America Not Made Safer or Greater; DHS Data Shows that Out of More than 1,000 People Arrested and Detained in Chicago, Only 10 had Criminal Records. Nationally 70% Held by ICE Have No Criminal Record

From [HERE] Operation Midway Blitz, a campaign the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched Sept. 8 claimed it would target “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in the area.

But the government’s own data and detentions like that of Rosales — a mother of three who has no apparent criminal record — cast serious doubt on whether that’s really the mission.

On Oct. 3, DHS announced that since the operation began in September, more than 1,000 undocumented migrants had been arrested across Chicago and its suburbs — “including the worst of the worst pedophiles, child abusers, kidnappers, gang members, and armed robbers.” However, the agency provided detailed information for only 10 men with a criminal background, about 1% of those detained, making independent verification difficult.

In one particularly jarring raid, on Sept. 30 federal agents with Black Hawk helicopters and military-type vehicles descended on an apartment complex in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. DHS said the location was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members,” a Venezuelan criminal gang targeted by the Trump administration.

According to DHS, 37 people were arrested during the operation; however, only eight of them were confirmed to have a criminal record — and that includes crimes ranging from aggravated battery to retail theft. The agency did not say whether any of those cases resulted in convictions.

In other words, while the administration says it is disrupting transnational gang activity, the bulk of those detained seem to have no serious record. In fact, federal data shows that over 70% of detainees who were being held as of last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement nationally had no criminal convictions. [MORE]

LA City Attorney and LAPD Sought to Lift an Injunction on the Police Use of Force Against Journalists Ahead of Protests in City Controlled by Elite Liberals

In a unanimous vote on Friday morning, LA City Council put a halt to City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s attempt to lift an injunction on LAPD’s use of force against journalists. The City Attorney’s office withdrew their misguided motion the same day.

On October 16, LAist reported that the Los Angeles Police Department and the City Attorney’s Office had petitioned to lift the order ahead of the No Kings protests planned for the weekend. The emergency motion by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez directed the City Attorney to withdraw their filing, describing the attempt as “a waste of city resources and against the will of Angelenos at large.”

The federal injunction was issued in September by Judge Hernan Vera in response to a lawsuit by the Los Angeles Press Club over LAPD’s violent response to pro-immigrant protests in June and July, when LAPD intentionally targeted members of the press with projectiles despite their visible identification. Judge Vera described the lawsuit as “the latest chapter in a long and unfortunate saga of the LAPD’s use of unlawful force against members of the media.”

“City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s support for lifting the injunction barring the LAPD’s use of force against journalists covering protests, while unsurprising, is wholly oppositional to bedrock principles of democracy, including a free press and the public’s right to be informed about matters of public interest,” said National Lawyers Guild LA board member Carie Martin. “We are heartened to know that the City Council is prepared to act swiftly to ensure that journalists are not subject to state violence while fulfilling this vital democratic function.” National Lawyers Guild members are representing multiple protesters in lawsuits stemming from LAPD violence during this summer’s protests.

Police violence against the media has been a consistent pattern by LAPD and has resulted in many expensive settlements by the city. The request by Feldstein Soto was, in essence, to grant court permission for LAPD to continue that violence and the chilling effect on reporting that comes with it.

“While the federal government wages a campaign of fear against immigrants, our responsibility is to protect Angelenos — not to greenlight more violence against those who tell their stories” said Councilmember Hernandez in a statement to the press, hailing the vote as standing with journalism and the truth. [MORE] and [MORE]

1 Nation Under Guard: Like Rats, ICE Race Soldiers are Running Around Neighborhoods, Churches, Hospitals, Bus Stops and Schools Preying On and Snatching Up Non-White People w/Impunity

From [HERE] “Brother, I am American. You are twisting my arm.”— Man shouts “I am American” while ICE agents detain him

Masked gunmen. Tasers. Tear gas. Pepper spray. Unmarked vehicles. Intimidation tactics. Brutality. Racial profiling. Children traumatized. Families terrorized. Journalists targeted. Citizens detained. Disabled individuals, minors, the elderly, pregnant women, military veterans—snatched off the streets. Private property destroyed.

