Weather: Sunny. A chance of showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning, then showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 80s. Chance of rain 70 percent. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely. Lows in the lower 70s.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- Tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
Drug Court convenes before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1, Bunnell. Drug Court is open to the public. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
The Palm Coast Beautification and Environmental Advisory Committee meets at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 160 Lake Avenue, Palm Coast. The committee is getting a presentation on “proper tree placement and the impacts of improper plantings.”
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
Palm Coast Concert Series tonight postponed due to weather, 6 to 8 p.m. at the Stage at Town Center, 1500 Central Avenue. This free community event brings everyone together to create lasting memories while showcasing local bands. Tonight: Southern Rock Revival.
Notably: Someone I love texted me the picture above (without irony: I was at that press conference and took my own pictures, but not that one, or that kind of one), and the following caption: “‘Delivering for Flagler County.’ Pity he didn’t have the time to drop off a box of Lunchables in Gaza City.”
—P.T.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
September 2025
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Flagler County Cultural Council (FC3) Meeting
Friday Blue Forum
Flagler County Legislative Delegation Meeting and Forum
‘Avenue Q,’ at City Repertory Theatre
‘All Shook Up,’ at Daytona Playhouse
‘Nunsense,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
‘Sweeney Todd’ at Athens Theatre
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Democratic Women’s Club
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Florida Highwaymen Art and Sale Show
Flagler Beach Centennial Cardboard Regatta
‘Avenue Q,’ at City Repertory Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
When you become famous, you’ve got like a year or two where you act like a real asshole. You can’t help yourself. It happens to everybody. You’ve got like two years to pull it together–or it’s permanent.
–Bill Murray quoted in Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002).
Pogo says
@Knock on any door
… if you don’t get it — that’s what’s missing from you.
P.S.
Censorship isn’t winning — it’s not knowing.
Michael Cocchiola says
The price of Republican freedom. Some MAGA clowns on social media want the freedom to own machine guns. Imagine what one of those things would do to a church or school.
Skibum says
The Republican Party and all those sanctimonious, pseudo-“christian” conservatives who wrap their arms around their guns and the 2nd amendment while mimicking the tired old “thoughts and prayers” over the latest mass school shooting are despicable beyond words! They might as well just say out loud what their actions reveal… “Don’t you ever take my cherished guns, my AR-15 assault rifle that I love more than life itself. Children are expendable. You lost your child to gun violence in a school shooting? So what. Go into the bedroom and make yourselves another one and stop complaining.”
America is losing it’s collective conscience, it’s morality, it’s decency, when schools – once thought to be safe places for children – now are killing fields. Hardened structures, safe rooms, surveillance cameras, school resource cops, regular school shooting drills, and STILL more and more and more dead children while our elected leaders turn their backs on American families and gun toting conservatives and maga mush brains simply go “tsk, tsk, so sad, thoughts and prayers. How about those Miami Dolphins last night, huh? Yea!!!!!!!!”
Dead and injured school kids who have suffered severe gun shot wounds and unimaginable trauma for no reason other than they have gone to their school to learn has become so frequent, so “common” that these horrific incidents are just another news story like they were the latest giraffe born at the local zoo… ho hum. When will our elected officials wake the hell up, start protecting human lives over guns?????
You can bet your bottom dollar that if all of this gun violence, these mass shootings, were targeting national elected politicians in their workplaces instead of “just” children in schools, federal legislation would have already been passed and signed into law to DO SOMETHING about it when and if the mass shootings personally affected them! Americans must come together and collective demand that our elected officials DO SOMETHING to help stop all of this needless gun violence. No more mouthing thoughts and prayers and then watching them go about their day… we must DEMAND ACTION and start removing from office those who give lip service or outright refuse to stand up for, and protect human life over guns!
Jim says
Regarding the “cartoon”: School shootings have been going on for over 20 years now. There has not been one single piece of legislation that I’m aware of that’s even remotely going to do anything to prevent or even slow this horrific event down. And there is most likely not ever going to be one in this country. I don’t need to hear anything about thoughts and prayers. I don’t believe those that make those statements waste a single thought or prayer on these events.
