Benedictus Qui Venit in Nomine Domini, part sixteen

Benjamin Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from the land where their ancestors have lived for centuries is nearing its completion. Having thrown off any pretense about trying to secure of Israeli hostages, Netanyahu and his security cabinet, having been emboldened by President Donald John Trump’s complete support and encouragement, have voted to expand the military campaign in Gaza, destroy whatever buildings remain standing thereafter, and then occupy it while those who have survived the Zionist onslaught will be shipped off in a modern day version of the Trail of Tears to southern Gaza, which has been declared by the Israeli government to be a “no-go” zone:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the population of Gaza will be displaced to the south after his security cabinet approved an expanded military operation in the enclave that a minister described as a plan to “conquer” the territory.

The vote on Sunday came hours after the military said it would mobilize tens of thousands of reservists, strengthening its capacity to operate in the besieged Palestinian territory.

“One thing will be clear: there will be no in-and-out,” Netanyahu said in a Monday video message posted on X. “We’ll call up reserves to come, hold territory — we’re not going to m enter and then exit the area, only to carry out raids afterward. That’s not the plan. The intention is the opposite.”

“There will be a movement of the population to protect them,” Netanyahu said of the “intensified operation.”

Less than 24 hours later, an Israeli strike on a school compound housing displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 20 people, according to officials at the nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The Israeli military said they struck a Hamas command and control center on Tuesday, saying that “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming uninvolved civilians.”

A senior Israeli security official earlier said the operation in Gaza, called “Gideon’s Chariots,” was unanimously approved by the security cabinet with the aim of subduing Hamas and securing the release of all hostages.

The plan would be implemented after US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week to “provide a window of opportunity” for a hostage deal, the official added.

“If no hostage deal is reached, Operation Gideon’s Chariots will begin with full force and will not stop until all its objectives are achieved.”

The plan then, is to displace Gaza’s entire population to the south of the enclave, following which the total the blockade of humanitarian aid may be lifted, the official said, adding that the military “will remain in every area it captures.”

“In any temporary or permanent agreement, Israel will not evacuate the security buffer zone around Gaza, which is intended to protect Israeli communities and prevent arms smuggling to Hamas,” the official said.

“We are on the eve of a major entry into Gaza based on the recommendation of the General Staff,” Netanyahu said in his video message, adding that military officials told him it was time to “start the final moves.”

‘Highest goal’

The “highest goal” of the expanding operation in Gaza, according to the military’s top spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, is returning the hostages, not defeating Hamas. His comments come just a week after Netanyahu said the war’s “supreme goal” is the defeat of Israel’s enemies, not the return of hostages.

“The top goal of the operation is the return of the hostages. After that — the collapse of Hamas rule, its defeat and subjugation — but first and foremost, the return of the hostages,” Defrin said responding to a question about his message to hostage families.

The military spokesman faced swift condemnation from Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who said Defrin was “confused into thinking that the army is above the political echelon.”

Hostage families were quick to condemn the announcement of the expansion of the war, fearing that the Israeli government is prioritizing the defeat of Hamas over securing a deal to return Israeli hostages – and endangering them through the expanded military operations.

Asked if the US approves of the new Israeli plan, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told CNN: “The President has made clear the consequences Hamas will face if it continues to hold hostages, including American Edan Alexander, and the bodies of four Americans. Hamas bears sole responsibility for this conflict, and for the resumption of hostilities.”

Hamas said on Tuesday that Israel’s plan represents “a clear decision to sacrifice” hostages in the strip.

It also reproduces “the cycle of failure (Israel) began eighteen months ago, without achieving any of its declared goals,” the militant group said in a statement, adding that Hamas “will not be intimidated” by the Israeli military’s “threats and plans.”

Gaza annexation not ruled out

Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that “we are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip.”

Annexing Gaza is a possibility, and once the military expands its operations in the enclave, it will not pull back – even if Hamas agrees to a new hostage deal, he said at a conference in Jerusalem, referring to the security cabinet decision on Sunday.

“Once we conquer and stay – we can talk about sovereignty (over Gaza). But I didn’t demand that it be included in the war’s objectives,” he added. “Once the maneuver begins – there will be no withdrawal from the territories we’ve captured, not even in exchange for hostages.”

Smotrich primarily handles the country’s finances, but he sits on the security cabinet and holds significant sway over Netanyahu, who relies on his support to keep the government from collapsing.

More than 2,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since mid-March when Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes, shattering a ceasefire, which had been in place for nearly two months. More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The expansion of the fighting will be gradual to give a chance for a renewed ceasefire and hostage release deal before US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region in mid-May, the officials said. Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar next week, but there is currently no stop planned in Israel.

The UN raised concern with the latest expansion plan, saying it would lead to more civilians being killed.

“I can tell you that the Secretary General is alarmed by these reports of Israeli plans to expand ground operations and prolong its military presence in Gaza,” Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq told reporters on Monday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot strongly criticized Israel’s plan, calling it “not acceptable” in a radio interview Tuesday morning.

“The urgent need is obviously the ceasefire. But it’s also unhindered access for humanitarian aid. The Palestinians living there are massively lacking humanitarian aid from the Gaza Strip. And then there’s the release of the Hamas hostages, of course,” Barrot said on RTL Radio.

