Lederman: Trump, the Tates and the sycophants that sustain them

2026/06/15 Leave a comment

Good calling out of those complicit. Just doing their job is the modern equivalent of just following orders…:

…But here’s who does know: The people around them. The suck-ups and sycophants. Around the Tates – their security, business and legal advisers; the woman hired to handle their PR after their arrest in Romania. And in Washington, the President’s people – other elected Republicans who pretend their leader knows what he’s doing, his press secretaries who berate the media at his behest. Outsiders too, like the soccer organization that awarded him a peace prize. They know – and they stick around and cheerlead anyway. They aid and abet. They amplify, normalize. It’s a game for them – or a job, well-paid, while real people suffer. Monsters.

Source: Trump, the Tates and the sycophants that sustain them

Filed under Multiculturalism, Trump administration Tagged with , ,

US judge blocks Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee for highly skilled foreign workers, calling it unlawful

2026/06/10 1 Comment

Courts working (apart from SCOTUS):

A federal judge on Monday struck down a US$100,000 fee U.S. President Donald Trump imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, concluding that it constituted an unlawful tax Congress never authorized. 

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas, which tech companies in particular rely heavily on to bring on foreign workers. 

The administration argued the fee constituted a lawful monetary penalty that the president was authorized to impose under federal immigration law, which gives him the power to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals when he deems it “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”…

Source: US judge blocks Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee for highly skilled foreign workers, calling it unlawful

Filed under Immigration, Trump administration Tagged with , ,

Bouie: The Birthright Con

2026/04/02 Leave a comment

Appears from today’s hearings that SCOTUS is inclined to agree with Bouie’s assessment:

…It is not so much that revisionism is on its face outrageous, but that any alternative reading of the citizenship clause must strike at the heart of the rejection of Dred Scott. On this count, Trump and his defenders fail. Their vision of citizenship — which would plunge countless children into statelessness as a permanently subordinate class — would bring Dred Scott back from the dead. And it would do this in support of a political agenda that seeks nothing less than the reconstruction of race hierarchy and the rank domination of despised minorities.

The evidence in favor of the traditional view of the citizenship clause is overwhelming. To rule otherwise is to say, in essence, that two plus two equals five. Which is to say that if the Supreme Court decides in favor of Trump, it will have less to do with law or history than the political power of the president and his movement.

Trump v. Barbara, then, is a stark reminder that the struggle over constitutional meaning involves the entire nation. The revisionist case rests less on new evidence than it does on Trump’s claim to embody the nation and its desires. If he is ascendant, then the people must want a closed, cloistered society.

Source: The Birthright Con

Filed under Birthright Citizenship, Citizenship, Trump administration Tagged with ,

Trump might order banks to verify clients’ citizenship. What’s so wrong about that?

2026/02/28 Leave a comment

Follow the money applies even more strongly to Trump, his family and his enablers:

…And while banks are required to adhere to anti-money-laundering and KYC rules and list where a customer lives, they are not currently required to collect and verify citizenship information.

If Mr. Trump signed such an executive order, it could require banks to retroactively get citizenship information from existing customers and collect it from new customers.

Politics and privacy aside, that task would be Herculean – and expensive. The costs would likely be passed on to customers.

Opponents of such a measure would say that once again, Mr. Trump is overreaching his authority. This has nothing to do with the integrity of the banking system and everything to do with his agenda.

Supporters would be quick to remind detractors that one of Mr. Trump’s top campaign promises was to crack down on illegal immigration. And while not everyone agrees with his tactics, don’t be so naive to think you can do the job by being soft, and this is what the majority of American voters said they wanted.

At the end of the day, it really comes down to the now infamous line from All the President’s Men, the 1976 film about the Watergate scandal. 

If you want to shine a light on corruption, “follow the money.” And that, presumably, is what such a measure would be meant to do.

Source: Trump might order banks to verify clients’ citizenship. What’s so wrong about that?

Filed under Citizenship, Trump administration Tagged with ,

Thousands Of Americans Warned Of Passport Cancellations As State Department Reinforces 30-Year-Old Law

2026/02/14 2 Comments

Interesting use of citizenship to address “deadbeat” dads and moms:

U.S. officials have confirmed that the Department of State is starting active revocations of passports for parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. Before this, the department was only able to deny or cancel the passports of these individuals when they initiated contact, such as for a renewal or other consular services.

In a statement released on Monday (Feb. 10), the State Department issued a strongly worded warning for “deadbeat parents,” as it begins proactive blocking of passports based on data shared by the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). This shift follows recent reports of U.S. travelers having their passports canceled without their knowledge, leading to detention and deportation abroad.

Established 30 years ago, the Passport Denial Program allows the federal government to freeze the travel rights of parents in arrears. Here’s a closer look at the changes to its enforcement, which are estimated to affect thousands of Americans.

U.S. State Department Begins Passport Cancellation For Parents With Unpaid Child Support

Three U.S. officials confirmed to the Associated Press that the State Department will soon revoke currently valid passports of parents who owe over $2500 in child support back payments, based on its “own initiative” and with the help of HHS data. While the changes have not yet been publicly announced, the source said that the changes to the Passport Denial Program will come in tiers, starting with passport holders with more than $100,000 in child support debt.

Less than 500 people are included in this group, but once the threshold is lowered, changes could affect thousands of U.S. citizens overall. In a statement sent via email, the State Department said it “is reviewing options” to enforce the 30-year-old Passport Denial Program, which was established under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

Source: Thousands Of Americans Warned Of Passport Cancellations As State Department Reinforces 30-Year-Old Law

Filed under Citizenship, Trump administration Tagged with ,

John Ivison: America appears to be slamming its doors on Canadian professionals with work visas

2026/02/13 Leave a comment

Money quote:

…“But why would anyone who doesn’t have to, run the risk of humiliation in their own country by U.S. Department of Homeland Security staff who seem only slightly more house-trained than their colleagues in Immigration and Customs Enforcement?”

