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Supoena on page 3 of this file

The person posting was Roberto Grijalva, a prison guard working at the prison where Epstein was jailed. His name is listed on page 88 of the above document.
See page 851 of this other pdf with proof of his employment. This apparently did not result in him being fired, as an inmate sued him in 2023 for use of excessive force.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24368

Iran’s top security chief said over the weekend that a ‘framework for negotiations’ between Tehran and Washington is being developed

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned on 1 February that a “regional war” will erupt if the US decides to launch an attack against the Islamic Republic.

“The US should know that if they start a war this time, it would be a regional war,” Khamenei said on Sunday during a speech commemorating former supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini’s return to Iran after exile.

“[Trump] regularly says that he brought ships… The Iranian nation shall not be scared by these things, the Iranian people will not be stirred by these threats,” he went on to say.

“They seek to occupy Iran and restore their dominance over its resources, oil, politics, security, and international relations, just as during the Pahlavi era. This is the main reason for their hostility, and the rest of their claims, such as human rights, are just empty talk,” the Supreme Leader added.

Referring to US threats and the deployment of aircraft carriers, Khamenei said, “These statements are not new.”

“Of course, we are not the initiators of war. We do not seek to oppress anyone. We do not seek to attack any country. However, anyone who seeks to attack or cause harm will face a decisive blow.”

Iran has repeatedly vowed to forcefully confront any attack, but also stresses it is ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and without dictates.

From thecradle.co via This RSS Feed.

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A series of Israeli airstrikes killed at least 37 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on 31 January, with local reports indicating that most of the victims were children and women in attacks that occurred well beyond the so-called yellow line.

Among those killed were seven members of one family who were sheltering in a tent for displaced people in the Asdaa area northwest of Khan Yunis, while other strikes hit residential apartments in Gaza City and a displacement camp in Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis.

A separate strike targeted a police station in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, reportedly killing 13 people.

Sources told Anadolu Agency that most of those killed were targeted in areas located far from the so-called “yellow line,” beyond the zones where Israeli occupation forces remain deployed under the first phase of the agreement.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24372

The US seeks to weaken Iranian influence in Iraq amid its efforts to promote regime change in Iran

Iraq's Shia political bloc reiterated its support on 1 February for nominating Nouri al-Maliki as the next prime minister, following threats from US President Donald Trump warning against Maliki's return to power.

The Coordination Framework issued a statement on Saturday affirming "its support for its nominee, Nouri Kamel al-Maliki, for the premiership."

"Choosing the prime minister is an exclusively Iraqi constitutional matter … free from foreign interference," the statement added.

Maliki served as prime minister from 2006 to 2014, when US president Barack Obama insisted he step down amid a US-backed ISIS invasion of the country.

The US and its closest Iraqi ally, Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani, covertly helped ISIS conquer Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, as well as the district of Sinjar, where the terror group carried out a genocide of the Yezidis religious minority. US officials then blamed the rise of ISIS on Maliki's "sectarian policies."

Earlier this week, Trump called Maliki a "very bad choice" for Iraq, arguing that his previous leadership was defined by "poverty and total chaos."

From thecradle.co via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24431

Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem warned in a televised speech on Monday, January 26 that his group is concerned “to carry out all the procedures and make all the preparations to confront” the intended US aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Regarding the US threat to kill the Supreme Leader of Iran, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Qassem forewarned that the assassination of the top Muslim leader would mean the elimination of stability across the West Asia region and even the entire world, because it will provoke the ire of a large number of Muslims, who look to him as a leader.

“We are concerned in confronting this threat as we consider it directed to us as well, and we are authorized to do what we see convenient to face this challenge,” the Hezbollah Chief noted.

Sheikh Naim also revealed that Hezbollah has been asked by many actors during the past couple of months whether it will intervene, should the US and Israel launch a war against Iran.

“They were requested to take a pledge from Hezbollah that it will not intervene and will not be engaged in the war in any way. They asked us this question in order for them to decide what to do in advance,” he explained.

The Lebanese resistance leader pointed out that mediators informed Hezbollah candidly that the US and Israel have been thinking what among the following three options would be better: Striking Hezbollah then Iran? Doing it the other way around? Or striking them both simultaneously?”

