Brandon Roché

Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.

BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.

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When incompetency and indifference are fueled by intransigence…

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_ BREAKING: Per four senior DHS & Trump admin sources, a mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers. I'm told the move is spearheaded by Corey Lewandowski, and a handful of the ICE Chiefs will likely be replaced by Border Patrol & CBP officials, some of whom will be hand-picked by aggressive & controversial Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. I'm told some of the ICE leadership removed from their positions include the ICE Field Office Directors in: - Los Angeles - Phoenix - Philadelphia - Denver - El Paso - San Diego - Seattle/Portland - New Orleans Border Patrol officials taking over ICE leadership positions would be extremely significant, as Border Patrol and ICE do different things, and I've done numerous ride-alongs/embeds with both.

Generally speaking, ICE typically conducts very targeted operations, largely going after criminal illegal aliens or those with deportation orders, but almost always knowing who they are targeting for arrest, often conducting surveillance to learn their schedules before and waiting hours before arresting them if needed. Border Patrol, under Trump 2.0, while sometimes doing their own targeted operations, has been extremely aggressive and has been at the forefront of some of the most controversial immigration enforcement operations we've seen so far, carrying out roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them. A majority of the viral videos you see online are Border Patrol agents, including the use of a Trojan horse style Penske moving truck at a Los Angeles Home Depot, an operation organized by Bovino. ICE often gets blamed for what Border Patrol does, as the media and activists often cannot tell the difference between federal agents, and everyone is called "ICE". I'm told there are growing concerns about the political and PR fallout associated with some of the roving patrols Border Patrol is conducting as lawsuits continue to stack up and mid-terms approach next year.

I'm told there is significant friction within different wings of DHS and the administration, with Border Czar Tom Homan & ICE Director Todd Lyons preferring to prioritize targeting criminal aliens & the "worst of the worst" or those with deportation orders, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and BP Commander Bovino prefer to use aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump's promises of mass deportations. I am hearing from both sides of this friction. One senior DHS official tells me: "ICE started with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol started in LA in June, we've (DHS) lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization. It's getting numbers, but at what cost?". Border Patrol agents I've talked to defend their tactics, with one telling me: "What did everyone think mass deportations meant? Only the worst? Tom Homan has said it himself, anyone in the US illegally is on the table."

It's quite a situation, as both sides of this are on the same team, with the same end goals, but different perspectives on how to get there. Another DHS official confirmed the personnel changes to me on deep background, adding that the moves are based on performance and doing what is needed to achieve the best results. Official statement to @FoxNews via @TriciaOhio : "While we have no personnel changes to announce at this time, the Trump Administration remains laser focused on delivering results and removing violent criminal illegal aliens from this country." 7:57 PM · Oct 27, 2025 · 29.6K Views

🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.

Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.

Policy Brief: Chaotic Policy Changes Are Ending Access to Asylum in America The Trump Administration's numerous asylum policy changes over the past year have made it harder for individuals to access lifesaving protections. This brief overviews the consequences of these policy...

NEW: The Trump Administration's numerous asylum policy changes over the past year have made it harder for individuals to access lifesaving protections. Read AILA's latest policy brief on consequences of these changes and possible reforms. https://bit.ly/4q8hw5y

Immigration judge denies Kilmar Abrego García’s request to reopen case The judge found “insufficient evidence” to show that the Trump administration would send Abrego to Uganda, according to a copy of the decision reviewed by The Washington Post.

NEW

Immigration judge denies Kilmar Abrego García’s request to reopen case

The judge, who works for DOJ, found “insufficient evidence” that the Trump administration would send Abrego to Uganda.

DHS had said “He will be processed for removal to Uganda.”

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

WOW. This entire story is HORRIFIC. This is FOIA of a body cam from the raid in upstate New York the same day as the Hyundai plant. It catches a Border Patrol agent on camera only bragging about denying medical care to migrants detained at the border under Biden — who he says are all "animals."

1/3

Longtime Denver Post reporter Virginia Culver dies For 44 years, Culver covered religion and reported obituaries yet remained intensely private on the matter of her own mortality.

Highly recommend; she had an amazing life and it’s worth it for this line alone:

“(Expletive) Trump” she blurted out.
Those were among her last coherent words before she let go Sunday morning at the Intermountain Health Hospice in Wheat Ridge.

www.denverpost.com/2025/09/23/v...

Under the plain terms of Trump's "Gold Card" EO, an 18-year-old who inherits a million dollars from their parents, who has never held a job in their life, is permitted to buy one of a limited number of visas available each year for people with "exceptional ability."

Seriously.

Sec. 2. The Gold Card. (a) The Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish a “Gold Card” program authorizing an alien who makes an unrestricted gift to the Department of Commerce under 15 U.S.C. 1522 (or for whom a corporation or similar entity makes such a gift) to establish eligibility for an immigrant visa using an expedited process, to the extent consistent with law and public safety and national security concerns. The requisite gift amount shall be $1 million for an individual donating on his or her own behalf and $2 million for a corporation or similar entity donating on behalf of an individual. (b) In adjudicating visa applications, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, consistent with applicable law, treat the gift specified in subsection (a) of this section as evidence of eligibility under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(1)(A), of exceptional business ability and national benefit under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(A), and of eligibility for a national-interest waiver under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(B).

