Wednesday, March 11, 2026

The Snapshot

Wednesday, March 11, 2026.  Chump continues to blunder through the war he and Netanyahu started with no clear goals or aims, the GOP works on 'messaging' for their immigration spiel, Senator Patty Murray calls out the ICE shootings, and much more. 

 

Waging war with no fixed purpose means victory can be declared at any point. Donald Trump’s motives for launching Operation Epic Fury against Iran were incoherent at the start. They are no clearer now that he has declared it “very complete, pretty much”.

US and Israeli bombs have caused death and destruction, shaking but not toppling the government in Tehran. Among the targets was the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He has been replaced by his son – an “unacceptable” candidate in the US president’s evaluation.

Regime change was the plan, but Trump finds it easier to change plans than regimes. What began as a long-haul commitment to roll back decades of Islamic revolution has become a “short-term excursion” to neutralise Iran’s military capabilities.

Trump has not quite declared “mission accomplished”. He says he has won, but also that he has more winning to do. This is the familiar stage of rhetorical climbdown, indicating dawning awareness that a problem is more complicated than the president initially thought. Complexity resists his whim. It bores him.

Iran turns out to be unlike Venezuela, except in a superficial analysis as energy-exporting countries with a history of hostile relations with Washington. The model of regime decapitation and coercion that saw Nicolás Maduro kidnapped from Caracas and replaced with his compliant vice-president earlier this year whetted Trump’s appetite for an Iranian sequel. But the Islamic Republic has reserves of ideological and institutional resilience. It can also spook international markets by menacing trade in the Gulf.

The White House seems not to have anticipated the predictable economic repercussions of war in the Middle East – soaring oil prices, falling stock markets, disrupted supply chains feeding inflation and choking growth.


Yesterday, Aaron Blake (CNN) wondered if Donald Chump even knew what was going on with Iran:

On Saturday, President Donald Trump claimed it was Tehran that struck an Iranian elementary school early in the war, killing scores of children.

On Monday, he admitted he basically had no idea what he was talking about when he said that, then went on to suggest other countries, including Iran, use Tomahawk missiles, the type of munition that appears to have hit the school. Iran does not have Tomahawks.
When pressed at a news conference why nobody else in his administration was making the same claim about Iran being responsible (and instead pointing to an investigation), Trump said,“Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

He added that he would respect the findings of the investigation.

Just to put a fine point on that: Trump not only says he shared this claim despite appearing to know little about the situation; he’s also saying he didn’t know much about perhaps the single most controversial strike of the war.

It’s a strike that had become a huge international story by the time he weighed in — and one that even some Republicans fear could do real damage to the war effort, if the US was indeed culpable. (The US military was likely responsible, according to a CNN and expert analysis of evidence, and new video has emerged that appears to show a US missile targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base adjacent to the school.)
But apparently, Trump was out of the loop.

This is hardly the only example of the president seeming to have a loose grasp of what’s happening on the ground in Iran.

Trump has often had a complicated relationship with the truth, but it’s striking to see that play out in the context of a war.

The school strike wasn’t even the only example from Monday’s press conference.

At another point in his introduction, Trump seemed to claim that Iran’s Gulf neighbors had joined the war effort against Tehran alongside the United States and Israel.

“Their neighbors were largely neutral — or at least weren’t going to be involved — and they got attacked,” he said. “And it had the reverse effect. The neighbors came onto our side and started attacking them, and actually quite successfully. If you look at Saudi Arabia, you look at UAE, Qatar and others.”

But this does not reflect reality.



Chump's avoided reality throughout his war of choice.  That includes insisting that the US government is not short on weapons when they are.  That's why Chump met with weapon manufacturers in the White House on Friday.  It's why he's moving weapons.  Ellie Cook (NEWSWEEK) reports:

The United States is moving one of its critical anti-ballistic missile air defense systems from South Korea to the Middle East, a sign of the strain 11 days of strikes across the region is putting on U.S. troops and its allies despite officials downplaying stockpile concerns.
U.S. forces deployed in South Korea have transferred parts of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system from the peninsula, local media reported.

The Pentagon has also reportedly pulled interceptor missiles for the ground-based, U.S.-made Patriot air defense system from other regions, including the Indo-Pacific. The Department of Defense declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.

The U.S. has used up vast amounts of munitions since it started striking Iran on February 28, upping the ante on Tuesday as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American forces would unleash their most powerful strikes yet.

