I couldn’t say all I wanted to say in yesterday’s blog post. Ready or not, here comes more….
Immigration was not handled well during the first Trump Administration (i.e. people put in cages and children separated from their parents without a means of identification). Immigration was mishandled by the Biden Administration (i.e. too lax about enforcing border security). But immigration is a disaster during the second Trump Administration.
Where is the voice of reason? Where is common sense?
Deployment of California National Guard
A full month after the major protests against ICE in a Los Angeles neighborhood, Trump decided it was finally time to let thousands of California National Guard members return to their families and their jobs. Some of them have started speaking out about that experience.
The New York Times is reporting that some of the National Guard personnel have voiced serious concern over being deployed by President Trump. They are calling it a “fake mission.”
The New York Times reported, “Six member of the Guard – including infantrymen, officers and two officials in leadership roles – spoke of low morale and deep concern that the deployment may hurt recruitment for the state-based military force for years to come.”
There are reports of some members of the California National Guard voicing misgivings from the beginning about the deployment.
For Trump to keep them in warehouses in Los Angeles for a full four weeks after all threat of civil violence was over, is the icing on the cake.
It is still beside the point that Trump did not have the authority to deploy a state’s National Guard under the existing circumstances. That authority rests with the state’s governor.
“The moral injuries of this operation, I think, will be enduring. This is not what the military of our country was designed to do, at all,” one member of the Guard told The Times.”
The piece reported that National Guard personnel of Hispanic heritage were especially uncomfortable being deployed to assist ICE in rounding up illegal aliens.
Just one more instance of the chipping away of our democracy and rule of law.
“Take the rest of ‘those people,’ but don’t take my neighbor”
Nicholas Kristof wrote an op-ed in The New York Times last Saturday. Here’s the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/19/opinion/immigrants-ice-deportation.html.
The situation he wrote about is a case-in-point of how people voted for Trump because he promised to get the violent immigrants out of the United States. They claim now that they didn’t think he meant ALL immigrants.
(My question to them is, “Why did you believe anything he said?”)
Kristof lives in a farming community in Oregon where the majority of people voted for Trump for president all three times. But now that community is upset because Trump is deporting immigrants they know. He wasn’t supposed to deport local immigrants like Moises Sotelo.
Mr. Sotelo has lived in the community for 31 years, established a vineyard, and employed 10 people. He is a pillar in his church. He is a respected businessman.
But ICE picked up Mr. Sotelo and deported him to Mexico. Kristof says the community is now up in arms. They have raised $150,000 to help with Mr. Soleto’s legal expenses. Good luck with that.
The way I see it, many people voted for Trump because he voiced a hatred for immigrants and that appealed to his base. They hate immigrants, too, so Trump is their man. Trump called immigrants names, and that appealed to his base.
Trump said immigrants were a drain on our economy, that they didn’t pay taxes, and – worst of all – they are all violent criminals. He convinced his base that those things were true, even though they are all false.
Trump’s base refuses to accept the fact that immigrants – illegal as well as legal — pay income and sales tax. If they get a paycheck, income and Social Security taxes are deducted from that paycheck. When they purchase anything, they pay state and local sales tax — just like Americans. Who knew?
After Trump and his ICE thugs remove all the immigrants from the United States, the people in Trump’s base are going to be surprised that most crimes in America are committed by Americans. Many of them have white skin, and that’s going to be the biggest surprise of all for them.
The Case of George Retes, U.S. citizen, U.S. Army Veteran
George Retes is a United States citizen and a veteran of the United States Army. When he drove up to the Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, to report for work, his car was approached by ICE agents. They broke a car window, sprayed him with pepper spray, and dragged him out of his car – all while he was telling them that he was a U.S. citizen and veteran just reporting for work.
ICE detained him for three days.
I saw Mr. Retes interviewed on TV, and this is what the Associated Press reported:
“Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday.
“He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.”
I am embarrassed for the United States of America. Such federal police action is not “Making America Great Again.”
This is even worse
Eighty-two-year-old Luis Leon from Allentown, Pennsylvania had been in the United States LEGALLY for 38 years since being granted asylum from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in Chili in 1987. He was a victim of torture by the Pinochet regime.
Unfortunately, in June Mr. Leon lost his wallet which contained his green card.
Thinking all he had to do was request a replacement green card, Mr. Leon and his wife made an appointment to get that taken care of.
But when he arrived for his appointment, Mr. Leon was handcuffed and taken away. His wife was held for 10 hours until a granddaughter could pick her up.
For a month, Mr. Leon’s family had no idea where he was. His name never showed up on the immigration tracker list. ICE had no answers for them. The family looked for him in local prisons, hospitals, and morgues, but they could not find him.
