ICE Goes After US-Born Children

Written By Leeja Miller

Sources:


Transcript:

Hi it’s Monday April 28th and you’re tuned in to Why, America?? With Leeja Miller, I’m Leeja Miller let’s get started. Today’s another sandwich day, bad news sandwiched between two delicious doughy pieces of goodish news. Good enough news.

In the good news: budget talks are set to begin this week in Congress as members return from their spring recess, which provides YET ANOTHER opportunity for Democrats to do, I DONT KNOW, ANYTHING???? To stall Republican initiatives. After the arrest of a judge last week the Trump administration has made it clear that it has no plans to accept the rule of law from judges. We’ve known this for a while but at 100 days in, it is abundantly clear that things are not “business as usual” and therefore it is imperative that Democrats, as the opposition party to a literal authoritarian regime, step up and refuse to conduct business as usual in Congress. It’s time to object to every single motion, it’s time to force quorum checks over and over and over again, it’s time for Democrats to dig in their heels. It’s time to call your representatives and urge them to do so.

This is in the good news section because it does offer an opportunity for democrats. Budget talks will begin in earnest today in various committee meetings, requiring Republicans to get specific on their promises to cut trillions from the budget and from taxes while also increasing spending on defense and border security. Because the math isn’t mathing, it’s been pointed out that the only way Republicans could possibly follow through on their promises is through cuts to Medicaid and Social Security, which would enrage their base.

This is also in the good news section because yesterday New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries staged a day-long sit-in on the capitol steps in order to push against the Republican budget plan and hold a conversation about what Republicans are doing wrong. Senator Chuck Schumer has indicated the Senate Democrats plan to hold the floor into the night on Tuesday to mark Trump’s 100th day in office.

Okay but listen….. I’m highlighting this as good news because at least it’s SOMETHING. After the positive response to Cory Booker’s 25 hour filibuster it’s clear people want to see this type of action that is very visible, symbolic but also something that will gunk up the system and slow things down. But as I was reading the New York Times article outlining the upcoming budget fight and Democrats’ statements about it I was getting pretty annoyed. For example, they quoted Democratic Senator Brian Schatz saying quote “The fundamental shift that is happening, and that Cory embodied, is that we need to be a little less particular about what tactic to use to fight what’s going on. The truth is, we are in a fight and we just need to start swinging.”

START swinging??? Is this JUST occurring to them? We have been out here BEGGING for LITERALLY 100 DAYS to fucking do ANYTHING, to STOP being so particular with what the “correct” tactic is and just starting doing SOMETHING to slow the process down. Trump is throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, to see what he can get away with, Democrats need to start trying anything and everything within what I UNDERSTAND is their limited power, but power nonetheless, to do ANYTHING AT ALL. And so while I think some are getting the hint, Cory Booker being chief among them, there needs to be MORE. Over and over in this article they quoted Democrats, especially fucking Chuck Schumer who needs to pack his bags and get the fuck out of there he’s so incompetent, he just says some version of “we need to tell the American people how bad Trump is and then they’ll be happy with us and vote for us.”

In this New York Times article they quote him saying first “As Republicans flesh out the details of their massive tax giveaway for billionaires, people will not have to wait to learn what’s on the chopping block. Democrats are going to make sure everyone knows every detail of who is really on the losing end of Donald Trump’s deal.” Then they quote him saying “Trump screws up in so many ways. We have to find every way he screws up and pound away at him and not just do it for a day. We gotta keep doing it.” First, gross. Second no you don’t. No you don’t!! That is not a winning strategy! Please leave DC and never come back!! WE KNOW HE IS BAD. The people who voted for him KNOW HE IS BAD AND DID IT ANYWAY. No one who voted for him would have been swayed if you stopped them in November and told them any one of his batshit plans. They wouldn’t have said “oh I didn’t realize he wanted to raise tariffs! Guess I’ll vote Kamala!” THey would have said “yes and I’m voting for him.” Even if it was against their best interest, even if they didn’t agree with it. And while yes I enjoy the schadenfreude of Trump voters getting their rights or benefits or jobs taken away and going hey wait a minute!!!!! I’m not convinced they wouldn’t vote for him again if they had to do it all over. People aren’t frothing at the mouth to find out “the details” of the Republican spending bill and why it’s so bad. This is not the thing that’s going to help them decide who to vote for next. It is so stupid. We are frothing at the mouth about watching two year olds get deported (which we’ll get to), of watching men receive no due process and get shipped to a foreign gulag. About watching our friends who work in government and education and nonprofits live a daily roller coaster of stress and fear for their jobs and livelihoods. The budget deal is consequential but that is not what speaks to voters! We are out here living on vibes and the vibes are BAD. Most people don’t need facts hurled at them. They want to feel their politicians see them, listen to them, give a shit about them, and are willing to stand up for them.

