The Run Against Ice took place today in Los Angeles. NBC LOS ANGELES notes:
Organizers call it a “non-violent journey of resistance through Los Angeles” and said it is part of a 30-day “Summer of Resistance” campaign designed to push for an end to ICE raids and deportations they say have “tore families apart.”
Upwards of 2,000 people have registered to participate in the run, which will include a stop at downtown's Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street, which has been the site of multiple clashes between people protesting immigration-related arrests and law enforcement officers.
Carly Gomez (ABC7's EYEWITNESS NEWS) spoke to participants. Claudia Bustillos told her, "I showed up to represent those of us who, our parents came as immigrants to give us the opportunity to have a better life in the United States." Brisa Aguilar explained, "Whatever is happening right now, it feels like the Holocaust all over again, and it's not fair on justice." And event organizer Fayia Ramage notes, "I was welcomed to the city by immigrants, and also by the running community, and it felt like the way to create space just for people to really come together and, yeah, the whole promise of the event is that it's rooted in love and unity, but also a really powerful display of the fact that we won't back down when it comes to supporting the people in the city."
Leah Craig (MICHIGAN ADVANCE) reports on an action in her state Friday:
Approximately 100 demonstrators gathered Friday in West Michigan to denounce the opening of the North Lake Correctional Facility, an immigrant detention center in Baldwin.
The detention center was opened on June 16, and, with a capacity of 1,800, the facility has been called the largest detention center in the Midwest, as well as the subject of several earlier protests this year.
The Independence Day event was organized by local immigrant advocacy groups, including No Detention Centers in Michigan, Cosecha Michigan, GR Rapid Response to ICE, and Lakeshore Rapid Response to ICE.
The date was an intentional choice: July 4, the media release noted, is a day for “reflecting on freedom as an ideal and spending time with family and loved ones.” As such, advocates gathered outside the facility to highlight the apparent disconnect between Independence Day and mass incarceration.
Speakers used the event to emphasize the controversies surrounding the GEO Group— the federally contracted private company that operates the North Lake facility.
As the nation’s primary prison operator, GEO has been scrutinized for influencing immigration and criminal justice policy in ways that expand incarceration for profit.
During the 2024 election cycle, GEO and its subsidiaries donated almost $1,000,000 to political candidates, with around 90% of funds going to GOP candidates.
In particular, the GEO Group has closely aligned itself with President Donald Trump. Trump’s first term saw 237 new contracts between GEO and the federal government. Furthermore, nearly 71% of the GEO Group’s funding is sourced from ICE. The Trump Administration’s emphasis on mass detention only serves to benefit the GEO Group.
Again, targeting immigrants is big business and a lot of people are getting rich off of it. Jesús Jank Curbelo (EL PAIS) reports, "More than 20,000 migrants have been arrested in Texas by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency last January. This makes Texas the state with the most arrests in the last five months. The figure is double the number recorded in Florida (9,080) and triple the 5,860 registered in California, which rank second and third on the list." Liam Archacki (THE DAILY BEAST) notes Donald Chump is excited by his new budget bill which provides a lot of money to destroy lives across America and bragging about it on social media, "One of the most exciting parts of the 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT' is that it includes ALL of the funding and resources that ICE needs to carry out the Largest Mass Deportation Operation in History." Again, this is big business. Don't forget that. People are getting rich by creating this misery. How much money are we talking? Josh Kovensky (TPM) explains, "All in all, the bill directs around $170 billion through 2029 to various forms of immigration enforcement, according to an analysis by the American Immigration Council and TPM’s own read of the legislation. ICE, responsible for enforcement, detentions, and removals, will oversee much of the spending." Hoping for strong judicial pushback? Pema Levy (MOTHER JONES) notes, "On the 249 anniversary of the country’s declaration of independence from tyranny, the Trump administration was in court asking a judge to let it send eight men to South Sudan, a war-torn country where they face a significant possibility of torture or death. The government wished to subject these men, and then untold thousands more, to such a fate without the guarantee of due process promised in the Constitution. And on America’s birthday, they got their wish. A federal judge in Massachusetts declined to halt the deportations. He lay the blame at the feet of seven Supreme Court justices who had allowed the removals to move forward the previous day." Wait! Wait! Pema's wrong! She writes "seven" and we have three on our side!!!! No, we don't. Elena Kagan went over to the dark side. She concurred with the the six right-wingers. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL's editorial board has noted Kagan's 'lucky' streak but I haven't seen our YOUTUBE left or the various rags -- THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE, etc -- take Elena to task.
KABC notes that a West Hollywood car wash was targeted by ICE on Friday an The West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce issued a statement in response:
On this day that marks the birth of our nation and its founding ideals of liberty, opportunity, and justice for all, we at the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce are deeply troubled by the news of the ICE raid that occurred in our community at one of our businesses. These enforcement actions-carried out on the Fourth of July-have sown fear, disrupted families, and shaken the trust that is vital to a thriving local economy. We are a city built on diversity, creativity, and the contributions of immigrants from all walks of life. Our businesses depend on a workforce that reflects this diversity, and many of our members-whether small business owners or employees-have close ties to immigrant communities. Regardless of political affiliation, we believe in treating every individual with dignity, compassion, and due process under the law.
