#deportations — Public Fediverse posts

I am so sorry for the many... we must remember all of them. #BlackMastodon #Blackvoices #BlackFedi #BlackFediverse #BlackCommunities #Mastodon #Fediverse #Politics #Haitian #deportations
Before His Apparent Suicide, Pierre Damas Bel Spent Weeks In An ICE Ankle Monitor | HuffPost Voices https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pierre-damas-bel-ice-ankle-monitor-suicide_n_6a999dc9e4b0bd4d29d30740

20th century photos of #Mexican being rounded up and sent back highlight how mass #deportations are nothing new

No caption is needed to explain what kind of life this is. It's the same visual world that Dorothea Lange and her FSA colleagues were documenting up and down #California at the time

Except the families in these particular frames were Mexican, and many of them would soon be forced out of the country entirely – regardless of whether they held US citizenship.

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/photography/galleries-and-exhibitions/these-20th-century-photos-of-mexican-workers-being-rounded-up-and-sent-back-highlight-how-mass-deportations-from-the-usa-are-nothing-new

Can Democrats Finally Understand the Latino Voter in an Era of Mass Deportations?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/opinion/latino-voter-democrats-immigration-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yVA.Njzw.DfO2OJFxcR7v

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
[gift article]
Opinion | July 17, 2026

This article gives insight into the seemingly contradictory attitudes about #immigration among #Latinos living in the #US. It also highlights the inconsistent postions of the #DemocraticParty over the years.

#AbolishICE
#news #politics #USpol #Trump #ICE #deportations

#Hatewatch #SPLCenter

Feb. 2025

#TomHoman: Head of Trump’s #Immigration Plans Met #ProudBoys Associate About #Deportations
https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/head-trump-immigration-plans-met-proud-boys-associate-deportations/

Chinese National Arrested In Laguna For Posing As A Filipino

Here in the Philippines, illegal immigration in the form of foreigners pretending to be Filipino citizens is a growing problem. Recently in Laguna province, a Chinese national who pretended to be a Filipino was arrested by the authorities, according to a news report by GMA News.

To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the GMA News report. Some parts in boldface…

A Chinese national allegedly posing as a Filipino was arrested in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, with authorities now investigating how he obtained a driver’s license from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) that was reportedly used in the deception.

According to a report on “24 Oras Weekend” by John Consulta, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the National Bureau of Investigation Organized and Transnational Crime Division (NBI-OTCD) implemented a deportation order and served a warrant at a residence in a subdivision in Sta. Rosa.

However, the target was not immediately found, and only a woman was initially encountered at the house.

Authorities later tracked down the suspect within the subdivision, where he was reportedly cornered while jogging. He allegedly tried to evade arrest but was eventually subdued by operatives.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the Chinese national was arrested for allegedly using falsified documents identifying himself as Filipino, including a Philippine-issued driver’s license.

Authorities also recovered his Chinese passport, which remains valid until 2027, along with the LTO-issued driver’s license.

While the surname on both documents matched, the driver’s license reportedly carried a Filipino-sounding first and middle name and listed the holder’s nationality as Filipino.

LTO chief Asst. Sec. Markus Lacanilao said a review of records showed the foreign national applied for a driver’s license that was later used in assuming a false Filipino identity.

The agency clarified that the document was not a conversion of a foreign driver’s license.

“This is not a conversion of a license. A foreign-issued license converted into a Philippine license—that is not the case,” he said.

Records also showed that the suspect first applied for a driver’s license in 2010 and renewed it in 2018 in Bulacan, where his nationality was listed as Filipino.

“They use Filipino names. They try to hide by pretending to be Filipino-Chinese, but they are actually Chinese nationals posing as Filipinos,” Lacanilao said.

The arrested foreign national is currently detained at the Bureau of Immigration detention facility. He has yet to issue a statement and is reportedly filing an appeal before the Department of Justice.

Authorities said a deeper investigation is ongoing, including a review of other documents that may have been issued to the suspect, and the possible cancellation of his driver’s license.

