Fashion influencer who criticized Trump's style draws the attention of DHS after revealing he's an undocumented immigrant
Derek Guy, the popular men's tailoring influencer known for critiquing Donald Trump and JD Vance's clothing, has revealed that he is an undocumented migrant to the United States – and could therefore be at risk of being deported.
In a lengthy post on X over the weekend, Guy, who has mercilessly ridiculed the length of the president's trademark red ties and the cut of his deputy's suits, explained the moving circumstances behind his family's arrival in the U.S.
'My family escaped Vietnam after the Tet Offensive and went through an arduous journey that eventually landed them in the Canada,' he wrote.
'My father worked there for a time as a janitor; my mother, a secretary. When work fell through, my dad was offered to work with his sister in the United States, so he went, as our family needed money.
'He ended up staying in the US longer than he was supposed to – not knowing immigration laws – and asked my mom to come be with him. Of course, she went and carried me over the border while I was still a baby.'
Guy concluded: 'I'm still unsure whether we technically broke an immigration law. The border between Canada and the United States was pretty porous (as it is today, for the most part).
'But either way, since I came here without legal documentation, I eventually fell into the category of being an undocumented immigrant.'
Alarmingly, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to another tweet about Guy's admission by posting a meme from the children's film Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) in which the character Juni Cortez's high-tech glasses zoom in on a target, implying that they are looking into the situation.
The Independent has contacted the DHS for clarification on Guy's situation.
Vance also replied with a meme taken from a movie from more than 20 years ago, in his case a GIF of Jack Nicholson grinning and nodding enthusiastically from the 2003 comedy Anger Management, which might equally be interpreted as a veiled threat.
Guy, who is notoriously publicity shy and seldom photographed, made light of the tension on X, posting some of the media reaction to his revelation on Monday and commenting: 'Honestly didn't expect this is what would happen when I joined a menswear forum 15 years ago.'
On Tuesday, he joked: 'Just walked by {Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE but I was wearing slim chinos and dress sneakers so they suspected nothing.'
Guy's tweets have repeatedly mocked Trump and Vance's sartorial choices, as well as other members of the administration like Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth and Robert F Kennedy Jr and MAGA acolytes like Charlie Kirk.
In late May, he derided the president and Kirk's appearances in the Oval Office, noting that the latter's 'shrunken and soft' threads left him looking 'like he was dunked into water while wearing the suit, put through a tumble dry, and then dunked again.'
Teasing Vance over his St Patrick's Day socks in March, he observed that the veep's 'pants are too slim, hence why they ride up on him like this.'
Last year, he rubbished Miller's obsequious claim that Trump is America's most stylish president, listing John F Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush as four occupants of the White House who were more smartly turned out than the current president, in his opinion.
The controversy comes at a time when the Trump administration is drastically speeding up its crackdown on illegal immigration, sparking five days of protests in Los Angeles that have since spread to other major American cities.
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Politico
29 minutes ago
- Politico
‘I just had flashbacks': Portland looks to avoid repeat of 2020 protests
Before Los Angeles, there was Portland, Oregon. For more than 170 days in 2020, thousands of Portlanders gathered to protest police violence. They lay peacefully in the middle of the city's most iconic bridge and marched with a local NBA star — but also tore down statues and looted shops. Police launched tear gas canisters into crowds, while the 750 Department of Homeland Security agents President Donald Trump dispatched to the city without the approval of local or state officials grabbed protesters at night and loaded them into unmarked vehicles. As anti-Trump protests ramp up — with major rallies taking place across the country on Saturday — Portland officials are anxious to avoid a repeat of 2020. 'The Portland Police and then the feds overreacting in the way that they did, I think it brought even more people out because it was such injustice,' said Ali King, a veteran social organizer in Portland who worked for now-retired Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) at the time. 'When I saw the LA thing, I just had flashbacks. I did feel some PTSD.' The impact of those protests and riots on Portland was massive. Voters completely overhauled the city's government structure, the county elected a more tough-on-crime district attorney, and the police department reformed the way it deals with protesters. Five years later and 1000 miles away, President Trump again deployed federal officers into a city beset by protests against the will of state and local officials. Those recent events in Los Angeles have put Portland back on edge. Protests this week in the Rose City have been largely peaceful, but as tensions grow, officials hope policy changes will be enough to avoid a repeat of 2020's violence and prevent federal involvement. 'We've changed so much since 2020,' Mayor Keith Wilson, a trucking company owner and political outsider who was elected in 2024 on a progressive platform of fixing the city's homeless problem and improving public safety, told POLITICO earlier this week. 