ICE, DHS recruiting messages appeal to white supremacists

ICE posters are sent out on social media with messages that might appeal to White supremacists.

You see the federal agents, masked, bullet-proof vests, sometimes in uniform, sometimes wearing street clothes, refusing to show identification and usually without judicial warrants.

If you're a person of color, you can be detained for no other reason other than you look suspicious. You can thank the worst Supreme Court in US history for making racial profiling legal.

From the perspective of the average person, their actions resemble a kidnapping. If you object, they turn their attention to you, sometimes pushing objectors tot he ground.

And the vast majority of the unidentified agents are white.

I'm sure that after a while, the agents grow tired of being the "bad guys," -- performing detentions that are probably illegal and acting like bullies.

No wonder there is a high turnover rate.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE are on a desperate hiring spree, trying to reel in 10,000 new agents by the end of the year. If you're jobless or stuck in a low-paying job and you blame immigrants for your status. ICE incentives could be appealing. The carrot ICE offers includes a $50,000 signing bonus and student loan repayment

But they're also using the stick of what many are calling white nationalist propaganda to get the word out, and it's raising a lot of eyebrows.

Now, I'm just a writer here at the Edge, trying to make sense of things. But when you start seeing posts on social media that use slogans like "Which way, American man?", it's hard to ignore.

As critics like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) point out, that phrase is tied to some pretty nasty stuff. They're using coded language and imagery that glorifies the past, with white settlers pushing Native Americans into the shadows. And if you're in the know, you'll catch the other coded messages, like capitalizing "Heritage" and "Homeland". It's a dog whistle, pure and simple.

And they're not just casting a wide net; they're dropping their standards to fill the ranks. They're hiring impressionable 18-year-olds and shortening training. What could go wrong, right?

But it gets worse. This isn't just a recruitment issue. This is about a pattern of behavior. You've got an ICE prosecutor in Dallas who was running a racist, anti-immigrant social media account. And remember that detention center captain in Nevada with the neo-Nazi ties? He was an ICE contractor. These aren't just one-offs; they're symptoms of a systemic problem.

With the passage of the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” ICE is now the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the government. What is it doing with all that cash? Well, on July 29, DHS’s website and social media accounts launched a Nazi-style propaganda campaign, featuring a familiar, albeit unsettling, image of Uncle Sam with the message: “America Needs You.”

A DHS press release about the recruitment campaign used the title "DHS Launches 'Defend the Homeland'...".

This phrasing has been criticized for reinforcing fear-based and anti-immigrant narratives.

One recruitment poster featured a white, Norman Rockwell-style Uncle Sam at a crossroads with various directional signs. In the modified cartoon, the signs include phrases like “INVASION,” “CULTURAL DECLINE,” and “HOMELAND”. This echoes the so-called "displacement theory," white nationalist fears about the supposed loss of white American culture.

Groups like Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC are calling this what it is: propaganda. 

"We are alarmed by ICE and DHS’s failure to remove and disavow white supremacist content from their platforms," posted AAJC on social media.

"ICE’s use of the phrases “Which way, American man?”, "invasion" and "cultural decline" — tied to known white nationalism — is not policy, it’s propaganda. Dog whistles like this fuels extremism and endanger communities."

"Even more disturbing is ICE’s use of masked agents and unmarked vehicles, including rental moving trucks, to conduct raids in communities," says AAJC. "These tactics mirror those used by extremist groups like the Proud Boys and evoke a long, painful history of racialized hate against Asian, Black and Latin communities.

And what's the official response? Crickets. Or worse, a dismissive brush-off. When Newsweek asked about the "Which way, American man?" post, an assistant DHS secretary shot back with a sarcastic "Where are we quoting a white supremacist?". It's the classic stonewall.

But here's the bottom line: when a government agency starts using the language and symbols of hate groups, it's not a mistake. It's a message. And the message is loud and clear: they're not just recruiting agents; they're courting extremists. And that's something we all need to be concerned about.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

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AANHPI may be in for a rough time in the upcoming Presidential election

Anti-Asian attacks has coincided with emboldened White supremacist groups.

In case you haven't noticed, the 2024 Presidential race has already begun with 18 months to go before the the election. Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders should gird themselves for campaigns which will target them as an important vote-rich demographic and as "the other."