“(Revocation) is automatic. We will cancel his driver’s license, and the places where it was issued must also be investigated,” he said.

Lacanilao also warned that such documents may be used for acquiring properties, vehicles, and other fraudulent activities. Matibag said this scheme also poses national security concerns.

Let me end this post by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this recent development? Are you concerned that there could be several thousands more Chinese nationals who are living in the Philippines with false identities as Filipinos? Do you think all government agencies should be prepared to spot false documents from foreigners who intend to gain false Filipino identities? What do you think is the main reason why some Chinese nationals exerted efforts to gain Filipino identities?

You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

I've hinted at this (below) before, as we've watched the #USA slide into #fascism. But with #ICE and the #DoJ now routinely ignoring court orders, or engaging in malicious compliance, and offering obviously bad-faith arguments about how their actions didn't actually violate court orders, it's become pretty apparent that the #immigration issue is the one driving this #lawless #government.

Did I say immigration? Sorry, I meant the #racist issue. The administration has been very clear and very explicit about their actual goals - bragging about how they're going to "restore" #America with 100,000,000 #deportations. That's basically the number of non-white people in the #country, most of whom were born in the USA and are lawful, #inalienable #citizens. Then there are the slogans and mottos stolen directly from the #Nazis, talking about #purifying Germany and all the rest. They are not being subtle about this.

Building #concentration camps is a pretty solid clue, too. The death #camps in #WWII started out like this, trying to #deport people. But when you can't move fast enough, well, you gotta do something, right? So #gas chambers and #crematoriums... ICE isn't meeting its #deportation quotas, so they're letting people die of neglect and abuse. It'll get there.

So, the point: if (big IF) #USAnians can recover their #country, it won't really be over until #Stephen #Miller meets his end after a short #drop and sudden stop at the #Hague.

#USPol #AmeriKKKa #StephenMiller

As a friend points out, this is bullshit: there were absolutely #protests against #deportations under #Clinton, #GWBush, and #Obama. #MAGA's selective memory is at it again. "Protests/Riots" is also telling. #Cult rules prohibit them acknowledging any distinction.

I do remember a number of #conservatives getting very worked up about the brutal treatment of #ElianGonzalez and his family. They were right to do so, or so I thought at the time.

Years later I figured out that what they objected to was not government agents waving guns in a little kid's face, but rather that it was happening under a #Democrat instead of a #Republican. Sanctioned #violence is only ever supposed to flow one way.

Republicans are worried about Trump’s deportation campaign, and our new poll shows why – POLITICO

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GOP worries about deportations, Allies’ negative views of US, International cost-of-living crisis

Republicans are worried about Trump’s deportation campaign, and our new poll shows why

A slim majority of voters still support Trump’s deportation agenda, but the GOP base is splintering over tactics.

By Myah Ward, Samuel Benson, and Erin Doherty 01/24/2026 10:00 AM EST

President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign is starting to make some Republicans uneasy.

As midterms approach, GOP lawmakers, candidates, strategists and people close to the White House are warning that the administration’s mass deportations policy — and the wall-to-wall coverage of enforcement operations, arrests of U.S. citizens and clashes between protesters and federal officials — could cost them their razor-thin House majority.

The administration’s forceful approach across the U.S. risks repelling the swing voters who fueled Trump’s return to the White House but are increasingly wary of how the president is implementing a central campaign promise. Further complicating the issue is that Republicans are split on the best way to address the eroding support, with some in the party viewing it as a messaging problem, while others argue that the administration’s policy itself is driving voters’ concerns.

“If we don’t change our approach, it will have a negative effect on the midterms, for sure,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), who recently decided not to seek reelection.

A new POLITICO poll underscores those worries: Nearly half of all Americans — 49 percent — say Trump’s mass deportation campaign is too aggressive, including 1 in 5 voters who backed the president in 2024. In a sign of growing discomfort among the president’s base, more than 1 in 3 Trump voters say that while they support the goals of his mass deportation campaign, they disapprove of the way he is implementing it.

https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/RNM1N/1/

The president ran on removing the millions of immigrants living in the country illegally, while connecting former President Joe Biden’s border crisis to the violent crime plaguing U.S. cities. The White House has pressured immigration officials to fulfill the president’s goal, an effort that requires targeting immigrants well beyond violent criminals.

