The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXVIII – “When ICE comesfor our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, XIX

~ tomdolen

*** “If you have an opportunity to make things better and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on this earth.”
[ Roberto Clemente ]

This post is the 19th in a series from the Minnesota war zone; describing to. YOU. what ordinary people did to resist the Trump DICTATORSHIP’ unAmerican cruelty. This is a WARNING to what could happen in YOUR. state

Most of this post is from McGrath’s “In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans.” But you can also read “Neighbors Band Together”. [Nick Woltman; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 2/22/26]: “The strangers who came to the aid of S.M. and his family are part of a sprawling, decentralized network comprising thousands of Minnesotans…”

“In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans” [Will McGrath; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/22/26], excerpts:

13]. “Here’s what you need to remember: There is no reward that comes later. No righteous justice will be dispensed…This story does not have a happy ending, and I can assure you the villains do not get punished at the end.”

14]. “.. you also need to understand…we’ve already won. The reward is right now…The reward is watching your city…organize in hyperlocal networks of compassion…”

15] “So in the resistance you drive the car pool. It’s fun..mostly not scary. Your invisible shield of whiteness has developed a small fissure. You understand that being a white mom dropping a kid at elementary school may no longer save you from being killed in the middle of the street…”

10] “Everyone is doing his part here, each to his ability. This is easier to accomplish, it seems, when joy and love are the engines….I know of an off-grid network of doctors offering care to immigrants, a sub rosa collective of restauranteurs organizing miniature food banks in their basements…Another friend is an immigration lawyer who spends his days endlessly filing habeas petitions.”

***. “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” [ Benjamin Franklin ]

1] “In the resistance we drive minivans…..”

2]. “In the resistance we play Idles loud, we prefer British punk, turn the volume up..”

3]. “In the resistance…we”re in our pajamas…”

4] “We’ve been doing this since December, eight weeks going on nine going on who knows.”

5]. “A network of neighborhood moms and dads bloomed organically…”

6]. “Today I’m driving a girl with red lipstick and a gentle, cautious smile.”

*** “Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.” [ Goethe ]

7] “what they don’t tell you is how beautiful the resistance can be.”

8] “What they don’t tell you is how fun the resistance can be.”

9] “As we tramped through the arctic streets, a bearded dude pulled a wagon bearing a generator and a vat of bubbling soup, dishing up bowls for anyone who cared to slurp.”

11] “Every day and night, in the neighborhoods most effected by ICE raids, volunteers stand on street corners and patrol the blocks, phones and whistles ready.”

12]. “Our loose parent network keeps growing, more than 80 of us now. The demand is greater each week..”

16] “This afternoon I’m driving a brother and sister. We’ve been listening to the radio, which reports that most all of the 3,000 ICE agents involved in the surge are leaving our state. No one believes it, not really, this declaration from the agency that asked us again and again to disbelieve our eyes, to accept that nurses were domestic terrorists, that children were violent criminals.”

12] “…we cruise the city in our minivans. You can’t shoot us all.”

*** “You shall love your neighbor as yourself…The stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” [ Leviticus 19: 18, 34 ]

B] “What really surprised us was the outpouring of support from people who didn’t have any direct experience with ICE. People in France would write and say, ‘I can make a comic for someone if they have a story they want to tell,”” said Woodman-Maynard, who was thrilled to see people making those arrangements in comments on the #iceoutcomics. Instagram posts.” [Chris Hewitt: “Uniting against ICE”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/23/26]

{NOTE: this article discuss how authors and cartoonists are raising money with book signings and art on Instagram. As McGrath said: “Everyone is doing his part here, each to his ability.” 50,000 people in. a freezing march; “thousands” in volunteer networks; people giving time and money…]

{NOTE: Ask. YOURSELF. – do YOU think this, and much more, would be occurring if people in Minnesota believed that ICE had arrested. 4,000. “worst of the worst”; if ICE was even really trying to find the “worst of the worst”? If 4,000. “worst of the worst”. were. REALLY. running around free in Minnesota streets??????????????????????]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXVII – “Nicht Schuldug”

~ tomdolen


*** “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!”
[ Isaiah 5: 12-113 ]

In the Nuremberg Trials, 22 top Nazis were on trial for their part in “Crimes against peace, War crimes, Crimes against humanity, committed by the infamous Nazi regime. Many responded “Nicht Schuldig” to accusations of their own guilt.

In more recent times, many top executives of the tobacco industry, when asked about harmful effects of tobacco – essentially replied “Nicht Schuldig.”

Currently, trials are beginning for the social media industry. In the past, top executives have responded, essentially, “Nicht Schuldig”. to accusations their products might be harming people, especially young people.