Since the start of the pandemic, it has been a fearful three years for AANHPI, blamed for COVID19 and economic tensions generated by deteriorating China-US relations. The campaign season will most likely increase the xenophobic hate towards AANHPI.

Each of the last four presidential campaign cycles has shown an unmistakable pattern: Reported hate crimes increase during elections, according to the Leadership Conference Education Fund report — “Cause for Concern 2024: The State of Hate.”

WHITE SUPREMACISTS

And while not all hate crimes and hate incidents are committed by white supremacists, as this paper outlines, white supremacists have been particularly active during the last four presidential elections. From the mainstreaming of hate and the failure of social media platforms to adequately address disinformation, the current climate is rife with opportunities for the trend of increased hate to continue into the 2024 election — unless action is taken.

In March 2023, the FBI released the most recent statistics on hate crimes. These data showed that 2021 was the highest year on record for reported hate crimes since the FBI began publishing the data in 1991. But because law enforcement agencies do not have to report any data on hate crimes to the FBI, this is not the full picture. In fact, 2021 had the lowest amount of participation from law enforcement agencies since 2012. Even though the most recent data show the highest number of reported hate crimes on record, we know the reality is far worse.

FYI: View the full report “Cause for Concern 2024: The State of Hate” ›

Tragically, since 2015, reported hate crimes have nearly doubled. The Trump candidacy empowered white nationalists and provided them with a platform — one they had been seeking with renewed intensity since the historic election of America’s first Black president in 2008. Since 2015, communities across the country have experienced some of the most violent and deadliest years for hate in modern history.

Today’s political climate is highly charged. From white supremacist and anti-government movements coalescing and moving more into the political mainstream, to conspiracy theories circulating online and public officials amplifying hate, there are few — if any — signs that tensions will lessen. Movements grounded in attempts to whitewash history and deny the rights of the LGBTQ+ community have turned hate into campaign platforms.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Contributing to this climate are social media companies that have not internalized the lessons of the past and have set the stage for a 2024 election year that is at least as toxic online as past elections. Platforms have policies in place that curb and prevent the spread of hate and voting disinformation, but they do not consistently enforce them. 

Furthermore, major platforms,such as the Elon Musk-owned Twitter, have cut back or eliminated their trust and safety staff and hollowed out protections against hate incitements on their platforms.

Some of the key concerns that spurred the Leadership report is based on  the FBI report that showed, among other findings:

Anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate Crimes: The most recent

• Data from the FBI showed a 168% increase in anti-Asian hate crime incidents reported from 2020 to 2021.

• Hate crimes have increased by more than 80% since 2015.

• 2021 was the highest year on record for reported hate crimes since the FBI began publishing the data in 1991.

• Anti-Islamic (Muslim) Hate Crimes: From 2020 to 2021, the community was subjected to a 40% increase in reported hate crimes.

• Anti-Sikh Hate Crimes: The number of reported anti-Sikh hate crimes has increased significantly, reaching a record high in 2021. Currently, anti-Sikh hate crimes are the second most common form of religiously motivated hate crimes after anti-Jewish hate crimes.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s “Cause for Concern” series first published in 1997 — provides the following recommendations for how to address the current state of hate ahead of a deeply concerning 2024 election cycle:

• Social media platforms must invest in de-platforming hate for the upcoming local, state, and national elections.

• The federal government must confront and address white supremacist violence without further criminalizing communities of color, religious minorities, and other marginalized communities.

• Congress must mandate hate crime data collection and reporting.

• Public officials must speak out against hate.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric, anti-China legislation, racist laws and the green light to express racist beliefs and suppress the true diverse history of the United States, have already been expressed by Republican candidates, from Nikki Haley to Ron DiSantis to Donald Trump.

It will only get worse as the campaign heats up and conservative candidates try to outdo each other to garner the votes of the extreme right.

As the fastest growing segment of the US population, the majority of whom are first-generation immigrants, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders  need to pay close attention to what is being said and who is saying it.  And when it comes time to vote: Remember.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

Terrorists plead guilty to plot to disrupt US power grid in hopes to launch race war

Domestic terrorists operating under the flag of white supremacy are not patriots. They are not the self-anointed heroes that they think they are.

