Thursday, July 16, 2026. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in his quest to become Attorney General and Chump's ICE is out of control and destroying lives (while being trained to violate the Constitution).
It's not every day that a witness before
Congress makes it clear early in their hearing that they intend to lie
as often as they can. But Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made his
desire and intent to lie almost immediately when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday as he seeks to be confirmed as Attorney General.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. Is it not true
that Congress had to pass a law requiring the Trump administration to
disclose the Epstein Files? the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by
bipartisan roll calls in the House and Senate to finally get the files
made public?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: President Trump signed that law
Ranking
Member Dick Durbin: Yes, of course he did -- after overwhelming numbers
of the House members and Senate members voted for it on a bipartisan
basis because the administration would not voluntarily produce these
documents.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: That's not true.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Well, what pat of it isn't true?
Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche: We were prohibited by law from
producing those documents. This is a Judiciary Committee. There are
laws that did not allow us to produce those documents which we made
plain in numerous court filings. So when -- and President Trump has said
from day one to release the files, even when he was running. And so,
yes, he signed it into law and we comply with it.
Ranking
Member Dick Durbin: I remember and everyone in the audience remembers
the links that the administration went through to delay production of
these documents to the point where Congress did an extraordinary thing,
passed a discharge motion in the House to bring this matter before them
and vote on a bipartisan basis to compel your administration to disclose
those documents.
Blanche
lied. Durbin was only the second person to question him. Blanche
wanted to lie about how The Epstein Transparency Act came about. He
looked awful, by the way. A paunchy thing with shadows all over him.
He wanted to score one for his Gipper -- Chump. He wanted to rewrite
history to make it appear that Chump was behind it all along, supporting
it and wanting to release the files but he just couldn't.
He
could -- and did -- release files on UFOs. He made that promise on the
campaign trail as well. And he did it. He released those. But he
wouldn't release the Epstein files.
Chump had Mike Johnson delaying the swearing in of Adelita
Grijalva. Does Toad think we just all forgot that. He waited 50 days
to seat her. He did that because she would provide the 218th signature
on Thomas Masse and Ro Khana's discharge petition that forced the vote
on The Epstein Transparency Act.
But the toad wanted to lie. And did lie.
On
July 17, 2025, at around 6 o’clock in the evening, President Trump’s
top officials filed into the White House Situation Room — the secure
bunker where classified and high-stakes national security matters are
discussed and decided. This was where President Barack Obama, along with
Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the
president’s national security team, watched the raid that ended with the
death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Now,
however, Trump’s most senior advisers had gathered — without him — to
figure out how to gain some measure of control over a very different
kind of crisis threatening to engulf the presidency: the Epstein files.
Ten
days earlier, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. had jointly
released a memo that bluntly stated that their review had found no
“client list” of powerful men for whom the notorious pedophile Jeffrey
Epstein had allegedly procured underage girls and young women. Intended
to put to rest years of speculation and end the pressure campaign to
release the voluminous material in the department’s possession, the memo
instead had the opposite effect, setting off a backlash that was
notably loud among the MAGA base.
And it was
about to get worse: The Wall Street Journal was preparing a damaging
article about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. The president’s
desperate attempts to kill the story had failed. His team now had to get
everyone onto the same page about how to counter the growing swarm of
attention. They needed a gesture of transparency to appease an
increasingly angry base, but also a way to convey the message that the
president was sympathetic to his supporters’ concerns. Which itself was a
problem, because he clearly wasn’t.
Vice
President JD Vance took a seat at the head of the table in the John F.
Kennedy Conference Room of the Situation Room complex. “This is a huge
problem,” he told the group. Arrayed around him were the White House
chief of staff, Susie Wiles; the White House counsel, David Warrington;
the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt; the deputy chief of staff Taylor
Budowich; the communications director, Steven Cheung; the deputy
attorney general, Todd Blanche; the associate attorney general, Stanley
Woodward Jr.; and the deputy chief of staff James Blair. Attorney
General Pam Bondi and the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, joined on
speakerphone.
The vice president appeared
panicked to others in the room about the way the subject of Epstein was
already dividing the MAGA coalition. Some senior officials had the
impression that Vance had bought into the darkest theories about Epstein
and a cabal of predators hidden within the country’s ruling class.
