update - Prof speculates that Trump intends military regime change op in Venezuela
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Judge rules Trump's anti-discrimination agency engaged in discrimination
A judge has ruled this month that the anti-discrimination agency under President Donald Trump engaged in discrimination against a transgender employee, which the former worker called "devastating."
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, was formed under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to enforce anti-discrimination laws in American workplaces, Mother Jones reports. But a judge's ruling this month determined that under the Trump administration, "the federal agency tasked with helping workers who experienced hostile work environments became a hostile work environment itself."
EEOC Director of Information Governance and Strategy Marc Seawright, who identifies as a queer trans man, was “forced to resign because EEOC leadership engaged in discrimination against transgender employees, including the claimant,” administrative judge Mary Shea of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board wrote in a ruling this month.
Shea found that Seawright had "good cause" to resign from his position in June. And due to the discrimination, he is eligible for unemployment benefits while the complaint is under review by the EEOC.
"Before his resignation, the information technology specialist had spent the last eight years working on projects that enabled the EEOC to carry out its core mission: preventing and fighting workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy status, disability, and genetic information," Mother Jones reports. "Among Seawright’s proudest contributions was an app he developed that enabled colleagues to display their pronouns across agency systems."
Seawright was also the board leader of the agency's employee-elected LGBTQ+ employee resource group, but that changed when the Trump administration's new EEOC chair, Andrea Lucas, disbanded the group in January.
He was then instructed to develop a technological process for the EEOC to scan or censor agency materials for "any mention of transgender, non-binary, or sexual orientation."
In Seawright's complaint, he wrote:
“What made it more disturbing was my forced involvement in making it happen.”
“Being forced to create the information technology that would systematically erase all EEOC references to transgender, non-binary, or other LGBTQ+ people, given that I am a queer transgender man, was personally devastating and contributed to a hostile work environment,” he said.
He described getting pushed out of meetings and the network system he needed to access.
“The conditions of my employment have continued to deteriorate and I expect they will become worse as Acting Chair Lucas takes further steps to discriminate against transgender employees,” his complaint said.
A judge has ruled this month that the anti-discrimination agency under President Donald Trump engaged in discrimination against a transgender employee, which the former worker called "devastating."
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, was formed under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to enforce anti-discrimination laws in American workplaces, Mother Jones reports. But a judge's ruling this month determined that under the Trump administration, "the federal agency tasked with helping workers who experienced hostile work environments became a hostile work environment itself."
EEOC Director of Information Governance and Strategy Marc Seawright, who identifies as a queer trans man, was “forced to resign because EEOC leadership engaged in discrimination against transgender employees, including the claimant,” administrative judge Mary Shea of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board wrote in a ruling this month.
Shea found that Seawright had "good cause" to resign from his position in June. And due to the discrimination, he is eligible for unemployment benefits while the complaint is under review by the EEOC.
"Before his resignation, the information technology specialist had spent the last eight years working on projects that enabled the EEOC to carry out its core mission: preventing and fighting workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy status, disability, and genetic information," Mother Jones reports. "Among Seawright’s proudest contributions was an app he developed that enabled colleagues to display their pronouns across agency systems."
Seawright was also the board leader of the agency's employee-elected LGBTQ+ employee resource group, but that changed when the Trump administration's new EEOC chair, Andrea Lucas, disbanded the group in January.
He was then instructed to develop a technological process for the EEOC to scan or censor agency materials for "any mention of transgender, non-binary, or sexual orientation."
In Seawright's complaint, he wrote:
“What made it more disturbing was my forced involvement in making it happen.”
“Being forced to create the information technology that would systematically erase all EEOC references to transgender, non-binary, or other LGBTQ+ people, given that I am a queer transgender man, was personally devastating and contributed to a hostile work environment,” he said.
He described getting pushed out of meetings and the network system he needed to access.
“The conditions of my employment have continued to deteriorate and I expect they will become worse as Acting Chair Lucas takes further steps to discriminate against transgender employees,” his complaint said.
ICE officials living in a 'culture of fear' as arrests lag and jobs threatened: report
A shakeup is looming at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because Donald Trump’s White House has become increasingly frustrated with the pace of arrests of undocumented immigrants -- and now jobs are on the line.
