Noem fast-tracks construction for water barriers in Texas along Rio Grande to keep migrants from crossing into US
Noem signed a waiver bypassing environmental laws so about 17 miles of 'waterborne barrier' technology could be built in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday.
'A capability gap has been identified in waterways along the Southwest border where drug smuggling, human trafficking and other dangerous and illegal activity occurs,' the department said in a statement.
The project, which will be paid for with previously allocated funds, marks the sixth time Noem has used such a waiver.
It revives a strategy that was a source of controversy under the previous administration, when the Biden administration sued the state of Texas for putting a 1,000 feet of razor-tipped barriers in the Rio Grande, in a case that was ultimately unsuccessful on appeal.
Texas's much smaller floating barrier effort cost about $1 million, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, warned Border Report that the latest DHS version of a river barrier could cost vastly more.
'When you talk about constructing a fence it could be $30 million per mile. This water structure is going to be expensive,' he said.
Residents of the low-income, largely Hispanic region are divided over such border projects.
The Rio Grande Valley voted for Trump in 2024, but some argue the border build-up in the area has drained needed resources and led to profiling against Latinos.
'This is like a rights-free area,' Michelle Serrano, of the local advocacy group Voces Unidas RGV, told The Independent last year. 'We're talking about an area where they freely racially profile us. It feels like a separate but equal situation.'
In addition to expanding border construction, the second Trump administration has also transferred nearly 400 miles of border land to military control, as a means of expanding the use of troops in direct immigration enforcement, while deploying Marines and National Guard troops internally in response to anti-immigration raid protests in Los Angeles.
Prior to Trump returning to office, states like Texas embarked on their own border infrastructure sprees, erecting razor barriers, walls, and floating buoys.
As part of the Trump administration's Big, Beautiful Bill spending package, the federal government will spend over $13 billion reimbursing states like Texas for their efforts.
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The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
The Trump administration is using ‘fascist propaganda' to promote its mass deportation campaign, experts say
The Department of Homeland Security is accused of sharing thinly-veiled nativist propaganda on social media through art as it pursues a sweeping campaign of mass deportations. Throughout July, the X account of the department run by Kristi Noem posted a steady stream of paintings exemplifying a very particular version of the 'homeland.' That has included posting the 1872 work American Progress by John Gast, in which an ethereal Lady Liberty floats above the Western landscape, as white settlers advance across the frame with stage coaches and rail lines, while Native Americans and buffalo run to the margins. Another X post features the contemporary painting A Prayer for a New Life, by Morgan Weistling, a close-up of a white pioneer couple clutching a baby in the back of a covered wagon, along with the caption, ' Remember your Homeland's Heritage.' A third such post includes Morning Pledge, a nostalgic mid-20th century scene of kids in a small town walking towards an American flag, as painted by Thomas Kinkade. The creators and guardians of these works have expressed outrage over being drafted into DHS publicity — and history and politics experts have also raised concerns over this art being used as 'propaganda'. Weistling said he wasn't consulted prior to the Trump administration using his work. The Kinkade Family Foundation, meanwhile, said Morning Pledge was also being used without permission, perverted to 'promote division and xenophobia associated with the ideals of DHS.' The foundation told The Independent that Kinkade, who died in 2012, struggled in life with poverty as a child and substance abuse as an adult. He viewed his paintings, known for their soft, glowing light, as a way to 'imagine a different kind of world, where warmth, safety, and belonging are human rights for all.' Beyond the canvas, Kinkade helped raise millions for the poor, while his foundation has handed out thousands of therapeutic art kits, including in farmworker communities. 'That vision wasn't meant for a select few, but for everyone,' the foundation said in an email. 