You don't do that unless you're running short on supplies.  So, yes, that is what's happening.  




As Ben notes in the video above, FOX "NEWS" is wondering where the Iranian uprising is?

Donald Chump bombed a school.  Girls were killed.  No one in Iran's rushing to embrace that.  Chump should have grasped that and they should have taken real care with strikes.  But they didn't and now they still don't grasp the importance of 'hearts & minds.'  Chump only makes things worse by lying and claiming it might have been the Iranian government that attacked the school.


Today on MORNING JOE, Mika and Joe spoke with career diplomat Richard Haas.




Richard Haas: It took one country to start the war -- that's us.  It's going to take three to stop it. Israel wants to continue for some time.  Israeli goals and American goals are not aligned here, they are not aligned.  Israel has much more far reaching goals and is not nearly as concerned about the knock-on effects.  Iran gets a serious vote and, yes, Iran is much weaker but Iran can continue.  All it's going to take is one mine in a passage way and no one's going to insure a tanker for months or longer until you can prove it's safe again.  All it's going to take is one drone hitting this or that target.  So we can talk about these goals -- and by the way, we have zero ability to ensure what the future leadership of Iran is -- who it's going to be, what it's policies are going to be -- but this is a classic case, that we did not -- we didn't begin to play chess here in thinking through what the moves of our rival would be here.



This war is not going the way Chump hoped, to put it mildly.  Rhian Lubin (INDEPENDENT) notes:


Some of President Donald Trump’s advisers have warned him in private to find a way to end the war with Iran over fears of political backlash, according to a report.

In recent days, aides have urged Trump to make the case that the U.S. military had mostly achieved its objectives and told the president to communicate an exit plan for the joint American and Israeli bombing campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
His advisers are reportedly concerned that a drawn-out war could “deplete” Trump’s support among his conservative base as the conflict has already split his MAGA following and prompted some Republicans to speak out, though largely anonymously.

The reported closed-door discussions follow Trump’s public remarks Monday, where he said the war could end “very soon” and it was “very complete, pretty much.”

But will Chump listen to them or continue to listen to Netanyahu?  Netanyahu is nowhere near ready to pack it in. So will Chump listen to his advisors or to Netanyahu?  

He's refused to listen to the American people so far.  Steve Benen (MS NOW) notes:

The latest national Quinnipiac University poll found:

Fifty-three percent of voters oppose the U.S. military action against Iran, while 40 percent support it. … Seventy-four percent of voters oppose sending U.S. ground troops into Iran, while 20 percent support it.

‘Voters are unenthusiastic about the air attack on Iran and there is overwhelming opposition to putting American troops on Iranian soil to fight a ground war,’ said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.

The same survey data also found that 55% of Americans agreed that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States, the White House’s dubious claims notwithstanding; 59% said the president should have gone to Congress to approve the mission; and 62% concluded that the administration had not provided a clear explanation of the reasons behind military action against Iran.




And, yet again, Chump's screwed over the American farmers.  Jesus Mesa (NEWSWEEK) reports:

As the U.S.–Israeli bombardment of Iran continues with no end in sight, the economic shockwaves are already hitting American farmers, with some struggling to buy fertilizer and gasoline prices rising.

The war zone sits at the crossroads of the world’s fertilizer supply. Since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran a week ago, maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has ground to a near standstill. The waterway moves roughly 20 percent of the world’s daily oil and a quarter of its nitrogen fertilizer.

Chet Edinger, a corn and soybean farmer from Mitchell, South Dakota, saw it coming. As soon as the news broke, he rushed to lock in one last load of urea, the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer, the morning the strikes began. He paid 22 percent more than he had late last year, the highest price he had ever seen.

Days later, the market froze entirely.

“You can’t even buy it right now if you wanted to,” he told Newsweek. “Because all the supplies are tied up with their existing customers.”
[. . .]
Tariffs. Economic uncertainty. And now war. For many farmers, the Iran conflict is not a shock so much as the latest entry in a long list of crises they did not choose over the past 15 months.

Farmers had already grown critical of the administration over a deal that quadrupled Argentine beef imports, undercutting domestic producers at a time when the U.S. cattle herd sat at a 75-year low. Farm bankruptcies filed under Chapter 12 are up 46 percent compared to 2024.