One of my favorite journalists writing today is Jamelle Bouie and he recently wrote about how we should allow politicians to lean into their ambition because the framers of the constitution who founded this country understood that to decide to be a politician includes a certain amount of inescapable ambition. And in a perfect world that ambition to be elected would incite would be politicians to action, to doing something that they think the people will like. Now that has of course been bastardized because the people with ambition and also a billion dollars are the ones who really matter, but the point still stands that if these Democrats want to be re-elected they need to do the things necessary to get our votes. Which is why I’m happy about David Hogg’s bid to primary Democratic incumbents who aren’t living up to this moment, which I talked about on Friday. Don’t get mad about it, get to work. Earn our votes. Do I want Cory Booker to run for president? No. I don’t like the guy and a lot of this feels very performative for a future presidential run, but let that man’s presidential ambitions motivate him to continue to speak out and to act up, and may his colleagues do the same. Because the time was 100 plus days ago to start doing every tactic in the book to try to slow these assholes down, the next best time is right now. And the budget talks this week are a great time to get started. And I don’t mean, as Chuck Schumer promised, by telling us over and over that their proposals are bad. It’s by telling us why yours are better and then doing everything you can to drag out the process when they don’t agree to your proposals. Politicians are petulant assholes literally all the time EXCEPT for when it really counts. So please, be the petulant petty assholes we all know you can be, but do it for us.

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As details emerge from these ongoing budget talks over the next week, we know the media will be watching, but we also know they will spin the narrative depending on their bias. We saw this earlier this month when the house passed Trump’s budget proposal. For example, I saw this headline from the Chicago Sun Times that says “Trump's budget plan leaves nothing but tax cut 'crumbs' to working class”

Using the Ground News browser extension, it’s helpful to see that this news source has a left leaning bias. Which I think is evidenced in the framing of this issue. I really love this extension because it provides context, and I can see how other sources are framing the story by clicking full coverage.

On the Ground News website you can see that there are 339 sources covering this topic

Among them, left leaning Alternet uses the headline: “'Math is just not mathing': Republicans face big challenges after Easter break” while far right The Daily Wire frames it as: “Trump Scores ‘Big, Beautiful’ Victory With House Budget Vote.” These are very different takes on the same story–with the right focusing on the “big, beautiful bill” and the left focusing on how its details would hurt everyday Americans–and it's a clear example of how consuming news from only one perspective can limit your understanding of a situation.

This is where Ground News comes in - and why I've been using them for over a year. Today’s partner Ground News is an app and website that offers tools to help you critically analyze the news you read, providing context to understand the full picture.

By using the Ground News Vantage Subscription, I can also see the blindspot feed where I can see stories disproportionately covered by one side of the political spectrum. For example, only 1 right leaning news source is covering the headline “Rubio Reiterates No US Action on Trump's Canada Annexation Idea.” Interesting. I feel better equipped to make sense of what’s happening in the world without being influenced by just one perspective.

I’m always really impressed with Ground News and genuinely think they’re a great resource. If you want to stay informed on US Politics and more scan my QR code, or click the link in the description or go to ground dot news slash leeja to get 40% off the same Vantage plan I use which comes to about $5/month. Ground News is subscriber-funded, so they don't rely on ads that could introduce bias! Subscribing supports my channel and an independent team working to keep the media transparent. Thanks Ground News!

