WHy invade? Why no just offer assistance to the Nigerian govt to wipe them out. The orange pea brain is getting super annoying.Trump threatens US military action in Nigeria over treatment of Christians
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he has asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria if the Nigerian government "continues to allow the killing of Christians."
The US government will also immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said the US may "very well go into that now disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing,' to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities."
Nigeria vows to fight extremism after Trump adds nation to watch list
The Nigerian government on Saturday vowed to keep fighting violent extremism and said it hoped Washington would remain a close ally after Trump added the West African nation to a US watch list over what he said were threats to Christianity.
"The Federal Government of Nigeria will continue to defend all citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or religion. Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength," its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Nigerian soldiers from the Multinational Joint Task Force against Islamist terrorists in Borno, northeastern Nigeria, July 5, 2025. (credit: JORIS BOLOMEY/AFP via Getty Images)
"Nigeria is a God-fearing country where we respect faith, tolerance, diversity and inclusion, in concurrence with the rules-based international order," the ministry added.
On Friday, Trump said he was putting Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer and most populous country, on a "Countries of Particular Concern" list of nations the US finds have engaged in religious freedom violations, which also includes China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
The Republican US president had designated the country a concern during his first term in the White House, but his Democratic successor Joe Biden removed it from the US State Department list in 2021.
"Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter," he wrote in a social media post on Friday without offering any specifics.
A nation of more than 200 ethnic groups practicing Christianity, Islam and traditional religions, Nigeria has a long history of peaceful coexistence with mosques and churches dotting its cities.
But it also has a long history of violence breaking out between groups, in which religious differences sometimes overlap with other fault lines such as ethnic divisions or conflict over scarce land and water resources.
For 15 years, the extremist Islamist armed group Boko Haram has also terrorized northeast Nigeria, an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly Muslims.
Trump also asked the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee to examine the issue and report back to him. A US congressional subcommittee held a hearing on Christian killings in Nigeria earlier this year.
Appropriations Committee Chairman US Representative Tom Cole, in an X post on Friday, said the designation "sends a strong message: the US will not ignore Christian persecution."
update - Fed'l judge extends block on Trump deploying the Nat'l Gd to Portland
- Thread starter mandrill
- Start date
Because none of this is real. It's just Trump's weekly presidency reality show "I'm the President"
Each week has a new plot point - bomb Venezuela; starve the poor; abduct and detain black and brown people; send Democrats to jail.
But the season has one over arching theme - Whites must hurt, humiliate and injure non whites.
So the Black government of Nigeria cannot be given guns. They're not white. Instead, whites must take an opportunity to threaten and injure non whites. Get it now?
Immigrants sue over ‘horrific’ conditions inside Chicago ICE facility
A Chicago facility that has emerged as a flashpoint for protests against Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda has been cramming immigrant detainees into unsanitary conditions without adequate food and water, according to a new lawsuit.
As many as 100 people have been packed into small rooms overnight or for days on end “like a pile of fish” with no room to lie down, forcing detainees to sleep on top of each other or while sitting up, or in bathrooms near urine-soaked floors and clogged toilets, the lawsuit says.
Holding rooms at the Broadview facility are infested with cockroaches, centipedes, and spiders, with blood and other bodily fluids in sinks and on the walls, plaintiffs wrote. Windows are sealed or boarded up, bright security lights stay on all night, women are denied menstrual products, and rooms “smell strongly of feces, urine, and body odor,” according to the lawsuit.
“They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that,” one detainee wrote.
The lawsuit is the latest from immigrants and civil rights groups targeting alleged conditions at ICE detention facilities across the country, coming under intense legal scrutiny as the Trump administration accelerates immigration arrests and jails tens of thousands of people marked for removal.
Daily demonstrations outside the facility in Broadview, roughly 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, are taking aim at the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz, which has seen a a flood of federal officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection surging into the streets and suburbs.
The ICE facility in Broadview is meant to serve as a “processing center” to temporarily hold detainees before they are transferred, deported or released.
But the lawsuit accuses ICE of operating more like a jail, where people are held for two days or more, on average. The average holding time at the facility was five hours in 2023.
“This lawsuit is necessary because the Trump Administration has attempted to evade accountability for turning the processing center at Broadview into a de facto detention center,” according to Kevin Fee, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois, which is representing plaintiffs in the case.
“These conditions are unconstitutional and threaten to coerce people into sacrificing their rights without the benefit of legal advice and a full airing of their legal defenses,” he said.
Homeland Security has strongly denied the allegations of poor conditions at the facility and suggested that the complaints contribute to death threats and other abuse against federal agents.
“Any claims there are subprime conditions at the Broadview ICE facility are false,” Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Independent.
“As ICE arrests and removes criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., the agency has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding,” she said.
She stressed that “Broadview is a processing center, not a detention center,” and “detainees are briefly processed before being transferred to detention facilities.”
“Some of the worst of the worst including pedophiles, gang members, and rapists have been processed through the facility in recent weeks,” she said. “The ACLU should just change its name. It’s clear they only care about criminal illegal aliens — not Americans.”
A lawsuit accuses ICE of packing detainees into unsanitary cells at the Broadview facility with inadequate access to food, water, medication and legal counsel (REUTERS)
Guards at the facility “refuse” to provide detainees with “basic hygiene items,” including soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, shampoo, lotion, or tissues, according to the complaint.
One woman held at Broadview in June with nearly 30 other women was not provided any menstrual products, the lawsuit says.
Detainees can’t bathe; one of the holding rooms has two showers, but they’re inoperable and used for storage instead, according to the complaint, citing a 2023 internal report.
