Mahmoud Khalil isn’t a criminal. He’s a student, a resident, and a protester. In 1841, Adams stood for people like him. In 2025, Trump locks them away…
That is EXACTLY what it means! It is not clear that the people in Oklahoma ever said anything against the regime; the house they were in was apparently raided looking for people who lived their previously. In another posting about this case, I learned that they are all US-born citizens. It is a mother who moved there very recently with three daughters; the father/husband is in another state, intending to follow them to Oklahoma. She is now faced with no money, no computers or cell phones to connect with family, and no local friends for support. I only hope that the justice community comes to their aid.
Yes! If you look at the destruction that has occurred in trump's first 100 days, imagine what what could happen in the next four years if he's not stopped by the midterm elections! The contrast with FDR's first 100 days is the perfect depiction between good and evil. But people are waking up and I believe that--at the end--good wins....
Said inhuman has the "trifecta" right now. The way things are happening, the public will probably want to change that, as neither house of Congress seems to want to stop him. He does not want that to change. I hope, for all our sakes, that it does, and Dems get elected to all positions up for grabs just to stop this insanity. We shall see.
IMHO there are layers to this. As # 45, he also wanted to "denatiuaralize" some citizens. Most of them had been natiralized, and the basis was in effect lying to the govenrment about status.
But he can try to declare that affiliation with "terrorist" organizations permit him to denatiuaralize even people who were citizens by birth. If Steven Miller is defining who is a terrorist, all of us may be in trouble.
1) Illegal procurement of naturalization: Procuring naturalization illegally means that the individual was not eligible for naturalization in the first place because he or she does not meet or failed to comply with all of the statutory requirements for naturalization. In such a case, the individual’s U.S. citizenship can be revoked even if the individual is innocent of any willful deception or misrepresentation. For instance, in February 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas revoked the naturalization of Sammy Chang, a naturalized U.S. citizen from South Korea, after Chang admitted to smuggling women from South Korea and forcing them to work for him prior to his naturalization, an act that adversely reflected on his good moral character. The court denaturalized Chang through civil denaturalization proceedings because his conduct of obtaining forced labor should have barred him from obtaining citizenship.
In addition, the federal government may choose to denaturalize an individual if he or she is or becomes a member or affiliated with the Communist Party, another totalitarian party, or a terrorist organization within ten years immediately preceding the filing of the naturalization application or the five years immediately following naturalization. In this case, affiliation with certain political parties or organizations precludes naturalization because it shows that the individual is not attached to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.
2) Procurement of naturalization by concealing a material fact or by willful misrepresentation: The federal government may also seek to denaturalize an individual if there is “deliberate deceit on the part of the person” in failing to disclose or misrepresenting a material fact that influences the decision to award the individual U.S. citizenship. The concealment or misrepresentation of a material fact can be made orally during the naturalization interview or in writing on the naturalization application. For example, an individual who misstates his or her employment in order to prevent an USCIS adjudicator from finding out his or her real employment activity has engaged in concealment. The individual is at risk of denaturalization if the concealment or misrepresentation was material to the individual obtaining citizenship.
AI. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1798, were a series of laws signed into effect by President John Adams during his presidency. These acts aimed to address perceived national security threats and limit the power of the Democratic-Republican Party, which was critical of the Federalist-dominated administration. The Acts included the Alien Act, which authorized the president to deport non-citizens deemed dangerous, and the Sedition Act, which criminalized criticism of the government.
The regime has already instituted the beginnings of a police state. ICE/CBP are rightfully powerful police organizations--but they must act within the law. Their duty is to protect--not to take away lawful rights. If the cases you cited, Thom, do not prove that the government wildly overstepped its authority in each one, the right to due process will be eliminated for all of us.
Because, at least in our lifetimes, the only president who has blatantly challenged and ignored our laws is the current one--in both terms. He should have been stopped during his first term, and we are living with the consequences that he was not.