But Americans broadly do not support such a sweeping approach. In the poll, 38 percent of Americans said the federal government should prioritize deporting immigrants who have committed serious crimes, while 21 percent said the administration should only deport serious criminals. The poll was conducted from Jan. 16 to 19, after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. There was another federal officer-involved shooting on Saturday in Minneapolis, though details remain scarce.

This article is part of an ongoing project from POLITICO and Public First, an independent polling company headquartered in London, to measure public opinion across a broad range of policy areas.

You can find new surveys and analysis each month at politico.com/poll.

Have questions or comments? Ideas for future surveys? Email us at [email protected].

“ICE should focus on the bad hombres. The bad hombres, that’s it, not the cleaning ladies,” said Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.). “One thing is the gardeners, another thing is the gangsters. One thing is the cooks, the other thing is the coyotes.”

The White House, so far, has maintained its heavy enforcement presence in Minneapolis, betting that the issue is messaging, not its policies. The president said this week that his administration needs to do more to highlight the criminals they’ve arrested during the Minnesota crackdown.

Watch: The Conversation

50:43 – Scott Bessent at Davos on Greenland, affordability, and the Fed | The Conversation

A person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Republicans have to keep the focus on criminal arrests, public safety and the Trump administration’s success in securing the southern border, which are more popular with voters across the board. Otherwise, the person worried, the GOP is losing support with moderate Republicans, independents, Latinos and young voters.

“Do I think we have to be a little bit smarter about it? I don’t think there’s any question about it,” the person said of the party’s messaging. “The reason why crime is down across the country, especially in these Democratic states and these blue cities, is because of one thing — the only thing that changed is President Trump’s policies.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Republicans are worried about Trump’s deportation campaign, and our new poll shows why – POLITICO

This puppy killer is a disgrace. And a LIAR, and an utterly corrupt, vile specimen of our species.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/kristi-noem-testifies-dhs-hasnt-205504622.html

#puppykiller #DHS #liar #corrupt #impeach #TraitorMAGA #TraitorGOP #SaveTheRepublic #USPolitics #USPol #government #deportations

#trump #Record #Lawsuits #CivilServants #NWS #Deportations #DiseaseControl #Republicans #Dictator #Fascism #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 9/19/25
DEMOCRATS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY

3 ways #Trump's #immigration #crackdown could hit #USCitizens

Brittany Gibson, Apr 23, 2025

"#Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.

"Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.

"They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to #dissenters.

"Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:

1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.

This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
"Homegrowns are next," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele last week, referring to sending Americans convicted of crimes to serve time in foreign prisons.
"We always have to obey the laws," Trump said, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies over the head ... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."
Trump's suggestion — echoing a similar proposal Bukele made to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February — drew a storm of criticism from legal advocates, who called it unconstitutional.

2. Putting critics of the administration's policies in jeopardy.

Some officials say U.S. citizens who #criticize administration policies could be charged with crimes, based on the notion that they're aiding terrorists and criminals.
"You have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them, because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's team also has questioned the legality of civic groups providing #immigrants with "#KnowYourRights" trainings on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that such seminars help people evade law enforcement.
"They're trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and for their political activism, and that's an authoritarian effort," said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.

3. Questioning the authority of court orders.

The administration's resistance to returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was legally in the U.S. with an order not to be deported back to El Salvador, but deported to the prison there anyway — has raised questions about how far Trump's team can go in trying to skirt court orders.
The White House says the decision to return #AbregoGarcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "effectuate" it.

Advocates worry the resulting confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a #USCitizen to a foreign prison, then claim that person couldn't be returned.

A federal judge raised this concern in Abrego Garcia's case.
"If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?" wrote Judge Harvie Wilkinson III.
"And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies?"

What they're saying: Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoed Wilkinson.

