@donlemon You can expect this to happen all across the country #protests #trump ♬ original sound – Don Lemon
Note that this footage was of a protest in NYC on June 10th.
As of June 11th, Texas has also activated its National Guard in response to protests around the state. It’s clear that the Trump Administration is exaggerating the situation to continue escalating force against citizens.
@z00mie LA today has been peaceful, organized, even joyful. Don’t believe what the media is saying, this isn’t LA’s first rodeo. We know how to protest respectfully. We know how to make our voices heard 🫶
The Anti-ICE protests have been misrepresented as solely about immigration, and are being driven by broader grievances against systemic oppression, police brutality, and the national security state, with protesters demanding justice for marginalized communities while rejecting xenophobic narratives.
Trump is unilaterally calling the protesters a “foreign invasion” due to the presence of Mexican flags, the actual opposition on the ground is a coalition of people combating fascism.
Pro-Trump influencers and right-wing accounts are spreading disinformation—using old videos, out-of-context footage, and outright lies—to portray Los Angeles as chaotic amid ICE raids. Even with false claims being debunked by Twitter/X Community Notes, the disinformation is still widely being shared.
Some quick updates
Amid the ongoing escalation in Los Angeles, I’m going to try to collect protest resources and updates on LA and post them here. Here’s some highlighted facts from the situation from over the weekend:
Here’s another breakdown on what’s going on.
I’ll use the RebelAuthor bot to relay appropriate and informational news updates here. There’s a lot of other sources already reporting on the news here, we’ll just try to sift through it to get to the most important information.
A Georgetown University scholar from India, detained in the Trump Administration’s crackdown on foreign students, was released after a federal judge’s ruling.
Badar Khan Suri will go home to his family in Virginia while he awaits the outcome of his petition against the Trump administration for wrongful arrest and detention in violation of the First Amendment and other constitutional rights. He’s also facing deportation proceedings in an immigration court in Texas.
Hasan Piker, a Turkish-American political commentator, was detained and questioned at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport about alleged ties to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, highlighting the legal but controversial use of border screening powers under TECS, which can target U.S. citizens based on secretive government and social media flags.
The EPA announced plans to relax restrictions on certain “forever chemicals” in drinking water, though standards for two common types will remain unchanged, revising stricter limits set last year and extending utility compliance to 2031.
Meanwhile, the nationwide push to remove fluoride from drinking water remains a goal of the Health and Human Services department, citing almost identical health concerns that banning PFAS protects citizens from. PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and babies being born with low birth weight.
A federal grand jury indicts a Wisconsin judge in an immigration case, allowing charges to proceed.
Dugan’s case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a courthouse back door to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent. That case was eventually dismissed.
Prosecutors say Dugan escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back jury door on April 18 after learning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking his arrest.
Dugan faces up to six years in prison if she’s convicted on both counts. Her team of defense attorneys responded to the indictment with a one-sentence statement saying that she maintains her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court. She was scheduled to enter a plea on Thursday.
Michael Cohen warns that Stephen Miller and Trump aim to dismantle habeas corpus, enabling unchecked imprisonment of critics, as he experienced firsthand.
The government can label you a threat, imprison you without charge, and deny you the right to see a judge without habeas corpus.
Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi who was detained by ICE but released by a judge, faces deportation under Trump’s administration for alleged “foreign policy consequences.” His lawyers claim he was targeted for advocating Palestinian rights, as discussed with Laura Barrón-López in this PBS interview.
A Turkish Tufts student, Rumeysa Ozturk, detained illegally by ICE in Louisiana for over six weeks after being arrested in a Boston suburb was released by a Vermont federal judge, permitting her to resume her studies.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at an ICE detention center where he was protesting its opening, a federal prosecutor said. Baraka, who is running for New Jersey Governor, is still in custody.
Baraka has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.
NOAA has stopped tracking the financial impact of climate-related disasters like floods and wildfires, reflecting the current U.S. administration’s broader efforts to reduce federal focus on climate change– and misconstrue the fact that climate change is happening.
For decades, NOAA has tracked hundreds of major events across the country, including destructive hurricanes, hail storms, droughts and freezes that have totaled trillions of dollars in damage.
The cost of climate related disasters is projected to exceed the total amount of dollars needed world wide to mitigate climate change.
The Pentagon will swiftly remove up to 1,000 openly transgender service members and require others to disclose their status within 30 days under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new directive.
Masked pro-Palestine protesters stormed Columbia University’s library during finals prep, leading to multiple arrests, as reported by Ground News with links to the article and Reddit comments.
A federal judge decided that thousands of contested ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin should stay in the final count, rejecting efforts to remove them by North Carolina’s state election board that have been going on since November 2024.
