Trump Voter Regrets Choice After Border Patrol Stop
'I truly believe I was targeted because of my race,' Jason Brian Gavidia told NBC affiliate KNBC on Monday. 'I believe I was racially profiled. I believe I was attacked because I was walking while brown. Where is the freedom? Where is the justice? We live in America.'
Gavidia is one of five people represented in a class action lawsuit by the ACLU of Southern California accusing the Trump administration of racially profiling people while conducting immigration enforcement activities.
Last month, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties. However, the administration petitioned the Supreme Court last week to lift the order.
A video taken on June 12 and published by the Los Angeles Times days later shows two masked border patrol agents in sunglasses pushing Gavidia against a metal gated fence outside a tow yard.
'I am an American, bro,' Gavidia can be heard saying in the video.
'What hospital were you born in?' an agent yells.
'I don't know, dawg,' Gavidia responds, before offering to show his ID.
The lawsuit alleges that border patrol agents twisted Gavidia's arm during the public questioning and took his phone.
The border patrol agents eventually let Gavidia go, but he was left traumatized from the experience.
'Every time I see it on video, it's like a bad memory that's in my brain,' Gavidia told KNBC.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has issued a series of confusing statements regarding the incident. When reached for comment by the LA Times back in June, she claimed Gavidia had been 'arrested' for assaulting border patrol agents.
When the Times noted that Gavidia had not been arrested, McLaughlin backtracked, clarifying he had only been questioned and it was actually his friend who was arrested.
On Wednesday, McLaughlin sent another conflicting statement to HuffPost, claiming Gavidia 'was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with agents during their duties.'
HuffPost has reached out for additional clarification.
McLaughlin's statement to HuffPost also asserted that 'any allegations that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are FALSE.'
Gavidia is one of many Trump supporters who still got caught up in the president's ruthless immigration enforcement policies, despite voting for him in the last election. He told KNBC he now feels guilty about his vote in the last election and believes 'it was a mistake' because Trump 'ran on lies.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Now we know just how useless Trump's Alaska summit really was ... to everyone but Vladimir Putin
Before President Trump's tête-à-tête with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, press secretary Karoline Leavitt was already downplaying the stakes. Wednesday morning, she described the summit as a 'listening exercise' — which is, frankly, a relief. After all, when you're a time-poor autocrat juggling a Monday invasion, a midweek labor camp opening, and a weekend of jailing political opponents, it's easy to feel unheard. Sure, Putin invaded Ukraine. And yes, countless people have suffered ... on both sides. But perhaps — and I think we can all agree this is the real tragedy here — no one has taken the time to validate his feelings. So it was heartening, then, to see Vlad and Donald touch down on Alaskan soil midday Friday and greet each other with warmth: a smattering of applause from Trump, a weirdly prolonged handshake, and then the two friends sliding into the same back seat — a notable break in protocol — for the drive to their meeting. Waiting for them on the tarmac was a stage emblazoned 'ALASKA 2025,' festival-style, primed for the photo-op. Meanwhile, at least seven civilians had just been killed in Ukraine by Russian missiles. When they emerged again for a post-meeting press conference, earlier than expected, it was clear a good time had been had by all. They had agreed on 'most points,' said Trump. He was going to 'call up NATO,' he added, saying, 'I will, of course, call up President Zelensky and tell him about today's meeting." Very good of him. They should meet, Putin added, but 'next time in Moscow.' Trump laughed at that point, calling his suggestion 'an interesting one.' 'I'll get a little heat on that one,' the American president added, 'but I could see it possibly happening.' The two men leaned in toward each other and smiled, like they were sharing an inside joke. The bottom line: a nebulous amount of 'progress' made, some 'headway,' stuff to talk about, but 'there's no deal until there's a deal.' Ah well. Maybe Vlad just needs more time. I'm pretty sure, however, that he already got what he came for — and that the joke is on America. Contrast the kid-gloves treatment of everybody's favorite dictator with the treatment of Volodymyr Zelensky a few months ago, when he visited the White House. Indeed, it is hard to recall another Oval Office meeting where an allied head of state was treated quite like the Ukrainian