BLAD AL_ARAB AUTANI

Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Former Gaza Humanitarian Fund Contractor Says Aid Sites Were “Designed as Death Traps”

“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation needs to be defunded, shut down,” former contractor Anthony Aguilar says.

By: Amy Goodman ,; DemocracyNow!

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As more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid at militarized aid distribution sites run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a former GHF security contractor tells Democracy Now! he saw U.S. mercenaries and Israeli forces commit war crimes by indiscriminately shooting at starving Palestinians waiting for aid. “What I witnessed in Gaza, I can only describe as a dystopian, post-apocalyptic wasteland,” says Anthony Aguilar, a retired U.S. soldier who worked as a subcontractor with UG Solutions in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid delivery operation. “We, the United States, are complicit. We are involved, hand in hand, in the atrocities and the genocide that is currently undergoing in Gaza.”

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: “The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.” That’s the dire warning issued today by the world’s leading hunger monitor. This comes as the official death toll in Gaza has topped 60,000, but that’s widely viewed to be a vast undercount. At least 147 Palestinians, including 88 children, have starved to death. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied there’s any starvation in Gaza, but on Monday President Trump contradicted Netanyahu’s claim.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids are — that’s real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can’t fake that.

AMY GOODMAN: In related news, a group of at least 21 U.S. senators has written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging the U.S. to stop funding the shadowy U.S.- and Israeli-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was created to take over aid deliveries in Gaza, replacing the United Nations. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen is the lead author of the letter. He appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday and said the aid sites have been turned into death traps.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: American taxpayers should not be spending one penny to fund this private organization, backed by mercenaries and by the IDF, that has become a death trap. Over a thousand people have died from being shot and killed as starving people crowd to try to get food at just these four sites.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Anthony Aguilar, a whistleblower who worked as a subcontractor in Gaza as part of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid delivery operation. He resigned from his job with UG Solutions after witnessing Palestinians being fatally shot as they sought food at aid sites. Anthony Aguilar is a retired lieutenant colonel who served for 25 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.

Anthony, thanks so much for joining us on Democracy Now! Can you start off by talking about your experience in Gaza and telling us exactly what you saw?

ANTHONY AGUILAR: Thank you. It’s an honor to be here and to share this story. I do not call this my story. I call this the story of the oppressed, the story of the Palestinians in Gaza who are dying at the hands of starvation and violence.

What I witnessed in Gaza, I can only describe as a dystopian, post-apocalyptic wasteland. We — we, the United States — are complicit. We are involved, hand in hand, in the atrocities and the genocide that is currently undergoing in Gaza. For anyone who says that there is no starvation or mass hunger, or that not only are we at the precipice, but we have stepped over the line of wide-scale famine, to anyone who says that that’s not happening, shame on you. Shame on you. It’s inhumane.

What I witnessed in Gaza at all four distribution sites — I didn’t just go to one for a photo-op. I didn’t go to one to watch a distribution and then say, “Yes, this looks great.” I spent days on end in Gaza at all four distribution sites, at Kerem Shalom, where the aid is loaded for distribution, and at both operation centers that control the daily convoys, logistics operations and distribution for the four sites. What I saw on the sites, around the sites, to and from the sites, can be described as nothing but war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international law. This is not hyperbole. This is not platitudes or drama. This is the truth.

I break that down by what I would describe as the sites themselves. I spoke to Senator Van Hollen last week, and we had a very frank discussion on the status of the sites and what’s at these sites. The sites have not only become death traps, they were designed as death traps. All four distribution locations were intentionally, deliberately constructed, planned and built in the middle of an active combat zone. Some may argue, “Well, all of Gaza is a war zone.” That may be true, but there are parts of Gaza that are direct — or, determined to be active, operational combat zones where Israeli Defense Forces are operating. Those sites were built in the middle of those areas intentionally. It’s not by accident. That, in and of itself, to designate humanitarian distribution sites to service an unarmed, starving population, to build them deliberately in an active combat zone, is a violation of the Geneva Convention protocols. It’s a violation of humanitarian law. And in my opinion, it’s a violation of humanity in general.

The sites, not only where they were built, all four sites around the perimeter and the roads leading in and out are barricaded by razor wire — not barbed wire, not concertina wire that we use in warfare for obstacle obstruction or for paths. Razor wire. Geneva Conventions specifically prohibit the use of razor wire to restrict areas that civilians are servicing — hospitals, water points, food distribution points. And we’re using it. Not only did the IDF provide it for us to use it on the sites, we, UG Solutions, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, asked for it specifically. Razor wire is designed to maim and kill, and we’re using that to channelize and herd, if you will, thousands of unarmed, starving civilians. That’s a war crime.

The actions on the sites — escalation of force, no standard operating procedures to dictate that, no rules of engagement provided to the armed contractors on the ground, the indiscriminate use of force, lethal and nonlethal, against unarmed civilians. I want to make that clear. We aren’t there on the distribution sites defending ourselves against Hamas. We are using indiscriminate force, targeting civilians, escalation of force that goes far beyond the measures of appropriate, against an unarmed, starving population.

The equipment, the equipment that we were issued, fully automatic weapons, which, in and of itself, is not a violation of protocol. However, we were issued M855 green-tipped ammunition. That’s important, because green-tipped ammunition is a steel-jacketed copper round that’s designed to — specifically designed to penetrate armor. It’s designed to kill. It’s designed to shoot through reinforced objects, to kill someone on the other side of it. That’s what all the UG Solutions contractors are equipped with right now in country. Everyone carries a standard basic load of 210 rounds of M855 armor-piercing military combat ammunition. Why would anyone need that, even if to defend themselves for their — defend their lives, against an unarmed population? It’s inappropriate. That, in and of itself, that action there, is a war crime.