All the agencies that were said to be involved in the Oklahoma case are denying now that they played a major role, or were even there. Okay, if they're not lying, who were these guys? Does some private group have a contract to do these raids? There needs to be a serious investigation of this and all these smash-and-grab operations, which violate every fundamental precept, and a trust in government, that have bound us together as nation and a people.
Jeffrey you raise a question, that even the likes of Rachel Maddow doesn't ask. I saw video of the arrest of the Turkish woman, she was accosted and arrested by people in civilian clothes and they didn't even show a badge.
Something is going on here and what is left of a liberal media, needs to dig into it. Chris Hayes, Ali Velshi, Ayman Moheyldin, Simone, Rachel any of them, all of them.. yet crickets
Why?This is obviously a scandal as big as Hegseth.
Apparently these masked men with guns we’re HSI, Homeland Security Investigators. There are thousands of them working for Homeland Security. According to Rachel Maddow tonight.
It came out tonight 4/30 on Rachel Maddow that it was “HSI” Homeland Security investigations”. There was a receipt for items taken with the initials HSI on it but no phone or contact information to get things back. The Rachel Maddow show couldn’t get any information out of HSI to assist the people in OK.
The Oklahoma story begs the question of who's next?
The US economy is in ruins and getting worse daily. Curiously, even the Billionaire oligarchs do not seem to realize that their wealth too is evaporating. Our leadership status in the world is gone. Even our neighboring countries now hate us. Our government is a mess, sabotaged by the richest man in the world pretending to improve efficiency. Secty Wormbrain is shutting down all public health services - even ending monitoring the safety of our food chain. He has also shut down all medical research that will take years to restore. You cannot stop a study and then pick up where you left off 3 months later.
Trump is militarizing our government with pro-neo-Nazi thugs (mostly illegal militias, sheriffs, and state troopers notoriously staffed by violent and corrupt thugs) to round up immigrants who we need to support our agriculture and our science, as well as Trump-declared enemies of the state. Those same Nazis will soon be silencing more judges and journalists. DOD is now run by a failed Major who is more concerned with his macho appearance on TV than keeping America safe. Worse, he has compromised our global intelligence networks, is encouraging sexism, racism, and, neo-Nazi beliefs like eugenics among the troops - undermining military unit cohesion and teamwork.
Any rational Congress would already be impeaching the entire administration before our country implodes and the bottom 95% of Americans are thrown into poverty, or jail, or mass graves.
It is beyond time to act. The last slim hope of saving our democracy was for Joe Biden to stop the peaceful transition of power to trump until he was tried for all crimes against him.
Now the only thing left is the Power of the People. That power belongs to the essential workers of America. If members of each group, on a specific date, organized a call in sick - stay at home protest all people in our country would be immediately impacted. When essential workers stay home public schools are closed, airports are shut down, and mail is not delivered. When other groups join in the trump administration will crumble and fail. Trump will be blamed and members of Congress will be forced to act. They will have to impeach trump to save our country.
I'm sorry to report, Thom, that this is the one issue that unites most MAGATs. Gives them an excuse for torturing "the other."
IMHO if we need massive public protests, but if we want to force some Congressional Republicans to stop Trump policies, protest national security, protest agianst the idiot Hegseth, SIGNAL, and especially capitulation to Putin , which can change things NOW.
Ask every Congressional Republican, on the record about Trump's conduct re Ukraine.
I personally dispise Trump and his deportations, but those issues are currently in litigation and the answer could come from the inherent contempt power of the judiciary.
"it’s about the most fundamental American principle: that all people possess inalienable rights, even those who aren’t citizens or are accused of a crime"
Thugs do one thing really well - terror. The OKC case is right out of some third-world shitshow of gangsters looting some random victim. How is this so? They took only cash, IDs, and fence-able goods. To these goons, given license by papa terrorist-in-chief Homan, do not need to be correct, or intelligent, or dutiful to the rights of citizens. I guarantee you, these four females will become poster victims for the neo-fascists in Okeyland. Now if the family had been native to the area, the hue and cry from redneck land would be deafening.