president was in February. Lest we forget, Zelensky had arrived to discuss a minerals deal that might have bolstered his country's three-year fight for survival. He left having been publicly chided, mid-meeting, for 'disrespect' and insufficient gratitude. Trump accused him of 'gambling with World War III', while JD Vance, in full Wormtail mode, jumped in to ask: 'Have you even said thank-you once?' It was both difficult and embarrassing to watch. This is the asymmetry at the heart of Trump-era foreign policy: allies get the tongue-lashing, rivals get the literal red carpet. Zelensky's reward for resisting an existential threat was a televised scolding. Putin's reward for creating it has been years of deference and flattery. Recall the Helsinki summit, where Trump sided with the Russian leader over his own intelligence agencies, or the warm praise for Putin's 'genius'. Too self-satisfied to realize he's been manipulated, The Donald simply keeps walking into the same trap, over and over again. Trump himself seems to have realized how poor his own negotiating skills are in the past few weeks. Putin's not a blowhard like his American counterpart; he just does what he feels like, and everyone else be damned. Indeed, it was Donald himself who put it best in a press conference earlier in July where he described his ongoing efforts to help broker an end to the war in Ukraine thus: 'I get home, I say to the First Lady, 'I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we are finished,'' to which Melania will apparently respond in kind: 'That's funny, because they just bombed a nursing home.' Therein lies the entire issue. Trump is brittle and easily manipulated; Putin talks him round again and again. Trump leaves those conversations utterly convinced of both Putin's integrity and his own genius. Then Putin goes on dropping bombs and killing people. It's a familiar story that's played out not just in Russia, and that we can expect to play out anywhere where there's a strongman leader with a penchant for basic flattery. And really, where better to stage this utterly redundant spectacle than Alaska — the state Trump accidentally referred to as Russia earlier this week, and which, of course, once belonged to the Russian Empire. After all, isn't the whole point to start returning old territories to their former owners? Alaska, a place that is currently arranging citizen evacuations because of an uncontrolled glacier flood due to the effects of climate change, where water is thundering toward a dam called Suicide Basin. (Anchorage is on the other end of the state to where all that is happening in Juneau, meaning that Trump was able to fly right over Suicide Basin and shutter his Qatari-gifted Air Force One windows to the sight of climate catastrophe before he landed at a military base to meet with the man who started a war to talk about ending it.) Alaska, the perfect place to propose — as leaks have suggested — that Russia has a 'West Bank-style occupation of Ukraine,' since all available geopolitical sources suggest that solution has already played out so well for everyone involved. And so the dance goes on, and tangible progress is not made but cameras and microphones and spotlights are perpetually trained on two geriatric egomaniacs. This kind of time-wasting theater always works in Russia's favor. The war will rumble on in Ukraine. The deal will never be made. Trump will get a few nice words, Putin will get his headlines. And the rest of us are left with just the images of Donald and his little band of spray-tanned comrades marching about in the Alaskan summer, isolated together in a cold state in the middle of nowhere, with only a friendly dictator to keep them warm.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The veteran anchor was caught off guard—and on camera—during CNN's coverage of Trump's historic meeting with Putin.
President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin for historic talks on U.S. soil on Friday. However, in the pre-press conference coverage on CNN, veteran anchor Jake Tapper's mind seemed to be elsewhere. Speaking live from Anchorage, Alaska, where the meeting between the two world leaders took place, Tapper could be heard having a testy exchange with a producer just as fellow anchor Anderson Cooper ceded the spotlight to his colleague. 'I'm fine,' Tapper can be heard saying with what seems to be some exasperation. 'Just give me my show back.'
Los Angeles Times
15 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Putin and Trump conclude Alaska summit but provide no details
Three hours of negotiations with Vladimir Putin over Russia's war in Ukraine were 'extremely productive,' but only Kyiv can decide whether a deal toward a ceasefire is possible, President Trump said Friday, capping a historic summit with the Russian leader. At a news conference at a U.S. air base in Alaska, the two men alluded to agreements made, but offered no details and took no questions. 'We didn't get there,' Trump said.