What must be recognized is that we, as a society, have decided that this is acceptable and the murder rate is not significant so, therefore, no action is needed. Millions of kids go to school and only a few hundred or so get killed or wounded so it’s acceptable.
I own guns. I believe in the right to own guns. But what I don’t understand is why in this country we think that there should be no guardrails on gun ownership. There are countries in Europe where almost every adult owns at least one gun and that’s because they have mandatory military commitment. When the person leaves the service, they take their gun with them. They are considered the “reserves” for the military and, thus are armed. Note, these are military issue weapons. In these countries they routinely practice with their weapons to maintain their proficiency in case they are called back to service in an emergency. Yet, in these countries, mass murders seldom occur. So, if you’re a curious person, you might ask yourself what they do or don’t do that we might learn from. One thing they have is requirements for anyone who has a weapon must undergo psychotherapy on a set frequency to see if they are having any issues. If there are problems, their gun(s) are removed.
In this country, we act as though no one should be telling any of us whether we can have a gun or not. It’s our “right”. That’s just BS. You can’t drive a car in the USA without a valid license issued by one of the 50 states. You’re required to insure your car in case you have an accident, partially to assure reimbursement of any car or person you damage in that accident. Are there exceptions? Yes, of course. We have “special people” in this country who think the laws do not apply to them. And, if/when the police find them, they go to court and get some type of legal penalty as a result.
We won’t take such actions with guns. That’s sacred ground and no politician nor party has shown the will to change this. So, let’s just keep reporting the death toll, the ages of the dead and wounded and what wonderful people they were with such a great future in front of them. Get through the “thoughts and prayers” as quickly as possible. After all, we need to finish one murderous rampage before the next one occurs.
YankeeExPat says
” Thoughts and Prayers ! “,…….code for Horseshit and Bullshit!
Meanwhile the MAGA douchebags will say it’s because of Transgenderism or Woke-ism and that the children were not provided the opportunity to arm themselves., as in the NRA byline that more guns are more safety
In one of my better western Pennsylvania colloquialisms …..” They are Full of Shit up to their Ears !”
Sherry says
Cue Maga gun rights crazies who think that “gun rights” supersedes “the right to LIFE”:
Minneapolis. Kansas City. Lewiston. Monterey Park. Orlando. Las Vegas. Newtown. Parkland. San Bernardino. Uvalde. Nashville. Louisville.
Ubiquitous gun violence in the United States has left few places unscathed over the decades. Still, many Americans hold their right to bear arms, enshrined in the US Constitution, as sacrosanct. But critics of the Second Amendment say that right threatens another: The right to life.
America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier.
As the tally of gun-related deaths continue to grow daily, here’s a look at how gun culture in the US compares to the rest of the world.
There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS). No other nation has more civilian guns than people.
The Falkland Islands – a British territory in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, claimed by Argentina and the subject of a 1982 war – is home to the world’s second-largest stash of civilian guns per capita. But with an estimated 62 guns per 100 people, its gun ownership rate is almost half that of the US. Yemen – a country in the throes of a seven-year conflict – has the third-highest gun ownership rate at 53 guns per 100 people.
While the exact number of civilian-owned firearms is difficult to calculate due to a variety of factors – including unregistered weapons, the illegal trade and global conflict – SAS researchers estimate that Americans own 393 million of the 857 million civilian guns available, which is around 46% of the world’s civilian gun cache.
About 44% of US adults live in a household with a gun, and about one-third own one personally, according to an October 2020 Gallup survey.
Some nations have high gun ownership due to illegal stocks from past conflicts or lax restrictions on ownership, but the US is one of only three countries in the world where bearing (or keeping) arms is a constitutional right, according to Zachary Elkins, associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the Comparative Constitutions Project. Yet the ownership rate in the other two – Guatemala and Mexico – is almost a tenth of the United States.
The gun debate in those countries is less politicized, Elkins said. In contrast to the US, Guatemala and Mexico’s constitutions facilitate regulation, with lawmakers more comfortable restricting guns, especially given concerns around organized crime, he said. In Mexico, there’s only one gun store in the entire country – and it’s controlled by the army.
Keep doing nothing! says
No new rules on guns since the very first school one over 20 years ago. Doing nothing in the land of no healthcare is working great you can see!
