Immigration officials have been ordered to not communicate with Joe Biden’s transition team until Trump formally recognizes a winner of the election. In internal emails obtained by Buzzfeed, a message was sent out last Thursday to a group of policy staffers at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) telling them not to work with the Biden team on a transfer of power plan.

The Biden administration has already begun picking staffers, and have appointed Ur Jaddou, a former lead USCIS official, to head the team responsible for reviewing the Department of Homeland Security as part of the transition.

However, Jaddou is unable to do anything or coordinate with anyone who is currently in office until Emily Murphy, a Trump-appointed administrator of the General Services Administration, writes a letter of “ascertainment” recognizing the outcome of the election.

While the COVID-19 public health crisis and its impact on the U.S. economy will preoccupy President-elect Joe Biden during his first weeks in office, the incoming Democratic administration is also expected to quickly start dismantling Pres. Trump's immigration agenda. pic.twitter.com/lIPoBzembE

— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 11, 2020

The message read: “I am providing the information below to clarify where things stand regarding a potential transition of administration. The GSA Administrator has not yet announced ascertainment of an apparent winner of the presidential election. She will not do so until she deems the results ‘clear.’ Until then, we all remain in a pre-election posture which [means] that there should not be any communication with the team.”

The message went on to instruct all employees to avoid any contact with the Biden team until they are told to.

Former ICE Director, Tom Homan, calls Biden’s plan to reverse @realDonaldTrump's immigration policies dangerous for the country. @foxandfriends pic.twitter.com/fFP8BjsrGB

— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) November 10, 2020

Biden has signaled that he intends to make sweeping changes to immigration.

Biden reportedly plans to implement a 100-day deportations moratorium and restrict who can be arrested and deported by ICE.

A source familiar with Biden’s plans said new guidance would be designed to curb so-called “collateral arrests.”

The incoming Biden administration also hopes to reinstate an Obama-era program that allowed at-risk children in Central America to request refugee or parole status and reunite with their parents in the US. He also intends to increase the cap of refugees from 15,000 to 125,000.

NEW — President-elect Biden is set to start reversing Pres. Trump's immigration legacy.

The Biden team is planning to fully restore DACA, enact a 100-day freeze on deportations, limit ICE arrests, overturn green card restrictions and much more. @CBSNews.https://t.co/YTek3rt2z6

— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) November 11, 2020

He also intends to repeal the travel ban that the Trump administration put on many Muslim-majority countries. He will also reinstate the “dreamers” program, which allows immigrants who have been in the country since they were children to stay regardless of their immigration status.

Biden’s team is also promising to begin the process of terminating the “public charge” rules that the Trump administration implemented to deny green cards and immigrant visas to applicants who US authorities determine might rely on government assistance in the future.

 

At the onset of Operation Desert Storm, in 1990, a public relations firm by the name of Hill and Knowlton spent millions of dollars on the government’s behalf, constructing news pieces that would sell the war to the American public. One of the most moving pranks to come from this push to war was the testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only by her first name of Nayirah.

In a videotaped testimony that was later distributed to the media, she claimed that Iraqi soldiers killed babies in incubators at a hospital.

In her testimony she said, “I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital, While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die..”

Sounds horrible huh? Well, luckily it never happened, this was a fabricated event designed to dehumanize the Iraqi people in the eyes of the American public. The whole thing was exposed when the journalists discovered that the witness, Nayirah was actually the daughter of a US ambassador, who was being coaxed by military psychological operations specialists.

Some of the most hyped-up news images of our time surrounding war was not actually real, but were simply public relations stunts, designed as psychological warfare operations. No one in America can forget the image of Saddam Hussein’s statue being toppled and covered with an American flag, yet few people realize that this was a hoax, a staged psychological operation coordinated between the military and the media.

In July of 2004, journalist Jon Elmer exposed an internal army study of the war showing that this whole statue scenario was indeed a set up.

In the article, Elmer writes:

“the infamous toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square in central Baghdad on April 9, 2003 was stage-managed by American troops and not a spontaneous reaction by Iraqis. According to the study, a Marine colonel first decided to topple the statue, and an Army psychological operations unit turned the event into a propaganda moment… The Marines brought in cheering Iraqi children in order to make the scene appear authentic, the study said. Allegations that the event was staged were made in April of last year, mostly by opponents of the war, but were ignored or ridiculed by the US government and most visible media outlets.”

This was nothing new, this type of propaganda has been used to fight wars for generations. This type of propaganda is not gone either, it exists to this day, especially when it comes to reporting on foreign policy issues.

It appears that someone must have broken the first rule.

An unlicensed “fight club” attended by roughly 200 people in New York City was raided and broken up by police on Saturday night. The event reportedly took place in the Bronx and was called “Rumble in the Bronx,” after the classic Jackie Chan film of the same title.

According to NBC News, New York City police entered a warehouse on Coster Street at around 11:15 p.m. to find a crowd of fighters and spectators.

“Patrons were also observed drinking alcohol, smoking, hookah, and not wearing face coverings while failing to social distance,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement, according to NBC New York.

In a tweet announcing the bust, the NYC Sheriff said that loaded firearms were discovered and 10 organizers were charged with multiple crimes. They also found, “A significant amount of marijuana.”

It is believed that the event was initially reported for flouting social distancing guidelines, but police realized they were dealing with something more serious once they got inside.

11/14/20 @ 2315HRS: Deputy Sheriffs shut down illegal fight club AKA "Rumble in the Bronx" @ 347/351 Coster St., Bronx: 203+ people, violation of emergency orders, illegal combat, no liquor license, warehousing liquor, loaded firearms, 10 organizers charged with multiple crimes. pic.twitter.com/5Dci1tM30L

— NYC SHERIFF (@NYCSHERIFF) November 15, 2020

Michael Roman, CEO of Rumble in the Bronx, is facing eight charges, including unlawful assembly and conducting a prohibited combat sport.

New York City is known for its wild nightlife, but fight clubs have been growing in popularity, especially during the pandemic. In fact, Roman’s fight club is not limited to New York, it travels from city to city. Their next event was expected to be in Orlando, but that may be canceled now that Roman is facing charges.

Videos on the group’s Instagram account show fights being staged in bodegas, in the streets, and inside cages. The Instagram page has now been taken down.

Officials at McGill University in Montreal recently discovered that there was a fight club being regularly hosted on campus, but it is believed that this was an independent club, with no affiliation to Roman’s organization.