This post concerns the effort by top officials of the Trump DICTATORSHIP to declare. “Nicht Schuldig” when questioned about the conduct of ICE thugs on American streets. Please consider excerpts below”

A]. “Not giving an inch. Even as an American is killed.” [Ramesh Ponnuru: Washington Post Weekly; 2/1/26]

7] “…putting the administration’s enemies in their place is what the surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota was always about.”

1] Normally, a government would express condolences to the family, promise the public a full investigation. “But the Trump administration views such niceties as weakness. Looking weak, giving an inch to the critics, must be avoided at all costs.”

6] “.. the statements are also signs of moral rot and civic irresponsibility.”

*** “If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.” [ Samuel Johnson ]

2] “so Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem…described the victim, Alex Pretti, as someone who “arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” He had, she said, been “brandishing” a gun.”

3] “All available videos suggest otherwise. Noem was either lying or speaking with an indifference to truth that is morally indistinguishable from lying..”

4]. “In November, a federal judge concluded that Bovino had “lied multiple times”…”

5] “FBI Director Kash Patel contributed false statements about the law..”

8]. “On the day of this latest shooting, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Walz a letter listing the administration’s demands..”

9] “If the administration were consciously pursuing a strategy optimized for producing confrontation rather than for bringing down the number of illegal immigrants, it would be proceeding just as it has been.”

*** “The soul and spirit that animates and keeps up society is mutual trust.” [ Robert South ]

B} “ICE chief: No apologies for deaths”. [Madeleine Ngo, Michael Gold; New York Times; 2/11/26]

1] “Top immigration officials defended the administration’s mass deportation campaign during a congressional hearing Tuesday and repeatedly declined to answer questions about the fatal shootings of two U.s. citizens in Minneapolis.”

2] “Despite bipartisan outrage last month after federal agents killed Alex Pretti, House Republicans have largely returned to a staunch defense of federal immigration enforcement.”

3] “Pressed by Democrats to apologize to the families of two people killed in Minneapolis – Pretti and Renee Good – Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he welcomed the opportunity to speak with their families in private. But he said he would not apologize or comment on the shootings.”

4] “Asked whether he thought Pretti deserved to die, Rodney S. Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, also said he would not comment on open investigations.”

5] “During the hearing, Lyons declined to say how many ICE agents had been fired or dismissed for misconduct on the job.”

6] “Scott also declined to tell lawmakers how many agents had been disciplined for misconduct in recent immigration crackdowns.”

*** “Free governments have committed more flagrant acts of tyranny than the most perfectly despotic governments we have ever known.” [ Edmund Burke ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXVI – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, XVIII

~ tomdolen


***. “Human dignity, economic freedom, individual responsibility. These are the characteristics that distinguish democracy from all other forms devised by man.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]

“How ICE has upended life in Minnesota” [Following are excerpts from an address given by Edina Mayor James b. Hovland. at the U.S. conference of Mayors; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/6/26 ]

10] “If enforcement continues as it has, we will not be debating immigration alone. We will be confronting the long-term damage done to the relationship between government and the governed. And that is a reckoning no republic should take lightly.. [ “…the relationship between government and the governed.” ]

6]. “In just a few short weeks, this is what we have learned: No city can thrive without the rule of law and no nation can govern without borders; but enforcement, as currently practiced, is not merely removing individuals, it is hollowing out civic life, undermining public safety and leaving local leaders to pick up the pieces.. A democracy cannot prosper when enforcement is divorced from proportionality, clarity and humanity.. The strength of our country has never rested solely in the rigor of its laws; but in the confidence of its people that those laws are carried out with fairness and wisdom.”

2] “We have observed, first, a deep chill of uncertainty settle over many lawful, hardworking residents – citizens and noncitizens alike, and we have seen enforcement as visible, sudden and physical; it does not stop neatly at the door of those it seeks. It spreads outward…”

9]. “So this, then, is the message from Minnesota: Immigration enforcement, when conducted without close coordination with local realities and respect, does not merely remove individuals – it reshapes communities. It alters behavior, weakens trust, and imposes costs that towns and cities will carry long after the headlines fade.”

*** “This is what I call the American idea, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. – a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God.” [ Theodore parker ]

1]. “We are told the actions are precise. – they are not. We are told their effects are contained. they are not. Fear has not confined itself to a single household or status. Citizens withdraw alongside noncitizens. Law-abiding residents learn that invisibility feels safer than participation.”

3] “Second, there is an economic reckoning. In Minnesota, our restaurants, food-processing plants, construction sites, elder-care facilities and hospitals rely on immigrant labor. When enforcement actions are abrupt, entire workforces can vanish overnight. – not only undocumented workers, but legal employees who choose silence or absence over risk.”

