Leaked Emails Show ICE Gutted Training to Help Boost Trump’s Arrests

The Department of Homeland Security radically reduced training requirements for local law enforcement officers whose departments had agreed to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In an email obtained by American Oversight, an ICE official whose name was redacted explained that the training had been reduced from four weeks of in-person instruction to just 40 hours of virtual courses, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Additionally, training on real-world scenarios that officers might encounter in the field was eliminated entirely.

The email addressed to former ICE Director Todd Lyons and adviser David Venturella explained how the training had been “truncated” to meet demands that the course be shortened. Lyons resigned in May, and Venturella now leads the agency.

Since President Donald Trump reentered office, the number of local police departments collaborating with ICE has increased exponentially. Under the Biden administration, there were 135 active 287(g) agreements across 16 states. Now, more than 2,600 agencies are receiving compensation to assist in Trump’s sweeping deportation efforts, according to the Post. White House deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller demanded last year that ICE arrest 3,000 immigrants a day.

Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, told the Post that some of the materials cut from the training would have helped officers understand whether they had a lawful basis to arrest someone in the first place.

“So for example, who is actually a citizen, what is their immigration status, what grounds could possibly justify seeking their removal?” Chukwu said.

The dangerous consequences of these changes seem obvious: less training will only sow more confusion and chaos during arrests, which will inevitably lead to violent encounters between civilians and law enforcement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated hundreds of voter registration groups over the past year as part of their efforts to catch noncitizens voting.

The nonprofit organization Democracy Forward obtained government documents showing a wide-ranging probe into the nonprofit groups. The documents also revealed deliberations within Homeland Security Investigations, which conducts investigations for ICE, to send undercover agents into the organizations.

“Future [undercover]-related operations may involve utilizing [undercover agents] to target identified organizations and engage in communications with these entities to substantiate recruitment methods and activities related to illegal alien voter registration,” stated one of the documents. These efforts “will support broader investigative and enforcement actions, leveraging [undercover] findings to initiate prosecutions and dismantle illicit facilitation networks.”

HSI focused on groups in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, although it also looked into organizations in Minnesota, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey as well. There is no proof that HSI ever went ahead with using undercover agents, according to Democracy Docket.

The investigations involved using nonprofit search engines and other databases attempting to find “derogatory information” about them. HSI looked into at least 82 organizations in Pennsylvania, including the state’s branch of Council on American-Islamic Relations, the country’s largest civil rights and advocacy organization for American Muslims.

The efforts went beyond nonprofits, as HSI investigated state primary elections earlier this year, the documents revealed, trying to find “any notable trends or vulnerabilities in upholding election integrity.”

HSI’s efforts in Pennsylvania also included investigating Zumiez, a clothing brand that has worked with organizations like Voto Latino and Rock the Vote that encourage civic engagement among young people. Why Zumiez received scrutiny is unclear, as it is a national corporation with headquarters in Washington state.

All of the administration’s efforts seem to be an attempt to prove a long-standing conservative conspiracy theory that Democrats register noncitizens to vote to win elections. Despite the right’s repeated claims of rigged elections, the few actual cases of voter fraud appear to catch conservatives more than anyone else.

Donald Trump is dragging his feet in dealing with the recent pneumonic plague case in Russia.

Speaking with reporters on the White House South Lawn Tuesday evening, the president appeared completely disaffected and uninterested in the matter, offering short replies about his approach to the worrisome outbreak.

However, in doing so, Trump also revealed that he hasn’t yet spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Have you spoken to President Putin about the plague in Russia?” one reporter asked.

“I have a call scheduled, yup,” Trump said.

“When is that call scheduled for?” the reporter followed up.

“Very soon,” Trump added.

When asked by another reporter if American intelligence agencies had more intel on the suspicious death, Trump relented that he was in “deep discussions” with U.S. officials and could speak about it “probably tomorrow.”

But Trump did not answer any other questions on the matter, including an attempt to specify if the timeframe for speaking with Putin was contained to sometime this week.

Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory technician who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, died of severe pneumonia on the night between October 1 and October 2. Russian health officials have not yet confirmed that her death was the result of pneumonic plague, or explained how she got ill, but her death sparked enough regional concern to place 200 people who had been in contact with Shipilova into quarantine.

Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s health watchdog, announced Wednesday that 90 percent of the people placed into quarantine had been released after thousands of lab tests came back negative for dangerous pathogens, according to Reuters.

The agency rejected assertions that the lab worker fell ill from exposure at her workplace, noting in a statement that Shipilova was vaccinated and therefore “immune to the dangerous infections with which she worked.”

President Trump wants to bring his own personal Camp David to Palm Beach.

The Palm Beach Post first reported last month on the president’s plans to turn his Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach into a private, Camp David–style club for leaders and foreign dignitaries. In a September 3 letter to Palm Beach County commissioners, the president proposed that he would “provide access to all” club facilities at “no cost to the federal government.” While the Trump family owns the property, it lies on land leased by Palm Beach County, hence the gracious proposal letter.

The plans have appeared to progress significantly, with the county seriously considering the proposal, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The president has long found Camp David to be undesirable for his tastes, saying in 2017 that he could only enjoy the historic retreat center “for about 30 minutes.”

“Just as Camp David, Windsor Castle, or the Elysee Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential Golf Course in Palm Beach County,” attorney Harvey Oyer, who is representing the property, wrote in his letter to the county commissioners. “It would further cement Palm Beach County as one of the most recognizable brands and destinations in the world.”

“The property is minutes away from the Donald J. Trump International Airport, does not have buildings looming, does not have houses along the course, has great security features, is close to law enforcement, and happens to be a highly-rated golf course,” an anonymous White House official told the Post. “These are features that are necessary for any presidential retreat.”

This is the most corrupt president in modern history trying to use his own private property to replace a historic presidential retreat center—which is in perfectly fine condition and was more than adequate for every other president and diplomat before him. But while we may see this new property, which Trump intends to keep under his own company, as another grift, Trump is framing it as a “gift” and a “lasting contribution” to all future presidents, even offering to comp membership fees for them. Thanks. Now he’ll never need to leave Palm Beach ever again.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the midterms, faced a humiliating reality check Tuesday night during her debate against Democratic challenger Troy Jackson.

In the first of four televised debates, Collins struggled to defend her efforts to rein in President Donald Trump’s disastrous policies.

“Troy mocked it, but I was successful in getting concrete, pulp, and road salt removed from the tariff list,” Collins said.

“I didn’t mock the fact that she got road salt back, I mocked the fact that, what about everything else? We can’t eat road salt,” Jackson said. “And the thing about it is, is that everything that she’s doing with Iran war, stuff like that, there’s going to be so many less people that’ll be able to afford to drive that I’m not even sure the road salt is going to be worth anything, either.”

It was a startling moment dealt by a comparatively novice challenger against a five-term senator, highlighting just how Collins has failed to truly stand up to Trump.

Collins has voted five separate times to extend Trump’s military campaign in the Middle East. A study found that as of July, the average Maine household has had to pay $3,900 more for goods and services during Trump’s second term.