There's no question that there is a need for plainclothes officers in certain law enforcement scenarios, but this is not that. These authoritarian thugs in masks and unmarked vans are causing dangerous panic and confusion, and the possibility of a misunderstanding puts both officers and civilians at needless risk. There is zero need for these hyper-aggressive tactics when we're talking about unarmed mothers taking their children to school, college students walking to class, or people just trying to do the right thing by showing up to court hearings and immigration check-ins.
These raids are destroying the economy. Norma Galeana, Harper Stephanopoulos and Rachel Clarke (CNN) report on how Los Angeles' Fashion Market region has been decimated and turned into a ghost town. Adrian Florido (NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED) reports:
Emma de Paz was selling breakfast to day laborers outside a Los Angeles Home Depot on June 19 when immigration agents showed up. Some of them chased workers through the parking lot. Others rounded up the food cart vendors. De Paz was handcuffed, forced onto her knees, and driven to a federal detention center downtown.
She called her brother, Carlos Barrera, from the facility.
"They didn't ask if she had papers or not. They just grabbed her and put her into one of the vans," Barrera said, recalling his conversation with his sister, who has since been transferred to a desert detention center 90 miles away. "They had no reason to arrest her. They didn't have a warrant."
Though his sister is undocumented, Barrera said the agents could not have known that before detaining her or many of the 29 other people they rounded up that morning.
"She has dark skin. They assumed she was Hispanic, and they took her," he said. "It's the racial factor."
You have to illegally profile to meet Chump's goals and we noted that back in July and August and September and October -- long before the election. That would be the outcome if Chump was put back into the White House. Let me note this from Ava and my "Media: Are they trying to elect Donald Trump?:"
Patricia Caro (EL PAIS) reports:
Andrea Vélez, a 32-year-old marketing designer, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 24 as she was going to work in downtown Los Angeles. On June 12, Brian Gavidia, 29, was working at a trailer yard in Montebello, California, when he was assaulted and restrained by ICE officers. Just over a week earlier, Elzon Lemus, a 23-year-old electrician, was stopped, pulled from his car, and handcuffed on his way to work in Nassau, New York. In addition to sharing the experience of being detained by immigration agents, the three have something in common that has raised the controversy over immigration raids to a new level: they are all U.S. citizens of Latino origin. ICE has no authority to detain them.
“Now that ICE is having to meet higher quotas for arbitrary arrests than ever before, we’ll see more and more cases like these,” Nareen Shah, director of Government Affairs for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told EL PAÍS. “The problem is that even when people claim to be U.S. citizens and can prove they are, we’ve still seen cases where they’re detained,” Shah said.
[. . .]
The law does not allow a person’s race, ethnicity, or occupation to be used as the sole basis for believing they have violated federal immigration law. Objective evidence, such as a criminal record, must be provided, but in none of the recent cases did the detainees have a criminal history.
“Because of the color of their skin, their accent, or their ethnicity, they become targets in what is reminiscent of what happened in the Third Reich,” denounced Fred Brewington, Elzon Lemus’s attorney, at a press conference in which his client denounced the treatment he received by ICE agents, despite having assured them he was a U.S. citizen. “I am a victim because of my race and ethnicity. Just because of my skin color and because I am Hispanic, they made me feel like I was a criminal,” Lemus said.
The Gaza Freaks are silent now. They certainly haven't apologized for their work sabotaging Kamala Harris' run and destroying our country in the process. It's a real shame that Latinos in this country -- citizens and immigrants -- are no longer safe. But the bigger shame is that the obsessed Gaza Freaks brought us to this point and they want to now act like they're not responsible. They told people not to vote for Kamala. By the way, where are they today? Palestinians are still being killed in Gaza. Chump didn't change that, did he? And, if you paid attention, Palestinians in Gaza knew he wouldn't. They repeatedly and regularly told outlets like ALJAZEERA just that. But over here in the US, Gaza Freaks didn't want to listen to the Palestinians. And now, as we see from their silence, Gaza Freaks don't really want to save them. Palestinians were apparently just a passing fad for a lot of pathetic people with pathetic lives to pretend their lives had some meaning which explains the death of protests on US campuses and all the high profile Gaza Freaks who were constantly on camera in the lead up to the 2024 election now becoming publicity shy.
It's as though they all just wanted to destroy their own lives and take the rest of the world down with them.
The following sites updated:
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Health Care: Jonathan Gruber20 hours ago
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Idiot of the Week1 day ago
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Michael Madsen2 days ago
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Chase Rice and Susan Sontag2 days ago
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Dr. Phil loses like the loser he is2 days ago
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