This wanton and discriminate cruelty is going to echo into the future, even when the pendulum swings the other way and we see people like "bag of $50K" Tom Homan and racist profiler Greg Bovino called to account.
In order to meet their Stephen Miller Quotas (3k deportations a day), ICE - despite their commercials filled with calls to service and bravado - are not going after the "worst of the worst", but are instead cherry-picking soft targets among those who are following the rules.
At New York City's immigration court:
"The agents who haunt the hallways seem to follow their own secret rule book, staying out of the way of the immigration judges, who go about their legalistic business in drab little courtrooms as if nothing were amiss. (The judges are Justice Department employees, not members of the judicial branch, so they can be fired and, under Trump, sometimes are.) The rulings the judges make seem to have little bearing on who is arrested, anyway. ICE is invoking a sweeping — and legally shaky — interpretation of its right to detain people as their cases work their way through the system. These immigrants in no way resemble the 'worst of the worst,' the criminals Trump promised to deport first. They are the asylum seekers, the rule followers. They go into the federal building holding papers — bureaucratic immigration forms and court summonses — hoping for a measure of due process. Some leave the courthouse with a hearing date set months or years from now. Others disappear into ICE’s prison system."[1]
Even after THIS iteration of ICE is tossed into the same dustbin of history as the Gestapo and the SS, people actually interested in implementing a sane and responsible immigration policy will be dealing with Homan's abuse of the immigration courts to hit his numbers. Who's going to follow the process and the rules, after the last few months are proving that doing so only makes you an easier target to inviting goons to violate due process and your Constitutional rights?
Powerful words from the mother of Katie Abraham, for whom "Operation Midway Blitz" is meant to avenge/honor:
"Katie Abraham is my daughter. I tragically lost her to a drunken driver on Jan. 19, when she was 20 years old. She loved — and was loved — by so many people. With her magnetic energy, Katie was the person people wanted to be around. She was the friend people turned to and the teammate who made every practice fun and inspiring."
"Losing a child unlocked a pain I never knew existed. Losing a child to a crime adds to the depths of despair. Having my child’s legacy be associated with a politically charged and controversial operation instead of the positivity and light she contributed to those within her community is simply unbearable."
"When you search my daughter’s name, you won’t find much about who she was. You will find how she is associated with the federal immigration enforcement campaign 'Operation Midway Blitz.'"
"I have not spoken out since it began, but as Katie’s mother, I can no longer stay silent. The Department of Homeland Security said its immigration enforcement operation in Chicago is named in Katie’s honor. But Katie would not have wanted this."
"Since she was young, Katie was intuitive, full of compassion and empathy, and able to see the big picture beyond her years. When she was 15, she was attacked by a German shepherd we were fostering. After a few weeks of healing, Katie expressed to me that she was glad we were fostering instead of a family with young children, who would have been hurt more severely than she had been. This is just one example of the many ways she was always looking out for others and saw the positive in all situations."
"With this compassion and empathy in mind, Katie would not want to be associated with an operation in which kids witness their parents being taken into custody on their way to or from school. She wouldn’t support scaring kids with the use of military efforts in their neighborhoods or in their apartment buildings."
Biden/Mayorkas simply allowed (and in many cases transported) too many unvetted illegals into the USA. We do not know what we are up against and there is no way to sort them out at a leisurely pace. Much of the strife could be avoided if state and local governments cooperated.
I believe much of the backlog could be handled by individuals with a minimal amount of specialized paralegal training to determine if an individual is here illegally and if his country of origin is on the list of violators. What process is due beyond that? Asylum claims are most often a scam.
Curtis I normally agree with your approach, but I need to ask, where did you get data leading you to state most asylum claims are a scam? I am not at all certain that’s true.
20% to 30% of asylum claims are granted. Asylum for "credible fear" claims are granted about 15% of the time. Apologists for illegals claim that many claimants are denied legal status for reasons other than denial of asylum and that when those are removed from the equation, the approval rate is somewhere around 40%. Nothing I have found indicates an approval rate closer to 50%.
I did find a PolitiFact article that sorta covers the subject.
"Crenshaw’s office directed us to a report from the Executive Office for Immigration Review within the Justice Department that looked at asylum cases that originated with a "Credible Fear Claim," which falls under the defensive asylum process.
These claims originate from individuals who were apprehended by Border Patrol officers while attempting to enter the country without authorization and were placed into the expedited removal process.
