Free Republic

Donald Trump promised during the campaign to get tough on radical Islamic terror groups as well as force Iran to renegotiate terms on Barack Obama’s nuclear deal. The next executive orders from the president may address both pledges — and create more controversy. According to Reuters, Trump will designate the entire Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), expanding current sanctions applied at the moment to only its Quds Force: A designation of the entire IRGC as a terrorist group would potentially have much broader implications, including for the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and...

Histrionics having no effect whatsoever It bears repeating because it’s easy to forget: The loudest among us are not necessarily the most numerous. In fact, they’re usually not, because if they were in the majority they’d be winning, and they wouldn’t be so hysterical. If that’s true, so is this corollary: The most hysterical have gotten that way precisely because they can’t think of a reasoned method of persuading anyone. They can get lots of attention - hysterics usually can - but just because people are looking at you and talking about you doesn’t mean they have any sympathy for...

Faced with President Trump’s executive orders suspending immigration from several Muslim nations and ordering the building of a border wall, and his threats to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, even Alexander Hamilton, our nation’s most ardent proponent of executive power, would be worried by now. Article II of the Constitution vests the president with “the executive power,” but does not define it. Most of the Constitution instead limits that power, as with the president’s duty “to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” or divides that power with Congress, as with making treaties or appointing Supreme Court...

James Robart, the U.S. district judge in Washington State, offered little explanation for his decision to stop President Trump's executive order temporarily suspending non-American entry from seven terror-plagued countries. Robart simply declared his belief that Washington State, which in its lawsuit against Trump argued that the order is both illegal and unconstitutional, would likely win the case when it is tried. Beginning with the big picture, the Justice Department argued that Robart's restraining order violates the separation of powers, encroaches on the president's constitutional and legal authority in the areas of foreign affairs, national security, and immigration, and "second-guesses the...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has declined a demand for an immediate reinstatement of the Executive Order on immigration but has scheduled expedited arguments and filings in the case for Monday. The decision is not surprising in such a case. Courts need to hear from the other side in the dispute, particularly when the Washington Attorney General prevailed in the trial court. Moreover, a temporary restraining order is very difficult to reverse on an interlocutory appeal. Normally, appellate courts will wait for a final decision and opinion from the lower court before agreeing to review...

Virginia will be allowed to join a lawsuit challenging aspects of President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, a judge ruled Friday. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, sought to join the lawsuit and broaden its scope.

Just two days after what looked like betrayal in the ongoing battle between religious liberty and the LGBT lobby’s never-ending quest for positive “rights,” President Trump may sign an executive order Thursday protecting religious liberty throughout the federal government. Naturally, the Left is losing its collective hive mind again. In an attempt to stop the president from issuing the order, LGBT groups and left-leaning media outlets leaked the document, according to The Daily Signal. Just hours after the initial leak, the president unequivocally vowed to protect religious freedom at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Joe Scarborough went off on Barack Obama for five minutes on “Morning Joe” Tuesday over his “rank hypocrisy” in releasing a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s visa freeze. Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis tweeted Monday the former president’s support for anti-Trump protests across the country. Trump signed an executive order Friday limiting immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries and indefinitely suspending Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. Scarborough said, "Barack Obama can't have it both ways". “People should keep their mouth shut and not be self-righteous when their policies led to this stage.”

Trump’s executive order is so modest that the foundation of it is essentially existing law. That law was passed unanimously by both bodies of Congress in 2002. In fact, it garnered the support of 16 Democrat senators and 57 Democrat House members who are still serving in their respective bodies! Following 9/11, Congress passed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, which addressed many of the insecurities in our visa tracking system. The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously. The bill was originally sponsored by a group of bipartisan senators, including Ted Kennedy and Sen. Dianne Feinstein,...

The Department of Homeland Security plans to enforce President Donald Trump’s executive order to dramatically reduce immigration from high threat countries in the Middle East. “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce all of President Trump’s Executive Orders in a manner that ensures the safety and security of the American people,” the agency made in a statement sent to reporters on Sunday. They reminded Americans that only a small percentage of travelers were affected by the new restrictions.

