Trump Stewing because of Lies Stephen Miller Fed Him During the Campaign
Thus far, Trump’s biggest success on immigration in his second term has been to claim credit — twice! — for things that Sleepy Joe Biden did, in one case years ago.
He threatened sanctions on Colombia, only to agree to let Colombian President Gustavo Petro send planes to fetch deportees, sometimes in Colombian military planes, rather than receive them in US military planes.
He threatened sanctions on Mexico, only to boast after Claudia Sheinbaum committed to put 5,000 fewer Mexican troops on the border than are already there, the same 10,000 that Biden obtained years ago.
He threatened sanctions on Canada, only to boast that Justin Trudeau agreed to the same $1.3 billion in investments to counter fentanyl trafficking he put in place in December.
As for his efforts to round up and deport migrants in the US? Almost two weeks ago, I noted that the quotas ICE introduced to try to boost the deportation numbers fell wildly short of delivering the deportations Trump had promised his rubes, to say nothing of the way those quotas will lead to deportation of non-criminal migrants instead of the violent criminals Trump claims to be targeting. Almost two weeks ago, Trump’s flunkies confessed they would never be able to meet his promises for mass deportation.
The fate of a highly publicized raid in Aurora last week is a spectacular case in point.
On Thursday, shortly after the raid, the Fox News propagandist whose job it is to stoke fear about migration, Bill Melugin, first celebrated the “massive” raid, only later to reveal the raid had resulted in far fewer arrests than promised and just one arrest of a Tren de Aragua member. ICE immediately blamed its failure to detain more people on leaks.
That same day, Tom Homan announced he may have to halt the kind of embed ICE has been all too happy to give Melugin, because of leaks or operational security; he did not say that truthful reports to Fox viewers about his failures gets him in trouble with the boss. Tom Homan can’t afford to have Trump know that this massive raid found only a single Tren de Aragua member.
The raid focused on an apartment complex that had been the focus of a wildly propagandistic Trump campaign event headlined by Stephen Miller last year.
Both reporting sympathetic to migrants and that of mainstream outlets describes what actually happened, why the raid failed to lead to the number of arrests Trump promised: Heavily armed officers swarmed the building and knocked on every door, but after residents didn’t open up, they finally left. (Update: Elevating this really good account of the raid GinnyRED57 put in comments.)
Heavily armed federal agents raided apartment buildings across metro Denver early Wednesday in a search for Venezuelan gang members and other migrants under the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort targeting major cities.
At least two dozen officers carrying high-powered weapons stormed several complexes before sunrise. In some cases, they were backed by large, military-style vehicles.
The Department of Homeland Security said on social media that it was targeting 100 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua for arrest and detention. It did not say how many people were taken into custody.
The operation included officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; and the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives.
[snip]
At an apartment complex in Denver, a 31-year-old Venezuelan man said that shortly after 5 a.m., ICE agents and other federal officers began yelling and loudly banging on every door.
The man, who asked that his name be withheld because he was afraid of being deported, said residents discreetly peered out their windows as large trucks and unmarked vehicles entered the parking lot.
Several residents said eight people were arrested at the complex.
People “hid with fear,” “didn’t open their doors” and remained “quiet without saying anything,” he said after all the agents had left.
In other words, while ICE had a few specific targets, they had no warrants for the vast majority of residences. They just kept knocking and knocking and knocking. And because the residents knew their rights, they didn’t open up.
It’s probably no surprise that this story from NBC is coming out days after the flopped Aurora raid. Trump is angry that his deportation numbers are falling so far short of what he promised his supporters.
Agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are under increasing pressure to boost the number of arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants, as President Donald Trump has expressed anger that the amount of people deported in the first weeks of his administration is not higher, according to three sources familiar with the discussions at ICE and the White House.
A source familiar with Trump’s thinking said the president is getting “angry” that more people are not being deported and that the message is being passed along to “border czar” Tom Homan, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello.
“It’s driving him nuts they’re not deporting more people,” said the person familiar with Trump’s thinking.
[snip]
Meanwhile at ICE, Vitello told agents in January to aim to meet a daily quota of 1,200-1,400 arrests. According to numbers ICE has posted on X, the highest single day total since Trump was inaugurated was just 1,100, and the number has fallen since that day. On Tuesday of this week, arrests of immigrants were over 800, according to a source familiar with the numbers. But last weekend, there were only about 300 arrests, another source told NBC News.
In order to fulfill Trump’s Inauguration Day promise of “millions and millions” of deportations, the Trump administration would have to be deporting over 2,700 immigrants every day to reach 1 million in a year.