A relative in Chile found him in a hospital in Guatemala and called his family in Pennsylvania on Friday. Mr. Leon had never been to Guatemala before the United States Government decided to disappear him to that country. ICE still won’t confirm their thugs had anything to do with this. ICE claims they are “investigating” the case.
In conclusion
I am at a loss for words to describe how angry I am and how embarrassed I am today to be an American – even though I did not vote for Trump.
Trump campaigned on the promise to deport illegal aliens who were criminals, but now Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) snatches people off the street, from their homes, from their places of employment, and occasionally (what seems like daily) they make egregious mistakes and kidnap the wrong person.
ICE agents are under pressure to arrest 3,000 immigrates every day. So what if they nab a few legal citizens or immigrants who are guilty of nothing more than a traffic ticket?
It is un-American for ICE agents to cover their faces, wear no badges, and not identify themselves. The excuse that they have to cover their faces because they are scared of retribution doesn’t hold water. Local police officers might fear retribution, too, but they don’t wear face masks.
If you voted for Trump, you voted for this. You knew he was a horrible man and you voted for him anyway. I don’t know how you sleep at night.
At least I don’t have to live with the shame of having voted for any of this.
Until my next blog post
Keep up with reliable news reports
Keep reading good fiction and nonfiction books.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 
A most interesting and important addition to all the information you have been giving us (especially to those of us here in Europe) about the atrocities of the Trump administration (read that regime). Immigration is a very touchy issue. And it is one that I don’t think anyone can really resolve. However, my experience of over 40 years in the US taught me that the way it was being handled was quite well, up until the days that it became an issue for the right wing and for most Republican politicians. The US is a big country with many mouths to feed and the need for agricultural workers is incredibly high. A nation cannot sustain itself without proper agriculture and since most “Americans” did not want to work the fields, the job was open and available to immigrants who would. Now, removing criminals is another issue. I am all in favour of deporting, ipso-facto, any immigrant that commits a crime. However, I have seen that most immigrants or refugees (like it was in the days of the early 1960’s Cuban exiles), come to the US to work, to prosper and to allow for the prosperity and good of the land. If it was not for immigrants, most of the advances of the US would not have occurred. And after all, were not the first Europeans to arrive and settle in the New World immigrants? The “conquistadores” from Spain, the English, the Dutch, French and Portuguese, all were immigrants to the new world. They entered, one could say, illegally. And the land that they took was not theirs. So now, knowing the history (and I think that there are still some in the US that know their own history) it is incongruent and malicious to demonise immigrants and chase them out of their life in the US, their country too. And as a final point, ICE is a criminal organisation. No true, trained, certified Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) of the US (and I was one for 30 years), treats suspects or detainees in that manner and they do not wear masks to make arrests. Granted there have been cases of abuses and police brutality, but they pale in comparison with what the ICE “agents” are doing. So, in my opinion, these men, masked and disguised as agents are probably paid thugs or gang members being used to terrorise civilians. Thank you Janet for being constantly on top of these, most important issues. All the best.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for exposing that American citizens are as likely to be caught up in the anti-immigrant hysteria that Trump has whipped up. Personally, I have never been more grateful to be an old white woman which I figures gives me a less likely target for a thug in a ski mask to arrest me without warning or reason. Doesn’t protect me from masked robbers, but you can’t have everything… Reminds me of people in various parts of the country that want “them” taken care of, but not “our” locals–the good ones we know personally that are not like “them”, whoever “they” are.
LikeLike
This hits me straight in the heart. For years, I worked with young people between the ages of 12 and 18 — mostly refugees and asylum seekers. Children and teenagers who had to leave everything behind: their homes, their families, their safety. I taught them Dutch, but it was always about more than just language. It was about trust, dignity, and the chance to begin again.
Their fate still weighs on me to this day. And when I read stories like these — people being rounded up, humiliated, deported as if they’re not even human — I don’t just feel sorrow. I feel anger.
How is this possible?
How far have we fallen that this is treated as normal?
You simply don’t do this to another human being. Ever.
LikeLike
What I’ve never been able to understand is if people are fleeing from their homelands to the US for a better life (or sanctuary), why can’t the US government work with these other countries, particularly Mexico, to ameliorate the conditions that cause their citizens to leave?