China also said Tuesday it was “highly concerned” about the developments.

“China opposes Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza and hopes all parties continuously and effectively implement the ceasefire agreement and return to the right track for a political resolution of the issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing

New aid mechanism

An Israeli blockade of all humanitarian aid into the strip is now in its ninth week.

Israel says it cut off the entry of humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages. But international organizations say its actions violate international law and risks creating a man-made famine, with some accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war – a war crime.

The cabinet also discussed allowing the resumption of aid deliveries into Gaza under a new framework which was approved, but has not yet been implemented, according to one of the sources.

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan 11, reported that a confrontation had broken out during Sunday’s meeting over the resumption of aid deliveries with two far-right members of the cabinet, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and settlements minister Orit Strook opposed to any resumption of aid and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir arguing Israel was obligated to facilitate them under international law.

According to one of the source who spoke to CNN, the Israeli media reports about the arguments over the aid “are not wrong.”

United States and Israeli officials are discussing a mechanism to deliver aid to Gaza that bypasses Hamas, an Israeli source familiar with the matter and a State Department official told CNN. The official said an announcement could be made “in the coming days.”

The delivery mechanism in the works is intended to allow aid to reach the Palestinian population with safeguards to ensure it is not diverted by Hamas or Islamic Jihad, according to a State Department spokesperson.

An unnamed private foundation would manage the aid mechanism and the delivery of the humanitarian supplies into Gaza, the spokesperson said.

The US expects the United Nations and international aid organizations to work with the framework of the foundation’s mechanism to ensure that supplies do not reach Hamas, the spokesperson said.

In a statement on Monday, Hamas criticized the new framework, saying: “We reject turning aid into a tool for political blackmail and support the international position that rejects any arrangements that do not respect humanitarian principles.”

Aid agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territory also rejected the new framework on Sunday, saying the plan appeared “designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items” and would fail to ensure aid reached Gaza’s most vulnerable residents.

“The UN Secretary-General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator have made clear that we will not participate in any scheme that does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” the groups said in a joint statement. (Israel vows to escalate war with new plan to ‘conquer’ Gaza. Also see Israel approves full military takeover of Gaza, plans permanent occupation and displacement.)

As noted in two recent articles,  “Pope Trump” Has Much in Common with the Anti-Papabiles and “Pope Trump” Has Much in Common with the Anti-Papabiles, Donald John Trump is certainly a funny man. He is entertaining, and many of domestic and even international initiatives are very sound, including the tariffs on Red China, which has caused some slave laborers in this land of totalitarian tyranny to revolt against being laid off from work because the effect that the tariffs are having on the Chicom economy (see Protests erupt in China as Trump's steep tariffs bite: 'Extremely anxious'), and his efforts to secure the southern border, cut the size of the Federal bureaucracy, and to stop the weaponization by the United States Department of Justice and its Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Internal Revenue Service. However, nothing but nothing can exculpate the president, nice or not, funny or not, courageous or not, from giving mass murdering Benjamin Netanyahu a green light to do as he pleases in Gaza, especially since he, Trump, has explicitly expressed his desire to rebuild the land that has been destroyed by his Israeli allies into a plush resort for the rich, power, and famous that would include a Trump Gaza Hotel and Casino. Nothing like old-fashioned decadence and hedonism, is there?

The Zionist goal of a Greater Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is becoming a reality on the same blood of innocent Arabs, both Mohammedans and the few remaining Christians left in the area, upon which large numbers of Maronite Rite Catholics were removed from their homes forcibly by the Zionist invaders and forced into exile or into “relocation” (concentration) camps.

The current situation is compounded by the fact that, as noted  just above, the Israeli government has declared seventy percent of Gaza to be a “no-go” zone:

Israel has restricted Palestinians’ access to 70 percent of Gaza, either by declaring large areas as no-go zones or issuing forced displacement orders, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In southern Gaza, much of Rafah governorate has been declared a no-go zone, placed under forced displacement orders by the Israeli military since late March. In the north, nearly all of Gaza City is under similar orders, with only small pockets in the northwest still exempt. Entire areas east of the Shujayea neighbourhood and along the Israeli border have been declared a restricted zone.

Israel’s Gaza occupation plan

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Gaza’s more than two million people “will be moved” in a new ground offensive that will involve Israeli troops holding on to seized territory, establishing a “sustained presence” in Gaza.

This follows the unanimous approval by Netanyahu’s cabinet to call up 60,000 reservists and place the Israeli military in control of delivering food and other essential supplies to Gaza’s starving population.

Israel prioritising territorial control

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum said Palestinians view the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza and reoccupation of much of its territorial landscape as a form of collective punishment and an attempt to change the demographic and political map of Gaza.

Many Palestinians understand that Israel is prioritising territorial control over any political solution, and many shared their fear and panic regarding the possibility of not being able to return to their homes.

They also believe that Israel is trying not just to dismantle the military capabilities of Hamas, as the Israeli military spokesperson and Netanyahu have stated, but they are also trying to empty Gaza of its residents and to suffocate civilians.

