The Dictatorship
The Chicago raids send a worrying signal about the ideal ICE agents in Trump’s America
As federal agents swarm American cities on the orders of President Donald Trumpit’s getting harder and harder to tell “law enforcement” from the criminals they claim to protect us from. In just the past two weeks, in Chicago aloneit’s all too easy to find accounts and videos of federal immigration authorities committing wanton violence rather than serving the public.
On the city’s South Side, an apartment building was stormed in a late-night, military-style raidwith dozens of residents dragged indiscriminately from their beds and homes. Witnesses said they saw children separated from their parents and restrained by zip ties. (Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied thiscalling it “a shameful and disgusting lie.”)
At Humboldt Park Hospital, Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was manhandled and handcuffed by federal agents in civilian clothing for the “crime” of asking them to produce a judicial warrant. Video of the incident clearly shows that Fuentes remained calm, neither touching nor hampering the agents.
In Brighton Park, immigration agents opened fire on a woman who had been filming them from her car. The Department of Homeland Security claimed the woman had been trying to run them down in her vehicle — an account her attorney says is contradicted by the agents’ own body camera footage.
This list is, alas, illustrative rather than exhaustive, and it’s not hard to see why such incidents are not only becoming commonplace, but likely to get worse.
At the best of times, law enforcement jobs, unfortunately, appeal not only to people who wish to serve and protect their communities, but also to bullies who see an outlet for their anger, aggression and need to dominate others. Ideally, law enforcement agencies screen applicants to attempt to weed out such candidates and mitigate the harm done by those who slip through via rigorous training and a carefully cultivated culture of professionalism and courtesy. That is, to put it mildly, not what we are seeing at the Department of Homeland Security.
Flush with cash following a massive and unprecedented budget hikeImmigration and Customs Enforcement is currently on a hiring spree, seeking to add a whopping 10,000 officers — and dangling hefty bonuses for new hires — in order to make good on Trump’s campaign pledge to conduct mass deportations.
We know what that kind of breakneck expansion of the workforce may result in because we’ve seen it before, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks: an explosion of corruption and misconduct.
It’s getting harder and harder to tell “law enforcement” from the criminals they claim to protect us from.
The reality is that it’s simply infeasible to grow a workforce that quickly while maintaining high standards. If you care about high standards, that is: One of Trump’s very first acts in office was to dismantle a federal police misconduct databasedesigned to help law enforcement agencies spot “job hopping” applicants who’d been disciplined or fired for misconduct in prior roles.
In the current environment, that effect seems certain to be even worse. ICE already had an ugly track recordbut consider what sort of person wants to start working there in 2025. The Trump administration still pays lip service to the idea that the agency is focused on dangerous criminals, but it has long been clear there aren’t nearly enough of those to meet Trump’s ambitious deportation targets. Which means ICE is now pulling from a pool of applicants who see televised images of sobbing children in handcuffs, or masked men in tactical gear roughing up Latino laborers, and don’t recoil in horror.
The administration is also doing its best to send all the worst possible signals to existing agents, from every level of the hierarchy. The president ominously declares we are engaged in a “war within” — with domestic urban populations cast as the enemy combatants.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem poses for ghoulish and dehumanizing propaganda videos using the shirtless bodies of imprisoned deportees as props, while her department’s social media teams post a flood of unabashedly white-supremacist memes. When California’s acting U.S. attorney reminds a Border Patrol chief that his agents must comply with court orders — a suggestion one hopes would be uncontroversial — he arranges to have her fired.
Meanwhile, ICE agents are constantly being told by administration officials that they must behave as though they’re constantly in dire personal danger. ICE officials have claimed — without producing any hard data to substantiate the claims — that assaults on immigration agents are up 413%. Or 500%. Or 830%. Or, most recently, 1,000%.
The heightened risk may not be completely fabricated, however, as the administration is relentlessly pursuing policies that make violent resistance more likely. A target who believes, in the worst case, that they may be returned to their country of origin after being afforded due process in court has ample reason to comply peacefully. One who thinks they’re at risk of being summarily spirited away to a foreign gulag notorious for human rights abuses, or simply disappeared without a tracemight reasonably conclude that fighting back can’t make their prospects any worse.
In short, the Trump administration has engaged in a campaign that is attracting the worst possible people for roles in immigration enforcement, shown little interest in legal niceties and professional standards, and pursued policies likely to generate conflict between enforcement officers and the communities they purport to serve. Little surprise that, on the pretext of rounding up dangerous gangsters, Trump has created one more dangerous armed gang.
Julian Sanchez is the author of the politics and technology newsletter Non-Contentand co-host of the podcast “WatchCats,” which focuses on the Department of Government Efficiency.
President Donald Trump was “thunderously booed” Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City when he was shown on the Jumbotron ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finalsaccording to the White House press pool report.
The stadium’s reaction comes after some New York Knicks fans warned he would not receive a warm welcome during the home game matchup against the San Antonio Spurs — despite New York City being the president’s hometown.