Facility staff told auditors that “detainees do not shower while at this facility,” nor do they change clothes, and must remain in the clothes — and underwear — they arrived in, according to the lawsuit.
Detainees cannot shower or change their clothes at the facility, which is infested with cockroaches and reeks of urine, feces and body order, according to a federal lawsuit (REUTERS)
Detainees are also routinely denied prescription medicine and medical care, and “making matters worse,” the heavy use of tear gas and pepper spray outside the facility to push back against protesters has tracked into the cells.
“Over the last several months, people have gathered outside of the facility to protest the conditions inside, as well as to protest the immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area,” according to the lawsuit. “Rather than address these concerns, federal agents have responded with violence.”
A separate lawsuit stemming from the use of riot weapons against protesters, reporters and faith leaders outside the Broadview facility prompted a federal judge to issue a sweeping court order that blocks indiscriminate use of force, drawing Homeland Security officials into a wider legal battle over the actions of masked Border Patrol and ICE officers storming into neighborhoods across the city.
Guards at the Broadview facility, meanwhile, are “physically and verbally abusive,” and are keeping detainees there “in a state of hunger and thirst,” lawyers say.
Detainees receive “two to three small, cold sandwiches per day,” and pregnant detainees are “not provided with regular access to meals, nor additional snacks, milk, juice, or any of the extra nutrition recommended for pregnant people,” according to the lawsuit.
Guards are also blocking detainees from legal counsel, the lawsuit says.
One man was allowed to call his wife using his cellphone, but when the officer realized an immigration attorney was also on the other end of the line, “the officer then reached for the phone and hung up the call himself,” lawyers wrote.
“Access to counsel is not a privilege. It is a right,” said Nate Eimer, partner at Eimer Stahl and co-counsel in the lawsuit. “We can debate immigration policy but there is no debating the denial of legal rights and holding those detained in conditions that are not only unlawful but inhumane. Justice and compassion demand that our clients’ rights be upheld.”
The allegations echo claims in a lawsuit surrounding a separate facility in New York City, where a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to iimprove conditions in a makeshift holding area where detainees said they had little access to food and water, slept on cement floors near toilets, and didn’t have anywhere to bathe for days or weeks at a time.
In court filings, detainees said they were fed inedible “slop” and were forced to sleep in cells surrounded by the “horrific stench” of sweat, urine and feces in rooms with open toilets.
Other detainees reported spending as much as three weeks inside the facility without a chance to bathe or brush their teeth. Another man said he watched a detainee have a seizure for 30 minutes before medical help arrived.
A Chicago facility that has emerged as a flashpoint for protests against Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda has been cramming immigrant detainees into unsanitary conditions without adequate food and water, according to a new lawsuit.
As many as 100 people have been packed into small rooms overnight or for days on end “like a pile of fish” with no room to lie down, forcing detainees to sleep on top of each other or while sitting up, or in bathrooms near urine-soaked floors and clogged toilets, the lawsuit says.
Holding rooms at the Broadview facility are infested with cockroaches, centipedes, and spiders, with blood and other bodily fluids in sinks and on the walls, plaintiffs wrote. Windows are sealed or boarded up, bright security lights stay on all night, women are denied menstrual products, and rooms “smell strongly of feces, urine, and body odor,” according to the lawsuit.
“They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that,” one detainee wrote.
The lawsuit is the latest from immigrants and civil rights groups targeting alleged conditions at ICE detention facilities across the country, coming under intense legal scrutiny as the Trump administration accelerates immigration arrests and jails tens of thousands of people marked for removal.
Daily demonstrations outside the facility in Broadview, roughly 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, are taking aim at the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz, which has seen a a flood of federal officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection surging into the streets and suburbs.
The ICE facility in Broadview is meant to serve as a “processing center” to temporarily hold detainees before they are transferred, deported or released.
But the lawsuit accuses ICE of operating more like a jail, where people are held for two days or more, on average. The average holding time at the facility was five hours in 2023.
“This lawsuit is necessary because the Trump Administration has attempted to evade accountability for turning the processing center at Broadview into a de facto detention center,” according to Kevin Fee, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois, which is representing plaintiffs in the case.
“These conditions are unconstitutional and threaten to coerce people into sacrificing their rights without the benefit of legal advice and a full airing of their legal defenses,” he said.
Homeland Security has strongly denied the allegations of poor conditions at the facility and suggested that the complaints contribute to death threats and other abuse against federal agents.
“Any claims there are subprime conditions at the Broadview ICE facility are false,” Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Independent.
“As ICE arrests and removes criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., the agency has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding,” she said.
She stressed that “Broadview is a processing center, not a detention center,” and “detainees are briefly processed before being transferred to detention facilities.”
“Some of the worst of the worst including pedophiles, gang members, and rapists have been processed through the facility in recent weeks,” she said. “The ACLU should just change its name. It’s clear they only care about criminal illegal aliens — not Americans.”
A lawsuit accuses ICE of packing detainees into unsanitary cells at the Broadview facility with inadequate access to food, water, medication and legal counsel (REUTERS)
Guards at the facility “refuse” to provide detainees with “basic hygiene items,” including soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, shampoo, lotion, or tissues, according to the complaint.
One woman held at Broadview in June with nearly 30 other women was not provided any menstrual products, the lawsuit says.
Detainees can’t bathe; one of the holding rooms has two showers, but they’re inoperable and used for storage instead, according to the complaint, citing a 2023 internal report.
Facility staff told auditors that “detainees do not shower while at this facility,” nor do they change clothes, and must remain in the clothes — and underwear — they arrived in, according to the lawsuit.