This is not a war zone.

This is what now passes for law-and-order policing by ICE agents in Trump’s America—and it is not making America safer or greater.

What began as an agency tasked with enforcing immigration law has metastasized into a domestic terror force.

From coast to coast, ICE goon squads—incognito, thuggish, fueled by profit-driven incentives and outlandish quotas, and empowered by the Trump administration to act as if they are untouchable—are prowling neighborhoods, churches, courthouses, hospitals, bus stops, and worksites, anywhere “suspected” migrants might be present, snatching people first and asking questions later.

Sometimes “later” comes hours, days or even weeks afterwards.

No one is off limits—not even American citizens.

Make no mistake: this is not how a constitutional republic operates. It is how a dictatorship behaves when it decides the rule of law—in this case, the Bill of Rights—is optional. Journalists are being shoved to the pavement, forced into chokeholds, teargassed, and brutalized—in violation of the First Amendment. U.S. citizens, including toddlers, are being snatched up and carted off—in violation of the Fourth Amendment. People with no criminal records who have lived, worked and paid taxes in this country for decades are being made to disappear—in violation of habeas corpus.

This is not public safety. It is domestic terrorism, carried out by masked, militarized, lawless bounty hunters.

Each of these incidents is presented as routine immigration enforcement. Yet collectively they reveal a government agency that has abandoned the principles of restraint, accountability, and due process in favor of brute force.

Justifying extreme measures—martial law, mass surveillance, suspension of constitutional safeguards— as necessary for “national security” has always been the refuge of tyrants, and this American police state is no different.

Under Trump, however, things are so much worse.

The rationalizations have become bolder, the violence more normalized, and the lies more transparent.

The biggest lie of all is the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that its costly, ego-driven, and unnecessary military invasion of Chicago—Operation Midway Blitz—rounded up “the worst of the worst pedophiles, child abusers, kidnappers, gang members, and armed robbers.”

In fact, DHS’ own data shows that out of more than 1,000 people rounded up, only 10 had criminal records.

Nationally, more than 70% of individuals rounded up by ICE nationally have no criminal convictions. Many have lived in the U.S. for decades, raised families, paid taxes, contributed to the economy, and worked the jobs most Americans refuse to do. [MORE]

Gavin Newsom Signs Amendments to California’s Racial Justice Act into Law

From [HERE] On October 13, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the lat­est set of amend­ments to California’s Racial Justice Act (CRJA) into law, strength­en­ing a ground­break­ing piece of leg­is­la­tion that pro­hibits crim­i­nal con­vic­tions and sen­tences based on race, eth­nic­i­ty, or nation­al ori­gin. Under this law, cap­i­tal­ly con­vict­ed pris­on­ers can pur­sue mean­ing­ful relief, beyond just the rever­sal of a death sen­tence, if the state is found to have vio­lat­ed these protections.

When California’s RJA was first passed in 2020, leg­is­la­tors expressed their inten­tion for the law to be inter­pret­ed as a ​“rejec­tion” of the 1987 United States Supreme Court deci­sion in McCleskey v. Kemp, a rul­ing which refused to accept pow­er­ful sta­tis­ti­cal dis­par­i­ties as evi­dence of racial dis­crim­i­na­tion and forced defen­dants to prove that the alleged racism or bias was pur­pose­ful. Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D‑San Jose), the CRJA’s pri­ma­ry author, said the law serves as a ​“coun­ter­mea­sure” to McCleskey, argu­ing that the deci­sion ​“estab­lished an unrea­son­ably high stan­dard for vic­tims of racism in the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem that is almost impos­si­ble to meet with­out direct proof that the racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry behav­ior was con­scious, delib­er­ate and tar­get­ed.” Under the CRJA, sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence is enough for a defen­dant to bring a case. 