The White House press pool report described the boos as “loud and long” and noted the reaction “quickly changed to cheers when the camera quickly panned to [Knicks guard] Jalen Brunson on the court.”
Trump was “standing with his hand over his heart” during the National Anthem as he was met with boos, the pool report said, adding that he was standing between his granddaughter Kai Trump and Knicks owner James Dolan, who “seemed to be smirking at the boos.”
The president’s posse included several administration officials, also watching in the suite, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
At least one Trump official made a courtside appearance with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seated next to rappers Fat Joe and famed producer DJ Khaled.
The Knicks came into Monday night’s game leading the series 2-0, and fans are hoping for a sweep. That is, defeating the Spurs in four consecutive games without a single loss. The team is on the precipice of earning its first championship since 1973, but Trump’s attendance has sparked outcry from many fans.
Trump, who was invited to attend by Dolan, is the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game. Security at the arena has been enhanced in response, and fans attending the game have been encouraged to arrive at least two hours before tipoff to allow extra time for TSA-style screening.
To many fans’ disappointment, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the watch party typically held outside MSG during games has been canceled due to Trump’s visit after the mayor, the U.S. Secret Service and the NYPD determined that it would hinder the heightened security measures required for Trump.
Mamdani announced Monday that Bryant Park will serve as a free alternative Knicks watch party location.
The president’s attendance comes against the backdrop of high-stakes elections and international conflict, including the war with Iranwhich has entered its 15th week, marking just over 100 days since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against the country on Feb. 28. His visit also comes weeks after he declined to attend the wedding of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., citing “a thing called Iran and other things.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
ByRichard L. Hasen
During normal times, the president of the United States would not routinely claim, without evidence, an epidemic of “voter fraud.” But Donald Trump is on another tirade about supposed fraud — this time in California’s primary elections. If there’s any good news, though, the publicity and pushback against his claims will inoculate the public against similar unsupported charges in November’s midterms, if control of Congress depends upon late-arriving results in the Golden State.
Let’s begin with some obvious points. California’s vote-counting process is notoriously slow. Millions of the state’s voters choose to vote by mail, and election officials’ efforts to confirm that voters have followed all the rules take some time. The state has unusually lenient rules for both the receipt of mail-in ballots (timely postmarked ballots may be counted if election officials receive them within seven days of the election) and for curing defective ballots (such as mail ballots on which a voter forgets to add their signature). Despite the popularity of mail-in ballots, the state has not prioritized saving state resources over a quicker vote count.
Further, it is rather routine that California results show Republican and more conservative candidates doing well in initial tallies, only for Democrats and liberal candidates to appear to “gain” as more ballots are tallied. Voters who have lived in the same place longer, own a home, are white and are wealthier are all more likely to receive and send back their ballots early — and they are also more likely to vote Republican.
President Trump has incessantly fueled beliefs on the right that voter fraud is prevalent in Democratic states.
Think about election tallying this way. You have to be away from your television during the Super Bowl and so you record the game. When you watch it the next day — having avoided hearing the result in between — the game is already over. The winner was the same before you watched and after. It is the same with California’s election ballots: All the ballots were cast by Election Day, the election is over, and we just must wait to learn the final results.
The issue of late-voting Democrats was especially pronounced in last week’s elections. In the Los Angeles mayoral race, polls show many voters undecided between unpopular incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, reality TV star Spencer Pratt (running to her right) and Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman (running to Bass’ left). Bass made it to the runoff, and the first vote totals showed Pratt in second. But late Monday, with 93% of the ballots counted the Associated Press projected that Raman will join Bass in this fall’s general election.
In the state’s gubernatorial primary, the initial results placed Republican Steve Hilton in first, ahead of Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. As more ballots were processed, Becerra moved into first late Friday. Hilton is still likely to finish in the top two and advance to the general election, but Steyer has not yet been ruled out given the number of outstanding ballots.
This “blue shift” would not be a problem if we lived in normal times. If we have to wait a week or two to find out which candidates will face Bass and Becerra, that’s plenty of time to prepare for November. Unfortunately, President Trump has incessantly fueled beliefs on the right that voter fraud is prevalent in Democratic states, and in particular that California’s slow vote count shows that the system is “crooked.” He did it again last week. It undermines voters’ confidence in our elections’ integrity for no good reason.
And he’s not alone. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters the “efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream it’s impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively that something is wrong here.” Yes, the alleged voter fraud claimed by Trump and his allies is always the perfect crime: happening on a massive scale yet impossible to detect. It’s quite convenient to have a theory that is completely unfalsifiable.
Some supporters of Pratt have made similar charges without evidence or simply “asked questions” about potential fraud. They only embarrass themselves by showing that either they don’t understand how California’s process works or they are cynical enough to think the public will accept false claims.
Even now, there is much to worry about regarding November’s elections.
