Tag: DHS

Claims, Facts, and Evidence

More confrontations occurring between US citizens and DHS are in the new again.

ICE agent points gun at Virginia woman who shouted at them in video that conflicts with government’s narrative

The Trump administration repeatedly claims that ICE agents were threatened or attacked — often saying that people ‘weaponized’ their vehicles or that agents feared for their lives. Yet in case after case, video, witnesses, and subsequent legal proceedings have contradicted or undermined those accounts.

So it was with some doubt that I read this DHS claim:

“Our officers are experiencing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats. When faced with dangerous circumstances, DHS law enforcement used their training to protect themselves, their fellow officers, and the public,” the DHS spokesperson said in the statement.

There’s not much context to assess their claim, such as a timeline. Additionally, ICE underwent a huge expansion since Trump came back into office. I want to know, what are the raw numbers, such as the number of assaults based on the number of agents? That would be a more meaningful number.

Secondly, I ponder, how is DHS categorizing and cataloguing ‘threats’. Do they change definitions to make the numbers seem worse, giving them cover to respond more aggressively because ‘their agents are being threatened’? That seems to be the conclusion of an older DHS Inspector General finding.

Third, for me, while ICE aggressively expanded, ICE slashed their training regime. Based on historic trends among military, law enforcement, and other professions, less training often ends up resulting in lower standards and more incidents.

Finally, I think that Trump’s more aggressive deployments to cities and

In short, has the danger to the typical ICE officer actually increased by anything remotely approaching the enormous percentages being cited?

Or is this like the Trump and his administration’s broader pattern of making outlandish claims:

Given Trump’s history of unsupported and misleading quantitative claims, I want to see the underlying data and methodology before accepting the interpretation DHS is placing on those numbers.

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Scottie’s Stuff

Scotti provides us with a somber but excellent collection of memes and news over at Scottie’s Playground. They all struck hard and true. Some stayed with me more, so I included them below. I hope you’ll check them all out. Cheers

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Sorting the News

I’m on a tour of political headlines from this week.

Trump continues making news by making statements that are not true. Worse, he builds policies off those claims. Although the United States is not at war with any nation, Trump used the military to attack targets in another country again.

ICE to spend $38.3 billion on detention centers across US, document shows

Cutting Federal spending on social safety net programs, cancer research, and education while building more detention centers really shows ‘put your money where your mouth is.’ In Trump’s case, he’s putting his money on locking people up, not taking care of citizens.

Despite Federal budget cuts, Trump’s national guard deployments cost almost half a billion dollars.

We want names! Keeping with their ‘freedom is not free’ position, Trump’s DHS wants social media companies to provide them with the names of anyone who posts anything anti-ICE. They’re doing it quietly.

Now why would they want that information?

Trump drops brand-new election whopper in riff to troops — invents millions of votes he never got

Trump just goes on and on lying about election results. He keeps insisting he is more popular that he is. Yet, Trump says, “Democrats have gone crazy.”

That article talks about the partial government shutdown as Congress adjourns and elected officials leave D.C. Key in that story, though his how Trump continues to lie about ‘crime in blue cities’. Studies show that simplicity is misleading, that the truth has far more nuance.

Acting more like an absolute ruler than ever, Trump announced that voter IDs will be required for the mid-term elections. Although House Republicans are trying to get that requirement established, it’s not expected to pass in the Senate, meaning that it can’t be signed into law. Trump, though, just insists that it will happen, as if he has the magic right to make it so.

The truth is, a President can’t just make it so. Congress must be involved, and there are tricky obstacles in the Constitution and various amendments would need to be addressed.

Such trivialities as facts and truth don’t seem to hinder Trump. Even as the Reiners’ son was in custody for killing their parents, Trump created a fantasy motive for the double homicides. Trump claimed Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”

Measles cases are rising, food, electricity prices, and other prices like new cars are rising, and optimism is falling.

It’s still only the second month of Trump’s second year. More wine, please.

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“Standing Beside Her: Confronting ICE in the Heartland”

Protests against ICE swept across the United States last weekend. Many citizens filled the streets and lined sidewalks to protest ICE’s policies and deployments.

Those ICE policies and deployments led to escalated violence. The most shocking violence occurred when ICE agent Ross killed Renee Nicole Good, unarmed and in her car, in Minneapolis a few days into 2026.

This week, another report emerges of ICE agents threatening U.S. citizens. This is the story of Pastor Kenny Callaghan of Minnesota.

White and gay, Pastor Callaghan was standing with protestors a few days ago when an ICE agent confronted him. Pastor Callaghan told his story to news reporters.

Rev. Kenny Callaghan is the senior pastor at All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis. He was driving to work on the morning of Jan. 7 when he saw a large crowd on Portland Avenue.