'But federal overreach is something we're concerned about, and we're prepared to sue.' A review conducted by an independent monitor after the 2020 protests found failings by the city and the police department ranging from poor communication with the public to inadequate training in deescalation tactics and insufficient guidance about when and how to use force. These problems, the review found, led to mistrust between the public and the police and escalated — rather than deescalated — the situation. In the wake of that review and a handful of lawsuits brought against the police department for actions taken during the 2020 protests, significant changes were made to the city's policing policies. Wilson and Portland Police Chief Bob Day told POLITICO those changes include reducing use of tear gas and militarized gear, overhauling the department's rapid response team and establishing liaison officers to build relationships with community organizers. Members of the department also attended training in Cincinnati and London to learn from experts in deescalation and crowd control, Day added. 'We're looking at large-scale events much differently than we've done in the past,' said Day, a former deputy chief who was called out of retirement in 2023 to be interim chief by then-mayor Ted Wheeler. 'What you want to bring, from a public safety standpoint, is you're not adding to the chaos.' Most protests in Portland since these changes were instituted have been peaceful, but Sergeant Aaron Schmautz, president of Portland's police union, says the city hasn't faced a situation like 2020 that would put the new tactics to the test. 'There's just a lot of nervousness right now,' he said. Portland is not alone in the Northwest. Tensions are also growing in Seattle and Spokane, neighboring Washington's two largest cities, in light of anti-ICE protests and the federal government's response in Los Angeles. Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday he will do anything in his power to protect Seattleites 'from anyone who comes to the city with the intention to hurt them or inhibit their First Amendment rights,' and was willing to risk arrest to do so. Then on Wednesday, at least eight demonstrators were arrested by Seattle police after a dumpster was set on fire. In Spokane, meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Lisa Brown instituted a curfew after more than 30 people, including a former city council president, were arrested during protests. King said protesters in Portland are willing to put their bodies in the way to stop ICE actions, like physically blocking agents' path or distracting them. And she says trust between protesters and the Portland Police Bureau is still really low. But she added that the community has been having its own conversations about remaining peaceful and deescalating within the ranks at protests. Terrence Hayes, a formerly incarcerated local community organizer who is on the city's criminal justice commission and supports giving the police more resources, said the city's mood has changed since 2020. The months of violence, tear gas, looting and arrests by federal officers are something residents are not excited to revisit. 'I just don't think we're looking for that fight,' Hayes said. 'If ICE start pushing certain lanes, of course people are going to stand up and protest — but I don't think they're going to be inner-city destructive.' King added that 'if somebody is kidnapping an innocent person off the streets … [we] might have to physically get involved.' Over the last week, there have been protests across the city, including outside the local ICE office. The vast majority have been peaceful, Schmautz said, with minor instances of violence or destructive behavior like arson. The department has arrested about 13 people over the last week. For a city so renowned for its protests that it was once called 'Little Beirut' by a staffer for George H.W. Bush (a moniker a local band proudly took as their own), the last week has been notably quiet. Day said this week shows the new policies are already helping deescalate. But 2025 is very different from 2020 in a key way: Then, Portlanders were protesting their own police department. Now, the target is the federal immigration apparatus. The police department will not assist ICE, Day explained, but needs to prevent violence or lawbreaking all the same. He calls the gray area for local police 'a very complex, nuanced challenge.' The chief gave two examples: Earlier this week, Portland Police removed debris piled by protesters that was preventing ICE contractors from entering a parking lot — receiving criticism from city residents for doing so. At the time, the department contends, the contractors were not engaged in enforcement actions and officers believed that moving the debris would reduce tensions. But on another day, police watched passively nearby and did not help federal officers clear a path through a similar group of protesters for a van carrying detained immigrants to pass. Day said in a normal situation, they would clear a blocked street. But with ICE, they 'are not going to actively enforce some of these laws' that are hindering ICE's operation, Day said. But, he added, 'we can't say that the ICE facility, in itself, as it stands, is free game, that anybody can do whatever they want to that building or to that area.' The wild card, according to everyone involved, is the small portion of people who show up and try to escalate conflict and encourage illegal behavior. Nearly everyone who spoke to POLITICO for this article mentioned groups on the right and left who are suspected of coming to peaceful protests in order to incite violence. 'Law enforcement may be called to navigate criminal activity on the fringes of a free speech event, which creates a lot of challenges,' Schmautz said. And at the core of the conversation is Portland's collective identity as a city that is always willing to fight back. Chief Day noted Portland's longstanding protest culture. Free speech demonstrations are one of the city's core values, Schmautz added. King said she and her fellow protesters expect to become a target of the Trump administration in the coming days or weeks. But perhaps Hayes put it best: 'If you push, Portland pushes back,' he said. 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Yahoo
35 minutes ago