Detainees cannot shower or change their clothes at the facility, which is infested with cockroaches and reeks of urine, feces and body order, according to a federal lawsuit (REUTERS)
Detainees are also routinely denied prescription medicine and medical care, and “making matters worse,” the heavy use of tear gas and pepper spray outside the facility to push back against protesters has tracked into the cells.
“Over the last several months, people have gathered outside of the facility to protest the conditions inside, as well as to protest the immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area,” according to the lawsuit. “Rather than address these concerns, federal agents have responded with violence.”
A separate lawsuit stemming from the use of riot weapons against protesters, reporters and faith leaders outside the Broadview facility prompted a federal judge to issue a sweeping court order that blocks indiscriminate use of force, drawing Homeland Security officials into a wider legal battle over the actions of masked Border Patrol and ICE officers storming into neighborhoods across the city.
Guards at the Broadview facility, meanwhile, are “physically and verbally abusive,” and are keeping detainees there “in a state of hunger and thirst,” lawyers say.
Detainees receive “two to three small, cold sandwiches per day,” and pregnant detainees are “not provided with regular access to meals, nor additional snacks, milk, juice, or any of the extra nutrition recommended for pregnant people,” according to the lawsuit.
Guards are also blocking detainees from legal counsel, the lawsuit says.
One man was allowed to call his wife using his cellphone, but when the officer realized an immigration attorney was also on the other end of the line, “the officer then reached for the phone and hung up the call himself,” lawyers wrote.
“Access to counsel is not a privilege. It is a right,” said Nate Eimer, partner at Eimer Stahl and co-counsel in the lawsuit. “We can debate immigration policy but there is no debating the denial of legal rights and holding those detained in conditions that are not only unlawful but inhumane. Justice and compassion demand that our clients’ rights be upheld.”
The allegations echo claims in a lawsuit surrounding a separate facility in New York City, where a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to iimprove conditions in a makeshift holding area where detainees said they had little access to food and water, slept on cement floors near toilets, and didn’t have anywhere to bathe for days or weeks at a time.
In court filings, detainees said they were fed inedible “slop” and were forced to sleep in cells surrounded by the “horrific stench” of sweat, urine and feces in rooms with open toilets.
Other detainees reported spending as much as three weeks inside the facility without a chance to bathe or brush their teeth. Another man said he watched a detainee have a seizure for 30 minutes before medical help arrived.
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Four things to know as US ships move closer to Venezuela
Satellite images have revealed a US warship stationed off the coast of Venezuela, sparking concerns of further military escalation between the two countries.
The USS Iwo Jima has been positioned less than 200km from the Venezuelan coast in the Caribbean Sea, with two other USS destroyers alongside it.
The US has also deployed aircraft and thousands of troops in the region in recent weeks, with 14 per cent of its Navy fleet now stationed in the Caribbean.
US President’s Donald Trump’s administration has claimed the concerted ramping-up of military capabilities in the region aims to tackle the flow of illegal drugs into the US. But the move has raised speculation the US might be seeking to attack key Venezuelan military targets without congressional approval.
What is the US campaign against Venezuela?
Since 2 September, the US has conducted air strikes on 10 vessels in the Caribbean Sea which authorities suspected of intending to illegally traffic drugs into the country.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that each boat destroyed saves “25,000 American lives” by reducing the amount of potentially fatal drugs like fentanyl entering the US.
But the US’s own intelligence suggests fentanyl is mainly supplied through its land border with Mexico, not through small vessels travelling from Venezuela.
The US Navy destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) sails from the Port of Spain, off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago (Photo: Andrea de Silva/Reuters)
The UN has said that these air strikes also violate international human rights law.
Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said on Friday: “Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law.
The Canadian Press
Destroyer USS Gravely leaves Trinidad and Tobago after joint military exercises
“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”
Why is the US building its military presence?
Last week, the Department of Defence announced the world’s largest warship, USS Gerald R Ford, would be redirected from the Mediterranean Sea to US Southern Command’s Area of Responsibility near Venezuela.
Posting on X, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the enhanced “force presence” in the region “will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.
The ship carries dozens of F-18 Super Hornet jets, and the announcement sparked fears of potential land attacks.
Yesterday, Trump told White House reporters that he had not yet made a decision on whether the US would strike military targets on Venezuelan land.
This came after a report in the Miami Herald that he could begin airstrikes as soon as Friday.
Trump raised speculation of an imminent US strike on Venezuelan soil last week after he told reporters: “The land is going to be next.
“The land drugs are much more dangerous for them. It’s going to be much more dangerous. You’ll be seeing that soon.”
What is the USS Iwo Jima doing there?
On Thursday, the US Southern Command posted photos to X, showing Marines conducting “live-fire training” aboard the ship.
The caption said they were stationed in the Caribbean to support Trump’s “priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland”.
A live fire exercise is an opportunity for forces to practice firing live ammunition, rather than blanks, to prepare for real combat.
The USS Iwo Jima is a landing helicopter dock, which means it is capable of launching amphibious invasions.
Experts have said the deployment of the ship so close to Venezuelan land may be seen as an intimidation tactic against the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Along with the two destroyers in its vicinity, the warship represents another significant escalation of the US military presence in the area.
The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) at the US 5th Fleet area of operations in 2018 (Photo: Gado Images/Photodisc via Getty)
What is the response in Venezuela?
Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, has accused the US of mounting an attempted regime change.
In response to the announcement the USS Gerald R Ford would be moved to the Caribbean last week, Maduro said Trump was looking for conflict.
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war,” he told state media.
The US does not recognise Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, due to the absence of “basic transparency and integrity measures” in his latest election in 2024.
In August, the US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced there would be a $50m (£36m) reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on drug trafficking charges.