Source: John Ivison: America appears to be slamming its doors on Canadian professionals with work visas

Filed under Immigration, Trump administration Tagged with , ,

Trump administration working to expand effort to strip citizenship from foreign-born Americans

2026/02/13 Leave a comment

No issue with revocation for fraud and misrepresentation but with the Trump administration unlikely to stop there:

“We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards fraud in the naturalization process and will pursue denaturalization proceedings for any individual who lied or misrepresented themselves,” he said. “We will continue to relentlessly pursue those undermining the integrity of America’s immigration system and work alongside the Department of Justice to ensure that only those who meet citizenship standards retain the privilege of U.S. citizenship.”


Trump administration officials are looking for shortcuts to speed up the process, the two people familiar with the plans said. USCIS officials have concluded that dedicating staff members, either by sending experts or by training them across the agency’s 80-plus field offices nationwide, would be more effective in rooting out more cases than the previous Trump effort, headquartered in a warehouse in Pasadena, California, they said.


The Justice Department has already told attorneys to focus on denaturalization cases, and it has offered possible case examples, from “individuals who pose a risk to national security” or who have engaged in war crimes or torture to people who have committed Medicaid or Medicare fraud or have otherwise defrauded the government.


There is also a broad catch-all provision that refers to “any other cases … that the division determines to be sufficiently important to pursue.”


Often the cases go on beyond a presidential administration. According to Justice Department figures, the Trump administration won 86 cases during Trump’s first term. During the Biden administration, 54 cases were won….

Source: Trump administration working to expand effort to strip citizenship from foreign-born Americans

Filed under Citizenship, Trump administration Tagged with ,

Gee: Trump’s war on migrants has echoes of Australia’s past

2026/02/02 Leave a comment

Interesting comparison:

…In both cases – 18th-century England, 21st-century America – the aim is to demonize, dehumanize and finally to expel these agents of disorder. The Trump administration deports migrants to Honduras, El Salvador and Africa. England’s rulers dispatched prisoners to Australia.

As Mr. Hughes puts it, transportation was an attempt to uproot “an enemy class from the British social fabric.” Sending the convicts away “conveyed evil to another world.” 

But it never worked. England’s crime wave rolled on. The early 19th-century was a time of protest and upheaval. Nor did the exiled convicts prove to be the irredeemable human detritus they were often said to be. 

Many earned their freedom – their “ticket of leave” – for hard work and good behaviour. Together with the free settlers who began arriving in time, they and their children built thriving colonies in this vast and distant continent. Out of those colonies sprang a thriving, stubbornly democratic nation: Australia.

Source: Trump’s war on migrants has echoes of Australia’s past

Filed under Immigration, Trump administration Tagged with ,

Trump And Miller Slashing Legal Immigration By 33% To 50%

2026/01/23 Leave a comment

Of note:

New research concludes the Trump administration’s policies will reduce legal immigration to the United States by 33% to 50% over four years. Restricting Americans’ ability to sponsor their closest family members will be the administration’s primary way to lower legal immigration. While aggressive deportation tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have garnered headlines, cuts to the admission of legal immigrants will have a profound impact on the country and millions of people.

Numerous Restrictions On Legal Immigration

Trump officials have implemented policies to block American citizens and employers from sponsoring legal immigrants. The policies will override the immigration rules and categories that Congress established unless a lawsuit stops the actions.

“The Trump administration’s policies will reduce legal immigration to the United States by an estimated 33% to 50%, or by 1.5 million to 2.4 million legal immigrants, by the end of Donald Trump’s four-year term,” according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis.

In FY 2023, 1,172,910 legal immigrants received permanent residence, also commonly referred to as green cards, on a pace for 4,691,640 over four years. “NFAP estimates 1,546,710 to 2,369,998, or 33% to 50%, fewer legal immigrants will gain green cards during Donald Trump’s administration due to policies that include significantly lower admission levels for refugees, restrictions on the Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens due to ‘public charge’ policies and a 39-country immigration ban, actions taken against Diversity Visa recipients and other policies.” The analysis provides a range because uncertainty remains about how restrictively administration officials will enact the policies….

Source: Trump And Miller Slashing Legal Immigration By 33% To 50%

Filed under Immigration, Trump administration Tagged with

How Many People Has Trump Deported So Far?

2026/01/19 Leave a comment

Over the past year, President Trump’s administration has deported about 230,000 people who were arrested inside the country and another 270,000 at the border, a New York Times analysis of federal data shows.

The number of deportations from interior arrests since Mr. Trump took office is already higher than the total during the entire four years of the Biden administration. It offers the clearest measure of the impact of Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown and expansive efforts to fulfill his campaign promise to deport millions of people.

At the same time, the number of people trying to cross the Southwest border has fallen to record lows. As a result, far fewer people were arrested and deported from the border than in the preceding few years.

Another roughly 40,000 people returned to their countries after signing up to “self-deport” and receive a stipend through a novel program and app provided by the administration.

That brings the total number of deportations since Mr. Trump took office to 540,000 — fewer than in the last two years of the Biden administration, when border crossings were at record highs. There were 590,000 total deportations in 2023 and 650,000 in 2024….

Source: How Many People Has Trump Deported So Far?

Filed under Immigration, Trump administration Tagged with ,

← Older posts