As evidence of their misguided political and cultural beliefs, three men pleaded guilty today (Feb. 23) to crimes related to a scheme to attack power grids in the United States in furtherance of white supremacist ideology with hopes to sparking a race war.

According to court documents, Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Indiana, and of Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The charge and plea agreements indicate that the defendants knew and intended that the material support they conspired to provide would be used to prepare for and carry out the federal offense of destroying energy facilities.

“These three defendants admitted to engaging in a disturbing plot, in furtherance of white supremacist ideology, to attack energy facilities in order to damage the economy and stoke division in our country,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen. 

“The defendants in this case wanted to attack regional power substations and expected the damage would lead to economic distress and civil unrest,” said Assistant Director Timothy Langan of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “These individuals wanted to carry out such a plot because of their adherence to racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist views. When individuals move from espousing particular views to planning or committing acts of violence the FBI will investigate and take action to stop their plans.”

RELATED: White supremacists continue to gain support

According to court documents, in fall 2019, Frost and Cook met in an online chat group. Frost shared the idea of attacking a power grid with Cook, and within weeks, the two began efforts to recruit others to join in their plan.

As part of the recruitment process, Cook circulated a book list of readings that promoted the ideology of white supremacy and Neo-Nazism. By late 2019, Sawall – a friend of Cook’s – joined the conspiracy and assisted Cook with online recruitment efforts, operational security and organization.

As part of the conspiracy, each defendant was assigned a substation in a different region of the United States. The plan was to attack the substations, or power grids, with powerful rifles. The defendants believed their plan would cost the government millions of dollars and cause unrest for Americans in the region. They had conversations about how the possibility of the power being out for many months could cause war, even a race war, and induce the next Great Depression.

In February 2020, the co-conspirators met in Columbus, Ohio, to further discuss their plot. Frost provided Cook with an AR-47 and the two took the rifle to a shooting range to train.

Frost also provided Cook and Sawall with suicide necklaces during the Columbus meeting. The necklaces were filled with fentanyl and were to be ingested if and when the defendants were caught by law enforcement. Both Cook and Sawall expressed their commitment to dying in furtherance of their mission.

Upon arriving in Columbus, Sawall and Cook purchased spray paint and painted a swastika flag under a bridge at a park with the caption, “Join the Front.” The defendants had additional propaganda plans for their time in Ohio, but they were derailed during a traffic stop, during which Sawall swallowed his suicide pill but ultimately survived.

Court documents detail that Cook and Frost continued to travel together after their Ohio meeting, and drove to Texas in March 2020. Cook stayed in different cities with various juveniles who he was attempting to recruit for their plot.

Cook, Frost and Sawall were each charged with providing material support to terrorism by a bill of information filed on Feb. 7. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

“These defendants conspired to use violence to sow hate, create chaos, and endanger the safety of the American people,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Homeland Security issues warning on the continuing threat of domestic terrorists

Supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Jan. 6.

Even though the Justice Department is tracking down the insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol and threatened members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence last Jan. 6, Homeland Security has warned that the domestic terrorists, emboldened by what they view as a victory, will not go away soon.

With the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump set to begin in the Senate Tuesday (Feb. 9) Homeland Security has issued a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin due to a heightened threat environment across the United States, which DHS believes will persist.  

Intelligence suggests that white supremacists and some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and questions the legitimacy of President Joe Biden, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.

Following is the DHS alert:

• Throughout 2020, Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs) targeted individuals with opposing views engaged in First Amendment-protected, non-violent protest activity.  DVEs motivated by a range of issues, including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force have plotted and on occasion carried out attacks against government facilities. 
• Long-standing racial and ethnic tension—including opposition to immigration—has driven DVE attacks, including a 2019 shooting in El Paso, Texas that killed 23 people.
• DHS is concerned these same drivers to violence will remain through early 2021 and some DVEs may be emboldened by the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to target elected officials and government facilities.
• DHS remains concerned that Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVEs) inspired by foreign terrorist groups, who committed three attacks targeting government officials in 2020, remain a threat.
• Threats of violence against critical infrastructure, including the electric, telecommunications and healthcare sectors, increased in 2020 with violent extremists citing misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 for their actions.  
• DHS, as well as other Federal agencies and law enforcement partners will continue to take precautions to protect people and infrastructure across the United States.
• DHS remains committed to preventing violence and threats meant to intimidate or coerce specific populations on the basis of their religion, race, ethnicity, identity or political views.
• DHS encourages state, local, tribal, and territorial homeland security partners to continue prioritizing physical security measures, particularly around government facilities, to protect people and critical infrastructure.