I’d call the status of our — of us being in the country — every UG Solutions contract American, U.S. citizens, in Israel, that are armed with fully automatic weapons in Gaza as we speak, today, right now, and have been since the 26th of May, we are in the country on a B2 entry visa as tourists. We are in the country as tourists. So, if a family member wanted to go to Israel to visit Jerusalem, they would enter Israel on a tourist visa. That’s the legal status that armed American citizens are in Gaza right now with the authority to use hostile force against an unarmed civilian on a tourist visa. That is a violation of humanitarian international law, period.

The things that I just described are not just opinions, they’re facts. The sites were designed to lure, bait, aid and kill. The food that we distribute, nowhere near enough. To Mr. Johnnie Moore, shame on you for celebrating 92 million meals delivered into Gaza. Shame on you. It’s a very simple equation: 92 divided by 2.2 million people, divided by 3 million — or, three meals a day. That’s what GHF proclaims. We’ve been distributing aid since the 26th of May, 26th May to now the 29th of June, 64 days of continuous distribution, and we’ve only managed to distribute 92 million meals. When you break that down, again, it’s a simple equation. That’s 14 days of meals. So, out of 64 days, we’ve provided 14 days of meals to the entire population in the enclave of Gaza. That’s inhumane. That would be like saying that you only eat every fourth day — you only eat on Thursday, and you only eat on Monday. And to say that that’s humanitarian? So, to anyone that says that that’s enough or — not even close to enough. The narrative of GHF needs help to do the rest, you don’t need help, because you’re not even anywhere close to where we need to be.

The fact is, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is not trained, equipped, manned or staffed to run humanitarian aid and humanitarian assistance of this magnitude. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation needs to be defunded, shut down, and the United Nations needs to be allowed back in, in full scale, supported by the United States, resourced, helped. Instead of giving the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation $60 million, use that $60 million to support the United Nations mechanism to get 400 sites back to operating, to feed 2.1 million people every day. That was the capacity of the United Nations.

So, what I saw in Gaza, to me, concerns me as an American. What we are doing in Gaza, in being complicit with what the Israeli Defense Forces are doing, is un-American. I didn’t come forward to talk because I want to disregard the struggle and the fight. I stand with Israel against Hamas and their atrocities. The world stands with Israel against Hamas and their atrocities. No one would argue that October 7th wasn’t atrocious. But if we, as a nation, the United States, and Israel, our closest — one of our closest allies, if we go down the road of saying we’re doing what Hamas did, and saying that that’s OK, we are losing our humanity. And we cannot go down that road. It’s un-American. It’s not in line with our values.

Two months ago, I hung up my uniform after 25 years of service to this nation. I didn’t hang up my oath. I swore an oath to the Constitution. I didn’t swear an oath to the president, to the Congress, to a boss, to a contract, to a paycheck. I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America. And that Constitution is underlined in American values, dignity, respect, respect for human life. Right now America is on a dangerous road. And if we don’t stop now, end this and back the humanitarian aid process that should be going into Gaza, shame on us, un-American. I’m going to make sure the truth is known.

AMY GOODMAN: Anthony Aguilar is a retired lieutenant colonel Green Beret, as he said, 25 years of service in the U.S. military, was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star in combat in 2005. How did you come to work at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation? How were you recruited? Who were you exactly working for? Are you considered a U.S. government employee? Were you?

ANTHONY AGUILAR: I was not considered a U.S. government employee. I was specifically hired as an independent subcontractor under UG Solutions, which held this subcontract under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, specifically for the armed security and protection of the aid. I was contacted by UG Solutions on the 13th of May. They were specifically looking for retired, recently retired military personnel who had special operations background. So I was contacted by them for that reason and asked if I would be interested in joining UG Solutions on this operation.

AMY GOODMAN: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has dismissed your testimony, Anthony, accusing you of making false claims with no basis in reality. The GHF said, quote, “It should be emphasized that Mr. Aguilar was employed as a subcontractor and was fired over a month ago for inappropriate behavior. Following the dismissal, we received threats that unless he was reinstated, action would be taken against us, raising questions regarding the motivation behind his interviews. We also have evidence that he likely forged documents and presented misleading videos to promote his false narrative.” Again, this is the accusation of the GHF. Can you respond to what they’ve said, and talk about the videos that they’re talking about?

ANTHONY AGUILAR: What I find interesting about stating that the claims I make have no basis in reality, I provided videos. Those videos have been analyzed in their metadata and geolocation. In fact, UG Solutions themselves posted one of my videos on their press release website, showing the exact same thing, stating, “Here’s the whole story,” simply just showing what the video showed with UG Solutions contractors shooting at civilians. It’s outlandish.

Back to the question of me being fired or not, when I was — the short period of time that I was on contract, 41 days I was on contract, in that short period of time, UG Solutions promoted me twice, gave me a pay raise twice, asked me to take on more and more responsibility, relied on me for my expertise. I terminated my employment on the 13th of June in writing. I terminated that employment under the clear reasons that I could no longer be a part of this unethical, inhumane operation. After I tendered my resignation on the 13th of June, UG Solutions asked me to stay, to reconsider. They continued to pay me for an entire pay period. They continued to cover my life insurance. They continued to pay for all of my expenses until the 26th of June. If UG Solutions terminated me or fired me on the 13th of June, why would they continue to pay me my full pay, my coverage, and pay for all my expenses through the 26th of June, asking me to stay and reconsider my position? I wasn’t fired. I resigned because I could no longer be a part of it.

