ICE arrests 10,000 in five days as Trump's deportation efforts surge

Cleaning up after Biden.

 Sharyl Attkisson  

After Noem was fired, her successor at Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, suggested he’d be taking a more low-profile approach to immigration enforcement and he aimed to get the department out of the headlines.

"US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested approximately 10,000 people over a five-day period at the end of June, marking a significant increase in immigration enforcement as the Trump administration continues its deportation efforts.

The figures, obtained by the Associated Press from a person familiar with the data, average roughly 2,000 arrests per day. ICE does not routinely release arrest statistics, making direct comparisons difficult, but the pace represents a notable increase over earlier this year.

According to the report, the administration has shifted away from highly publicized immigration sweeps in major cities and toward a lower-profile enforcement strategy while continuing to increase arrests.

The Dept. of Homeland Security said ICE remains focused on arresting and removing criminal illegal immigrants.

“Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” the agency said.

DHS added:

“Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”

The report also notes that the number of people held in ICE detention facilities climbed to about 39,000 in June, up from roughly 30,000 per month earlier in the year. Data analyzed by the Associated Press found the recent arrest rate exceeded previous daily averages reported during the Trump administration.

For more information, read the full article here.

Backlash from centrist Democrats as democratic socialist candidates sweep primaries

  The Guardian

The American Spectator

"After a string of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) primary victories, the loudest response from much of the Democratic establishment’s old guard was not reconciliation, but escalation.

"Over the last few days, prominent party figures have moved away from unifying under a “blue no matter who” banner to push for a more formal break with their left flank, and said the moment may have arrived for Democrats to confront their more socialist wing.

“'I actually do think it’s time for Democrats to talk the S-word: schism,” James Carville, the veteran Democratic strategist and former Bill Clinton adviser, said on his podcast. He added that some DSA-aligned candidates “have no place in the Democratic party” and, of the broader coalition: “I’m not in that f**king political party.”

Will the Mamdani effect make 2028 the year of the leftwing president?

Read more

"Jaime Harrison, the former chair of the Democratic national committee, directed a pointed message at candidates running under the party’s banner while openly criticizing its direction.

“I say this with no ill will or animosity: if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination,” Harrison wrote on social media. “Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure. Focus on building the party you actually support.”

"The recent results in New York City were the latest in a run of DSA-aligned wins that have spanned the primary calendar. Earlier this cycle, progressives claimed victories in Maine, New Jersey, California and Philadelphia, where state representative Chris Rabb won a congressional primary in May, and more elections just around the corner.

"The DSA has endorsed about 150 candidates this cycle, according to an analysis by the Washington Examiner, with 35 either winning primaries or advancing without opposition, in races stretching across Oregon, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania and New York." . . . More...

Texas Highway 287 and the pro-life movement

 John Pisciotta - American Thinker

"Thousands of American towns have an impact multiplier from a major highway.  The pro-life movement should capitalize on this traffic flow with billboards and yard signs.  Though these signs are common in our movement, the opportunities in small-town America are largely untapped.".

"Can one resident of a town of 1,800 people reach thousands every day for a cause he loves?  I discovered that the answer is yes while driving through Clarendon, Texas on Highway 287 in June of 2026.  His name is Jimmie Griffin.  He turned an idea for Christian evangelization into a lasting public witness.

"In 2012, Jimmie Griffin wanted to share his Christian faith in a big way following a near-death experience.  Jimmie saw an opportunity with Highway 287 merging with Clarendon’s Main Street through the city.  I call this travel arrangement “Mainstreet-Highway Fusion.”  Ten to eleven thousand vehicles pass through Clarendon each day.

"Jimmie built ten-foot-high white crosses with PVC pipe.  He installed the crosses at no charge for Clarendon property owners, with priority on locations next to Highway 287.

"Jimmie’s campaign was the talk of Clarendon.  He eventually installed fifty crosses.  Clarendon locals and Highway 287 travelers still see Jimmie’s legacy.  His 2019 obituary described Jimmie as a man who “was never afraid to stand up for the Lord.” . . .

. . . "The post-Dobbs era has exposed strengths and weaknesses of the pro-life movement.  We have won significant victories, such as federal legislation defunding Planned Parenthood.  We have also suffered major setbacks, such as losing 14 of 17 statewide ballots on abortion.  Clear gains for the culture of life will require bold expansion of the pro-life playbook.  If one man’s initiative in a town of 1,800 can reach thousands every day, imagine what thousands of small hometowns could accomplish."

Phantom Nation Obliterates the ‘Free Palestine’ Hoax

Bruce W. Davidson   

 . . . "During the year of the 250th anniversary of American independence, the very different nature of the American rebellion deserves more notice. Among the terrorist leaders of the violent movements in Algeria and Palestine, we find no “Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Jay, Adams or Washington among them, all of whom had been men of learning and civilized ideals.'"