Israel will do this by using humanitarian language alongside military tactics, including an expanded ground offensive and tightening its grip on the flow of aid to Gaza.

But there was a general and clear sentiment of defiance among many Palestinians. Social media is filled with messages of resilience and people saying they will not leave Gaza, whatever the cost.

Gaza facing ‘extreme risk of famine’

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says Gaza is facing “extreme risk of famine” with no food remaining in markets and aid distribution centres.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Israel of “using starvation as a method of warfare” in Gaza. Half of those being starved by Israel are children, the prominent rights group said.

“[On] the nutritional front, the population is facing once again an extreme risk of famine,” the PRCS said in its latest situation update.

“There is an inability to meet even the minimum daily needs of over a million displaced people,” it said.

The PRCS’s food stocks allocated for displaced people are now “completely depleted”, with “limited quantities of legumes” being “distributed to community kitchens to cover some of the basic needs of displaced individuals”.

Since Israel broke the nearly two-month-long ceasefire with Hamas on March 18, its military has killed at least 2,459 Palestinians in Gaza, bringing the total number of confirmed killed in the besieged Strip to 52,567. (Israel has turned 70% of Gaza into no-go zones, in maps | Israel-Palestine conflict News.)

The Israeli response to the terrorist attacks launched by Hamas against Israeli on Saturday, October 7, 2023, has been amorally disproportionate as civilian population centers, hospitals, churches, shrines, and even Christian statues have been targeted for destruction. There is some sentiment even in Israeli “peace” circles that Netanyahu let the Hamas attack Israeli so to give him the pretext to do in Gaza what has been done by the Israeli Defense Forces from that time to the present. Even if this is not the case, though, it must be remembered that Hamas received help from the Israeli Mossad in 1987 to serve as a counterweight against the Palestine Liberation Organization even though Hamas is actually on offshoot of the Egyptian Islamic Brotherhood. The Middle East has long been an area rife with double and triple agents, and it is simply a waste of one’s good Catholic time to go into one rabbit hole after another.

What is not a waste of time is to point out the fact that President Donald John Trump, who is a Zionist’s Zionist, is enabling the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. He is doing the work of Antichrist in this regard as the “Greater Israel” project that is so close to the blackened heart of the mass murderer named Benjamin Netanyahu and to Zionism’s dupes in many evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant sects is not only not any kind of part of the fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy in preparation for the Second Coming of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ at the end of the world but a preparation for Antichrist’s One World Governance. It is not to support Hamas or any other terrorist organization to oppose the Israeli government’s genocide of the Palestinians.

Unfortunately, however, we live a twisted world where truth is inverted, that which is evil is celebrated, and opposition to certain types of evil is considered “hateful,” “bigoted,” or even “terroristic,” which is exactly what the administration of Donald John Trump is doing to root out even long-time permanent residents of the United States of America (those with “Green Cards” permitting non-citizens to live in this country permanently without a visa) whose social media posts express any kind of opposition to Israeli policies without, mind you, supporting Hamas or its own violence in any way, shape, or form.

This is what is happening to such Green Card holders who travel abroad upon their return to the United States of America:

The Trump administration has issued a fresh warning to green card holders in the United States, advising them to behave like a guest or risk removal, escalating concerns among millions of legal residents amid intensified immigration enforcement.

A post on X, formerly Twitter, from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) this week reminded lawful permanent residents that their stay in the country is not guaranteed and could be revoked if they are deemed a threat to national interests.

Newsweek reached out to USCIS and the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) for further comment on the criteria being used to analyze social media posts via email Tuesday morning.

Why It Matters

The warning underscores the Trump administration's broadened approach to immigration enforcement, one that now increasingly targets not just undocumented individuals but also legal residents. At the center of this shift is a growing policy emphasis on social media monitoring and ideological scrutiny, as legal residents are reportedly being deported or denied reentry into the U.S. based on their online activity or political affiliations.

The administration's tactics have raised urgent questions about free speech, surveillance, and the limits of due process for immigrants who have lived legally in the country for years.

The post, shared on the official USCIS account, stated: "EVERYONE should be on notice. If you're a guest in our country – act like it. Our robust social media vetting program to identify national security & public safety risks never stops. USCIS is on watch to find anything online that poses a threat to our nation & our way of life."

USCIS announced in March it would soon require visa and green card applicants to disclose all their social media handles, part of a broader vetting effort that the agency says is essential for national security.

The information would be used for "identity verification, vetting and national security screening," the agency said. The change, now in effect, is likely to impact over 2.5 million applicants and add nearly 286,000 hours of work annually to agency staff workloads, Newsweek previously reported.

Critics warned that the scope and subjectivity of this surveillance could chill free speech. The Trump administration has argued that those who express pro-Hamas or antisemitic views, or other ideas which go against U.S. foreign policy, are a potential national security threat and may face deportation.

Those who have not broken any laws or violated immigration rules have nothing to fear, a senior Border Patrol official previously told Newsweek.

Latest estimates from USCIS for 2024 showed around 12.8 million people living in the U.S. hold green cards, or lawful permanent residency (LPR), with around 8.6 million of those eligible to apply for citizenship.

