🚨 Border Patrol Violence Meets Cabinet Ignorance: The Press Room's Shocking Week in Review

From ICE agents in skull gloves to mayors jetting off to Gulf states

😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾

• 🎭👮‍♂️💀 Masked ICE agents lurk outside courthouses like dystopian bouncers, arresting people for... following the law?

• ⚖️🤷‍♀️📚 DHS Secretary thinks habeas corpus = presidential deportation powers (someone skipped Constitutional Law 101!)

• 🕵️📋❌ Pima County Sheriff mysteriously stopped tracking immigration calls (transparency? Never heard of her!)

• 💔🎥⚖️ Raymond Mattia was killed on camera 2 years ago, family still seeking justice while accountability offices vanish

• ✈️🇶🇦👀 Mayor jets to Qatar right after Trump gets Qatari plane (just a coincidence, we're sure!)

• 🔥👩‍⚕️☠️ Heroes saving lives slowly poisoned by their own protective gear

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🗝️ Takeaways

• 🎭 ICE agents in skull gloves and balaclavas are ambushing immigrants outside courthouses, turning legal proceedings into terror theater

• ⚖️ Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spectacularly failed to define habeas corpus, claiming it gives presidents deportation powers

• 🕵️ Pima County Sheriff's Office mysteriously stopped tracking immigration enforcement contacts in 2023 despite official policies

• 💔 Two years after Border Patrol killed Raymond Mattia on camera, his family still seeks justice while accountability offices close

• ✈️ Tucson Mayor Regina Romero's Qatar trip coincidentally followed Trump receiving a jet from the same nation; trying to get one for TPD?

• 🔥 Firefighters and healthcare workers face elevated cancer risks from PFAS chemicals in their protective equipment

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ICE Cold Justice: When Courts Become Hunting Grounds

Welcome to another spine-tingling edition of The Press Room from AZPM, where the news hits harder than Arizona asphalt in August. Host Steve Goldstein gathered a powerhouse panel of journalists to dissect the week's most chilling developments in immigration enforcement, political incompetence, and the ongoing erosion of basic human dignity in America's justice system.

The distinguished guests included John Washington from AZ Luminaria, Alisa Resnick from KJZZ Radio, Jim Nintzel from the Tucson Sentinel, and Katya Mendoza from AZPM News – a veritable dream team of truth-tellers navigating the nightmare landscape of modern American politics.

ICE-Cold Courthouse Ambushes: Playing by Rules That Keep Changing

John Washington kicked off the discussion with a jaw-dropping exposé of ICE's latest theatrical performance: masked agents lurking outside immigration courts like some dystopian bouncer squad.

Picture this absurdist scene – people showing up to their legally mandated court hearings, following the law to the letter, only to find themselves handcuffed by skull-gloved agents the moment they step outside.

Because nothing says "rule of law" like skull gloves and balaclavas, right? Welcome to America, where following legal procedures makes you a target.

These aren't random raids on "bad hombres," as Washington astutely pointed out. These are individuals who were paroled in under the Biden administration through proper legal channels, now finding themselves caught in Trump's bureaucratic whiplash. The cruel irony? As immigration attorney Mo Goldman noted through Jim Nintzel's reporting, "you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. If you ignore your court hearings, you're in trouble, but now if you go to court, you're in trouble."

Washington emphasized the Kafkaesque nature of this enforcement: "These are people who are literally following the law, who are trying to access and go through due process proceedings, and they are being potentially punished for it, or being at least scared away from continuing to show up at court and follow the law as they've been instructed to do."

Alisa Resnick painted an even more disturbing picture, describing how "masked, armed, law enforcement officers, sometimes plain clothed, waiting outside of the courthouse and kind of taking families away, whether they're just adults or adults with small children." She noted the unprecedented nature of this enforcement strategy, explaining how expedited removal – typically used at borders – is now being weaponized in America's interior.