If the race for control of the House of Representatives is close in November, the balance of power could well come down to races in California. Media reports on early returns will show Republican candidates “in the lead” but Democrats “gaining” as more votes are counted. Should that come to pass, I fully expect that Trump and his supporters will again cry fraud and try to delegitimize any Democratic victories and the integrity of the election process.
Even now, there is much to worry about regarding November’s elections. Trump’s U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, said he is investigating potential fraud in California’s primaries based upon no evidence. This follows the administration’s ongoing probes related to the 2020 election — efforts that could be a test run for the midterms.
The administration is trying to assemble a national citizen database and attempting to forbid the the U.S. Postal Service from returning mailed ballots from voters who are not on approved lists, a matter now being litigated in courts. Both federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials have reportedly canceled efforts to help state and local election officials secure the 2026 elections.
But Trump has shown his hand and he’s come up short. It is hard to overstate the importance of the exchange on Sunday between Trump and NBC News’ “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker. Speaking about California’s elections, Trump said“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.” As Welker pushed him repeatedly for evidence, Trump could only repeat his entirely unsupported charges: “There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.” In the end, he stormed out.
In the long term, California should still do what it can to speed up the vote count; that would help maintain confidence in elections. With enough resources thrown at the problem and commands from the Legislature, election officials can improve their ballot processing time. But serious progress is unlikely before November.
For this year, election officials, the media and even the public all play roles in assuring voters about the fairness and integrity of the process. California election officials have been quite transparent about their processes all along the way, and that should continue. Media outlets should stop reporting which candidate is “in the lead.” This is not an ongoing election; the election is over, and the results are simply “too early to call.”
In response to charges of “voter fraud,” ordinary people can share media, such as the two-minute exchange between Trump and Welkerwhich show the emptiness of the president’s claims.
Rumormongering about California was always likely to be central to the president’s attempts to weaken faith in this year’s elections. But thanks to Trump himself, anyone paying any attention knows that California’s vote count is notoriously slow, that the “blue shift” favoring Democrats routinely happens and that Trump has produced no evidence to support his claims. The boy has cried wolf too many times, and if he tries this again in November, the appropriate response should be repudiation, not panic.
Richard L. Hasen
Richard L. Hasen is professor at UCLA School of Law, where he directs its Safeguarding Democracy Project.
Los Angeles Council member Nithya Raman will advance to the November general election in the mayoral race to face the incumbent, Karen Bassafter overtaking ex-reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the primary, The Associated Press projects.
Raman has steadily trended upward in the vote count since Election Day, and she overtook Pratt on Sunday. Monday’s vote update gives Raman a cushion of more than 20,000 votes, making her position in the top two safe, with an estimated 93% of the vote counted.
The runoff between Raman, 44, and Bass, 72, is the latest example of a younger Democrat trying to oust an older incumbent. Raman, a Harvard- and MIT-educated member of the Democratic Socialists of America who has represented LA’s 4th City Council District since 2020, launched her surprise mayoral campaign in February — less than two weeks after she endorsed Bass’ campaign for re-election.
The runoff between Raman, 44, and Bass, 72, is the latest example of a younger Democrat trying to oust an older incumbent.
She campaigned on a pledge to bring change to the city, but struggled to deliver consistent messaging during debates, where she walked back some of her more left-wing policy stancesincluding support for defunding the police and opposing anti-camping zones for homeless people.
Bass previously represented LA in the California Assembly, including as speaker. She has served six terms in the U.S. House and entered the mayor’s race facing extensive criticism from Angelenos over both her handling of last year’s deadly LA wildfires — she was in Ghana when the blazes broke out — and her failure to achieve her goal of ending homelessness by the end of her first term.
She has pledged that, if re-elected, she will deliver on that goal. She has also vowed to continue standing up to the Trump administration, pointing to her confrontation with federal agents when the president deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the city last year.
In a statement provided to MS NOW Monday night, Raman thanked her supporters and sought to cast herself as a change agent, pledging to “fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles.”
“For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them,” Raman said. “If you’re as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you’ll join our movement to build a city that works for everyone.”
Meanwhile, Bass campaign strategist Douglas Herman said in a statement to MS NOW Monday night: “A campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning.”
Pratt’s fast rise, social media savvy and massive online audience also seemed to make it more difficult for Raman to break through in the primary. He outraised both Bass and Raman since launching his campaign in January.
But some strategists predictedPratt’s backing by MAGA, and President Donald Trump himself, would ultimately help catapult Raman to second place in deep-blue LA.
Indeed, Pratt’s lead over Raman steadily narrowed since primary night as mail-in ballots came in — a fact that Trump and other MAGA allies baselessly alleged proved “fraud” in the race. On Tuesday, Pratt led Raman by 9 percentage points; by Sunday night, she had overtaken him by less than 1 percentage point.
Spokespeople for Pratt’s campaign did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s requests for comment after the results were called Monday night.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
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