How the public can help

• We ask the public to report suspicious activity and threats of violence, including online activity,  to local law enforcement, FBI Field Offices, or their local Fusion Center.
• Your choice can make a difference. Choose non-violent ways to make your voice heard and support friends and family in doing the same.
• Communities are strongest when they are not divided:  Strengthen your community by standing together against violence.

Be prepared

• Avoiding large crowds, including protests, is safest due to ongoing pandemic conditions. However, if taking part in protests do so peacefully, safely, and wear masks.
• Be responsible for your personal safety. Make note of your surroundings and security personnel. Carry emergency contact as well as medical and other needs information with you.
• Connect, Plan, Train, and Report to prepare businesses & employees.

Stay Informed

• Local, state and federal agencies will provide specific information about emerging threats as additional information is identified. The public is encouraged to listen to local law enforcement and public safety officials.
• Last year, DHS released a Homeland Threat Assessment  to the public examining the threat environment through 2021.

'Year in Hate and Extremism:" Number of hate groups decline, but hate and bigotry on the rise

One only has to recall Jan. 6 when white supremacists led the assault on the U.S. Capitol to know that hate groups have become bolder and more extremist. At the same time, the number of hate groups have gone down, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Year in Hate and Extremism" report released Monday.

“For three decades, we have attempted to sound the alarm about these groups, their growth and the dangers they pose,” said Margaret Huang, President & CEO of the SPLC. “It is clearer now than ever that our nation faces an increasingly dangerous threat from home-grown extremists ranging from anti-government militias to hate groups and white supremacists.

In the final year of a Trump presidency that propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into the political mainstream, far-right extremists continued to migrate to online networks as the number of active hate groups declined for a second year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual Year in Hate and Extremism report released today. But the levels of hate and bigotry in America have not diminished.

The SPLC report comes a week after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an extremely rare National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin in response to the growing threat from home-grown extremists ranging from antigovernment militias to far-right hate groups and white supremacists. 

The SPLC identified 838 active hate groups operating across the United States in 2020, a decrease from the 940 documented in 2019 and the record-high 1,020 in 2018. The hate group count and analysis can be read online, along with an updated map showing the locations of hate groups nationwide, at www.splcenter.org. 
 
The number of active hate groups in the SPLC census, conducted each year since 1990, is a barometer of extremism in the country, but not the only one – and the drop from the previous year does not signal a decline in extremist activity or the threat of domestic terrorism. 

In fact, the proliferation of internet platforms that cater to extremists allows individuals to engage with potentially violent movements like QAnon and Boogaloo without being card-carrying members of a particular group. This phenomenon has blurred the boundaries of hate groups and far-right ideologies, helping coalesce a broader but more loosely affiliated movement of far-right extremists who reject the country’s democratic institutions and pluralistic society. 
 
“The insurrection at the Capitol was the culmination of years of right-wing radicalization. Most recently, it was the product of Donald Trump’s support for and encouragement of radicalized individuals and groups to buy into conspiracy theories about a ‘stolen election,’” said Susan Corke, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. “Trump may no longer be in the White House, but the white nationalist and extremist movement he emboldened and incited to violence is not going anywhere – and may grow more dangerous to our country.”  
 
In an SPLC survey in August, 29 percent of respondents said they personally know someone who believes that white people are the superior race. The poll also found that 51 percent of Americans thought the looting that occurred in several cities amid Black Lives Matter rallies was a bigger problem than police violence against Black people. 

 
As detailed in the Year in Hate and Extremism report, the SPLC in 2020 recorded nearly 4,900 racist flyering incidents.  
 
Several factors contributed to the decrease in hate group numbers in 2020. Some groups ceased their in-person activity because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, hate groups are increasingly being kicked off their mainstream social media platforms and communicating in encrypted chatrooms, making it harder to track their activities. 
 