If a person in these circumstances claims to have a credible fear of persecution or torture if they were to be removed from the country, they meet with an asylum officer who determines whether to refer their case to an immigration judge for a full hearing. Once a case is referred to a judge, a person must submit an application for asylum to the court.
The Justice Department data shows that in fiscal 2018, asylum was granted in 16% of cases that originated from a credible fear claim. About 29% of requests were denied and roughly 15% of cases were closed for administrative or other reasons.
In the remaining 40 percent of cases, individuals who were booked with a credible fear claim did not end up submitting an application for asylum.
While just 16 percent of these cases resulted in asylum being granted, experts said there are many reasons why cases might be closed or requests might be denied, regardless of the merits of a claim."
Ah, but those asylum claims must be adjudicated and determined to be invalid before one can remove the legal status that provides. And that means we need to invest in personnel to process those claims in a timely manner.
You use the term "unvetted illegal" but really those were asylum claimants - so inherently a legal status.
What we really need is that immigration reform bill that would have put limits on asylum claims and invested in the personnel needed to move through the backlog - but the GOP has no courage to stand-up to Trump.
What we really see is just general anti-immigrant actions, not pro-legal immigration actions.
An asylum claim does not confer legal status. It grants toleration for what should be a few days stay while adjudication takes place. The President has authority to prohibit all classes of immigrants if the system becomes overloaded.
Asylum claims provides a legal status to be present in the country until such a time that that claim is adjudicated.
It *should* be a few days, but that would involve a lot more investment into our immigration system - and thus far the GOP has shown it does not want to make that investment.
POTUS has the power to suspend the entry of any aliens or classes of aliens into the United States if their entry is found to be "detrimental to the interests of the United States". The implementation of said power can be challenged, and of course it may also result in conflict with other laws - asylum being a prime example.
As we discussed last year: the asylum law needs to be updated, and our system needs much more investment. But that's definitely not the GOP's priority.
This take is better than the article. Well presented, Curtis.
The unmitigated inflow of migrants and the encouragement to hack the asylum process under previous leadership is what’s prompting this current action.
And it’s not happening in a vacuum, as presented. Vast majority of Americans (rightly imo) do not support illegal immigration, as was just happening. Current administration is following the consensus, at least in general, if not every specific.
Hyper sensitive accusations of secret police do not reduce the popularity of the moderate position of “enforcing laws”. If sanctuary cities/states started cooperating by handing over people they arrested, then most of the measures you object to would not be needed. They’re a reaction to opposition to valid law enforcement.
And a vast majority of Americans rightly support legal immigration - and having a functional legal immigration system that is capable of handling the amount of requests and claims in a timely manner is a necessity. It just isn't a priority for the GOP, because the GOP doesn't actually care about good governance.
Ahh well played. Highlight something bad (and very unfortunate), then apply this broadly across your political opponents. Then claim a very honorable victim status, and broadly apply that to all who share your virtuous wisdom.
Yes of course, everyone enforcing the law relishes cruelty. If only there weren’t these evil people oppressing us.
Oh deary me, let’s definitely not “highlight” it. Let’s minimize it, ignore it, or sweep under rug instead. Maybe coupled with a security blankie and a soother….would that make it less triggering for you?
Well, let's see, Steven Miller would be the counterpart to Goebbels, Homan would be Himmler, and i guess Hegseth would be Goering. Does that make Melania Eva Braun?
Given that these ICE raids are Stephen Miller's project, he fits the Himmler mold a bit better. I'd cast Karoline "Yo Momma" Leavitt as Goebbels' counterpart.
As for Hegseth, he's more akin to Wilhelm Keitel[1], who was a key part of the Germans' failed Operation Barbarossa to conquer the Soviet Union. (He dismissed dissenting opinions so Hitler wouldn't see them.)
Steven Miller is the one they trot out to all the Sunday shows, thus the minister of propaganda, Homan is head of ICE, which is akin to the Gestapo, as you have said yourself, and that part was run by Himmler, and Hegseth runs the dept of war, which Goring ran as head of the Luftwaffe, and later the Wermacht as well. But you didn't deal with Melania. Is she Eva Braun?
This wanton and discriminate cruelty is going to echo into the future, even when the pendulum swings the other way and we see people like "bag of $50K" Tom Homan and racist profiler Greg Bovino called to account.