Wiles would tell others that the vice president had proved himself to be
a major conspiracy theorist. Another top official said later that Vance
had been pounding on the Epstein issue since the release of the memo.
He was privately pressing for the administration to release all the
Epstein files, everything in the Justice Department’s possession, even
encouraging a congressional investigation.
Vance
had also floated to colleagues an extraordinary P.R. gambit — that the
White House enlist Tucker Carlson to interview Epstein’s longtime
girlfriend and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, in prison. It might
help the president if Maxwell was willing to state that Trump had not
been part of any wrongdoing with Epstein.
Vance
told the group he believed all the files should be released as soon as
possible. He argued that Congress was going to force the release of the
files eventually. It was already clear that a bipartisan coalition in
favor of such action was forming on Capitol Hill, and the momentum was
going in one direction. If the administration got out ahead of this and
released everything voluntarily — including whatever material existed
about the president — it would at least get credit for transparency. The
alternative was to let the story drag on for months as information
dripped out, each new revelation renewing the cycle of suspicion and
fury. Better to rip the bandage off and move on.
Even
the unsubstantiated allegations and anecdotes about Trump should go
out, Vance argued. They were going to surface regardless, and if the
administration published them first, it would demonstrate good faith and
take the oxygen out of the conspiracy theories. His arguments fell on
skeptical ears, but some advisers thought it would be a good idea to
have Justice Department officials call a news conference to explain
their position on the Epstein affair — going beyond the memo that
precipitated the crisis.
At this point in the
meeting, Blair spoke up. “With all due respect,” he said, “the
communications strategy of this group got us here. I don’t know that
it’s going to get us out. And if you’re going to go in front of the
press, you’ve got a lot of work to do.” He began to ask pointed mock
questions, demonstrating how difficult a news conference might be.
As
the president’s former defense attorney, Blanche had a unique vantage
point in the discussion. He was better equipped than anyone else in the
room to weigh the ideas being discussed against Trump’s personal and
political interests. Blanche laid out what he saw as their best options.
Option
1 was to petition Federal District Courts in Florida and New York to
unseal the grand jury testimonies — the secret transcripts of
prosecutors’ presentations of witnesses and evidence in their efforts to
obtain indictments in past Epstein-related cases. As those were almost
certain to contain no significant new information, everyone agreed that
this option was a good idea, and not only because a release was unlikely
to damage the president.
Under the Federal
Rules of Criminal Procedure, the secrecy of grand jury materials is
regarded by most federal judges as almost always inviolate, and the bar
for any release is exceptionally high. If the courts refused to unseal
them — as Blanche predicted — they could shift the blame for withholding
the Epstein material away from the Trump administration and onto the
judges. And all the better if the judges had been appointed by
Democratic presidents. Blanche’s suggestion would make it appear that
the White House wanted the materials released, when it was almost
certain not to happen.
Option 2 was to have
Justice Department lawyers question Maxwell and publicly release the
transcript — a twist on the idea proposed earlier by Vance. Blanche
offered to interview Maxwell himself.
“What if we got her to talk to Congress?” Vance suggested.
Blanche raised the possibility that Maxwell’s lawyer might expect something in return for her candor.
Warrington,
the White House counsel, responded by laying out the available choices,
without advocating any of them. Maxwell could be given a pardon, he
said, or she could have her sentence reduced.
At that, several around the table spoke up to register their strong disapproval.
“Pardoning
Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge P.R.
problem,” Cheung said. He predicted that in the wake of a pardon, the
Epstein accusers would be fanning out on TV, telling their stories and
ripping the administration to shreds.
Blair was
also adamantly opposed to a pardon. “We can’t offer Ghislaine Maxwell
anything,” he said. “A, I don’t know why we would. And B, if we give
Ghislaine Maxwell any sort of break whatsoever and then she turns around
and says nice things about us, or says nice things about us and we give
her a break, it will undermine the entire point of her saying good
things. That will feed the conspiracy theory, period. If there’s nothing
for her to say that hurts us, we shouldn’t have to offer her anything.”
The
consensus was that calling for the release of the grand jury material
was the best course of action. Wiles told the group she would discuss
the matter with Trump and ask if he would send a Truth Social post
calling for the release of the sealed grand jury documents.
Now
let's be really clear, Blanche was in that meeting as Chump's lawyer.