And, as NBC News has reported, arrests do not always equal immediate detentions, much less deportations. Of the more than 8,000 immigrants arrested in the first two weeks of the Trump administration, 461 were released, according to the White House.
Of course Trump is pissed that his biggest immigration success so far was stolen from Sleepy Joe Biden.
Of course Tom Homan is pissed that he can’t deliver what he promised.
Of course ICE is squirmy because even if they could meet their quotas — even if those migrants in Aurora, CO against whom ICE had no probable cause of a crime willingly opened their doors so ICE could arrest and deport them — the number of deportees would still fall far short of Trump’s goal.
But this all arises from the false expectations set during the election — from the lies Stephen Miller told, over and over and over and over and over, about the number of criminal migrants.
Trump is furious that his thugs can’t fulfill his promises. But those failures arise not through want of trying. Rather, those failures stem from the fact that reality in no way matches the hellhole Miller pitched for Trump, the imaginary hellhole Miller used to get voters afraid enough to vote for Trump.
Trump has redirected virtually all instruments of US national security to chase Stephen Miller’s lies. Not only is it going to lead to ongoing fury from the Boss, because reality will never match the propaganda Miller spun. But by neglecting the things that really do pose much more urgent threats — by destaffing investigations into real terrorists or operations to counter real ransomware attacks — Trump leaves America vulnerable in myriad ways.
The Canadian border deal really can’t be used to prove that Trump is a powerless chump taking credit for things Biden did. Trump’s tariff threat (issued in November) led directly to December’s (needless) border plan. Biden had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was an extortion payment to Trump (obeying in advance, if you will). That Trump belatedly accepted it is the least important thing about this debacle. Canada blinked. Trump got us to do something we wouldn’t otherwise have done— the most fundamental definition of relational power. (And, among other things, changing the Criminal Code to expand the definition of terrorist to include drug dealers is kind of a big deal from a Charter and human rights perspective. Just focusing on the creation of a fentanyl czar, as many are doing, may be good for a laugh, but this deal involves real resource allocations and new, perhaps unwise, policy commitments.) Now we’re left wondering what the next ask will be, and whether we in Canada will pay it.
Respectfully, I disagree. 1.3 billion for border security is not a bad thing, and no reporting I’ve seen actually breaks down how much of that was existing funding that was simply announced with a new tag on it; I suspect quite a lot of it was indeed existing funding. The only really new thing was a Black Hawk which the government rented, I think on a 6-month contract, to get officers to the border faster (?) to detain suspects (?). So the December announcement was a big show for a toddler who is easily distracted.
Since then, Trudeau has decided to step down, meaning, he now has nothing to lose, politically, by following the popular mood and implementing counter-tariffs.
Much of the border is rugged and not close to cities or military bases. So the helicopter actually makes sense – but the government should have been using one of its own birds.
I guess it’s common for someone aspiring to a position, to overpromise. But when it’s your subordinate who does this on your behalf, you end up responsible for those unkeepable promises. Trump is not someone who takes kindly to being put in that position, but it’s his fault—his ignorance of what really can be done, his reliance on known liars, and his general willingness to say anything, anything, to get what he wants. Nevertheless, he’s the boss, so you certainly can’t tell him that now, can you? Stephen?
My key takeaway here, though, is your statement that those behind the closed doors knew that they did not have to open the doors. Thank you for noting that.
Truth: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-dade-teacher-deported-by-ice-after-being-detained-at-immigration-check-up/3538525/
A DACA recipient! Legal!!!
I am a native of Miami FL who lived through the multiple Cuban immigrations (and like the first 2-3 as a youngster the people were kind, giving, and made me a Cuban food lover. The Mariel’s not so much.) The Cocaine Cowboy era – not far from the machine gun hosing of Dadeland Mall.
Now living one county north, but still with an elderly relative living in Little Havana (the locals hate that term) whose neighbors are nothing but kind and helpful and I do my best to speak Spanish with them and they in turn English to me.
All that to say that I watch with a degree of “curiosity” how “hispanics/latins” may (should) change their opinion of Trump with all of this and, perhaps, especially the large Venezuelan population who are losing TPS status.
But I really hope that the JCS will take their oath to heart to defend the Constitution.
That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States:
(You are not swearing to support the President, the Country, the flag or a particular service, but rather the Constitution which symbolizes all of these things.)
