The Daily Populous Thursday February 27th, 2025 night edition
Authored by texasobserver.org and submitted by steezysteve

Last week, the Texas Observer reported that James “Jim” Joseph Rodden—an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas—operates a white supremacist X account named GlomarResponder, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details that the Observer matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

The GlomarResponder account has routinely posted hateful statements including that “America is a White nation,” “All blacks are foreign to my people,” and “‘Migrants’ are all criminals.”

A weekly ICE court schedule obtained by the Observer Monday morning still listed Rodden as scheduled to appear at hearings throughout the week. Rodden represents the agency in proceedings that can decide whether an immigrant is deported from the country. But, when the Observer visited the courtrooms where Rodden was scheduled to appear on Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning, other ICE attorneys were present instead.

In a statement for the Observer’s prior story, ICE said it “will not comment on the substance of this article pending further investigation.” ICE shared the same statement in response to a request for comment for this story and did not confirm whether Rodden was still representing the agency in immigration court.

Rodden’s possible continued ICE employment comes despite calls for an immediate investigation and swift disciplinary action if necessary from three members of Congress and a complaint from a Massachusetts lawyer to the District of Columbia Bar and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

Democratic Congress members Marc Veasey, Bennie Thompson, and Jamie Raskin have called on officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE to investigate the Observer’s findings.

In a February 24 letter to ICE Acting Deputy Director Kenneth Genalo, citing the Observer’s reporting, Veasey—who represents part of Dallas—demanded an accounting of the agency’s investigation into Rodden and information about related policies. “These allegations raise serious questions about the integrity of ICE’s prosecutorial process and its commitment to impartial justice,” Veasey wrote.

In a separate February 24 letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Thompson—ranking member of the Homeland Security committee—and Raskin demanded that DHS investigate the Observer’s findings. The congressmen noted that “The ICE Code of Conduct prohibits personnel from engaging in behavior on or off duty that may ‘cause the public or ICE to question the reliability, judgement, or trustworthiness of its employees’ or that would ‘discredit the employee, embarrass or bring ICE into disrepute’ or ‘interfere with or adversely affect ICE’s mission.’ Anyone making racist statements and suggesting violence against immigrants is unfit to represent the United States government in immigration proceedings.”

The Observer connected GlomarResponder, an X account with over 17,000 followers, to Rodden through an extensive review of GlomarResponder’s X posts, publicly available documents, and other social media profiles and posts, as well as courtroom observation. Two analysts with more than 20 years of combined experience in open-source intelligence reviewed the findings and found that “The depth of the investigation leaves little room for doubt.”

In addition to the racist and xenophobic content the Observer previously reported, GlomarResponder has also posted apparent praise of Adolf Hitler on X. In August 2023, GlomarResponder wrote: “Based. Gott Mit Uns,” while sharing an image of and quote from Hitler. “Based” is a slang term signifying praise, and “Gott Mit Uns” is a phrase, used during various parts of German history including by the Nazi military, meaning “God is with us.” GlomarResponder has additionally posted that South Africa was “ruined by ending apartheid.”

For the Observer’s prior story, Rodden did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent to his ICE email address. A call to a phone number associated with Rodden reached a man who declined to confirm his identity then hung up. When approached outside the Dallas immigration court and asked to confirm receipt of the emailed requests, Rodden said to “call [his] press office.”

Rodden did not respond to an additional request for comment for this story.

J. Whitfield Larrabee, an attorney in Massachusetts, filed a complaint last week against Rodden with the District of Columbia Bar, through which a James J. Rodden holds a law license, which allows representation of ICE in immigration court in Texas.

“As an assistant Chief Legal Counsel, Rodden functions as a prosecutor,” Larrabee’s complaint reads. “In exercising discretion to investigate or to prosecute, a prosecutor should not improperly favor or invidiously discriminate against any person. Because of Rodden’s explicit bigotry and racism, he cannot be trusted to properly exercise his discretion.”

Larrabee also sent a copy of the complaint to ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which “upholds the agency’s professional standards” and investigates possible employee and contractor misconduct.

The D.C. Bar, which declined to comment for the Observer’s prior story, would neither confirm nor deny for this story whether Rodden is under Bar investigation.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit that trains attorneys and advocates who work with immigrants across the country, also raised concerns regarding the Observer’s findings.

“With all of this clear racism and xenophobia on display, it begs the question — how many of our community members were mistreated and targeted by prosecutors like this?” the group posted on X.

Editor’s Note: Exiting extremism can be a difficult process. If you or someone you love is caught up in hate or extremist politics, there are free resources that can help. Life After Hate and Parents for Peace are two non-profit organizations that operate help lines and provide support to help individuals and families recover from extremism.

nonlawyer on February 26th, 2025 at 20:25 UTC »

I still remain in awe that this goober was seen by a reporter posting Nazi shit on Twitter while sitting at a court table.

The man’s got an addiction, and it’s posting hate

MalcolmLinair on February 26th, 2025 at 20:10 UTC »

I think Trump just found his department head for the new "Department of Undesirable Elimination".

Hrekires on February 26th, 2025 at 20:04 UTC »

"We investigated and gave him a raise. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."