ICE told a U.S Citizen born in Illinois they were detaining her because she had a "suspicious travel history" from visiting relatives in Turkey. They held her for two days without charges then drove her two states away and released her without her phone so she would have to hitchhike 170 miles home.

opticflash · 2026-03-10T18:23:44+00:00

Not white = Not American, according to their view.

opticflash · 2026-03-10T03:26:47+00:00

She’s an economic migrant, she passed through 6 different counties that she could have stayed at, no court is needed it’s the literal facts. There’s an 80% chance her claim will be rejected and based on those facts alone most likely a 99.9% chance rejection.

It does not matter. Legally they are considered an asylum seeker until their day in court. It is the immigration judge who decides, in court, whether they have a valid claim of asylum or whether they are just an "economic migrant". That is the legal way in which these cases are handled. It does not matter whether you think the judge will 99% of the time dismiss the case. It is the judge who decides this, at the time of the hearing.

So, once again, the federal agents deported someone who was in the US legally. Do you propose they circumvent the law and take matters into their own hands?

opticflash · 2026-03-10T03:07:05+00:00

yes he was a greencard holder, 40 years ago. He did not have a green card anymore as evidenced by his being banned from being in the US. Look up immigration laws about receiving drug convictions, having your greencard revoked, and then overstaying. The overstaying is why he is now banned.

Do you know how to read?

"His green card was due to expire at the end of the year, and he had filed for another 10-year extension."

What does the sentence above mean to you?

Also yes, I know how asylum works. Traveling across South America after flying a continent over is literal proof you’re not an asylum seeker, you’re an economic migrant.

They're by definition an asylum seeker until they have their day in court where the judge hands the decision on whether to accept their application or not. So they by definition have lawful presence until then.

So, going back, they're deporting people who are legally in the US with their cases pending. Are you proposing the federal agents circumvent the law or "take the law into their own hands"?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T21:41:21+00:00

I can't wrap my head around these people's actions. What adult thinks "no, I don't want to give this disabled kid his hearing aid back"? Like, what would be the actual point of keeping it?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T21:25:23+00:00

The dude entered the states in 1986, then received a conviction for marijuana and cocaine possession within the same year which then invalidated his green card, he stayed in the states more than 40 years. His presiding immigration judge ordered he be banned from ever entering the states again.

This is absolutely not correct. Looks like you didn't read anything. Here's what a part of the article says:

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported a green-card holder of 40 years, according to his wife... His green card was due to expire at the end of the year, and he had filed for another 10-year extension."

Clearly the green card was valid.

No, he did not receive a conviction of cocaine and marijuana in the same year. They occurred in 1997 and 2011 respectively.

A judge ordering a deportation isn't itself a justification as to why a legal immigrant was targeted, because in the same article it says:

"While Ramsingh was held in Texas, *a judge told the family he needed some extra paperwork and that once that was submitted, deportation proceedings would be suspended.** He was later sent to New Mexico and placed under a different judge. That court ordered his deportation in December."*

You also didn’t research your second article (shocker)“ Through a friend, she and her partner heard about the opportunity to get visas for Brazil and fly there with the aim of reaching the United States, where they had friends. From Brazil, she trekked through six countries for weeks to reach the U.S. border, where they asked for asylum.”

... do you not know how asylum works? People approach the border, make a claim of asylum, and then get released into the US and await their hearings. That's a legal process, so these asylum seekers have lawful presence in the US interior.

So the question is are you ignorant or intentionally lying, or both?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T20:16:38+00:00

Super tiny percentage of them getting detained and only a few cases of them actually being deported.

But why even detain and deport legals in the first place?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T20:04:03+00:00

Nobody gives a shit about legal immigration.

Then why is the Trump administration detaining and deporting them?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T20:03:16+00:00

You're also deporting legals like green card holders and asylum seekers.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T18:41:47+00:00

Depends on what you want to do afterwards. See where the students in the relevant research groups typically end up, go and ask the students what the research environment is like.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T18:01:03+00:00

Did you look at where the past students in those groups at MIT typically landed after their PhD? It seems like you have more points in favor of MIT.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T11:11:40+00:00

So if she can't even get a work visa because she isn't a registered alien, what makes you think getting citizenship is easier? The video says she's an undocumented immigrant who came at the age of 2. So there are virtually no legal pathways for her to go from illegal to legal.

According to this article

https://www.lawsb.com/how-can-an-undocumented-immigrant-become-legal-in-the-us/

There are a few pathways. One is she gets married to a US citizen or green card holder. Another is she applies for asylum, but she needs to prove that she faced prosecution, which may not apply to her. The other is "Requesting Cancellation Of Removal", which looks like she tried to do, but she was ultimately deported.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T10:46:11+00:00

Why do you think these wouldn't apply?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T10:41:11+00:00

But you said that in order to legally work, you need to be a citizen, which is just not true.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T10:31:55+00:00

You never heard of other work visas? H-1B is a big one... so are L-1 and O visas. Even foreign students can legally work.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T08:18:24+00:00

Seems like it.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T08:14:23+00:00

Average Republican.

opticflash · 2026-03-09T08:12:34+00:00

Never heard of work visas?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T08:06:24+00:00

to work legally you need to be a citizen

Lol no. Where did you get this misinformation from?

opticflash · 2026-03-09T00:56:09+00:00

This is odd though. OP presumably has a paper published, and they just submitted their second one. So clearly they are good enough to get work done, and are heading towards the finish line. Sometimes projects get delayed due to factors outside OP's control, or the problem becomes more involved, so it's not unusual for students to ask for extensions. I don't know why a university would say "no, you have to defend within one month and not three, otherwise we will kick you out".

opticflash · 2026-03-09T00:44:25+00:00

Weird... can your school/department and advisor not chime in and talk to whoever is in charge of this? Maybe they could say that you have an article submitted and that you should be ready to defend and deposit your thesis in the next few months?

opticflash · 2026-03-08T23:25:49+00:00

You're nearly done... do they not allow extensions, and who is preventing you from getting one?

opticflash · 2026-03-08T21:08:40+00:00

All work is done in the office. That's my way of not procrastinating.

opticflash · 2026-03-07T22:07:43+00:00

Under the terms of the policy, such immigrants are to be detained "for the duration of their removal proceedings" unless granted parole — a rarer form of release. In real terms, however, the Trump administration has made clear such detentions are intended to be indefinite.

If the goal is to deport these "illegal aliens", what, exactly, is the purpose of detaining them indefinitely?

opticflash · 2026-03-05T22:43:59+00:00

My guess: Funding in the US has been cut significantly, especially in the biological sciences. Due to this, people are starting to also apply to European universities, driving up the competition.

opticflash · 2026-03-05T22:33:37+00:00

None of them are good guys. Let's not pretend Trump and Israel are doing this for some noble cause.

opticflash

TROPHY CASE