We’ve Only Now Seen a Fascist Ice Memo Kept Secret Since May
Opening Arguments
Opening Arguments Media LLC
4.3 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
OA1235 - Today on Rapid Response Friday: Matt’s still on island time, so it’s a good-news-only kind of day as we review (1) the historic termination of deportation proceedings against Tufts grad student Rumeysa Ozturk, (2) new judicial restraints on ICE, (3) a DC federal judge’s outstanding rebuke to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s attempt to deport 350,000 Haitians, and (4) a Republican revolt on Trump’s emergency tariffs. (Also: just how stupid is the super-secret memo which ICE has apparently been using to justify breaking into some immigrants’ homes without a judicial warrant?)
Finally in today’s footnote: Matt shares how his attempt to mail some pants from the U.S. Virgin Islands revealed a weird loophole in Trump’s emergency tariff orders which is now forcing some U.S. citizens to pay international duties on domestic shipments.
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In re: Ruiz-Massieu, Int. Dec. #3400, Board of Immigration Appeals (June 11, 1999)
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Whistleblower Aid letter detailing secret ICE memo allowing arrests without warrants (memo attached at Ex. 1)(Jan. 6, 2026)
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D.C. District Court judge Ana Reyes’s decision in Moit v. Trump preserving Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S. (2/2/2026)
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“Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries,” The White House (July 30, 2025)
Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is literally the stormtroopers looking for R2D2. |
| 0:04.9 | Go door to door. |
| 0:06.7 | And unless you are a Jedi who can mind-trick them, you're screwed. |
| 0:17.2 | It mentions in the memo, the point-sight doctrine will still apply. |
| 0:20.4 | You can't search the house. |
| 0:21.3 | It's not a search warrant. |
| 0:22.2 | It's just you break down the door sometime between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. |
| 0:24.8 | And you can grab somebody if they know that they're in the house and a removal order. |
| 0:31.6 | Hello and welcome to opening arguments. |
| 0:33.1 | This is episode 1235. |
| 0:34.7 | I'm Thomas Smith. |
| 0:35.4 | That over there is a real life attorney on Epstein Island. Matt Cameron, how you doing? Jason to Epstein Island. No one's using it now. Like it's fine. That's right. I mean, I will admit, I actually Googled boat tour little St. James today just to see if somebody would take me over there. Yeah. Just to get close to the news. And there is actually like a pizza party that's like right off the coast of St. James, because apparently there's like great turtles to look at. Let me guess. |
| 0:57.7 | Is it cheese |
| 0:58.2 | pizza? Yeah. Very cute. Yeah. Conspiruses continue. Yeah. I'm having a great time. I've slept more than |
| 1:04.2 | four hours for like three consecutive nights now. So I'm feeling awesome. That's a lot of sleep just for |
| 1:09.9 | reference for people. |
| 1:11.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:12.8 | They wouldn't otherwise think that. |
| 1:14.3 | So much sleep. |
| 1:25.7 | I feel great. Awesome. Well, let's do a great episode then. Yeah, no, this would be a good one. And honestly, I'm here with good news. I'm on vacation. I'm on a good time. Wow. There's a lot of good news to talk about. It's just one of those days where I just feel like we should make sure we cover it. |
| 1:31.6 | Well, Matt's vacation, good news, good mood is going to apparently transfer to all of us. |
| 1:32.1 | That's right. |
... |
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