Not as Deputy Attorney General. In fact, as the Deputy AG, he shouldn't
have been in that meeting at all. Nor should AG Pam Bondi. This is
how you get corruption in an administration. The people assembled in
that room assembled not to protect the United States but to protect
Chump and they plotted and conspired on how to deceive the American
people.
They came up with
two schemes. First, they would call for the grand jury transcripts to
be released knowing that they rarely were released and that, if they
were, they wouldn't include anything that wasn't public knowledge in
terms of evidence. Second, Blanche would go and interview Ghislaine
Maxwell, Epstein's convicted partner.
They plotted to deceive the American people.
Guess what?
Not in the Constitution and not in their official job duties.
Blanche is a serial liar.
Let's note some of Senator Chris Coons' questioning.
Senator Chris Coons: Thank you. As I consider your
nomination, like all other nominations to similar cabinet positions, I
need to know you're qualified to serve. You demonstrably are. That you
have the policy views to serve well. We will discuss that today. And,
most importantly in this role, that you have the independence to serve
as the attorney general for the American people. And that last question has troubled me the most. You're in charge of a
Department of Justice I don't recognize: prosecuting the president's
political enemies, firing rank-and-file prosecutors and FBI agents
because of the cases they were assigned to, slashing grants for law
enforcement and public safety. These are some actions that, in your previous confirmation hearing
before us, you said you would not take. Now, I appreciate your statement
walking back the $1.8 billion 'weaponization fund' that you created,
but I question how it got that far, and we'll get into that. You sat in an appropriations hearing earlier this year before me and
defended it at that time. In fact, if I remember correctly, you told me I
was wrong for criticizing it. But following questions by Senators
Durbin and Cornyn, I'm concerned it's not dead yet, and I think we
should talk that through. Overall, this is not what I believe the American people expect or deserve from the Department of Justice. Having spent critical parts of January 6 in this room taking shelter
from the mob, I just wanted to open with some questions. How many people
were convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers on January 6?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I believe around 120, approximately, but I could be off a few more.
Senator Chris Coons: You are. The answer is more than 200.
And how many of those individuals had their sentences commuted or were
pardoned by President Trump?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: President Trump either commuted or pardoned every defendant from the January 6 events.
Senator Chris Coons: That's correct. And in this room
right now, and outside this room, are Capitol Police officers protecting
us in this hearing room. How many of them do you think might have
friends or colleagues who were attacked by supporters of the president
on January 6?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I don't know the numbers, but I'm sure many
of the Capitol Police officers who are here today worked, either were
working on January 6th, or knew people who were.
Senator Chris Coons: I'll just say that I consider a
shameful slap in the face of the men and women of law enforcement for
those convicted of assaulting police officers to have been pardoned. I know you were not serving as deputy attorney general when President
Trump pardoned those folks, but you said just a few moments ago that
you were not celebrating this decision by the president. He was
exercising his constitutional power. But earlier this year, in front of CPAC, a conservative event, I
would say, from the transcript, you actually trumpeted it as an
achievement. And I quote, saying, "If you look at what happened to the
men and women convicted because of January 6, by 5 p.m. on January 20,
every one of them was either pardoned or had their sentence commuted by
President Trump. So, when folks say you’ve done nothing, I say you have a
very short memory." Would you say that you're proud of President Trump's decision to pardon individuals who assaulted law enforcement?
Acting Attorney General Blanche: No, that's not what I was saying there at
all, Senator. So, I was responding to inquiries around why more hadn't
been done by the Department of Justice with respect to January 6
defendants. And so, my answer was that the January 6 defendants and some
of their lawyers had a short memory because a lot had already been
done. Indeed, by the end of the day on January 20, they had all been
pardoned or commuted. So, I wasn't celebrating it. I was merely stating a
fact, which is that the January 6 defendants did receive a very
generous pardon or commutation from President Trump. Every one of them
on January 6.
Senator Chris Coons: A generous -- and in my view, for
those who had assaulted police officers – unwarranted, unjustified,
ahistorical, and a terrible precedent.
Chump's slush fund and IRS get-out-of-jail pass that Blanche signed off on -- and that the court has ruled against -- came up as well. Let's note Senator Adam Schiff.
Senator Adam Schiff: You signed an agreement for the
U.S. basically indicating that the Justice Department's position that
the statute of limitations applies doesn’t matter.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I didn't. That's not what I said. I didn't say that anywhere.