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The harrowing stretch for California Democrats began with immigration raids across the Los Angeles area. Then, when protests sprang up, Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops to the region over Newsom's objections. He then moved to eliminate California's vehicle emissions standards as his administration contemplated withholding education dollars over California's policies on transgender athletes. By Thursday, Democrats were watching with outrage a video clip of Padilla being forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security news conference, pulled to the ground and handcuffed. And that night, just hours after a federal judge ordered the president to end his unilateral deployment of the state's National Guard, an appeals court preserved his ability to do so, at least temporarily. It marked a major escalation of the Democratic state's long-running feud with the president to a new, existential echelon of antagonism. 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Federal pressure on California's political luminaries extended beyond Padilla's confrontation with Noem: Officials detained prominent union leader David Huerta; Sen. Josh Hawley launched an investigation into a Los Angeles-based immigrant advocacy group; and Border czar Tom Homan threatened to arrest anyone, including Newsom, who interfered with federal enforcement. 'This is about an abuse of power. This is about a desire to cross red lines time and time again,' said California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks. 'We see that in other parts of the world,' Hicks added about Padilla. 'We don't see that here. If there weren't enough wakeup calls over the last week, that sure is one.' Padilla's treatment drew wall-to-wall coverage. But it was only one squall in the storm engulfing California. 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Republicans say the Constitution is squarely on their side, arguing they are rescuing California's citizens from ruinous immigration and climate policies. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that Trump 'rightfully stepped in to protect federal law enforcement officers' when Newsom would not. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said Trump acted to squelch California's 'costly, unrealistic, and tyrannical' climate policies. 'The goal is to help California,' said GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley, who spearheaded the push to reverse Newsom's gas car phaseout, 'and unfortunately helping California means all too often fighting against or counteracting the politicians who hold power in our state.' Democrats say Trump is pushing limits of the law and regularly violating it. 'The lying has become more brazen. The overreach has become more evident,' said Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and former health secretary under President Joe Biden. 'They've dialed up the severity, the volatility of their actions, they've dialed up the intensity of their misrepresentations, but it's still at the end of the day the same unlawful actions the courts rejected the first time Donald Trump was president." He said, 'This president won't take no for an answer. He'll continue to try to do it his way even if it runs counter to the Constitution.' California's current attorney general, Rob Bonta — whose office on Thursday sued to block the environmental rollback and then squared off with Department of Justice attorneys over the National Guard deployment — told reporters he was on pace to bring twice as many legal actions as during the first Trump administration. That reaction is of a newly urgent necessity, he suggested. 'The speed and the volume in Trump 2.0 is materially different,' Bonta said. 'The shamelessness and brazenness of the violations — they seem more severe.'
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
The week Trump rocked California: ‘He's pulling the trigger on everything all at once.'
California Democrats have long battled Donald Trump. But they've never faced such a ferocious offensive as they did this week. Between the deployment of federal agents to Los Angeles, the gutting of climate standards and the manhandling of the state's senior U.S. senator, the state absorbed one show of force after another from the president. And in the balance of power between the Trump administration and the nation's most populous state, California was on the losing end. 'We're at DEFCON 1 in the conflict between California and the Trump administration,' said Democratic strategist Katie Merrill. 'It's orders of magnitude more than what we've seen, ever.' Democrats in this deep-blue state have spent years working to shield California from a hostile White House, dating back to his first term. But for them, the week's events registered a new low — a multifront assault that not only threatened the state's liberal values, but exposed the limits of California's ability to control its destiny when the federal government has other ideas. 'The moment we've feared,' Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Tuesday night address, 'has arrived.' Trump's focus on California is predictable. The state was a perennial first-term target term that Republicans and conservative media allies have relentlessly portrayed as dysfunctional and lawless. It has produced national Democratic figures, like Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who have eagerly hoisted the anti-Trump banner. Elected officials spent months preparing for a second Trump administration. They studied Project 2025 and set aside money to contest Trump's agenda in court. But the scale and aggressiveness of the onslaught has still stunned them. The harrowing stretch for California Democrats began with immigration raids across the Los Angeles area. Then, when protests sprang up, Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops to the region over Newsom's objections. He then moved to eliminate California's vehicle emissions standards as his administration contemplated withholding education dollars over California's policies on transgender athletes. By Thursday, Democrats were watching with outrage a video clip of Padilla being forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security news conference, pulled to the ground and handcuffed. And that night, just hours after a federal judge ordered the president to end his unilateral deployment of the state's National Guard, an appeals court preserved his ability to do so, at least temporarily. It marked a major escalation of the Democratic state's long-running feud with the president to a new, existential echelon of antagonism. 