumented
workers. And we know
why.

This reporting from
Forbes Headline: "Steven Miller's order
likely sparked immigration arrests and
protests."
And that article begins: White House
Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller's
orders to federal agents to arrest more
people without criminal convictions
likely sparked the immigration arrests
that ignited protests in Los Angeles The
arrests at Home Depot triggered the
protests and the escalating response
including Donald Trump's use of the
National Guard The controversy
solidifies the view that the Trump
administration's goal is to achieve a
high level of
deportations rather than remove people
with criminal
convictions. The policy increases the
legal peril for businesses and immigrant
workers.

"Steven Miller berates ICE
officials in immigration meeting." On May
20, 2025, Steven Miller, the architect of
the Trump administration's immigration
policies, called ICE's top 50 field
heads into Washington DC. "Quote Miller
came in there and eviscerated everyone
saying, "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. He shot morale down, said the first
official, according to reporting by Anna
Goretelli for the Washington Examiner.
Quote "Stephen Miller wants everybody
arrested saying, "Why aren't you at Home
Depot? Why aren't you at 7-Eleven?" The
official recited in response to push back from
one ICE official, Miller said, "What do
you mean you're going after criminals?"
Miller got into a little bit of a
pissing contest. This from the ICE
official: 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 reported
the Washington
Examiner. At the end of May,
2025, Steven Miller told Fox News that
the White House was looking for ICE to
arrest 3,000 people a day. A major
increase in enforcement.

Well, friends, surprise! It turns out they're not really
looking for criminals the way they are
forever pedaling to us. No, they're just
sweeping up undocumented folks: men, women,
children, working immigrants, or people
who are looking for work standing
outside of Home Depot, or
7-Eleven. Is this really in America's
interest? Is it the right thing to do?

Friends can I please ask you to listen
to this analysis by the Institute on
Taxation and Economic Policy ITEP They
are a nonprofit nonpartisan tax policy
organization Tax payments by
undocumented immigrants
Undocumented immigrants paid
96.7 billion dollar in federal state and
local taxes in
2022 Most of that amount 59.4 billion
was paid to the federal government while
the remaining 37.3 billion was paid to
state and local governments
Undocumented immigrants paid federal
state and local taxes of
$8,889 per person in 2022 In other words
for every 1 million undocumented
immigrants who reside in the country
public services receive $8.9 billion in
additional tax revenue And get this
friends more than a third of the tax
dollars paid by undocumented immigrants
go toward payroll taxes dedicated to
funding programs that these workers
these undocumented immigrants are barred
from
accessing Undocumented immigrants paid
$25.7 billion in social security taxes
$6.4 4 billion in Medicare taxes and
$1.8 billion in unemployment insurance
taxes in
2022 That's right friends These
undocumented workers are paying into
Social Security paying into Medicare
paying into unemployment knowing that
they will never receive any benefits in
return
So can I ask again is it the right thing
to do to
mindlessly gather up and deport men
women and children who have committed no
crimes They're here working They're here
raising families They're here paying
taxes
Is it the right thing to do when you
know that it will decimate human beings
and
families It will decimate the American
economy because we need the work being
performed by these undocumented
immigrants to have a healthy heck of
viable economy and it will decimate our
nation's tax
revenue To me that sounds like a lose
lose lose
proposition Where do you think it falls
on the justice
scale Because
justice
matters Friends as always please stay
safe Please stay tuned and I look
forward to talking with you all again
tomorrow
[Music]

************************************

Stephen Miller’s Order Likely Sparked Immigration Arrests And Protests
by Stuart Anderson, Senior Contributor. Stuart Anderson writes about immigration, business and globalization.
forbes.com
Jun 09, 2025, 03:16pm EDT
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartande ... -protests/

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s orders to federal agents to arrest more people without criminal convictions likely sparked the immigration arrests that ignited protests in Los Angeles. The arrests at Home Depot triggered the protests and the escalating response, including Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard. The controversy solidifies the view that the Trump administration’s goal is to achieve a high level of deportations rather than remove people with criminal convictions. The policy increases the legal peril for businesses and immigrant workers.

Stephen Miller Berates ICE Officials In Immigration Meeting

On May 20, 2025, Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, called ICE’s top 50 field heads into Washington, D.C.

“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, according to reporting by Anna Giaritelli for the Washington Examiner.

“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recited. (Emphasis added.)

In response to pushback from one ICE official, “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, reported the Washington Examiner.