Senator Adam Schiff: Who rejected the 25 defenses
the IRS had to this sham lawsuit? Who rejected them? Who said that these
defenses we're not going to accept, we're just going to go with the
president’s agreement and the slush fund and this immunity?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: There was a lot of discussion internally about the case.
Senator Adam Schiff: But you made the decision?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I -- what's the decision? What do you mean? What decision?
Senator Adam Schiff: You made the decision to not
defend the IRS and the Justice Department. You made the decision and
said to sign this slush fund agreement.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: We made the decision to settle the case. Correct.
Let's stop for just a moment. A stipulation should have been submitted to the judge over the case after a proposed settlement was reached by 'both' sides. That did not happen. That's among the reasons we need to stop calling it a "settlement" because that term gives the appearance of all legalities being met when that was not the case. I'm sure that factored in to US District Judge Kathleen Williams declaring that what was 'reached' was not a settlement.
Senator Adam Schiff: Yeah, and in doing that,
you basically decided that you were going to be the lawyer for the
president and the lawyer for the IRS and the Justice Department. As the
court found in this case there was no adversarial relationship.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: Yes --
Senator Adam Schiff: The court found it was a sham.
It was a collusive relationship, and what I don't understand, Todd
Blanche, what happened to the Todd Blanche who was a prosecutor in the
Southern District of New York? What happened to the prosecutor people
had respect for? What happened to the prosecutor who once respected the
rule of law? What happened to the prosecutor who said that
there wouldn't be a whiff of political partisanship and then prosecutes
the president's enemies over seashells cases, over making a
video stating the plain law and Constitution? What happened to the Todd
Blanche of the Southern District of New York that could convert him into
you. Someone willing to say the president has both the right and the
duty to prosecute his political enemies.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I never said that.
Senator Adam Schiff: I cannot imagine the Todd
Blanche of the old days would have ever done that. What happened to you,
Todd Blanche? I'll tell you this. I think Robert Caro had it right when
he said that "Power doesn't corrupt as much as it reveals." I suspect
it has just revealed who you are. And who you are is someone willing to
sacrifice everything you once believed in for that title, for that
position of Attorney General. And it is a sad story that we have seen
from Trump appointee after appointee after appointee. We have seen
people compromise themselves little by little, and then a lot by a lot
until they're sitting before this committee and trying to justify the
unjustifiable.
Also on the deal deriving from the slush fund, let's note Senator Peter Welch's questioning which gets Blanche to admit he was the one who signe
Senator Peter Welch: I mean, that is truly bizarre that
the chief executive gets his appointed person --who was formerly his
personal attorney -- to negotiate on his behalf, where at the end of the
day, taxpayers are going to pay.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: The other
thing I'll correct, though, is you used the word as if I negotiated.
I wasn't part of the negotiation, which I've said before.
Senator Peter Welch: Your department is—you had to sign off on it. That is your signature.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: Yes, that's true. Yes, that is my signature.
Senator Peter Welch: I mean, look: you're at the top of the
pile here. So, you don't get involved in all the phone calls and all the
details, but at the end of the day ,you have to do due
diligence and satisfy yourself that you, in good faith, can sign off on
the agreement. And you did. So that is your responsibility and I'm sure
you accept that.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: Correct. Yes, oh I do have responsibility for it. I agree with that.
Senator Peter Welch: That's right.
Let's note some coverage of the hearing.
Back on May 19th, Toad met with a Senate Appropriations
subcommittee and he kind of, sort of gave his word that he'd meet with
the Epstein survivors.
Two months later and he hasn't. So Senator Durbin wanted to know about that.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Let me talk to you for a
moment about the survivors who are in the room. There are 10 individuals
who were exploited and abused by Mr. Epstein. They are here today. None
of them had a chance to speak to anyone in the department or FBI though
they've asked repeatedly. So can I get your word under oath that within
the next 30 days you will personally sit down with these ten victims
and hear their case in terms of what needs to be done by the Department
of --
Acting Attorney General
Todd Blanche: Chairman, I appreciate them being here today. I also
have somebody from my office who's spent her entire career working on
cases like Mr. Epstein's. She's in charge of our task force
investigating human trafficking. She's available to talk to them.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: She can sit right next to you. She can sit right next to you when you meet with these survivors.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I have never said I will not meet with survivors.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Will you meet with these ten survivors? I'm asking you on the record.
Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche: If they have lawyers, as you know, I'm
prohibited from meeting directly with them. I have met with counsel for
survivors -- as have many people in the Dept of Justice -- over thirty.
But if they are represented by counsel, we will work with their
counsel. If they don't have a lawyer, I will certainly make arrangements
to make sure the right people at the Dept of Justice meet with them.
Absolutely.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Will you get it done with the next 30 days?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I
will get it done today if that's necessary. My point is there's
somebody here who can meet with them today to get their information and
arrange to meet with them.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: I think you ought to be in the room.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: Pardon me?
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: I
think you ought to be in the room because you ought to hear this. You
had a singular responsibility for these files. There is a delay in
meeting the statutory requirement of disclosure. You were involved in
that. I think you ought to be part of this.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I am definitely part of it and I have been from day one.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: And it will be done within the next thirty days?
Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche: I have -- I can keep on repeating
myself -- but I said it could get done as soon today. It could have
gotten done last week. We remain available to meet with any victim or
their representative at any time you notify.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: I'm asking you if you'll notify the Committee when you've done this?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: That would be prohibited by law if they're talking about an ongoing --
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: I'm asking you if you'll notify the Committee that you met with the survivors.
Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche: It depends on what they say. I'm not
sure I'm allowed to notify you if there's an ongoing investigation.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: You are dancing on the head of a pin here.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I'm not dancing on any pin at all.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Survivors
who have the courage to come before this Committee, have the courage to
tell their terrible stories -- how they were exploited. Don't you
think it's important that we have a prompt response by our government to
these survivors?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche:
And there will be a prompt response. My heart breaks for every
survivor, every victim of Mr. Epstein. And I would love to prosecute
anybody that did any harm to these victims.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Absolutely. Will you meet with them within the next 30 days? The last time I ask this question, you can say yes or no.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I can keep on answering it the same way. I can meet with them, my staff will meet with them. We have a staff member who specializes in it.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin: Absolutely. If you can meet with them, will you meet with them?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: I'm
not sure what you're looking for me to say. As I said, there are, if
they're represented by council, I'm not allowed to meet with them
directly as you know. Uhm, I assure you the FBI who are experts in this
space -- prosecutors who are experts in this space -- and me if
necessary will absolutely meet with them. I promise you this.
Durbin was looking for a yes or no answer. And he never got it from Blanche.
Blanche might have someone meet with the survivors. Someone.
Not him.
He
can -- and did -- fly to Florida to interview Ghislaine Maxwell but he
can't speak to survivors if they have attorneys. He could and did move
Maxwell from a low security facility to a minimum security facility. But
he can't meet with survivors if they have an attorney.
Two more exchanges that we need to note. First up Senator Cory Booker.
Senator Cory Booker: This isn't a job interview. You've sat
before this committee before. You've made promises time and time again
before you got the job—first as Deputy Attorney General and now as
Acting Attorney General. So this isn't a confirmation hearing. This is
more of a performance review. And clearly, when it comes to the
treatment of Epstein victims, when it comes to politically motivated
prosecutions, when it comes to avoiding the appearance of impropriety
with corporations, you failed.
And Senator Mazie Hirano told Blanche, "It is clear to me your leadership will be a continuation of
what we have seen so far at the Trump Department of Justice. You are
more likely to be called the Department of Retribution and Corruption."
Yesterday, the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued the following:
Washington,
D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Chairman Grassley and
Ranking Member Durbin on the Senate Judiciary Committee urging them to
reject the nomination of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. During
testimony before the House Oversight Committee, former Attorney General
Pam Bondi identified Blanche as responsible for the White House cover up
of the Epstein files and referred to him by name over 30 times as being
in charge of the Epstein investigation.
“Todd
Blanche’s failed handling of the Epstein files and his personal
involvement in moving Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security prison
raises serious concerns about whether he is working for the American
people or just protecting Donald Trump. The Attorney General’s job is to
uphold the rule of law, not serve as the President’s personal lawyer.
Blanche is unfit for the role, which is why we’re calling on the Senate
to reject his nomination,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
In
the letter to Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Durbin, Ranking
Member Robert Garcia wrote, “I write to urge the Senate Judiciary
Committee to reject the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as Attorney
General of the United States. More than any other individual, Mr.