Another factor is the continuing collapse of the Ku Klux Klan, as younger extremists move into newer groups that do not carry the same stigma as a group long associated with white supremacist terror. In 2020, Klan chapters dwindled to 25, down from 47 in 2019 and down significantly from years past, when there were typically about 150 chapters in any given year. 
 
Despite the massive drop in Klan groups, there are now numerous, alternative hate groups that make Klan membership obsolete. The Proud Boys, for example, vandalized historically Black churches in Washington, D.C., during a pro-Trump demonstration in December, and its members were aggressively front and center during the attack on the Capitol.  
 
The number of white nationalist groups also declined from 155 in 2020 to 128 following posting huge growth during the Trump era. This decline may reflect the fact that white nationalist groups, like neo-Nazi groups, are becoming more diffuse and difficult to quantify as they proliferate online and use encrypted platforms. 
 
Anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups, which are typically more successful than white supremacist groups at laundering their ideas into mainstream political discourse, saw their numbers remain largely stable, though their in-person organizing was curtailed due to the pandemic. 

Even though anti-immigrant groups were not able to hold as many in-person events as years past, their influence was felt where it mattered: in policy and legislation. Over Trump’s four years in office, according to data published by the Migration Policy Institute, the Trump administration implemented more than 400 policy changes to curb both legal and illegal immigration. Exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to stoke health and economic fears, the Trump administration enacted a de facto moratorium on all immigration to the U.S. by the end of 2020.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In the final year of a Trump presidency that propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into the political mainstream, far-right extremists continued to migrate to online networks as the number of active hate groups declined for a second year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual Year in Hate and Extremism report released today. But the levels of hate and bigotry in America have not diminished. 

 
The SPLC identified 838 active hate groups operating across the United States in 2020, a decrease from the 940 documented in 2019 and the record-high 1,020 in 2018. The hate group count and analysis can be read online, along with an updated map showing the locations of hate groups nationwide, at www.splcenter.org. 
 
The number of active hate groups in the SPLC census, conducted each year since 1990, is a barometer of extremism in the country, but not the only one – and the drop from the previous year does not signal a decline in extremist activity or the threat of domestic terrorism. 

Just last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an extremely rare National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin in response to the growing threat from home-grown extremists ranging from antigovernment militias to far-right hate groups and white supremacists. 
 
“For three decades, we have attempted to sound the alarm about these groups, their growth and the dangers they pose,” said Margaret Huang, President & CEO of the SPLC. “It is clearer now than ever that our nation faces an increasingly dangerous threat from home-grown extremists ranging from anti-government militias to hate groups and white supremacists.” 
 
In fact, the proliferation of internet platforms that cater to extremists allows individuals to engage with potentially violent movements like QAnon and Boogaloo without being card-carrying members of a particular group. This phenomenon has blurred the boundaries of hate groups and far-right ideologies, helping coalesce a broader but more loosely affiliated movement of far-right extremists who reject the country’s democratic institutions and pluralistic society. 
 
“The insurrection at the Capitol was the culmination of years of right-wing radicalization. Most recently, it was the product of Donald Trump’s support for and encouragement of radicalized individuals and groups to buy into conspiracy theories about a ‘stolen election,’” said Susan Corke, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. “Trump may no longer be in the White House, but the white nationalist and extremist movement he emboldened and incited to violence is not going anywhere – and may grow more dangerous to our country.”  
 
In an SPLC survey in August, 29 percent of respondents said they personally know someone who believes that white people are the superior race. The poll also found that 51 percent of Americans thought the looting that occurred in several cities amid Black Lives Matter rallies was a bigger problem than police violence against Black people. 
 
As detailed in the Year in Hate and Extremism report, the SPLC in 2020 recorded nearly 4,900 racist flyering incidents.  
 
Several factors contributed to the decrease in hate group numbers in 2020. Some groups ceased their in-person activity because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, hate groups are increasingly being kicked off their mainstream social media platforms and communicating in encrypted chatrooms, making it harder to track their activities. 
 