“In front of all these similar and intertwined possibilities and in face of the aggression, which will not distinguish between us, we are concerned with what has been happening, and we will be targeted as part of the potential assault [against Iran], therefore, we insist on defending ourselves,” the Hezbollah leader asserted.

Qassem further clarified that the Lebanese resistance group will decide on the needed actions and details, at the time of the aggression in a way that consists with the circumstances and the group’s interest, confirming that Hezbollah “will never be neutral”.

The war on Iran this time may set the entire region ablaze, Sheikh Naim Qassem warns

As for Lebanese voices that dissent the involvement of Hezbollah in defense of Iran, Sheikh Naim stated:

“Some people would object to Hezbollah’s involvement because of inequality in power, but self-defense is not limited to those who have equal powers with their aggressors.”

In addition, Qassem slammed the Lebanese state for its allegiance to the Trump administration, and for allowing it to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs.

“To those who blame us [for supporting Iran], saying that we will push Lebanon to a situation where it should not be, are we really the ones doing so, or those who are selling Lebanon to the US-Israeli mandate, which will in turn help both countries in implementing their project in Lebanon?” Sheikh Qassem asked.

Read more: Lebanese president clings to “negotiation path” as Israel launches attacks across Lebanon

“They are taking over Lebanon, with no intention to leave anything for you. It is our resistance that will get Lebanon, its dignity and status back. The past four decades is a witness to how we retrieved independence, life and status to Lebanon,” he stressed.

Sheikh Naim also cautioned that the war on Iran this time may set the entire region ablaze, highlighting the unwavering support that the Islamic Republic has provided Hezbollah with for 43 years, in its legitimate endeavours to liberate Lebanon from the Israeli occupation.

“By surrendering, we will lose everything and we will have no borders, but with self-defense we will open the door of hope for many possibilities,” Qassem emphasized.

The post Hezbollah vows not to respond if Iran is attacked appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that as the world faces a real risk of regressing to the law of the jungle, China and Russia, as major countries and permanent members of the UN Security Council, have the responsibility and obligation to practice true multilateralism, safeguard the international system with the UN at its core, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and work to build a more just and reasonable global governance system.

Wang made the remarks when meeting with Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council, in Beijing on Sunday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, welcomed Shoigu's visit to China for a strategic dialogue as designated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24408

A bombshell Saturday report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family secretly backed a massive $500 million investment into the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture months before the Trump administration gave the United Arab Emirates access to highly sensitive artificial intelligence chip technology.

According to the Journal's sources, lieutenants of Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed a deal in early 2025 to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the startup founded by members of the Trump family and the family of Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Documents reviewed by the Journal showed that the buyers in the deal agreed to "pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities," while "at least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with" the Witkoff family.

Weeks after green lighting the investment into the Trump crypto venture, Tahnoon met directly with President Donald Trump and Witkoff in the White House, where he reportedly expressed interest in working with the US on AI-related technology.

Two months after this, the Journal noted, "the administration committed to give the tiny Gulf monarchy access to around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year—enough to build one of the world’s biggest AI data center clusters."

Tahnoon in the past had tried to get US officials to give the UAE access to the chips, but was rebuffed on concerns that the cutting-edge technology could be passed along to top US geopolitical rival China, wrote the Journal.

Many observers expressed shock at the Journal's report, with some critics saying that it showed Trump and his associates were engaging in a criminal bribery scheme.

"This was a bribe," wrote Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, in a social media post. "UAE royals gave the Trump family $500 million, and Trump, in his presidential capacity, gave them access to tightly guarded American AI chips. The most powerful person on the planet, also happens to be the most shamelessly corrupt."

Jesse Eisinger, reporter and editor at ProPublica, argued that the Abu Dhabi investment into the Trump cypto firm "should rank among the greatest US scandals ever."

Democratic strategist David Axelrod also said that the scope of the Trump crypto investment scandal was historic in nature.

"In any other time or presidency, this story... would be an earthquake of a scandal," he wrote. "The size, scope and implications of it are unprecedented and mind-boggling."