CNN documented the fears of several green card holders—including a Canadian tattoo artist, a business owner from Colorado, and a Palestinian-American student leader—who now hesitate to travel abroad or even express political views online.

Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and activist, was detained this year despite no criminal charges, sparking outrage among immigrant advocates. The administration justified the detention under a statute that allows deportation based on "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences."

David Leopold, a past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called the move "a dangerous precedent," telling CNN, "Who's next? Is it a climate activist? Is it trans activists? Is it somebody who is concerned about health care? Is it somebody who just simply opposes Donald Trump?"

DHS officials have reiterated that green card holders are not entitled to unconditional stay, despite perceived, and real, additional protections granted to green card holders compared to other visa holders.

What People Are Saying

The Center for Democracy and Technology deputy director Becca Branum, told Newsweek: "The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, regardless of their immigration status. The Trump Administration cannot change the Constitution by bullying and surveilling immigrant communities online. The Administration's social media monitoring and viewpoint-based immigration policies will irrevocably chill noncitizens' expression and risk everyone's First Amendment rights."

Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, told Newsweek in a statement: "The First Amendment protects people regardless of their viewpoints and regardless of their citizenship status. Expressing political views—including those disfavored by the government—doesn't make someone a national security or public safety risk. And monitoring people's social media posts for anything that 'poses a threat to our way of life' won't make us safer. What it will do is make people think twice before saying anything controversial or critical of the government—and unfortunately, that seems to be the point."

Saira Hussain, senior attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Newsweek in March: "These are people who could have been residing in the U.S. for 30, 40 years. It really creates a massive chilling effect...concerned they are going to be vetted and denied immigration benefits such as naturalization."

CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham told Newsweek in a statement in early April: "The Trump Administration is enforcing immigration laws—something the previous administration failed to do. Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained, and removed as required."

Vice President JD Vance said in a Fox News interview last month: "A green card holder, even if I may like that green card holder, doesn't have an indefinite right to be in the United States of America. If the Secretary of State and the President decide, 'This person shouldn't be in America,' it's as simple as that."

What Happens Next

As social media monitoring becomes a formal part of the immigration system, attorneys are urging green card holders to be cautious with online activity and avoid extended trips abroad without legal guidance. Legal experts also anticipate a surge in citizenship applications as lawful permanent residents seek to protect themselves from sudden removal. (Trump Administration Issues Another Warning to Green Card Holders.)

Jeff Joseph, a 53-year-old immigration attorney in Colorado, has recently started taking precautions while traveling abroad that, at another time, he would have considered a little paranoid. He leaves his phone at home. Instead, he carries a “burner’’—a device scrubbed of his contact list and communications—in case U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers send him to secondary inspection or seize his electronics when he returns home. Joseph told me his knowledge of immigration law has left him with less confidence, not more, about the risks of crossing U.S. borders during the second Trump administration.

“Among immigration lawyers who are well versed in this, and who know what happens in secondary, there’s a level of anxiety and panic that we’ve never seen before,” said Joseph, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Myself included.”

The anxiety is not limited to immigration lawyers. Ahead of summer travel season, online message boards have been humming with vacation worries and crowd-sourced advice. Users are telling one another to delete social-media accounts on their devices, turn off facial-recognition features to make it harder for officers to gain access, and pack photocopies of their personal documents, such as birth and marriage certificates.

Donald Trump, on his first day in office, ordered CBP and other federal agencies to intensify their screening of foreigners and immigrants. He has also promised to undertake the largest deportation program in American history, even if it means violating the constitutional right to due process, while directing the cancellation of visas for campus protesters. Since his return to power, accounts of travelers’ ordeals have routinely made the news.

In March, a German-born New Hampshire resident arriving at Boston’s Logan Airport was arrested and jailed, and now faces deportation, over a years-old marijuana charge. A Canadian woman detained at a Southern California border crossing spent nearly two weeks in a grim Immigration and Customs Enforcement lockup. A green-card holder from Ireland who has lived in the United States for 40 years was taken into custody last month at San Francisco International Airport because of drug convictions that had been expunged from her record, her family says. She is still in ICE custody and faces deportation.

Read: Foreign tourists are taking Trump at his word

Trump-administration officials insist that law-abiding travelers have nothing to fear and that news coverage of these incidents is overblown and incomplete. CBP says that its searches of electronic devices have not significantly increased. Officers do not detain travelers randomly, it says, and instead question or arrest people based on “derogatory” information that may be too sensitive to disclose publicly.

Nevertheless, the fears are real and, travel consultants and immigration lawyers told me, pervasive. They say their clients—foreign citizens residing abroad, green-card holders living in the United States, and even some U.S. citizens—are worried that their interaction with the blue-uniformed CBP officers stationed at airports and border crossings will end badly.

David Fishman, a travel consultant in Michigan, says he tells anxious planners to consider booking a domestic trip instead of going abroad, if only for peace of mind: “There’s a lot of places to go in the country. You can go up to Alaska; you can go over to Hawaii; you can go down to Saint Thomas and Puerto Rico.” None of those destinations requires travelers to stand in judgment before a CBP officer.