Okay bad news time! Last week three children under the age of 10, one with STAGE 4 cancer, who are US citizens were allegedly deported along with their mothers from Louisiana with no due process, no opportunity to speak with lawyers, and despite objections and court petitions from their US-born family members. The two mothers involved in the case were reporting for a routine immigration check in when ICE apprehended them and their children. The two your old child in one case was put in detention with her mother, who is pregnant, and they were both barred from speaking to lawyers or to their family members before being put on a plane for Honduras where now government lawyers are saying oops we can’t actually get ahold of them because they’ve been released in Honduras so. Nothing we can do. Hours after the 2 year old and her mother were removed, a Trump-appointed judge ruled that there was reason to believe the 2 year old was deported without any meaningful due process and against the wishes of her US-born father who had filed a petition to transfer legal custody to a US relative but was not given a chance to be heard before the girl was deported along with her mother. According to the Washington Post, quote “under previous administrations, some American children of deported immigrants have joined their parents in their nations of origin. But by law, those children left the U.S. only after a lengthy process that allowed them to make their own departure preparations.” Meaning this is not normal. The other children were a 4 year old with cancer, his 7 year old sister, and their mother, who were deported despite the wishes of the mother and the family members and without the child’s cancer medications or meaningful access to communicate with his doctors about his ongoing care. Both mothers and their children were apprehended, removed to an immigration facility 3 hours away, and then quickly put on planes out of the country before lawyers had a chance to speak with the families or file challenges in court.

And despite the lawyers for both families confirming they were barred from speaking to their clients or the children, and despite a judge ordering a hearing for May 16th to determine whether the 2 year old was removed without due process, the Trump administration has doubled down. Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan have made appearances and stated that the children were not deported, their mothers chose to take the children with them. But they’re citizens so they can just come back any time!! It’s easy!! It’s “parenting 101” as Tom Homan put it, they take their children with them. And because the children are US citizens, they weren’t deported, it was their mothers who were deported. And those moms were definitely given due process! Or, as Tom Homan put it, “That female had due process at great taxpayer expense and was ordered by an immigration judge after those hearings.” He also said, and I’m paraphrasing, that if a “female” made the decision to come here illegally and then have a child that’s that “females” problem. The “female” got due process and chose to take the kids with her, that was the female’s choice not the government’s choice.

Homan also said those children weren’t “deported” because to be deported means they were ordered to leave by a immigration judge and that didn’t happen. But as an immigration attorney and law professor told The Washington Post, quote “Who paid for the ticket? It is clear that the U.S. government paid for this ticket — that means these children were deported. Whether they had [due] process or not, whether ICE appropriately followed the rules or not, these children were deported.” So by Homan’s very definition, if he’s arguing they weren’t “deported” because no judge ordered them to leave, so you agree? They didn’t get due process? No judge ordered this or even reviewed it and yet the government facilitated their removal from the country? Interesting. But according to Tom Homan, if the kid is a US citizen then they just can’t be deported. It’s just the government coercing the mother and paying for the ticket. But it’s not deportation.

Marco Rubio also claimed it was the mothers who made this decision to bring their children with them back to Honduras. Lawyers for the families disagree, saying that these children and their mothers were held in detention and agreed to take their children under duress. The government lawyers point to a handwritten note, in Spanish, allegedly written by the mother of the 2 year old, which I wasn’t able to obtain a copy of, which apparently said “I will take my children with me to Honduras.” And to the government that is proof that she wanted to do this. Despite the fact that it was written under duress and she was given no opportunity to speak to her attorneys and the statement “I will take my children with me to Honduras” does not express a statement of desire or consent. But lord knows these government lawyers probably struggle with the definition of consent. Given the government’s willingness to lie in open court, to force immigrants to sign documents in languages they cannot read, and more, there is very little faith that they wouldn’t also force a woman to write a note indicating consent to be deported along with her 2 year old child who is a citizen. This was not the mother’s electing to go on a fun vacation to Honduras and bring their kids. They were literally in detention being threatened with deportation, given zero time to discuss with family members or lawyers before being quickly forced on a plane with their kids and sent to Honduras. And lawyers for the mother of the 4 year old with cancer and his 7 year old sister who were deported say that the mother was not given a choice about whether the children were going with her despite what the Trump regime is claiming.

