Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LLB

@llnew.bsky.social

Must read 🧵
Including the screenshots

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Oct 28

🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.

Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.

Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
BREAKING: Per four senior DHS & Trump admin sources, a mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers. I'm told the move is spearheaded by Corey Lewandowski, and a handful of the ICE Chiefs will likely be replaced by Border Patrol & CBP officials, some of whom will be hand-picked by aggressive & controversial Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. I'm told some of the ICE leadership removed from their positions include the ICE Field Office Directors in:

- Los Angeles
- Phoenix
- Philadelphia
- Denver
- El Paso
- San Diego
- Seattle/Portland
- New Orleans

Border Patrol officials taking over ICE leadership positions would be extremely significant, as Border Patrol and ICE do different things, and I've done numerous ride-alongs/embeds with both.

Generally speaking, ICE typically conducts very targeted operations, largely going after criminal illegal aliens or those with deportation orders, but almost always knowing who they are targeting for arrest, often conducting surveillance to learn their schedules before and waiting hours before arresting them if needed.

Border Patrol, under Trump 2.0, while sometimes doing their own targeted operations, has been extremely aggressive and has been at the forefront of some of the most controversial immigration enforcement operations we've seen so far, carrying out roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them. A majority of the viral videos you see online are Border Patrol agents, including the use of a Trojan horse style Penske moving truck at a Los Angeles Home Depot, an operation organized by Bovino.

ICE often gets blamed for what Border Patrol does, as the media and activists often cannot tell the difference between federal agents, and everyone is called "ICE". I'm told there are growing concerns about the political and PR fallout associated with some of the roving patrols Border Patrol is conducting as lawsuits continue to stack up and mid-terms approach next year.

I'm told there is significant friction within different wings of DHS and the administration, with Border Czar Tom Homan & ICE Director Todd Lyons preferring to prioritize targeting criminal aliens & the "worst of the worst" or those with deportation orders, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and BP Commander Bovino prefer to use aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump's promises of mass deportations.

I am hearing from both sides of this friction.

One senior DHS official tells me:

"ICE started with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol started in LA in June, we've (DHS) lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization. It's getting numbers, but at what cost?".

Border Patrol agents I've talked to defend their tactics, with one telling me:

"What did everyone think mass deportations meant? Only the worst? Tom Homan has said it himself, anyone in the US illegally is on the table."

It's quite a situation, as both sides of this are on the same team, with the same end goals, but different perspectives on how to get there.

Another DHS official confirmed the personnel changes to me on deep background, adding that the moves are based on performance and doing what is needed to achieve the best results.

Official statement to
@FoxNews
via
@TriciaOhio
:

"While we have no personnel changes to announce at this time, the Trump Administration remains laser focused on delivering results and removing violent criminal illegal aliens from this country."
7:57 PM · Oct 27, 2025
·
29.6K
Views

October 28, 2025 at 12:23 PM

Reposted by LLB

People For the American Way

@peoplefor.bsky.social

Pete Hegseth shares a clip saying women shouldn’t have the right to vote, the 19th Amendment should be “repealed,” and women should “submit” to their husbands: “All of Christ for All of Life”

August 8, 2025 at 3:17 PM

LLB

@llnew.bsky.social

He is Puerto Rican! US citizen!

Sue Fulton @suefulton.bsky.social · Jul 12

We have heard that a 20 year Navy veteran - a senior enlisted leader in the Reserves - was detained in LA, told that his military ID was fake, and held by ICE. Command tracked him down in ICE custody after he missed drill.
Navy JAG is actually now suggesting that sailors carry passports…?!?!

July 13, 2025 at 12:33 AM

Reposted by LLB

VoteVets

@votevets.org

Today, Veterans, members of Congress, and the Women in the Services Coalition stood on the Capitol steps to say what this administration refuses to:

Women serve. Women lead. Women have always fought for this country.

We won’t let Trump erase their legacy—or silence those still in uniform.

June 5, 2025 at 6:46 PM

Reposted by LLB

Pete Buttigieg

@petebuttigieg.bsky.social

This isn't hypothetical.

The coming days are bringing higher prices and disrupted supply chains, this time not because of a pandemic or a war, but self-inflicted by our country's government under this president.