TFG cannot create and does not need a Plan. Stochastic rabble rousing and terrorism is the plan without a plan. We are ping pong balls in a wind tunnel of sewer stench. This TFG rabble is incapable of management. They all are thieves and would-be bullies. But they contract with punks to do the dirty work. Plausible deniability. If this does not resemble a doppelganger of Putin's prison without walls, what does?
The only possible answer is numbers. Regular folks outnumber the thugs by 1000s to one. We should, in every district, be protecting judges with citizen armies, and have neighborhood watches that can call out citizen militia when some bad crap goes down. Thom said it yesterday, if not for the tenth time - domestic terrorism is here, and in high gear.
What are we waiting for - Ozzie and Harriet to be mugged in the park while having a picnic? NIMBY Does Not Apply. I dare all of you to become WOKE. It might feel good to be loathed by threat actors.
Actually, autocracies love judiciaries, in that captured courts give them a patina of legitimacy. If nothing else. they are useful for crushing dissent, thereby solidifying power, As we speak (well, write) Trump is hard at work bringing our judicial system under the aegis of the executive branch. If it goes so do the remains of our democracy.
The Amistad incident sealed John Quincy's place as the greatest former President of all time. He hasn't been challenged in all this time except by the fine work that Jimmy Carter did to provide housing to those without. If I had to vote, I'd place Carter at the pinnacle and relegate Adams to a close second. No shame in that, is there?
That phrase is carved above the main entrance to The Supreme Court Building. It doesn't say anything about only citizens may apply.
These no-due-process incidents are tests. Trump and his wrecking crew want to see how far they can go with the blessing of the courts, law enforcement, and We the People of the streets.
The tragedies are going to keep piling-up. We cannot let that happen by giving our tacit permission. Good people are working on this issue. Be one of them. Speak. Write. Call. Put it on a sign and get out there if you can.
Before the election threats to democracy, and the rise of authoritarianism were seen as hypothetical, abstract, but unlikely possibilities. How else to explain Trump’s reelection?
During the last 100 days the abstract has become concrete; no longer a possibility, but a reality.
The good news is that “we the people” are waking up. We are again being given the opportunity to affirm or reject whether or not this nation is still dedicated to the proposition that “all people are created equal”. Will government “ of the people, by the people, and for the people” perish from the earth? History will never forgive us if we allow it to happen!!
What is being done for this family left destitute by these thugs? They need to be provided them with the type of information being disseminated to the immigrant communities. I hope that social services are reaching out and providing them with basic resources and access to legal representation. Let us know if there is anyone who should be contacted.
It’s popular in some quarters to insist that comparing our current circumstances to Nazi Germany is hyperbolic. Not so. The erosion of our signature liberties is deliberate and accelerating, thanks in no small part to deep corruption in all three branches of our government. It is a fatal error to assume goodwill on the part of any of those in power. Ever.
So does this mean that those US citizens who speak out against Trump can have this happen to them also? The founding fathers must be more than upset.
That is EXACTLY what it means! It is not clear that the people in Oklahoma ever said anything against the regime; the house they were in was apparently raided looking for people who lived their previously. In another posting about this case, I learned that they are all US-born citizens. It is a mother who moved there very recently with three daughters; the father/husband is in another state, intending to follow them to Oklahoma. She is now faced with no money, no computers or cell phones to connect with family, and no local friends for support. I only hope that the justice community comes to their aid.
Yes! If you look at the destruction that has occurred in trump's first 100 days, imagine what what could happen in the next four years if he's not stopped by the midterm elections! The contrast with FDR's first 100 days is the perfect depiction between good and evil. But people are waking up and I believe that--at the end--good wins....