In terms of performance, all of the operations, the convoy operation plans, the distribution plans, the operational plans, I generated. I wrote them for UG Solutions because they did not have anyone on their staff who had the requisite experience, knowledge and expertise to do that type of work. So, you’re welcome, UG Solutions. You’re welcome, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, because if it weren’t for me and other contractors that have skill, former Green Berets, former veterans, if it weren’t for us — they’re doing the work — you wouldn’t be able to operate at all. No one in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, from Johnnie Moore to Phil Reilly of SRS to Jameson Govoni of UG Solutions, have any experience in in-depth planning and operational planning, period, much less for a humanitarian assistance mission.
They’re understaffed. They’re underqualified. And they’re in way over their head for a mission that they should not have.

AMY GOODMAN: I just want to explain to people, according to The New York Times, Johnnie Moore is “a former Trump campaign adviser, was appointed to the board of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. … Moore was [co-chair] of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign’s evangelical advisory board and an influential figure during … Trump’s first administration. He was part of a coalition of Christian leaders who paid regular visits to the White House, … as well as prayer meetings in the Oval Office.” His PR company, Kairos, was acquired in 2022 by JDA Worldwide. He “now serves as president of that larger firm. When he announced the acquisition on social media, … Moore referred to his work in public relations as his ‘day job,’ as he has had many other roles and projects linked to his faith and interest in foreign policy, including writing books on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa.” He told The New York Times “he and other evangelicals had pressed … Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and to move the U.S. Embassy there.” He, “like many evangelicals, including Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, is committed to a Jewish state based on his interpretation of the Bible.”

I wanted to go to one of the videos you shared with the BBC showing armed American guards working with GHF opening fire at an aid site in Gaza on May 29th. This is a short excerpt.

U.S. CONTRACTOR: I think you hit one.

AMY GOODMAN: “I think you hit one.” That’s what we hear someone saying. Who was saying that, Anthony? And describe what we’re seeing and hearing in this video. Who is firing? Who are they shooting at?

ANTHONY AGUILAR: In that video, the firing that you hear is gunfire from an assault rifle being fired by a UG Solutions independent security contractor. That individual is firing at a group of unarmed civilians who have left the site. That is distribution site number four in the central — up in central Gaza, near the Netzarim Corridor. The Palestinians had left the site. They were moving south, back towards the bridge over Gadi or Waza — or, Wadi Gaza, back into Bureij, where they — the town they came from.

This individual was shooting at them, at their feet, over their heads, into the crowd. You hear the clear and distinct American voice and the shooting. That shooting is very close to that camera, where I am standing. I filmed that video, not Hamas, not the Gaza Health Ministry, not some biased agent news media outlet. I filmed that, an American. That individual that’s shooting, you hear him clearly say, “Woo hoo!” cheering. And the response from the other contractor on the ground, who was standing about 15 feet from me, who says, “I think you got one.” And at the same time, the other contractor then responds with, “Hell, yeah, boy!” What they are talking about is the got one is a human being, a civilian, an unarmed, starving civilian, who came to our site to get food, who was returning home. Why did we shoot at him? Because we wanted them to leave faster.

That video is genuine. It’s been time-stamped analyzed. It’s been geolocated. It’s been — the metadata has been assessed. In fact, in fact, UG Solutions themselves posted that exact same video on their press release page to refute the video itself. So they used the video that I filmed to refute the video that I filmed.

AMY GOODMAN: So, UG Solutions, who you worked for, is a U.S. mercenary firm. GHF distribution sites are guarded by two U.S. security firms, Safe Reach Solutions, SRS, and UG Solutions — SRS run by a former high-ranking CIA officer tied to a U.S. private equity firm in Chicago, according to Middle East Eye. How did you get recruited?

ANTHONY AGUILAR: Again, UG — so, I was not recruited by Safe Reach Solutions or the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. I didn’t work for them. I was a subcontractor specifically under UG Solutions. UG Solutions is located in Davidson, North Carolina. So, they were first reaching out to retired special operators, special operations forces soldiers who had that specific skill set, who were local to North Carolina, because it would have been very — it would have been quicker and easier to recruit them and get them onboarded.

So, I was called by UG Solutions. When the operation was first explained to me, I felt that — I felt that it was a noble cause. One thing that I will agree with Johnnie Moore in this, one thing he has said early on, there is nothing more Christian than feeding people. I would agree with that. What I don’t agree with is that what we are doing is not that — lying, covering the truth, under the auspice of feeding people for profit. Remember, these are private organizations. The person in charge of Safe Reach Solutions is a former CIA officer and part of a private equity firm. That’s who we have in charge of distributing humanitarian aid to a starving population? So, when I first went into this, I was excited. I felt it was a noble cause. Within hours of being in Israel and seeing how this was going to unfold, I immediately had dire concerns as to the intentions, as to the execution, and what was going to happen when this fails.

AMY GOODMAN: Did other people share your feelings? And is it accurate to call you, though you’re a former retired Green Beret, a lieutenant colonel in Special Forces for years — is it accurate to call you a mercenary, as you worked with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?

ANTHONY AGUILAR: So, I would not refer to myself as a mercenary, nor would I refer to myself as a whistleblower. I’m a patriotic American who wants America to know the truth. When I took this contract to go on this mission, my motivations were clear. I wanted to use my years of expertise, my experience in planning, my experience in executing operations of a large-scale magnitude to contribute to this mission succeeding. That’s what I wanted.