"The charge of “Palestinian genocide” actually encompasses two bold, baseless lies. One is the assertion that there exists a distinct Arab Palestinian people group with significant historical roots in Palestine. The other is the claim that these people are deliberately being targeted for extermination by Israeli Jews. Shai ben-Tekoa’s Phantom Nation: Inventing the “Palestinians” as the Obstacle to Peace thoroughly debunks the first lie and chronicles how it was constructed, developed, and subsequently spread around the world, especially by left-leaning mainstream journalists. It argues convincingly that real peace becomes a possibility only “when the world sees through the essentially antisemitic myth of this phantom nation.”

When I lived and studied in Israel in 1976, people usually referred to the fighting between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East as “the Arab-Israeli conflict,” recognizing it as a broader issue than just Israelis versus certain people living in refugee camps. The Yom Kippur War had happened only three years previously, and in 1976 much of the world marveled at the dramatic rescue by Israeli commandos of Jewish hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by Arab and German leftist hijackers. I remember well a lecture by a professor from Hebrew University that explained the essentially religious nature of the conflict. In the 1990s I taught a course about the conflict at a junior college in Osaka, but I downplayed its religious character to my students.

Since that time, the prominence of terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezb’allah has made the Muslim character of hostility to Israel difficult to ignore. What I did not understand fully during the 90s is that it has always been that way, just as the Hebrew University professor told us. The historical facts are clear and plentiful, but many leftists, including even Jewish and Israeli leftists, have stubbornly refused to come to grips with them." . . .

Bruce W. Davidson is a professor emeritus of the school of humanities at Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo, Japan. From 1990 to 1995 he taught “The Arab-Israeli Conflict” at a junior college in Osaka. He studied in Jerusalem, Israel at the American Institute of Holy Land Studies in 1976

Surprise: Basing College Admissions On Merit Instead Of Skin Is Good For Everyone -

"New evidence shows that the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action is not a setback; instead, it facilitates improved outcomes for all."

 The Federalist- Conservative Review   

"It is clear that a meritocracy-based approach benefits every student. We must shift our focus from ideological conflicts to what truly matters: empowering every student to thrive through preparation, opportunity, and fair competition." 

 

"Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), which banned affirmative action in college admissions, many experts, university officials, civil rights advocates, and government leaders warned about sharp declines in black and Hispanic enrollment. Yet a new report suggests that these predictions were overly pessimistic and failed to reflect the full scope of the situation. 

"Unlike early analyses that concentrated solely on underrepresented minority (URM) enrollment at a handful of prestigious institutions like Harvard and MIT, James Murphy’s January 2026 report for Class Action — a nonprofit advocating equity in higher education — examined 2024 freshman enrollment at more than 3,000 colleges and universities using federal data, offering a more balanced view of the enrollment landscape after the Supreme Court decision.  

"Before anyone accuses the report of being influenced by right-wing bias, it is important to note that Murphy professes his leftist views at the beginning of the report. He believes that race-conscious admissions are necessary for URM students and that the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban harms long-term well-being of URM students. Despite his ideological stance, Murphy deserves credit for not omitting results that contradict his views, even if he attempts to rationalize them. 

"The report highlights a significant trend: Highly selective colleges in the U.S. (which admit only 8 percent of the student population across all four-year institutions) have experienced a decline in enrollment of URM students — particularly black students. But many less-selective institutions (which account for more than 90 percent of four-year colleges and universities) are welcoming more URM students, leading to a remarkable increase in their enrollment. 

"Flagship state universities especially experienced standout gains: Enrollment of black freshmen climbed 30 percent at LSU and 50 percent at the University of Mississippi; Hispanic freshmen were up more than 33 percent at Tennessee and South Carolina. Less-selective private colleges like Syracuse University also experienced 17 percent growth in black first-year students, and Hispanic freshmen increased 45 percent at the University of Miami. The only exception to this growing trend is a puzzling small dip in black enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)." . . .  

I Was in the DSA. Here’s What They Really Believe.

The Free Press

The socialist candidates being swept into power want to dismantle American life. It’s all right there in their new platform.

"Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) keep racking up primary victories, and skeptics and fans alike are struggling to determine what the organization actually believes. President Donald Trump says they are “communists.” One prominent DSA member, Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara, says they are a “milquetoast organization” seeking Scandinavian social democracy, with no interest in violent revolution.

"I was a member of the DSA from the 2010s until 2022. During that time, I witnessed a rise in extremism, ranging from an eagerness to collaborate with Leninist groups to a growing animosity toward the U.S. and the West. My final departure was prompted by a DSA statement that attributed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to American “imperialist expansionism.”

"So what does the DSA stand for? An answer to that question arrived last week in the form of a new platform. Among the DSA’s core aims are ending the presidency and Supreme Court. Abolishing prisons. Universal free housing. The elimination of all debt. Closing all U.S. military bases overseas. Lifting all sanctions from Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran." . . . 