So let me get this straight – we're now using fast-track deportation procedures designed for border crossings against people who've been living here legally for months or years? That's like using a fire hose to water your houseplants.

The Trump administration has thrown out the previous "sensitive locations" policy that protected schools, hospitals, and courts from immigration enforcement. Washington described agents appearing "in a very ostentatious manner" with some wearing "Balaclava style masks" and one sporting "skeleton gloves, just like really trying to obviously intimidate people who are there."

This deliberate theater of terror isn't just about enforcement – it's about breaking people's will to access justice. As Washington explained, many arrestees will end up in "mandatory detention" while their cases proceed, making it nearly impossible to fight their cases effectively. "The Trump administration has said that this is a deterrent measure and that they are trying to make it difficult so that people give up their cases."

Ah yes, the classic authoritarian playbook: make following the law so terrifying that people just give up their rights voluntarily. Efficient!

Constitutional Confusion: When Cabinet Secretaries Flunk Civics 101

The panel's discussion of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's spectacular failure to define habeas corpus was equal parts hilarious and horrifying. When pressed by Democratic senators to define this fundamental legal principle, Noem confidently declared: "Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country."

Someone apparently skipped Constitutional Law 101. Or maybe she thinks habeas corpus is Latin for "presidential deportation powers."

As John Washington dryly observed, this raises troubling questions: "Is this a case of not even realizing that the guardrails are in place if you don't even know what you're kind of blowing past?" Jim Nintzel's response captured the absurdity perfectly: "For all we know, the White House got out their sharpie and redefined habeas corpus in all the dictionaries at that point."

The sharpie comment isn't just snark – it's a reference to Trump's infamous Hurricane Dorian map alteration. When reality doesn't fit your narrative, just redraw it with office supplies!

Alisa Resnick drove home the stakes of this ignorance: "If that doesn't exist, then theoretically anybody, including U.S. citizens, could be arrested and not see a courtroom and just be detained until further notice. And that's a really scary concept." According to the Magna Carta, Habeas corpus is literally the right to challenge indefinite detention – "there shall be a body" if someone wants to contest their imprisonment.

Washington connected this constitutional ignorance to the broader pattern of officials making what Katya Mendoza described as "a larger series of misstatements made by federal officials" – misstatements that conveniently align with authoritarian power grabs.

Sheriff's Secrets: Pima County's Transparency Problem

Washington's investigative reporting uncovered another layer of bureaucratic opacity when he discovered that the Pima County Sheriff's Office mysteriously stopped tracking its communications with federal immigration authorities in mid-2023. Despite having official policies requiring such documentation since 2018, the records simply vanished without explanation.

"Beginning in 2018, there has been an official policy on the books for the Sheriff's Department to keep track of every time they call federal immigration officials," Washington explained. When he requested these records, he found that "the Sheriff's Department had called, I think, eight times, resulting in 16 people being turned over to Border Patrol" before the tracking mysteriously ceased.

Funny how record-keeping suddenly becomes "optional" right when public scrutiny intensifies. It's almost like they know their actions can't stand up to sunlight.

This creates a troubling contradiction with Sheriff Nanos's public statements. As Washington noted, "Sheriff Nanos... refused to be on a committee that Governor Hobbs had put together. He was saying things like my deputies are not hired to be federal immigration agents." Yet Washington documented a traffic stop where "a Pima County deputy said that he called Border Patrol as backup for a traffic violation."

The community deserves transparency about what local law enforcement is actually doing regarding immigration enforcement, especially when, as Washington emphasized, "if somebody has an encounter with Border Patrol, the consequences can be rapid deportation, potentially even to a country that they're not from."

So we have a sheriff publicly claiming his deputies aren't immigration agents while simultaneously calling Border Patrol for traffic stops. That's some Olympic-level cognitive dissonance right there.

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Raymond Mattia: Two Years Later, Still Seeking Justice

Alisa Resnick's powerful retrospective on the killing of Tohono O'odham Tribal Member Raymond Mattia highlighted the persistent lack of accountability in Border Patrol violence. Thanks to Biden administration requirements, the body camera footage – a rare window into these incidents – revealed a horrifying sequence of events.