In January 2025, a week after Donald Trump took office, administration officials directed ICE officials “to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500,” reported the Washington Post. That came after the president expressed disappointment with “the results of his mass deportation campaign.”

The Trump administration internally has set a goal of deporting 1 million people during Trump’s first year and has changed ICE leadership personnel three times, according to the Washington Post.

At the end of May 2025, “Stephen Miller, a senior White House official, told Fox News that the White House was looking for ICE to arrest 3,000 people a day, a major increase in enforcement. The agency had arrested more than 66,000 people in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, an average of about 660 arrests a day,” reported the New York Times. Arresting 3,000 people daily would surpass 1 million arrests in a calendar year.

In addition to the meeting where he directed ICE officials to arrest immigrants at Home Depot and other locations, Miller has exhorted law enforcement personnel to increase overall immigration arrests. The Trump administration has replaced ICE leaders multiple times.

Immigration Raid On Home Depot, Protests And The National Guard

The raid on Home Depot took place on Friday, June 6. “Angel knew from the moment he raised his hand with a whistle and shouted ‘Labor!’ at a white van pulling into the Home Depot parking lot full of workers last Friday that something felt wrong,” reported the Washington Post. “The Honduran immigrant caught a glimpse of the driver and a passenger wearing what looked like bulletproof vests.” He saw the vehicle park near the store’s parking lot entrance.

“His creeping suspicion exploded into full-blown fear just as the doors of the van opened and masked agents began pouring out,” according to the Washington Post. “’La migra!’ Angel and another day laborer yelled. More than 100 men and women standing in the parking lot began to run. Six migrants who said they were present recounted how federal immigration authorities began handcuffing anyone they could grab in one of several raids in the city that would spark a wave of unrest and leave immigrant workers of all stripes jolted.”

After the ICE raids and the arrests outside Home Depot and at other businesses, protesters gathered. “Around noon, tensions grew as the agents attempted to clear the way for border patrol and other unmarked vehicles to leave the business park,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “They fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at demonstrators standing on Alondra Boulevard. When a caravan of federal vehicles departed from the gates, protesters followed them, throwing rocks and other objects.”

As the protests continued, interspersed with rioting and property destruction, local police responded and Donald Trump signed a proclamation that mobilized 2,000 National Guard personnel to “temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”

The president’s proclamation did not invoke the Insurrection Act, but a statute (10 U.S.C. 12406) that allows him to “call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.”

According to the law, “Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States or, in the case of the District of Columbia, through the commanding general of the National Guard of the District of Columbia.” (Emphasis added.)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Trump’s action and filed a lawsuit.

University of Houston Assistant Professor of Law Chris Mirasola notes the president’s proclamation cites the “execute those laws” portion of the statute. He explains in Lawfare that the “protective power does not extend as far as the general authorization to undertake law enforcement functions which the Insurrection Act provides.” However, a 1971 Office of Legal Counsel memo advises the president he retains the option of invoking additional powers under the Insurrection Act.

The proclamation states that the Secretary of Defense may direct military personnel to ensure the protection and safety of federal personnel and property. “This single sentence could not be more important,” writes Mirasola. “The executive, again as reflected in the 1971 Office of Legal Counsel memo, has long asserted that the protective power is not an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act because the activities authorized under the protective power are not themselves law enforcement activities. In the days to come, the public must be laser focused on seeing the extent to which Secretary Hegseth adheres to these historically recognized limitations.” The Posse Comitatus Act restricts using federal troops for domestic purposes.

The Trump Administration’s Immigration Goal Remains Deporting Millions Of People Without Criminal Convictions

In past administrations, due to limited resources, Immigration and Customs Enforcement focused on arresting people with criminal convictions. In FY 2024, ICE reported, “Over 81,312 (71.7%) of the 113,431 arrests were of noncitizens with criminal convictions or pending charges.”

In the media, Trump officials have asserted that their immigration actions focus on criminals because the public supports deporting people with criminal convictions far more than arresting long-time residents and workers. “A slight majority feel the administration’s deportation efforts are prioritizing people they believe are dangerous criminals,” according to CBS News. “Those who say this are very supportive of the program, and feel the program is making people in the U.S. safer. But if people don't think it is dangerous criminals who are the focus of the deportation effort, support drops dramatically.” (Emphasis added.)

The arrests of people at nail salons, restaurants, construction sites and Home Depot illustrate that targeting dangerous criminals is not the Trump administration’s immigration policy. The likely triggering action for the arrests and protests in Los Angeles remains Stephen Miller directing ICE officials to arrest as many people without criminal convictions as possible.