from the needs-more-cruelty,-said-the-administration dept

Trump advisor/subhuman ghoul Stephen Miller wants ICE to be arresting 3,000 people a day. So far, ICE has only managed to top out at 2,200 arrests in a single day, despite going full black ops in neighborhoods and businesses, driving unmarked cars, and leaving nothing exposed on officers’ bodies but their lifeless eyes.

Stephen Miller went after ICE itself back in May, calling it out for not being as cruelly efficient as it could be:

“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recited.

ICE did go to Home Depot, it must be noted. And because it did, Los Angeles is now filled with soldiers — more than 4,000 National Guard troops and another few hundred Marines.

The Trump administration couldn’t find enough criminals to arrest the first time it held power. With the quotas increasing exponentially during Trump’s second term, it’s no longer acceptable to just let ICE be ICE and raid whatever the hell it wants whenever the hell it wants to. It’s not enough to send federal officers into US courts to arrest migrants for daring to show up for their mandated check-ins. It’s not enough to pile as many people with brown skin into a bunch of buses for daring to exist in a nation that used to be considered a melting pot, not to mention a beacon of hope to oppressed people all over the world.

This irrational hatred can’t be satiated using the normal stuff, or even the “new normal” stuff, like daily raids of businesses by ICE. It probably can’t even be satiated by turning ICE into the largest federal law enforcement agency by adding another $60 billion to its budget, as Trump’s budget bill does.

Anything that might slow the removal of migrants from the US must be removed. The administration isn’t willing to tolerate any speed bumps that hinder its maximum cruelty efforts. Within the last two weeks, the administration has taken steps that will grease the already extremely slippery wheels of its mass deportation program.

To bump up numbers, the Trump administration is going to aggressively move forward with stripping US citizens of their citizenship.

Department leadership is directing its attorneys to prioritize denaturalization in cases involving naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes — and giving U.S. attorneys wider discretion on when to pursue this tactic, according to a June 11 memo published online. The move is aimed at U.S. citizens who were not born in the country; according to data from 2023, close to 25 million immigrants were naturalized citizens.

Yes, Trump is again playing all the old hits. He brought back the Alien Enemies Act — something made infamous for its abuse of Japanese migrants during World War II — to justify extrajudicial expulsions of migrants, routing them to foreign torture prisons and war-torn nations the US has no interest in making any less war-torn.

This moves the cruelty plan forward a half-decade or so, aligning the Trump administration with Cold War McCarthyism and the expeditious stripping of citizenship of anyone Joe McCarthy and his supporters felt weren’t American enough to remain Americans. This move goes further than earlier denaturalization efforts pursued by President Obama and Trump during his first term in office, rigging the game for the government by allowing it to use criminal charge removal justifications while bringing these cases in civil court.

The DOJ memo says that the federal government will pursue denaturalization cases via civil litigation — an especially concerning move, said Cassandra Robertson, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University.

In civil proceedings, any individual subject to denaturalization is not entitled to an attorney, Robertson said; there is also a lower burden of proof for the government to reach, and it is far easier and faster to reach a conclusion in these cases.

Robertson says that stripping Americans of citizenship through civil litigation violates due process and infringes on the rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

Like any bully, the government isn’t interested in a fair fight. It will use criminal allegations during these hearings, while simultaneously denying those accused of full access to their rights.

Migrants not suspected of criminal acts aren’t in the clear, though. ICE may be working its way towards 3,000 arrests a day but that doesn’t mean the administration can’t punish people ICE hasn’t managed to arrest yet. Migrants in the country illegally will no longer be given a warning period before being fined for this civil infraction, allowing the government to run up the tab on several million people.

The Trump administration is looking to speed up its ability to fine those in the United States illegally — up to $1,000 per day — according to a rule set to be published Friday in the Federal Register that was obtained by ABC News.

Currently, the government can alert those in the U.S. illegally 30 days before it starts issuing fines.

The rule proposed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security allows the government to immediately start fining those in the U.S. illegally.

People who’ve never been told their actions might subject them to daily fines will now be several thousand dollars in debt before they’re even aware this is an option the federal government has at its disposal. Trump started fining migrants during his first term, something that was halted when Biden took office. Trump’s return to the Oval Office brought the fines back. But it’s only now that the heads up issued to migrants is being replaced with federal silence and the steady tick of increasing fines.

The DHS says this is just good government business, pinning the blame on those who will not be notified their continued presence in the United States might be costing them up to $1,000 a day.

And, finally (at least in terms of this post), there’s this: the DHS unilaterally deciding Haiti is safe enough for displaced Haitians to return to, despite all evidence (including the administration’s own statements) to the contrary:

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday announced that it would terminate temporary protected status for Haiti, setting the groundwork for hundreds of thousands of Haitians to potentially be deported from the United States once the designation expires later this summer.

The termination of temporary protected status — a designation that shields from deportation people who have traveled to the U.S. from countries that are deemed unsafe because of natural disasters, armed conflict or other extraordinary conditions — would put up to 500,000 Haitians at risk of deportation, as gang violence continues to roil the country.

DHS Bratz doll Kristi Noem says everything is going great in Haiti, claiming there’s no need to extend the temporary protected status. What’s left unsaid is why this is even happening, because there’s no way in hell the Trump administration will ever be honest about its own fear-mongering about Haitian immigrants or its willingness amplify racist conspiracy theories on national TV.

Noem and Trump say Haiti is safe. The State Department still disagrees, even with Marco Rubio currently serving as the top level of mismanagement.

Since March 2024, Haiti has been under a State of Emergency. Crimes involving firearms are common in Haiti. They include robbery, carjackings, sexual assault, and kidnappings for ransom. Kidnapping is widespread, and U.S. citizens have been victims and have been hurt or killed. Kidnappers may plan carefully or target victims at random, unplanned times. Kidnappers will even target and attack convoys. Kidnapping cases often involve ransom requests. Victims’ families have paid thousands of dollars to rescue their family members. 

Protests, demonstrations, and roadblocks are common and unpredictable. They often damage or destroy infrastructure and can become violent. Mob killings and assaults by the public have increased, including targeting those suspected of committing crimes.  

The airport in Port-au-Prince can be a focal point for armed activity. Armed robberies are common. Carjackers attack private vehicles stuck in traffic. They often target lone drivers, especially women. As a result, the U.S. embassy requires its staff to use official transportation to and from the airport.

This move says two things. First, Trump wants to expel Haitians because he probably believes they’re eating pets or otherwise are too dark-skinned to remain in the United States. Second, it says Haiti probably isn’t safe, but it’s safe enough for people this government no longer wants in this country. Separately, these implicit statements are horrible. Together, they’re just more Trump administration ugliness and bigotry from an administration that truly doesn’t care how awful it is, so long as it still has the support of the most awful people in the nation.

Filed Under: cruelty, denaturalization, dhs, haiti, ice, immigration, mass deportation, trump admnistration