"They shout multiple commands at him, tell him to put his hands up, take his hands out of his pockets, get on his face, and start shooting multiple rounds one second after giving him those commands and one second after he takes his hands out of his pockets," Resnick explained. "He was unarmed when he was killed."

One second. That's how long Raymond Mattia had to comply with contradictory commands before being gunned down by federal agents. One second to process "hands up" and "hands out of pockets" simultaneously.

Despite the video evidence, federal prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges, leaving the family to seek justice through civil courts. As Resnick poignantly described, this creates ongoing trauma: "It's kind of this continued trauma, right? To continually see the same law enforcement agency outside of your door that was involved in this incident."

The case echoes the 2012 shooting of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez in Nogales, where Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz was eventually acquitted after years of legal proceedings. Washington noted the pattern: "Six years later, I think the agent was acquitted, and there was a retrial and a mistrial, but nothing ever happened, no eventual prosecution or conviction."

The Border Patrol's accountability problem isn't new – it's institutional. They have one of the highest rates of violence per capita among law enforcement agencies, yet prosecutions remain virtually nonexistent.

Resnick revealed another troubling development: the Trump administration's quiet dismantling of accountability mechanisms. "Accountability offices that are long-established are closing without any fanfare under the Trump administration. One of those is the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office that was established in 2002 with the Homeland Security Act." This office provided "really one of the only ways that the public has to lodge complaints of any kind, anything from not getting medication while in detention to larger use of force questions."

Political Potpourri: From Campaign Ads to Qatar Controversies

The show took a lighter turn discussing Daniel Hernandez's charming campaign ad for Arizona's CD-7 race, complete with eye-rolling at his "loud Mexican family" while positioning himself as a "MAGA fighter." Jim Nintzel noted the challenge candidates face: "I think it's going to be challenging for voters to see a lot of difference in the policy positions of any of these candidates. I think they're all going to be, we're going to fight against the Trump administration. So it's more about style and who they are."

In a race where everyone's anti-MAGA, personality becomes policy. At least Hernandez's mom only speaking Spanish in the ad was a nice, authentic touch in our increasingly performative political landscape.

However, perhaps the most eyebrow-raising moment came in the final seconds when Goldstein asked Nintzel about Tucson Mayor Regina Romero's trip to Qatar just days after President Trump received a jet from the Gulf nation.

Nothing says "coincidental timing" like jetting off to Qatar right after Trump gets his shiny new presidential aircraft from the same country. But hey, maybe Tucson really does need that police plane...

Goldstein noted that the Qatari jet would become the new Air Force One, adding: "I don't think Mayor Romero is going to be one of the first people to ride on it."

Environmental Hazards: PFAS and Frontline Workers

Katya Mendoza wrapped up the serious discussions with her reporting on elevated PFAS exposure among firefighters and frontline healthcare workers. "Firefighters do have elevated levels of PFAS in their blood, but also frontline healthcare workers, which is really interesting. That seemed new to me," she explained.

The research suggests that "the masks that they wear, other materials that they wear can elevate their levels of PFAS." University of Arizona's Jeff Burgess, director of the Firefighter Cancer Research Center, is exploring "how to mitigate that" and reduce cancer risks among first responders.

So the people who risk their lives to save us are being slowly poisoned by their own protective equipment. The irony would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Wrapping Up the Weekly Whiplash

This week's Press Room perfectly captured the dizzying pace of authoritarian advancement disguised as immigration enforcement. From courthouse ambushes to constitutional ignorance, from disappeared records to ongoing injustice, the pattern is clear: the guardrails aren't just being blown past – they're being systematically dismantled by people who either don't understand them or don't care.

We're living through a masterclass in how democracies die – not with tanks in the streets, but with masked agents at courthouses, ignorant cabinet secretaries, and the quiet erasure of accountability mechanisms.