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Van Jones: Dems Went 'Quiet' After Mamdani Betrayed One of His Backers for Someone Who Celebrated October 7

Breitbart  

Dems are finally speaking up on Mamdani's antisemitism — while New York's leaders remain silent

"On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” CNN Senior Political Commentator Van Jones said that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) “stabbed in the back” outgoing Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) for “Chevalier, who has no credentials, except she’s known for having celebrated October 7 murders of Israelis on October 8, and never apologized. … And then no one says anything. Everybody’s quiet.”

"Jones said, “I am happy that the young people are fighting for affordability, Medicare for all, all the good things. I’ve been waiting my whole life to see a youth movement do what it’s doing. But it’s being hijacked by people who are putting in nutty ideas, supporting terrorists, nutty ideas saying we don’t need cops and prisons, we can’t deport anybody, even if they rape somebody. Who said this? Chevalier.”

"He added, “I just want to say that there was a shockwave through this party when Mamdani, who everybody’s excited about, stabbed in the back, Espaillat, who…was the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, beloved by everybody, who backed Mamdani. Mamdani said, I will back you. Then he turns around, stabs him in the back. And backed Chevalier, who has no credentials, except she’s known for having celebrated October 7 murders of Israelis on October 8, and never apologized. This sent a shockwave through the party. People said, hold on a second, why, of all the people in New York City, would Mamdani pick this person to betray someone? And then no one says anything. Everybody’s quiet.”  More...

The pols’ refusal to speak up also reflects how an anti-Israel movement has become a powerful force in their party.  . . . "In reality, the phrase is widely understood as a call to commit violence against Jews anywhere and everywhere. It is often paired by college radicals with another hateful phrase, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.”

"That one is a clear call for the elimination of Israel and the mass murder of the 7 million Jews who live there." . . .

Game Over: Boy Trying to Play on Girls' Soccer Team Quits After Female Players Stand Their Ground

 Jennifer Oliver O'Connell

"Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., holding that states may reserve girls' and women's sports teams for biological females without violating Title IX or the Constitution, New Hampshire parents of transgender teenagers have dropped their lawsuits to allow their sons to play on the women's sports teams. One of the confused youth chose to stop playing on his soccer team because it was no longer fun. As our sister site Twitchy said, "That's as good as self-deporting."

Exactly.

Two transgender girls who were the first to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” have withdrawn their lawsuit in New Hampshire based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld state bans on transgender athletes in girls’ sports and their own personal hardships, their lawyer said.

“This case was always about two courageous young girls who simply wanted the same opportunities as their peers to participate in school life,” their lawyer, Chris Erchull of GLAD Law, said in a statement Thursday. “Their willingness to stand up to extraordinary hostility made clear the human cost of laws that target transgender youth.”

"This GLAD Law attorney has it twisted. It was the girls on the sports teams that were targeted, which is why President Trump signed the executive order and the New Hampshire legislature codified it into law.

The teenagers, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, took on Trump’s executive order last year, amending their 2024 complaint against New Hampshire’s law on banning transgender girls from school sports. A federal judge had granted a court order allowing them to play as the case proceeded.

For Tirrell, it meant being able to keep playing on her high school girls’ soccer team. For Turmelle, it was having a chance to try out for different sports.

"'Iris" Turmelle's case was unofficially DOA when his family moved out of state so that he could cosplay in a state that doesn't put any restrictions on what some would describe as a mental illness. Parker Tirrell is the boy who left his soccer team over the lack of joy. New Hampshire's version of NPR interviewed Sara Tirrell, Parker's mother, about it." . . . More...

Jennifer Oliver O'Connell (As the Girl Turns) is a contributor at Redstate and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics, Pop Culture, and the American story, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. 

NYTimes Media Columnist Demolishes the Left's Arguments on Gaza With a Little Reality

Nick Arama – RedState   

"Of course, it isn't about the facts when it comes to the left. It never is. In this case, it's also feeding their anti-Israel bent. If they cared about the people in Gaza, they should care about how Hamas oppresses them. But they don't." 

"We hear it constantly from the left, and it's one of their huge talking points this election season: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. 

"Yet they never seem to think about the logic of what they are saying, and why that's complete poppycock. Of course, because like everything else with the left, it isn't about whether there's any logic or reality to the latest "outrage" they are protesting - it's always and only about moving things further to the left. 

Act angry, honey!

"But it's something when a New York Times columnist lays down a little reality to blow up the left's arguments, as our sister site Townhall reported. Bret Stephens wrecked the left on the Fifth Column podcast. 

. . . "Stephens pointed out how Israel was a nuclear power, with which they could simply wipe everyone out. If they were trying to commit genocide, why did they distribute polio vaccines, why do they distribute food, why do they drop leaflets warning people to get out of an area when they are going to take on Hamas there? 

