Yes, what you read in the title is accurate. ICE might have dialed down military style occupation of cities. Even Stephen Miller has, as noted here on PX by Susan realized that Minneapolis turned out to be a disaster. One that in fact has left DHS still largely unfunded although the BUFB aka BBB allowed for a slush fund that would continue to fund ICE at least is working. That our troops and/or their families have been targeted by ICE is nothing new. However they’ve taken it to a new level by detaining the spouse of a Staff Sgt. who’s just been transferred to Ft. Polk to train for deployment to Iran!
WHAT THE F**K? Every time you think Trump’s contempt for our troops couldn’t get worse it does. That’s the gist of this article from the Daily Mail. US Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank got transferred to Ft. Polk to prepare for deployment to Iran. He and his new wife were moving into base housing but first he took the normal and necessary step of getting her a military ID and signing her up for spousal benefits. I remember the process well from all those decades ago when I got married. You gather all the documents the spouse will need and of course your marriage certificate and head to the admin office. They had their appointment and even showed up early. Then things went to hell:
‘Our plan was to drive over, bring her to the office to get her military ID and activate her military spouse benefits,’ Blank told the New York Times.
‘She was going to move in after the Easter weekend. Instead, she got ripped away from me.’
Blank was well aware that his wife, who was brought to the country from Honduras when she was just a toddler, did not have legal status.
However, the couple hired a lawyer before they were even married to ensure she could obtain her citizenship.
‘We were doing everything the right way,’ Blank said.
For additional reasons I’ll get to this is yet another example of someone going into a government office for a straightforward task, following all the rules and being prepared to provide all the required documents and fill out the paperwork needed and instead being whisked away by ICE. Only THIS time it was to a guy who has been told he’s headed to Iran, at least if Hegseth and Trump get their way. How the holy hell ANY member of our military can still support Trump is beyond me.
I guess there are just too many who think like Hegseth who assumes “real” “warriors” only marries white, Christian ‘Real American women” and f**k all to those who don’t. Especially if she’s an “illegal” even though she was brought to this country as an infant. Even though she’s never been in trouble with the law and was close to earning her degree and was going through the process of obtaining a green card. She can’t apply for citizenship, even as the wife of someone on active duty until married at least three years. Apparently, over two decades ago when Annie Ramos was still an infant her parents didn’t show up for a hearing and a Final Order of Removal was issued.
While she apparently learned somewhere along the way she was undocumented it’s unclear she knew about the removal order. Or for that matter her parents either. Still, it was issued in 2005 and has been sitting there like a dormant bomb waiting for an asshat like Stephen Miller to come along, find it and blow up it and her life and her new husband’s life. Being Miller that’s exactly the kind of thing that unlike Viagra allows him to get his rocks off.
Anyway in Blanks description of what happened his new wife was dragged away in handcuffs to another building, and then to an ICE detention facility in Basile, Louisiana. Ramos was allowed to communicate with a reporter and noted she’d grown up like any American. This is the only country/home she’s ever known: ‘This is all I know. My husband and family are here.’ You think Miller, or Hegseth cares? Or Trump. Or so many people I grew up with. One former h.s. close friend is a pure Trumper. When he speaks on FB he screams when it comes to anyone who’s undocumented calling them CRIMINALS.
In truth, at least for a first offense what’s under the law called “Illegal Entry” is a Misdemeanor unless one commits other offenses, i.e. drugs, trafficking of others etc. Once here simply being here without proper documentation isn’t a crime in and of itself. In fact, my former close friend has committed worse crimes. I could truthfully swear in court he’s guilty of reckless driving (above 90 mph) AND while under the influence of either alcohol or pot. He’s traded or sold joints for money or other considerations. He managed to slip through certain vetting on all that because he never got caught/arrested. My point is that in this case we are talking about a young woman who grew up as an American. Believing THIS is her country and winding up trying to take the proper steps to make it official.
This is what comes of good people trying to do the right thing in Trump’s America. Even as Trump is readying your spouse to go fight in his dumbass war:
In the meantime, the newlyweds only wanted to go through the proper channels to allow Ramos to move onto the military base with her husband.
The couple claimed they arrived at the base early for their 2pm appointment on Thursday and checked in at the visitor’s center.
They had Ramos’s birth certificate and passport, their marriage license and Blank’s military ID in tow.
When Ramos told an employee that she did not have a green card or visa, Blank alleged that the worker made a series of frantic phone calls.
According to the family, a supervisor escalated the simple appointment to the base’s criminal investigation division, which contacted ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS is sticking to it’s The Cruelty Is The Point attitude with explicit indifference to the life Ramos has led. And her marriage to not just a soldier but what must be a damned good one to have advance to Staff Sgt. at age 23. No ‘Thank you for your service’ to SSgt. Blank. More like ‘F**K your service – you’re not only a sucker and loser like everyone else in uniform but unworthy of your own citizenship because of who you married.’
The Department of Homeland Security told the Times that Ramos ‘had no legal status to be in this country.’
‘[She] was issued a final order of removal by a judge,’ it read. ‘This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.’
I have so many former friends back in my hometown, and even a sister back there who when I’m critical say ‘You just hate Trump.’ This kind of bullshit is the kind of thing I gladly throw back in their smug faces and say “This is why. The question is why don’t YOU hate him?”
Miller will probably blow not one but two “loads” after learning about this. He’s not only ruined two lives but what had been a promising soldier’s Army career. SSgt. Blank is working to get his wife out of detention and back on track to get her green card and eventually her citizenship. Hegseth will curry favor with Trump via Miller by ‘unofficially’ making sure Blank will never get another positive Fitness Report which will mean his career will end. But not before they either get him killed in Iran or at least drag out every minute of time he has to serve while making it hell on him in any one of countless ways they can do so.
I know. They say violence is never the answer. Sorry, but I’d love nothing more than to be able to meet Stephen Miller face-to-face and challenge him to a fight. I’m a senior citizen who would need a cane for balance but I’d insult him so loudly and fiercely he’d lose it and take a swing at the old man. Then I could smash a fist into his ugly face. Hard enough to break teeth and maybe even his jaw. Frankly, I could care less about breaking my hand doing so. The pain would be worth it.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
May I stand in line behind you and take a shot? I use a cane too, but that won’t stop or really slow me down. I could just suckerpunch a certain part of his body7 so he won’t have it for a while….
Also, what a detestable thing to do! WHY did she call her supervisor and then ICE? They had ALL THE PAPERWORK. This is totally uncalled for. Did they get a reward for turning her in? I was literally screaming!