Against all enemies, foreign and domestic:
>>>>>>And, yes there is this in there as well:
And that I will obey the orders of the
President of the United States; and the
orders of the officers appointed over me:
(I respect senior leaders and decision makers
and will follow all legal orders. )
According to regulations and the Uniform
Code of Military Justice:
(I will honor and uphold all military rules and regulations.
So help me God (optional):
(Signifies truth and commitment to what you have sworn to
in the oath. It is a call to a higher being or
divine agency to assist with ensuring your
own integrity and honesty.)
https://www.airman.af.mil/Portals/17/002%20All%20Products/006%20Trifolds/Oath_Pamphlet_of_Enlistment.pdf?ver=2015-07-20-142335-313
The Constitution is not a symbol, it is the foundation of everything else. The flag is a symbol.
It’s a stage prop to trump and maga and in reality means nothing to them
“If I have to
create storieslie so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” ~ J.D. Vance‘If I have to create the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.’
Trump is the troubled kid who sets fires so he can be the hero who puts them out. Musk is doing the real damage under cover of the fires. Does Trump actually know, or care, exactly what Musk is up to?
“Does Trump actually know, or care, exactly what Musk is up to?”
Answer: Only with regard as to whether Musk is overshadowing him in any respect.
I think we’re getting to trump publicly ignoring court orders. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/09/musk-calls-to-impeach-judge-whose-order-blocks-doge-from-treasury-systems-access.html
Rolling Stone has a story out: J.D. Vance Says Trump Can Ignore Judges
“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” the vice president wrote.
The U.S. is headed rapidly to a terrifying place.
And Musk affirmed JD’s stance, so yeah, looks like the plan is to ignore the courts entirely.
Here’s a Pro Publica expose’ posted this afternoon, that dives into the lawlessness running rampant right now:
https://www.propublica.org/article/usaid-trump-musk-destruction-may-have-broken-law
Here’s the lede:
“It was the week President Donald Trump had signed a sweeping executive order shutting off the funding for foreign aid programs. Inside the U.S. Agency for International Development, his political appointees gathered shell-shocked senior staffers for private meetings to discuss the storied agency’s new reality.
Those staffers immediately raised objections. USAID’s programs were funded by Congress, and there were rules to follow before halting the payments, they said. Instead of reassuring them, the agency’s then-chief of staff, Matt Hopson, told staff that the White House did not plan on restarting most of the aid projects, according to two officials familiar with his comments.
Then Hopson added a stark coda: Trump could not have a higher tolerance for legal risk, the officials recalled. They understood the message to mean that the administration was willing to bend or even break laws to get what it wanted, and then take the fight to court. (Hopson, who resigned shortly after, did not respond to numerous phone calls and written messages requesting comment, and he turned away a reporter who came to his door.)”
“…Trump could not have a higher tolerance for legal risk” is synonymous with “he’s an actual fucking criminal,” in a sentence uttered by an actual Trump minion.
Local Colorado journalist Mike Littwin has some things to say about the big nothing raid.
https://coloradosun.com/2025/02/09/littwin-immigration-ice-raids-colorado-fear/
A good read, thanks. And here’s a passage that puts the lie to their “leaks” excuse:
“We also knew raids were imminent because a week ago a report on NBC News led Homan to publicly call off the raids in Denver and Aurora. Did they think that coming a week later would be a surprise?
We knew raids were happening because the many agents involved could not have been more visible. Instead of knocking door to door at apartment complexes and asking for papers, they might as well have sent out warning candy grams to each resident.”
If I was an immigrant in the US right now, or even a resident alien, I would buy a half a dozen cheap security cams and have them set up in and around my domicile, ones like this:
https://buyspyfocus.com/article/en-2/
I’d have a network of fellow immigrants who could access the data with the app so that if I were rounded up, I have something the judge could review regarding how the bust went down.
Thanks. I added a link above. Good column.
Related to this topic?:
US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations
Thousands of press releases about decade-old enforcement actions topped search results, all updated with a timestamp from after Trump’s inauguration
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/ice-us-immigration-deportations-google
Dara Kerr Thu 6 Feb 2025 06.00 EST
Shocked but not surprised. Thank you, harpie.
I saw this headline, but admittedly didn’t read the article, in part because of lived experience.
The second Obama administration roiled my community, formerly white & rep, now diverse and dem, through a combination of legit enforcement actions, targeting workers, that frayed its threads, and hare-brained schemes to try to “crack down” on people that often caught up other residents, sometimes, but not always, based on skin color.
(An old friend of mine committed suicide after being caught up in a county-orchestrated one. Their goal was clearly to hold people in jail for routine offenses, thereby enabling ICE detainers.)