"Stephens drew the comparison to other wars, and how other wars were not treated in the same way as Israel's war in response to being attacked on October 7 has been. Hamas killed more than 1,000 people, raped people, then took more than 200 hostages. It was a brutal attack. It's one thing to talk about whether a tactic or action is justifiable or might be excessive in response. But equating it with "genocide," i.e., the targeted effort to wipe out a people, is nonsensical. A war isn't "genocide" because people die; otherwise, every war is a genocide. 

"Then there's the comparison to what Iran did to its protesters in January, massacring somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 people. The regime killed those people deliberately to terrorize the population, to stop them from raising their voices. Where are the calls of "genocide" over that?" . . . More...

Phantom Nation Obliterates the ‘Free Palestine’ Hoax

 

"The charge of “Palestinian genocide” actually encompasses two bold, baseless lies. 

Bruce W. Davidson   

" . . .Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, among others, became party to a great deception, since the PLO never gave up its official, explicitly stated goal of Israel’s annihilation. Though they are equally violent, at least Hamas is more explicit about its destructive agenda.". . . 

"The charge of “Palestinian genocide” actually encompasses two bold, baseless lies. One is the assertion that there exists a distinct Arab Palestinian people group with significant historical roots in Palestine. The other is the claim that these people are deliberately being targeted for extermination by Israeli Jews. Shai ben-Tekoa’s Phantom Nation: Inventing the “Palestinians” as the Obstacle to Peace thoroughly debunks the first lie and chronicles how it was constructed, developed, and subsequently spread around the world, especially by left-leaning mainstream journalists. It argues convincingly that real peace becomes a possibility only “when the world sees through the essentially antisemitic myth of this phantom nation.”

"When I lived and studied in Israel in 1976, people usually referred to the fighting between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East as “the Arab-Israeli conflict,” recognizing it as a broader issue than just Israelis versus certain people living in refugee camps. The Yom Kippur War had happened only three years previously, and in 1976 much of the world marveled at the dramatic rescue by Israeli commandos of Jewish hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by Arab and German leftist hijackers. I remember well a lecture by a professor from Hebrew University that explained the essentially religious nature of the conflict. In the 1990s I taught a course about the conflict at a junior college in Osaka, but I downplayed its religious character to my students.

Since that time, the prominence of terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezb’allah has made the Muslim character of hostility to Israel difficult to ignore. What I did not understand fully during the 90s is that it has always been that way, just as the Hebrew University professor told us. The historical facts are clear and plentiful, but many leftists, including even Jewish and Israeli leftists, have stubbornly refused to come to grips with them." . . .More...

Bruce W. Davidson is a professor emeritus of the school of humanities at Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo, Japan. From 1990 to 1995 he taught “The Arab-Israeli Conflict” at a junior college in Osaka. He studied in Jerusalem, Israel at the American Institute of Holy Land Studies in 1976

Venezuela earthquake response shows losing USAID was no big deal

Don Surber    

"Oh and there’s one last difference between Haiti and Venezuela. This time our Secretary of State does NOT have a fake charity to launder foreign donations in the name of earthquake relief.

"On June 24, 2026, two earthquakes hit Venezuela back-to-back. They registered 7.2 and 7.5, numbers that are pretty high on the Richter scale. The military sent in the Marines (and other branches). The State Department worked with charities such as Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and Catholic Relief Services to avoid the confusion that occurred in the successful response to the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.

"Trump put Marco Rubio in charge. He initially pledged $100 million in support. That’s since been upped to $386 million.

"On July 2, the military’s Southern Command reported:

Marking the first visit by a U.S. Navy vessel to Venezuela in decades, Fort Lauderdale safely arrived pierside in La Guaira on the evening of June 28. The historic port call, executed at the direct request of the Venezuelan government, was preceded by U.S. Sailors and Marines delivering critically needed disaster relief supplies to the port via landing craft.

“Being directed at a moment’s notice to transit into Venezuela presented a vast number of unknowns, but the one absolute certainty was the unmatched professionalism and work ethic of the Fort Lauderdale team,” said Capt. Jiwan Mack, commanding officer of USS Fort Lauderdale. “We were able to safely arrive pierside and deliver immediate assistance to the Venezuelan people because of the incredible dedication of our crew.”

The presence of embarked Sailors and Marines is strictly humanitarian. As a highly capable and self-sustaining platform designed for extended expeditionary operations, Fort Lauderdale requires minimal local security, logistical support or port resources while pierside. This minimal footprint ensures that all local Venezuelan assets can remain entirely focused on domestic recovery efforts.

. . . " So ending USAID did not lead to catastrophe.  Instead, the disaster response proved that ending USAID had no effect on the world. Well, except for the grifters going penniless." . . .More...