What frightens me is whether there will be elections in 2026. This inhuman being does not want to be constrained.
That concerns me also.
How can that possibly happen? What happens to Senate seats that are up for reelection?
Said inhuman has the "trifecta" right now. The way things are happening, the public will probably want to change that, as neither house of Congress seems to want to stop him. He does not want that to change. I hope, for all our sakes, that it does, and Dems get elected to all positions up for grabs just to stop this insanity. We shall see.
Spinning like turbines in their graves.
IMHO there are layers to this. As # 45, he also wanted to "denatiuaralize" some citizens. Most of them had been natiralized, and the basis was in effect lying to the govenrment about status.
But he can try to declare that affiliation with "terrorist" organizations permit him to denatiuaralize even people who were citizens by birth. If Steven Miller is defining who is a terrorist, all of us may be in trouble.
1) Illegal procurement of naturalization: Procuring naturalization illegally means that the individual was not eligible for naturalization in the first place because he or she does not meet or failed to comply with all of the statutory requirements for naturalization. In such a case, the individual’s U.S. citizenship can be revoked even if the individual is innocent of any willful deception or misrepresentation. For instance, in February 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas revoked the naturalization of Sammy Chang, a naturalized U.S. citizen from South Korea, after Chang admitted to smuggling women from South Korea and forcing them to work for him prior to his naturalization, an act that adversely reflected on his good moral character. The court denaturalized Chang through civil denaturalization proceedings because his conduct of obtaining forced labor should have barred him from obtaining citizenship.
In addition, the federal government may choose to denaturalize an individual if he or she is or becomes a member or affiliated with the Communist Party, another totalitarian party, or a terrorist organization within ten years immediately preceding the filing of the naturalization application or the five years immediately following naturalization. In this case, affiliation with certain political parties or organizations precludes naturalization because it shows that the individual is not attached to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.
2) Procurement of naturalization by concealing a material fact or by willful misrepresentation: The federal government may also seek to denaturalize an individual if there is “deliberate deceit on the part of the person” in failing to disclose or misrepresenting a material fact that influences the decision to award the individual U.S. citizenship. The concealment or misrepresentation of a material fact can be made orally during the naturalization interview or in writing on the naturalization application. For example, an individual who misstates his or her employment in order to prevent an USCIS adjudicator from finding out his or her real employment activity has engaged in concealment. The individual is at risk of denaturalization if the concealment or misrepresentation was material to the individual obtaining citizenship.
Communist party or another totalitarian party like maga?
Muskrat would be vulnerable under enforcement of this law, but it may be too late to revoke his citizenship.
The founding fathers included John Adams.
AI. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1798, were a series of laws signed into effect by President John Adams during his presidency. These acts aimed to address perceived national security threats and limit the power of the Democratic-Republican Party, which was critical of the Federalist-dominated administration. The Acts included the Alien Act, which authorized the president to deport non-citizens deemed dangerous, and the Sedition Act, which criminalized criticism of the government.
The regime has already instituted the beginnings of a police state. ICE/CBP are rightfully powerful police organizations--but they must act within the law. Their duty is to protect--not to take away lawful rights. If the cases you cited, Thom, do not prove that the government wildly overstepped its authority in each one, the right to due process will be eliminated for all of us.
Hard cases make bad law.
We have too many bad laws these days that permit a president to act like a dictator.
Because, at least in our lifetimes, the only president who has blatantly challenged and ignored our laws is the current one--in both terms. He should have been stopped during his first term, and we are living with the consequences that he was not.
All the agencies that were said to be involved in the Oklahoma case are denying now that they played a major role, or were even there. Okay, if they're not lying, who were these guys? Does some private group have a contract to do these raids? There needs to be a serious investigation of this and all these smash-and-grab operations, which violate every fundamental precept, and a trust in government, that have bound us together as nation and a people.
