After an hourslong delay from the initial goal of noon, U.S. Senate Republicans on Saturday night kicked off the process of passing their 940-page budget reconciliation package — which the chamber’s Democrats are making the clerks read in full, not only to draw out the process but also to highlight the various provisions expected to harm American families. “Senate Republicans are scrambling…
Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez on Saturday held a rally outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in New York City to promote her recently introduced No Masks for ICE Act. “We would never accept it if the NYPD operated in masks without names or badges — and we shouldn’t accept it from ICE either,” Velázquez (D-N.Y.) said in a statement, referring to the New York Police…
Nearly all U.S. Senate Republicans and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania on Friday evening blocked a resolution that reiterated Congress’ authority to declare war and would have ordered President Donald Trump to stop taking military action against Iran without congressional approval. Every other member of the Democratic Caucus and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) supported holding a final…
Ahead of a vote on Republicans’ budget reconciliation package expected as soon as noon Saturday, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee revived his effort to sell off public lands. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has blocked multiple provisions of the GOP megabill, including several under the jurisdiction of the Utah Republican’s panel.
That was how American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick responded on social media Monday to reporting that a man impersonating a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent zip-tied a woman working as a cashier at a cash-only auto repair shop in Philadelphia and stole around $1,000 on Sunday afternoon.
The incident comes as Republican U.S. President Donald Trump tries to deliver on his campaign promise of mass deportations, sparking protests, including in Los Angeles, where Trump has deployed Marines and federalized the California National Guard—a move the state’s Democratic governor and attorney general are challenging in court.
“Expect many, many more stories like this. The Trump administration is a criminal enterprise, emboldening street crimes and white collar crimes.”
“He kept saying he is immigration officer,” the 50-year-old cashier in Philadelphia, a legal U.S. resident who is from the Dominican Republic, toldFox 29‘s Steve Keeley. Showing the journalist her bruises, she said that the man tied her arms behind her back, and “every time I tried to turn around to look at his face, he twisted me around roughly.”
Although the shop is next to the Philadelphia Police 15th District, it took over two hours before the victim could connect with law enforcement. Police said in a Tuesday statement that the man, who escaped in a white Ford cargo van with red dashes around the middle, remains at large.
Police released surveillance photos of the van and the man, described as a white male in a “black baseball cap with U.S. flag on the front, black sunglasses, black long sleeve shirt, wearing gloves, black tactical vest with ‘Security Enforcement Agent,’ and dark green cargo pants.”
— (@)
In response to Keeley’s social media posts about the robbery, journalist Ryan Grim said early Tuesday that “this type of crime is now possible because ICE agents insist on going around like masked thugs.”
Author and Philadelphia native Robert A. Karl warned: “Expect many, many more stories like this. The Trump administration is a criminal enterprise, emboldening street crimes and white collar crimes.”
The social media account of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota’s Senate District 45 similarly said: “Any criminal can now put on a mask, say he is from ICE, and conduct any crime (including kidnapping and rape) and people are expected to just stand aside? Actual law enforcement DOES NOT conceal their identity and act like street thugs while doing their job. This must stop!”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams.
As this year’s United Nations Ocean Conference began in France on Monday, scientists published a study showing that another “planetary boundary,” or barriers that ensure the Earth is a “safe operating space for humanity,” has been crossed. Researchers said in 2023 that 6 of the 9 boundaries — biogeochemical flows, biosphere integrity, the climate, freshwater, land use…
With over 54,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip killed by the Israeli assault and the 2 million survivors suffering from the ongoing bombings and blockade on essentials, nearly two dozens progressives in the U.S. Congress came together Thursday to call for passage of a bill that would withhold offensive weapons from Israel. Like former Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden…
Immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday launched a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for detaining migrants at the U.S. naval station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — the site of a “notorious” prison where several foreign men and boys were indefinitely held and tortured as part of the so-called War on Terror. The class action suit was filed in the District of Columbia by the ACLU’s…
Yet another Trump administration deportation case is sparking outrage: This time, a 4-year-old Mexican girl and her parents face expulsion, despite the family coming to the United States legally and the child’s risk of death if she loses the medical care she is receiving in California. The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday shared the story of the family, which came to the United States on…
Demand Progress on Monday led over 140 organizations “committed to protecting civil rights, promoting consumer protections, and fostering responsible innovation” in a letter opposing U.S. House Republicans’ inclusion of legislation that would ban state and local laws regulating artificial intelligence in a megabill advanced by the Budget Committee late Sunday. Section 43201(c) — added by U.S.
Abortion rights defenders and scientists expressed deep concern after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remarks about mifepristone, a key medication used to end pregnancies, at a Wednesday congressional hearing. During the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) inquired about the secretary’s previous pledge to…
Extinction Rebellion and other climate organizations on Saturday held a funeral for the Paris agreement’s 1.5ºC temperature target in Cambridge, England. “The mock funeral idea grew out of the need to process the enormity and sadness of this moment,” Alex Martin of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Cambridge said in a statement. “While many people are distracted by 1,001 things on their phones…
A federal judge in California on Friday temporarily blocked what at coalition of labor unions, local governments, and nonprofits argued was “the unconstitutional dismantling of the federal government by the president of the United States on a scale unprecedented in this country’s history and in clear excess of his authority.” Since returning to office in January, U.S.