Wouldn’t expect much republicans only support fetus not actual children. Hence the cutting of education, school lunch programs, Pell grants, IEP programs, healthcare access. Actively protect pedophile members !ect ect
If only republicans protected children like the Epstein files .
Kennan says
Writing was on the wall after Sandy Hook. When nothing was done after that one, I knew American legislators cared more about guns than kids.
Really says
This is disturbing. You are making this incredibly horrible incident political.
You should be ashamed.
You are no better than those you hate.
Despicable
Judith G. Michaud says
As I clearly remember, President Obama tried to pass a gun control bill after Sandy Hook, but the Republicans voted NO ! We will never have a gun control policy as long as we have an ignorant Republican Congress ! The Felon should have the National Guard protecting schools not DC !
Ray W, says
Newsweek reports that a 20-year-old Honduran-born woman who came to the U.S. twelve years ago with her family has agreed to waive her rights to an immigration hearing by withdrawing her petition for amnesty. She came to the decision after spending six months in detention without a hearing. She will be deported back to Honduras. In other words, she has accepted “voluntary removal”, a legal concept that has existed in immigration law for a long time.
Her mother told the reporter, in the reporter’s words, “that the harsh conditions in detention led her daughter to choose voluntary removal.”
There are a number of confused FlaglerLive commenters who argue that during the Obama years, immigrants were deported without hearing. In their ignorance, they didn’t take the time to learn that for a long, long time, there has been a waiver of rights form used by immigration officials when undocumented immigrants are detained shortly after crossing the border. Facing the choice of a possibly lengthy detention, perhaps in harsh condition, while awaiting hearing and their waiving of their rights to said hearing to avoid said lengthy and harsh detention, many undocumented choose “voluntary removal”, by which decision they waive their rights. When an immigrant elects to voluntarily leave the country, no deportation order is needed, a decision that keeps their immigration record clean.
The young woman had graduated from a Shelby, North Carolina high school, and she had earned a scholarship to attend Gardner-Webb University; she planned to earn a nursing degree.
The Trump administration is not focusing on removing solely on removing the worst of the undocumented among us; it is removing many of the best of the undocumented among us.
Bob says
It’s the same cast of characters with their hate filled rhetoric
Ray W, says
To follow up on the comment about the Honduran woman, every day at First Appearances, across the state of Florida, many who have been arrested on criminal charges waive their constitutional rights to an attorney, to a trial, to call witnesses and confront other witness at said trial, to remain silent, and to present all possible legal defenses. In exchange for that waiver of constitutional rights, they enter a plea and accept a sentence that is commonly “time served”, plus other sanctions, such as costs or fines.
Trespassing, disorderly conduct, disorderly intoxication, possession of alcohol while under the age of 21, possession of paraphernalia, petit theft, and many other minor misdemeanors are solved within 24 hours of arrest by a waiver of rights and a quick plea.
Improper entry into the country without documentation is a similar minor misdemeanor offense, yet a woman sat in detention for six months without a hearing. We could easily solve the criminal side of undocumented immigration by bringing those detained for the minor misdemeanor before a court within 24 hours and offering them a simple plea. Give them time served and release them back into their communities, where they can resume their lives. If a detained undocumented immigrant has a significant prior conviction in their history, do not make the plea offer. Proceed through the hearing process, and if ordered to be deported, then deport them.
Focus on the worst of the undocumented, wherever found, and deport them all. It does us no harm to let the best of them continue doing what they are doing. We do this every day for the native-born.
Sherry says
@ really. . . apparently you don’t seem to understand what is “really” disturbing. How about the needless, horrific deaths of hundreds of innocent children?
What’s the matter? Aren’t your prayers bringing them back to life?
We should not face or talk about the despicable causes of school shootings in our country due to the politics stopping “Gun Safety” laws, right? Just don’t think about it and trust in “lord trump” and all will be OK, right?
You do understand that such heinous shootings very rarely happen in ANY OTHER country, right? Oh, maybe not since that kind of factual analysis is not shown on Fox. Perhaps you should change the channel and seek out the terrible truth, really.