The arrivals hall of an international airport is one of the few places that Americans are likely to have a personal encounter with an armed representative of the United States government. It’s a stressful setting to begin with. Lines can be slow, and travelers are tired and eager to get home. Officers can take your passport and hold it hostage. The process was already fraught before the Trump administration made it feel like a charged political experience.

CBP officials say they have not issued specific new guidance to officers. But one of Trump’s January 20 executive orders directed agencies across the federal government to “identify all resources that may be used to ensure that all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or who are already in the United States, are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

Immigration attorneys also note Trump has curbed CBP officers’ ability to allow the entry of migrants or visitors using an authority known as “parole.” So travelers who do not qualify for admission to the United States are more likely to be handed over to ICE for detention and deportation. Although U.S. citizens cannot be denied entry to the United States, all other categories of noncitizens—even, in some cases, legal permanent residents with green cards—are at risk of being denied entry or deemed inadmissible by a CBP officer.

Under U.S. law, CBP has broad authority to confiscate and conduct warrantless searches on the devices of any traveler, regardless of citizenship. In an emailed statement from CBP, a spokesperson, Hilton Beckham, said that claims that CBP is searching more electronic media are false and that the device checks are necessary.

“These searches are conducted to detect digital contraband, terrorism-related content, and information relevant to visitor admissibility, all of which play a critical role in national security,” Beckham said. “Allegations that political beliefs trigger inspections or removals are baseless and irresponsible.”

CBP declined to provide statistics on the number of travelers it has referred to secondary inspection since January 20, nor how those figures compare with previous years. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has been scrutinizing the social-media accounts of students and others for content that could be anti-Semitic, creating another rationale for officers to seek access to travelers’ devices.

“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” a DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement.

The administration’s zeal for immigration enforcement and determination to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests arising from the war in Gaza have spawned worries that are more typical of authoritarian societies, where governments use border crossings as opportunities to intimidate and punish dissent. What if the CBP officer doesn’t like the traveler’s surname or tattoos? Or asks for their phone and finds a meme in their photos championing the wrong political cause? The concerns may not be fully warranted, but they exist.

“There is anxiety,” John Rose, the chief risk and security officer for the business-travel consulting firm Altour, told me. “People are nervous because of the way they look, or their names.”

Rose advises business travelers from small institutions up to Fortune 100 companies. They have so many questions that he’s been hosting group sessions to try to provide answers. “Some flat-out say, ‘I’m not okay traveling,’” Rose said. “You never want to see that.”

Rose said he’s seen no evidence that CBP is conducting more searches, or screening travelers more rigorously. Airline data compiled by his company don’t show a significant increase in rebookings for connecting flights, he said, which would be one sign that more travelers are being detained for lengthy questioning.

Rose tells clients who are not U.S. citizens to be especially careful about what might be on their mobile devices, and to be prepared to answer questions about their immigration record or criminal offenses in their past.

Harlan York, an immigration attorney in New Jersey, told me that travelers are “freaked out” but that the travel precautions he recommends have not changed, especially for noncitizens who may have something unsavory in their record. York said that there’s always been a risk that CBP might use the information to question them or deny them entry, and that just because it hasn’t happened in the past doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.

“If you speed every day on the highway and a cop finally pulls you over,” he told me, “you can’t say to the cop, ‘You never pulled me over before, and I’ve been speeding for years.’”

Bachir Atallah, a 41-year-old real-estate attorney who lives in Massachusetts, was returning on April 13 with his wife from a trip to Canada for Palm Sunday when CPB officers at a Vermont border crossing sent him for additional questioning. Atallah, a naturalized U.S. citizen who is a native of Lebanon, said he was handcuffed and treated roughly, then separated from his wife. His blood pressure spiked, and when paramedics arrived, they urged him to go to the hospital. He said he refused because he didn’t want to leave his wife in custody as officers questioned her and searched her phone.

The couple waited nearly five hours, Atallah said. Officers finally released them at nearly 11 p.m. but did not explain the reason for the detention. Atallah said he plans to sue the government, if only to try to clear his name.

“I keep asking myself: Why did they treat me this way?” Atallah told me. “That’s no way to treat an American citizen. That’s no way to treat a human.”

Some recent cases may have received more attention because the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown has put far more scrutiny on the kinds of arrests and deportations the government has always done. CBP’s detention of two backpackers from Germany who landed in Hawaii generated significant news coverage, for example, but CBP officers routinely scrutinize the travel plans of people who don’t have hotel bookings or reservations—a sign that they may be coming to work in the United States unlawfully.

The backpackers, who were sent to a detention center overnight and deported to Germany, denied that they’d planned to work and said their stop in the United States was meant to be part of an around-the-world odyssey.

Their case and others have generated negative press coverage in Europe, where travelers’ anxieties about mistreatment by U.S. authorities appear to be dragging down tourism. The number of overseas visitors arriving to the United States fell nearly 12 percent in March from the same month a year earlier, according to travel data from the U.S. Commerce Department.

U.S. airlines have not reported a downturn in outbound international bookings, despite the weakening U.S. dollar, according to Adam Sacks, the president of Tourism Economics, which provides data and consulting for the travel industry. Sacks told me that the industry is bracing for a slump, however, because consumer-confidence surveys have taken a negative turn and Trump’s tariffs are expected to drive up costs as they ripple through the wider economy.