The Trump administration on Monday announced what it called “historic travel assistance and stipend for voluntary self-deportation,” prompting one expert to issue a warning to undocumented immigrants who may consider the offer. “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest…
As congressional Republicans consider slashing the federal safety net to fund tax giveaways for the wealthy, polling published Thursday by KFF shows that a large majority of Americans oppose cuts to health programs, including Medicaid. The research group asked respondents about potential funding cuts for various programs, and found that 84% oppose cuts to Social Security, 79%
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Apr. 23, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
The Trump administration has not only sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran megaprison due to an “administrative error” and so far refused to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order to facilitate his return to the United States, but also shared on social media the home address of his family in Maryland, forcing them to relocate.
The news that Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and her children were “moved to a safe house by supporters” after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X a 2021 order of protection petition that Vasquez Sura filed but soon abandoned was reported early Tuesday by The Washington Post.
“I don’t feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,” said Vasquez Sura. “So, this is definitely a bit terrifying. I’m scared for my kids.”
A DHS spokesperson did not respond Monday to a request for a comment about not redacting the family’s address, according to the newspaper’s lengthy story about Vasquez Sura—who shares a 5-year-old nonverbal, autistic son with Abrego Garcia and has a 9-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter from a previous relationship that was abusive.
On Wednesday, The New Republicpublished a short article highlighting the safe house detail and noting that “the government has not commented on the decision to leave the family’s address in the document it posted online,” sparking a fresh wave of outrage over the Trump administration endangering the family.
He was "mistakenly" deported to prison camp, and it was just a "slip-up" that they then posted his wife's address. Bullshit. If these are all accidents, who's getting fired?
“The Trump administration doxxed an American citizen, endangering her and her children,” MSNBC contributor Rotimi Adeoye wrote on X Wednesday. “This is completely unacceptable and flat-out wrong.”
Several others responded on the social media platform Bluesky.
“These fascists didn’t stop at abducting Abrego Garcia, they’ve now doxxed his wife, forcing her into hiding,” said Dean Preston, the leader of a renters’ rights organization. “The Trump administration is terrorizing this family. Speak up, show up, resist.”
Jonathan Cohn, political director for the group Progressive Mass, similarly declared, “The Trump administration is terrorizing this woman.”
Katherine Hawkins, senior legal analyst for the Project On Government Oversight’s Constitution Project, openly wondered “if publishing Abrego Garcia and his wife’s home address violates federal or (particularly) Maryland laws.”
“Definitely unconscionable and further demonstration of bad faith/intimidation,” Hawkins added.
While Abrego Garcia’s family seeks refuge in a U.S. safe house, he remains behind bars in his native El Salvador—despite the Supreme Court order from earlier this month and an immigration judge’s 2019 decision that was supposed to prevent his deportation. Multiple congressional Democrats have flown to the country in recent days to support demands for his freedom.
Social Security advocates celebrated a hard-fought win on Wednesday while still stressing that the Trump administration poses a dire threat to millions of Americans’ earned benefits. The Social Security Administration on Tuesday seemingly walked back plans to require beneficiaries to verify their identities using an online system and force those who couldn’t do so to provide documentation at…
Alarm over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs continues to grow, with stocks plummeting and JPMorgan warning that “the risk of recession in the global economy this year is raised to 60%, up from 40%.” After China announced new 34% tariffs on all American goods beginning next week, The Associated Press reported Friday that “the S&P 500 was down 4.8% in afternoon trading…
Echoing a party-line vote by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee last week, the chamber’s Republicans on Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, former televison host Dr. Mehmet Oz. Since Trump nominated Oz — who previously ran as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania — a wide range of critics have argued that the…
Yunseo Chung, a junior at Columbia University, sued U.S. President Donald Trump and other top officials in the Southern District of New York on Monday, challenging “the government’s shocking overreach in seeking to deport a college student… who is a lawful permanent resident of this country, because of her protected speech.” The 21-year-old, who moved from South Korea to the United States…
As U.S. President Donald Trump’s temporary leader of the Social Security Administration threatened to shut down the agency over an unfavorable court ruling on Friday, the billionaire commerce secretary came under fire for suggesting that only “fraudsters” will complain if they don’t get their earned benefits. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on All-In — a podcast hosted by…
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday publicly revealed that he was invoking the Alien Enemies Act, legal groups took action, which led to a federal judge temporarily blocking the administration from using the 1798 law for deportations. Chief Judge James Boasberg of the District Court for the District of Columbia issued “a classwide, nationwide temporary restraining order…
As the Trump administration’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil sparks legal battles and demonstrations, Columbia University announced Thursday that it has revoked degrees from some other pro-Palestinian campus protesters. A campuswide email reported by The Associated Press and shared on social media by Drop Site News says that “the Columbia University Judicial Board determined findings and…
A federal judge on Thursday reinstated Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board, and suggested that U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her was an example of the Republican testing how much he can exceed his constitutional powers. Wilcox filed a federal lawsuit in February, after Trump ousted her and NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. On Thursday…
A televised Oval Office screaming match between U.S. and Ukrainian leaders on Friday led to politicians worldwide reaffirming support for Ukraine, congressional Democrats decrying the Trump administration, and human rights advocates expressing alarm about what lies ahead. U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance took turns berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy…
Consumer advocates on Thursday slammed the Trump administration for dropping various enforcement actions against companies accused of activities that include ripping off savings account holders, illegally collecting on student loans, and engaging in an unlawful mortgage broker kickback scheme. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s notices of voluntary dismissal came as the U.S.