Another factor is the continuing collapse of the Ku Klux Klan, as younger extremists move into newer groups that do not carry the same stigma as a group long associated with white supremacist terror. In 2020, Klan chapters dwindled to 25, down from 47 in 2019 and down significantly from years past, when there were typically about 150 chapters in any given year. 
 
Despite the massive drop in Klan groups, there are now numerous, alternative hate groups that make Klan membership obsolete. The Proud Boys, for example, vandalized historically Black churches in Washington, D.C., during a pro-Trump demonstration in December, and its members were aggressively front and center during the attack on the Capitol.  
 
The number of white nationalist groups also declined from 155 in 2020 to 128 following posting huge growth during the Trump era. This decline may reflect the fact that white nationalist groups, like neo-Nazi groups, are becoming more diffuse and difficult to quantify as they proliferate online and use encrypted platforms. 
 
Anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups, which are typically more successful than white supremacist groups at laundering their ideas into mainstream political discourse, saw their numbers remain largely stable, though their in-person organizing was curtailed due to the pandemic. 

President Biden's Day One: Reversing Trump's immigration policies, promoting race equity, fighting white supremacists

SCREEN CAPTURE  / CBS

President Joe Biden made overcoming racial inequity a key role of his administration.

On Day One, Joe Biden wasted no time to getting down to the business of being the President of the United States.

In his inaugural speech, two weeks after racists roamed the halls of the Capitol, Biden called out white supremacists for what they are: domestic terrorists.

“A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront, and we will defeat,” Biden said. 

"Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart," said Biden later in his speech.

“To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words,” he acknowledged.

After his coronavirus-affected inauguration, he walked to the White House and signed a host of executive actions, memorandums, and requests to agencies covering the pandemic, economic relief, climate change and racial equity.

He will also move to freeze or suspend dozens of last-minute Trump administrative practices and regulations, most of which can be reversed or neutered with a swipe of a pen.

IMMIGRATION

Perhaps the most complicated and potentially contentious act Biden did was to send to Congress an immigration reform bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which will provide an 8-year long path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants, a sharp contrast to his predecessor who offered harsh policies severely limiting immigration.

The Biden-Harris bill also aims to strengthen the family-based immigration system through which many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have immigrated to this country.

“President Biden’s immigration plan demonstrates that humane policy is smart policy,” stated Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the nonprofit Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. “If passed, this legislation will modernize our immigration system, keep families together, expand economic opportunity, address the root causes of migration, and restore United States leadership as a refuge for those fleeing persecution.”

In addition to the U.S. Citizenship Act, Biden announced a series of immigration-related executive orders, including protecting participants in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, reversing the Muslim and African travel bans, stopping border wall construction, and revoking the executive order that directed harsh and extreme immigration enforcement that includes halting deportations for 100 days. 

SCREEN CAPTURE

History was made with the swearing-in of Kamala Harris as Vice President. She became the
first woman, first Asian American, first Black woman to assume that role.

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

In another action, Biden did away with the Trump-created 1776 Commission's recent report that distorted the impact of slavery on America's culture and society. The commission was created to counter the historical view that slavery and the beliefs that endorsed it were the driving forces that formed the basis of today's racism and racial inequity.

In a separate executive order, Biden ordered advancing racial equity throughout the federal government recognizing that institutional racism has seeped into the foundations of our institutions, including federal entities that he oversees.

This order creates an initiative to advance racial equity, directing federal agencies to review of the state of equity within their agencies and directs them to engage with communities who have been historically underrepresented, underserved, and discriminated against in federal policies. This executive order revokes Trump's order that did away with diversity and inclusion training for federal government agencies, contractors, and grantees.

Presidential debate takes a disturbing turn when Trump avoids condemning white supremacists

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden held the first of three scheduled debates.

I'm scared. After last night's so-called debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, I'm very worried.

The moment where I gasped was when moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump to denounce white supremacists. Trump tried to talk around the question but Wallace persisted and Biden even egged him on.

Instead of condemning white supremacists, Trump said, "Proud Boys: Stay back and stand by."

I interpreted that to mean, "Be ready to act in case I need you."

The whoop and hollar you hear are the Proud Boys celebrating that Trump recognized them on national television.

The Proud Boys is a white supremacist organization that is so far right that Twitter and Facebook banned them from their social media apps. 