Industry consultants told me that the tourism and hospitality industry has been urging administration officials to do more to reassure travelers ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Sacks said there has been some speculation among analysts that there could be a silver lining to the drop in international visitors “if U.S. residents decide to stay closer to home.”

Joseph, the Colorado immigration attorney, has wondered if his decision to travel with a burner phone may be unnecessary. During his presentation at a recent conference in Mexico, he asked an audience of fellow attorneys how many others had left their devices back in the United States. There were about 100 people in the room, Joseph told me, and at least 10 others raised their hands.

“While that may seem like a small number,” he said, “it is not something about which immigration lawyers have ever had to be concerned.” (Airport Detentions Have Travelers ‘Freaked Out’.)

How is this not all fascistic?

Remember, far from being in favor of “free speech,” President Donald John Trump is just as censorious as the decrepit, mentally challenged, ethically and morally corrupt pro-abortion Catholic from Delaware, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., the head of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate, when it comes to any criticism of Jews, Judaism, or the Zionist State of Israel. His administration’s efforts to deport Green Card holders who violate the following Executive Order, issued on December 11, 2019, and then reiterated on January 29, 2025, is truly draconian and it could be applied even to traditional Catholic priests from other countries who are permanent residents:

Sec. 2.  Ensuring Robust Enforcement of Title VI.  (a)  In enforcing Title VI, and identifying evidence of discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, all executive departments and agencies (agencies) charged with enforcing Title VI shall consider the following:

(i)   the non-legally binding working definition of anti Semitism adopted on May 26, 2016, by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which states, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.  Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities”; and

(ii)  the “Contemporary Examples of Anti-Semitism” identified by the IHRA, to the extent that any examples might be useful as evidence of discriminatory intent.

(b)  In considering the materials described in subsections (a)(i) and (a)(ii) of this section, agencies shall not diminish or infringe upon any right protected under Federal law or under the First Amendment.  As with all other Title VI complaints, the inquiry into whether a particular act constitutes discrimination prohibited by Title VI will require a detailed analysis of the allegations.

Sec. 3.  Additional Authorities Prohibiting Anti-Semitic Discrimination.  Within 120 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency charged with enforcing Title VI shall submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, identifying additional nondiscrimination authorities within its enforcement authority with respect to which the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism could be considered. (Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism.)

Readers will notice that the basis of the recently reiterated 2019 executive was the definitions of what constitutes “anti-Semitic behavior provided by the “International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance,” which has a vested interest in shutting down any discussion about the ways in which Zionists have used the crimes of the occult-worshiping leaders of the Third Reich as the pretext to prevent any criticism of Jews, Judaism, of Israel at any time for any reason.

While many of the leftists on college campuses who claim to be supporting the cause of the Palestinians are indeed virulent anti-Semites who hate Jewish persons and seek to do them bodily harm and/or to harass and intimidate them, it is not anti-Semitic to oppose any form of Judaism as a false religion nor to criticize the murderous policies of the Zionist State of Israel.

Columnist Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury, summarized this global mess—and this mess is global in nature—very succinctly in a recent column:

What Trump is going to do is to make Israel great, not America.

All over the Western world it is already the case in many countries, such as Great Britain and Germany that criticism of Israel or of Jews is a criminal offense, and it is becoming the same in every Western country, eventually even in Russia. In America the Trump regime is deporting students who protest Israel’s American-supported genocide of the Palestinians.  Long ago Israeli propagandists convinced Americans that every Palestinian, even 3-year old children, was a terrorist who wore bomb vests in order to kill Israelis.  All the while Israel killed Palestinians, 3-year olds included, by the bomb load.

Even in the Red State of Texas, if you protest Israel’s genocide of Palestine, you are ineligible to have a state contract.

America is totally owned by Israel.  So is Trump.  So how can America be “made great again”? (Trump Is Destroying America, but He Is Making Israel Great.)

Mr. Roberts is not whistlin’ a Dixie.

Yes, even in the relatively freer State of Texas, where hospitals have had death panels since those ignominious days of the supposed “pro-life” Governor George Neoconservative Warmonger Bush in 1999, the fascism of the day is being manifested by current Governor Gregory Wayne Abbot, a “pro-life” Catholic, of course:

At the last San Marcos City Council meeting, there was an agenda item for “a possible resolution calling for the immediate and permanent ceasefire in occupied Palestine,” which prompted a letter from Governor Greg Abbott to San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson stating that he has “proudly signed legislation prohibiting government entities from supporting efforts to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel.” At the previous meeting, the council decided to move forward with placing the resolution on the agenda for a vote at the next meeting on May 6. Abbott’s letter threatened removal of state grant funding if it were passed.

Abbott’s letter cited the laws that he believed the resolution “seems calculated to violate.”

“In Texas, no governmental entity may enter into a contract worth $100,000 or more unless it includes a ‘written verification’ that the contracting entity ‘does not boycott Israel’ and ‘will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract.’ TEX. GOV’T CODE § 2271.002,” Abbott wrote in the letter. “A ‘governmental entity’ includes a political subdivision, like the City of San Marcos. Id. §§ 2251.001(3), 2271.001(3). And to ‘boycott Israel’ means ‘refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with, or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations specifically with Israel …’ Id. §§ 808.001(1), 2271.001(1).”