Dan Osborn, an independent Nebraska Senate candidate who has spent months talking to farmers across the state, said the rot set in long before the first strike on Iran. He recently spoke with a soybean farmer who told him the administration’s $12 billion relief package would cover seed, chemicals, and fuel for next year, but nothing for the losses already suffered this year.

“A lot of our farmers are just out,” Osborn told Newsweek. “And now, with the increasing prices of fertilizer and fuel, that bailout is going to fall even more short.”






Senate Democrats on Tuesday rebutted President Donald Trump's claims that the in Iran may soon be over, warning that the U.S. risks getting dragged into another prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

The concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump's statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days.
The senators were briefed as the Trump administration continues to whipsaw between explanations, goals and timelines for the war that has seen eight U.S. service members killed in action and left the longtime leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dead.

"What I heard is not just concerning, it is disturbing," Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, whose members were briefed. "I'm not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are. ... And if he does want to put us in a forever war, which it seems like he does, he needs to come out and let us be able to have that discussion.

"Do you think because he thinks he waves some magic wand that everything just stops? ... It's not going to stop just because he wishes it to be so," Rosen said.

The pessimism from Democrats on an eventual U.S. end for the war it started with Israel against Iran comes as Congress awaits a potential supplemental funding request to finance the offensive. The effort has burned through billions of dollars of U.S. munitions, which will have to be refilled. 

7 US service members have been killed so far and AP notes, "The Pentagon, meanwhile, offered its first tally of American wounded, saying about 140 U.S. troops have been injured, 8 severely."  Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali (REUTERS) place the number of troops injured at 150. 





US Speaker of the Closet Mike Johnson put Congress on a holiday as he rushed to be in Florida with Donald Chump and assorted other Republican members of the House of Representatives.  Kate Santaliz (AXIOS) reports what took place there:

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair privately urged House Republicans on Tuesday to stop emphasizing "mass deportations" and instead focus their messaging on removing violent criminals, according to sources in the closed-door briefing.

Why it matters: Mass deportations were central to the GOP's 2024 campaign message.
Nearly half — 49% — of Americans say Trump's mass deportation campaign is too aggressive, including 1 in 5 voters who backed the president in 2024, a Politico poll from January found.
State of play: Blair delivered the message during a policy listening session with House Republicans at their annual retreat in Doral, Florida.

He encouraged members to focus on deporting violent offenders rather than defending the broader concept of mass removals.
The advice signals a recalibration by the White House — and reflects growing concern among some Republicans that Democrats are successfully framing Trump's immigration policy as overly sweeping and indiscriminate.



More than one year into the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, there’s little to suggest White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has achieved his goal of boosting the U.S.-born workforce by closing borders.

A National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) policy brief published this month noted from February 2025 to February 2026, labor force participation for U.S.-born workers aged 16 and older actually fell from 61.4% to 61%, citing jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
That dip in the U.S.-born labor force—part of a larger labor market slowdown that saw just 181,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy in 2025—coincided with a swath of actions meant to curb immigration. This included roughly $170 billion in immigration enforcement funding, counting $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement through 2029, outlined in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB).

The crackdown appears to have had its intended effect in driving out immigrants and those considering coming to the U.S. The Brookings Institute estimated the U.S. saw between 10,000 and 295,000 people leave the country in 2025, reaching negative net migration for the first time in about half a century. NFAP’s analysis found a decline of 596,000 foreign-born workers in the U.S. since January 2026 and a total of 1.01 million workers since the number of foreign-born workers in the U.S. peaked in March 2025.
While efforts to slash the foreign-born workforce were efficacious, they did not succeed in bolstering jobs for U.S.-born workers, according to labor economist and NFAP senior fellow Mark Regets.

“Most economic research shows that immigration increases employment opportunities for the U.S.-born, so it would not be surprising if reducing immigration harms American workers,” Regets said in the report.

Regets previously told Fortune an immigrant workforce can help boost productivity and justify hiring more workers, as well as encourage U.S. firms to take advantage of a domestic workforce instead of offshoring jobs. Greater immigration can also encourage consumer spending to stimulate economic activity.

“A company unable to find the workers it needs for some roles could shut down operations rather than continuing,” Regets said. 



Turning to the ongoing Epstein scandal, Leigh Kimmins (DAILY BEAST) notes:

Howard Lutnick is facing a fresh Epstein files headache as two organizations have teamed up to call for his head, with a former White House ethics czar bashing his muddled excuses.