The CRJA has been amend­ed once before, in 2022, to make the law retroac­tive. The lat­est amend­ments to the CRJA clar­i­fy the min­i­mum thresh­old a defen­dant must meet to bring a claim, expand eli­gi­bil­i­ty for appoint­ed coun­sel for indi­gent death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers, make it eas­i­er for pris­on­ers to obtain ear­ly dis­cov­ery, and require courts to pro­vide a rem­e­dy when a vio­la­tion is found, poten­tial­ly even dis­miss­ing the charges. [MORE]

Dummy Trump Also Ignoring the 2nd Amendment for His Masters: Major Gun Rights Group Calls for Pam Bondi’s Immediate Termination as Attorney General

From [HERE] Nine months into her tenure, Attorney General Pam Bondi faces a bombshell challenge from one of America’s most influential gun rights organizations, which now demands her immediate termination for failing to protect constitutional freedoms.

On October 10, 2025, the National Association for Gun Rights called on President Trump to fire his top law enforcement official for what they call systematic betrayals of Second Amendment rights.

The bombshell announcement represents a dramatic escalation in tensions between gun rights advocates and the Trump administration’s Justice Department. NAGR is one of America’s most vocal Second Amendment organizations. As one of the loudest no-compromise organizations in the United States, NAGR pulled no punches in their scathing assessment of Bondi’s nine-month tenure, declaring that she has “failed the Second Amendment” and must go immediately.

The final straw came when Bondi’s DOJ successfully obtained a federal court order forcing two major gun rights organizations to hand over their complete membership lists to the federal government. The October 7th ruling in Reese v. ATF requires the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition to provide verified member lists, including names, addresses, and contact information, creating what gun advocates view as a dangerous government registry.

The membership list controversy serves as the culmination of what NAGR describes as a pattern of anti-gun actions under Bondi’s leadership. Despite Trump’s executive orders directing reviews of gun regulations, Bondi’s DOJ continues defending Biden’s “engaged in the business” rule, which effectively creates universal background checks for private gun sales. The DOJ has spent months “reviewing” the rule while simultaneously enforcing it against law-abiding gun owners and asking courts to delay legal challenges that could provide relief.

NAGR’s indictment extends to Bondi’s Supreme Court positions, where her DOJ has actively opposed restoring gun rights to nonviolent felons in Vincent v. Bondi and has worked to undermine pro-Second Amendment court rulings regarding 18-20 year olds’ rights to purchase handguns. NAGR points out the cruel irony that military-aged adults old enough to fight and die for America cannot legally purchase handguns thanks to positions Bondi’s DOJ continues to defend. [MORE]

Who is Better at Dominating Blacks, dumbocrats or republicrats? Upon DOJ Request Judge Will Stop Monitoring the NOPD. Blacks Account for Over 80% of All Force Incidents in City Run by Elite Liberals

“2 wings on a bird of prey:” U.S. District Court Judge Susie Morgan said Thursday she is prepared to lift the consent decree that has governed the New Orleans Police Department since 2013, a move backed by both the Trump administration and its liberal city officials.

Morgan indicated she would terminate the sweeping federal agreement if the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returns the case to her jurisdiction. The decision comes at the joint request of the city and the Department of Justice, marking the first time both have aligned on ending the 12-year-old reform mandate.

The decree, signed under former Mayor Mitch Landrieu following a blistering Justice Department report that found systemic misconduct, discrimination, and excessive force, required the Police Department to revamp nearly every aspect of its operations. Over the years, it brought strict federal monitoring, new training programs, and detailed accountability systems that reshaped the department’s internal culture.

Thursday’s order reflects a shift in federal posture. Under the Trump administration, the Department of Justice has distanced itself from police consent decrees in several cities, saying local departments should be free from ongoing federal control once substantial compliance is reached. Department of Justice lawyers now agree with Cantrell that New Orleans has achieved the benchmarks required to exit oversight.

Earlier this year, Morgan rejected Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s push to end the decree immediately, opting instead for a two-year “sustainment period” meant to ensure that reforms were not only in place but durable. The Cantrell administration appealed that ruling, sending the case to the 5th Circuit and limiting Morgan’s authority to act. [MORE]

ALL UNCONTROLLABLE PERSONS WHO ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE FORCE OFFENSIVELY ON PEOPLE AND WHO PROVIDE A “PUBLIC SERVICE” THAT NO ONE CAN DECLINE SHOULD BE MONITORED 24/7.