4] “Third, we face the paradox of public safety. Local law enforcement, sworn to protect all residents, finds its work harder when communities fear that any interaction may carry federal consequence.”

5]. “Finally, there s the burden placed on local government. Mayors and city council members are left to explain federal actions we do not control, to calm fears we did not create, and to mend relationships strained by forces beyond our municipal boundaries.”

***. “No government is respectable which is not just. Without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society.” [ Daniel Webster ]

7] “In these trouble-filled days, the nation should know that Minnesota has no resisted legal immigration enforcement; it has resisted excess. it does not reject law; it rejects lawlessness clothed in authority. It does not deny the nation’s right to govern its borders; but it insists that such governance be worthy of and deferential to a free people.”

8]. “The future of immigration policy in America will not be shaped by those who merely cheer or condemn; but by those who demonstrate. – through practice and wisdom. – that security and humanity can coexist; that enforcement can be both firm and lawful; and, that the dignity of persons need not be a casualty in the implementation of policy.”

11] “In time, when this chapter in Minnesota history is read, not in the headlines, but in history, I hope it may be said that when the nation faltered between fear and fairness regarding who deserves to live in our country, that Minnesota chose the harder path; not merely to oppose what was wrong but to help build what is right.”

***. “This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” [ Elmer Davis ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXV. – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe,” XVII

~ tomdolen


***. “Trump is different from all prior presidents in his utter contempt for the Constitution and America’s democracy. Trump has turned the federal government against the American people…” [ J. Michael Luttig; former U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit judge; appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. He wrote this in “PRESIDENT FOR LIFE,” The Atlantic; December, 2025. – BEFORE “Operation Metro Surge” infected Minnesota.]

“What Did Surge Accomplish?”…Minnesota officials, legal experts dispute federal claims that Operation Metro Surge achieve3d its goals here” [Nick Woltman, Mara Gottfried, Frederick Melo; St. Paul pioneer Press; 2/15/26]. Excerpts:

8} “According to the Cato Institute, which reviewed leaked government data, 73% of individuals detained by ICE have no criminal convictions on record, and nearly half had no conviction or pending criminal charges. Only 5% had previously been convicted of a crime of violence.” [The BIG LIE. exposed]

6]. “The offenses on the “Worst of the Worst” website “were a mix of serious and less serious and less severe, such as property damage or violating court orders,” Schnell said. “These are not what most people would consider ‘worst of the worst’ violent felonies, since these crimes are often neither violent nor felonies.” [gotta jack up the numbers!!!!!!]

11] “Will it deter [illegal immigration]? It’s really hard to answer, because they certainly achieved the goal of scaring the hell out of people, and not just people who were undocumented..”

***. “Facts that are not frankly faced have a habit of stabbing us in the back.” [ Sir Harold Bowden ]

1] “What exactly ..[ICE]. came here for has shifted somewhat….The Trump administration’s stated goals…were to investigate allegations of fraud…and “target the worst of the worst”…It soon evolved into a mass deportation operation..”

2] “The roots of Operation metro Surge stretch back to mid-November, when right-wing media outlets claims that Somali immigrants in Minnesota were funneling money from social welfare programs to the terrorist group al-Shabaab….None of these cases was was linked to al-Shabaab.” [one big R-W LIE evolves into a bigger R-W LIE]

3] “The fraud investigations that drew the administration’s attention in Minnesota in the first place now appear hampered by the wave of resignations..” [ the Trump DICTATORSHIP shoots itself in the foot !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]

4]. “DHS said the operation targeted “criminal illegal aliens” with prior convictions for serious crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence and gang affiliation….Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty..[said].. “Anyone who has witnessed this occupation in our community, or seen the footage online, knows that none of this has made us safer,”

*** “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
[ Benjamin Franklin; 11/11/1755 ]

5]. “..Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell…said the “Worst of the Worst” website included nearly 70 people who served time in the state’s prisons and were “then transferred over to ICE because of our cooperation……”The clear implication was that these individuals had been on the loose…when in reality these individuals never touched the street…due to our voluntary cooperation..” [another BIG TRUMP LIE]

7] “For legal experts and other legal experts, more questions loom…”Of that 4,000, who knows where all those people are?”…” [So, Trump DICTATORSHIP – tell us who they are, where there are, IF there really are 4,000]

9] “…the Trump administration’s efforts around mass deportation have resulted in more than 18,000 “habeas corpus” challenges in federal court from immigrants claiming their detention is illegal, which is more than were filed under the last three administrations cvombined..”

