GOP Rep's Farms Raided By ICE After She Says She Became 'Target' Of Far Right
An Idaho Republican is speaking out after a local party official boasted online about reporting her family's farming business to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Idaho state Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen told KTVB in an article published on Monday that she is 'one of the few that have stood up to the far right extremism' and because of that, she has become a target.
Mickelsen is listed online as the CFO for her family's potato farming business. She maintained in an op-ed for the Idaho Statesmen that the business complies with all 'applicable federal and state laws' regarding employment and immigration.
However, she said she became 'the target of intimidation tactics designed to silence ' her when Ryan Spoon, Ada County GOP vice chairman, announced Jan. 21 on X that he was reporting her businesses to ICE.
'Attention, Mr. Homan, could you please send some illegal immigration raids to the businesses owned by Idaho State Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen?' Spoon wrote on X, referring to President Donald Trump's 'border czar' Tom Homan.
'She has been bragging about how many illegals her businesses employ. Here is a list of the businesses to raid,' he continued, linking to an 'about' page on Mickelsen's political website.
In a follow-up post, he wrote that he was 'filling out' ICE tip forms for 'all of Rep. Mickelsen's businesses.'
ICE showed up at Mickelsen Farms three days later, Mickelsen told Investigate West. One immigrant worker employed there was detained by ICE as of Jan. 27, according to the news outlet.
Mickelsen said that the man was detained because of a criminal record, and she did not know his immigration status. The lawmaker did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
Spoon told HuffPost that he really did report Mickelsen's family business to ICE.
'I reported her to ICE, because she bragged about hiring illegals,' he said in an email.
He also told Investigate West that Mickelsen's 'own testimony drew attention to herself.'
That testimony, he told HuffPost, was when Mickelsen spoke out against a bill that would let local law enforcement detain and possibly deport undocumented immigrants. (Mickelsen ultimately voted for the bill, which has yet to pass the state Senate.)
Spoon pointed to video of Mickelsen's testimony posted by political group Stop Idaho RINOs. RINO is an acronym used to mean 'Republican in name only.'
'I think everybody needs to be aware that when we keep going down this road of attacking illegal immigrants, you're mainly attacking Hispanics in this case,' she said in the clip.
She continued, 'If you guys think you haven't been touched by an illegal immigrant's hands in some way, through either your traveling or your food, you're kidding yourselves.'
Spoon also told HuffPost that his actions 'had nothing to do' with political rivalry.
'She lives on the opposite side of the state from me. There is no position for which she would be my 'rival.''
Mickelsen said Spoon targeting her business represents a broader issue.
'These attacks aren't just about me,' Mickelsen wrote in her op-ed. 'They represent a dangerous shift in our political discourse. When elected officials can be bullied into silence because of false statements and threats to their livelihoods and safety, we all lose.'
Millions Of Voters Risk Disenfranchisement Under Republican Proposal
'Huge Screwup': Republicans Give Group Chat Breach A Thumbs Down Emoji
Former Utah Rep. Mia Love, The First Black Republican Woman Elected To The U.S. House, Has Died
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
26 minutes ago
- USA Today
Will Trump invoke the Insurrection Act? 'We'll see,' he says
Will Trump invoke the Insurrection Act? 'We'll see,' he says Show Caption Hide Caption Anti-ICE raid demonstrators protest into fourth night Anti-immigration raid protests are continuing into the fourth night as the Pentagon deployed active-duty U.S. Marines. President Donald Trump mulled invoking the Insurrection Act, which would give him more leeway to use the military for domestic purposes, as he deploys troops to Los Angeles in response to protests prompted by ICE raids in the region. "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it,' Trump said June 10 during an event in the White House. 'We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible." Trump deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles over the objection of Gov. Gavin Newsom, sparking a lawsuit from the state. Marines were also sent to help the guard after protests erupted over his immigration enforcement efforts. The troops are limited to protecting federal property and law enforcement officers. The Insurrection Act would give Trump authority to use them more broadly. More: 'High-stakes game': Trump-Newsom clash pits two political heavyweights Trump said there were parts of Los Angeles on June 9 where "you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible." Newsom described Trump's actions as "the acts of a dictator" and accused the president of 'inciting and provoking violence,' 'creating mass chaos,' and 'militarizing cities.' Legal experts say invoking the Insurrection Act is an extreme step. It has been done 30 times in U.S. history. "The invocation of it would be viewed as a pretty dramatic act," said Duke Law Professor H. Jefferson Powell. Powell said the law is "dangerously broad." The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was in May 1992, by President George H.W. Bush at the request of California's governor, to quell rioting in Los Angeles after four White police officers were acquitted for beating Black motorist Rodney King.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Trump admin is struggling to hire staff for this key official