The watchdogs, Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) and Public Citizen (PC), have demanded the commerce secretary’s resignation in an open letter, seen first by the Daily Beast.
They cite his murky messaging over a relationship with fellow billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, which persisted for years after he was convicted of sex crimes. The saga has put Lutnick in the spotlight, risking Trump’s ire as he tries to distance himself from the ongoing Epstein saga.

Norm Eisen, former White House ethics czar and ambassador to the Czech Republic under President Barack Obama, told the Daily Beast that Lutnick’s alleged behavior is “a direct assault on every American who does everything right and still gets less.”
“Government corruption has a price—and the American people are the ones paying it, in the form of their hard-earned money and a destabilized economy," Eisen, who also co-founded DDF, said.

“We have now learned that a top economic official concealed his financial and personal ties to Jeffrey Epstein while testifying under oath, and buried evidence of his own fraud.”

Eisen, a prominent lawyer and former CNN legal analyst, added: “That is a profound betrayal of the public trust. When the well-connected get to play by a different set of rules, it is not only unfair, but is a direct assault on every American who does everything right and still gets less.”

Eisen is one of Trump’s most persistent legal foes, and he made repeated manoeuvres to force the DOJ and FBI to cooperate and release files relating to Trump’s own relationship with Epstein.

Noting that Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein “did not end until at least 2018,” 10 years after he was convicted in Florida of soliciting a minor for prostitution, another DDF director said he “can’t be trusted.”
 “He appears to have lied about his relationship with a child predator and faces serious allegations both from his time in the private sector and as Commerce Secretary,” said Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director of ethics and anti-corruption at Democracy Defenders Fund.











Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Senator Murray: “The painful reality is that in addition to the tragic killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good which—rightfully—got national attention, there are other cases where ICE and Border Patrol shot people, with no clear cause, and lied about it afterwards. We have to put an end to this alarming pattern—and that means we cannot let Republicans ignore it.”

***WATCH: Senator Murray’s Recap of Violent ICE Shootings***

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released a video about the numerous violent shootings we are seeing from Trump’s reckless ICE and CBP agents across the country—and the urgent need to rein in these rogue agencies. Senator Murray highlighted the stories of Marimar Martinez, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Carlos Jimenez, Francisco Longoria, and Carlitos Ricardo Parias—all of whom were shot by ICE or CBP agents. Throughout the video, Senator Murray calls out the egregious use of force from federal agents, their lies that don’t hold up in court, and the extreme danger they are putting families and communities in by recklessly using firearms. Senator Murray also called out Republicans for refusing to negotiate serious and common sense measures to rein in ICE and CBP. Last week, Murray pushed to pass legislation that would fund every agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—except ICE, CBP, and the Office of the Secretary—while negotiations continue to rein in ICE and Border Patrol, but Republicans blocked her effort.

“Republicans are so far refusing to do things as simple as requiring the masks to come off and requiring ICE to follow the same basic standards that local police follow every day when it comes to things like use of force, or getting an actual judicial warrant before bashing someone’s door in and dragging them away. Republicans would rather shut down DHS than pass a funding bill with basic oversight. I don’t know how Republicans can look at what happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, or see the videos of peaceful protesters getting tear gassed and tackled, or see lawful observers getting their windows smashed and getting dragged out of their cars, and think—this is fine,” said Senator Murray. “I want to make the problem just a bit more clear to Republicans here in the Senate who are trying to sweep it under the rug, by discussing some other ICE and Border Patrol shootings you may have missed. Because the painful reality is that in addition to the tragic killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good which—rightfully—got national attention, there are other cases where ICE and Border Patrol shot people, with no clear cause, and lied about it afterwards. We have to put an end to this alarming pattern—and that means we cannot let Republicans ignore it. So, I am putting a spotlight on some of the details of other shootings ICE and Border Patrol do not want the American people to hear about.”

WATCH HERE: The Shootings ICE Doesn’t Want You To Know About…

“I know these stories are very upsetting—especially when Republicans want to try so hard to ignore what is happening. But I want to make sure you also know—we are not powerless. And the stories I’ve been sharing don’t just show how bad things have gotten, they are also a reminder about how we all can fight back in this country—with our voice and our votes,” continued Senator Murray. “These survivors are not staying silent. And we cannot be silent either—we have to keep speaking up. We have to keep making clear to people what is happening and demanding Republicans work with us to hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable. Republicans are hoping this will all just blow over—but that’s not up to them—it is up to us. Elections are just around the corner this fall. Remember that. So, I am going to keep using my platform here in D.C. to shine a spotlight on this, and I am going to keep using my position to demand accountability. And I hope all of you will keep using your voice out there as well.”