Skibum says
For those who would point to the U.S. Constitution and it’s amendments, particularly the 2nd Amendment that gun advocates always bring up, it is important to know that, over time, our U.S. Constitution has been changed 27 times when citizens and our federal and state governments have deemed it necessary to do so with the changing times. Amendments have been added, amendments have been repealed, amendments have been modified to better reflect our modern society. So anyone who says common sense gun control is unachievable because of the 2nd Amendment protections just simply doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Machine guns were not around when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution, and they are illegal to possess so we know know that today’s weapons not specifically outlined or defined can and are properly prohibited from being owned or possessed by citizens. Same for weapons such a grenade launchers and all other sorts of extremely dangerous types of weapons which are prohibited by law despite the guarantees of the 2nd Amendment.
There is no legitimate reason for civilians to own or possess AR-15 type of semiautomatic rifles that are for the express purpose of killing people… and as many people as possible in a very short time. That is why these firearms are and have been the weapon of choice for so many mass murderers over decades of shootings in our shameful, American horror story of gun violence.
Some will call me a wacked out liberal for being a proponent of comment sense gun reform, to include once again outlawing AR-15 assault rifles. I owned my own Colt AR-15 for many years – I was in law enforcement for nearly 3 decades and carried it in my patrol vehicle. I know the horrific damage a firearm like that can do to the human body, and NO CIVILIAN needs to own one of those deadly weapons, period!
You want to point to the U.S. Constitution or the 2nd Amendment for your stance in opposition to me or to common sense gun reform? Fine, go ahead and stick to the framer’s original intent of that language, maybe we as a nation really should allow every adult American to have in their possession a MUSKET, which was the weapon of choice for most Americans in 1776 when our nation was formed. Don’t you think our forefathers would be absolutely horrified if they saw the ongoing carnage, particularly the slaughter of little kids in our schools. from all of the mass shootings this country regularly has to endure? Don’t you think our forefathers would be the first ones to quickly propose critically needed changes to the Constitution or one of it’s amendments if they saw the statistics of today that show gun violence is the nation’s #1 killer of our children?
When the vast majority of Americans have said over and over that they support common sense gun reform, and our nation’s elected officials look the other way and DO NOTHING to stop the violence and try to prevent more children from being killed in mass shooting in our schools and communities, those elected officials are guilty of negligence, their actions are indefensible, and they need to be removed from office. There is NO EXCUSE for the so-called “leaders” in our nation’s capitol not doing SOMETHING!
We had a federal assault rifle ban in place when Bill Clinton was president. The Republican congress let that expire without renewing it due to pressure from the gun lobby, primarily to please the NRA. I have to tell you… the NRA is no friend to any of us, no friend to law enforcement! I know because I was a long time, state certified law enforcement firearms instructor and member of the NRA many years ago before I finally recognized the ONLY ones the NRA was for was the gun manufacturers. I gave up my NRA membership as a cop when the NRA flat refused to support federal legislation to ban what were known at the time as “cop killer” bullets that would go right through kevlar ballistic vests that law enforcement wore beginning back in the late 70s. That did it for me and many other law enforcement officers who were outraged at the NRA.
Laws need to be changed so more kids won’t die!
Ray W, says
A fact-checking outlet that calls itself Fulcrum US set out to determine how many immigrants have deported by president.
The outlet emphasized the fact that much of the nation’s immigrant data hard to find. For example, “removals” cannot be determined from one data source; it requires a search of multiple databases. Update releases for other data are often delayed.
ICE “does not have publicly available deportation figures for Trump’s second term, but it does have data through December 2024, but not through one link.
The outlet sourced its data from FOIA requests by the Deportation Data Project.
The outlet reports that it did obtain immigration data from 1993 to 2025, but it warns that the data may lack all relevant records.
For President Clinton, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 296 immigrants.
“Under Clinton, deportations focused primarily on people with criminal backgrounds and immigration violations. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 expanded deportation categories and reduced available legal defenses.”
For President George W. Bush, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 692.
“Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, Bush prioritized deportations for national security reasons. He expanded the operations of the newly created ICE (2003) and intensified workplace raids. Deportations included both criminals and those accused of civil immigration violations.”
For President Obama’s first term, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 1,088.