Jeffrey you raise a question, that even the likes of Rachel Maddow doesn't ask. I saw video of the arrest of the Turkish woman, she was accosted and arrested by people in civilian clothes and they didn't even show a badge.
Something is going on here and what is left of a liberal media, needs to dig into it. Chris Hayes, Ali Velshi, Ayman Moheyldin, Simone, Rachel any of them, all of them.. yet crickets
Why?This is obviously a scandal as big as Hegseth.
It's all over the news - google "oklahoma family raided by ice". Even on Fox. And yes, Rachel as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUMJqz53YW0
Apparently these masked men with guns we’re HSI, Homeland Security Investigators. There are thousands of them working for Homeland Security. According to Rachel Maddow tonight.
It came out tonight 4/30 on Rachel Maddow that it was “HSI” Homeland Security investigations”. There was a receipt for items taken with the initials HSI on it but no phone or contact information to get things back. The Rachel Maddow show couldn’t get any information out of HSI to assist the people in OK.
The Oklahoma story begs the question of who's next?
The US economy is in ruins and getting worse daily. Curiously, even the Billionaire oligarchs do not seem to realize that their wealth too is evaporating. Our leadership status in the world is gone. Even our neighboring countries now hate us. Our government is a mess, sabotaged by the richest man in the world pretending to improve efficiency. Secty Wormbrain is shutting down all public health services - even ending monitoring the safety of our food chain. He has also shut down all medical research that will take years to restore. You cannot stop a study and then pick up where you left off 3 months later.
Trump is militarizing our government with pro-neo-Nazi thugs (mostly illegal militias, sheriffs, and state troopers notoriously staffed by violent and corrupt thugs) to round up immigrants who we need to support our agriculture and our science, as well as Trump-declared enemies of the state. Those same Nazis will soon be silencing more judges and journalists. DOD is now run by a failed Major who is more concerned with his macho appearance on TV than keeping America safe. Worse, he has compromised our global intelligence networks, is encouraging sexism, racism, and, neo-Nazi beliefs like eugenics among the troops - undermining military unit cohesion and teamwork.
Any rational Congress would already be impeaching the entire administration before our country implodes and the bottom 95% of Americans are thrown into poverty, or jail, or mass graves.
It is beyond time to act. The last slim hope of saving our democracy was for Joe Biden to stop the peaceful transition of power to trump until he was tried for all crimes against him.
Now the only thing left is the Power of the People. That power belongs to the essential workers of America. If members of each group, on a specific date, organized a call in sick - stay at home protest all people in our country would be immediately impacted. When essential workers stay home public schools are closed, airports are shut down, and mail is not delivered. When other groups join in the trump administration will crumble and fail. Trump will be blamed and members of Congress will be forced to act. They will have to impeach trump to save our country.
I'm sorry to report, Thom, that this is the one issue that unites most MAGATs. Gives them an excuse for torturing "the other."
IMHO if we need massive public protests, but if we want to force some Congressional Republicans to stop Trump policies, protest national security, protest agianst the idiot Hegseth, SIGNAL, and especially capitulation to Putin , which can change things NOW.
Ask every Congressional Republican, on the record about Trump's conduct re Ukraine.
I personally dispise Trump and his deportations, but those issues are currently in litigation and the answer could come from the inherent contempt power of the judiciary.
"it’s about the most fundamental American principle: that all people possess inalienable rights, even those who aren’t citizens or are accused of a crime"
100%
Thugs do one thing really well - terror. The OKC case is right out of some third-world shitshow of gangsters looting some random victim. How is this so? They took only cash, IDs, and fence-able goods. To these goons, given license by papa terrorist-in-chief Homan, do not need to be correct, or intelligent, or dutiful to the rights of citizens. I guarantee you, these four females will become poster victims for the neo-fascists in Okeyland. Now if the family had been native to the area, the hue and cry from redneck land would be deafening.