"If they can send a noncitizen to a prison in El Salvador without due process ... why would a U.S. citizen be safer?"

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. But officials have argued that they have an electoral mandate for stricter immigration enforcement, and that opposition to their policies is against the will of voters.

Trump's handling of immigration polls well in public surveys.
But sending immigrants to El Salvador's prison without criminal convictions or due process does not — about 60% were opposed in a recent YouGov survey.

Between the lines: U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including cases this month in Arizona and Florida.

"People are realizing that this is going to impact all communities," Talbot said, "and that if one citizen can be picked up, then any of us can be picked up and put into proceedings, or labeled a #terrorist, or removed to a foreign prison."

Original article:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-immigration-crackdown-us-citizens

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/wUUdG

#SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #CriminalizingDissent #USPol #DontQuestionBigBrother #Fascism #Authoritarianism #MemoryHoled #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #WaterDefenders #LandDefenders #Resisters #HumanRightsDefenders #IhrePapiereBitte #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Nazis #SecretPolice
#Disappeared #USCitizens #ICEDetention
#IllegalDeportations #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Deportations #Disappeared #MemoryHoled #NineteenEightyFour #DoublePlusUngood

#SupremeCourt Allows #Trump to Use 1798 Wartime Law to #Deport People

The nation's highest court backed Trump's use of the #AlienEnemiesAct to speed up #deportations

by Charisma Madarang, April 8, 2025

"The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a massive win on Monday, voting 5-4 to allow his administration to continue rapidly deporting alleged gang members using the Alien Enemies Act.
The law, passed in 1798, gives presidents the authority to remove foreign nationals over the age of 14 from countries where the United States is either engaged in a declared war or subject to “invasion or predatory incursion” by their country of origin. The act has been invoked three times in U.S. history, each time during wartime, and is meant to counter the actions of foreign governments and regimes, not alleged criminals, gangs, or non-state actors. The law was also used to justify Japanese internment during WWII, and now, the Trump administration is using it to justify its deportations.
In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court tossed a district court decision that had temporarily blocked President Trump’s attempt to continue using the 227-year-old law after he sent almost 300 Venezuelan migrants to a notorious prison in #ElSalvador, known for human rights abuses.

"All nine justices agreed, however, that anyone the administration is seeking to deport under the Alien Enemies Act must receive notice of deportation and be given the opportunity to challenge the removal through '#habeas petitions' — meaning that migrants have the right to have their detention or deportation reviewed by the federal court, but only for themselves and in the area where they are being detained.

"The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the ruling, while Justice #AmyConeyBarrett, who was appointed by Trump, partially dissented. Barrett joined Justice #SoniaSotomayor’s dissent calling the majority’s legal conclusion 'suspect' and questioning if habeas claims should be the only way to contest deportations under the act.

"'The Court’s legal conclusion is suspect,' wrote #Sotomayor. 'The Court intervenes anyway, granting the Government extraordinary relief and vacating the District Court’s order on that basis alone.'"

Read more:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/supreme-court-ruling-alien-enemies-act-1798-trump-1235312485/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/BJSoh
#ICEDetention #IllegalDeportations #SecretPolice #HumanRightsViolations #ConstitutionalRights #HumanRights #SCOTUSIsCompromised #SCOTUSIsCorrupt #USPol #ForcedDisappearances #MemoryHoled #1798AlienEnemiesAct

Cathy Heron - Mayor of St. Albert, Alberta posted these pictures from St. Albert earlier today.

#elonmusk #nazi #neveragain #nevertrump #uspol #uspolitics #worldpol #worldpolitics #zuckerberg #deportations #humanrights #ice #abpol #abpolitics #canpol #canpolitics #cndpol #cndpolitics #stalbert

This is what happened when MAGA people at CPAC thought I was one of them.

Exiled from the press pen, I was just part of the audience, a space previously off-limits to reporters.
To say the least, it was enlightening.
On Friday, for instance, I listened to a main-stage speech from Chris #Miller, a Republican running for governor of West Virginia.
Because of its tax-exempt status, CPAC bans speakers from openly campaigning there, so he was listed on the program simply as “businessman.”