Data publicly reported by the NOPD shows that the percentage of use-of-force incidents per arrest surged from 3.3% in 2016 to 7.4% in recent years. Alarmingly, from 2016 through 2023, Black residents accounted for over 80% of use-of-force incidents, despite comprising only 57% of New Orleans’ population, according to the 2020 census. These statistics highlight the ongoing need for vigilant oversight and community monitoring during the sustainment period. The ACLU stated, The consent decree was originally implemented to address widespread unconstitutional practices, racial profiling, and corruption within the NOPD. This sustainment period must ensure these critical issues are fully resolved. [MORE]

Ralph Nader: Massa Media is MythCounting the No. of Humans Murdered by Israel to Minimize Palestinian Lives and Accountability for Its Barbarism. Death Toll Closer to 1M, Contrary to Myth-Information

ACCORDING TO FUNKTIONARY:

mythematician – a social engineer who uses statistics to support unfounded and empirically-invalid conclusions for socioeconomic or political motives, e.g., Eugenics, the “Bell Curve,” I.Q. Tests, etc. (See: Mythmatic & The “Bell Curve”)

mythematics – the manipulation of statistics to formulate and reflect the validity a preconceived desired result or position in an academic and/or socio-political context. (See: Statistics)

Newspapers – thought pollution. People who don’t read newspapers are probably much better off than those who do—as it is better to be uninformed than it is to be either misinformed or myth-informed. Newspapers everywhere, cluttered all around us up to our knees, we’re all suffering from this chronicle disease. “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” ~Malcolm X. (See: Misinformation, Clutter, Propaganda, MEDIA, Predictive Programming, Opinion, Bias & Modern Newspapers)

CONTRARY TO MEDIA MYTH-INFORMATION From [Ralph Nader] Ben Hubbard, the long-time Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, is known for his high standards. So too is Karen DeYoung, the long-time reporter and foreign affairs editor for the Washington Post.

Yet they, and their editors, share a common, recurring failure by misleading their readers about the serious undercount of Palestinian deaths during the Israeli regime’s genocidal destruction of Gaza.

How so? By repeating in article after article the Hamas claim of 67,000 deaths since October 2023. The real death toll estimate is probably around 600,000. Unlike Israeli and American cultures, which do not under-estimate their fatalities in conflicts, Hamas sees the awful death toll as a reflection of their not protecting their people and a measure of Israeli military might against Hamas’ limited small arms and weapons. Both Hubbard and DeYoung, of course, know better. They know the daily bombardment of tiny Gaza, the geographical size of Philadelphia, with 2.3 million humans, is without precedent in Israel’s targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. The blockade of “food, water, medicine, fuel, and electricity,” along with the concentrated destruction of health care facilities have been condemned by human rights groups in Israel and International humanitarian organizations.

 Reporters and editors are quite aware of more accurate casualty estimates appearing in The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal, and estimates provided by other academic and prominent international relief organizations like Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, UN World Food Programme and others experienced in assessing the human toll of military devastations.

Journalists know the estimate last April by Professor Emeritus Paul Rogers of the University of Bradford in the UK, an expert in the power of aerial bombs and missiles, who wrote that the TNT equivalent of six Hiroshima atomic bombs has been delivered to these totally defenseless Palestinians, almost all of whom are without housing or air raid shelters.

Netanyahu’s American-made missiles and bombs continue to produce deadly bloodshed.  The waves of death from starvation, untreated, weaponry-caused infectious diseases, the cutoff of medicines treating cancer, respiratory ailments, and diabetes are still mounting.

What readers do not know is how much of the use of Hamas’s undercount is mandated by news editors, and why.  Because intense Netanyahu propaganda has declared the estimates of Hamas, based on real names (excluding many thousands under the rubble and the collateral damage to civilians that in such conflicts exceed direct fatalities from the bombing by 3 to 13-fold), are an exaggeration, the mainstream media is wary of being accused of even worse fabrications than those of Hamas.