I retired. I recently had retired, thoroughly enjoyed being a stay-at-home dad, watching The Golden Girls in the afternoon and enjoying my afternoon walks with my dog, enjoyed that. I didn’t take on this mission for personal gain or money. I took on this mission because I believed in it. I resigned my contract and left, walked away from the money — and they were paying us a lot of money — walked away from that money, because nothing is going to buy my soul. Nothing is going to pay for my values and my patriotism as an American.

I’m an American first. I’m not a contractor. I’m not a mercenary. I’m not a whistleblower. I’m a patriotic American that wants the American people to know the truth of what we are involved in, in a very complex and complicated environment that, quite frankly, right now we are on the wrong side of history.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to end it there, but I want to just be very clear: You saw former U.S. military, you saw IDF, you saw the Israeli soldiers opening fire on hungry Palestinians.

ANTHONY AGUILAR: Without a doubt, yes, full stop.

AMY GOODMAN: Anthony Aguilar worked as a subcontractor with UG Solutions with the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a delivery operation so-called, retired lieutenant colonel, served for 25 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret, has been awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Thank you for joining us.

Coming up, Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: “The Women Gather,” Sweet Honey in the Rock in our Democracy Now! firehouse studio.

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The Snapshot Wednesday, July 30, 2025.

The Snapshot

Common Ills

Wednesday, July 30, 2025. Chump doesn't have trade deals (though many in the media humor him), Pam Bondi can't stop lying, nursing mothers and Maine police officers among the latest targeted by ICE, and much more.

Prices continue to increase under Donald Chump. Tariffs are taxes and those are costs passed onto consumers. "American companies big and small are suddenly facing much higher costs leaving them to decide whether to swallow that cost and lay off workers or pass it on to you the consumer," Stephanie Ruhle noted last night on MSNBC's THE LAST WORD WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE.

Frameworks are not contracts, Dan Nathan pointed out, "We just don't have a lot of detail about that."

At SUBSTACK, economist Paul Krugman writes:

First off: two more of my inequality primers are now free at the Stone Center web site. The list so far:

Why did the rich pull away from the rest?

The importance of worker power

A Trumpian diversion

Oligarchs and the rise of mega-fortunes

Now, on to current events.

Trump has now announced a trade “deal” with the European Union that looks a lot like the “deal” he made with Japan. I use scare quotes because there is little sign of a quid pro quo. The United States is imposing a 15 percent tariff that is lower than previously threatened, but still vastly higher than we had before Trump. Overall U.S. tariffs seem likely to settle roughly at the level that prevailed after the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930.

In return we got a vague promise of higher European investment in the United States. When Japan made a similar promise last week, administration officials asserted that this would mean hundreds of billions flowing into rebuilding U.S. industry. Japanese officials, however, say that the money will consist almost entirely of loans and loan guarantees. This strongly suggests that Japan will, if it does anything at all, simply be sticking Trump’s name on money flows that would have happened anyway. There’s every reason to suspect that the same will be true of whatever the EU does.

And like the Japan deal, this deal seems to place lower tariffs on cars made in Europe, which have very little U.S. content, than on cars made in Canada, which contain many American parts. Add in the punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum, and Trump’s trade policy seems, if anything, to be tilting the playing field against U.S. manufacturing.

When I point out that Trump’s idea of trade deals seems counterproductive even in terms of his claimed goal of boosting manufacturing, I get some pushback from readers along these lines: “Oh, yeah? If you’re such an expert on trade negotiations, tell me what deal you think you could have made.”

OK, I can answer that. If I had been in charge of negotiating with the European Union, I would have been able to get a deal with the following components:

· Very low tariffs on U.S. exports of manufactured goods to Europe, on the order of 1 percent

· Near balance in bilateral trade, with U.S. exports to Europe close to 90 percent of our imports from Europe

· U.S. companies allowed to operate freely in Europe, earning hundreds of billions a year in profits

· European corporations investing more than $150 billion a year — real investment, not loans — in the United States

Why do I believe that I could have negotiated a deal like that? Because that’s what U.S.-EU international transactions actually looked like in 2024. So that’s what we could have gotten by doing nothing.

Paul Krugman discussed the economy with THE NEW REPUBLIC's Greg Sargent -- here for audio, here for transcript. Excerpt:

Krugman: The U.S. runs a trade deficit overall. We buy more stuff from abroad than we sell. That’s not because U.S. goods are uncompetitive, really. It’s basically because the U.S. has been an attractive investment destination, which keeps the dollar strong. And it’s just arithmetic that the inflow of capital to the U.S. equals the trade deficit. I know arithmetic has a well-known liberal bias, but you can’t really reduce the trade deficit unless you reduce the flow of investment into the U.S. It’s not really about tariffs at all. Other things Trump is doing—making the U.S. looks like a crazy place—may end up reducing that flow of investment, but the tariffs won’t do that at all. So that’s the broad macroeconomic picture. And then if you look at the micro—sorry, economist talk—but if you look at what it’s actually doing to industries, Trump is in general putting higher tariffs on the goods that we use to produce manufactured goods than he is on the consumer goods that are produced with those inputs. So he’s actually raising the costs of U.S. manufacturing more than he is giving them protection from foreign competition.

So the overall thrust of his strategy is actually anti-manufacturing. During Trump’s first term, a bunch of studies went through trying to figure out the impact of the tariffs on manufacturing, and they all came to the conclusion that Trump’s tariffs on overall cost the US some manufacturing jobs. And we thought, Well, he won’t make that mistake again. But he is. He’s making that mistake again, but five times bigger.