Finally reading the full Gold Card EO and wow is it wild. The order says that any person who pays $1 million is, by definition, a person of "exceptional business ability" and therefore qualified for an EB-2 visa.

Does anything better sum up the Trump ethos than "all rich people are exceptional."?

Shady actors taking advantage of desperate people is a problem I see everyday. Use an @aila.org attorney, and if the advice/solution offered by whomever you’re talking to sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The Government Wants to See Your Papers And the Supreme Court decides that the Fourth Amendment might not be for everyone.

Will ICE send guys to Boston looking for red hair and listening for brogues? Or stake out delis in Chicago to see who buys a kielbasa?
No. This is about profiling people by skin color and language.

www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

"Harvard can't use race as a factor in admissions, but ICE can use race as a factor in detentions" is a retrenchment essentially to a pre-Civil War understanding of the Constitution. It's vanishingly few steps removed from "Latinos have no rights which the white man is bound to respect."

“This Supreme Court decision upends the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee that all Americans will be free from arbitrary targeting by law enforcement” @ailaexecdir.bsky.social responds to the SCOTUS order temporarily allowing indiscriminate immigration enforcement in LA.

The injunction is silent as to the use of force. And it is not necessary for the injunction to address that use-of-force question because the Fourth Amendment’s reasonableness standard continues to govern the officers’ use of force and to prohibit excessive force. To the extent that excessive force has been used, the Fourth Amendment prohibits such action, and remedies should be available in federal court. I agree with the dissent on that point. But to reiterate, this injunction against brief stops for questioning does not address the useof-force issue.

It's not the most important part of the issue but Kavanaugh saying "well they should just sue if they're the victims of excessive force from ICE" when he himself has previously voted to bar lawsuits against federal officers for violations of the 4th Amendment in immigration cases takes chutzpah.

When historians write the story of this era, I think it is quite possible that today's Supreme Court decision will appear clearly as a decisive moment, a fork in the road, or at least an available exit not taken. Remember Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. Many bad things will likely come from it.

7. At all of the shelters visited in the middle of the night, ProBAR staff witnessed children who had been pulled out of their beds. They were confused and scared. At Hands of Healing Los Fresnos, one young girl was extremely distraught, crying and repeatedly saying that she could not go back to Guatemala. At New Hope McAllen, one young girl was so scared that she vomited and asked to speak with a clinician. At Urban Strategies Alamo, one young teenager was scared that he might end up murdered like one of his family members. At Compass Connection in Harlingen, an attorney was able to meet with only one child. None of these children’s parents in their home country had requested their return. ProBAR’s client and named Plaintiff ARMD was at Compass Connection, but he was transported to a plane without notifying me as his attorney of record.

🚨NEW: Declarations filed in the lawsuit against the rushed attempt to deport 600 Guatemalan children reveals the chaotic way the Trump admin carried out the operation.

Children were taken out of bed after midnight to be rushed onto planes. One girl "was so scared she vomited."

Catherine is right about this; a lot of the biggest changes to immigration will take years to manifest, including mass deportations. The price shocks are not going to be sudden.

Here’s the email headline direct from the horse’s mouth:

This is so much worse than it sounds even on first read when you know that the Department of State's human rigthts reports are *the* authoritative source for immigration judges and USCIS officers in assessing country conditions for asylum claims

ICE Lawyers Are Hiding Their Names in Immigration Court ICE attorneys fighting to deport immigrants are able to obscure their identities — no masks required.

Here’s the thing about this: if you don’t know who is prosecuting your (or your client’s) case, you don’t know who to communicate with about the case. theintercept.com/2025/07/15/i... +

Trump threatening to remove a natural born citizen's citizenship. Rosie O'Donnell mom, Roseann Teresa, was herself born in NY and also a natural born citizen.

There is no legal mechanism by which the government can strip away citizenship for a natural born American citizen.
To even consider such retaliation against a fellow American for daring to exercise her 1st Amendment right to free speech should in itself headline every chyron & headline.

Birthright citizenship is a "longstanding custom" in the same way that freedom of speech is a longstanding custom (they are both explicitly guaranteed by the text of the Constitution)

Trump Official Suggests Replacing Deported Farm Workers with Medicaid Enrollees There are several layers to my conclusion that today’s remarks from President...

Trump Official Suggests Replacing Deported Farm Workers with Medicaid Enrollees talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things...

If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029:

- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.

Beware federal agents hiding behind masks (Letters) ” … until recently, if you were pulled over or had some dealings with the police, they were unmasked and would provide you with their name and even their badge number.” — Wa…

The title alone says it all.
www.denverpost.com/2025/06/27/m...

The legal term for this is: “fuckingdespicable” I think it’s Latin.

ATF license plate data search raises questions on Colorado law compliance Loveland Police said it gave the ATF access to its Flock account after the Tesla dealer attacks. Then, an ATF agent began using the account to help ICE.

The Denver Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed to 9NEWS that an ATF agent has been using Loveland's Flock Safety account to conduct searches for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Trump Struggles to Press Deportations Without Damaging the Economy The president shifted his strategy after complaints that workplace raids were hurting businesses—but some in his administration still argue for an aggressive approach.

I wish somebody had told us the two things are linked 😒

Remember folks: the revolution will not be televised.

It's one of those phrases I didn't get as a kid, but now, hoo boy.