Like virtually every other speaker at the event, Miller devoted several of his allotted five minutes to railing against #transgender #healthcare.
“Woke doctors are literally making boys into girls,” he declared.
“They’re practicing #mutilation, not medicine. They should be in prison.”
At that point, a burly man in a giant black cowboy hat sitting next to me leaned over conspiratorially and proclaimed,
“I think we should #hang them all! I really do.”
And he laughed like we were in on the same joke.
I confess that I was too cowardly to tell him I was with the left-wing fake news

Later, during a speech by South Dakota Governor Kristi #Noem, I was sitting next to a woman in full-on MAGA gear.
When Noem declared, “There are some people who love America, and there are some people who #hate America,” my neighbor gave me a small heart attack.
“Get the FUCK OUT!” she yelled furiously, ready to rumble. “Get the FUCK OUT!”
Meanwhile, the old man in the camo Trump hat next to her had somehow fallen asleep.

In the hotel lobby outside the CPAC main stage, the right-wing cable network Real America’s Voice had set up a studio.
#Bannon spent most of the conference holding court there and interviewing various MAGA celebs like Kash #Patel, who President Donald Trump had once put in charge of counterterrorism at the National Security Administration, or Rep. Byron #Donalds (R-FL), the rare Black conservative in the mix.
The studio often drew a crowd that rivaled that of some of the speakers on the main stage. It certainly rivaled the convention in volume.

While I was taking in the spectacle, a middle-aged man in a gray suit came up to me and pointed to a nearby 7-foot-high poster of Tucker #Carlson’s face.
“Do you know why that’s here?” he asked.
I explained that it was an ad for Tucker: The Biography, a book written by Chadwick Moore, a gay journalist and former liberal.
“Oh, I see,” he replied. The man clearly wanted to keep talking, asking me what I was here for, which was unusual since in the past my press badge said it all.
My inquisitor had come to #CPAC to see what people were saying about school choice and was disappointed to discover that the answer to that question was nothing.
Education policy, he lamented, was nowhere to be found at this event. Indeed, what passed for policy discussions at CPAC this year was largely limited to mass #deportations and attacks on #trans athletes.
The sober panels about the national debt, balancing the budget, or Social Security reform that once commanded top billing were a relic of another era before CPAC became an extension of Trump Inc., devoted to all the MAGA grievances like racial #equity, the evils of #windmills, or bans on gas #stoves.
When I finally was able to explain that I was a reporter who’d been denied a press pass, the man launched into an earnest yet incomprehensible spiel about how the government is #censoring people. Politely, I fled into the crowd watching Bannon. 
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/being-denied-a-press-pass-at-cpac-was-the-best-way-to-cover-the-conference/

This is what happened when MAGA people at CPAC thought I was one of them.

Exiled from the press pen, I was just part of the audience, a space previously off-limits to reporters.
To say the least, it was enlightening.
On Friday, for instance, I listened to a main-stage speech from Chris #Miller, a Republican running for governor of West Virginia.
Because of its tax-exempt status, CPAC bans speakers from openly campaigning there, so he was listed on the program simply as “businessman.”

Like virtually every other speaker at the event, Miller devoted several of his allotted five minutes to railing against #transgender #healthcare.
“Woke doctors are literally making boys into girls,” he declared.
“They’re practicing #mutilation, not medicine. They should be in prison.”
At that point, a burly man in a giant black cowboy hat sitting next to me leaned over conspiratorially and proclaimed,
“I think we should #hang them all! I really do.”
And he laughed like we were in on the same joke.
I confess that I was too cowardly to tell him I was with the left-wing fake news

Later, during a speech by South Dakota Governor Kristi #Noem, I was sitting next to a woman in full-on MAGA gear.
When Noem declared, “There are some people who love America, and there are some people who #hate America,” my neighbor gave me a small heart attack.
“Get the FUCK OUT!” she yelled furiously, ready to rumble. “Get the FUCK OUT!”
Meanwhile, the old man in the camo Trump hat next to her had somehow fallen asleep.