10]. “The stated goal of Operation PARRIS was to focus on 5,600 refugees awaiting lawful permanent resident status. Rather than simply schedule sit-down interviews, federal agents resorted to armed arrests, removing people from their homes for weeks at a time, often out of state, without a bus ticket or plane ride back to Minnesota.”
[Read this AGAIN – it is ONE example of the monstrous CRUElTY “your’ government is inflicting; in this case, on people living and working in America, following rules, to become U.S. citizens.]

*** “Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear – kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor – with the cry of grave national emergency.” [ General Douglas MacArthur; 1957 ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXIV. – Do YOU Like To Eat Food???????

~ tomdolen


***. “Wooden-headedness consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived, fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be confused by facts.”
[ Barbara Tuchman ]

This post deals with the. STUPIDITY. and. DESTRUCTIVENESS of Trump DICTATORSHIP policies toward American agriculture. Read this and pray. – pray YOU will have enough food. Read comments by farmers, here and elsewhere, that show how Trump DICTATORSHIP policies could sabotage the production of YOUR food.”

This post features excerpts from. “FARMS FEAR FALLOUT OF IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN”. [Emma Nelson, Trey Mewes; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/10/26]:

3]. “Even before Operation Metro Surge began in December, ag leaders like Land O’ Lakes CEO Beth Ford warned that President Donald Trump’s hard stance on immigration could stoke a farm labor crisis. Workers were already in short supply, and the industry was grappling with the fallout from federal trade and agriculture policies that have reduced incomes and raised costs.” [!!! read this again, slowly. This is Trump DICTATORSHIP stupidity defined]

5]. “A group of 27 retired ag and government officials recently wrote a letter to members of Congress warning of a “widespread collapse” of the agriculture industry. “Mass deportations, removal of protected status and failure to reform the H-2A visa program are wreaking havoc with dairy, fruit and produce and meat processing,” the bipartisan group wrote. “Those disruptions are causing food to go to waste and driving up costs for consumers.” [[this is called self-sabotage – or, STUPIDITY enacted to serve stupid ideological goals]

7]. “John Rosenow owns a 700-cow dairy farm…He said 13 of his 18 employees are Mexican green card holders….if federal agents were to detain his employees, he would immediately reach for the cattle buyer’s phone number…”We would have to get out of here within a day..” [YOU think Trump might want to talk to John Rosenow?????]

*** “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [ Proverbs 29: 13 ]

1] “Minnesota farmers are worried they won’t have enough hands to tend livestock and manage crops this year, a consequence of…targeting undocumented workers from Latin America who keep U.s. agriculture churning.”

2] “ICE has recently raided dairy farms…and crop growers are worried they won’t have enough temporary visa holders to work the fields come spring.”

4] “If people employed on farms are afraid to come to work, or if ICE were to detain and deport many of them, it could spell catastrophe for Minnesota farms across the global food supply chain.”

6]. “Minnesota faces a growing worker shortage as its population ages and the state can’t afford to go without immigrant workers, he said….Communities are shrinking…”This situation is the worst thing that could have happened in Minnesota in this particular moment, in terms of the demographics.”

*** “Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.]
[ Thomas Jefferson; 1821 ]

8] “Some Minnesota farmers are responding to stepped-up immigration enforcement by supporting local immigrant families who are hiding and unable to work….”They thought this administration was going to leave them alone…Farmers are definitely upset.”

9] “LIke the central cities, Minnesota’s farm regions face an economic hit that is coming in focus. With immigrant workers afraid to leave home, farmers who depend on their labor and Main Street business owners who count them as customers are falling behind>”

10]. “When farmers can’t plan with confidence for the season, the entire farm-to-market pathway becomes really fragile,” Schneider said. “It’s really hard to recover from those kinds of shocks.. Ultimately, farmers’ ability to raise animals and harvest crops is about the most basic need: putting food on the table.”

***. “I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman’s cares.” [ George Washington; 1794 ]

{ NOTE: 10-15 years ago, a Wisconsin farmer decided he HAD to recruit and employ Mexican workers on his farm. – BECAUSE. – no native-born Americans would do the work. This is NOT an isolated statement. But, it IS a statement on the INCOMPETENCE. of the zealots running the Trump DICTATORSHIP. If YOUR. food prices go up even more. – ask about labor shortages on American farms and ranches. And, KNOW, from ALL evidence, this will be a consequence of the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s war on the people who produce. YOUR. food. }

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXIII. – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”

~ tomdolen


***. “Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any departure from it, under any circumstance, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.” [ Edmund Burke ]

This post is the 16th in a series of stories about the impact of the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s ICE thugs on the lives of ordinary people – like YOU. The trauma inflicted on people, neighborhoods, communities, cities throughout Minnesota will. NOT. end when the ICE thugs and Trump DICTATORSHIP end their cruelties.