According to a report from the New York Times, regional ICE officials are being asked to explain why arrest numbers are down which led former senior ICE official Claire Trickler-McNulty to explain, “They are under constant threat; people are ground down; it’s a culture of fear.”
Noting that the agency has been in constant turmoil, Trickler-McNulty added, “There has been so much shuffling of deck chairs — I can’t imagine anyone even having the ability to take on real challenges.”
According to the Times’ Hamed Aleaziz and Tyler Pager, “The proposed shake-up illustrates how the administration is still scrambling to satisfy Mr. Trump’s demand to crack down on immigration, an issue at the heart of his political agenda, even as the president and his top aides have promoted their efforts to secure the border and deport hundreds of thousands of people.”
With the administration setting a goal of 600,000 deportations by the end of Trump’s first year of his second term, the report states the numbers are falling from the proposed 3,000 immigrants per day, ordered by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, down to slightly more than 1,000 a day.
Despite a massive influx of funding, the lack of results is becoming a bone of contention within the agency.
The Times report notes, “As ICE arrest numbers have lagged, Border Patrol officials have taken on a larger role in immigration enforcement, in sweeps at big-box stores and in a sprawling operation at an apartment complex in Chicago. ICE efforts, by contrast, typically focus on a single subject at a time.”
You can read more here.
A shakeup is looming at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because Donald Trump’s White House has become increasingly frustrated with the pace of arrests of undocumented immigrants -- and now jobs are on the line.
According to a report from the New York Times, regional ICE officials are being asked to explain why arrest numbers are down which led former senior ICE official Claire Trickler-McNulty to explain, “They are under constant threat; people are ground down; it’s a culture of fear.”
Noting that the agency has been in constant turmoil, Trickler-McNulty added, “There has been so much shuffling of deck chairs — I can’t imagine anyone even having the ability to take on real challenges.”
According to the Times’ Hamed Aleaziz and Tyler Pager, “The proposed shake-up illustrates how the administration is still scrambling to satisfy Mr. Trump’s demand to crack down on immigration, an issue at the heart of his political agenda, even as the president and his top aides have promoted their efforts to secure the border and deport hundreds of thousands of people.”
With the administration setting a goal of 600,000 deportations by the end of Trump’s first year of his second term, the report states the numbers are falling from the proposed 3,000 immigrants per day, ordered by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, down to slightly more than 1,000 a day.
Despite a massive influx of funding, the lack of results is becoming a bone of contention within the agency.
The Times report notes, “As ICE arrest numbers have lagged, Border Patrol officials have taken on a larger role in immigration enforcement, in sweeps at big-box stores and in a sprawling operation at an apartment complex in Chicago. ICE efforts, by contrast, typically focus on a single subject at a time.”
You can read more here.
‘They cheated!’ Trump calls for new wave of prosecutions in late night tirade
President Donald Trump called for the prosecution of several former Justice Department officials late Friday night over allegations that Republican lawmakers’ communications were monitored as part of the DOJ’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, shared a report that revealed that eight Senate Republicans had their communications monitored by the DOJ under the Biden administration.
Among the top-ranking DOJ officials at the time were Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, FBI Director Christopher Wray and DOJ attorney Jack Smith, all of whom Trump directly named Friday in a late-night social media post.
“Just in: Documents show conclusively that Christopher Wray, Deranged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other crooked lowlifes from the failed Biden Administration, signed off on Operation Arctic Frost,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“They spied on Senators and Congressmen/women, and even taped their calls. They cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. These Radical Left Lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior!”
Republicans have called the DOJ’s investigation into Republicans over their alleged involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election “worse than Watergate,” and Trump has latched on to the report’s findings to single out former DOJ officials for prosecution.
Trump’s calls for individuals to be prosecuted has already been followed up on by his DOJ, with former FBI Director James Comey having been indicted this month, as was New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis – the prosecutor who brought election interference charges against Trump – reportedly under investigation.
President Donald Trump called for the prosecution of several former Justice Department officials late Friday night over allegations that Republican lawmakers’ communications were monitored as part of the DOJ’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, shared a report that revealed that eight Senate Republicans had their communications monitored by the DOJ under the Biden administration.