Nevertheless, using other social media, Proud Boys have been able to increase its membership during the Trump era. They are excited that membership will increase with Trump's mention.

The Proud Boys describe themselves as “a pro-Western fraternal organization for men,” according to the New York Times. 

The Anti-Defamation League was more blunt, saying the organization is considered a violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and misogynistic hate group,

A member of an affiliate organization, the Kenosha Guard, shot and killed two anti-racist demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin last month. After the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back during an arrest, a teenage member of the Kenosha Guard killed two anti-racist demonstrators. A week later, there was  a fatal shooting of a member of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group based in the Portland, Oregon area that has clashed with protesters in the past.

The Proud Boy's new logo.

"Stand by," means to be prepared to act and critics say the term implies that at some point, violence may be needed to quell matters such as a disputed election.

Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs wrote on social media that Trump’s remarks gave them  permission to “fuck” up the group’s foes.

"President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA... well sir! we're ready!!" Biggs wrote on the social media app Telegram.

Within hours of the debate, the Proud Boys incorporated the phrase into their logo.

Testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, FBI director Christopher Wray also said most of the racially motivated cases in the U.S. deal are instigated by white supremacists.

"Within the domestic terrorism bucket, the category as a whole, racially motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larger group. And within the racially motivated violent extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the biggest chunk of that," he said.

"Of the domestic terrorism threats, we last year elevated racially motivated extremism to be a national threat priority commensurate with homegrown violent extremists," Wray added.

The train-wreck of a debate hosted by conservative network Fox was an embarrassment with Trump ignoring the rules agreed to by the candidates' campaign staffs. Moderator Wallace couldn't control Trump, who often spoke over Biden during the former Vice President's attempted to answer Wallace's question. The first ten minutes of the debate was unintelligible because both candidates and Wallace spoke over each other.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this article is news laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions. 

Sunday Read: White extremists have infiltrated police ranks

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Louisiana police officer Raymond Mott (left) was fired after this photo of him surfaced doing a Nazi salute with a KKK member during an anti-immigration rally.

One of the ominous aspects of the racial awareness brought about in the aftermath of George Floyd's death is the apparent friendliness between the police and counter-protestors who show up at Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

In 2015, a classified FBI Counterterrorism Policy Guide, obtained by The Intercept, stated that “domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.”

Not all police officers are racists! Let me repeat: Not all police officers are racists.

Despite the lofty words of law enforcement leaders promising to institute reforms and weed ou the bad cops, the rank-and-file Blue Line just doesn't get why the reforms are necessary.

Just before police teams tear-gassed and forced demonstrators away from the White House just prior to Donald Trump's photo op at St. John's Episocopal Church, white police officers warned armed white counter-protesters to go inside because of the pending police action. 

• During protests in New York City, a New that has been linked to white supremacist groups, basically the thumb and forefinger forming an "O" and the other three fingers extended.

• The Albuquerque police department in communicating with each other on their walkie-talkies referred to one militia group at another protest as “heavily armed friendlies,” according to KUNM radio station.

• Around 100 young, white men wandered around Philadelphia wielding baseball bats, tire irons and golf clubs, unchallenged by the white police officers. They were allegedly protecting their neighborhoods. They "beat the shit" out of one bystander recording them. Witnesses said officers "high-fived" some of the vigilantes.

• In Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed, the leader of the police union of the Minneapolis Police Department, Lt. Bob Kroll, was a defendant in a discrimination lawsuit brought by four black police officers against the MPD. In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the Lieutenant openly wore a “White Power badge” on his a motorcycle jacket.

The vast majority police officers mean to do well in their service to their communities. Most never shoot their guns during their entire career.

Unfortunately, those good men and women are having their profession sullied by a few bad officers who abuse the power given to them by the public.

The recent incidents that have occurred since the anti-racist demonstrations began occurring every day since Floyd's death but earlier studies have warned about the infiltration of police departments by white supremacists and the recruitment of current police officers by the same radical white organizations.

As early as 2006, an FBI assessment, “White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement,” warned of white supremacist plans of “infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.” The report said that skinhead groups were encouraging members to become “ghost skins” within law enforcement agencies, a term the report said white supremacists use to describe members who “avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend into society and covertly advance white supremacist causes.”