Tommy Vietor, co-host of "Pod Save America," struggled to wrap his head around the scale of corruption on display.

"How do you add up the cost of corruption this massive?" he wondered. "It's not just that Trump is selling advanced AI tech to the highest bidder, national security be damned. Its that he's tapped that doofus Steve Witkoff as an international emissary so his son Zach Witkoff can mop up bribes."

Former Rep. Tom Malinkowski (D-NJ) warned the Trump and his associates that they could wind up paying a severe price for their deal with the UAE.

"If a future administration finds that such payments to the Trump family were acts of corruption," he wrote, "these people could be sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act, and the assets in the US could potentially be frozen."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24151

Kevin Abourezk
ICT

WINNEBAGO, Nebraska – Standing before a pile of hot chocolate mix, N95 respirators, coffee, undershirts, hand and feet warmers, sterile gloves and snacks on her kitchen table, Keely Purscell lifted a black winter hat and held it proudly.

“It’s got the N,” she said, pointing toward a red letter N with two eagle feathers embroidered onto the front of the hat. “I’m pretty sure it’s for ‘Nebraska,’ but we’re going to say for ‘Native’ when we get to Minnesota.”

The Winnebago woman and several other Winnebago women are gathering donations to send to Minneapolis to support the Native activists protesting federal immigration enforcement efforts there.

Purscell, who has worked in emergency medical response, and her friends decided it was important to ensure Native people protesting the Trump administration’s surge in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota have what they need to protect themselves while staying fed and hydrated.

But Purscell said she also wanted to ensure the American Indian Movement members patrolling the streets of Minneapolis had what they needed to stay comfortable.

Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis can been in this Jan. 29, 2026. photo. The coffee shop serves as a gathering place and donation collection point for activists protesting federal immigration enforcement efforts. (Kevin Abourezk / ICT)

“The AIM guys asked for coffee and cigarettes and lighters,” she said.

In Native communities across the country, Native people have begun gathering donations to send to Minneapolis to support the efforts of Native activists, as well as community members who are scared to leave their homes and need food and household supplies in order to be able to remain at home.

Many of the donations being sent to Minneapolis are delivered to the Pow Wow Grounds Coffee Shop on Franklin Avenue in an area of the city where many Native nonprofit organizations and businesses, including the Minneapolis American Indian Center, are located. The coffee shop serves as a hub for donation collections, as well as a place where activists and allies gather throughout the day to organize their efforts and get a bite to eat.

Crow Bellecourt, executive director of the Indigenous Protector Movement and the son of one of the founding members of the American Indian Movement, surveys the donations on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at the Powwow Grounds Coffee shop, which is serving as a clearinghouse to help the Native community in Minneapolis as immigration raids continue across the area. Credit: Stewart Huntington/ICT

Little Crow Bellecourt, 53, Bad River Chippewa, serves as the executive director of the Indigenous Protectors Movement, a Native social justice organization based in Minneapolis. The organization was founded and is run by the children and grandchildren of the former leaders and founders of the American Indian Movement, including Clyde Bellecourt, Little Crow Bellecourt’s father.

Little Crow Bellecourt said donations have been coming from Indigenous communities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, as well as from donors across the world and right in the Twin Cities.

Outside Pow Wow Grounds on Thursday morning, Cole Rademacher and several volunteers unloaded donations from an SUV like baby formula and dog food that were given by the customers of his business, Bevel Piercing.

“We’re all about the community, helping when they need help, making sure people are taken care of, especially in times like this,” he said.

Cole Rademacher (right), owner of Bevel Piercing in Minneapolis, helps unload donations that he gathered from his customers outside Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis on Jan. 29, 2026. The coffee shop serves as a gathering place and donation collection point for activists protesting federal immigration enforcement efforts. (Kevin Abourezk / ICT)

Nearby, a Sicangu Lakota man named Wambli helped direct volunteers.

He said donations gathered at Pow Wow Grounds also go to recipients other than Native people, including Latinos and Somalians.

“We are here to stand in solidarity with our community members here, and we do appreciate anything that comes our way,” he said.

