Immigration

[Vrede too]

Freudian im"peach"ment slip?

[bannination]

Who profits from the hate around Brexit and Trump’s border wall of lies?

[Vrede too]

Family Separation May Have Hit Thousands More Migrant Children Than Reported

Kirstjen Nielsen has got to go



The petition to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reads:

"Family separations are only one piece of the inhumane and indefensible anti-immigrant policy agenda you have chosen to defend and enforce. Your actions are immoral and unacceptable. Resign immediately."

[Vrede too]

Florida Man Says He's Ending GoFundMe Border Wall Campaign, Vows To Build It Himself



"Florida Man", not con, Trump follower, immigration activist, disabled vet, etc.

... He has also been connected with Facebook pages titled Right Wing News and Fight4FreeSpeech, although Facebook has since shut down Right Wing News. Facebook also shut down Kolfage's Military Grade Coffee business page. Kolfage allegedly created false narrative clickbait social media posts to discredit American politicians.

Figures.

So many questions.... how's he going to build it himself on property he doesn't own? How does "building a wall" qualify as a charity?

Kudos for him realizing it was a pretty stupid idea.... on to the next stupid idea I suppose.

It's still a scam. Sleazebags Kolfage, Kobach, Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and also "David Clarke, a former Milwaukee County Sheriff and fierce supporter of Trump's immigration policy who works at a pro-Donald Trump super PAC" knew all along that they would shut the original down and that some portion of the donors would opt for redirecting money into their pockets rather than getting the refunds. Just a measly 5% nets them $1 million and nothing will be ever be built besides maybe a 1/4 mile for their promo materials. Beyond their generous pay, monies will go to immigrant-bashing and POSPOTUS and other rightwing campaigns. Watch.

Oh I don't doubt that at all. There was a reason he never said what would happen if the goal wasn't met.

Way more than 5% are idiots, no surprise:

Trump Border Wall GoFundMe Donors Approve $7 Million to Build Their Own Barrier

onors to a GoFundMe “Trump Wall” campaign have reportedly given the organizer, Brian Kolfage, permission to transfer at least $7 million in donated funds to his new nonprofit and plan to construct a barrier along the southern border on private land.

Kolfage, a triple amputee injured while serving in Iraq, launched the campaign in mid-December with a goal to raise $1 billion. To date, he has raised more than $20.5 million from roughly 345,000 people. Last Friday, after consulting with law, finance, construction, national security and politics experts, Kolfage decided to put the donations toward his new nonprofit: We Build the Wall, Inc.,....

Kolfage told CBS News on Tuesday morning that more than 120,000 donors had opted to move $7 million to his nonprofit. GoFundMe did not confirm that number, and Kolfage later said the amount he gave was a “guess.”

:confusion-scratchheadblue:

... Kolfage has been scrutinized for his past ventures. Last week, BuzzFeed News reported he did not use funds raised from a past GoFundMe campaign, meant to help wounded soldiers, for its purported cause. In response, Kolfage told CBS News he used the money to travel to hospitals to carry out a mentorship program and called it a “fake article.”

Figures, but BuzzFeed's credibility ain't very strong these days.

[Vrede too]

Dated, but still:

She Was Kidnapped by Guerrillas and Forced to Work. That Qualifies as Material Support for Terrorism, According to Immigration Ruling



No update on what's happened since. I don't know how to search for one since the Salvadoran woman is unnamed. Plus, while the Salvadoran rebels were extreme, to call them "terrorists" while not saying the same about the death squad government is a lie and a travesty. Who is being deported for materially supporting it?

[Vrede too]

ACLU: The Real Border Crisis
President Trump’s policies targeting asylum seekers created a humanitarian crisis. It won’t be solved by a wall.

[Vrede too]

A major reason for the flood of refugees from Honduras, instant karma for the U.S.:

Sunday, January 27th marked one year since US-backed Juan Orlando Hernandez was installed for a second term as president of Honduras, in the midst of massive demonstrations against widely-recognized election fraud. It was the United States that first recognized Hernandez and ensured he remained in the presidency.

A Miami Herald expose found that US-made M-4 weapons were used by the Military Police to kill 19-year old Kimberly Dayana Fonseca during last year's demonstrations. Between 2015 and 2017, the State Department authorized companies to export over 10,000 firearms to the Honduran government. Over 35 demonstrators and bystanders were killed during the pro-democracy demonstrations. Dozens more were arrested and jailed; several demonstrators, including Edwin Espinal and Raul Alvarez, have now been imprisoned in inhumane conditions for over a year. Edwin and Raul are in a military-run maximum security prison where their health is deteriorating and they have lost over 40 pounds each.