One of the cases cited in this report about an 18-year-old Chinese student in Nashville, Indiana, who was attacked by a white supremacist with a hatchet.

In 2009 report by the Department of Homeland Security looked into right-wing extremism and its relationship to “violent radicalization” in the United States. 

“Federal law enforcement agencies in general — the FBI, the Marshals, the ATF — are aware that extremists have infiltrated state and local law enforcement agencies and that there are people in law enforcement agencies that may be sympathetic to these groups,” said principle researcher Daryl Johnson told The Intercept.

The reports were so strongly denounced by Republicans that nothing came of them during the Obama administration. Obama's DOJ did enter into consent decrees with over a dozen police departments needing reform. However, Donald Trump's first Attorney General Jeff Sessions stopped enforcing the decrees and no new consent decrees have been signed by Trump's DOJ. 

Despite these reports' warnings, there have been an alarming number of reports of officers exposing racist beliefs and tendencies from -- Facebook photos of an officer giving a Nazi salute or wearing a Klan hood to discovery of actual membership in hate groups such as the KKK, the League of the South or the Oathkeepers. 

When discovered, these racist officers are usually fired, but the good intentions of higher-ups don't do anything to prevent the rise in white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement or falling prey to racist ideology.

Police departments must do more to root out the bad officers and they need to employ more sophisticated personality and bias tests to discover the racist beliefs held by the men and women trying to enter law enforcement.

What makes the matter worse, it appears that the police officers have adopted the "no snitch" rule when fellow officers commit unlawful acts or use excessive force against a suspect. If law enforcement hopes to regain the trust of the people they are supposed to serve, the majority of police officers need to speak out when they see one of their peers doing something wrong.

Although the First Amendment’s freedoms of association and expression mean it’s perfectly legal for anyone to join a hate group and still be a member of law enforcement, modern screening tests can uncover aggressive behavior, flawed decision-making and racial biases that might affect the way they perform their duties thus should disqualify police recruits' eligibility. According to the FBI memo, the government can limit employment opportunities of members “when their memberships would interfere with their duties.”

“Many people in these communities of color feel they have been the subject of police violence for decades,” said Samuel Jones, professor of law at the John Marshall School of Law in Chicago. “And when an officer engages in conduct that adds or enhances that divide," says Jones,  "they are ultimately jeopardizing the integrity of their agencies and putting their fellow officers in danger.”

Now that George Floyd's killing by a police officer allowed people to see what Blacks have been saying for years -- the unequal justice meted out to their community.

Pete Simi, a sociologist who spent decades studying the proliferation of white supremacists in the U.S. military, agreed. “The report underscores the problem of even discussing this issue. It underscores how difficult this issue is to get any traction on, because a lot of people don’t want to discuss this, let alone actually do something about it.”

It took Floyd's death to get a serious police reform bill introduced in Congress. The House of Representatives voted June 25 to pass H.R. 7120, the "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020." 

The bill languishes unheard in the Mitch McConnell-controlled Senate.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

George Takei targets Mitch McCconnell's re-election

GEORGE TAKEI

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most powerful politicians in Washington DC has drawn the ire of activist George Takei.
In light of recent shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio by apparent followers of Donald Trump, a number of Democratic lawmakers responded to McConnell’s calls for prayers with demands for action. 

Actor, author, and activist Takei joined in to discuss inaction on gun control legislation and his opposition to McConnell and other Republican lawmakers, according to the Courier Journal.

“I am selecting 5 senate races to help flip in 2020,” Takei tweeted. “For his refusal to even consider gun safety legislation passed by the House, and for gutting election security and healthcare while serving as Trump’s handmaiden and Russia’s stooge, Mitch McConnell is on my list. #FlipFive.”

Takei has voiced his opposition to Republican inaction on gun control before. Last year, after the shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, he posted on Facebook that gun control “would not only be a humane solution, but a smart economic one as well.”

In May, he tweeted that he was “tempted to move to Kentucky just to run against Mitch McConnell,” according to WDRB.

Takei gained fame playing the part of helmsman Hikari Sulu in the iconic Star Trek television series. Since then he's been an powerful advocate on LGBTQ issues and racial equality and gained millions of followers on his social media accounts.

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