Blanche oversaw and implemented the White House coverup of the Epstein
files. He oversaw the violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act
(EFTA), botched the release of the files, and continues to withhold
millions of documents from Congress and the American people. He released
information which put Epstein’s survivors in danger, while the names of
Epstein associates and accomplices were and remain withheld. Further,
he is a central architect of the Administration’s policy of providing
preferential treatment to Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for favorable
testimony. Mr. Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files shows his only
loyalty is to President Trump, his former client, and not delivering
justice to Epstein’s survivors or transparency to the American people.
No nominee with his record should be confirmed to lead the Department.”
###
A
28-year-old man died Tuesday morning after being struck by a
tractor-trailer while fleeing an encounter with federal immigration
agents in St. Augustine, Florida, authorities told Newsweek.
The
man was among four vehicle occupants who ran from U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
agents after stopping at a gas station before 7 a.m., according to
authorities. The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) told Newsweek he ran
across State Road 16 and into the path of a semi-truck.
[. . .]
Noting the Maine killing of Joan Sebastian Guerrero,
Jack Crosbie (ROLLING STONE) notes, "What
we do know is how ICE has responded to past incidents of this matter:
with a stone wall of defiance. Maine's various politicians are calling
for some version of a 'full investigation' (Sen. Susan Collins) that
will 'determine the facts' (Gov. Janet Mills). The investigation is
currently being run by the DHS. In the past, such investigations have
gone nowhere. The officers who killed Good and Alex Pretti in
Minneapolis have yet to be charged. State prosecutors are working on
several cases pertaining to those killings, but have faced stalling and
vague obstruction from federal agencies for months."
Alicia Civita (LATIN TIMES) observes:
The three deaths have prompted an unusual response from federal officials.
President
Trump on Wednesday demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officers continue to stop vehicles as they seek to detain people in the
country without legal status, despite two fatal shootings that led to a
temporary halt to the practice just a day before.
The
rapidly shifting policy is part of what has been a recurring pattern as
the Trump administration has sought to achieve the president’s goal of
mass deportations. As the government’s aggressive tactics have drawn
intense public backlash, homeland security officials have scaled back
the most visible aspects of their crackdown — only to feel the pressure
to ratchet up arrests again.
While Chump tries to ignore the deaths and continue business as usual, others are asking questions and making recommendations.
IsaÃas Alvarado (EL PAIS) explains:why feedback is important:
Joan
Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian and father, was
unarmed and not the target of the operation. Still, an agent from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who stopped him on a street in Biddeford, Maine, opened fire and killed him. The magazine The Atlantic
has reported that the officer who fired had only recently joined the
agency, a detail that has renewed scrutiny of the accelerated training
given to new recruits in the deportation apparatus, which now numbers
about 22,000 officers and has been pushed by President Donald Trump.
The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not explained a detail that
seems crucial: why the agent concluded Durán Guerrero posed a threat
that justified lethal force. While it initially said the victim had used
his vehicle “as a weapon,” a later DHS statement said only that the
officer fired because he “feared for public safety” while the Colombian
“was attempting to flee the scene.” Several videos of the incident that
have emerged and circulated on social media cast doubt on that account.
So far, the government has not revealed the officer’s identity or
confirmed The Atlantic’s reporting.
Last week, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo,
a 52-year-old Mexican immigrant, died after being shot by another ICE
officer during a traffic stop in Houston, Texas. Neither the officer
involved in that case nor the one who killed Durán Guerrero was wearing a
body camera, even though the devices were supposed to be part of the
standard equipment for most immigration officers conducting street
operations, under a DHS commitment following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti
in Minneapolis in January. In the recent cases, the absence of those
recordings makes it harder to reconstruct precisely what happened;
nearby security camera footage, which is often partial, and witness
accounts are the only elements so far helping to clarify events. [. . .]
In
February, Ryan Schwank, a former ICE attorney and the agency’s former
head of deportation officer training, publicly confirmed what many
critics had warned about: that the instruction at the agency’s academy
was insufficient. “I am here because I am duty-bound to report the
legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient,
defective and broken,” he said during a forum organized by two federal lawmakers.