In the hotel lobby outside the CPAC main stage, the right-wing cable network Real America’s Voice had set up a studio.
#Bannon spent most of the conference holding court there and interviewing various MAGA celebs like Kash #Patel, who President Donald Trump had once put in charge of counterterrorism at the National Security Administration, or Rep. Byron #Donalds (R-FL), the rare Black conservative in the mix.
The studio often drew a crowd that rivaled that of some of the speakers on the main stage. It certainly rivaled the convention in volume.

While I was taking in the spectacle, a middle-aged man in a gray suit came up to me and pointed to a nearby 7-foot-high poster of Tucker #Carlson’s face.
“Do you know why that’s here?” he asked.
I explained that it was an ad for Tucker: The Biography, a book written by Chadwick Moore, a gay journalist and former liberal.
“Oh, I see,” he replied. The man clearly wanted to keep talking, asking me what I was here for, which was unusual since in the past my press badge said it all.
My inquisitor had come to #CPAC to see what people were saying about school choice and was disappointed to discover that the answer to that question was nothing.
Education policy, he lamented, was nowhere to be found at this event. Indeed, what passed for policy discussions at CPAC this year was largely limited to mass #deportations and attacks on #trans athletes.
The sober panels about the national debt, balancing the budget, or Social Security reform that once commanded top billing were a relic of another era before CPAC became an extension of Trump Inc., devoted to all the MAGA grievances like racial #equity, the evils of #windmills, or bans on gas #stoves.
When I finally was able to explain that I was a reporter who’d been denied a press pass, the man launched into an earnest yet incomprehensible spiel about how the government is #censoring people. Politely, I fled into the crowd watching Bannon. 
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/being-denied-a-press-pass-at-cpac-was-the-best-way-to-cover-the-conference/

This is what happened when MAGA people at CPAC thought I was one of them.

Exiled from the press pen, I was just part of the audience, a space previously off-limits to reporters.
To say the least, it was enlightening.
On Friday, for instance, I listened to a main-stage speech from Chris #Miller, a Republican running for governor of West Virginia.
Because of its tax-exempt status, CPAC bans speakers from openly campaigning there, so he was listed on the program simply as “businessman.”

Like virtually every other speaker at the event, Miller devoted several of his allotted five minutes to railing against #transgender #healthcare.
“Woke doctors are literally making boys into girls,” he declared.
“They’re practicing #mutilation, not medicine. They should be in prison.”
At that point, a burly man in a giant black cowboy hat sitting next to me leaned over conspiratorially and proclaimed,
“I think we should #hang them all! I really do.”
And he laughed like we were in on the same joke.
I confess that I was too cowardly to tell him I was with the left-wing fake news

Later, during a speech by South Dakota Governor Kristi #Noem, I was sitting next to a woman in full-on MAGA gear.
When Noem declared, “There are some people who love America, and there are some people who #hate America,” my neighbor gave me a small heart attack.
“Get the FUCK OUT!” she yelled furiously, ready to rumble. “Get the FUCK OUT!”
Meanwhile, the old man in the camo Trump hat next to her had somehow fallen asleep.

In the hotel lobby outside the CPAC main stage, the right-wing cable network Real America’s Voice had set up a studio.
#Bannon spent most of the conference holding court there and interviewing various MAGA celebs like Kash #Patel, who President Donald Trump had once put in charge of counterterrorism at the National Security Administration, or Rep. Byron #Donalds (R-FL), the rare Black conservative in the mix.
The studio often drew a crowd that rivaled that of some of the speakers on the main stage. It certainly rivaled the convention in volume.