This post presents comments by ordinary Minnesotans: “We need recourse to this lawlessness” [letters to the editor’. Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/7/26]. Excerpts follow:
1] “If you want to do something about lawless immigration enforcement…Call your congressional representatives and tell them to support the Bivens Act and the ICE and CB Constitutional Accountability Act. The Bivens Act would allow citizens to recover damages for constitutional violations by federal officials. The Constitutional Accountability Act would recognize that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies should have the same civil liability for officer misconduct that private employers have for their employees under the legal doctrine “respondeat superior.” [H.R.]

2] “In the rush to destroy the personal lives of individuals it seems the bosses at the Department of Justice are destroying due process and the rule of law….This collateral damage threatens everyone, regardless of political affiliation.” [ G.H. ]

3] “The problem is that federal immigration agents continually break the laws they are supposed to uphold, defying the Constitution and courts that protect us all. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border Control agents assault, arrest or deport U.S. citizens, they break the law….ICE even breaks the law and its own policies when undocumented immigrants it detains are denied access to attorneys or due process.” [ R.C. ]

4] “Minnesotans won’t forgive that easily”…….”Maybe Homan’s expectation is that Minnesotans will forgive that one of his own shot a nonimmigrant citizen who was pulling away when he stepped in front of her vehicle. Shot in the head. According to our highest officials, her killer is “immune” from prosecution. We won’t forget that or the videoed killing of a disarmed protestor lying facedown on the ground, by a cohort of Border Patrol agents. Ten shots in his back. We won’t forget the brutal weeks of masked gunmen roaming throughout our state…. Frozen in our memories are the taunts, the shoving, the teargassing of nonviolent protestors and constitutional observers by these thugs, the many cruel acts of lawless vengeance on the people of our state.” [ S.U. ]

5] “The political theater is the goal itself”…..”The policies that are tearing our state apart were cooked up by an aging narcissist who brags about his wildly inconsistent dictates [President Donald Trump]; lying and immoral opportunists who embrace cruelty [Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem]; and a trio of jingoist sadists who proudly trumpet their hatred of nonwhite immigrants [White House advisor Steven Miller, Corey Lewandowski and Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino]. Oh, and then there are the “influencers” who alter video and post laughable lies [whistles are dangerous weapon, etc.]….The “policy” is to grow their power by whipping up a MAGA base with fear and hatred of immigrants….The surge’s only purpose is performance cruelty.” [P.D. ]

6] “My grandma would be swearing, too” …”The occupants of ..]the Whipple Building].. need to understand that we are not going anywhere, and we will protest them to our last breath. These jackbooted thugs have brought it on themselves. I’m sorry if this writer’s delicate sensibilities were offended, but he should realize that if ICE agents had showed up at his polite, uplifting protest, the crowd would have turned on them with the same language as they were using at the Whipple Building.” [ P.S. ]

*** “Here in America we are descended in blood and spirit from revolutionaries and rebels – men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrines. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; WW II General; Republican 34th U.S. President ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXII. – ‘PRESIDENT. FOR. LIFE..

~ tomdolen

*** “For one person alone to have the Government of a people in his hands, would be too great a Temptation. It tends to excite and draw forth the Pride of man, to make him unsufferably haughty; it gives him too much liberty to exert his corruption and it encourages him to become a Tyrant and an oppressor, to dispense with Laws and break the most solemn oaths.” [ John Barnard ]

This post presents excerpts from. “PRESIDENT FOR LIFE….Donald Trump is trying to amass the powers of a king.” [ J. Michael Luttig; The Atlantic; December, 2025]. Mr. Luttig is a former federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

4] “..Trump is different from all prior presidents in his utter contempt for the Constitution and America’s
democracy.” [Read this again – think what this says]

3] “Trump proved in 2021 that he would do anything to remain in the White House.”

11]. “Trump has turned the federal government against the American people.”
[*** This is written BEFORE the ICE terrorism unleashed against Minnesota***]

8] “For anyone who doubts that Trump is contemplating a monarchical reign, consider how very far down that road he already is. Since returning to office, he has sought absolute power, unchecked by other branches of government, the 50 states, or the free press. On the first day..he launched a direct attack on the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment……. He has arrogated to himself Congress’ power to levy tariffs…….. He has usurped Congress’ spending and appropriation powers……. He has likewise usurped Congress’ power to establish executive-branch departments and agencies….unilaterally overhauling the U.S. government.”

***. “Uncontrolled power, in the hands of an incensed, imperious and rapacious conquerer, is an engine of dreadful execution; and woe be to that country over which it can be exercised.” [ Thomas Paine ]

1] “The 47th president prefers to stir feelings of fear, vulnerability, hopelessness, and political inevitability – the sense that he, and only he, can rescue the nation from looming peril.”