Abbott stated that the resolution would impact grant funding for the city of San Marcos.

“My office is already reviewing active grants with San Marcos to determine whether the City has breached terms by falsely certifying compliance with Texas law,” Abbott stated. “If the City Council adopts this Resolution, the Office of the Governor will not enter into any future grant agreements with the City and will act swiftly to terminate active grants for non-compliance.”

In a press release, Palestine Solidarity SMTX, the activist group that spent approximately one year in public comment requesting the resolution, stated that the letter “falsely paints the resolution as anti-Israel.”

The organization disagreed with the governor’s position.

“Governor Abbott’s attempt to equate support for Palestinian human rights with antisemitism is a gross misrepresentation,” stated Scott Cove, a representative of Palestine Solidarity SMTX. “This resolution unequivocally condemns the targeting of civilians, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, and affirms the right to life and safety for all. The resolution explicitly condemns any antisemitic rhetoric or attacks. It is deeply concerning that Governor Abbott would threaten our city’s funding in an attempt to suppress our community’s free speech call for peace and justice and to ignore the applicability of existing federal law and the weight of international rulings.”

Palestine Solidarity SMTX stated that the “resolution’s call to end U.S. military funding and sales to Israel is rooted in the necessity of upholding existing federal laws.” They listed the Foreign Assistance Act, the Arms Export Control Act, the U.S. War Crimes Act, the Leahy Laws and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act as laws being violated.

San Marcos City Council Member Amanda Rodriguez, one of the two council members who sponsored the agenda item, posted to her instagram account that residents have been requesting a “symbolic resolution” calling for a ceasefire on Gaza, calling for community members to come to the May 6 meeting and demand the resolution be passed.

“To conflate opposition to genocide with antisemitism is a deliberate and dangerous tactic to silence moral outrage; Speaking out against atrocity is not hate, it’s humanity,” she wrote. “Our cities are underfunded, our people are in pain, and yet we’re told to stay silent. We won’t. Join me on May 6th to demand our Council courageously defend the right to dissent. Our democracy depends on it.”

An official with the city of San Marcos stated that “staff members do not provide interviews or public comments on items that are scheduled for consideration by the full City Council.” (Abbot threatens removal of state grant funding if city passes ceasefire resolution.)

Well, the stars at night may be big and bright deep in the heart of Texas, and so is the strength of the Israeli government. So much for the farce of “free speech,” which has, as I have explained so many times before on this site, never been as “free” as Americans have been led to believe by the prevailing mythologies.

Alas, the world in which we live is suffering, proximately speaking, from the long-term consequences of the overthrow of the Social Reign of Christ the King by the Protestant Revolution and the subsequent rise and triumph, albeit temporarily within the Providence of God, of the anti-incarnational Calvinist-Judeo-Masonic civil state of Modernity where the façade of “democracy” is being replaced by fascism by the “right” and totalitarianism by the “left.” There is no solution to this mess in human terms as this is all a chastisement for our sins, especially for our refusal to view everything in the world exclusively through the eyes of the true Church and not through the lens of the endless battles between the false opposites of naturalism (see Never Fall into the Trap of the False Opposites, Not for Any Reason).

This have been noted, though, I want to emphasize once again that the gravest act of anti-Semitism to refuse to pray and to seek, wherever possible, the conversion of all non-Catholics, including Jews, to the true Church founded by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope, the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order. And in this regard, you see, the conciliar revolutionaries are the most virulent anti-Semites on the face of this earth, and they will be gathering today, Wednesday, May 7. 2025, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph in Paschaltide and the Commemoration of Saint Joseph to choose another anti-Semite and anti-Catholic to be the universal public face of apostasy.

We must pray to Our Lady for the day when this madness will end so that the hatreds and division caused by Original Sin and the Actual Sins of men, including our own, of course, will be replaced by a firm devotion to the tender mercies of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary as men, enjoying the fruit of the Triumph of the same Immaculate Heart of Mary, will exclaim una voce dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus, Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus, qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

On the Commemorated Feast of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr

Although downgraded to a commemoration because of the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, which is discussed in my annual reflection that was posted shortly before this commentary, the Feast of Saint Stanislaus should inspire us with courage to defend the truth without fear of the consequences as we have been baptized and confirmed not to curry favor with our fellow creatures but with Christ the King as He has revealed Himself exclusively to us through His true Church:

The 11th Century—the Century of contest between the Priests of the Church and Barbarism—deputes today another Martyr to our Risen Jesus. It is Stanislaus, loved by noble Poland as one of her chief protectors. He was slain at the Altar by a Christian Prince whom he had reproved for his crimes. The blood of the courageous Pontiff was mingles, and in the same sacrifice, with that of our Redeemer. What an invincible energy there is in these Lambs whom Jesus has sent amidst the wolves! (Matthew 10:16) They seem to be changes, all at once, into Lions, like Jesus himself was, at his Resurrection. There is not a Century that has not had its Martyrs: some for the Faith, others for the unity of the Church, others for her Liberty, others for Justice, others for Charity, and others, like our great Saint of today, for the maintenance of Morals. The 19th Century, too, has had its Martyrs; scarcely a year elapses without our hearing of some that have been added to the bright list in the far East; and who knows but what there will be Martyrs even in Europe before the remaining thirty years have transpired? At the commencement of last Century, there was little probability of its providing such an abundant harvest of Martyrdom as it did. Of one thing we are quite sure: whatever persecutions may arise, the Spirit of Fortitude will not be wanting to the Champions of Truth. Martyrdom is one of the Church’s characteristics, and it has never failed her. The Apostles who are clinging to Jesus during these days preceding his Ascension drank the Chalice which he drank; and only yesterday, we were honoring the favorite disciple’s martyrdom—yes, even he had to tread the path prepared for all.

Holy Church tells us, in the account we now subjoin, how the saintly Bishop of Cracow was offered the glorious Chalice, and how courageously he accepted it.

Stanislaus was born at Cracow in Poland. His parents (who were of a noble family), after being thirty years without children, obtained him from God by prayer. He gave promise, even from his infancy, of future sanctity. While young, he applied hard to study, and made great progress in Canon Law and Theology. After the death of his parents, he wished to embrace the monastic life, and therefore distributed his rich fortune among the poor. But divine Providence willing otherwise, he was made a Canon and Preacher of the Cathedral of Cracow, by Bishop Lampert, whose successor he afterwards became. In the duties thus imposed upon him, he shone in every pastoral virtue, especially in that of charity to the poor.

Boleslaus was the then King of Poland. The Saint incurred his grave displeasure for having publicly reprimanded his notorious immorality. Wherefore in a solemn meeting of the grandees of his kingdom, the King summoned him to appear in judgment, to answer the accusation of his having appropriated to himself some land purchased in the name of his Cathedral. The bishop not being able to produce the deeds of sale, and the witnesses being afraid to speak the truth, he promised to bring before the court within three days the seller of the land, by name Peter, who had died three years previously. His proposition excited laughter, but was accepted. For three days did the man of God apply himself to fasting and prayer; and, on the day appointed, after offering up the sacrifice of the Mass, he commanded Peter to rise from his grave, who, there and then, returned to life, and followed the Bishop to the King’s tribunal. There, to the bewilderment of the King and the audience, he gave his testimony regarding the sale of the land, and the price duly paid him by the Bishop. This done, he again slept in the Lord.

After several times admonishing Boleslaus, but all to no purpose, Stanislaus separated him from communion with the Faithful. Maddened with anger, the King sent soldiers into the Church, that they might put the holy Bishop to death. They thrice endeavored to do so, but were, each time, repelled by the hidden power of God. The impious King himself then went; and finding the Priest of God offering the unspotted victim at the Altar, he beheaded him with his own hand. The corpse was then cut in pieces and thrown into a field; but it was miraculously defended from wild beasts by eagles. During the night, the Canons of Cracow, aided by a heavenly light, collected the scattered members, and having placed them in their natural position, they found that they were immediately joined to each other, so as that not a single mark of a wound was traceable. God manifested the sanctity of his servant by many other miracles, which occurred after his death, and which induced Pope Innocent IV to proceed to his Canonization.

Thou wast powerful in word and work, O Stanislaus! and our Lord rewarded thee with a Martyr’s crown. From thy throne of glory, cast a look of pity upon us; obtain for us from God that gift of fortitude, which was so prominent in thee, and which we so much need in order to surmount the obstacles which impede our progress. Our Risen Lord must have no cowards among his soldiers. The Kingdom, into which he is about to enter—he took it by assault; and he tells us plainly that if we would follow him thither, we must prepare to use violence. (Matthew 11:15) Brave soldier of the living God! get us brave hearts. We need them for our combat—whether that be one of open violence for the Faith or Unity of the Church, or one which is to be fought with the invisible enemies of our salvation. Thou wast indeed a good shepherd, for the presence of the world neither made thee flee nor fear—ask our Heavenly Father to send us Shepherds like thee. Succor Holy Church, for she has to contend with enemies in every part of the world. Convert her persecutors, as thou convertedst Boleslaus; he was thy murderer, but thy Martyrdom won mercy for him. Remember thy dear Poland, which honors thee with such fervent devotion. Break the iron yoke that has so long crushed her. Yes—it is time for her to regain her rank among nations. During the severe trials, which her sins have drawn down upon her, she has maintained the sacred link of Catholic Faith and Unity; she has been patient and faithful; as our Risen Jesus to have pity on her, and reward her patience and fidelity. May he mercifully grant her a share in his Resurrection—that day will be one of joy for the whole Christian world, and a new Canticle will be sung throughout the earth, to the Lord our God. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Stanislaus, May 7.)

May Our Lady, she who is our Mother of Perpetual Help and Help of Christians, intercede for us now in this month of May so that our total consecration to her Divine Son through her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart and our faithful, prayerful meditation on her Most Holy Rosary will plant a few seeds for the restoration of Holy Mother Church and of the Social Reign of Christ the King in the world.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Stanislaus, pray for us.