The Trump administration is reportedly having trouble hiring aides and top advisors to work for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to NBC News. The Republican White House has been searching for a new chief of staff and several other senior advisors for Hegseth following 'a series of missteps that have shaken confidence in his leadership,' NBC News reported. Vice President JD Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have been involved in the search for staff members. But so far, three people have already turned down potential jobs, according to the report. To further complicate matters, the White House has also rejected some individuals that Hegseth wants to hire, while Hegseth has rejected some of the White House's candidates, according to NBC News. Last April, members of Hegseth's staff were either put on leave or had left their positions at the Pentagon. Hegseth placed two senior aides on leave in April amid an investigation into a leak of sensitive information from the Pentagon, according to USA Today. It was also revealed in April that Hegseth's Chief of Staff, Joe Kasper, would leave his position, according to Politico. John Ullyot, a former spokesperson for the Pentagon under Hegseth, wrote in an April Politico op-ed that his former boss is leading a department that is in disarray. 'It's been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon,' Ullyot wrote. 'From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership." The New York Times also reported in April that Hegseth created a group chat on Signal with his wife and brother. There, he shared details of a military strike in March against Yemen's Houthi militants, according to the Times. It was previously reported that the details of the strike were shared in a separate Signal chat group featuring Hegseth, other top Trump officials and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. The stories of the Signal chats were referred to as 'SignalGate.' The Pentagon's watchdog is investigating whether any of Hegseth's aides were asked to delete messages from Signal that may have shared sensitive military information with the editor-in-chief, according to The Associated Press. U.S. House committee demands Harvard send them hiring policies for review ICE detains most-followed TikTok star amid Trump immigration crackdown Mass. doctor ousted by RFK Jr. as part of purge to CDC vaccine advisory committee Williams College stops accepting federal grants, opposing new policy What Gov. Newsom said after an Ala. senator called LA 'a third world country' Read the original article on MassLive.
CNN
35 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump's aggressive moves on immigration protests put Democrats in a political bind
President Donald Trump's deployment of military troops to California is forcing Democrats back onto politically perilous turf, as they look for ways to condemn his actions without being drawn into a broad debate over immigration or tying themselves to the chaotic scenes emerging from Los Angeles. Republicans are relishing a fight that directs attention away from their monthslong, intraparty debate over tax and spending legislation, and the messy political breakup of Trump and Elon Musk, and toward what they view as Democrats' biggest vulnerabilities: immigration, law enforcement and public disorder. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman warned his fellow Democrats about the images emerging from California, where protests erupted Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and escalated into outbreaks of violence. Some protesters have thrown objects at law enforcement, looted businesses, blocked a major freeway and set self-driving cars ablaze — while police in riot gear fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds. While much of the protest activity has been peaceful, images of burning cars and chaos have been widespread across social media and traditional news coverage. 'You can't defend when people start setting things on fire or they start damaging buildings or going after members of law enforcement. That's not free speech. That is not peaceful protest,' Fetterman said Tuesday. Fetterman, who was lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania during racial justice protests around the country in 2020, said Democrats 'should have learned the lesson back in 2020. Absolutely, there was righteous outrage over what happened to George Floyd, but that never means that you can support or be quiet if there's destruction or rioting and destroying and looting and those kinds of things.' He said he was 'not judging any of my other colleagues in my party,' but warned: 'You can't be quiet on those things. You have to just call it really what it is.' Some Democrats privately agree with Fetterman, saying their party's leaders must be more forceful in condemning the rioters' behavior. Lawmakers in competitive swing districts also worry about the political ramifications down the road, particularly if party activists resurrect a years-old battle cry for abolishing ICE. And in the meantime, they believe Democrats will be forced to grapple with an existential question: Do they support federal law enforcement officials actually enforcing federal immigration law? In a clear sign of the fraught political moment, lawmakers from across the Democratic Party's ideological spectrum issued warnings Tuesday against violence. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent who caucuses with Democrats, urged protesters to exhibit the same 'disciplined non-violent resistance' to Trump that civil rights leaders used to end segregation. 'Violent protests are counterproductive and play right into Trump's playbook,' he said on X. Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a conservative Democrat who has long represented a Rio Grande Valley district, said in a statement that 'when people start throwing bricks and hammers at law enforcement, that's no longer protest — that's criminal.' 