Senator Murray has spoken out forcefully and constantly throughout this year against the Trump administration’s cruel and counterproductive mass deportation campaign and the egregious treatment by ICE and DHS of American citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. Murray called attention to the violent assault of Wilmer Toledo-Martinez in Vancouver, Washington and she successfully advocated for his release from the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC). Wilmer was lured out of his home under false pretenses, violently detained by federal agents, and mauled by an attack dog despite not resisting arrest or attempting to flee. Murray also recently called attention to the case of Jose Paniagua Calderón, whose foot was run over by agents in Vancouver.

In November, Senator Murray joined 48 of her colleagues in the Senate and House of Representatives in introducing the Restoring Access to Detainees Act, which would mandate that DHS allow people who have been detained to contact their legal counsel and families. In February 2025, Senator Murray signed onto a letter led by Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) demanding that DHS end wrongful searches and interrogations of Tribal members, and continued to push for answers from DHS on the matter last December. Last year, Murray also reintroduced her Stop Shackling and Detaining Pregnant Women Act. She and Senator Richard Blumenthal led 27 of their Senate colleagues last year in a letter expressing concern with prevalence and treatment of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing women in ICE detention, and she also joined a letter led by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) calling for ICE to end the misuse of solitary confinement in immigration detention.

In Washington state, Senator Murray has been conducting oversight of the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC), despite the Trump administration’s efforts to block Congressional oversight of federal immigration detention facilities. After a protracted legal battle over Washington state’s ability to enforce health and safety standards at NWIPC, a federal appeals court ruled in August that the state should be allowed to enforce such standards at the detention center, and that failure to comply could result in fines of up to $10,000 per violation. In December, Senator Murray led Members of the Washington state Congressional delegation in a letter to Acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons expressing grave concerns with conditions at NWIPC in Tacoma, Washington and demanding answers to a long list of questions regarding overcrowding and lack of access to medical services, food, and legal counsel for individuals detained at the facility. 

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

“Hey everyone, Senator Patty Murray here.

“Before I begin, first, a note to everyone watching: We are going to be discussing instances where people were shot, and seriously hurt. So keep in mind: these stories, and some of the images from them, may be disturbing.

“You may have heard about the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The gist is: Funding has run out for DHS, and before passing any new funding, Democrats are insisting on putting in place reasonable accountability measures for ICE and Border Patrol after the horrific killings and overreach we have seen.

“But Republicans are so far refusing to do things as simple as requiring the masks to come off and requiring ICE to follow the same basic standards that local police follow every day when it comes to things like use of force, or getting an actual judicial warrant before bashing someone’s door in and dragging them away.

“Republicans would rather shut down DHS than pass a funding bill with basic oversight.

“I don’t know how Republicans can look at what happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, or see the videos of peaceful protesters getting tear gassed and tackled, or see lawful observers getting their windows smashed and getting dragged out of their cars, and think—this is fine.

“But I am not budging. We have a rogue agency—and we need to rein it in. 

“DHS officials even testified to Congress that filming their activities in public is perfectly legal. Yet they threaten citizens with arrest and take their pictures for unknown purposes. Sometimes they spray them in the face point-blank with pepper spray. Sometimes they gang-tackle them and shoot them in the back ten times.

“So today, I want to make the problem just a bit more clear to Republicans here in the Senate who are trying to sweep it under the rug, by discussing some other ICE and Border Patrol shootings you may have missed. Because the painful reality is that in addition to the tragic killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good which—rightfully—got national attention, there are other cases where ICE and Border Patrol shot people, with no clear cause, and lied about it afterwards.

“We have to put an end to this alarming pattern—and that means we cannot let Republicans ignore it. So, I am putting a spotlight on some of the details of other shootings ICE and Border Patrol do not want the American people to hear about.