'Throughout his life, Thomas sought to respond to moments of hardship with compassion and solidarity, standing with communities made vulnerable.T o see his work used in ways that promote exclusion and division betrays the very heart of what he stood for.' The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agency 'honors artwork that celebrates America's heritage and history, and we are pleased that the media is highlighting our efforts to showcase these patriotic pieces.' 'If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails and forged this Republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook,' Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement. 'This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage.' According to Richard White, a distinguished historian of the West and professor emeritus at Stanford University, DHS's use of works like American Progress is as ironic as it is revealing. The painting depicted a highly nostalgic, mythologized version of the country even at the moment it was created. In reality, instead of the peaceful scene, violence was everywhere, with the U.S. Army (not pictured in the painting) involved in violent, dispossessing wars with indigenous tribes across the West, and groups like the KKK carrying out racist terror campaigns against newly emancipated Black people after the U.S. Civil War. 'It's not about history,' White said of American Progress, but rather a 'mythic narrative' of America. 'The original picture erased the reality around it.' White suspects the Trump administration is using the painting now for a similar purpose. The historian lives in Los Angeles, where masked federal immigration agents and military troops spent weeks conducting dragnet immigration operations, an effort he compares to the Nazi regime's Gestapo secret police. 'The real problem is what's actually happening on the streets of Los Angeles and other cities,' he said. Journalist Spencer Ackerman, author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump, sees similar far-right currents in DHS's images, strains of nativism he argues have existed just below the surface at the department since its founding in 2002 after the 9/11 terror attacks. 'It was definitely a crypto-right wing move from the start after 9/11 to use a word like 'homeland' in particular in the context of security,' he told The Independent. Prior to this point, he said, the term 'homeland' was not in mainstream use in this way in the U.S. It had the ring of European-style nationalism (and worse) back then, a poor fit for a pluralist democracy in which most of the population, at some point in history, came from somewhere else. Trump's DHS, however, has taken this implicit ideology to the explicit extreme, Ackerman argued, using the tools of 'far-right internet culture' to provoke people by using jarring memes plus the 'classic fascist propaganda' of armed agents kicking in doors to arrest mostly non-white people. 'This is a turn. This is different,' he said. 'This is very racialized, very essentialized propaganda that DHS did not previously explicitly traffic in, even if this probably reflects the id of the Department of Homeland Security that whole time.' The administration's immigration PR efforts have extended beyond the DHS X account and its selection of pioneer paintings. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has earned the derisive nickname ' ICE Barbie ' from critics for her frequent photo-ops in cowboy oufits and combat-ready gear matching with the various agencies under her purview. Both Trump and Noem have featured in wartime-style recruiting posters urging viewers to 'Defend the Homeland, Join ICE Today,' as the administration offers $50,000 sign-on bonuses for new ICE officers. Trump has long leaned into a nostalgic aesthetic as a notable part of his politics. One of his final executive orders in 2020 involved a demand that all new federal buildings in Washington be built in the ' beautiful ' neo-classical style, with marble and columns meant to evoke the temples of ancient Greece and Rome, while his signature political slogan, 'Make America Great Again,' includes an unmistakable nod to a heroic past. Government officials have long trafficked in tropes and propaganda about disfavored groups, too, White said, pointing to the virulently racist popular depictions of the Japanese during WWII. What stands out in this present era, however, is the seeming commitment of whole government departments to producing such images. In time, however, White said even these purposely exclusionary images of national propaganda reveal their limitations. 'In myth, nothing ever changes,' he said. 'In history, things do change.'
