Free Republic

WASHINGTON, DC—July 10, 2025—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a significant policy shift to restore compliance with federal law and ensure that taxpayer-funded program benefits intended for the American people are not diverted to subsidize illegal aliens.HHS has formally rescinded a 1998 interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), issued during the Clinton Administration, which improperly extended certain federal public benefits to illegal aliens. For over two decades, the 1998 policy improperly narrowed the scope of PRWORA, undercutting the law by allowing illegal aliens to access programs Congress intended...

A judge in California on Monday blocked the Trump administration from using the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants in the Los Angeles area, ruling that the government hasn't promised adequate due process. The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Holcomb — who was nominated by President Trump in 2019 — is the latest to limit the administration's controversial practice of rapidly deporting people accused of being members of the gang Tren de Aragua under the 1798 law, which allows removals during an "invasion" or "predatory incursion" of the United States. Courts in three other states have also...

A judge has sided with Huntington Beach, for a second time, in a legal challenge to the city’s new voter ID law.Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns issued a statement calling the ruling “a huge victory not only for our City but charter cities throughout the State … We will not back down in our efforts to secure local control over our local issues and will continue to fight for the City.” The backstory: Huntington Beach voters approved a measure last year allowing the city to require people to show ID when casting a ballot. State officials say that contradicts California...

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Donald Trump to enforce the Alien Enemies Act for now, handing the White House a significant victory that will let immigration officials rely on a sweeping wartime authority to rapidly deport alleged gang members.The unsigned decision in the case, the most closely watched emergency appeal pending at the Supreme Court, lets Trump invoke the 1798 law to speed removals while litigation over the act’s use plays out in lower courts. The court stressed that people deported going forward should receive notice they are subject to the act and an opportunity to have their...

The Justice Department has placed on indefinite paid leave the attorney who argued on behalf of the government on Friday in a lawsuit brought by a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.Sources said Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, was told by officials at the DOJ that he was being placed on leave over a "failure to zealously advocate" for the government's interests. "At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,"...

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Thursday grilled Trump administration lawyers over whether they defied a court order blocking deportations under a wartime immigration law — a potential step toward holding the administration in contempt.At issue is the administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang. Boasberg pressed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign on why the government appeared to ignore an emergency injunction last month halting those deportations. The administration has appealed the underlying case to the Supreme Court. But for now, Boasberg is weighing...

President Trump’s immigration policy, like most of his foreign policy, is saturated with references to his campaign slogan “America First,” and a federal judge this week said it shows illegal and racist “animus” toward immigrants.Judge Edward Chen blocked the Department of Homeland Security from revoking a special deportation amnesty for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants, at least in part because Secretary Kristi Noem justified the decision by citing Mr. Trump’s “America First” agenda. Judge Chen, an Obama appointee to the court in Northern California, said the term had an “inference of animus given the historical connotation of that phrase.”...

A federal judge will temporarily block President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting billions in federal dollars that support COVID-19 initiatives and public health projects throughout the country. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, appointed by Trump in 2019 but first nominated by former President Barack Obama, in Rhode Island said Thursday that she plans to grant the court order sought by 23 states and the District of Columbia.“They make a case, a strong case, for the fact that they will succeed on the merits, so I’m going to grant the temporary restraining order,” said McElroy, who plans to issue a written...

A California court ruled state laws cannot broadly override local control over development and zoning, finding one of the state’s most significant new zoning laws is unconstitutional. “This is not a case about whether or not our State Legislature may enact legislation to ensure access to affordable housing or whether it may act to address the different concern of a statewide housing shortage more generally,” wrote California Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin in his ruling. “However, because the provisions of SB 9 are not reasonably related and sufficiently narrowly tailored to the explicit stated purpose of that legislation —...

California is suing Huntington Beach over its voter identification measure, recently passed by voters, hoping to stop the city from asking residents to present proof of identification when voting at in-person polling locations. “It is violative of California state election law, undermines that process and threatens the constitutionally protected right to vote,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 15. Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees elections across California, said the voter ID requirement would disenfranchise voters and called it a solution in search of a problem. “This voter ID...