This past weekend as people across Honduras took to the streets demanding the resignation of Hernandez and freedom for political prisoners, the US-backed regime again repressed the population. According to human rights organization COFADEH, a Honduran TV cameraman covering the demonstrations reported that the US-trained and financed elite TIGRES shot a rubber bullet directly at his stomach because he was filming as security forces repressed the demonstrations. Security forces also detained journalist Jairo Lopez and dozens of demonstrators, fired live bullets, and beat up protesters.

This occurred just days after US Vice President Pence called Hernandez to 'reiterate' US support for his regime and 'commended' him for the repressive measures imposed to try to stop those fleeing from Honduras. The Commander of the US Southern Command also choose to travel to Honduras and meet with the Honduran president last week, just ahead of the major demonstrations. WHINSEC, formerly known as the SOA, was also in Honduras in December. At a time when thousands of Hondurans are fleeing and calling for Hernandez to resign, the US is choosing to make it clear it will continue to support this violent and repressive regime.

The migrant caravans departing from Honduras are the direct result of the last 10 years of repressive and destructive policies imposed by US-backed regimes following the 2009 SOA-graduate led military coup, which removed a democratically elected leader who had improved life for many Honduras. Many of those forced to abandon their homes are all too well aware of the political causes of the proliferation of murders, violence, and economic policies that have destroyed their lives. Members of the migrant caravans frequently denounce the Honduran president, shouting the slogan made popular during the massive resistance to the illegal re-election last year, Fuera JOH.

As the Trump Administration demonizes immigrants and the caravans fleeing Honduras, it is important to remember that it is precisely US policies and US-backed regimes that have created the need for people to flee Honduras in the first place. The actions of US officials to vocally support, train, arm, and finance a repressive and corrupt regime that opens fire on its own citizens and imposes destructive neoliberal policies will only cause more and more people to flee.

In solidarity,
SOA Watch
http://www.soaw.org/home/

[Vrede too]

Keep the pressure on Congress to repeal the Muslim ban

[Vrede too]

Signatures needed: Keep the pressure on Congress to block funding for Trump's anti-immigrant agenda

[Vrede too]

New Mexico's governor literally runs through walls in response to Trump's State of the Union address

... Taking to Twitter directly after Trump finished giving his address, governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, posted possibly the best riposte to Trump's border wall policy we've ever seen.

In a now viral video, she can be seen quite literally smashing through walls....

MichelleLujanGrisham
‏Verified account @Michelle4NM

All of this talk about walls tonight... #SOTU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fHRCH8pOe8

7:30 PM - 5 Feb 2019

"... and here's what I think of Trump's wall."

In the video, which appears to be a campaign commercial for her 2018 gubernatorial election, she then lays out her proposed changes to legislation and says that the inspiration for the video came from the impetus to 'bust through some walls to make some changes'.
Needless to say, the video, which has now been viewed nearly a million times, went down excellently on Twitter....

Star Admiral of the Space Force
‏ @schroedingereqn

Can't stop watching this I love it! New Mexico, wanna trade for DeSantis??

I think you've been outranked, neoplacebo.

The viral video wasn't Michelle's only response to Trump's State of the Union. She also issued a statement on her website, in which she outlined that she would be withdrawing most of the New Mexico National Guard troops stationed along the border.

In a statement, she said:

... We will support our neighbors where the need for assistance is great, and we will offer a helping hand when we can to those vulnerable people who arrive at our border, but New Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fear-mongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops. We will deploy our men and women in uniform only where there is a need, and where their presence can make a genuine difference in ensuring public safety and an easing of the humanitarian concerns at our southern border....

New Mexico shares 180 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico, and it's clear that Grisham doesn't want to see any walls built on it.

[Vrede too]

Trump Administration Argues It Could Be 'Traumatic' to Reunite Thousands of Migrant Children With Their Parents

:confusion-scratchheadblue:

[neoplacebo]

I think you've been outranked, neoplacebo.

Actions speak louder than words.......but I've been needling Marsha Blackburn and Phil Roe every time they send me an email. I'm sure they wish I wasn't on their list. They don't know what to think about people like me. And I like it.