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 28, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
A union that represents over 800,000 employees of the federal and District of Columbia governments on Tuesday responded with alarm to U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to pressure some workers to leave their jobs.
“The number of civil servants hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services,” said American Federation of Government Employees national president Everett Kelley in a statement. “Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government.”
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary,” Kelley added, referring to a memo emailed to federal employees on Tuesday. “Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
Another labor group for federal workers, the National Treasury Employees Union, filed suit last week over one of those orders, which reinstated, with some amendments, the “Schedule F” measure that Trump implemented near the end of his first term.
In response to the administration’s actions regarding the federal workforce, some critics have pointed to the Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025, from which the Republican president unsuccessfully tried to distance himself while on the campaign trail. As Common Dreamsreported earlier Tuesday, a U.S. tech researcher revealed that the authors of policies published by Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have ties to the far-right organization and its infamous initiative.
Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said in a Tuesday night statement that “Donald Trump is trying every trick he and his Project 2025 cronies can think of to circumvent established civil service protections so they can purge the civil service of experts and replace them with political loyalists.”
“The victims here, as is always the case with Donald Trump, are the American people who will see government services and benefits allocated not by nonpartisan civil servants, but by partisan hacks,” added Connolly, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Once again, I was repeatedly told I was overreacting when predicting the implementation of the unitary executive theory—the main goal of Project 2025.www.axios.com/2025/01/28/t…
Connolly and Kelley’s and comments on Tuesday came after a senior Trump official told Axios that “the government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards. We’re five years past Covid and just 6% of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable.”
While Axios broke the news of the “acceleration in President Trump’s already unprecedented purge of the federal workforce,” other media outlets also swiftly published related reports. Government Executivecalled out the debunked 6% figure, noting that “more than half of federal workers cannot telework because their duties are portable, and employees who telework spent around 60% of their work hours in person, per 2024 Office of Management and Budget data.”
Many initial reports framed the message to federal workers as a “buyout” program, but after OPM posted the full memo on its website, experts including Alan Mygatt-Tauber, an adjust professor at Seattle University School of Law, emphasized that it “is absolutely NOT an early resignation offer with eight months severance pay.”
Slate journalist Mark Joseph Stern similarly stressed that “this is NOT a buyout! Those who take the offer simply get permission to telework through September, at which point they lose their jobs. Media coverage of the details has been pretty misleading.”
The OPM memo emailed to workers explains that the “reformed federal workforce” will be built around four pillars: a return to the office, performance culture, a more streamlined and flexible workforce, and enhanced standards of conduct.
The memo states:
If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce. At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.
If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program. This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason).
The offer “applies to all full-time federal employees, except for military personnel, the Postal Service, and those working in immigration enforcement or national security,” Axios detailed. The White House expects 5-10% of workers will take the deal.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is now in charge of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, famously sent a similar email to employees shortly after he took over Twitter, which he renamed X, asking them to opt in to keep working at the company.
White House officials wouldn’t say whether he was involved in the current effort. But the subject line of the email that will be sent to federal workers is: “A fork in the road.”
Musk now has a post pinned on X of an art piece he commissioned called “A Fork in the Road.”
Although “department” is in the name of the Musk-led entity, it is actually a presidential advisory commission—and although the billionaire initially suggested that it would lead the effort to cut $2 trillion in annual spending, he has since tempered expectations.
The commission and Musk, the world’s richest person, have faced intense scrutiny from watchdog groups and progressive lawmakers, though some have also offered advice on how to pursue significant cuts without harming the lives of working people, including: ending privatized Medicare, reducing prescription drug prices, and slashing the Pentagon’s massive budget.
This post was updated after the Office of Personnel Management memo was officially released to clarify the buyout language and add comment from Congressman Gerry Connolly.
Israeli forces killed at least 19 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning during a three-hour delay in implementing a cease-fire and hostage-release deal that Israel’s Cabinet finally approved the previous day. After over 15 months of a U.S.-backed military assault for which Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on…
Citing four unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration intends to start delivering on his long-promised mass deportations with “a large-scale immigration raid” in Chicago, Illinois that “is expected to begin on Tuesday morning, a day after Trump is inaugurated, and will last all week.” “The Trump team intends to target…
As Israel’s military continued its 15-month assault that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and decimated the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that early Saturday the full Cabinet approved a recently announced cease-fire and hostage-release deal that is set to take effect at 8:30 am local time Sunday. The 24-8 vote on the three-phase deal…