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Fox host fawns over ‘good jeans' Sydney Sweeney on gun range: ‘As a single guy ... you love to see it'
Sweeney has courted controversy with her recent 'good jeans' ad for American Eagle, which some have argued carries racist messaging, prompting outrage from the right in response. President Donald Trump jumped into the fray, praising the ad after it was reported that Sweeney is a registered Republican in Florida. 'You love to see it,' said Jones. 'For me, as a single guy, anytime I see a young woman that can shoot, her value goes up. That means I can take her home to Texas … That means when I'm away from the family, she's gonna protect the family. And I think this is beautiful. 'They tried to destroy this woman, and her value is going up. She is just not beautiful, but she can shoot, too? We're done here. It's just beautiful.' The footage of Sweeney at the gun range was shared by Taran Tactical Innovations, an online firearms retailer, on Saturday. Left-leaning critics of the American Eagle ad campaign have accused the company of spreading 'racist' and 'Nazi propaganda.' Some have argued that it pushes eugenic ideals with its wordplay on 'jeans' and 'genes.' Critics have argued that the two phrases harken back to the debunked racist theory pushed by the Nazis that the human race can be improved via selective breeding. 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,' Sweeney says in one of the ads. 'My jeans are blue,' she adds, before a narrator says, 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.' Fox News took notes from Trump's playbook and seemingly used the controversy surrounding the ad to avoid discussing the scandal enveloping the administration in connection with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America found that Fox News spent more than 85 minutes during at least 20 segments discussing the ad through Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, Fox discussed the Epstein files for about three minutes even as Trump claimed that Epstein 'stole' one of his accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, from Mar-a-Lago. Media Matters found that Fox News mentioned Sweeney 62 times, while just mentioning Epstein 14 times. Trump heaped praise on the jeans ad after Sweeney's political leanings were reported. The president addressed reporters on the runway in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday night. 'She's a registered Republican?' Trump asked. 'Now I love her ad.' Previously, on Sunday, it emerged that since June of last year, Sweeney has been registered with the Republican Party of Florida, according to public voting records viewed by The Guardian. 'Is that right? Is Sydney Sweeney… You'd be surprised how many people are Republicans. That's one I wouldn't have known, but I'm glad you told me that,' said Trump. 'If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic,' he added. ''Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans,' American Eagle said in a response to the criticism. 'Her jeans. Her story.' 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,' the statement added. 'Great jeans look good on everyone.' Trump took to Truth Social on Monday morning to say that 'Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the 'HOTTEST' ad out there.' 'It's for American Eagle, and the jeans are 'flying off the shelves,'' he claimed. The president went on to criticise 'WOKE' advertising, before taking aim at Taylor Swift, who endorsed his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, ahead of the 2024 election. 'Or just look at Woke singer Taylor Swift. Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can't stand her (HATE!),' he said. 'She was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT.' Trump went on to say that 'WOKE is for losers' and that the 'Republican Party is what you want to be.'
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Texas governor threatens Democrats who left state to prevent congressional map vote
Update: Date: 2025-08-04T16:13:25.000Z Title: Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott has said he will begin trying to remove Democratic lawmakers from office on Monday if they don't return after dozens of them left the state in a last-resort attempt to block redrawn US House maps that president Donald Trump wants before the 2026 midterm elections Content: Greg Abbott says he will try to remove Democrats unless they return to allow vote to take place on redrawing the US House map to favour Republicans Lucy Campbell (now); Shrai Popat and Tom Ambrose (earlier) Mon 4 Aug 2025 17.13 BST First published on Mon 4 Aug 2025 10.58 BST From 10.58am BST 10:58 Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I am Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours. We start with the news that . The revolt by the state House Democrats, many of whom went to Illinois or New York on Sunday, and Abbott giving them less than 24 hours to come home ratcheted up a widening fight over congressional maps, Associated Press reported. The planned vote on Monday could see five new Republican-leaning seats created in the House of Representatives. The move by the Democrats threatens to thwart Republican efforts by denying them a quorum, or the minimum number of members to validate the vote's proceedings. In a statement, Texas Democrats accused their counterparts, the Texas Republicans, of a 'cowardly' surrender to Trump's call for a redrawing of the congressional map to 'continue pushing his disastrous policies'. 