It is widely believed that Trump is using the cover of drug cartels as an excuse to further mount military operations in Venezuela and oust Maduro from office.
Maduro has accused the US of “seeking a regime change through military threat”, though the Trump administration has strongly denied this.
Satellite images have revealed a US warship stationed off the coast of Venezuela, sparking concerns of further military escalation between the two countries.
The USS Iwo Jima has been positioned less than 200km from the Venezuelan coast in the Caribbean Sea, with two other USS destroyers alongside it.
The US has also deployed aircraft and thousands of troops in the region in recent weeks, with 14 per cent of its Navy fleet now stationed in the Caribbean.
US President’s Donald Trump’s administration has claimed the concerted ramping-up of military capabilities in the region aims to tackle the flow of illegal drugs into the US. But the move has raised speculation the US might be seeking to attack key Venezuelan military targets without congressional approval.
What is the US campaign against Venezuela?
Since 2 September, the US has conducted air strikes on 10 vessels in the Caribbean Sea which authorities suspected of intending to illegally traffic drugs into the country.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that each boat destroyed saves “25,000 American lives” by reducing the amount of potentially fatal drugs like fentanyl entering the US.
But the US’s own intelligence suggests fentanyl is mainly supplied through its land border with Mexico, not through small vessels travelling from Venezuela.
The US Navy destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) sails from the Port of Spain, off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago (Photo: Andrea de Silva/Reuters)
The UN has said that these air strikes also violate international human rights law.
Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said on Friday: “Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law.
Destroyer USS Gravely leaves Trinidad and Tobago after joint military exercises
“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”
Why is the US building its military presence?
Last week, the Department of Defence announced the world’s largest warship, USS Gerald R Ford, would be redirected from the Mediterranean Sea to US Southern Command’s Area of Responsibility near Venezuela.
Posting on X, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the enhanced “force presence” in the region “will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.
The ship carries dozens of F-18 Super Hornet jets, and the announcement sparked fears of potential land attacks.
Yesterday, Trump told White House reporters that he had not yet made a decision on whether the US would strike military targets on Venezuelan land.
This came after a report in the Miami Herald that he could begin airstrikes as soon as Friday.
Trump raised speculation of an imminent US strike on Venezuelan soil last week after he told reporters: “The land is going to be next.
“The land drugs are much more dangerous for them. It’s going to be much more dangerous. You’ll be seeing that soon.”
What is the USS Iwo Jima doing there?
On Thursday, the US Southern Command posted photos to X, showing Marines conducting “live-fire training” aboard the ship.
The caption said they were stationed in the Caribbean to support Trump’s “priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland”.
A live fire exercise is an opportunity for forces to practice firing live ammunition, rather than blanks, to prepare for real combat.
The USS Iwo Jima is a landing helicopter dock, which means it is capable of launching amphibious invasions.
Experts have said the deployment of the ship so close to Venezuelan land may be seen as an intimidation tactic against the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Along with the two destroyers in its vicinity, the warship represents another significant escalation of the US military presence in the area.
The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) at the US 5th Fleet area of operations in 2018 (Photo: Gado Images/Photodisc via Getty)
What is the response in Venezuela?
Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, has accused the US of mounting an attempted regime change.
In response to the announcement the USS Gerald R Ford would be moved to the Caribbean last week, Maduro said Trump was looking for conflict.
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war,” he told state media.
The US does not recognise Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, due to the absence of “basic transparency and integrity measures” in his latest election in 2024.
In August, the US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced there would be a $50m (£36m) reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on drug trafficking charges.
It is widely believed that Trump is using the cover of drug cartels as an excuse to further mount military operations in Venezuela and oust Maduro from office.
Maduro has accused the US of “seeking a regime change through military threat”, though the Trump administration has strongly denied this.
US carries out new strike in Caribbean, killing 3 alleged drug smugglers
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Saturday.
Hegseth in a social media posting said the vessel was operated by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike.
It's at least the 15th such strike carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September.
“This vessel—like EVERY OTHER—was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a posting on X.
The U.S. military has now killed at least 64 people in the strikes.
Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during a roundtable on criminal cartels in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)© The Associated Press
U.S. lawmakers have been repeatedly rebuffed by the White House in their demand that the administration release more information about the legal justification for the strikes as well as greater details about which cartels have been targeted and the individuals killed.
Hegseth in his Saturday posting announcing the latest strike said “narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home” and the Defense Department "will treat them EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda.”
Senate Democrats renewed their request for more information about the strikes in a letter on Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Hegseth.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, speaks about the Trump administration following reports that only Republican lawmakers received security briefings on the Trump-ordered military strikes against boats in the Caribbean, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)© The Associated Press
“We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes and a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable,” the senators wrote.
Among those signing the letter were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as Sens. Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner, Chris Coons, Patty Murray and Brian Schatz.
The letter says that thus far the administration “has selectively shared what has at times been contradictory information” with some members, “while excluding others.”
Earlier Friday, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee released a pair of letters sent to Hegseth written in late September and early October requesting the department’s legal rationale for the strikes and the list of drug cartels that the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations in its justification for the use of military force.
Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Saturday.
Hegseth in a social media posting said the vessel was operated by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike.
It's at least the 15th such strike carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September.
“This vessel—like EVERY OTHER—was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a posting on X.
The U.S. military has now killed at least 64 people in the strikes.
Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during a roundtable on criminal cartels in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)© The Associated Press
U.S. lawmakers have been repeatedly rebuffed by the White House in their demand that the administration release more information about the legal justification for the strikes as well as greater details about which cartels have been targeted and the individuals killed.
Hegseth in his Saturday posting announcing the latest strike said “narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home” and the Defense Department "will treat them EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda.”