What he revealed next
was even more alarming: “On my first day, I received secretive orders
to teach new cadets to violate the Constitution by entering homes
without a judicial warrant. For the last five months, I watched ICE
dismantle the training program, cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a
584-hour program.” He was referring to the Trump administration’s plan
to recruit, train and deploy new immigration officers at an
unprecedented pace, with the goal of doubling in a single year the
number of officers dedicated to arrests and deportations, to about
22,000 personnel. During that time, recruits were expected to complete
an intensive 42-day course.
It
was not until June that DHS ordered that incoming agents — many of whom
had joined through the accelerated training process — receive
additional instruction. From that month, according to the directive, new
cadets at the ICE academy in Georgia were to complete a roughly 71-day
training program. It was not specified when that process would conclude.
In
an emotional press conference, members of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus unleashed on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an
agency several of the caucus’s members have argued must be disbanded.
“This
is a failure of leadership to allow ICE to continue to go on a rampage,
a killing spree,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the
caucus, said Tuesday morning.
[. . .]
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) offered a scathing assessment of ICE.
“This
is an agency that is targeting, that is profiling, that is stalking
Latinos across the country,” he said, adding he was not surprised both
of the men who were killed were not the people law enforcement was
initially seeking.
He noted that ICE said neither of the two dead men was the target of law enforcement.
“I
think there’s a reason for that, because they have contracted people
who are essentially bounty hunters, as well as their regular agents, to
go out in the streets to look for people,” said Castro, who added that
immigration agents were often looking for construction workers like
Salgado Araujo.
“They don’t need names on a
paper. They’re driving around to see who’s brown, driving around to see
and listen to who speaks Spanish out in public, and then they’re
stopping those people. They’re asking them whether they have papers, and
in these last two cases, they’ve engaged in cold-blooded murder.”
Dozens
of people held at a sprawling Immigration and Customs Enforcement
facility in Texas say they were either beaten by guards or witnessed
others being beaten, according to a new report issued by legal and human
rights advocates.
The 84-page report
issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil
Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana,
located at the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss in El Paso, recounted being denied
necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed
inedible meals. Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting
their lawyers or family members. Of
the 71 detainees contacted over a five month period, 64 — about 90% of
those interviewed — said they had either personally been assaulted by
the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.
“ICE’s
Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a
fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for
the report. “The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct
independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and
put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”
In
interview after interview, detained people told Human Rights Watch that
they were beaten by guards, denied necessary medical care, and
prevented from contacting family members or lawyers. One woman told us
guards and nurses denied her emergency medical care, and she is at risk
of losing her vision permanently as a result. Another man said guards
groped his testicles during beatings and placed him in solitary
confinement arbitrarily. Many detainees told us facility guards denied
them outdoor recreation for weeks at a time, in extreme cases leaving
them without sunlight or any outdoor recreation for over a month.
Detained
people described overcrowded housing areas, bathrooms covered in feces
and urine, and living quarters flooded with dirty water and dust. They
told us they developed infections and other health complications because
the facility failed to clean living spaces, did not have adequate
ventilation, and did not provide basic hygiene supplies, including soap
and hand sanitizer.
[. . .]
The
abuses at Camp East Montana continue a troubling history of confinement
at Fort Bliss. During World War II, Fort Bliss was one of several Texas
military bases used as an incarceration camp for people of Japanese
descent, as well as some German and Italian immigrants. [3] In 2021,
under the administration of President Joe Biden, Fort Bliss was also
used by the US government to detain unaccompanied children who arrived
at the US-Mexico border. Government investigators reported the treatment
children endured at Fort Bliss hindered case management and adversely
affected their safety and well-being.
In April
2026, an ICE internal investigation identified violations of federal
detention standards, including unreported uses of force, medical
neglect, failures to conduct required suicide and wellness checks,
inadequate sexual abuse prevention measures, unanswered grievances, and
systemic failures to process detainee requests for assistance. This
report’s findings corroborate many of these same patterns of government
abuse.
Lastly, as Senator Alex Padilla noted to Todd Blanche in yesterday's hearing, "Here’s the bottom line: Why I’m asking these two questions, because in
prior incidents, you referenced Minnesota earlier in your testimony.
Alex Pretti and Renee Good were also fatally shot, and as far as we can
tell, it’s been months and months. There’s been no justice in these
cases. As far as I can tell, those officers were not fired. They have
not faced any charges, so it does undermine any confidence anybody
should have in the Department of Homeland Security’s ability, through
the Inspector General or otherwise, to investigate its own."