It’s been nearly 25 years since Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside Brown Simpson’s Brentwood, California, home. A quarter of a century is long enough to heal most wounds. But, for two members of the prosecution, their failure to secure a conviction against the man they believe to be responsible, the pain of that loss feels as fresh as it did the day a jury announced O.J. Simpson was not guilty of murder.“Time doesn’t heal much of anything,” Christopher Darden said Saturday at the 2019 CrimeCon in New Orleans. Darden worked for the Los...

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a San Diego-area school district to reinstate two teachers who were placed on administrative leave for refusing to keep students’ gender transitions a secret from parents.The order from Judge Roger Benitez says the teachers, who haven’t been allowed in their classrooms since last May, must be allowed to return by next Tuesday, Jan. 15. In September, Benitez blocked their employer, Escondido Union School District, from forcing them to comply with their policy to socially transition kids to different gender identities behind their parents’ backs."Both sides are expected to work in good faith going forward...

Less than a week after a Del Rio-based federal judge ruled against Texas in the ongoing fight over the state’s razor wire, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused that decision while it reviews the case. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday temporarily halted a lower court order that gave Border Patrol agents legal cover to continue cutting concertina wire that Texas has installed on the banks of the Rio Grande. U.S. District Judge Alia Moses of Del Rio on Wednesday ruled against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, which wanted the judge to order Border Patrol...

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 We sued President Biden and Secretary Blinken for violating the Taylor Force Act and illegally subsidizing Palestinian terrorism. Today, following barbaric attacks by Hamas — killing 14 Americans and 1000+ other innocent men, women, and children, and with an unknown number of Americans now beling held hostage in Gaza — the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted our motion to begin discovery in our case. We are going to show what the Biden Administration knew about their plans and the outcomes of their policies.

Former President Donald Trump said Sunday he will not be participating in "the debates," indicating he likely intends to not participate in any Republican primary debates and not the initinal debate set for this week. In a post on his Truth Social website, Trump cited sky high poll numbers by which he leads the rest of the GOP field."New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by 'legendary' numbers. TRUMP 62%, 46 Points above DeSanctimonious (who is crashing like an ailing bird!), Ramaswamy 7%, Pence 5%, Scott 3%, Haley 2%, Sloppy Chris Christie 2%, 'Aida' Hutchinson 1%," Trump...

The federal government this month is set to launch FedNow, a “safe and efficient” instant payments service which will allow the Federal Reserve to facilitate payments between bank customers and receive their transaction data.With FedNow, the Federal Reserve will act as a middleman in transactions between banks and credit unions. Currently, transactions pass through a financial institution called a clearing house, which facilitates the payments. But at the end of this month, the clearing house will instead be the Federal Reserve for many banks. For example, if John Doe wishes to pay a bill, he would initiate the transaction as...

Florida’s Legislature has approved a bill that forbids Chinese nationals from owning property in the Sunshine State, which Governor Ron DeSantis will be signing into law. SB 264, also known as “SB 264: Interests of Foreign Countries,” forbids Chinese citizens from “purchasing or acquiring real property” in Florida or from holding more than a minor “indirect interest in such real property.” The state’s legislators supported the priority bill on a bipartisan basis and highlighted threats to national security as justification for its passing. The law was approved by the Senate in a 31-8 vote and the House with a 95-17...

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is leaving her government post, the agency and President Joe Biden announced Friday. Walensky’s last day on the job will be June 30, according to an email sent to CDC employees Friday, which was shared with CNN. In a statement, Biden thanked Walensky for leading “a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity” and wished her well in her next chapter.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (FLV) – Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered the Walt Disney Company move thousands of jobs to her home state. The offer came in an appearance on Fox News amid a recently filed lawsuit, the latest development of Disney’s power struggle with the government of Florida and the new Gov. Ron DeSantis-appointed board. “South Carolina was a very anti-woke state,” she said. “It still is. And if Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina and bring the billions of dollars with them, I’ll let...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats advanced seven of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees through committee on Thursday with Republican votes, shelving others that lack bipartisan backing with Sen. Dianne Feinstein absent. The move by Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., marks a change in course after he had repeatedly delayed meetings since early March to advance a package of judges, lacking the decisive vote of Feinstein, D-Calif., who is out indefinitely on medical leave. “We wish our colleague, Sen. Feinstein, a speedy recovery and return,” Durbin said. “We hope she’ll be back in the Senate very soon. Today’s agenda includes a...