'Federalizing the National Guard was in the 2025 plan, but we hoped he wouldn't do something so drastic and dramatic,' said Dana Williamson, who was Newsom's chief of staff until earlier this year. 'He's pulling the trigger on everything all at once.' Trump's decision to enlist the National Guard and Marines in his immigration agenda — and in Los Angeles, a bastion of Latino political power — has made California a globally watched test case for the limits of federal power. Hours before Judge Charles Breyer issued his decision ordering Trump to end his deployment of the Guard, Padilla strode into a press conference to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and was forcibly restrained. Images of a supine Padilla surrounded by federal agents ignited universal Democratic condemnation and came to symbolize the stakes of California's fight with the federal government. Many Democrats argued the White House had pushed California to the precipice of authoritarianism. Federal pressure on California's political luminaries extended beyond Padilla's confrontation with Noem: Officials detained prominent union leader David Huerta; Sen. Josh Hawley launched an investigation into a Los Angeles-based immigrant advocacy group; and Border czar Tom Homan threatened to arrest anyone, including Newsom, who interfered with federal enforcement. 'This is about an abuse of power. This is about a desire to cross red lines time and time again,' said California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks. 'We see that in other parts of the world,' Hicks added about Padilla. 'We don't see that here. If there weren't enough wakeup calls over the last week, that sure is one.' Padilla's treatment drew wall-to-wall coverage. But it was only one squall in the storm engulfing California. While the immigration raids plunged California into a political maelstrom, Newsom and other officials were also bracing against the threat of the Trump administration slashing funding as the president and education Secretary Linda McMahon assailed the state's policies on trans students. Then there was Trump's move to override some of California's signature climate change policies. 'They're looking to make California the punching bag,' said California Environmental Voters Executive Director Mike Young. 'We're flabbergasted and really disgusted by what's happening.' As a pillar of Democratic politics and the world's fourth-largest economy, California has long sought to mold a broader economic and political agenda. During Trump's first term, California passed a 'sanctuary' law shielding immigrants and struck an auto emissions deal that Newsom proclaimed as 'checkmate' over Trump. But it turned out to be just one move in a larger chess match. And Trump is demonstrating that he holds the most powerful pieces: a compliant Republican Congress, a conservative Supreme Court, and above all, federal supremacy over even large, wealthy states. 'The idea that the federal government can bigfoot the state government is coming to the fore,' said Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson. 'We are experiencing that, if you have a power struggle between the federal government and the states, chances are pretty high that the federal government wins.' While Newsom notched a victory on Thursday when a judge ordered Trump to relinquish control of the National Guard, it proved short-lived when an appeals court blocked the order for at least a few days, setting a hearing on the matter for Tuesday. The governor has walked back his threat to retaliate against withheld funding by blocking the flow of tax dollars from California to Washington. Republicans say the Constitution is squarely on their side, arguing they are rescuing California's citizens from ruinous immigration and climate policies. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that Trump 'rightfully stepped in to protect federal law enforcement officers' when Newsom would not. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said Trump acted to squelch California's 'costly, unrealistic, and tyrannical' climate policies. 'The goal is to help California,' said GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley, who spearheaded the push to reverse Newsom's gas car phaseout, 'and unfortunately helping California means all too often fighting against or counteracting the politicians who hold power in our state.' Democrats say Trump is pushing limits of the law and regularly violating it. 'The lying has become more brazen. The overreach has become more evident,' said Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and former health secretary under President Joe Biden. 'They've dialed up the severity, the volatility of their actions, they've dialed up the intensity of their misrepresentations, but it's still at the end of the day the same unlawful actions the courts rejected the first time Donald Trump was president.' He said, 'This president won't take no for an answer. He'll continue to try to do it his way even if it runs counter to the Constitution.' California's current attorney general, Rob Bonta — whose office on Thursday sued to block the environmental rollback and then squared off with Department of Justice attorneys over the National Guard deployment — told reporters he was on pace to bring twice as many legal actions as during the first Trump administration. That reaction is of a newly urgent necessity, he suggested. 'The speed and the volume in Trump 2.0 is materially different,' Bonta said. 'The shamelessness and brazenness of the violations — they seem more severe.'