Little Crow Bellecourt said the outpouring of support that began after federal immigration enforcement agents began swarming the Twin Cities in recent weeks reminded him of the support the Native community received after riots erupted in Minneapolis in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.

But even before that, Native people began pulling together to fight slum lords and police brutality in 1968, when they formed the American Indian Movement.

“I don’t think the U.S. government knew who they were messing with when they decided to come to Minneapolis,” he said.

An SUV believed to have carried Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is parked outside Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis on Jan. 29, 2026. The coffee shop serves as a gathering place for Native activists and others protesting federal immigration enforcement efforts. (Kevin Abourezk / ICT)

On Thursday morning, three black SUVs with ICE agents inside pulled up in front of Pow Wow Grounds, eliciting a strong response from those at the coffee shop. People blew whistles. Some shouted war cries, and others shouted obscenities at those in the vehicles.

Bellecourt said ICE agents have routinely driven by the coffee shop, as well as past a largely Native neighborhood known as Little Earth. He said the federal agents are attempting to intimidate Native people.

In response, tribal leaders from other communities, including the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, have sent staff members to help their citizens who live in the Twin Cities get their tribal IDs in the hopes that those forms of identification might protect them from being detained by federal agents. Little Crow Bellecourt said the Three Affiliated Tribes created and distributed 84 tribal IDs alone.

But even presenting tribal IDs hasn’t always helped tribal citizens confronted by ICE agents, he said.

“We know that they are federal IDs,” he said. “They’re just as good as a state driver’s license and a passport.”

A volunteer at Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis helps sort donations on Jan. 29, 2026, being collected to help Native activists and others responding to federal immigration enforcement efforts. (Kevin Abourezk / ICT)

Many of the donations gathered at Pow Wow Grounds are distributed to residents of Little Earth who are afraid of leaving their homes for fear of being detained by ICE agents and who are keeping their children home from school, choosing to have them attend online classes instead.

Marcella Torrez, 52, who lives at Little Earth, stocked and arranged shelves at Pow Wow Grounds on Thursday. She said the Native community at Little Earth has begun organizing its own patrols called the Little Earth Protectors, which works to ensure the neighborhood’s residents are not harassed or detained by ICE agents.

“It’s hard to see especially our children being scared to go to school,” she said. “Our kids shouldn’t be experiencing this. It’s heartbreaking.”

Robert Rice, owner of Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis

Robert Rice, owner of Pow Wow Grounds, said he has worked to ensure protestors and other Native volunteers have food and coffee when they come to the coffee shop.

“One thing we’re doing is making a lot of soup,” he said. “Right now, we’re at about 250 gallons of soup that we’ve made and given away and over 1,000 pieces of fry bread and 300 gallons of coffee so far since January 8th.”

Keely Purscell said she and the other Winnebago woman collecting donations in Nebraska plan to deliver those items to Pow Wow Grounds over the weekend.

She said she is proud of her community for realizing how important it is to support other Indigenous communities that are experiencing hardship. She talked about elderly tribal citizens on fixed incomes donating warm boots and name-brand wool socks.

Keely Purscell sorts through donations on Jan. 29, 2026, that she and other Native women are gathering on the Winnebago Reservation in northeast Nebraska that they plan to deliver to Native activists in Minneapolis. (Kevin Abourezk / ICT)

She said some tribal citizens have even donated sound-canceling ear muffs to protect protestors from sonic weapons used by law enforcement known as LRADs, or long-range acoustic devices. But she was most amused by a woman at a local health facility who donated a bag of condoms.

“She said, ‘We don’t need any more protest babies,’” Purscell said, laughing.

Nearly 300 Winnebago tribal citizens live in the Twin Cities, a fact that further inspired her and others to gather donations, Purscell said.

“We must support these efforts because that’s us, our people,” she said.

The post From baby formula to wool socks: Donations flood into Minneapolis appeared first on ICT.

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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24380

Over the past three years, the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people has become a flash point for freedom of speech in the West. Expressing solidarity with Palestinians has given Western governments an excuse to crack down on dissenters. There has been intimidation and job insecurity at one end of the scale, through to brutal policing, arrests, and extraditions at the other.