Among the top-ranking DOJ officials at the time were Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, FBI Director Christopher Wray and DOJ attorney Jack Smith, all of whom Trump directly named Friday in a late-night social media post.
“Just in: Documents show conclusively that Christopher Wray, Deranged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other crooked lowlifes from the failed Biden Administration, signed off on Operation Arctic Frost,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“They spied on Senators and Congressmen/women, and even taped their calls. They cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. These Radical Left Lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior!”
Republicans have called the DOJ’s investigation into Republicans over their alleged involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election “worse than Watergate,” and Trump has latched on to the report’s findings to single out former DOJ officials for prosecution.
Trump’s calls for individuals to be prosecuted has already been followed up on by his DOJ, with former FBI Director James Comey having been indicted this month, as was New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis – the prosecutor who brought election interference charges against Trump – reportedly under investigation.
Liberia agrees to accept man at centre of US deportation row
Liberia is willing to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he is deported from the United States, according to new documents filed in US federal court. Uganda, Ghana and Eswatini all previously refused to take him in.
The Salvadoran national's case has become a magnet for opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies since he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, in violation of a settlement agreement. He was returned to the US in June after the US Supreme Court said the administration had to work to bring him back. Since he cannot be re-deported to El Salvador, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Maryland has previously barred his immediate deportation. Abrego Garcia's lawsuit there claims the Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish him for the embarrassment of his earlier mistaken deportation.
A Friday court filing from the Department of Homeland Security notes that "Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States's closest partners on the African continent." Its national language is English; its constitution "provides robust protections for human rights;" and Liberia is "committed to the humane treatment of refugees," the filing reads. It concludes that Abrego Garcia could be deported as soon as October 31.
'Cruel and unconstitutional'
"After failed attempts with Uganda, Eswatini, and Ghana, ICE now seeks to deport our client, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to Liberia, a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland," a statement from attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg reads. "Costa Rica stands ready to accept him as a refugee, a viable and lawful option. Yet the government has chosen a course calculated to inflict maximum hardship. These actions are punitive, cruel, and unconstitutional."
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador, where he faces a "well-founded fear" of violence from a gang that targeted his family, according to court filings. In a separate action in immigration court, Abrego Garcia has applied for asylum in the United States.
Abrego Garcia is also facing criminal charges in federal court in Tennessee, where he has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling. He has filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is vindictive.
Liberia is willing to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he is deported from the United States, according to new documents filed in US federal court. Uganda, Ghana and Eswatini all previously refused to take him in.
The Salvadoran national's case has become a magnet for opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies since he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, in violation of a settlement agreement. He was returned to the US in June after the US Supreme Court said the administration had to work to bring him back. Since he cannot be re-deported to El Salvador, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Maryland has previously barred his immediate deportation. Abrego Garcia's lawsuit there claims the Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish him for the embarrassment of his earlier mistaken deportation.
A Friday court filing from the Department of Homeland Security notes that "Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States's closest partners on the African continent." Its national language is English; its constitution "provides robust protections for human rights;" and Liberia is "committed to the humane treatment of refugees," the filing reads. It concludes that Abrego Garcia could be deported as soon as October 31.
'Cruel and unconstitutional'
"After failed attempts with Uganda, Eswatini, and Ghana, ICE now seeks to deport our client, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to Liberia, a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland," a statement from attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg reads. "Costa Rica stands ready to accept him as a refugee, a viable and lawful option. Yet the government has chosen a course calculated to inflict maximum hardship. These actions are punitive, cruel, and unconstitutional."
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador, where he faces a "well-founded fear" of violence from a gang that targeted his family, according to court filings. In a separate action in immigration court, Abrego Garcia has applied for asylum in the United States.
Abrego Garcia is also facing criminal charges in federal court in Tennessee, where he has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling. He has filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is vindictive.
U.S. President Donald Trump continues to order military strikes against Venezuelan boats that he claims are transporting illegal drugs bound for the United States. Trump is defending the strikes as necessary to protect Americans, but many of his critics are denouncing the attacks as "extrajudicial killings."