“In 2012, a historic peak was reached, with an average of 1,123 deportations per day. This unprecedented figure led immigrant organizations to label Obama the ‘Deporter in Chief.'”
“Obama’s first administration maintained the Secure Communities program launched in 2008 under’s Bush’s presidency, a system where local police sent fingerprints to the FBI for identification, and the FBI sent the information to ICE to detect immigrants without legal status or with deportation orders. Deporting people with serious crimes and recent border crossers became a priority. Expulsions of immigrants without criminal records in the country’s interior decreased.
“However, of the 375,000 immigrants expelled during the 6 years the program operated (active until 2014), more than 70% did not have crimes considered a national security threat, according to data from Syracuse University’s TRAC Center.
“At a time when he faced criticism for the high number of deportations, Obama approved the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in June 2012.”
For President Obama’s second term, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 794.
“During the first fiscal year of Obama’s second administration, thousands of immigrants were deported for entering without authorization (46,759 cases), a misdemeanor; driving under the influence of alcohol (29,852 cases); and for traffic violations (15,548 cases), despite the goal being to focus on level 1 criminals.”
“In 2014, Secure Communities closed, and DHS created the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) with 4 categories for deportation:
Priority 1: national security threats (terrorists, spied), dangerous criminals, and recent border arrivals after January 1, 2014.
Priority 2: people with an extensive history of immigration violations (those who had recently crossed the border but were not priority 1.
Priority 3: immigrants with minor crimes, but sentences of more than 90 days (DUI, domestic violence, theft, etc.)
Priority 4: people with final deportation orders issued after January 1, 2014.”
For President Trump’s first term, the records obtained showed an average daily rate of deportations of 641.
“Trump reversed the changes with PEP, and his administration eliminated the DHS’s 4 deportation priority categories. He signed an executive order to return to the Secure Communities system and arrests intensified in the country’s interior. Deportations due to traffic violations increased again (138% after 9 months of the government change.).
“He implemented, with the endorsement of former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Remain in Mexico policy, a program that forced non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for months or years while U.S. immigration courts resolved their cases.
“Migrant communities, including families with children, set up tents on the Mexican side of the border and were exposed to extortion, kidnappings, and other crimes. The measure faced judicial restrictions.”
For President Biden’s term, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 373.
“Biden ordered a 100-day pause on interior deportations for people with final removal orders, except for national security threats, recent border crossings (after November 1, 2020), and cases where the law required deportation. But a federal judge in Texas blocked it after 6 days.
“His administration formally ended the Remain in Mexico program, and implemented more selective interim policies focused on 3 categories: (1) national security threats, (2) recent border crossings, and (3) people released from prison with convictions for serious aggravated felonies who represent a public threat.
“The DHS established ‘Prosecutorial Discretion Guidelines’ that maintained the three categories but added mitigating factors (age, time in the United States, military service, family ties) that agents had to consider before arresting or deporting someone, even if they were in a priority category.”
Under Title 42, a 1944 public health statute, between March 2020 and May 2023, 2,381,810 expedited removals occurred. President Trump started removing immigrants under the Act and President Biden continued the process.
For President Trump’s second administration, the records obtained thus far show an average daily deportation rate of 810.
According to ICE data, immigrants in detention exceed 60,000, as of August 11th, and 8 out of 10 of those currently detained have no criminal record.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I maintain the argument that President Trump’s second administration is not focusing on the worst of the immigrants among us. With 80% of current detainees having no criminal history, the argument can be supported that his administration is blind to the deportation of the best among us.
Ray W, says
A fact-checking outlet that calls itself Fulcrum US set out to determine how many immigrants have deported by president.
The outlet emphasized the fact that much of the nation’s immigrant data hard to find. For example, “removals” cannot be determined from one data source; it requires a search of multiple databases. Update releases for other data are often delayed.
ICE “does not have publicly available deportation figures for Trump’s second term, but it does have data through December 2024, but not through one link.
The outlet sourced its data from FOIA requests by the Deportation Data Project.
The outlet reports that it did obtain immigration data from 1993 to 2025, but it warns that the data may lack all relevant records.
For President Clinton, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 296 immigrants.