Sargent: How long would you give this? In fairness, how long should we wait? How many years do we have to wait until we can say definitively that Trump has failed to restore manufacture in the U.S. with his regime? How long do we have to wait?

Krugman: I would say.… I mean, it’s never going to happen. But if you look at it, maybe here’s a point of comparison. Biden had the Inflation Reduction Act, which had nothing to do with reducing inflation but was a lot about promoting green manufacturing and so on. And you could see within two years, it was obvious that the IRA was generating a huge boom in investment in manufacturing in the U.S. So I think to give Trump more than two years to show that this is actually doing something positive would be holding him to a different standard. If you don’t see this in two years, then it’s a failure. I have no question. There’s just nothing in there.

If you actually looked at the trade deal with Japan and now with Europe, who was hopping mad, screaming, This is a terrible deal? It was a lot of industry groups. The auto industry was in hysterics over last week’s Japan deal because it was just clear to them. They said, Stuff that we have a stake in, which includes manufacturing in Canada and Mexico, is being disadvantaged relative to cars from Japan, which is not us. Anyway, I don’t think we’re going to see anything. Now if we can talk about the other provisions of the deal later on, it turns out they’re completely empty. If we’re not seeing a boom in manufacturing investment by the end of Trump’s term.… To even wait that long would be giving him more time than people gave Biden, and Biden’s policy actually did boost manufacturing.

Sargent: It’s just so crazy. This is just never talked about. These two things are never talked about together. On the one hand, Trump is doing all these tariffs to supposedly try and spur manufacturing this country. Meanwhile, they’re functionally doing all they can to wipe out the nascent green energy manufacturing industry in the U.S., which is actually something that competes well with China if it works over the long haul. The whole thing is so ridiculous. Why don’t more people point that basic disconnect out: that they’re wiping away the manufacturing jobs of the future while imposing tariffs to create manufacturing jobs? Why don’t we hear that said more often?

Krugman: Yeah, the media is really—well, not only on this—dropping the ball. And I have to say, I don’t think it’s the reporters. I think that the reporters at major news organizations may not all be top-ranked economists but they do know enough about it to know that the whole switch in policy [is] actually toward reduced manufacturing and wiping out a lot of jobs. They’re editorial decisions. To cast this as a win for Trump, that’s an editorial decision. I’m sure that wasn’t the reporter’s idea of how to portray it. And we can talk.… That’s a whole other discussion. Basically, for the most part—not my department, but this is crazy—the fact that we’re actually going backward and undermining a lot of the industries of the future barely [gets] reported.

Sargent: And never in the context of Trump and Vance’s constant rhapsodizing about manufacturing. You mentioned that there were other things in the deal that are empty, I want to quickly touch on those. You wrote in your piece that the promised $750 billion in spending on U.S. energy and the $600 billion increase in investment in the U.S. are probably illusory or nothing. What’s the deal with that? The whole thing is starting to look awfully like a pretty big scam as so much that Trump does is.

Krugman: I should say, by the time people hear this, there will have been a second Substack post which is already in the can for the day after we had this conversation looking into those things. So yeah, the Europeans said we’re going to do $600 billion of investment in the U.S. Take them in two pieces. Not clear that that actually helps, but the question you should immediately ask is, How are they going to do that? Europe is not China. The Chinese government can tell companies or banks, Send the money there, but Europe doesn’t work that way. Europe is a market economy like ours. And this was a deal with the European commission in Brussels, which isn’t even a government. The European commission negotiates trade deals, but it has absolutely no authority over domestic economic policies within European countries.

This morning, Ben tries to make sense of it all for MEIDASTOUCH NEWS

Jon Luke Evans. That's our next topic. Donald Chump's war on immigrants and the various lives he's destroying. Patrick Whittle (AP) reports:

The chief of police in a Maine resort town has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, who the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May.

ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency said Evans was illegally present in the U.S. and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.

You read that right. Chump's gestapo is now arresting police officers. Daniella Silva (CNN) adds

The Old Orchard Beach Police Department said in a statement on Monday that as part of its standard hiring process, Evans completed an I-9 federal immigration and work authorization form to verify that he was legally able to work in the U.S.

Police Chief Elise Chard said in the statement that the town reviewed multiple forms of identification and submitted the forms for Evans to the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program. The system is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration to let employers know if a prospective employee has legal authorization to work in the U.S.

“The Department of Homeland Security then verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S.,” Chard said. “The form was submitted and approved by DHS on May 12, 2025.”

“Evans would not have been permitted to begin work as a reserve officer until and unless Homeland Security verified his status,” she said.

“In Old Orchard Beach, reserve police officers are part-time, seasonal employees who must meet the same background checks, pass the same physical agility tests, and receive the same medical evaluations as full-time police officers,” Chard said.

More and more, the question around the country becomes: When's ICE coming for you?

AP notes another horror story

A Marine Corps veteran’s wife has been released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention following advocacy from Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who backs President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.

Until this week, Mexican national Paola Clouatre had been one of tens of thousands of people in ICE custody as the Trump administration continues to press immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day suspected of being in the US illegally.

Jillian Frankel (PEOPLE MAGAZINE) adds

Since late May, Paola, who was still breastfeeding 4-month-old daughter Lyn when she was arrested, had been held at a facility about three hours from her family, who live in Baton Rouge, La.

Now she's back home with husband Adrian, 26, and their two children, including nearly 2-year-old son, Noah.

The couple spoke with PEOPLE from Louisiana, as their young kids cooed and laughed in the background, one day after they were reunited when ICE freed Paola from detention.