'Texas Democratic lawmakers are halting Trump's plan by denying his bootlickers a quorum,' the statement read. The scheme to flee the state is reported to have been put together by the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, who met with the Texas Democratic caucus late last month and has directed staff to provide logistical support for their stay. The Texas group has accused governor Abbott of withholding aid to victims of Guadalupe River flooding last month in a bid to force the redistricting vote through. 'We're leaving Texas to fight for Texans,' Gene Wu, the Texas House Democratic caucus chair, said in a statement. 'We will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander.' 'We're not walking out on our responsibilities; we're walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent,' Wu added. 'As of today, this corrupt special session is over.' Read our full story here: In other developments: US trade representative Jamieson Greer has defended the firing of labor statistics chief Erika McEntarfer. 'The president is the president. He can choose who works in the executive branch,' he said on Face the Nation. Greer was among a host of Trump administration officials who were deployed to defend Trump after a week of bruising economic numbers. The US Senate left Washington DC on Saturday night for its month-long August recess without a deal to advance dozens of Donald Trump's nominees, calling it quits after days of contentious bipartisan negotiations and the president taking to social media to tell Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to 'GO TO HELL!' In a new court filing, attorneys for the Trump administration denied the existence of a daily quota for immigration arrests, despite reports and prior statements from White House officials about pursuing a goal of at least 3,000 deportations or deportation arrests per day. Lawyers representing the US justice department said that the Department of Homeland Security had confirmed that 'neither Ice leadership nor its field offices have been directed to meet any numerical quota or target for arrests, detentions, removals, field encounters, or any other operational activities that Ice or its components undertake in the course of enforcing federal immigration law.' The US Senate has confirmed Jeanine Pirro – a former Fox News host and staunch Donald Trump ally who boosted lies that he lost the 2020 presidential race because of electoral fraudsters – as the top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital. Pirro – a former New York state district attorney and county judge who joined Fox News in 2011 – was confirmed on Saturday in a 50-45 vote along party lines. The Smithsonian says it will restore Trump impeachment exhibits in 'coming weeks'. Updated at 11.29am BST 5.03pm BST 17:03 Richard Luscombe A Doge-style audit launched by Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis into Democratic-run cities and counties he accuses of wasteful spending could soon be known by an offensive new name: FAFO, universally known as a meme for the phrase 'fuck around and find out'. In a post to X on Monday, DeSantis said the acronym - which he claims actually stands for a Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight he has yet to formally commission, had 'a nice ring to it' and that he 'might need to work up an executive order and make it official'. Under the guise of ensuring 'transparency and accountability' in local government, DeSantis sent audit teams last week into the city of Gainesville, and Broward county, two pockets of Democratic strength in a largely Republican state. It is part of a wider initiative the governor trumpeted earlier this year to replicate Elon Musk's Doge (the so-called 'department of government efficiency') efforts at state level in support of his ambitious longer-term goal of eliminating property taxes. Taking credit for the FAFO handle is Florida's new chief financial officer Blaise Ingoglia, a staunch DeSantis ally whose X profile includes the words 'If you're looking for snark, you've found it.' He posted on Monday an assertion that he got 'a rave reception' when he rolled out the new nickname at a party event over the weekend. Updated at 5.13pm BST 4.39pm BST 16:39 The president has said that India will be subject to a tariff hike for not only 'buying massive amounts of Russian oil' but 'selling it on the open market for big profits'. He announced his decision on Truth Social, saying that India does not care 'how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine'. It's unclear what the levy increase will be. Trump already hit India with a 25% tariff last week, citing the country's substantial purchasing of Russian oil as part of the penalty. Updated at 4.45pm BST 4.19pm BST 16:19 South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace has officially entered governor's race for the Palmetto state. In a video announcement posted on social media, Mace, 47, positions herself as a conservative 'firebrand' and a 'fighter'. She also cites her credentials as the first woman to graduate from