Seemingly following the proposals of Bill Clinton (and Ron Paul), The Washington Post reports that a leaked document shows the Trump administration is planning to crackdown on current, and would-be, immigrants who are likely to require public assistance. [Snip] The Washington Post reports that The Trump administration is considering a plan to weed out would-be immigrants who are likely to require public assistance, as well as to deport — when possible — immigrants already living in the United States who depend on taxpayer help, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Washington Post. [Snip] While Trump’s immigration ban...

White House officials described President Donald Trump’s Executive Order for “Reducing Government Regulations and Controlling Regulatory Cost” as Trump’s “one in, two out” plan: For every regulation promulgated by a federal agency, that agency must “identify” two existing regulations to be targeted for extinction.The order also sets a cap of $0 for the cost of new regulations, with the only exceptions being military and national security regulations. The president said when signing the order, “This will be the biggest such act that our country has ever seen. There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be normalized control.”Budget...

Dozens of sign-wielding City University of New York students and staffers from Brooklyn Borough Hall rallied Monday in support of a graduate student detained abroad because of President Trump's immigration order. "Unify and defy," the 50 or so protesters outside the Cadman Plaza federal courthouse chanted. "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here." Others held signs with three simple words in capital letters: "LET HER IN." "Her" is Saira Rafiee, a doctoral student enrolled at the CUNY Graduate Center through an F1 visa who spent winter break visiting family members in her native Iran, one of the seven countries...

Tears of a ClownLiberal Democrat Snowflakes had a major meltdown over the weekend over President Trump’s Executive action preventing individuals from seven countries from entering the US. A total of 109 individuals were detained as a result of the action. Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,…..— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017 protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017 CNN...

George Soros groups try to block Trump's time-limited executive order to protect U.S. security A day after President Trump’s executive order suspending immigration from terrorism-producing countries was signed, an Obama-appointed judge on Saturday night followed the advice of George Soros-funded groups seeking to blunt it. It is yet another searing reminder that the Left doesn’t believe in American democracy. To the Left, elections only have consequences when their side wins. And when they lose, mobocracy, intimidation, and street violence take over. The chant “this is what democracy looks like” is the hallmark of left-wing authoritarianism.

The new Trump administration will operate on a specific budget for new regulations, according to the executive order signed by Donald Trump this morning — and for 2017, the budget will be $0. The EO instructs federal agencies to eliminate two rules for every one they wish to add over the next four years, and Trump wants a focus on eliminating regulations that amount to rent-seeking for larger companies: MOMENTS AGO: President Trump signs new executive order cutting government regulations on small businesses https://t.co/8so2iQ5456 pic.twitter.com/STvXLfN3uh— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 30, 2017 “We want to end the unfairness between small...

As the Left and some Republicans lose their minds over President Donald J. Trump’s executive order on immigration, let’s not forget that the list of concerned countries that the Trump administration outlined in the order is based on the one signed into law by the former Obama administration. So, it looks like the Obama White House set the groundwork (via Mic News): According to the draft copy of Trump's executive order, the countries whose citizens are barred entirely from entering the United States is based on a bill that Obama signed into law in December 2015. Obama signed the Visa...

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. I therefore hereby proclaim that: Section 1. The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of...

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code hereby find that the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. I therefore hereby proclaim that: Section 1. The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of...

It began in the morning, with a small crowd chanting and holding cardboard signs outside Kennedy International Airport, upset by the news that two Iraqi refugees had been detained inside because of President Trump’s executive order. By the end of the day, the scattershot group had swelled to an enormous crowd. They filled the sidewalks outside the terminal and packed three stories of a parking garage across the street, a mass of people driven by emotion to this far-flung corner of the city, singing, chanting and unfurling banners. This was the most public expression of the intense reaction generated across...