Her case is one of an increasing number around the country drawing attention to federal immigration policies. President Donald Trump successfully campaigned last year on cracking down on illegal immigration, but some of his deportations have stirred major debate.

Paola, though no longer held in Monroe, La., is required to wear an ankle monitor for the remainder of her legal proceedings.

Again, when's ICE coming for you

US Senator John Kennedy was able to work to free her. But ICE frequently tries to do run-arounds when it comes to Congress. For example, William J. Ford (MARYLAND MATTERS) reports:

Six members of Maryland’s congressional delegation were turned away Monday when they showed up to inspect a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore where they said people are being temporarily held for deportation or awaiting court hearings.

Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D-2nd), Sarah Elfreth (D-3rd), Glenn Ivey (D-4th) and Kweisi Mfume (D-7th) entered the George H. Fallon Federal Building, where the ICE detention facility is located.

In a joint statement, the lawmakers said the visit was part of their oversight responsibility as members of Congress, and that they were “exercising our legal authority … to inspect the Baltimore federal holding facility, and, if necessary, speak directly with detainees.”

But they were denied entry by an ICE official who told the lawmakers that it was an office, not a detention facility, and that they were not authorized to to enter, even though they wrote the head of ICE and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last Monday to alert them to the visit.

Despite the claim that it’s just an office, Alsobrooks said previous visits by congressional staffers, and a court brief filed by Maryland Attorney General, indicate that immigrants are being held for several days at a time in “hold rooms” at the facility. Those rooms are designed to hold detainees for up to 12 hours while awaiting a court appearance, but are not meant for longer stays, lawmakers said.

“They are breaking the law in there,” Alsobrooks said. She said the official they encountered refused to say who gave the order to bar lawmawkers from the building.

Senator Angela Alsobrooks' office issued the following regarding the above incident

“It was abundantly clear that the people working in this facility have been instructed to hide the horror of the inhumane treatment of the people in their custody.” – Senator Alsobrooks

We will not let this cover-up continue – we will continue pushing for accountability and the humane enforcement of our immigration laws.” – Senator Van Hollen

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Representatives Kweisi Mfume, Glenn Ivey, Johnny Olszewski, Jr., and Sarah Elfreth (all D-Md.) conducted oversight on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Baltimore and on the President’s draconian and inhumane tactics he is employing – throwing innocent people in jail, housing undocumented people in awful conditions, snatching people off the street, and more. The lawmakers were denied access to the facility despite it being within their constitutional authority to conduct Congressional oversight.

After the visit, Senator Alsobrooks remarked:

“It was abundantly clear that the people working in this facility have been instructed to hide the horror of the inhumane treatment of the people in their custody.”

She continued:

“And the man behind it all – Donald Trump – clearly does not care about any of us.

“His inhumanity is not limited to the people of these facilities.

“We recently had the awful flood in Western Maryland. People’s lives were disrupted and their homes and livelihoods taken away. And what is the response of this Administration: deny Maryland disaster relief. You know why?

“Because he couldn’t care less, really, about any of us.”

Senator Van Hollen remarked:

“Donald Trump told the American people that his Administration’s immigration policy would focus on ‘the worst of the worst,’ detaining dangerous criminals. That’s a targeted approach that we could support, but it was a lie. In reality they are pursuing a cruel mass deportation agenda where scores of people – the vast majority of whom pose no public safety threat – are held under inhumane conditions at places like this Baltimore ICE office and shipped off without any due process. Congress has a legal authority and responsibility to conduct oversight, but the Trump Administration refuses to let the American public see the truth. We will not let this cover-up continue – we will continue pushing for accountability and the humane enforcement of our immigration laws.”

###

The gestapo agents of ICE make whatever threats that they want and break whatever laws they want. Imagine being told in the United States that "you have no rights." 18 year old high school student and United States citizen Kenny Laynez doesn't have to imagine it. ICE bullied him and told him "you have no rights." Cristian Benavides (CBS NEWS) reports:

Video Laynez recorded of the arrest shows an officer telling him, a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in the country, "You got no rights here. You're an amigo, brother."

"It hurts me, hearing them saying that I have no rights here because I look like, um, you know, Hispanic, I'm Hispanic," Laynez told CBS News.

The car was pulled over for having too many people sitting in the front seat. Two passengers were undocumented, according to Laynez, and officers are seen on the video using a Taser. The teens' two co-workers were both detained, and Laynez says he has been unable to contact them.

"We're not resisting. We're not committing any crime to, you know, run away," Laynez said, recalling the arrest.

Laynez's phone continued recording after he was detained, capturing an exchange in which an officer tells another, "They're starting to resist more. We're gonna end up shooting some of them."

Another officer replies, "Just remember, you can smell that too with a $30,000 bonus."

Florida Highway Patrol did not comment.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told CBS News in a statement that the individuals "resisted arrest" and said immigration agents are facing a surge in assaults while doing their job. The statement made no mention that a U.S. citizen had been detained.

ICE lies. Over and over. And they get caught lying above.

Diamond Walker and Valentina Palm (PALM BEACH POST) reported:

Kenny Laynez's cellphone camera captured every undocumented immigrant’s nightmare on video when it happened to him on the morning of May 2. One problem: He is a U.S. citizen. Here's more to know about what happened.

Kenny Laynez, a U.S. citizen, was driving with his mother and coworkers to their landscaping jobs when they were pulled over on Singer Island by Florida Highway Patrol and Border Patrol agents. Officers dragged them from the car, grabbing necks, twisting arms, using a Taser, and later joked about raises and promotions.