Callaghan said he parked his car and walked three blocks toward the crowd and saw several ICE agents. At the time, Callaghan didn’t know why agents were there, but saw agents approach a Hispanic woman, so he went to stand beside her.

He heard her tell agents she wasn’t afraid of them. Then, he said there was a wave of energy. It was the news of Renee Good’s death.

“I welled up in energy, even more energy than I had, and I said at that time toward those ICE agents approaching this young Hispanic woman, ‘take me, take me instead of her, I am not afraid of you either’,” he said.

Callaghan said an ICE agent approached him and asked him to repeat what he said.

“I said I am not afraid and then they pointed a gun in my face, and the crowd was chanting louder and louder, they were also chanting at this time, ‘we are not afraid, we are not afraid.’ ICE put handcuffs on my hands and put me in a black SUV,” Callaghan said.

He said while he was handcuffed in the car, ICE agents approached him a few times, asking if he was scared, and he repeatedly said no. Callaghan said ICE agents then asked him for his ID and cellphone. He asked if he was being arrested, and then he said ICE slammed the door and walked away.

“A few moments later, they came back and they said, ‘Are you afraid yet?’ and I said ‘no,’ and then they said it ‘Well, you’re White. You wouldn’t be fun anyway.’ And then I was shocked because if I hadn’t seen enough, it was then that I knew that this staging that these ICE raids are really about fear and intimidation,” he said.

Many observers agree that Pastor Callaghan is right. Trump’s ICE policies aren’t about making America great again, immigrants, whether they’re illegal or not. ICE’s tactics are about threatening Americans to do as they say, or else.

For many of us, Trump’s ICE policies aren’t a surprise. Reports from Defense Secretary Esper emerged that Trump asked about shooting protestors in Trump’s first term. During that same period, Trump also suggested invoking the Insurrection Act as justification to send tens of thousands of soldiers to deal with protestors.

Since taking office in 2025, Trump increased ICE’s budget and role. He sent ICE agents into cities on missions to round up illegal immigrants but also sent National Guard units into multiple U.S. cities. Established in 2003, ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Under Trump, the agency is now violently confronting U.S. citizens far from our borders. The people they’re stopping are not immigrants and ICE agents often do not identify themselves.

Tell me, are you afraid yet?

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Wenzdaz Bumper Sticker

The Hero We Need Now

This is Portland Patricia:

“Exciting day for old ladies, I was arrested in front of the ICE building in Portland Oregon. The charge was obstructing access to a federal facility. Great optics a 75 year old white woman, 5’2”, 120 lbs., being dragged off by armed DHS officers. I was handcuffed and held for almost an hour. Being a nasty woman, instead of cringing and crying, I made fun of them and bragged about my history as a serial murderer and how being arrested and handcuffed ticked off another bucket list item for me. We have it all on video, can’t wait to show it to the judge.”

~snip~

Read more about Portland Patricia’s ICE encounter at The Borowitz Report.

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A Hero for This ICEy Era

Andy Borowitz shared the story of Patricia from Portland. His final paragraph urges readers to share Patricia’s, so here we are.

The Hero We Need Now

How a tiny 75-year-old woman stood up to Kristi Noem’s goons.

Andy Borowitz

Dec 16, 2025

Patricia, two days after her arrest outside ICE headquarters in Portland: “Like many criminals, I felt compelled to return to the scene of the crime.”

One of the great joys of publishing TBR is the time I spend each day in the comments section reading what you have to say.

Last week, this comment from a subscriber named Patricia got my attention:

“Exciting day for old ladies, I was arrested in front of the ICE building in Portland Oregon. The charge was obstructing access to a federal facility. Great optics a 75 year old white woman, 5’2”, 120 lbs., being dragged off by armed DHS officers. I was handcuffed and held for almost an hour. Being a nasty woman, instead of cringing and crying, I made fun of them and bragged about my history as a serial murderer and how being arrested and handcuffed ticked off another bucket list item for me. We have it all on video, can’t wait to show it to the judge.”

If this is the first you’re hearing of this incident, there’s a good reason: the corporate media refused to cover it.

So I decided to share Patricia’s story.

~snip~

Read the rest of Patricia’s story at TBR.

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WTF America, Homeland Security Ed.

We’ve been enjoying (yes, snark) so many WTF America out of the Trusk Regime. But here’s another to be shared.

Abrego Garcia’s Wife Forced To Move To Safe House After Homeland Security Shares Her Address On Social Media

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of wrongly-deported Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia, spoke out after the Department of Homeland Security posted her address on X.

The Trusk Regime is such an abomination. They care not at all about the Constitution, due process, history, tradition, or people’s safety and privacy, including children.

Absolutely disgusting. Again.

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