Speaking to many reporters and editors about this huge undercount phenomenon, not prevalent in other violent arenas of war, they all agree that the real count is much higher, but they do not have a number to use that is deemed credible. But they do have casualty experts who can be interviewed, such as the chair of the Global Health Department at Edinburgh University or a foremost missile technology specialist, MIT Professor Emeritus Theodore Postol, who said on our radio/podcast recently, “I would say that 200, 300, or 400,000 people [Palestinian] are dead easily.”

The least the journalists could do is say “the real count may be much higher.” The other alternative is to do their own investigation, piecing together the empirical and clinical evidence (See, Gaza Healthcare Letter to President Trump, October 1, 2025) and citing prominent Israelis who have said that the IDF has always targeted Palestinian civilians from 1948 on. (See my column March 28, 2025 – The Vast Gaza Death Undercount – Undermines Civic, Diplomatic and Political Pressures.)

The other alternative is to do a “news analysis,” which allows for evaluations, short of editorializing. For instance, a “news analysis” could point out that conveying the impression that the Hamas figures are the true count means that 97 out of 100 Palestinians in Gaza are still living. This is not remotely credible. Yet that is essentially what Ben Hubbard’s October 7th Times article stated, “with more than 67,000 killed, or one in every 34 Gazans, according to local health officials.”  It is more like one in every four Gazans killed. [MORE]

As of mid-April 2025, University of Bradford (U.K.) Emeritus Professors Paul Rogers, a specialist on aerial and artillery bomb devastation, described the level of destruction in totally besieged Gaza as the “equivalent of six Hiroshimas, but even more destructive” because many more of the bombs over Gaza drop over targeted locations – schools, apartment buildings, hospitals, clinics, markets, refugee encampments, roads, water mains, electricity circuits and even the agricultural areas to deny the people of Gaza from growing some of their own food. Starvation, death by uncontrolled fires, infections, and the thousands of babies born into the rubble each month spiral the daily accelerating toll. Now, if you take the current Hamas figure of just over 62,000, you are telling the public that 97% of Gazans are still alive. [MORE]

Black LAPD Cop Arrested for the Murder of Brendon Glenn. Shot Homeless Black Man in the Back who Posed No Deadly Threat and was Unarmed

From [HERE] and [HERE] The Black Los Angeles Police Department officer who killed an unarmed man in Venice in 2015 was finally arrested at LAX on Thursday.

LAPD officer Clifford Proctor shot Brendon Glenn, 29, near the Venice Beach Boardwalk on May 5, 2015. Proctor imagined that Glenn attempted to reach for his partner's gun before he opened fire. 

However, the LAPD's investigation into the deadly shooting determined that Glenn was on his stomach and pushing himself when Proctor shot him in the back, killing him. Proctor's partner told investigators that he didn't know why the officer opened fire, according to police.

Surveillance video from a nearby bar did not show Glenn reaching for the weapon, and Proctor's partner, Jonathan Kawahara, said he didn't see Glenn's hand go near his gun, a district attorney's report said.

Glenn's death sparked a series of protests in the city, with activists demanding criminal charges against Proctor. 

A year later, the Los Angeles Police Commission ruled the shooting unjustified. Then-LAPD Chief Charlie Beck recommended that the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office criminally charge Proctor.

Proctor resigned from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017. The city paid $4million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit that was brought by Glenn's relatives.

In 2016, Proctor was charged in a separate case with domestic battery and is also accused of violating a court order and dissuading a witness from testifying, Orange County prosecutors said.

In March 2018, prosecutors declined to file charges despite the chief's recommendation. The DA's office released an 83-page report that ultimately claimed there was insufficient evidence to prove Proctor acted unlawfully.

"After an independent and thorough review of all the evidence in this case, we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Proctor did not act within the law," then-District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement.

Beck disagreed with Lacey's decision and stood by his recommendation.

"I often make comment on officer-involved shootings, and when I see an officer-involved shooting that at initial review appears to be proper I say so," Beck said. "... And I also, in the rare cases when I see one that I think does not meet our standards or does not meet the legal standards, I will also say that."