Senate Democrats renewed their request for more information about the strikes in a letter on Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Hegseth.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, speaks about the Trump administration following reports that only Republican lawmakers received security briefings on the Trump-ordered military strikes against boats in the Caribbean, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)© The Associated Press
“We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes and a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable,” the senators wrote.
Among those signing the letter were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as Sens. Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner, Chris Coons, Patty Murray and Brian Schatz.
The letter says that thus far the administration “has selectively shared what has at times been contradictory information” with some members, “while excluding others.”
Earlier Friday, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee released a pair of letters sent to Hegseth written in late September and early October requesting the department’s legal rationale for the strikes and the list of drug cartels that the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations in its justification for the use of military force.
Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press
He is becoming?
He always was and it is what he promised.
These Nazis have very low IQ, but are violent AF.
You see how he is with his own citizens.
So when you put them in power, this is what you get.
Cruelty, domination, and subjecting minorities to inhuman treatment to assert their non-existent superiority is at the heart and soul of what MAGA is all about.
White House ‘withheld names of some donors’ to Trump’s $300M ballroom
The White House has withheld the identities of some individuals and companies that have donated towards President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, according to a report.
The blitz of the historic East Wing to make way for Trump’s pet project has been justified by the administration in part because it is not funded by the taxpayer.
A list of donors released by the White House omitted more than three dozen contributions and names of individuals and companies who are backing the project, according to The New York Times.
A pledge form from Trump’s team has been circulating to seek donations for the ballroom and gave donors the option of withholding their identities, according to the outlet, which obtained a copy of the form.
Two healthcare companies “seeking to protect or expand Medicare reimbursement for their products” are among the donors not disclosed by the White House, according to the newspaper.
The White House has withheld the names of individuals and companies who have donated towards President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, according to a report (Getty Images)
Kidney care company Vantive would not disclose the amount it donated to the ballroom but confirmed to the Times that its CEO, Chris Toth, attended a dinner for donors. Extremity Care, which has previously donated to Trump’s super PAC, donated $2.5 million to the ballroom fund, according to the newspaper.
Other previously undisclosed donors reportedly include financial giant BlackRock, which in May acquired a stake in the company that operates ports near the Panama Canal — a move which was supported by Trump. BlackRock declined to comment when approached by The Independent.
Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass was also not disclosed on the list, according to the Times, and could benefit from a deal backed by Trump that would keep the social media platform running in the U.S.
The Independent contacted Extremity Care and Yass via his trading firm, Susquehanna International Group, for comment.
Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia was also omitted from the list but revealed last week it was among donors backing the ballroom. The company could benefit from a Trump trade deal with China.
The blitz of the historic East Wing to make way for Trump’s pet project has been justified by the administration in part because it is not funded by the taxpayer (Getty Images)
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
A White House official told the Times that it disclosed the names of donors “who wish to be named publicly,” adding that they “also have the option to remain anonymous and we will honor that if that’s what they choose.”
According to the pledge form obtained by the Times, the project is referred to as “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.”
Trump previously said it was “fake news” that he was calling the ballroom after himself and that he didn’t have “any plan” to do so.
A pledge form from Trump’s team has been circulating to seek donations for the ballroom and gave donors the option of withholding their identities, according to the outlet, which obtained a copy of the form (AP)
At a recent gala dinner for ballroom donors, Trump gave a speech where he said the financial backers would be among the first to see the ballroom, that is, “if I still like you at that time, which I’m sure I will,” he reportedly said.
Names publicly disclosed included Big Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and Microsoft, along with cryptocurrency businesses Coinbase and Ripple, the Winklevoss Twins, Comcast, Lockheed Martin and Palantir Technologies.
T-Mobile, Union Pacific Railroad, oil baron Harold Hamm, the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and members of the Glazer family, which owns Manchester United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are also contributing, according to a list of donors previously released by the White House.
The White House has withheld the identities of some individuals and companies that have donated towards President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, according to a report.
The blitz of the historic East Wing to make way for Trump’s pet project has been justified by the administration in part because it is not funded by the taxpayer.
A list of donors released by the White House omitted more than three dozen contributions and names of individuals and companies who are backing the project, according to The New York Times.
A pledge form from Trump’s team has been circulating to seek donations for the ballroom and gave donors the option of withholding their identities, according to the outlet, which obtained a copy of the form.
Two healthcare companies “seeking to protect or expand Medicare reimbursement for their products” are among the donors not disclosed by the White House, according to the newspaper.
The White House has withheld the names of individuals and companies who have donated towards President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom, according to a report (Getty Images)
Kidney care company Vantive would not disclose the amount it donated to the ballroom but confirmed to the Times that its CEO, Chris Toth, attended a dinner for donors. Extremity Care, which has previously donated to Trump’s super PAC, donated $2.5 million to the ballroom fund, according to the newspaper.
Other previously undisclosed donors reportedly include financial giant BlackRock, which in May acquired a stake in the company that operates ports near the Panama Canal — a move which was supported by Trump. BlackRock declined to comment when approached by The Independent.
Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass was also not disclosed on the list, according to the Times, and could benefit from a deal backed by Trump that would keep the social media platform running in the U.S.
The Independent contacted Extremity Care and Yass via his trading firm, Susquehanna International Group, for comment.
Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia was also omitted from the list but revealed last week it was among donors backing the ballroom. The company could benefit from a Trump trade deal with China.
The blitz of the historic East Wing to make way for Trump’s pet project has been justified by the administration in part because it is not funded by the taxpayer (Getty Images)
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
A White House official told the Times that it disclosed the names of donors “who wish to be named publicly,” adding that they “also have the option to remain anonymous and we will honor that if that’s what they choose.”