In order to meet their Stephen Miller Quotas (3k deportations a day), ICE - despite their commercials filled with calls to service and bravado - are not going after the "worst of the worst", but are instead cherry-picking soft targets among those who are following the rules.
At New York City's immigration court:
"The agents who haunt the hallways seem to follow their own secret rule book, staying out of the way of the immigration judges, who go about their legalistic business in drab little courtrooms as if nothing were amiss. (The judges are Justice Department employees, not members of the judicial branch, so they can be fired and, under Trump, sometimes are.) The rulings the judges make seem to have little bearing on who is arrested, anyway. ICE is invoking a sweeping — and legally shaky — interpretation of its right to detain people as their cases work their way through the system. These immigrants in no way resemble the 'worst of the worst,' the criminals Trump promised to deport first. They are the asylum seekers, the rule followers. They go into the federal building holding papers — bureaucratic immigration forms and court summonses — hoping for a measure of due process. Some leave the courthouse with a hearing date set months or years from now. Others disappear into ICE’s prison system."[1]
Even after THIS iteration of ICE is tossed into the same dustbin of history as the Gestapo and the SS, people actually interested in implementing a sane and responsible immigration policy will be dealing with Homan's abuse of the immigration courts to hit his numbers. Who's going to follow the process and the rules, after the last few months are proving that doing so only makes you an easier target to inviting goons to violate due process and your Constitutional rights?
[1] https://archive.ph/99B46
Powerful words from the mother of Katie Abraham, for whom "Operation Midway Blitz" is meant to avenge/honor:
"Katie Abraham is my daughter. I tragically lost her to a drunken driver on Jan. 19, when she was 20 years old. She loved — and was loved — by so many people. With her magnetic energy, Katie was the person people wanted to be around. She was the friend people turned to and the teammate who made every practice fun and inspiring."
"Losing a child unlocked a pain I never knew existed. Losing a child to a crime adds to the depths of despair. Having my child’s legacy be associated with a politically charged and controversial operation instead of the positivity and light she contributed to those within her community is simply unbearable."
"When you search my daughter’s name, you won’t find much about who she was. You will find how she is associated with the federal immigration enforcement campaign 'Operation Midway Blitz.'"
"I have not spoken out since it began, but as Katie’s mother, I can no longer stay silent. The Department of Homeland Security said its immigration enforcement operation in Chicago is named in Katie’s honor. But Katie would not have wanted this."
"Since she was young, Katie was intuitive, full of compassion and empathy, and able to see the big picture beyond her years. When she was 15, she was attacked by a German shepherd we were fostering. After a few weeks of healing, Katie expressed to me that she was glad we were fostering instead of a family with young children, who would have been hurt more severely than she had been. This is just one example of the many ways she was always looking out for others and saw the positive in all situations."
"With this compassion and empathy in mind, Katie would not want to be associated with an operation in which kids witness their parents being taken into custody on their way to or from school. She wouldn’t support scaring kids with the use of military efforts in their neighborhoods or in their apartment buildings."
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/opinion-katie-abraham-operation-midway-blitz/
Biden/Mayorkas simply allowed (and in many cases transported) too many unvetted illegals into the USA. We do not know what we are up against and there is no way to sort them out at a leisurely pace. Much of the strife could be avoided if state and local governments cooperated.
I believe much of the backlog could be handled by individuals with a minimal amount of specialized paralegal training to determine if an individual is here illegally and if his country of origin is on the list of violators. What process is due beyond that? Asylum claims are most often a scam.
Curtis I normally agree with your approach, but I need to ask, where did you get data leading you to state most asylum claims are a scam? I am not at all certain that’s true.
20% to 30% of asylum claims are granted. Asylum for "credible fear" claims are granted about 15% of the time. Apologists for illegals claim that many claimants are denied legal status for reasons other than denial of asylum and that when those are removed from the equation, the approval rate is somewhere around 40%. Nothing I have found indicates an approval rate closer to 50%.
I did find a PolitiFact article that sorta covers the subject.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/may/17/dan-crenshaw/are-vast-majority-asylum-claims-without-merit/
"Crenshaw’s office directed us to a report from the Executive Office for Immigration Review within the Justice Department that looked at asylum cases that originated with a "Credible Fear Claim," which falls under the defensive asylum process.
These claims originate from individuals who were apprehended by Border Patrol officers while attempting to enter the country without authorization and were placed into the expedited removal process.