LikeLike
That’s the million-dollar question. Yes, why?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I fall into the “old white woman” category, too, and I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful most of my life is behind me, because I don’t have the energy to fight this current fight for decades. Your last comment reminds me of someone I knew who used the “n” word in my presence. I knew he had an older black man as a friend, so told him, “Every time you use the “n” word, you are calling Mr. ____ that.” Of course, he blew up at me, said that was ridiculous, etc., etc., as racists tend to do. He missed my point completely.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I appreciate the insight and personal experience you always bring to the conversation, Matroos. I am outraged and embarrassed over what ICE and other parts of the U.S. Government are doing under Trump. The glee he takes in ordering and overseeing these things just adds salt to the wound. What most Americans don’t seem to understand is that coming into our country illegally is a misdemeanor offense, not a criminal offense. But Trump and everyone who works for him or worships him tell us daily that all illegal aliens are criminals. Too many people still take Trump at his word — and that is the more frightening than the fact that he’s a pathological liar. He has painted all immigrants with the same brush and tried to turn the entire population against them. Trump’s mother was an immigrant, and most of his wives are immigrants — including the First Lady, so I don’t know where he gets off calling all immigrants names. I have a friend who came here from England shortly after WWII after marrying a soldier from the U.S. She has been a U.S. citizen longer than I’ve been alive, but she has started occasionally getting ignorant comments from strangers when they hear her accent — telling her to go back where she came from. The level of hate and ignorance are taking us down a dark path and I fear there will be no way back. Everyone in the U.S. isn’t going along with the madness, but enough of them are — and enough people with a platform are — that it is daunting to fight it. We need Dr. Martin Luther King here today to show us how to fight hate with non-violence.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you for always sharing your perspective from your personal experience. You stated perfectly what our current situation/problem is here in the U.S. I cannot imagine how back-breaking it is to work in the blazing sun all day harvesting the fruits and vegetables it takes to feed America. It is thankless work, and people continually grumble about the cost of food. Immigrants come here with nothing but the clothes on their backs, but they work hard and live honest lives. It is horrendous that Trump and the Republicans have labeled them all as drug dealers, free-loaders, murderers, lazy, etc. The political party that loves to wave the Bible has turned its back on all the teachings of Jesus Christ. We are commanded by Him to feed and care for the hungry and welcome the stranger, but the evangelical Bible-thumpers have not only lost sight of that … they go out of their way to persecute the stranger. As you mentioned, unless they are full-blooded indigenous people, their ancestors came here as immigrants. We used to be a country of laws, but not so much a country of hate. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t want the criminals removed from our streets — immigrant or native-born, but to see videos and read details of hard-working people being snatched from their homes or places of business — or even when they report for their scheduled appointments at the immigration offices! — by masked thugs in unmarked vehicles… I shudder to realize what America has become. I believe the ICE agents were recruited straight from the KKK, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and January 6, 2021, attempted coup. No self-respecting person would want to work for ICE today. In some parts of the country, priests have told their parishioners not to attend mass if they are afraid to! Is this America???
LikeLiked by 2 people
Kamala could do it.
LikeLike
One more thing. The drug cartels in Mexico were handed a particularly lucrative market due to our opiod crisis precipitated by Big Pharma.
LikeLike
Exactly the point I was trying to make in a generic way, Janet. Wonderful example.
LikeLike
Yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they were. And if there wasn’t a market for illegal drugs in America, the drug smugglers wouldn’t bother coming here. Nobody is willing to take responsibility for creating this mess.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Precisely my point!
LikeLike
Unfortunately Janet, the facts show that this is what America has become. And it is the fault of Democrats who did not vote (perhaps due to misogyny?) and Republicans who supported a convicted felon who said he was out for revenge… but like I always tell you Janet, they (the Republican Bible thumpers) might have turned their back on the teachings of Jesus and therefore God, but I do believe God is in charge and that no man can alter His plans for humanity.
LikeLike
Thank you.
Powerful and clear.
LikeLike
Thank you, Matroos.
LikeLike
Whatever you incentivize will be a priority. If CBP people are required to make a certain arrest quota (as they are), then people will be arrested in order to hit the numbers. There is a lot of pressure to hit the numbers. Quality is secondary and that promotes sloppy work. Machinery of the state is being tuned for this sloppy processing. Worst of all, it portends a day in the future when U.S. citizens will face the same reckless treatment.
Sloppy work should get people terminated and criminally charged. Whatever else the President has promoted, he has certainly promoted a government of zero accountability. What other purpose would cause a leader to eliminate many inspector general positions and replace some with cronies?
As one of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s advisors was alleged to have said, ‘To us [President Trump] looks like a wrecking ball. Our wrecking ball.’
I believe the fentanyl crisis was blowback from Peoples Republic of China (PRC) tarriffs. The PRC has an incentive to weaken and harm the United States. They made precursor chemicals cheaply available to the cartels knowing what that would cause. In my opinion, the PRC is cooperating with other states to undermine the U.S. in every way possible. It would be nice to be wrong…
LikeLike
I fear you are correct on all points. I have filled out an application for a passport so I can prove my citizenship. Never thought I’d have to do that — or at least feel like I needed to. I let my earlier passport lapse since I didn’t anticipate leaving the country again. To your comment about Russia, didn’t they say decades ago that they would conquer America without firing a shot?
LikeLike