‘Midnight massacre’: ICE leaders purged as Trump admin eyes ‘more aggressive’ nationwide campaign led by Border Patrol
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Oct. 28, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
In an effort to further ratchet up its already brutal and indiscriminate mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration has begun a sweeping purge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership across US cities. The agency’s leaders are expected to be replaced with even more aggressive officials from the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection.
In what was dubbed a “midnight massacre,” the Washington Examiner reported that over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly relieved the ICE field office directors in five US cities—Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego—of their duties.
It is expected to be just the beginning of a broader overhaul, carried out “in hopes of netting more arrests and ratcheting up its flashy, high-profile deportation campaign.” Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin later reported that up to 12 of the agency’s 24 regional directors may be replaced, including those in El Paso, Seattle, Portland, and New Orleans.
The replacements are expected to come from the ranks of the US Border Patrol, which—to an even greater extent than ICE—has carried out indiscriminate mass arrests of immigrants, regardless of whether they have criminal records.
Many of the replacements are expected to be handpicked by Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander currently leading President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, where he’s faced widespread criticism for his ruthless tactics against protesters and for his apparent authorization of explicit racial profiling when carrying out arrests.
Under his watch, federal immigration enforcement carried out the infamous overnight raid on a South Shore apartment building earlier this month in which agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters and indiscriminately broke down residents’ doors, smashed furniture and belongings, and dragged dozens
Trump’s ICE jacks up weapons spending by 700%—including ‘guided missile warheads’
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Oct. 20, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
The $170 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement operations that the Republican Party included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act earlier this year led some to warn that the Trump administration was ramping up spending at anti-immigration agencies not just to fund its attacks on migrants, but to deploy federal forces against anyone it wanted to across US communities.
New reporting on Monday detailed just how much US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has spent on weaponry since President Donald Trump took office—weapons that have been purchased as the administration has turned federal agents on US cities such as Chicago and Portland, illustrating how the president is treating increasingly armed ICE officers as his “private military,” as one progressive critic said.
As images spread online of immigration agents deploying pepper spray and tear gas at nonviolent protesters, Judd Legum at Popular Information recently delved into government contracting records from the Federal Procurement Data System and found that ICE has increased its spending on “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing” by 700% this year compared to 2024 numbers.
The agency spent $71,515,762 on small arms from January 20—the day Trump began his second term—through October 18.
The number dwarfs ICE’s spending during the first Trump term, during which the agency spent about $8.4 million annually on small arms, and during President Joe Biden’s administration.
The type of weaponry purchased by ICE also raised alarm Monday, with Legum reporting that while most of the agency’s spending was on guns and armor, “there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and ‘guided missile warheads and explosive components.’”
“If the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military,
Trump: no money for health care, plenty for Argentina
This story originally appeared in Jacobin on Oct. 17, 2025. It is shared here with permission.
Last November, Americans voted for a president who said he would put “America First.” They’re getting “Argentina First” instead.
Earlier this week, the Donald Trump administration announced it was doubling its planned bailout of Argentina, which, under President Javier Milei’s harsh austerity program, has seen its economy stagnate and the country scramble to sell $1 billion of its foreign reserves to stabilize its collapsing currency.
The Trump team’s plan is to scrounge around for another $20 billion from the private sector to send to the crisis-stricken country, on top of the $20 billion of US taxpayer money Trump already pledged he would use to buy up pesos, which would supposedly be a loan. The $40 billion Trump is sending the country is roughly on par with the $41.8 billion it owes the International Monetary Fund — by far the largest debt on the organization’s books, half of which was taken out under Milei earlier this year.
There is no benefit to working Americans from this, and the president isn’t even pretending there is. As he explained, “it’s just helping a great philosophy take over a great country,” because “Argentina is one of the most beautiful countries that I’ve ever seen, and we want to see it succeed. It’s very simple.”
That “great philosophy” is Argentinian president Milei’s “anarcho-capitalism,” or libertarianism, which holds that government should be radically shrunk and its role in society limited to the barest essentials, while letting private, corporate interests run free. Seriously pursued, turning that philosophy into concrete reality necessitates the dismantling of safety net programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and Social Security; the
Trump baselessly calls Colombia’s Petro ‘drug dealer’ as US bombs another boat
‘No Kings’ protests set to sweep US even as Trump increases attacks on activists
This story was originally published on Truthout on Oct. 15, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Wearing a high-visibility vest that said “Press,” award-winning journalist Mario Guevara was arrested in June by local law enforcement while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump in Georgia. While the charges against him were eventually dropped, Guevara was handed over to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite being authorized to live and work in the United States. The Trump administration railroaded Guevara through the courts until October 3, when they deported him to El Salvador, a country he fled 20 years ago in fear for his life.
The targeting of Guevara has been widely regarded as an attack on press freedom — and a punishment for dissent. It’s also likely top of mind for some as people across the country prepare for the next round of “No Kings” protests this week. Experts say that the recent string of moves from the Trump administration is meant to criminalize political opposition and further put activists on edge — but they also urge people to stay engaged. Trump’s claims about a surge in anti-fascist political violence are false, and people across the country are developing clever ways to resist, even as the president attempts to sow mayhem in cities led by Democrats.
“Coupled with a legal concern about the very troubling expansion of an authoritarian state, it’s never going to be my legal advice to let an authoritarian do an authoritarianism,” Matthew Kellegrew, an attorney with the Civil Liberties Defense Center, told Truthout. “You can look out your window and see what Trump is saying