The attorneys for Glenn's family stated that Lacey's successor, District Attorney George Gascón, hired a special prosecutor to reopen the investigation into his death. It resulted in a warrant being issued for Proctor's arrest on Oct. 17, 2024.

"Although 10 years have gone by, it feels like yesterday when the tragedy took place," the family's attorney V. James DeSimone wrote in a statement. "It feels like the 'pause' button has finally been released and the rest of this criminal process will play out for all to see."

The LAPD released a statement following Proctor's arrest, stating the former officer was arrested for a felony murder warrant. 

"We will continue to support the justice system as this case proceeds and will work collaboratively with our law enforcement partners throughout the process," LAPD wrote.

Trump-Bush Declares (Covert) War On Venezuela to Steal Its Oil Reserves

[media ignores "the science" comparing the health of the "vaxxed" and Unvaxxed] An Inconvenient Study (full, unedited movie)

Black Commander Makes a Statement by Quitting the US Military Over Trump's Extrajudicial Murder Spree of Civilians Near Venezuela

The head of US Southern Command, the military commander overseeing US escalations in the Caribbean and the push toward an attempt at regime change in Venezuela, is stepping down, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.

According to a statement from SOUTHCOM Commander Adm. Alvin Holsey, who served in the position for less than a year, he will be retiring on December 12, 2025, ending a 37-year military career.

No reason was given for his resignation, but according to The New York Times, he had raised concerns about the US military mission in the Caribbean, which has involved a significant buildup of forces and the bombing of five boats that the Trump administration has claimed, without providing evidence, were carrying drugs.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a statement on Holsey’s retirement and praised the admiral, but the Times report said that officials at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill said the praise “masked real policy tensions concerning Venezuela that the admiral and his civilian boss were seeking to paper over.”

Reuters also reported that a source said there had been tension between Holsey and Hegseth and questions about whether he would be fired in the days leading up to the announcement.

The Trump administration has come under significant criticism for its bombing campaign against alleged drug-running boats since the operations amount to extrajudicial executions. The Pentagon has also provided Congress with no hard evidence to back up its claims about the strikes. [MORE]

[What Could Go Wrong When Uncontrollable "Public Servants" are Authorized to Use Force Offensively?] Citizens Angry Over 10 Recent Shootings by Phoenix Cops, 1 shooting every 6 days in Liberal City

DOJ says Phoenix Police Target Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans: Cops Subject Non-Whites to Unlawful Detention, Excessive or Deadly Force and Purposefully Delay Medical Aid to People They Harm

From [HERE] The recent wave of shootings involving Phoenix police officers sparked public outrage shortly before the Phoenix City Council convened on Wednesday.

Several community advocacy groups, including Black Lives Matter and Poder in Action, gathered to decry the shootings and call for change.

Monica Varrientos, an organizer with Poder in Action, called for Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano to implement reforms that will reduce police violence.

“In the two months since Chief Giordano started, there have been 10 shootings by Phoenix police,” Varrientos said.

“That is one shooting every six days. Six of these shootings have resulted in the death of our neighbors, our family members, our friends. This is the highest rate of shooting since 2018, the year the department shot 44 people.”

Phoenix Police Department’s newest chief took office after DOJ dropped report

Giordano took office in August, a few months after the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped its civil rights investigation into the Phoenix Police Department.

Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the DOJ released a scathing report that found patterns of egregious civil rights violations in June 2024.

The DOJ found that the department regularly used unjustified excessive force, unlawfully detained people experiencing homelessness, targeted people of color, violated rights of protesters and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities, according to then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke.

In May, President Donald Trump’s DOJ said its Civil Rights Division retracted findings and closed probes of six police departments, including Phoenix’s, that were launched under the Biden administration.

ICEHole Cops Kidnapped a Vietnamese Woman in MD at Her Annual Immigration Check-in b/c She Had a 20 yr Old Juvenile Theft Conviction, Detained Her in Arizona for 150 Days. Feds Now Seek Deportation

From [HERE] Melissa Tran is back in Maryland after federal immigration authorities detained her more than five months ago over a non-violent conviction two decades earlier. 

The mother of five, and Hagerstown business owner, spoke with WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren as her future remains uncertain.