[Vrede too]

Actions speak louder than words.......but I've been needling Marsha Blackburn and Phil Roe every time they send me an email. I'm sure they wish I wasn't on their list. They don't know what to think about people like me. And I like it.

I can relate.

Undocumented immigrants pay millions of dollars in state taxes — even in the reddest states
All the money undocumented immigrants pay in state taxes, in one map.

... The president then repeated one of his most outrageous lies: that undocumented immigrants cost US taxpayers a ton of money.

“Billions and billions of dollars a month,” he said. “Billions and billions of dollars. And it’s unnecessary.”

I’ve written before about how false — and pervasive — this myth is. That, in fact, undocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars in federal taxes each year, and their income taxes and payroll tax dollars are keeping Social Security and Medicare solvent.

But it’s also worth noting that undocumented immigrants are paying billions of dollars in state and local taxes each year — in all 50 states....



According to the report, the 10 states that benefited the most from undocumented taxpayers in 2014 are:

California, $3.2 billion
Texas, $1.6 billion
New York, $1.1 billion
Illinois: $758,881,000
Florida, $598,677,875
New Jersey, $587,415,000
Georgia, $351,718,000
North Carolina, $277,402,000
Virginia, $255,965,000
Arizona, $213,574,000.

These numbers suggest that the president’s anti-immigrant policies could end up hurting communities that depend on this source of tax revenue.

The numbers are also a stark contrast with public perception about the cost of illegal immigration — especially among Trump voters. About 69 percent of Trump supporters surveyed in 2016 said immigrants are a burden to the United States....

[Vrede too]

Tell Congress: Pass the Families Belong Together Act

[Vrede too]

Ocasio-Cortez just humiliated Mark Meadows and Wilbur Ross after shredding them in hearing (article)

Meadows is my Rep. and chair of the RWNJ House Freedom Caucus. I'm so proud I could burst . . . of AOC, not Meadows.

Tweet series, lots of good posts under each, and some juvenile hate under AOC’s:

Video

the whole thing is much longer, but here's @AOC just absolutely pantsing wilbur ross. he tries to say she's out of time so he can't answer why his office broke the law. then @RepCummings says nah son, go ahead and answer and that sends his lawyers into a tizzy and

so i just figured out (i think) why AOC is good in these hearings. she's doing a columbo thing. "i just have one more question, just a clarification..." and that's when she lowers the boom.

https://twitter.com/DanteAtkins/status/ ... hearing%2F

This is @AOC just thrashing Mark Meadows here by citing section and subsection of the law being violated by the Executive Branch. I get the feeling that Meadows isn’t enjoying this minority thing too much.

Don't omit Cummings having her back, dude is shrewd.

@RepCummings takes @AOC’s setup and spikes a perjury trap in Ross’s face.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/11063396 ... hearing%2F

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
‏Verified account @AOC

GOP challenged me in committee, betting on an assumption that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

Spoiler: I knew what I was talking about.

Keep believing the patronizing trope about “not smart, but her heart’s in the right place.”

Makes em under prepare & not see us coming.

[1 CAT FAN]

When Columbus discovered America, the word spread fast. The infestation began, the Native American Indian’s secret was lost. Now, the Caucasian blond hair blue eyed American is being phased out too. Thank goodness for history books for chameleons of tomorrow to reflect on their ancestors.

[Vrede too]

House Democrats introduce bill to offer 2.5 million immigrants chance at permanent status
The Dream and Promise Act would allow DREAMers to apply for legalization, and TPS holders to apply for green cards.

Tell Congress: Pass a clean Dream and Promise Act.

[Vrede too]

To: Media@mesa-air.com, HRADMIN@mesa-air.com
Subject: Selene Saavedra Roman

Re: 'A nightmare': flight attendant with Daca status held after flying for work
https://www.yahoo.com/news/apos-nightma ... 11235.html

"For six weeks, Selene Saavedra Roman has been living what her husband describes as “a nightmare”. In February, in the first few weeks of a new job as a flight attendant with Mesa Airlines and on a turnaround flight from Mexico, she was detained at George Bush intercontinental airport in Houston....

Even though David Watkins, her husband, said she had put Mexico and Canada on her 'no fly' list when she was hired this winter, her new employer said via email and phone she could fly to and from Mexico in safety...."

Do the right thing, give Selene Saavedra Roman a huge bonus.

Sincerely,
(Vrede too)

[1 CAT FAN]

[GoCubsGo]