May 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM

LLB

@llnew.bsky.social

Thank you, Sue!

Sue Fulton @suefulton.bsky.social · Mar 20

NJ Leg testimony.
The Hegseth ideology is that women and Black people are presumed inferior; that brown people with accents aren't American; and that transgender people have no right to exist.

March 21, 2025 at 2:26 AM

LLB

@llnew.bsky.social

How so many veterans feel. It is cold comfort that my dad, who was also an Air Force veteran who died in the care of the VA, is not here to witness this.

Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · Mar 11

This letter appeared in the Bloomsburg PA Press Enterprise this morning. I am assured the writer is who he purports to be, an Air Force veteran.

benion
Grieving a wasted life
At a point in life when there are far too many days behind than ahead, one tends to
re-elected in contrast to standing up for the
reflect on a life lived. In my lifetime decades
greater good?
were devoted to protecting America. Sacri
A compromised Supreme Court recently
fices were made both by myself and my fam-
trotted out a shallow token standards of
Ily in military service. The tip of the spear:
conduct for themselves. Apparently it's
Countless weeks over the years were spent
not a bribe to accept favors after a deci-sion; only before. Corporations are people?
living at the end of a runway on alert with an Really? Whatever happened to Superman's armed B-52 as generations of aviators have motto of "truth, justice, and the American done before and since.
way?"
The purpose: if required, be airborne
Pay-to-play is the theme of the day. Un-
in minutes on a one-way trip bringing a
challenged and uncontested blatant conflicts
nuclear Armageddon to an adversary. Fly:
of interest abound. The rule of law is situ-
ing the unfriendly skies over North Viet-
ational if adhered to at all. America can no
nam provided a brief interlude, but overall,
longer be trusted. The unbridled pursuit of
this long line of silent sentinels stood firm
power and wealth driven by unquenchable
to protect America by deterring external
greed has left service above self and Con-
threats to our freedoms and way of life
stitutional norms in the dustbin of a quaint
across the decades. I was privileged to serve past. with men and women of integrity imbued
Recently the VA said exposure to Agent
with a sense of service.
Orange is the probable cause of the can-
I'm truly grateful that the B-52s we flew, which were built tough, were engineered
cers I live with. Actually I suspect it's more from yet unspecified sources, which cause
on scientific principles and fabricated by experienced, skilled workers rather than
military pilots to have significantly higher
founded on mere beli…

March 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM

Reposted by LLB

Mark Hertling

@markhertling.bsky.social

On this International Women’s Day, here’s a repost of an article from late January.

In every organization I’ve been in, the inclusion of women only contributed to success & better outcomes. And there’s lots of research & anecdotes that show why.

www.thebulwark.com/p/women-in-c...

Having Women in Combat Is Still Controversial—But Shouldn’t Be

We’re all better off with women bravely serving the country.

www.thebulwark.com

March 8, 2025 at 2:14 PM

LLB

@llnew.bsky.social

This is book burning. But worse, because it’s invisible.

apnews.com/article/dei-...

War heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal in Pentagon's DEI purge

References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and women and minorities are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts m...

apnews.com

March 8, 2025 at 1:37 AM

Reposted by LLB

Judd Legum

@juddlegum.bsky.social

NOTE: The opponents of DEI are purging anyone who is not a white man from military leadership

This is not about merit; it’s about normalizing racism and misogyny

No More Female 4-Stars: Franchetti Firing Leaves Top Ranks Filled by Men

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy's first female chief, last week without any clear explanation -- part of a purge of top uniformed leadership that included the Joint...

www.military.com

March 1, 2025 at 11:31 PM

Reposted by LLB

George Takei

@georgetakei.bsky.social

A reminder for these times.

March 1, 2025 at 10:24 PM

Reposted by LLB

U.S. Senator Jack Reed

@reed.senate.gov

February 28, 2025 at 9:04 PM

Reposted by LLB

Jen Rubin

@jenrubin.bsky.social

When the political leaders fire, for no apparent cause, senior leaders and, as important, the lawyers who embody the protection of the military members under the law... the relationship between the military and the nation has been fundamentally altered.
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...