And the fact that Rubio and Homan are doubling down on the narrative that it is the mothers’ fault is very very disturbing. These are undocumented women and their children. The government KNOWS they are vulnerable. They are then taking these vulnerable people and separating them from the people in their life who have power–their family members who are US citizens and their lawyers, and moving quickly enough to not get caught. That seems to be the main tactic. Just move quickly enough to not get caught, then claim it was legal all along and, even if it wasn’t, there’s simply nothing that can be done now to right that wrong. Fuck that 4 year old with stage 4 cancer!! If his stupid dumb female mom didn’t want him to get deported without his cancer medication she shouldn’t have come here illegally and birthed him!! It is a way to discredit immigrants but it is also a way to amplify the regime’s calls for an end to the constitutionally protected birthright citizenship by spewing disinformation meant to make it look like these evil brown females are scheming, coming in here, breaking laws, and taking advantage of this birthright citizenship loophole to have anchor babies. And now they have to rightfully live with the consequences of us denying them access to attorneys, due process, or adequate time to suss out the custody and citizenship issues present in their ongoing cases. It’s these females fault!!!! The case is ongoing, with a hearing set for May 16th for the 2 year old removed without any process, but this is an important escalation because it shows that this administration is willing to violate the due process rights of US citizens, born in this country, so long as they are vulnerable enough. Today it’s a 4 year old with cancer getting swept up along with his undocumented mother, but I think we’d be remiss to assume it will stop there. The Trump regime is making it clear that they are very willing to lie and hide facts from the courts and the public, and they’re betting they’ll get away with it because of the incredibly vulnerable status of the people they are targeting, because they can spin it as the fault of the conniving illegal females who made them. What group might be next to get caught up in the dragnet and blamed for their own problems?

Moving on, let’s talk about guns. I saw this clip from a recent NBC News report from Lincoln Heights, Ohio. [insert clip] An armed neighborhood watch group formed in a historically black community in response to KKK activity and a neo-nazi rally that was met with little to no resistance from the local police. This goes hand in hand with another report I saw on some unexpected gun reform advocates… on the right? Specifically, Attorney General Pam Bondi served as AG in Florida back in 2017 and after the Parkland school shooting she banned gun sales to people under 21 and enacted red flag laws that allowed law enforcement to confiscate guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. Because of this, the gun lobby actually fought against Pam Bondi’s confirmation as US attorney general. But then just this month, Pam Bondi created a “2nd Amendment task force,” saying in a statement, quote “The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights. The Department of Justice’s new 2nd Amendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach.” Other moves this month to walk back gun control initiatives created by the Biden administration indicate that the gun lobby’s fear of Pam Bondi was overblown, and for now the 2nd amendment as interpreted by conservatives is alive and well. That hasn’t stopped conspiracy peddlers on my TikTok for you page from positing that the Trump administration may ramp up gun control laws now that they’re attempting an authoritarian takeover because an armed populace is harder to control. They point to Hitler, saying he increased gun control laws when he took power in order to be able to better control the population and wage war.

And as much as I am here to bring you the news and cover important breaking news topics, I am also not interested in adding to the noise and to the fodder for your anxiety, and my friends I am actually here to dispel the myth that seems to be circulating on social media that somehow the right is going to do an about face on gun control and start trying to take away our 2nd amendment rights in order to better control us. Turns out, as with most things, it’s not that black and white! First, let’s talk about gun culture in America. Up until the 21st century, the courts generally agreed that the 2nd amendment was there to allow militias to arm themselves to prevent a tyrannical government. But after decades of pressure from the gun lobby changing the narrative in this country, by the early 2000s the Supreme Court came around and said actually no the 2nd amendment is also meant to provide for guns in order for individual personal protection and self defense. Despite over 200 years of precedent indicating it was mainly meant just for armed militias to protect the republic. And this shift in court interpretation mirrors the shift in cultural perception of the purpose of guns away from hunting and recreation and towards individual self preservation.