In an article published on October 25, Salon's Sabrina Haake warns that Trump appears to be moving in the direction of a much broader military action against Venezuela —including, possibly, a regime change operation designed to oust leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
Harvard University history professor Dennis M. Hogan, in an op-ed for the New York Times published the same day, argues that Trump is hoping for a "quick and easy victory" with Venezuela but will encounter a difficult uphill battle instead.
"As the Trump Administration doubles down on its campaign against Mr. Maduro, officials may very well have in mind Washington's last overthrow of a Latin American leader, also accused of ties to the narcotics trade, Gen. Manuel Noriega of Panama, in 1989," Hogan explains. "It was an operation many hailed — wrongly, in some respects — as a quick and easy victory that ousted a repressive strongman and led to his imprisonment for drug trafficking. The situation in Venezuela is far different, and seeking regime change there could be disastrous for the United States and the region."
The historian lays out a variety of reasons why overthrowing Maduro would be so difficult for the U.S. in Venezuela.
"To begin with," Hogan notes, "the contrasts between Panama and Venezuela: Panama is a small country with a population at the time of the invasion of fewer than three million people…. Venezuela is a sprawling, geographically diverse country with a population of nearly 30 million. The United States maintains no military installations there, and it is not home to a strategic asset like the Panama Canal, unless you include oil reserves. Venezuela's neighbors Colombia and Brazil have been at odds with the Trump Administration."
The Harvard professor continues, "As policy analysts across the political spectrum have argued, the likeliest outcome of a U.S. invasion that topples Mr. Maduro is a surge in regional instability, and, according to a recent report by the Stimson Center, a worsening of the conditions leading to drug trafficking, conflict and migration…. Even in Panama, where circumstances in 1989 were favorable to America's aims, the operation was neither bloodless nor painless, nor completely successful. How much more serious will the consequences of such adventurism be in Venezuela?"
Dennis M. Hogan's full op-ed for The New York Times is available at this link (subscription required).
Trump’s quest for 'quick and easy' victory will likely end in bitter disappointment: historian
In an article published on October 25, Salon's Sabrina Haake warns that Trump appears to be moving in the direction of a much broader military action against Venezuela —including, possibly, a regime change operation designed to oust leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
Harvard University history professor Dennis M. Hogan, in an op-ed for the New York Times published the same day, argues that Trump is hoping for a "quick and easy victory" with Venezuela but will encounter a difficult uphill battle instead.
"As the Trump Administration doubles down on its campaign against Mr. Maduro, officials may very well have in mind Washington's last overthrow of a Latin American leader, also accused of ties to the narcotics trade, Gen. Manuel Noriega of Panama, in 1989," Hogan explains. "It was an operation many hailed — wrongly, in some respects — as a quick and easy victory that ousted a repressive strongman and led to his imprisonment for drug trafficking. The situation in Venezuela is far different, and seeking regime change there could be disastrous for the United States and the region."
The historian lays out a variety of reasons why overthrowing Maduro would be so difficult for the U.S. in Venezuela.
"To begin with," Hogan notes, "the contrasts between Panama and Venezuela: Panama is a small country with a population at the time of the invasion of fewer than three million people…. Venezuela is a sprawling, geographically diverse country with a population of nearly 30 million. The United States maintains no military installations there, and it is not home to a strategic asset like the Panama Canal, unless you include oil reserves. Venezuela's neighbors Colombia and Brazil have been at odds with the Trump Administration."
The Harvard professor continues, "As policy analysts across the political spectrum have argued, the likeliest outcome of a U.S. invasion that topples Mr. Maduro is a surge in regional instability, and, according to a recent report by the Stimson Center, a worsening of the conditions leading to drug trafficking, conflict and migration…. Even in Panama, where circumstances in 1989 were favorable to America's aims, the operation was neither bloodless nor painless, nor completely successful. How much more serious will the consequences of such adventurism be in Venezuela?"
Dennis M. Hogan's full op-ed for The New York Times is available at this link (subscription required).
Trump’s quest for 'quick and easy' victory will likely end in bitter disappointment: historian