Our guest on Downstream this week knows a thing or two about censorship. Artist Ai Weiwei holds the unusual position of having been censored in both China and Europe. In conversation with Ash Sarkar, they discuss how a rising authoritarianism in many Western nations represents a fragility at the heart of the liberal political project. What was it like being interrogated over 50 times by Chinese authorities, and what kind of relationship did Ai Weiwei develop with his captors? Why did he choose to be an artist, rather than a journalist? And what is his art in service of?

From Novara Media via This RSS Feed.

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The Sao Paulo Forum condemned the new measure imposed by the US administration against Cuba on Friday, January 30, calling it “absurd coercion.”

[...]

The measure responds to an executive order signed by the US president declaring a national emergency and establishing tariffs on goods from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba.

This action represents an intensification of the blockade, which has lasted for more than six decades, and is part of Washington’s maximum pressure policy against the island, justified under false pretenses of US national security interests and foreign policy.

Faced with this scenario, the Sao Paulo Forum called on defenders of the sovereignty of nations to act immediately in defense of Cuba.

The war has not stopped, and our suffering continues. Every day we wake up to fear, hunger, and displacement. My children and I are still crying and in pain.

We have not received any donations for a whole week. We are exhausted, but we still have hope. Even a small donation can mean life.

Please don’t forget us https://gofund.me/00439328

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24289

Iran will defend its people decisively if it is pushed to war, reiterated Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday, January 29, after American President Donald Trump’s repeated ultimatums and threats of military strikes in the country.

“If the American side is truly seeking negotiations and genuine diplomacy it must abandon provocative and escalatory measures and demonstrate in practice its commitment to the path of dialogue,” Pezeshkian told his Pakistani counterparts, Shehbaz Sherif and Qatari Sheikh Hamad Bin Thani, during separate phone conversations.

After softening his initial threats of military strikes over the Iranian crackdown of nationwide protests earlier, Trump renewed his threats against Iran this week despite widespread opposition to any such move expressed by the leaders from the Middle East region over the fears of wider regional consequences.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump asked Iran to submit to his demand and make a deal on “no nuclear weapons”, immediately claiming “time is running out”. He threatened that if Iran fails to comply with the demands the strikes this time would be “far worse” than the strikes in June.

Iran responded to the threats made by Trump warning that its responses to aggression inside the country would not be limited and all American assets in the region, including the warships and Israel, would be targeted.

No talks under threats of war

During a press conference on Thursday, Trump repeated his threats while also expressing his willingness to talk.

“We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to the region right now. Hopefully, we don’t have to use it,” Reuters reported Trump telling the press on Thursday.

Iran has maintained, for years now, that it has no intention to have nuclear weapons and its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes only. It has also expressed its openness for dialogue on the issue, however, refusing to talk under threats of war.

Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that his country believes in “dignified diplomacy based on international laws, mutual respect, avoidance of threats and coercion and pursuit of win-win outcomes.”

Changes of a successful diplomacy between Iran and the US have also gone down since the inclusion of fresh demands. Apart from asking Iran to denounce any nuclear ambitions the Trump administration also wants it to agree to restrictions on its ballistic missiles programs and end all support to its regional allies identified as “proxies”.

Regional diplomacy

After Pezeshkian’s conversations with his Pakistani counterpart and Qatari Sheikh, similar phone conversations were held by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with his counterparts in several other countries in the region and neighborhood, including Turkey and Egypt on Thursday and Friday.

The US has military bases in most of these countries. Iran has declared that in case it is attacked these bases would become legitimate targets of Iranian retaliation.

Several of these countries including Saudi Arabia and UAE have already declared they will not allow their territories to be used in any military strike against Iran.

Meanwhile, Araghchi traveled to Turkey to discuss the issue with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday.

Most of the countries in the region, including Turkey have opposed possible US military aggression against Iran claiming that would have larger regional consequences. They have called for political resolution of differences instead.

EU sanctions

Meanwhile, close US ally European Union (EU) imposed fresh sanctions on several Iranian officials and designated its Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Corp as a “terrorist organization” on Thursday.

The EU accused the individuals and IRGC of “serious human rights violations” and “killing thousands of protesters” during the recent nationwide protests.