South Carolina's 'The Citadel'– one of the country's oldest military colleges. In her first two terms in office, Mace was a vocal Trump adversary. In 2021, she was one of seven House Republicans who signed a letter that said Congress did not have the authority to overturn the 2020 election results. She also heavily criticised the president's role in the Capitol attacks on 6 January 2021. Notably, Mace did not vote to impeach him for inciting an insurrection. Throughout her third term in Congress, Mace has now become a key Trump ally. She's waged some of the president's key battles in the culture war – including a resolution prohibiting trans women using bathrooms that align with their gender identity at the US Capitol. Mace confirmed this was to target incoming freshman Representative Sarah McBride of Delaware. Mace is entering an already crowded primary for gubernatorial race in South Carolina. While the incumbent, Henry McMaster, is unable to seek a third term, Mace will be facing off against Alan Wilson, the state's attorney general. In a lengthy floor speech earlier this year, Mace called out Wilson for failing to prosecute four men, including her ex-fiancé, who she accuses of rape and sex-trafficking. Updated at 4.45pm BST 3.44pm BST 15:44 Governor Hochul confirms that she hasn't and won't spend any money housing the Texas lawmakers in New York City. She added that the Democrats who did flee will probably face exorbitant legal fees, as well as highlighting the daily fine of $500 for not appearing during the legislative session without permission. The delegation of Texas lawmakers present today did not confirm where they would be travelling to next, but did say they 'won't be going back to Texas'. Updated at 3.53pm BST 3.32pm BST 15:32 Representative Mihaela Plesa, vice-chair of the House Democratic caucus, says that the redistricting battle in Texas goes beyonds the state's borders: If Trump and Abbott succeed, it will give them five seats. But then where else do they go? Ohio, Missouri, any other Republican legislature with Democratic Congress people. They're on the chopping block too. Updated at 3.33pm BST 3.23pm BST 15:23 Governor Hochul calls the Texas Democrats who left the state to trigger a quorum break 'profiles in courage'. She adds that they're 'on the right side of history' and this redistricting fight is a 'war'. Updated at 3.24pm BST 3.16pm BST 15:16 Texas Democrats who fled the state are now holding a press conference with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul kicks off her remarks: Americans don't want a system that's stacked against them. They believe in fairness, it's fundamental. I'll tell you this. They're done with the chaos, they're done with the cruelty. And I would say they're ready to vote Republicans out of power in Washington, certainly in the upcoming 2026 elections. 2.56pm BST 14:56 House Speaker Mike Johnson has made an unannounced visit to Israel, per the minister of defense's post on X. Johnson was joined by a delegation of House Republicans. Axios reports that this was a trip organised by a pro-Israel advocacy group, and that Johnson made a stop at a settlement on the occupied West Bank. This comes after Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's Middle East envoy, travelled to Gaza on Friday to assess the food and aid situation after several reports of worsening starvation in the region. On Sunday, the president addressed reporters' questions about Witkoff's visit. 'We're putting up money to get people fed,' he said. 'We don't want people to starve.' Updated at 3.11pm BST 2.27pm BST 14:27 Just a short while ago, the president took to Truth Social to repeat his claim that last week's jobs report was 'rigged' and the overall conduct of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 'in favor of the Radical Left Democrats'. He added that 'the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!!' The administration has provided no evidence that McEntarfer's conduct was in any way political, or that the recent jobs numbers were manipulated. Updated at 2.33pm BST 2.04pm BST 14:04 In an interview with CNN's Audie Cornish, the Texas Democratic party chair Kendall Scudder urged Democrats to 'stop trying to be the only adults in the room'. He added that the GOP's new congressional map should be a 'signal flare' for blue states to 'start carving up their own seats'. Scudder said that this weekend's action by Texas Democrats is part of an effort to hold state Republicans 'accountable for their actions': The reality is, no Democrat is sitting around itching and waiting for a quorum break. But this is what has to be done to make sure we're preserving democracy. Updated at 2.13pm BST 1.50pm BST 13:50 In response to Governor Greg Abbott threatening to arrest and expel any Texas legislators who refuse to return to the state capitol by 3pm local time on Monday, the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a short and simple statement: 'Come and take it.' Governor Abbott however, has also said that Texas Democrats 'may have committed felonies' by asking for donations to help pay for fines that they incur by fleeing the state. House rules in Texas state that lawmakers rack up a $500-a-day fine for each day they are absent without permission during a legislative session. Updated at 3.31pm BST