While I was taking in the spectacle, a middle-aged man in a gray suit came up to me and pointed to a nearby 7-foot-high poster of Tucker #Carlson’s face.
“Do you know why that’s here?” he asked.
I explained that it was an ad for Tucker: The Biography, a book written by Chadwick Moore, a gay journalist and former liberal.
“Oh, I see,” he replied. The man clearly wanted to keep talking, asking me what I was here for, which was unusual since in the past my press badge said it all.
My inquisitor had come to #CPAC to see what people were saying about school choice and was disappointed to discover that the answer to that question was nothing.
Education policy, he lamented, was nowhere to be found at this event. Indeed, what passed for policy discussions at CPAC this year was largely limited to mass #deportations and attacks on #trans athletes.
The sober panels about the national debt, balancing the budget, or Social Security reform that once commanded top billing were a relic of another era before CPAC became an extension of Trump Inc., devoted to all the MAGA grievances like racial #equity, the evils of #windmills, or bans on gas #stoves.
When I finally was able to explain that I was a reporter who’d been denied a press pass, the man launched into an earnest yet incomprehensible spiel about how the government is #censoring people. Politely, I fled into the crowd watching Bannon. 
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/being-denied-a-press-pass-at-cpac-was-the-best-way-to-cover-the-conference/

This is what happened when MAGA people at CPAC thought I was one of them.

Exiled from the press pen, I was just part of the audience, a space previously off-limits to reporters.
To say the least, it was enlightening.
On Friday, for instance, I listened to a main-stage speech from Chris #Miller, a Republican running for governor of West Virginia.
Because of its tax-exempt status, CPAC bans speakers from openly campaigning there, so he was listed on the program simply as “businessman.”

Like virtually every other speaker at the event, Miller devoted several of his allotted five minutes to railing against #transgender #healthcare.
“Woke doctors are literally making boys into girls,” he declared.
“They’re practicing #mutilation, not medicine. They should be in prison.”
At that point, a burly man in a giant black cowboy hat sitting next to me leaned over conspiratorially and proclaimed,
“I think we should #hang them all! I really do.”
And he laughed like we were in on the same joke.
I confess that I was too cowardly to tell him I was with the left-wing fake news

Later, during a speech by South Dakota Governor Kristi #Noem, I was sitting next to a woman in full-on MAGA gear.
When Noem declared, “There are some people who love America, and there are some people who #hate America,” my neighbor gave me a small heart attack.
“Get the FUCK OUT!” she yelled furiously, ready to rumble. “Get the FUCK OUT!”
Meanwhile, the old man in the camo Trump hat next to her had somehow fallen asleep.

In the hotel lobby outside the CPAC main stage, the right-wing cable network Real America’s Voice had set up a studio.
#Bannon spent most of the conference holding court there and interviewing various MAGA celebs like Kash #Patel, who President Donald Trump had once put in charge of counterterrorism at the National Security Administration, or Rep. Byron #Donalds (R-FL), the rare Black conservative in the mix.
The studio often drew a crowd that rivaled that of some of the speakers on the main stage. It certainly rivaled the convention in volume.

While I was taking in the spectacle, a middle-aged man in a gray suit came up to me and pointed to a nearby 7-foot-high poster of Tucker #Carlson’s face.
“Do you know why that’s here?” he asked.
I explained that it was an ad for Tucker: The Biography, a book written by Chadwick Moore, a gay journalist and former liberal.
“Oh, I see,” he replied. The man clearly wanted to keep talking, asking me what I was here for, which was unusual since in the past my press badge said it all.
My inquisitor had come to #CPAC to see what people were saying about school choice and was disappointed to discover that the answer to that question was nothing.
Education policy, he lamented, was nowhere to be found at this event. Indeed, what passed for policy discussions at CPAC this year was largely limited to mass #deportations and attacks on #trans athletes.
The sober panels about the national debt, balancing the budget, or Social Security reform that once commanded top billing were a relic of another era before CPAC became an extension of Trump Inc., devoted to all the MAGA grievances like racial #equity, the evils of #windmills, or bans on gas #stoves.
When I finally was able to explain that I was a reporter who’d been denied a press pass, the man launched into an earnest yet incomprehensible spiel about how the government is #censoring people. Politely, I fled into the crowd watching Bannon. 
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/being-denied-a-press-pass-at-cpac-was-the-best-way-to-cover-the-conference/