“Under Clinton, deportations focused primarily on people with criminal backgrounds and immigration violations. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 expanded deportation categories and reduced available legal defenses.”
For President George W. Bush, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 692.
“Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, Bush prioritized deportations for national security reasons. He expanded the operations of the newly created ICE (2003) and intensified workplace raids. Deportations included both criminals and those accused of civil immigration violations.”
For President Obama’s first term, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 1,088.
“In 2012, a historic peak was reached, with an average of 1,123 deportations per day. This unprecedented figure led immigrant organizations to label Obama the ‘Deporter in Chief.'”
“Obama’s first administration maintained the Secure Communities program launched in 2008 under’s Bush’s presidency, a system where local police sent fingerprints to the FBI for identification, and the FBI sent the information to ICE to detect immigrants without legal status or with deportation orders. Deporting people with serious crimes and recent border crossers became a priority. Expulsions of immigrants without criminal records in the country’s interior decreased.
“However, of the 375,000 immigrants expelled during the 6 years the program operated (active until 2014), more than 70% did not have crimes considered a national security threat, according to data from Syracuse University’s TRAC Center.
“At a time when he faced criticism for the high number of deportations, Obama approved the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in June 2012.”
For President Obama’s second term, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 794.
“During the first fiscal year of Obama’s second administration, thousands of immigrants were deported for entering without authorization (46,759 cases), a misdemeanor; driving under the influence of alcohol (29,852 cases); and for traffic violations (15,548 cases), despite the goal being to focus on level 1 criminals.”
“In 2014, Secure Communities closed, and DHS created the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) with 4 categories for deportation:
Priority 1: national security threats (terrorists, spies), dangerous criminals, and recent border arrivals after January 1, 2014.
Priority 2: people with an extensive history of immigration violations (those who had recently crossed the border but were not priority 1).
Priority 3: immigrants with minor crimes, but sentences of more than 90 days (DUI, domestic violence, theft, etc.)
Priority 4: people with final deportation orders issued after January 1, 2014.”
For President Trump’s first term, the records obtained showed an average daily rate of deportations of 641.
“Trump reversed the changes with PEP, and his administration eliminated the DHS’s 4 deportation priority categories. He signed an executive order to return to the Secure Communities system and arrests intensified in the country’s interior. Deportations due to traffic violations increased again (138% after 9 months of the government change.).
“He implemented, with the endorsement of former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Remain in Mexico policy, a program that forced non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for months or years while U.S. immigration courts resolved their cases.
“Migrant communities, including families with children, set up tents on the Mexican side of the border and were exposed to extortion, kidnappings, and other crimes. The measure faced judicial restrictions.”
For President Biden’s term, the records obtained showed a daily average deportation rate of 373.
“Biden ordered a 100-day pause on interior deportations for people with final removal orders, except for national security threats, recent border crossings (after November 1, 2020), and cases where the law required deportation. But a federal judge in Texas blocked it after 6 days.
“His administration formally ended the Remain in Mexico program, and implemented more selective interim policies focused on 3 categories: (1) national security threats, (2) recent border crossings, and (3) people released from prison with convictions for serious aggravated felonies who represent a public threat.
“The DHS established ‘Prosecutorial Discretion Guidelines’ that maintained the three categories but added mitigating factors (age, time in the United States, military service, family ties) that agents had to consider before arresting or deporting someone, even if they were in a priority category.”
Under Title 42, a 1944 public health statute, between March 2020 and May 2023, 2,381,810 expedited removals occurred. President Trump started removing immigrants under the Act and President Biden continued the process.
For President Trump’s second administration, the records obtained thus far show an average daily deportation rate of 810.
According to ICE data, immigrants in detention exceed 60,000, as of August 11th, and 8 out of 10 of those currently detained have no criminal record.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I maintain the argument that President Trump’s second administration is not focusing on the worst of the immigrants among us. With 80% of current detainees having no criminal history, the argument can be supported that his administration is blind to the deportation of the best among us.
Ray W, says
Like the BLS monthly jobs estimate is updated each month at the end of two successive months, the Commerce Department’s GDP report is an estimate that is designed to be revised after more data is received.