[MARIMAR MARTINEZ]

“Marimar Martinez is a U.S. citizen, and a teacher’s assistant in Chicago. Last year, a Border Patrol agent rammed her car and then shot her five times. And what happened next? The agent texted his colleagues bragging about it. He drove the vehicle immediately from Chicago to Maine. And the Trump Administration tried to label Martinez a domestic terrorist.

“But those lies came face-to-face with reality in court. And the charges against Martinez were dropped by the Department of Justice when the story DHS made up was completely contradicted by the evidence. They said officers were forced to fire when Martinez tried to run them over. But surveillance video does not show that at all.

“According to Martinez’s lawyer, the government’s own evidence showed one bullet hit the rear passenger window and another traveled from the back of the vehicle to the front. Not through the windshield like these agents claimed. They said that the Border Patrol vehicle was ‘boxed in’ by 10 cars. Again, the surveillance video shows—there were not 10 cars boxing them in.

“In fact, you can see there was no car in front of them and no car beside them. They tried to hide behind the fact Martinez had a gun in the car. One she has a permit for. One that she did not touch. And one that the government acknowledges was not even visible to agents when all of this went down.

“And last, but not least—DHS tried to say Martinez rammed Border Patrol agents. Well, we now have body cam footage from inside the Border Patrol vehicle. And it seems pretty clear from that video, the agent who shot Martinez, is the one doing the ramming. You can see him turn his wheel sharply to the left—where Martinez was driving. Followed by the impact. 

“The dishonesty here is shocking—and honestly, scary. This woman—again, an American citizen—is lucky to be alive—and she has been bravely speaking out about what happened to her. And the same week the body cam footage from her shooting was released, lies from DHS in a different case in Minnesota also started falling apart.

[JULIO CESAR SOSA-CELIS]

“In January, ICE claimed a DoorDash driver, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, was shot in the leg after attacking ICE agents with a shovel. Fast forward a month, and—ICE completely reversed course, and said two of its officers were being investigated for quote: ‘Untruthful statements.’ The district attorney said new evidence was ‘materially inconsistent’ with the allegations made by the ICE agents.

“So how did we get here? Because, after ICE shot this man in the leg, Secretary Noem tried to say the officer was ‘ambushed and attacked,’ said this was ‘attempted murder.’ A few problems with that story. The officer was not ambushed—he was chasing Julio and another man—mistakenly thinking they were someone else.

“Second, the officer said in his own statement to FBI investigators, that he fired as the men ran away from him, towards a house. And perhaps the biggest problem: Julio, and other witnesses at the scene—say he never attacked ICE agents. And they say the agent actually shot him through a door. I mean, how is it self-defense to shoot blindly at someone through a door?  

“And, of course—what did DHS do initially? Well the same night the shooting took place they swept the building where it happened and detained several witnesses. They even detained Julio’s partner, and sent her to Texas—and then New Mexico. A judge had to step in to prevent them from deporting witnesses and tell them to stop moving these people around.

“But even as ICE was rounding up witnesses and moving them as far away as they could. There was other evidence they could not hide. Like the recording of the 911 call after the shooting—where you can hear a woman tell the operator someone was shot through the door.

“And there’s one more obvious hole in ICE’s story—that is the bullet hole in the door itself. At first, law enforcement tried to say they couldn’t find any bullet holes in the house. But then this photo was released, lo-and-behold, there is very clearly a bullet hole in the door. And there’s actually another hole from the bullet inside. Because the bullet traveled through the front door, and into the wall, before it stopped between a child’s bed and a crib.

“Talk about reckless! ICE should not be firing blindly through doors and putting kids in danger. Will Republicans finally join us to rein in this kind of behavior?

[CARLOS JIMENEZ]

“And another shooting in California further underscores ICE’s complete disregard for how their actions might affect kids. Carlos Jimenez is an American citizen, who works at a food bank. Last year, he saw some federal agents pulled over near a bus stop for a local elementary school. According to his attorney, he pulled up to let them know they are blocking a school bus stop, and there will be young kids gathering soon so they might want to wrap it up.

“The response he got for that notice? Well, an officer drew his gun, pointed it directly at Carlos’s face, and told him to ‘get the F out of here.’ So, Carlos backs up his vehicle to start turning around, he pulls forward to leave like he was told, and then he is shot in his shoulder.