A federal appeals court is reviewing jurisdictional matters regarding students Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi detained by immigration officials but has not yet issued any rulings, further infringing on their rights to due to process under the United States’ Constitution. Each student has been imprisoned illegally by the federal government for over a month.
The Supreme Court permitted the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, as reported by Ground News, with links to the article and discussion.
This level of prejudice compromises national security.
The Republican Budget currently adds some $350 billion to the Pentagon and Homeland Security, to finance everything from a “700 mile” U.S-Mexico border wall, “1 million migrant deportations”, and a missile defense shield called “The Golden Dome”.
The bill doesn’t cut funding in order to shift dollars to these fantasy-like defense projects, the cuts to Medicaid and Food Stamps are present, but wouldn’t put a dent in what would be a historically large deficit increase.
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard killed four unarmed Kent State students protesting the Vietnam War. The government claimed they were forced to open fire because of a sniper attack, which was revealed to be a complete lie. The United States has a history of systemic suppression of dissent against peaceful protestors on university campuses.
The Labor Party has won the Australian election, with projections confirming Anthony Albanese will remain as Prime Minister, as reported by broadcasters ABC and Sky News Australia. Widespread opposition to right-wing politics helped fuel the left leaning government to victory, similarly to the recent election in Canada– voters have again rejected authoritarianism.
The “average voter” is a shallow construct, as most people lack time for deep political analysis, leading to easily manipulated opinions; meaningful change comes from engaging others in good-faith conversations about shared values rather than debating policies directly.
Trump’s proposed budget includes a 23% cut to domestic spending and a 13% increase in defense funding, aiming to reduce the federal budget by $163 billion, as reported by Ground News.
The executive order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to stop funding NPR and PBS, eliminating federal financial support for these public broadcasting entities. The reasoning given: The President alleged “bias”.
Across continents, hundreds of thousands turned out for Thursday’s rallies marking International Workers’ Day, many united in anger over U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-labor, anti-immigrant agenda, and the world-wide prioritization of wealthy elites over working families.
A DOGE operative is using AI to rewrite HUD regulations, with plans to expand this AI-driven regulatory rewrite initiative government-wide. According to the article, the AI produces an Excel spreadsheet of HUD policies, with AI flagging regulations where “overreach” is detected.
Note: This website has a paywall.
New York AG Letitia James discussed the President’s abuses of power, illegal executive orders, attacks on immigrants, and potential stock market manipulation in a MeidasTouch interview covering New York’s current legal battles to uphold the Constitution.
Canada’s Liberal win under Mark Carney marks a decisive rejection of Trumpism. Voters spurned right-wing populism in an election only a few months ago expected to be a conservative blow out. The rejection may be signaling growing global resistance to authoritarianism.
As of 1:30 AM ET, it is expected that the Liberal party will win enough seats in the House of Commons to form a government in Canada.
Law enforcement are routinely blurring their own faces in press releases. Notably, a Wisconsin judge’s arrest by faceless federal officers highlights the administration’s increasing use of blurred law enforcement images in publicity.
MeidasTouch Network’s first Democratic Governor Virtual Town Hall on April 29, 2025, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, featuring Pritzker, Walz, Healey, and Hochul who will discuss Trump’s first 100 days, with audience-submitted video questions via Substack.
List compiled daily by Foreign Exchanges.
Corporations are bringing in hundreds of thousands of temporary workers via a legally obtained, temporary H-2A visa. But those workers have few rights and little recourse when their employers break the law, and those same employers are increasingly turning to the H-2A program instead of local workers, including U.S. citizens, who’ve fought for fair wages and dignity on the job.
Today in politics: Senator Tommy Tuberville plans to leave the Senate to run for Alabama governor in 2026, while Trump faces declining approval ratings, conflicts with Fox News, and continued criticism over tariffs.
More news bulletins included in link.
The US Department of Homeland Security has run over 30 YouTube ads since April 1 warning irregular migrants of deportation and reentry bans, according to a WIRED investigation.
Senator Dick Durbin and other senior Democrats, including Jan Schakowsky, Gary Peters, Jeanne Shaheen, and Tina Smith, are retiring, voluntarily relinquishing power to promote a new generation of leadership for the Democratic party.
A leaked budget draft obtained by The Washington Post shows that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to cut funding for suicide prevention programs specialized in handling situations with LGBTQ+ youth. This includes completely defunding the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services, starting in October.
A groundbreaking microscope at Harvard Medical School could lead to breakthroughs in cancer detection and research into longevity. But Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova who developed computer scripts to read its images and unlock its full potential has been in an ICE immigration detention center for two months.
List compiled daily by Foreign Exchanges.