Detained in Baltimore 

Tran's ordeal started with her annual check-in with immigration in downtown Baltimore—a routine she has done for more than 20 years.

"Just a normal check-in," Tran said. "You go and you show them your identification, and then, they give you your next appointment date." 

This time, ICE detained her without explanation. Tran spent five days in Baltimore. 

She described being housed with nine women in filthy conditions. "No shower, nothing. No personal hygiene. No toothbrush to brush your teeth," Tran said. 

The women were kept in one room with an inflatable mattress and no blankets. "I was in shock," Tran said.

Tran was then taken to Louisiana, Arizona, and ended up in Tacoma, Washington.

She said she was always shackled on various buses and planes but relied on the many letters of support she received from friends in Maryland to keep her spirits up. 

"When you're sitting there, and you don't know what's happening to you, and you think all these negative thoughts, it's the letters that I received from the people in the community saying you have to stay strong, we are fighting for you, we are praying for you," Tran said. "It gives me hope." 

Past conviction 

Tran, 43, came to America from Vietnam legally as a refugee in the 1990s, her lawyer said. 

As a teenager, she admitted to stealing some checks from her employer.

She pleaded guilty, and a judge entered an order of removal in 2003, but because Vietnam would not accept her, she was allowed to stay as long as she checked in regularly with immigration. 

"I know what I did was wrong, and I take responsibility for that," Tran said. "For my kids to have to go through it is horrible for me to comprehend. Why? We always say if you change, you deserve a second chance."

A federal judge found there was no need to continue her detention for now. You can read the order here.

Reunited with family 

Tran said she was elated when she received the news that a federal judge ordered her release from detainment at a federal facility in Washington state. 

She was overjoyed to finally hold her children again when she returned to Hagerstown, Maryland, on Monday.

"Just a moment to feel them and touch them," Tran told Hellgren. "I'm finally home."

She spent more than 150 days in ICE custody, with her four children constantly on her mind. 

"I've never been away from them this long, so I thought about them every single moment," Tran said. "I said, 'What's going to happen when I'm not home?' I have an autistic son, so I did a lot with him, but now he's without me. I just kind of said, 'How are they going to survive without me?'" Tran said through tears. 

What's next? 

A federal judge in Washington state found the government was unnecessarily detaining her, but Tran still faces deportation, possibly to a third country. 

"I hope the judge will allow us to reopen my immigration case, and then we have a good outcome, and I can stay," Tran said. 

Tran has to report to immigration again in Baltimore next week.

One of her lawyers, Bernard Semler, is also a family friend.

"It's unfortunate the immigration system has moved into one-size-fits-all, and it doesn't take into consideration an individual's work to get a second chance," Semler said. "We're hoping either through the judicial system or even politically, we're hoping someone in the Trump administration might see this and say, 'Hey, we need to look at these on a case-by-case basis.'"

Semler noted his client's past theft conviction has been reclassified and is no longer considered an aggravated felony, and said she has been building a stable life and family for decades without trouble.

"She has been here legally, checking in, doing everything she is supposed to," Semler said. "She didn't enter the country illegally. She's been here the entire time."

Semler hopes to avoid a deportation at all, but especially one to a third country.

"The government had agreed not to remove Melissa during the pendency of the case, but now the case is wrapping up," Semler said. "We're trying to get an agreement that they would not consider third-party removal for her."

Immigration response 

In a published statement, a Department of Homeland Security official referenced Tran's past conviction and said the government was still pushing to remove her to Vietnam because of it. 

13-Year-Old (Non-White) Child Arrested by ICE Race Soldiers in Massachusetts and Transferred Over 500 Miles from Family

A 13-year-old boy in Massachusetts was detained by local police on Thursday. When his mother arrived to pick him up, she learned that her son had instead been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and later transferred to a juvenile facility in Virginia, more than 500 miles away. A federal judge has ordered the boy's release unless the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides grounds for his continued detention.

The boy, whose family is originally from Brazil, was initially arrested by Everett Police Department officers on Thursday evening, according to The Boston Globe. After waiting for an hour and a half to take her son home, Josiele Berto was told her son had instead been transferred into ICE custody, even though the boy and his family have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, per the Globe.