That being said, the stereotype gun owners–white rural conservative men–does not paint a complete picture. And what that armed neighborhood watch group in Lincoln Heights, Ohio is doing continues a long tradition of people of color, especially black people, turning to guns for self preservation in the face of a government that has always been tyrannical against them. Frederick Douglass advised black people to quote “keep a good revolver” to protect themselves from slave catchers. Despite the peaceful protests of the 1960s, there were many groups of black civil rights advocates who promoted gun ownership for protection. In 2020, during the COVID pandemic and the George Floyd riots, there was a surge in gun ownership especially among liberals and people of color. The “liberal gun owners” subreddit has over 250 thousand members. And while we don’t have the data yet to back it up, reports are that more and more people on the left have chosen to arm themselves in the wake of the re-election of Donald Trump. So while black communities have had to arm themselves for self preservation for centuries, the cultural shift towards gun ownership as self defense has reached the mainstream, with lots of white liberals opting to own guns. I’m not interested, I think they’re scary, but even I have considered whether it might be a good idea to at least take a class about how to use one given the fact that I live in a country chock fucking full of them. Okay, so that’s a part of the narrative that I think gets lost–gun ownership is widespread, not exclusive to specific groups of people, and has a long history as a tool of black resistance. However, that does not mean that the right, in this country and with this culture, is going to come in and try to regulate guns now that the libs have them, too. Which brings us to the Hitler argument.

I’m no historian but I can read, and looking at the conflicting historical narratives indicates that the story is not so simple as “Hitler took away their guns and that made it easier to gain authoritarian power.” In fact, that narrative has been used for DECADES by the likes of the NRA and other pro-gun factions as a means to justify having zero regulations around gun ownership in this country. First they make you register, then they take them away, just like Hitler did. That’s the trope, and it has been repeated so frequently that it has reached mainstream consciousness and now is being repeated on my for you page by people claiming Trump is now coming for our guns!!! The problem is that that is of course not the full picture. After World War 1, the treaty of Versailles placed strict gun ownership rules on the people of Germany as punishment for what they did during the war. The Weimar Republic, a liberal government that oversaw a resurgence of art and gay culture in Germany, also instituted gun control measures including a 1928 law requiring the registration of all guns. That law was actually passed in reaction to the growing unrest caused by Nazi militias on the streets of Germany as an attempt to tamper down the growing Nazi-induced unrest.

In 1938, after Hitler took power, he did pass a law restricting Jewish people from having access to firearms, however the rest of the law deregulated gun ownership for everyone who wasn’t one of the targeted minorities. It lowered the age a person could own guns from 20 to 18, it exempted many groups from needing permits and extended permits from 1 to 3 years. As one historian told the Associated Press back in 2013, quote “To suggest that the targeting of Jews in any of the gun regulations or any of the other regulations is somehow tied to Nazis’ view of guns is entirely misleading, because the Nazis believed in a greater deregulation of firearms. Firearms were viewed, for the good German, were something to which they had rights.”

And there is debate about whether, had the jews been armed, they would have been able to put up a resistance, with some arguing that they were a small percentage of the population and so spread out and marginalized that gun ownership would not have saved them, and others pointing to an armed uprising in a Warsaw ghetto as proof that if only they had had more guns!!!! I think this is not a worthwhile debate because it’s really insensitive and also there’s literally no way to know. And 1930s Germany is not 2020s United States. Plus we have a militarized police force and a military armed to the fucking gills, I don’t think even the best-armed civilian militia could do much. But the reason I bring all of this up is because first of all when I see misinformation spreading, even if not meant to be malicious, I very much like to stomp it out by adding additional information so we all have a bigger understanding of what’s really going on, because it can be really easy to see scary sounding things and really latch on to them. There is no evidence of a large-scale scheme by the Trump regime to take away all our guns. But also gun ownership, even in a country like the United States where guns are ubiquitous, is a divisive issue, comes with a lot of assumptions and stereotypes, and is inherently political, whether you’re a republican in Florida interested in exercising your “stand your ground” rights against your pizza delivery boy or whether you're a black father in Lincoln Heights, Ohio, interested in protecting your community from the KKK in 2025. As people get more and more fearful for their safety in a country where the government either doesn’t give a shit about you or is actively targeting you, unless you’re in the 1% in which case you can hire other people to stand around you with guns, it is inevitable that gun ownership will continue to be divisive and, frankly, more attractive for people across the political spectrum. And I also can’t help but place this in the context of Luigi Mangione’s ongoing trials, the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO on the streets of Manhattan. He has been accused of being a domestic terrorist and has pleaded not guilty to a federal murder charge that carries the death penalty. Many people were appalled by his actions but just as many if not more were so inspired that “to Luigi someone” has become a recognizable verb in online spaces. The right is perpetrating and legitimizing political violence against minorities, against poll workers, and more, but I’m seeing more and more people on the left who feel that guns, self defense, and the type of violence allegedly perpetrated by Mangione are justified and necessary when your government is not willing to listen and is putting the interests of the wealthy 1% over the very lives of all the rest of us. God I’m probably going to get demonetized but I am really curious to know how you guys feel, if you’re buying guns, if you’re seeing armed militias in your area? I don’t know, maybe use the word buns instead of guns so your comment doesn’t get automatically deleted.