According to the pledge form obtained by the Times, the project is referred to as “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.”
Trump previously said it was “fake news” that he was calling the ballroom after himself and that he didn’t have “any plan” to do so.
A pledge form from Trump’s team has been circulating to seek donations for the ballroom and gave donors the option of withholding their identities, according to the outlet, which obtained a copy of the form (AP)
At a recent gala dinner for ballroom donors, Trump gave a speech where he said the financial backers would be among the first to see the ballroom, that is, “if I still like you at that time, which I’m sure I will,” he reportedly said.
Names publicly disclosed included Big Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and Microsoft, along with cryptocurrency businesses Coinbase and Ripple, the Winklevoss Twins, Comcast, Lockheed Martin and Palantir Technologies.
T-Mobile, Union Pacific Railroad, oil baron Harold Hamm, the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and members of the Glazer family, which owns Manchester United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are also contributing, according to a list of donors previously released by the White House.
Shutdown stalemate set to drag into sixth week as Trump pushes Republicans to change Senate rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats remained at a stalemate on the government shutdown over the weekend as it headed into its sixth week, with food aid potentially delayed or suspended for millions of Americans and President Donald Trump pushing GOP leaders to change Senate rules to end it.
FILE - A control tower by an American Airlines hangar is shown at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Oct. 15, 2025, in DFW Airport, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, file)© The Associated Press
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that Trump has spoken to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as he has publicly and repeatedly pushed for an end to the Senate filibuster. But Republicans have strongly rejected Trump’s calls since his first term, arguing that the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate is vital to the institution and has allowed them to stop Democratic policies when they are in the minority.
FILE - Brock Brooks, a disable Marine Corps veteran, cries while describing the impending SNAP shutdowns while waiting in line to enter the food pantry service at Calvary Episcopal Church on Oct. 30, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry, file)© The Associated Press
Leavitt said Sunday that the Democrats are “crazed people” who haven’t shown any signs of budging.
“That’s why President Trump has said Republicans need to get tough, they need to get smart, and they need to use this option to get rid of the filibuster, to reopen the government and do right by the American public,” Leavitt said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.
Democrats have voted thirteen times against reopening the government, denying Republicans the votes in the 53-47 Senate as they insist on negotiations to extend government health care subsidies that will be cut off at the end of the year. Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened.
With the two parties at a standstill, the shutdown, now in its 33rd day, appears likely become the longest in history. The previous record was set in 2019, when Trump demanded that Congress give him money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
A potentially decisive week
Trump’s push on the filibuster could prove a distraction for Thune and Republican senators who have opted instead to stay the course as the consequences of the shutdown have become more acute, including more missed paychecks for air traffic controllers and other government workers and uncertainty over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Johnson says Trump's call for getting rid of the filibuster is his expression of anger over shutdown
Republicans are hoping that at least some Democrats will eventually give them the votes they need as they hold repeated votes on a bill to reopen the government. Democrats have held together so far, but some moderates have been in talks with rank-and-file Republicans about potential compromises that could guarantee votes on health care in exchange for reopening the government. Republicans need five additional Democrats to pass their bill.
Mark Bain, who is part of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, rubs his hands together as he checks the level on his oil at home in hopes that he will have enough oil to outlast the shutdown, in Bloomfield, Conn., Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)© The Associated Press
“We need five with a backbone to say we care more about the lives of the American people than about gaining some political leverage,” Thune said on the Senate floor as the Senate left Washington for the weekend on Thursday.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that there is a group of people talking about ”a path to fix the health care debacle” and a commitment from Republicans not to fire more federal workers. But it’s still unclear if those talks could produce a meaningful compromise.
The coming week could also be crucial for Democrats as the open enrollment period for health care marketplaces governed by the Affordable Care Act opened Nov. 1 and people are already starting to see spikes in premium costs for the next year, meaning it may be too late to make immediate changes. Democrats are also watching the results of gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday.
No appetite for bipartisanship
As Democrats have pushed Trump and Republicans to negotiate, Trump has showed little interest in doing so. He immediately called for an end to the Senate filibuster after a trip to Asia while the government was shut down.
Leavitt said Sunday that the president spoke to both Thune and Johnson about the filibuster. But a spokesman for Thune said Friday that his position hasn’t changed, and Johnson said on Sunday that Republicans traditionally have resisted calling for an end to the filibuster because it protects them from “the worst impulses of the far-left Democrat Party.”
Trump’s call to end it “is a reflection of all of our desperation,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump has spent much of the shutdown mocking Democrats, posting videos of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Mexican sombrero. The White House website has a satirical “My Space” page for Democrats, a parody based on the social media site that was popular in the early 2000s. “We just love playing politics with people’s livelihoods,” the page reads.
Democrats have repeatedly said that they need Trump to weigh in. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said that he hopes the shutdown could end “this week” because Trump is back in Washington.
Republicans “can’t move on anything without a Trump sign off,” Warner said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
Record-breaking shutdown
The 35-day shutdown that lasted from December 2018 to January 2019 ended when Trump retreated from his demands over a border wall. That came amid intensifying delays at the nation’s airports and multiple missed paydays for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on ABC's “This Week” that there have already been delays at several airports as air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid “and it’s only going to get worse.”
Many of the workers are “confronted with a decision,” he said. “Do I put food on my kids’ table, do I put gas in the car, do I pay my rent or do I go to work and not get paid?"
As flight delays around the country increased, New York City's emergency management department posted on Sunday that Newark Airport was under a ground delay because of “staffing shortages in the control tower" and that they were limiting arrivals to the airport.