If a person in these circumstances claims to have a credible fear of persecution or torture if they were to be removed from the country, they meet with an asylum officer who determines whether to refer their case to an immigration judge for a full hearing. Once a case is referred to a judge, a person must submit an application for asylum to the court.
The Justice Department data shows that in fiscal 2018, asylum was granted in 16% of cases that originated from a credible fear claim. About 29% of requests were denied and roughly 15% of cases were closed for administrative or other reasons.
In the remaining 40 percent of cases, individuals who were booked with a credible fear claim did not end up submitting an application for asylum.
While just 16 percent of these cases resulted in asylum being granted, experts said there are many reasons why cases might be closed or requests might be denied, regardless of the merits of a claim."
Ah, but those asylum claims must be adjudicated and determined to be invalid before one can remove the legal status that provides. And that means we need to invest in personnel to process those claims in a timely manner.
You use the term "unvetted illegal" but really those were asylum claimants - so inherently a legal status.
What we really need is that immigration reform bill that would have put limits on asylum claims and invested in the personnel needed to move through the backlog - but the GOP has no courage to stand-up to Trump.
What we really see is just general anti-immigrant actions, not pro-legal immigration actions.
An asylum claim does not confer legal status. It grants toleration for what should be a few days stay while adjudication takes place. The President has authority to prohibit all classes of immigrants if the system becomes overloaded.
Asylum claims provides a legal status to be present in the country until such a time that that claim is adjudicated.
It *should* be a few days, but that would involve a lot more investment into our immigration system - and thus far the GOP has shown it does not want to make that investment.
POTUS has the power to suspend the entry of any aliens or classes of aliens into the United States if their entry is found to be "detrimental to the interests of the United States". The implementation of said power can be challenged, and of course it may also result in conflict with other laws - asylum being a prime example.
As we discussed last year: the asylum law needs to be updated, and our system needs much more investment. But that's definitely not the GOP's priority.
This take is better than the article. Well presented, Curtis.
The unmitigated inflow of migrants and the encouragement to hack the asylum process under previous leadership is what’s prompting this current action.
And it’s not happening in a vacuum, as presented. Vast majority of Americans (rightly imo) do not support illegal immigration, as was just happening. Current administration is following the consensus, at least in general, if not every specific.
Hyper sensitive accusations of secret police do not reduce the popularity of the moderate position of “enforcing laws”. If sanctuary cities/states started cooperating by handing over people they arrested, then most of the measures you object to would not be needed. They’re a reaction to opposition to valid law enforcement.
And a vast majority of Americans rightly support legal immigration - and having a functional legal immigration system that is capable of handling the amount of requests and claims in a timely manner is a necessity. It just isn't a priority for the GOP, because the GOP doesn't actually care about good governance.
I believe the cruelty is the point.
And the lack of accountability and lack the consequences, when some of these morons fornicate the pooch….or as in this case, shoot it.
Ahh well played. Highlight something bad (and very unfortunate), then apply this broadly across your political opponents. Then claim a very honorable victim status, and broadly apply that to all who share your virtuous wisdom.
Yes of course, everyone enforcing the law relishes cruelty. If only there weren’t these evil people oppressing us.
Oh deary me, let’s definitely not “highlight” it. Let’s minimize it, ignore it, or sweep under rug instead. Maybe coupled with a security blankie and a soother….would that make it less triggering for you?
Well, let's see, Steven Miller would be the counterpart to Goebbels, Homan would be Himmler, and i guess Hegseth would be Goering. Does that make Melania Eva Braun?
Given that these ICE raids are Stephen Miller's project, he fits the Himmler mold a bit better. I'd cast Karoline "Yo Momma" Leavitt as Goebbels' counterpart.
As for Hegseth, he's more akin to Wilhelm Keitel[1], who was a key part of the Germans' failed Operation Barbarossa to conquer the Soviet Union. (He dismissed dissenting opinions so Hitler wouldn't see them.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Keitel
Steven Miller is the one they trot out to all the Sunday shows, thus the minister of propaganda, Homan is head of ICE, which is akin to the Gestapo, as you have said yourself, and that part was run by Himmler, and Hegseth runs the dept of war, which Goring ran as head of the Luftwaffe, and later the Wermacht as well. But you didn't deal with Melania. Is she Eva Braun?
I think Melania is relishing becoming a widow much more than Braun ever was, so I don't know if I'd draw an equivalency there.
The movie Nuremberg comes out November 7. Timing is everything.
Savage.