2] “The Founders of our nation foresaw a figure like Trump, a demagogue who would ascend to the presidency and refuse to relinquish power to a successor chosen by the American people in a free and fair election.”

5] “Witnesses before the January 6 committee testified that Trump expressed support for hanging Pence while the attack was under way.”

6] “among his first acts after being sworn in again was pardoning or commuting the sentences of every person convicted in connection with January 6. He then set about exacting revenge on the American justice system.”

***. “Every tyrant who has ever lived has believed in freedom – for himself.” [ Elbert Hubbard ]

7]. “Today, Trump has vastly greater powers than he did in 2020…a willing vice president….Trump’s party controls both houses of Congress…The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has paved the way for a third Trump term, by essentially granting him absolute immunity..”

9] “The Supreme court..has largely given the president its imprimatur to continue his power grab. It has either effectively reversed lower-court rulings against the president using the so-called shadow docket, or allowed the administration to proceed until the Court determines the constitutionality of various actions, by which time the damage to the Constitution, the U.S. government, and American society will have been done, as the justices well know.”

10] “The Founders built layers of safeguards into the American system of government to constrain a president…But Trump has run roughshod over these fail-safes too.”

***. “The technique of acquiring dictatorship over what has been a democracy…always involves the same mixture of bribery, propaganda and violence.” [ Bertrand Russell ]

12] “Trump has always told us exactly who he is. We have just not wanted to believe him. But we must believe him now..
– “This is the man who said in January 2016, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot sonebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters..”
– “The man who proposed in 2022 that the “Massive Fraud” he alleged in the 2020 election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” and who proclaimed, soon after reassuming office, “He who saves his Country does not violate any law.”
– “The man who, when asked the question “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution as president?,” answered, “I don’t know.”
– “The man who said in August that he can “do anything I want to do,” because he’s president.”
– “The man who has demanded that his attorney general and Department of Justice immediately prosecute his enemies..”
– “and the man who summoned American military generals from around the world to Quantico, Virginia, to tell them that “America is under invasion from within.” repeatedly describing the enemy invasion as being by the “radical left,” a term he now seemingly uses to characterize all of his political opponents.”

13] “We have been given the high charge of our forebears to “keep” the republic they founded a quarter of a millennium ago. If we do not keep it now, we will surely lose it.”

***. “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain neutrality in times of moral crisis.”
[ Dante Alighieri ]

So – what are YOU going to do???????? YOU may have one last chance to end the Trump DICTATORSHIP – on November 3, 2026. – vote out. EVERY REPUBLICAN. WHY?? Because they have NOT honored their oath to defend the Constitution. they’ve been to busy defending Donald Trump – and they’ll do it more.

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXXI – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, XV

~ tomdolen

*** “I’m not sure how many “sins” I would recognize in the world. Some would surely be defused by changed circumstances. But I can imagine none that is more irresponsibly sinful than the betrayal, the exploitation, of the young by those who should care for them.” [ Elizabeth Janeway ]

“Even with ICE’s departure, damage to kids is already done”
[ Laura Yuen; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/13/26]

“From bus stops to classrooms, fear is dismantling our children’s education”. [ Sondra Samuels on behalf of “Educational Partnership Coalition”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/3/26]


*** “The greater a child’s terror, and the earlier it is experienced, the harder it becomes to develop a strong and healthy sense of self.” [ Nathaniel Branden ]

This post is the 15th in a series describing to YOU the massive damage INTENTIONALLY done to the people of Minnesota by the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s militarized ICE occupation. The worst damage of all is likely to be to our children. Few of them will. EVER forget what they have seen, heard, experienced at the hands of ICE.

American children and youth, growing up since 1999 have had their innocence taken away, mostly by adults. School shootings and drills; social media addiction; A.I. attacks, especially on girls; ICE terrorism. We are fortunate that ANY of them are “normal.”

***. “People raised in love see things differently than those raised on survival.” [ Joy Marino ]

A] “Even with ICE’s departure, damaged to kids is already done”
3] “Repeated exposure to ..[trauma].. can change how kid’s brains develop, while increasing risks for chronic health problems, mental illness and substance abuse. Known as adverse childhood experiences, ghat bucket of trauma typically refers to things like neglect and abuse but is rapidly to include the pervasive of deportation. Toxic stress in childhood can lead to higher rates of physical conditions such as heart disease, cancer and obesity.”

11] “One thing is certain, though. Trauma has changed these kids. They will never forget, and neither will we.”

4] ” even if their parents are not detained, just the fear of that, or witnessing groups of masked, armed individuals patrolling your schools, neighborhoods and shops. – i wold classify that as an adverse childhood experience..”