“Now the DHS version of events is once again ridiculous. They say that officers fired at him after he tried to run them over. Though—as with so many other cases—there is basically no evidence of that so far. The bullet went in through the rear passenger window, as he started to pull forward to drive away. They arrested him at the hospital before he could get full treatment. They hand cuffed him, they dragged him back to the scene of the shooting, gave him a bag to puke in, slapped on what his lawyer describes as essentially a band-aid, and started interrogating him.

“And something else notable—this case happened just half an hour away from another ICE shooting that happened previously. 

[FRANCISCO LONGORIA]

“Francisco Longoria and his teenage sons were driving through a San Bernadino neighborhood when they were pulled over by an unmarked car and suddenly surrounded by masked men—one with his gun already drawn. Mind you he was doing nothing but driving when this happened.

“They did not show a warrant or anything. And when Francisco refused to roll down his window without some answers—they smashed it in. So he drove away, which is when an agent behind him fired three shots—at the passenger side of the vehicle. That is—they fired shots at the side his teenage son was sitting on.

“You already know what comes next: A bunch of disgusting lies from the Trump Administration that this person was attempting to run over officers, followed by video evidence that completely debunks those lies. You can see from cellphone footage inside the car—there is no one in front of Francisco as he drove away. You can also see from cellphone footage outside the car—that there is no one in front of the vehicle.

“And there is still another California shooting that I really have to talk about.

[CARLITOS RICARDO PARIAS]

“Last year, in LA, Carlitos Parias, also known as RichardLA18 on TikTok where he streams local breaking news, was shot by a federal agent after having his car boxed in. An officer was also injured by the ricochet. To no one’s surprise, DHS blatantly lied about the incident and said Carlitos was shot after he ‘weaponized his vehicle and began ramming the law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee.’

“But in court the government dragged its feet during discovery, only releasing the body camera footage five days after the deadline! So what did the footage show? Federal agents box Carlitos in, officers walk up and smash in his windows, and an officer swears after his gun goes off accidentally while he is switching hands to open the passenger door. Warning, the following clip is disturbing.

“There is a huge world of difference between an accidental discharge and a firing in self-defense. And there is just no world where the original DHS story has a shred of honesty here. A few weeks after the footage was released—a judge dismissed this case with prejudice, and noted the Government not only failed to comply with court deadlines—but deprived Carlitos of access to his lawyer.

[CONCLUSION]

“The pattern in these cases is clear and alarming. ICE and Border Patrol agents are charging into our communities with guns blazing. They are shooting people with zero justification, and then the Trump Administration is lying about it, slandering innocent people, and covering up the facts for as long as they can get away with.

“It is deeply alarming—and there are so many more examples that deserve more attention. Like the man who nearly died after he had eight fractures in his skull, and ICE tried to say it was from running into a wall on purpose. Or there’s one of the men who died in ICE detention after being asphyxiated by facility staff. DHS said it was a suicide—but an autopsy found it was a homicide. Or there’s a blind refugee, who died after immigration officials dumped him alone at a Tim Horton’s five miles away from home, once they realized they had no grounds to deport him.

“If there’s an example you think people need to hear about, need to talk about, or need to know about—please share it in the comments. Let people know! We need accountability. We need to rein in ICE and Border Patrol. That is what Democrats are insisting on, common sense measures to protect Americans from out-of-control masked federal agents. But Republicans would rather shut down DHS than rein in ICE.

“I know these stories are very upsetting—especially when Republicans want to try so hard to ignore what is happening. But I want to make sure you also know—we are not powerless. And the stories I’ve been sharing don’t just show how bad things have gotten, they are also a reminder about how we all can fight back in this country—with our voice and our votes.

“Carlitos used his TikTok reporting to keep his community informed about ICE activities. Francisco Longoria’s son-in-law came here to D.C. alongside Marimar Martinez, and Renee Good’s brother to share their stories with lawmakers. Marimar is not just speaking out—she fought to make sure the evidence in her case became public, and she announced she is suing DHS. And do you know what Carlos Jiminez did a few days after he was shot by federal agents? He went to vote in California’s special election.

“These survivors are not staying silent. And we cannot be silent either—we have to keep speaking up. We have to keep making clear to people what is happening and demanding Republicans work with us to hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable.

“Republicans are hoping this will all just blow over—but that’s not up to them—it is up to us. Elections are just around the corner this fall. Remember that.

“So, I am going to keep using my platform here in D.C. to shine a spotlight on this, and I am going to keep using my position to demand accountability.

“And I hope all of you will keep using your voice out there as well.”

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