“The average delay is about 2 hours, and some flights are more than 3 hours late,” the account posted. “FAA planning notes show a possibility of a full ground stop later if staffing shortages or demand increases.”
SNAP crisis
Also in the crossfire are the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits. The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold $8 billion needed for payments to the food program starting on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to fund it.
House Democratic leader Jeffries accused Trump and Republicans of attempting to “weaponize hunger.” He said that the administration has managed to find ways for funding other priorities during the shutdown, but is slow-walking pushing out SNAP benefits despite the court orders.
“But somehow they can’t find money to make sure that Americans don’t go hungry,” Jeffries said in an appearance on CNN's “State of the Union.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in his own CNN appearance Sunday, said the administration continues to await direction from the courts.
“The best way for SNAP benefits to get paid is for Democrats — for five Democrats to cross the aisle and reopen the government,” Bessent said.
___
Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats remained at a stalemate on the government shutdown over the weekend as it headed into its sixth week, with food aid potentially delayed or suspended for millions of Americans and President Donald Trump pushing GOP leaders to change Senate rules to end it.
FILE - A control tower by an American Airlines hangar is shown at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Oct. 15, 2025, in DFW Airport, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, file)© The Associated Press
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that Trump has spoken to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as he has publicly and repeatedly pushed for an end to the Senate filibuster. But Republicans have strongly rejected Trump’s calls since his first term, arguing that the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate is vital to the institution and has allowed them to stop Democratic policies when they are in the minority.
FILE - Brock Brooks, a disable Marine Corps veteran, cries while describing the impending SNAP shutdowns while waiting in line to enter the food pantry service at Calvary Episcopal Church on Oct. 30, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry, file)© The Associated Press
Leavitt said Sunday that the Democrats are “crazed people” who haven’t shown any signs of budging.
“That’s why President Trump has said Republicans need to get tough, they need to get smart, and they need to use this option to get rid of the filibuster, to reopen the government and do right by the American public,” Leavitt said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.
Democrats have voted thirteen times against reopening the government, denying Republicans the votes in the 53-47 Senate as they insist on negotiations to extend government health care subsidies that will be cut off at the end of the year. Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened.
With the two parties at a standstill, the shutdown, now in its 33rd day, appears likely become the longest in history. The previous record was set in 2019, when Trump demanded that Congress give him money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
A potentially decisive week
Trump’s push on the filibuster could prove a distraction for Thune and Republican senators who have opted instead to stay the course as the consequences of the shutdown have become more acute, including more missed paychecks for air traffic controllers and other government workers and uncertainty over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Johnson says Trump's call for getting rid of the filibuster is his expression of anger over shutdown
Republicans are hoping that at least some Democrats will eventually give them the votes they need as they hold repeated votes on a bill to reopen the government. Democrats have held together so far, but some moderates have been in talks with rank-and-file Republicans about potential compromises that could guarantee votes on health care in exchange for reopening the government. Republicans need five additional Democrats to pass their bill.
Mark Bain, who is part of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, rubs his hands together as he checks the level on his oil at home in hopes that he will have enough oil to outlast the shutdown, in Bloomfield, Conn., Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)© The Associated Press
“We need five with a backbone to say we care more about the lives of the American people than about gaining some political leverage,” Thune said on the Senate floor as the Senate left Washington for the weekend on Thursday.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that there is a group of people talking about ”a path to fix the health care debacle” and a commitment from Republicans not to fire more federal workers. But it’s still unclear if those talks could produce a meaningful compromise.
The coming week could also be crucial for Democrats as the open enrollment period for health care marketplaces governed by the Affordable Care Act opened Nov. 1 and people are already starting to see spikes in premium costs for the next year, meaning it may be too late to make immediate changes. Democrats are also watching the results of gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday.
No appetite for bipartisanship
As Democrats have pushed Trump and Republicans to negotiate, Trump has showed little interest in doing so. He immediately called for an end to the Senate filibuster after a trip to Asia while the government was shut down.
Leavitt said Sunday that the president spoke to both Thune and Johnson about the filibuster. But a spokesman for Thune said Friday that his position hasn’t changed, and Johnson said on Sunday that Republicans traditionally have resisted calling for an end to the filibuster because it protects them from “the worst impulses of the far-left Democrat Party.”
Trump’s call to end it “is a reflection of all of our desperation,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump has spent much of the shutdown mocking Democrats, posting videos of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Mexican sombrero. The White House website has a satirical “My Space” page for Democrats, a parody based on the social media site that was popular in the early 2000s. “We just love playing politics with people’s livelihoods,” the page reads.
Democrats have repeatedly said that they need Trump to weigh in. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said that he hopes the shutdown could end “this week” because Trump is back in Washington.
Republicans “can’t move on anything without a Trump sign off,” Warner said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
Record-breaking shutdown
The 35-day shutdown that lasted from December 2018 to January 2019 ended when Trump retreated from his demands over a border wall. That came amid intensifying delays at the nation’s airports and multiple missed paydays for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on ABC's “This Week” that there have already been delays at several airports as air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid “and it’s only going to get worse.”
Many of the workers are “confronted with a decision,” he said. “Do I put food on my kids’ table, do I put gas in the car, do I pay my rent or do I go to work and not get paid?"
As flight delays around the country increased, New York City's emergency management department posted on Sunday that Newark Airport was under a ground delay because of “staffing shortages in the control tower" and that they were limiting arrivals to the airport.
“The average delay is about 2 hours, and some flights are more than 3 hours late,” the account posted. “FAA planning notes show a possibility of a full ground stop later if staffing shortages or demand increases.”
SNAP crisis
Also in the crossfire are the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits. The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold $8 billion needed for payments to the food program starting on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to fund it.