10] “The couple has been here for more than two decades and has a pending application for permanent residency; their daughters are U.S. citizens. They should not have to live in terror.”

*** “In the history of mankind, fanaticism has caused more harm than vice.” [ Louis Kronenberger ]

1] “The hardest part about being locked up in his own home, says Fermin, is seeing his daughters cry.”

2]. “Thousands of children are staying home from school. They’re not socializing with friends, a development must. They’re skipping sports and other activities. In essence, they’re losing pieces of their childhood.”

5]. “We learned during COVID-19 how disastrous social isolation could be for our kids, with rates of depression and anxiety symptoms doubling during the pandemic. Still, most kids could could leave their homes to go for a walk. That isn’t the case for children in hiding.”

6] “Being holed up in a house does something to people,” said Taylor. “Kids are not getting a break. When you don’t know if someone or some entity is going to get you or your family, that’s a lot of anxiety to be holding.”

7] “Aside from the isolation, let’s not forget about the other purpose of school; learning. The deepening educational disparities are disproportionally hitting English-language learners snd other kids who can least afford to be missing school.”

8] “Struss is a member of several “moms groups” that have been problem-solving since the start of Operation Metro Surge. Every day, calls go out asking for cash to pay for kids’ clothing and rent money. So far, those needs have been met.”

9] “..districts that have been targeted by immigration agents report that kids are terrified and adults are exhausted. Tracy Xiong, a social worker for Columbia Heights schools – where several detained children, including Liam Conejo Ramos, attend. – told reporters last week that her job has changed drastically. Instead of asking for her help to navigate friendships, students ask how to cope with ICE breaking up famiies and taking away their friends.”

*** “A man of cruelty is God’s enemy.” [ Thomas Fuller ]

B] “From bus stops to classrooms, fear is dismantling our children’s education”
1]. “Research confirms that toxic stress interrupts development and harms a child’s health. Evidence shows that these adverse childhood experiences directly dismantle a student’s ability to learn. Our coalition warns that this operation has crossed a line: It is disrupting the educational system we have worked so hard to rebuild.”

***. “The roots of a child’s ability to cope and thrive, regardless of circumstances, lie in that child’s having had at least a small, safe place… in which, in the companionship of a loving person, that child could discover that he or she was lovable and capable of loving in return.” [ Fred Rogers ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXX – Time for Tom Homan to. PUT. UP. OR. SHUT. UP!!!!

~ tomdolen


*** “One lie engenders another – Once committed, the liar has to go on in his course of lying; it is the penalty of his transgressions.” [ Francis Jacox ]

On Thursday, February 12, 2026. – Trump “border Czar” Tom Homan said Operation Metro Surge had yielded “successful results” in the Twin Cities, including the arrests of 4,000 people. [“an end in sight”; Sarah nelson; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/13/26]

PROVE IT!!!! PUBLICLY release the mug shots, the names, the addresses, the criminal records of the 4,000 “worst of the worst.” Every police department n America would have specific details.

Homan claimed “..we’re leaving Minnesota safer.” PROVE. IT!!!!! Show us who the 4,000 “worst of the worst” are the Trump DICTATORSHIP claims to have taken off Minnesota streets.

If Homan refuses to give the American public the. PROOF. of taking 4,000. “worst of the worst” off American streets. – then this question arises: Do “we” have a democracy, where government is accountable to its citizens or not????? If government, ANY government, claims to have done something like arrest 4,000 people – back it up with PROOF – the REAL mug shots, names, etc.

Ronald Reagan used to say – “Trust, but verify.” The Trump DICTATORSHIP wants Americans to believe them. – give us REASONS TO BELIEVE: produce the proof ‘our” government really did arrest 4,000 “worst of the worst” in Minnesota. – show America the 4,000 mug shots, real names, etc.

Tom Homan. – PROVE IT. Prove you are not a liar. – give America the identification of the 4,000. “worst of the worst”. you claim to have taken off Minnesota streets in “Operation Metro Surge.”

Consider this “letter to the editor: “When truth becomes optional, a nation loses its shared foundation. Democracies don’t collapse overnight. They fade when leaders decide accuracy doesn’t matter and citizens are told to ignore what they know to be real.”

“If we can’t trust our government to speak truthfully and act transparently, America as we know it cannot endure. The only safeguard left is a public that insists facts matter, even when they’re uncomfortable. Because once the lie becomes the point, democracy has already begun to slip away.” [ P.N.: “Hold fast to the truth”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 1/29/26]


*** “There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.” [ George Washington: 7/31/1795 ]



What are YOU going to do????? Will YOU make YOUR voice heard – DEMAND ICE release the names of the 4,000 “worst of the worst” it. CLAIMS. to have arrested off Minnesota streets in “Operation Metro Surge”. Otherwise, WHY can YOU trust the Trump DICTATORSHIP to EVER tell YOU the TRUTH on ANYTHING??????
this should be easy – they claim to have arrested 4,000 “criminals”. – PROVE. IT. !!!!!!!!!!!!

