Heroes Respond to Trump II

The following is an excerpt from my periodic newsletter "Just Outside the Roundhouse" Feb. 14, 2025

Hall of Heroes

As the Trump administration floods the zone with relentless attacks on congressionally enacted departments and programs long funded by past laws, it’s easy to get depressed.  But rather than dwell on the distressing dispatches issued everyday by Trump and Musk, let’s look at the resistance to the onslaught.

 

• The federal courts, which so far are doing their job, issuing injunctions and blocking DOGE from accessing federal payment information and freezing federal funding across the board.  They have also temporarily blocked a ban on birthright citizenship, a cap on National Institute of Health research and the dismantling of the USAID.

 

• The ACLU, Attorneys Generalfrom 22 states (including NM AG Raul Torrez), the American Bar Association, unions representing government workers and others are involved in the lawsuits, which may not bring permanent victory but will stem immediate damage.

 

• Religious denominations(including the Albuquerque Friends Meeting) who are suing the administration over the permission it has given ICE to enter religious establishments (as well as schools, businesses, detention facilities) in search of undocumented people.

 

• The magnificent Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde,who spoke truth to power at the inaugural prayer breakfast when she asked Trump, directly, for mercy for migrants and the LGBTQ community

 

• The fired inspector generalswho are suing Trump for removing them from their independent, non-partisan watchdog posts in federal departments. They are among others who are standing up to executive actions that will enable corruption—including pardons for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and now former Illinois Gov. Blagojevich and the about-to-be-indicted Eric Adams, mayor of New York.

 

• Our own AG Raul Torrezwho has issued very detailed guidance to businesses, houses of worship, schools, hospitals and local law enforcement about how to handle ICE interactions.

 

• The Santa Fe County Commission,which this week pushed back against Trump by forbidding county employees from collecting data on immigration status and directing its jail not to honor administrative warrants or hold requests from ICE. The county will also be setting up a webpage with links to resources for immigrants.

 

• The hundreds and thousands of ordinary citizens, led by Indivisible, Move On and other organizations that have flooded congressional switchboards to the point that they have often shut down.