Laynez, who was born and raised in West Palm Beach, was held for six hours at a federal facility in Riviera Beach before being released. His mom, who is Guatemalan and has legal status in this country, was not detained. His coworkers were taken to the Krome Detention Center in Miami and later released on bail.

“I have rights. I was born and raised here," Laynez told the officers, according to a copy of the video shared by the Guatemalan-Maya Center of Lake Worth Beach.

"You don’t have any rights here. You are a ‘Migo,’ brother,” said the officer, who hurried him into a van. "Migo" is short for "amigo," the Spanish word for "friend, " an apparent reference to Laynez's ethnicity.

There's no resisting arrest on the recording. ICE is lying. They are the new gestapo. They break the law and act with impunity.

Donald Chump's war on immigrants continues to include Cubans. Now we have a long history with Cuban Americans at this site. I don't believe you come to this country -- or go to another -- seeking a new start while dragging your grudges over here with you. Meaning, don't you turn Florida into a staging ground for your war on Castro or whomever. I'm not the voice of Cuban immigrants or Cuban Americans. But I do think that we need to realize something: Donald Chump has turned his back on Cubans. No voting group has done more for the Republican Party -- especially in the state of Florida. And their thanks for that? One attack on Cuban immigrants after another. Cuban-Americans have every right to feel outraged. This is not how you thank your base. Nick Mordowanec (NEWSWEEK) reports:

A Cuban immigrant detained and held in Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" facility after about 25 years of legal U.S. status had his court hearing canceled last minute and without provided cause, according to his attorney.

The abrupt cancellation of a scheduled immigration court hearing on July 23 for 31-year-old Gonzalo Almanza, a green card holder and U.S. permanent resident since 2000, ties to debate over due process, detainee treatment, and legal access at the recently opened immigration detention center in Florida's Everglades region.

Almanza's case echoes broader legal struggles facing migrants and permanent residents as lawyers and civil rights groups challenge the facility's operations in court, arguing detainees are denied basic rights and access to counsel.

No record currently exists for Almanza within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database.

Almanza, who arrived in the United States at the age of 6, has been detained at the Alligator Alcatraz facility since July 11.

His wife, Aschly Valdez, said Almanza was taken into custody by immigration authorities because of a past racketeering charge, despite ongoing efforts to fulfill legal obligations and restitution.

On the bromance of Chump and Epstein, there are many new developments. I think Pam Bondi's lying is one of the important ones that's not getting enough attention. Does Pam Bondi just lie every time she opens her mouth? Dan Ruetenik (CBS NEWS) reports:

Attorney General Pam Bondi was questioned about the gap during a July 8 Cabinet meeting with President Trump. She said the missing minute was the result of a nightly reset of the video that caused the recording system to miss one recording minute every night, and attributed that information to the Bureau of Prions.

"There was a minute that was off that counter and what we learned from [the] Bureau of Prisons was every year, every night, they redo that video," Bondi said. The equipment was old — "from like 1999, so every night is reset, so every night should have that same missing minute," she said.

Bondi said the department would share other video that showed the same thing happened every night when the video system reset. That video, however, has not yet been released.

Experts in surveillance video, including video forensic professionals, told CBS News that a nightly reset would have been unusual and was not something they encountered in most video systems.

One thing that is clear, forensic experts say, is that the version of the recording released by the FBI was edited and not raw, as the government stated. Bondi, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and others have said publicly that the video would be released unaltered.

When the DOJ and FBI shared the video with the public, they said in a news release that it was the "full raw" video, and that "anyone entering or attempting to enter the tier where Epstein's cell was located from the SHU common area would have been captured by this footage."

Jim Stafford was one of several video forensic analysts who looked at the video for CBS News using specialized software to extract the underlying coding, known as metadata. He said the metadata showed that the file was first created on May 23 of this year and that it was likely a "screen capture, not an actual export" of the raw file.

He also told CBS News the metadata showed that the video was in fact two separate videos stitched together. It was also slightly sped up, so the video covering 11 hours runs approximately 10 hours and 53 minutes in length.

CBS asked the FBI and Justice Department for a response, but they declined to comment. The Bureau of Prisons said they "had no additional information to provide".

She lied ny on-stop about the video she released. Who can trust a word out of her mouth at this point? In February, the files were on her desk, she was soon to release them. July 6th there was nothing, per Bondi, to release. As this month winds down we learn that in May she met with Chump and warned him that he was in the files. Who can trust her

The one other thing I'd add is former Senator Claire McCaskill's correct in the video below from this morning's MORNING JOE.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:

WATCH: Padilla pushes back against indiscriminate ICE raids and the militarization of Los Angeles

A one-pager on the Registry bill is available here.

LOS ANGELES, CA — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, hosted a press conference in Los Angeles alongside immigration advocates, impacted families, and community leaders to announce legislation to expand a pathway to lawful permanent residency for millions of long-term U.S. residents. Amid the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate immigration enforcement in California and across the country, the bill would offer a forward-looking, strategic update to our outdated immigration system to counter President Trump and Stephen Miller’s demonization of undocumented immigrant communities.

Padilla’s Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would update the existing Registry statute of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by adjusting the Registry date to meet current circumstances so that an immigrant may qualify to apply for lawful permanent resident status if they have lived in the U.S. continuously for at least seven years before filing an application, do not have a criminal record, and meet all other current eligibility requirements to receive a green card.