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CXXIX. – “When ICE comes for our kids’ caregivers, no one is safe”, XIV

~ tomdolen


***. “Tyrants forego all respect for humanity in proportion as they sink beneath it. Taught to believe themselves of a different species, they really become so, lose their participation with their kind, and in mimicking the god dwindle into the brute.” [ William Hazlitt ]

This post is the 14th in a series from the Minnesota WAR ZONE – and. – a WARNING. – YOUR state too, could suffer a MILITARY. occupation by ICE thugs thinking they have “immunity” to do ANYTHING, including arresting and assaulting U.S. citizens – because they are ‘on a mission” to. “Make America Great Again.”

This post presents excerpts from: “Culture of community, caring makes Minneapolis strong”. { Eric Roper; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/1/26 ]:
1] “They can’t seem to believe it. Federal officials, talking about Minneapolis all over the place, keep stressing just how UNUSUAL this resistance is. They’ve never seen anything like it.”

2]. “In one city – in one city we have this outrage and this powder keg happening,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said recently on Fox News. “and that’s not right. And it doesn’t happen anywhere else.”

3] “But the federal cowboys who flooded Minnesota streets actually ran headfirst into the state’s formidable civil society – a network of civically engaged people and organizations that makes this a risky place for the federal government to pick a fight. And the bold response has set an example for the rest of the country that may complicate the Trump administration stomping on some other state.”

4]. “Just listen to the protestors in Boston chanting: “We’re not cold, we’re not afraid! Minnie taught us to be brave!” Or Bruce Springsteen’s new protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis.”

***. “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of the oppressed.” [ Steve Biko; 1971 ]

5]. “The resistance movement rooted in Minneapolis went mainstream because the Trump administration overplayed its hand, deploying the largest-ever surge of immigration agents as part of a “retribution’ campaign.”

6]. “That outsized intrusion was ostensibly payback for the massive theft of federal welfare dollars by members of a refugee community….The resulting racial profiling and excessive violence by federal agents became an urgent call for action for a community..”

7] “More importantly, they didn’t grasp that Minnesotans are unusually plugged in. They vote and volunteer more than almost every other state’s residents, a reflection of Minnesota’s participatory and collectivist Scandinavian roots. They support a robust local media ecosystem to foster community and scrutinize the government.”

8] “Loads of people grabbed whistles and joined encrypted chats to follow and document ICE activity. As far back as December, a reader emailed me in disbelief at the hundreds of people who packed into ICE observation training at a church in Uptown – training events that are common now. All these vigilant eyeballs left few shadows for ICE to operate in.”

***. “Rulers are the servants and agents of the people; the people are their masters.” [ Patrick henry; 1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention ]

9] “Behind all this conflict have been extraordinary efforts of neighborly support, such as the massive food collection drives to benefit immigrants unable to work or leave their homes. Or the large employers who chipped in to help struggling small businesses. or the people escorting kids to school to protect their parents.”

10]. “This is such a deeply moving experience to watch a community that has had such divisions find each others’ hands,” said former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who grew up in the city. “It’s been the most powerful collective experience I’ve ever been a part of.”

11] “The Trump administration’s focus on Walz and Frey, who have become household names for Fox News viewers, reflects a very Trumpian philosophy about who holds the power in a democratic society. The Minnesota resistance to ICE has been a bottom-up movement driven by constituents, who have emboldened their leaders to stand their ground.”

*** “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the services of the country but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
[ Thomas Paine, 1776 ]

[ NOTE: for more stories of the bottom-up Minnesota reaction to the Trump DICTATORSHIP’s ICE thugs, read any of the following articles. More and more are being written – because the TRUE story is “soccer Moms” and suburban Dads becoming so outraged at Trump DICTATORSHIP cruelty, inhumanity, un-American behavior, they did something.
A. “With a jackboot on our necks, the North Star state rises’ [R.T. Rybak; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/1/26]
B] “Resistance working from the bottom up”. [Evan Ramstad; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/1/26]
C] “suburban dad inspires others to take to the streets”. [Rachel Hutton; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/7/26]

*** “I predict future historians, political scientists and even business executives will study and model how everyday Minnesotans outsmarted and discombobulated federal agents and the vast propaganda machine supporting them.” [Even Ramstad: “Resistance working from the bottom up”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/1/26]