Iran has called the EU’s move “spiteful, hasty and desperate” and “legally inconsistent with international law.”

Over 3,100 Iranians, including civilians and security forces, were killed during weeks-long protests which began over rising economic hardships in the country. Iran claims the protests were hijacked by foreign elements backed by Israel and the US seeking regime change in the country.

Reacting to the EU’s sanctions on Thursday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament questioned their understanding of terrorism, claiming the IRGC is “one of the strongest and most effective anti-terrorism forces in the world.”

He also claimed that “only those who stand with terrorism deny the IRGC’s record in combating Daesh” or ISIS as it is commonly known and warned that support of terrorism will bring nothing but regret to the European countries, IRNA reported.

The EU has already imposed several sanctions on Iranian entities over Iran’s alleged violations of, now expired nuclear deal, its alleged supply of weapons to Russia and its human rights violations.

The post Iran says if attacked militarily, its response will not be “limited” appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24078

The Trump administration is expected to flood Ohio with immigration agents next week to target thousands of Haitian migrants after they are stripped of their legal status.

One of the main targets will be the town of Springfield, where President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance infamously concocted the tale that Haitian immigrants were eating the pets of white residents to stoke xenophobia during the 2024 election, which unleashed an onslaught of racist threats and intimidation upon the community.

Earlier this week, the Springfield News-Sun received a message sent to staff at the Springfield City School District saying that school officials were expecting a federal immigration enforcement operation to begin in the town sometime after February 3, when Haitian residents' temporary protected status (TPS) expires, and last at least 30 days.

Given that history and the escalating brutality with which US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has carried out its recent surges in Minnesota and Maine, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder said he was "getting the impression that ICE is gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio."

"Any day now, a swarm of armed state police dressed for war could descend" on the town, wrote columnist Marilou Johanek in the Ohio Capital Journal. "The small town of Springfield in Clark County is awaiting an invasion of unaccountable thugs who conceal their faces and identities, drive in unmarked vehicles with blackened windows, stomp on the Bill of Rights, and viciously brutalize human beings based on race and accent."

The 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield are among around 30,000 in Ohio and more than 500,000 across the US who are expected to lose TPS on Tuesday after it was abruptly revoked by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year. The expiration could be halted by US District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes, who is expected to issue a decision on February 2.

If not, "they could potentially be arrested, detained, or put in removal proceedings unless they have already applied for some other form of relief they have in addition to TPS, or that they are applying for in addition to TPS,” explained Emily Brown, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Immigration Clinic Director to the Journal.

While the Trump administration has often emphasized its supposed targeting of those in the US unlawfully, editor-in-chief David DeWitt at the Journal emphasizes that "Haitians are currently in the United States legally," under TPS, which grants temporary legal status to those in danger from armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions in their home countries.

The Haitians living in the US are at risk of being deported back to what has been described as "the most dangerous country in the world," in the midst of a gang war that killed over 8,100 people between January and November 2025, according to the United Nations.

"They are not here illegally," DeWitt wrote on social media. "Trump is revoking their legal status on February 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them."

As part of a crusade to end migration from impoverished "Third World" countries, Trump has ramped up his use of racist invective against Haiti in recent months, proudly referring to it as a "shithole country" at a rally in December after denying having described it that way back in 2018.

Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, told the Journal that rumors of the coming surge have struck terror into the hearts of many in the community.

"The folks are fearful,” Dorsainvil, who came to the United States from Haiti in 2020, said. “They came here just to work and send their kids to school and be here peacefully. All of a sudden, they find themselves in another scenario where they’re not accepted… They are panicked, and the worst thing is that they can’t even plan their lives for three months down the road.”

One TPS holder, 41-year-old Pushon Jacques, told the News-Sun that the potential loss of his status "has a big impact." He said: “I won’t be able to work, I will not be able to provide for my family. It’s a bad situation to be in.”

While the administration has emphasized "self-deportation" as a way to avoid being on the business end of an ICE jackboot, Jacques said: “The situation in Haiti—especially the political situation—has made Haiti unlivable... There is no place in Haiti that is safe right now."