Andrew Lattarulo, the boy's immigration attorney who filed a federal habeas corpus petition on the boy's behalf on Friday, told the Globe he had "never done a bond or a habeas for a kid this young, ever." United States District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled the same day that the government must justify the boy's arrest by the end of Tuesday, or provide a bond hearing no later than Thursday. [MORE]

Top Officials Resign from Unit that Investigates Police-Involved Death Cases in MD

Following weeks without charges in police-involved death cases and a dismissed indictment, the chief and deputy chief of the Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office have resigned, according to the office.

IID Chief Allison Green and Deputy Chief Renee Joy will remain in office until the end of the week, said Jennifer Dolan, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office. A job listing was posted for the division chief position on the attorney general’s website today.

“Jonathan Smith, chief of our Civil Rights Division, will serve as interim chief of the IID while a robust search for new leadership is underway,” Dolan said in a statement. “The division remains under the strategic oversight of Deputy Attorney General Carrie Williams and continues its important work without interruption.”

Green and Joy’s resignations come weeks after a case by the IID — the first prosecution of an officer by the division since it was established in 2021 — was thrown out.

The IID had indicted Anne Arundel County police Cpls. Eddie Vasquez and Kieran Schnell for misconduct, alleging the officers drove around civilian vehicles at 100 mph while pursuing a suspect in December 2023.

The vehicle they chased crashed and killed a 22-year-old passenger, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Stacy McCormack dismissed the case in September, ruling that the Attorney General’s Office failed to ensure attorneys could not access compelled statements by the defendants. Compelled statements, which are required by law, cannot be used in criminal prosecutions. [MORE]

South Africa President says the So-Called “Cease Fire [massacre]” Won’t Stop the ICJ Case Against Israel for Genocide

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Gaza ceasefire will not affect his country’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Ramaphosa made the statement on Tuesday in Cape Town in parliament, stressing that South Africa’s determination to pursue its 2023 case despite the agreement on the widely lauded US-backed deal aimed at ending Israel’s war on the besieged territory.

“The peace deal that has been struck, which we welcome, will have no bearing on the case that is before the International Court of Justice,” Ramaphosa told parliament.

“The case is proceeding, and it now has to go to the stage where Israel has to respond to our pleadings that have been filed in the court, and they have to do so by January of next year,” he added.

South Africa filed the case in December 2023, accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza.

South Africa handed in a 500-page detailed submission in October 2024, with Israel’s counter-arguments due by January 12, 2026. Oral hearings are anticipated in 2027, with a final judgement expected in late 2027 or early 2028.

The ICJ has issued three provisional measures, ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, though Israel has largely failed to comply. [MORE]

Dummy Trump Keeps Admitting that He is Bought and Owned by the World’s Richest Israeli Puppet Master (among many other masters)

It’s bizarre how little mainstream attention is given to the fact that the president of the United States has repeatedly confessed to being bought and owned by the world’s richest Israeli, especially given how intensely fixated his political opposition was on the possibility that he was compromised by a foreign government during his first term.

During a speech before the Israeli parliament on Monday, President Trump once again publicly admitted that he has implemented Israel-friendly policies at the behest of Israeli-American billionaire Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon, this time adding that he believes Adelson favors Israel over the United States. [MORE]

MacKenzie Scott Donates $63 Million to HBCU Morgan State

The Amazon cofounder and Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife donated $40 million to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which was established in 2017 to preserve historical landmarks and stories. It marks her second donation to the Fund, following a $20 million check she made in 2021.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and executive director Brent Leggs, says the investment is “leaving an enduring mark on our nation’s history, and we are grateful for her philanthropic leadership,” adding that it “demonstrates the power of philanthropy and the Action Fund’s work to protect and expand the American story for generations to come.”

Scott has been on a philanthropic rampage as of late, including just a day ago, when she gave $42 million gift to 10,000 Degrees, a California-based education nonprofit, to advance education and career opportunities for low-income students to address the widening education gap. [MORE]