TFG cannot create and does not need a Plan. Stochastic rabble rousing and terrorism is the plan without a plan. We are ping pong balls in a wind tunnel of sewer stench. This TFG rabble is incapable of management. They all are thieves and would-be bullies. But they contract with punks to do the dirty work. Plausible deniability. If this does not resemble a doppelganger of Putin's prison without walls, what does?
The only possible answer is numbers. Regular folks outnumber the thugs by 1000s to one. We should, in every district, be protecting judges with citizen armies, and have neighborhood watches that can call out citizen militia when some bad crap goes down. Thom said it yesterday, if not for the tenth time - domestic terrorism is here, and in high gear.
What are we waiting for - Ozzie and Harriet to be mugged in the park while having a picnic? NIMBY Does Not Apply. I dare all of you to become WOKE. It might feel good to be loathed by threat actors.
“[T]o I appease right wing donors and right wing pressure groups.”
I’m afraid there is more to it than that, Tom!
A huge chunk of the ruling class wants to chuck and end our and their democracy!
And they are damn near close!
With no due process there is no need for judges, with no judges there is no rule of law: Hello Autocracy!
Actually, autocracies love judiciaries, in that captured courts give them a patina of legitimacy. If nothing else. they are useful for crushing dissent, thereby solidifying power, As we speak (well, write) Trump is hard at work bringing our judicial system under the aegis of the executive branch. If it goes so do the remains of our democracy.
The Amistad incident sealed John Quincy's place as the greatest former President of all time. He hasn't been challenged in all this time except by the fine work that Jimmy Carter did to provide housing to those without. If I had to vote, I'd place Carter at the pinnacle and relegate Adams to a close second. No shame in that, is there?
Using the military to silence protestor is next in the fascist playbook.
@DoNotTurnOnUs: Organizing civilians, veterans and active duty military to refuse fascist orders
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/04/30/donotturnonus-organizing-civilians-veterans-and-active-duty-military-to-refuse-fascist-orders/
Equal Justice Under Law
That phrase is carved above the main entrance to The Supreme Court Building. It doesn't say anything about only citizens may apply.
These no-due-process incidents are tests. Trump and his wrecking crew want to see how far they can go with the blessing of the courts, law enforcement, and We the People of the streets.
The tragedies are going to keep piling-up. We cannot let that happen by giving our tacit permission. Good people are working on this issue. Be one of them. Speak. Write. Call. Put it on a sign and get out there if you can.
Thanks, Thom. See you in the streets.
That's true, but in deportation cases, claimants do not get full due process. The Administrative Procedure Act does not apply.
I posted the stats the other day. Without a lawyer the chances of a claimant prevailing range from slim to none.
Before the election threats to democracy, and the rise of authoritarianism were seen as hypothetical, abstract, but unlikely possibilities. How else to explain Trump’s reelection?
During the last 100 days the abstract has become concrete; no longer a possibility, but a reality.
The good news is that “we the people” are waking up. We are again being given the opportunity to affirm or reject whether or not this nation is still dedicated to the proposition that “all people are created equal”. Will government “ of the people, by the people, and for the people” perish from the earth? History will never forgive us if we allow it to happen!!
How else to explain Trump’s reelection?
Answer: Psy ops.
What is being done for this family left destitute by these thugs? They need to be provided them with the type of information being disseminated to the immigrant communities. I hope that social services are reaching out and providing them with basic resources and access to legal representation. Let us know if there is anyone who should be contacted.
It’s popular in some quarters to insist that comparing our current circumstances to Nazi Germany is hyperbolic. Not so. The erosion of our signature liberties is deliberate and accelerating, thanks in no small part to deep corruption in all three branches of our government. It is a fatal error to assume goodwill on the part of any of those in power. Ever.
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
"But that is the beginning of a new story - the story of the gradual
renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing
from one world into another, of his initiation into a new, unknown life.
That might be the subject of a new story, but our present story is
ended."
Bedlam, American Style.