House Democratic leader Jeffries accused Trump and Republicans of attempting to “weaponize hunger.” He said that the administration has managed to find ways for funding other priorities during the shutdown, but is slow-walking pushing out SNAP benefits despite the court orders.
“But somehow they can’t find money to make sure that Americans don’t go hungry,” Jeffries said in an appearance on CNN's “State of the Union.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in his own CNN appearance Sunday, said the administration continues to await direction from the courts.
“The best way for SNAP benefits to get paid is for Democrats — for five Democrats to cross the aisle and reopen the government,” Bessent said.
___
Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press
Judge again bars Trump administration from deploying troops to Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.
The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.
It's the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.
The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.
In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.
Judge says claims of protest violence are overstated
The purpose of the deployment, according to the Trump administration, is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. Legal experts said that a higher appellate court order that remains in effect would have barred troops from being deployed anyway.
Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of “significant damage” to the immigration facility at the center of the protests.
"Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.
Ruling follows weeks of back and forth in federal court
The complex case comes as Democratic cities targeted by Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which has filed a separate lawsuit on the issue — seek to push back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty. The administration argues that it needs the troops because it has been unable to enforce the law with regular forces — one of the conditions set by Congress for calling up troops.
Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the National Guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts.”
One of Immergut’s orders was paused Oct. 20 by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October — under which the National Guard is federalized but not deployed — remains in effect.
Federal witness describes ‘surprise’ at troop deployment
During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Trump’s National Guard announcement.
The Trump administration said it has had to shuffle federal agents from elsewhere around the country to respond to the Portland protests, which it has characterized as a “rebellion” or “danger of rebellion” — another one of the conditions for calling up troops under federal law.
Federal officials working in the region testified about staffing shortages and requests for more personnel that have yet to be fulfilled. Among them was an official with the Federal Protective Service, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that provides security at federal buildings, whom the judge allowed to be sworn in as a witness under his initials, R.C., due to safety concerns.
R.C., who said he would be one of the most knowledgeable people in DHS about security at Portland’s ICE building, testified that a troop deployment would alleviate the strain on staff. When cross-examined, however, he said he did not request troops and that he was not consulted on the matter. He also said he was “surprised” to learn about the deployment and that he did not agree with statements about Portland burning down.
Attorneys for Portland and Oregon said city police have been able to respond to the protests. After the police department declared a riot on June 14, it changed its strategy to direct officers to intervene when person and property crime occurs, and crowd numbers have largely diminished since the end of that month, police officials testified.
Another Federal Protective Service official whom the judge also allowed to testify under his initials said protesters have at times been violent, damaged the facility and acted aggressively toward officers working at the building.
The ICE building closed for three weeks over the summer due to property damage, according to court documents and testimony. The regional field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Cammilla Wamsley, said her employees worked from another building during that period. The plaintiffs argued that was evidence that they were able to continue their work functions.
Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Kennedy said that “without minimizing or condoning offensive expressions” or certain instances of criminal conduct, “none of these incidents suggest ... that there’s a rebellion or an inability to execute the laws.”
___
Johnson reported from Seattle.
Claire Rush And Gene Johnson, The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.
The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.
It's the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.
The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.
In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.
Judge says claims of protest violence are overstated
The purpose of the deployment, according to the Trump administration, is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. Legal experts said that a higher appellate court order that remains in effect would have barred troops from being deployed anyway.
Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of “significant damage” to the immigration facility at the center of the protests.
"Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.
Ruling follows weeks of back and forth in federal court
The complex case comes as Democratic cities targeted by Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which has filed a separate lawsuit on the issue — seek to push back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty. The administration argues that it needs the troops because it has been unable to enforce the law with regular forces — one of the conditions set by Congress for calling up troops.
Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the National Guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts.”
One of Immergut’s orders was paused Oct. 20 by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October — under which the National Guard is federalized but not deployed — remains in effect.
Federal witness describes ‘surprise’ at troop deployment
During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Trump’s National Guard announcement.
The Trump administration said it has had to shuffle federal agents from elsewhere around the country to respond to the Portland protests, which it has characterized as a “rebellion” or “danger of rebellion” — another one of the conditions for calling up troops under federal law.
Federal officials working in the region testified about staffing shortages and requests for more personnel that have yet to be fulfilled. Among them was an official with the Federal Protective Service, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that provides security at federal buildings, whom the judge allowed to be sworn in as a witness under his initials, R.C., due to safety concerns.
R.C., who said he would be one of the most knowledgeable people in DHS about security at Portland’s ICE building, testified that a troop deployment would alleviate the strain on staff. When cross-examined, however, he said he did not request troops and that he was not consulted on the matter. He also said he was “surprised” to learn about the deployment and that he did not agree with statements about Portland burning down.
Attorneys for Portland and Oregon said city police have been able to respond to the protests. After the police department declared a riot on June 14, it changed its strategy to direct officers to intervene when person and property crime occurs, and crowd numbers have largely diminished since the end of that month, police officials testified.
Another Federal Protective Service official whom the judge also allowed to testify under his initials said protesters have at times been violent, damaged the facility and acted aggressively toward officers working at the building.
The ICE building closed for three weeks over the summer due to property damage, according to court documents and testimony. The regional field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Cammilla Wamsley, said her employees worked from another building during that period. The plaintiffs argued that was evidence that they were able to continue their work functions.
Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Kennedy said that “without minimizing or condoning offensive expressions” or certain instances of criminal conduct, “none of these incidents suggest ... that there’s a rebellion or an inability to execute the laws.”
___
Johnson reported from Seattle.
Claire Rush And Gene Johnson, The Associated Press