IN SOME GOOD NEWS, I was heartened to see this fun petty thing happening at law schools in response to these spineless law firms deciding to capitulate to Trump. I’ve talked about big law before on this show, basically they offer grotesquely huge salaries in exchange for your soul in an attempt to attract the best talent. And if you go to a prestigious law school like the Ivy League or other top 14 schools and do marginally well in your classes you get a pick of the litter when it comes to big law firms. And law students are using the leverage they know they have to hit back at the law firms who have publicly signed a deal with the orange devil.

Students at Georgetown Law created a spreadsheet titled “Legal Industry Responses to Fascist Attacks Tracker” in which they have given over 800 firms one of 5 different designations: "Caved to Administration"; "Complying in Advance"; "Other Negative Action"; "Stood Up Against Administration's Attacks"; and "No Response." The spreadsheet was meant to allow classmates to make informed decisions about whether or not to join certain law firms, but it has gotten national attention and recruiters at major firms are saying law students are reconsidering offers from major firms who have been given the “caved” designation. Some law firms are calling the student organizers and asking to have their designation changed. One Georgetown law student told Forbes he turned down an interview with Skadden after the firm capitulated to Trump. Skadden also had a recruiting event cancelled by students in the Georgetown Energy Law Group. The spreadsheet indicates that plaintiffs attorneys, that is the law firms that typically sue on behalf of individuals who have been wronged by really anyone, the government, their employers, their schools, etc, the types of lawyers usually suing the people being defended by these big law firms, those plaintiffs law firms are now offering new summer positions for students who otherwise would have worked for big law but are seeking an alternative. This is important because it means that plaintiff side law firms are potentially poaching top talent from big law BEFORE they sell their soul and get attached by golden handcuffs. Plus it’s petty and I love it. Separately, last week a group of more than 400 academic leaders from the American Association of Colleges and Universities, representing a broad swath of academia from the Ivy League to community colleges signed a letter in protest of the government’s assault on academia. It’s not an earth shattering move but it is a sign of solidarity and hopefully the first of many concerted actions by colleges to act in solidarity against the Trump administration after months of some schools capitulating to the regime to save face. This comes after Harvard stood up to Trump and sued the administration for its efforts to interfere with the University. And this is why when I spoke about the Harvard case last week it made me feel so hopeful–dominoes can fall both ways and the more individuals and entities willing to stand up to the regime, the more inspired others will be to do the same. And it is a promising turnaround after 100 days of seeing many large law firms and prestigious universities show zero spine and a complete inability to meet the moment and wield their power for good where most of us have none to wield.

And if you’re interested in joining MY online community and supporting my work please consider joining me over on Patreon where I launched the Why, America? Co-Learning Lab at the beginning of this year, a learning community having discussions and making connections, along with a monthly syllabus curated by me. All year we’ll be covering topics under the umbrella theme of “Eat the Rich: Building Solidarity in the New Gilded Age.” April’s topic is all about uncovering why fascism festered in America. This is all hosted over on Patreon, which is linked down below. If you’re interested, please join us. Patreon dot com slash leeja miller.

Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Marc, Thomas Orf, Sarah Shelby, Art, David, R_H, L’etranger (Lukus), Joshua Cole, Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!

And if you liked this episode, you’ll like the one from Friday about stories you may have missed including the FBI arrest of a county judge in Wisconsin.

Leeja Miller
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