Complaints from churches were often covered by the press, prompting backlash, and is thus one of the groups targeted this go-round (as Marcy has noted recently on bluesky).
Tom Homan had a role in the Obama administration during this time.
Trump is sending people down to Guantanamo. These people have no legal representation, their names are not being released, no one knows what crimes they are being charged with (if any), and they are in a legal limbo and apparently stateless.
see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/02/08/guantanamo-migrants-trump-deportations-noem/
I expect that they will start increasing their numbers significantly and then start bragging about these actions.
Perhaps they can construct some showers as well for the guests?
USA is now in the concentration camp business. Gitmo massively expanding capacity as evidenced by satellite photos. So what private corrections corps will get the contracts to run them at a profit?
5’ll get you 10 that Erik Prince will be involved.
Eventually concentration camps will be touted as a humane solution to homelessness.
This will push Trump/Musk further towards suspending the constitution.
The Nazis had the same hurdles. To see how this process plays out, look for “Auschwitz, Nazis and final solution” on Dailymotion.
Also BBC’s “Berlin 1933” gives more context.
Yes. Likely the next time they try a stunt like this they won’t let locked doors and the fourth amendment stop them. Frankly, with the rhetoric involved, I’m surprised it did in the Aurora raids.
Is there a ballpark estimate of how much this multi-agency raid cost?
Trump takes credit for Biden’s border actions.
MAGAs who voted against Biden’s infrastructure took credit for it.
Hmm, do I see a pattern?
Not, I believe, coincidentally, the terrorists that will slip through due to this mass diversion of resources will include domestic violent extremists, specifically white supremacists–AKA Trump’s “base.”
This Miller/Homan safe-fail venture fits hand-in-glove with terrorizing the FBI into stopping any and all investigations into criminal activity perpetrated by MAGA-adjacent folks, including the J6 scum. While SCOTUS did not explicitly mention them, they too have been granted a form of “presidential immunity”–by proxy–that allows them to reform as an extrajudicial militia to be called upon for future uses.
Brownshirts Redux, it’s on the agenda because it’s already a thing:
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/americas-brownshirts
Homan can’t talk about this kind of leak, either:
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/leaked-document-says-large-scale-20154906.php
The Trump campaign was based on imaginary solutions to imaginary problems.
The real question is whether there is a limit to the brutality the administration will use to try to maintain the illusions it created in the run up to the election.
No. There’s no limit until we impose consequences, which is a lot harder to do than being cruel and tearing things up.
Trump wants it to look harder than expected, but that his loyal forces are really trying.
He pushed that fear of immigrants as an election ploy, the election is over, and he must govern. He’s added Miller and Homan to the federal payroll, but has not interrupted and likely will not interrupt the nation’s foodchain to where supermarket prices escalate, with scarcity and crops and livestock not processed, since illegal labor is prevalent in foodstuff tending.
Trump might not really give a shit either way, but is unhappy his minions are making the situation look failed. If Musk cares to look, the inefficiency is there to be noted. Cost – benefit analyses can be done. And what are the benefits, as well as who are beneficiaries of cheap labor?
We need to be careful, because if too critical, Trump’s people under pressure will overstep, which can be touted for propaganda value, but real people will be hurt in the process, and do we want the inefficiencies from an escalation pressure to do that harm? If so, who are we then?
Scoring political points is one thing, but there is wisdom to be argued for not precipitating a greater world of hurt against innocent and impoverished people by crowing too loudly.
The young men on sidewalks at the Lowe’s store also are not criminals. They garden for those who pay cash for gardening, and those paying people will be unhappy if they lose that low pay advantage. Contractors who go non-union want their labor secure, even if immigrant heavy, and homeowners want best price on roofing. So it can be a game to say, “rapists and murderers,” but then to not rock the boar, or upset the apple cart.
So my question, does this post help the immigrants? Or is it just okay to sacrifice them to the better goal of scoring points? Are we not really happier if people are not being deported?
Your last paragraph is a non sequitur.
President Musk doesn’t do cost-benefit analyses. Not even for the businesses he claims to run.
F-Elon
Stephen Miller and F-Elon,
Both pulled off a major con
for and against their Donald Don,
Scammed in his oblivion.
Semiquincentennial, kiss it goodbye?
Who will be the new fall guy?
Asking: who, what, when, where, why?
Media peeps, please more outcry!
Will value of the Liberty Bell on
Independence Day, be a hard sell on
vanquished dreams we used to dwell on?
And all this thanks to our POTUS felon.