The stories these journalists tell aren't just news – they're documentation of a system under siege. When following the law becomes dangerous, when constitutional principles become foreign concepts to those sworn to uphold them. When transparency disappears behind bureaucratic smoke screens, we're not just losing policies but the foundation of democratic governance itself.

Yet these reporters continue their vital work in the darkness, shining light into corners where power prefers shadows. Community rapid response groups document abuses, families pursue justice through whatever courts remain open to them, and journalists like this panel refuse to let important stories disappear into the memory hole of our accelerated news cycle.

The fight for truth, transparency, and human dignity continues. But it requires all of us to stay engaged, stay informed, and stay angry enough to demand better.

Support independent journalism like this by subscribing to Three Sonorans Substack – because when corporate media fails us, grassroots voices become more crucial than ever. Your subscription helps keep this critical analysis and reporting alive.

What Do You Think?

The questions raised by this week's reporting demand our attention and action:

• How can communities effectively protect immigrants' rights when the very act of following legal procedures becomes a trap?

• What does it mean for our democracy when cabinet-level officials demonstrate fundamental ignorance of constitutional principles they're sworn to uphold?

• Should local law enforcement agencies like Pima County Sheriff's Office be required to maintain transparent records of their cooperation with federal immigration authorities?

• How can we ensure accountability for Border Patrol violence when federal prosecutors consistently decline to prosecute and oversight offices are being quietly shuttered?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below. In times like these, engaged citizens asking tough questions and demanding answers remain our best defense against the normalization of the abnormal. Share your experiences, your concerns, and your ideas for resistance and change.

Remember: Democracy isn't a spectator sport. It requires active participation from all of us.

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Quotes:

• Mo Goldman (Immigration Attorney): "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. If you ignore your court hearings, you're in trouble, but now if you go to court, you're in trouble."

• Kristi Noem (DHS Secretary): "Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country." (Completely incorrect definition)

• John Washington: "These are people who are literally following the law, who are trying to access and go through due process proceedings, and they are being potentially punished for it."

• John Washington: "The Trump administration has said this, that this is a deterrent measure, that they are trying to make it difficult so that people give up their cases."

• Alisa Resnick: "Masked, armed, law enforcement officers, sometimes plain clothed, waiting outside of the courthouse and kind of taking families away, whether they're just adults or adults with small children."

• Jim Nintzel: "For all we know, the White House got out their Sharpie and redefined habeas corpus in all the dictionaries at that point."

People Mentioned:

• Steve Goldstein - AZPM Press Room host

• John Washington - AZ Luminaria journalist investigating ICE courthouse arrests and sheriff transparency

• Alisa Resnick - KJZZ Radio reporter covering Raymond Mattia case and immigration enforcement

• Jim Nintzel - Tucson Sentinel reporter covering political campaigns and immigration attorneys

• Katya Mendoza - AZPM News reporter covering PFAS exposure study

• Kristi Noem - DHS Secretary who incorrectly defined habeas corpus

• Mo Goldman - Immigration attorney: "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't"

• Sheriff Nanos - Pima County Sheriff who claimed deputies aren't immigration agents while calling Border Patrol for backup

• Raymond Mattia - Tohono O'odham Tribal Member killed by Border Patrol in 2023

• Annette Mattia - Raymond's sister who heard gunshots over phone

• Daniel Hernandez - Congressional candidate releasing family values ad

• Adelita Grijalva - Congressional candidate, daughter of outgoing congressman

• Deja Foxx - 25-year-old Gen Z congressional candidate and Kamala Harris campaign alum

• Regina Romero - Tucson Mayor who traveled to Qatar after Trump received Qatari jet

• Jeff Burgess - Director of U of A Firefighter Cancer Research Center studying PFAS exposure

• Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez - Killed by Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz in 2012

• Lonnie Swartz - Border Patrol agent acquitted in Rodriguez killing

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