Local reports say residents are already preparing for their town to come under siege, and despite the White House's portrayal of Haitians as loathed outsiders, many others in the community have come out to support them.

Churches are running immersive role-playing sessions to train community members on what to do if ICE agents attempt to storm their doors, and residents have constructed phone chains to alert vulnerable community members when agents are spotted.

The Springfield City Council, meanwhile, has passed a resolution urging federal agents to comply with city policies that prohibit police from wearing masks and require them to carry identification, though the city has no authority to enforce them.

“Springfield is a good place,” Jacques said. “I like the environment and the people, because Springfield has a lot of good people... I have never felt any racism, and I feel appreciated.”

Despite attacks from the leaders of his party, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has defended his state's Haitian community, telling the statehouse bureau, "I don't think it’s in our interest in this country for all the Haitians who are working, who are sometimes working two jobs, supporting their family, supporting the economy, I think it’s a mistake to tell these individuals you can no longer work and have to leave the country."

According to a spokesperson for DeWine, there has been no formal communication between federal authorities and the governor about ICE's plans for the state. However, DeWine said, "If ICE does in fact come in, comes in with a big operation, obviously we have to work this thing through and make sure people don't get hurt."

The ACLU of Ohio said it will be monitoring the situation in Springfield closely for unconstitutional actions.

"This despicable surge in lawless ICE officers descending upon Springfield will ignite swells of fear within the Haitian community, terrorize our Black and Brown neighbors, and cause considerable damage to citizens and non-citizens alike," said ACLU Ohio executive director J. Bennett Guess.

"Following the government’s senseless, brutal killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it is clear that ICE poses a grave threat to all who call Ohio home," he continued. "The ACLU of Ohio urges state and local elected officials to do everything in their power to protect the 30,000 Haitians living in Central Ohio. We call on the US Congress to reject a DHS budget that allows these lawless agencies to continue putting our communities in danger.”

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24263

15,000 people took to the streets of New York City on Friday as part of the national day of action against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) calling for no work, no school, and no shopping. Like in cities across the country, workers and students protested the murders of activists Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, as well as the attacks on Minneapolis and on immigrants across the country. Just this year, eight people have been murdered by federal immigration agents. 

Friday’s mobilization comes on the heels of last week’s huge protests in which Minneapolis ground to a halt and 50,000 people took to the streets and 10,000 people demonstrated in New York City, including important contingents of unions.

“This reminds me of Black Lives Matter — as a mass protest and a national movement,” one participant said of Friday’s mobilization.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Foley Square in Manhattan, New York, to protest against ICE following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent in Minneapolis, also demanding an end to the Trump administration's aggressive immigration policy.#usa #ICE #nyc… pic.twitter.com/7bMY6FZst1

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) January 31, 2026

Students also walked out. At 11:00 a.m. in Washington Square Park, high school students and NYU students held an action speaking out against ICE. Later, Brooklyn Tech students held a massive walkout. And later, hundreds of students marched together to Foley Square.

NOW: Large Anti-ICE Student Walkout happening in New York City. Hundreds of students are marching in Union Square. Another group was meeting Columbus Circle.

Video by Carlos Chiossone (@FreedomNTV)
Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/JvJ7andeVy

— Oliya Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) January 30, 2026

This comes as numerous small businesses shut their doors in solidarity with the fight against ICE. That includes queer bars like C’Mon Everybody and Good Judy, to art studios and yoga studios. Many who didn’t close will donate funds to immigrants rights groups

Healthcare workers — many of whom are on strike in New York City as part of the NYSNA union — are speaking out against ICE and called for a vigil for Pretti, an ICU nurse.

Notably absent from yesterday’s march in New York City were the unions, despite a sizable presence last week from the UFT, PSC, WGA, and other labor organizations. This is a missed opportunity to build a stronger, deeper, and united movement of students and workers, inspired by the city-wide mass movement occurring in Minneapolis.

What the protest in New York showed is that this movement against ICE is national — and it’s not going anywhere.

The post “ICE Out, Shut It Down!”: Thousands in New York Take to the Streets Against ICE appeared first on Left Voice.

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