This overdue update would provide a much-needed pathway to a green card for more than 8 million people, including Dreamers, forcibly displaced citizens (TPS holders), children of long-term visa holders, essential workers, and highly skilled members of our workforce, such as H-1B visa holders, who have been waiting years for a green card to become available. According to 2023 FWD.us estimates, if the undocumented individuals covered in this bill eventually became citizens, they would contribute approximately $121 billion to the U.S. economy annually and about $35 billion in taxes.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is co-leading the legislation in the Senate, and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

“Americans know there’s a better path forward than the Trump Administration’s cruel scapegoating of hardworking immigrants and fearmongering of California communities,” said Senator Padilla. “We believe that if you’ve lived here for over seven years, paid taxes for years, contributed to your community for years, and you don’t have a criminal record, then you deserve a pathway to legalization. My bill is a commonsense fix to our outdated immigration system and the same kind of reform that Republican President Ronald Reagan embraced four decades ago, calling it a ‘matter of basic fairness.’ This legislation creates no new bureaucracies or agencies — it’s simply an update to a longstanding pathway to reflect today’s reality and provide a fair shot at the American Dream for millions of Dreamers, TPS holders, and highly skilled workers who have faced delays and uncertainty for decades.”

“Recently, we have seen devastating arrests of immigrants who have spent their lives in this country, building communities and families in the United States, without any due process. Most have never committed any crime. Protections for these hard-working individuals are long overdue. It’s common sense that immigrants who pose no safety threat and contribute to our country should be able to call America home with certainty; additionally, it’s also common sense that the small percentage of undocumented immigrants who do commit violent crimes should be removed. Expanding the registry pathway to citizenship is a practical solution to provide stability to immigrants who have worked and contributed to our country for years. It’s part of the solution, and I look forward to working to pass this bill into law,” said U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Durbin, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“When Donald Trump ran for president, he pledged to deport violent criminals. Instead, masked, heavily-armed agents, often refusing to identify themselves, are aggressively, sometimes violently, targeting day laborers, busboys, farmworkers, and some of the hardest-working people in this country. It’s outrageous and deserves the condemnation of every Member of Congress. We need to control our borders, but we also need a straightforward reform solution for those who have resided peacefully for a long time in America,” said Representative Lofgren. “My colleagues and I are reintroducing our registry legislation to simply update a historically-bipartisan provision that provides lawful permanent resident status to vetted immigrants who have been a part of our communities for years. Providing stability to our communities and our workforces – versus terrorizing them – will make our country stronger.”

The bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Section 249 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as the Registry, gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the discretion to register certain individuals for lawful permanent resident status if they have been in the country since a certain date and meet other requirements. Section 249 was first codified in 1929 and Congress has modified it four times, most recently during the Reagan Administration in 1986. No changes have been made since 1986, and the cutoff date for eligibility remains January 1, 1972 — more than 50 years ago.

Specifically, the Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would:

Amend the existing Registry statute by moving the eligibility cutoff date so that an immigrant may qualify for lawful permanent resident status if they have been in the U.S. for at least seven years before filing an application under Registry.
Preempt the need for further congressional action by making the eligibility cutoff rolling, instead of tying it to a specific date, as it is now.

Padilla continues to lead the charge to pass commonsense immigration reforms that strengthen communities, protect long-term residents, and unlock America’s economic potential. He was joined today by community members impacted by the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration raids, including Alejandro Barranco — a veteran and the son of Narciso, who was violently detained by masked Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Orange County.

“As the son of a hardworking immigrant, I never imagined our family’s story would become national news. Yet the violent and unjust treatment my father endured on June 21st is one that countless others are experiencing across this country. My father, a man who has spent over 30 years working to provide for our family, was beaten and detained by men with no identification—simply for doing the work that makes this country great. This attack wasn’t just on him; it was on every immigrant who has ever sacrificed for the American dream. It’s long overdue for this country’s broken immigration system to be fixed, or more families will continue to be torn apart. I stand with leaders like Senator Padilla to fight for a pathway to citizenship for people like my dad, whose contributions make America stronger,” said Alejandro Barranco.

“I ask the American people: if you trust us to pick your crops, help build your homes, take care of your children and elderly parents, play with sons and daughters in the same sports teams, why won’t you trust us to be part of the American dream? A path to citizenship is the only solution that will protect us and the nation. Only a path to citizenship will allow us to live free in this our home, the United States of America,” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).

Senator Padilla is a leading voice in Congress for providing long-term undocumented immigrants with pathways to citizenship or permanent legal residence. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and mass deportation assaults intensified in Los Angeles, Padilla marked the 13th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy by urging Congress to take immediate action to deliver permanent protections for millions of families, parents, and individuals who are increasingly at risk amid President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. He also delivered remarks on the Senate floor ahead of the anniversary, pushing for permanent protections for Dreamers rather than the indiscriminate ICE raids stoking fear in Los Angeles communities. Padilla previously introduced the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act, which would create a pathway to citizenship for immigrant essential workers, including Dreamers, as his first bill in Congress.

Senator Padilla has been outspoken in criticizing Trump’s mass deportations and unprecedented militarization and escalation of tensions by deploying National Guard troops and active-duty U.S. Marines to respond to overwhelmingly peaceful protests in Los Angeles. He recently introduced the VISIBLE Act to require immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible identification during public-facing enforcement actions. He also led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus last month in demanding that President Trump immediately withdraw all military forces from Los Angeles and cease all threats to deploy the National Guard or active-duty service members to American cities. Padilla spoke on the Senate floor following his forcible removal from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press conference, where he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed after attempting to ask a question.

Video of Senator Padilla’s opening remarks from today’s press conference can be viewed here and downloaded here. His closing remarks are available to watch here and can be downloaded here.

Additional photos from today’s event can be found here.

A one-pager on the bill is available here.

Full text of the bill is available here.