Earlier today, according to the Associated Press Business News, the Commerce Department’s second-quarter GDP figure was revised upwards by 0.5%, from 3.0% for the second quarter to 3.5%.
According to the reporter, the first-quarter GDP drop of 0.5% was mainly due to importers sending billions of dollars out of the economy to purchase foreign goods prior to President Trump’s imposition of tariffs in early April. In the second quarter, import values fell by 29.8%, which boosted April-June GDP growth by more than 0.5%.
Of separate importance, both consumer spending and private investment estimates were also slightly upgraded in the revised Commerce Department report.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I want to see our economy growing. I have internalized Fed Chair Powell’s pronouncement that it remains possible, if only slightly possible, for America to outgrow its federal debt problem. Fed Chair Powell argues that if inflation can be brought down to 2% or less for an extended period of time, like it was prior to the pandemic, and if GDP growth can average at least 3% for an extended period of time, then the federal debt issue can be reframed, but that also means that the federal deficit has to be addressed, too.
For the first six months of 2025, GDP growth has averaged 1.5% and the inflation rate, year-over-year, is ticking upwards. Neither of these economic realities fit into Fed Chair Powell’s prescriptions for a healthy return to a perhaps manageable federal debt problem, but it is still early in Trump’s second term.
As an aside, during the Biden years, GDP growth averaged 3.2%. During Trump’s first administration, GDP growth averaged 2.3%, but the pandemic effect on the economy distorted Trump’s GDP numbers downward.
Ray W, says
A few months ago, I commented on a trending story about the federal government failing to hire firefighters in time to train them for the upcoming fire season.
Earlier today, The Daily Beast, among other sources, reported on the fact that five of six 20-man federal firefighting “hand crew” teams struggling to contain a fire known as the “Bear Gulch inferno in the Olympic National Forest, just west of Seattle” were staffed by firefighters hired by private contractors. The Bear Gulch fire started in early July. As of now, the 9,000-acre fire is 13% contained. 400 firefighters, in total, are working to contain the fire.
The reason for the story, though, is not the issue of federal hiring activities. The reason for the story is that a Border Patrol operation took place during the fight. Firefighters were ordered to line up and present identification. Two firefighters were pulled off the line and detained.
One firefighter told The Seattle Times, the reporter wrote, that “a federal officer had barked at them, ‘You need to get the (expletive) out of here. I’m gonna make you leave.”
Another firefighter commented: “You risked your life out here to save the community. … This is how they treat us?”
The Seattle Times reported that Biden-era policies explicitly forbad federal immigration agents from carrying out operations at disaster sites without “exigent circumstances.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Is this an example of the Trump administration focusing on the worst of the undocumented immigrants among us?
Ray W, says
Among multiple sources, The Detroit News reports on an order issued by Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright to keep a west Michigan coal-fired generating plant open for 90 days after its planned closure date, purportedly to provide electricity needed to deal with a heat dome that had formed over Michigan’s electricity grid in June.
The owner of the coal-fired plant, Consumers Energy, had already built another plant to maintain the level of electrical power available to the grid once the coal-fired plant closed.
After the initial 90 days passed, Secretary Wright issued a new keep open order, good for another 90 days. He claimed that there was and is demand for the plant’s generation capacity. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), pointing to an already approved 2025-2026 planning document, said that it had “adequate resources to meet anticipated demand”.
A study of the plant’s expenses to produce energy during the operational extension shows that keeping it open is costing grid customers just over $1 million per day. During the heat dome event, the coal plant ran at 61% efficiency, though the reports I have read do not present figures on the percentage of overall capacity other plants that were operating during that time.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
If the reports are accurate, keeping the coal-fired plant open by administrative order for an extra 180 days past its planned closure date will cost MISO customers more than $180 million.
As an aside, just which coal companies sold the unneeded coal to the west Michigan plant?
Dennis C Rathsam says
HMMMMMM, I don’t recall all these shootings, when I grew up in the 50s, 60,s. We had no violence in our schools…. We also didnt have Gender Dysforia. We had boys & girls, one or the other, not a combination of the two. It’s time to realize, what ever thier pumping into these kids, is destroying there minds. I blame the parents, instead of giving thier kids structure, they stick them in front the TV then the computer….. Who,s trolling who?