'We can debate policy without attacking the people who wear the badge and work to keep us safe,' Cuellar said. Trump, for his part, has blamed Democrats broadly and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Karen Bass specifically for mishandling the situation, saying on Truth Social the city 'would be burning to the ground right now' had he not deployed troops there. And Republicans have delighted in pitting Trump against Newsom. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that Newsom — who has aggressively criticized the Trump administration's moves — 'ought to be tarred and feathered.' 'He's standing in the way of the administration carrying out the federal law. He is applauding the bad guys and standing in the way of good guys,' Johnson said. Trump's actions have put Democrats in a complicated political spot. The party has struggled to navigate the issue of immigration since the president's victory in November — split between the moral outrage of the Democratic base over Trump's unprecedented deportation efforts, and polls that have largely reflected public support for the president on the issue overall. In particular, surveys have shown that most voters want tougher border security than the Biden administration put in place for much of the previous four years. But the politics get murkier when Americans are asked about the details of how Trump is carrying out his campaign promise to conduct the largest deportation effort in the nation's history. In the past — particularly when federal law enforcement cleared Lafayette Square, near the White House, amid 2020 protests — polls found that Americans opposed the use of rubber bullets and tear gas, and opposed deploying the US military in response to protests within the country. A CBS News/YouGov survey conducted before the protests in Los Angeles broke out found somewhat contradictory results: Fifty-four percent of Americans support Trump's deportation program, and 55% like its 'goals.' However, 56% said they dislike 'the way you think [Trump] is going about' the deportations. Prev Next Democrats this week argued that Trump's actions have only worsened tensions in California. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly said the president's deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles is 'like throwing the match onto the kindling.' 'He took some actions that escalated an issue — a problem, but it was under control. And now the problem is bigger because of the actions he took,' Kelly told CNN. Democrats also accused Trump of hypocrisy, pointing out that he was slow to deploy the National Guard on January 6, 2021, when his supporters were rioting and attacking police officers at the US Capitol. 'We begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it,' California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who was the House speaker at the time, said Tuesday. California Rep. Ro Khanna told CNN outside the Capitol on Monday that Democrats 'need to continue to unequivocally condemn the violence, the threats or attacks on law enforcement agents — I mean, that has no place.' But, the progressive congressman added, Trump's actions are unconstitutional. 'One can hold two thoughts — that political violence should be absolutely condemned, vandalism needs to be condemned, but that the appropriate remedy are state and local police — that you can't deploy the military against our own people, unless there's a real crisis,' Khanna said. Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton similarly said that 'there's no excuse for violence.' 'If you're protesting the fact that ICE officers are sometimes too violent, doing that with violence doesn't make the point,' he said. However, Moulton also said Trump is using the US military to achieve political aims at home. 'This is not an opportunity to turn active-duty Marines against the American people. And that's what Trump is doing,' Moulton said. Trump has used Newsom as a foil as he deploys troops to the Los Angeles area — even suggesting Monday that border czar Tom Homan should arrest the governor. Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential contender, has embraced the clash and publicly dared Homan to arrest him. Newsom himself has been in regular touch with lawmakers on the Hill, and held a briefing with his state's delegation and the leader of the California National Guard on Monday to update them on Trump's actions, according to two people familiar with the call. Newsom's office has also been distributing copies of some of attacks on him, including Trump's calls to arrest him, to House Democrats' offices, those people said. The scenes unfolding in California are also leading Democrats elsewhere to grapple with what they would do if Trump took similar actions in their states. And they fear they'd be powerless to stop it. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, one of the Democratic candidates in Tuesday's New Jersey gubernatorial primary, said Trump's move 'shows the further incompetence coming from Washington and the constant level of chaos that is almost intentionally generated there.' Sherrill also warned that military missions are much different from those of law enforcement in the United States. Another New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, highlighted Trump's actions in a speech. He said the scenes in California make clear 'just what's on the line in this election and why it's so important that we have a governor who's willing to stand up and fight.' The Democratic Governors Association, in a statement signed by 22 governors, called Trump's deployment of troops to California 'an alarming abuse of power.' But the statement did not address the president's handling of his deportation program. 'It's important we respect the executive authority of our country's governors to manage their National Guards — and we stand with Governor Newsom who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation,' the Democratic governors' statement said.