Mitch and Roberts and Big Balls
undermined our protocols,
Tainted what were sacred halls,
And left behind what now appalls.
With their own perfidious urges,
they gave to us these damning scourges,
America now the land of dirges,
Thank Trump for all his foolish purges.
Insurgents given undue pardons,
So many thugs, like Ed Martin’s,
Cartel favors with MAGAt lardons,
Sweetheart deals as risk disheartens.
You always amaze me, SL. Well done. If I may:
Into this ditch our nation tumbles
While Schumer winces and Durbin mumbles
And the Constitution unquietly crumbles;
Our only hope is in fascist fumbles.
Thanks, Bruce. It felt incomplete to me. So, I appreciate your talent and help.
If we’re gonna get through this thing, it will have to be together — and art will be a part of how we do it!
And as if on cue, Rubin and Eisen’s Contrarian just posted a new entry: “How Trump Fumbled the Ball.” The time stamp was 1:59 EDT, but I swear I hadn’t looked at my emails before posting the stanza above!
And the points he makes in that post are exactly what I was thinking about in that last line. At this point, it’s all about the lawsuits, and Trump is behaving like they don’t matter. This is why I think, when the shit gets before SCOTUS, the leaners on the right will be leaning left: if the law doesn’t matter, then they don’t matter because “Co-equal” will then become “Co-opted.”
Savage Librarian, I also enjoy your altered lyrics of songs, but the one I continually think about these days has lyrics that simply don’t need to be altered. I don’t know if I can post them here, but check out the lyrics to the punk anthem American Idiot by Green Day from 2004.
From what I have observed, fact checking and truth telling are totally ineffective in reaching the Trumpistas. All they believe in is the illusions . I am at a loss how to combat ardent faith in hate mongers.
FWIW, I just watched an interview with Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Russian dissident who was recently released in a prisoner exchange during the Biden Administration. He said during his time of incarceration, he was surrounded by average Russian citizens who have been subjected to years and years of unending state propaganda regarding Ukraine from before the war broke out until now. He said when he at first tried to explain the truth of what Putin was doing in Ukraine to these folks, it was just roundly rejected out of hand. But since they were incarcerated and had nowhere else to go, he persisted from day to day and after a while, he actually got through to many of these people, not through argument, or emotional overwhelm, or social pressure, but through honestly and consistently expressing his understanding of the situation. Thus illustrating 2 points: 1) the power of propaganda is intense and 2) even people who unquestioningly believes lies told to them over and over are human after all and can be reached eventually, at least in some cases.
Not that there’s a great parallel to be drawn with MAGAts here in the U.S., they’re not in prison cells listening to more truthful explanations on a daily basis. Just a larger picture to consider. Kara-Murza is also really pissed about U.S. tech companies like Apple who agree to self-censor in order to continue to do business in repressive propaganda-spewing countries…
(I’d provide a YT link to this interview – it’s on MSNBC – but it hasn’t hit YT as of yet, I got it from the NBC News app).
This has been my limited experience. I actively engage with Trumpers, friends/family/co-workers (though i do have to be careful with that last group), and I try to wear them down. I don’t insert myself into conversations, but look for openings whenever I can. I don’t try to win an argument, just giving my point of view, and letting them know with a simple, “That’s not true.” when they try to parrot something that isn’t true and try to point them to the truth.
The “successes” have been few and far between, but I can tell that I’ve at least gotten most to hesitate before automatically agreeing with Fox/right-wing propaganda.
Update: just hit YT in the last few minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPtAwTdAHF0
They’ve been conditioned by UFC and WWE. It’s all kayfabe.
“the tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events, stories, characters, etc., are genuine”
Etymology is likely pig latin for “be fake.”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kayfabe
I agree with Marcy calling out Miller’s obvious propaganda and lies. But I think it’s also worth stating that Trump knew these were all lies. His famous ICE chart that he presented at rallies even had an obvious error of Trump leaving office in 2020, not 2021.
Trump’s being “furious” is just theater to make it seem like he’s doing everything he can and shouldn’t be blamed.
Make no mistake. Trump knew Miller’s claims were bullshit but didn’t care if it helped him win. Now he’s just looking to throw Miller and Homan and “leakers” under the bus.
Stephen Miller will be the last Trump whisperer to enjoy the underside of the bus.
It is best to step back and consider that this is going to be a decades long process.
Not so sure. They’re actively attacking the judiciary now. They’ve already de-legitimized congress and the media.
Slightly OT; Politico has an interview with a USAID employee. What they are facing is dire.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/09/usaid-worker-details-dangers-chaos-00203104