Free Republic

A federal judge on Friday blocked the IRS from giving ICE the home addresses of taxpayers who might be undocumented immigrants — dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. The ruling is a significant victory for immigrant-rights group and liberal activists who are trying to resist the mass deportations that President Donald Trump has made a top priority for the first year of his second term. The Trump administration can appeal the decision, and it has a decent track record this year of overturning lower-court losses. A separate federal judge in a related case previously declined to...

A federal judge on Nov. 20 ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. Trump had said the troops were needed to deal with rampant crime and violence in Washington and support federal immigration law enforcement efforts there. On Aug. 11, the president signed a presidential memorandum, in which he said the local D.C. government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city.” “It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in...

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the Trump administration’s challenge to a New York law that blocks immigration arrests for people traveling to and from state courthouses. U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino rejected the administration’s claims that New York’s restrictions create unconstitutional obstacles to immigration enforcement and are preempted by federal law. “To hold to the contrary would improperly elevate the concerns of the federal sovereign over that of a State and deprive New York of its essential ability to protect its sovereign interests in the face of undue federal interference,” D’Agostino wrote in her 41-page opinion. New York passed...

A Tennessee state court judge temporarily blocked on Monday Republican Governor Bill Lee's deployment of National Guard troops to the city of Memphis, ruling that the use of troops was likely not legal under the state's militia law. Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal of the Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville said the militia law required Tennessee's General Assembly to call in the National Guard for public safety. She ruled that crime rates in Memphis were not a "grave emergency" or "disaster" that would authorize Lee to send troops in his role as commander-in-chief of the state’s military forces. Her order...

CHICAGO (AP) — Baltazar Enriquez starts most mornings with street patrols, leaving his home in Chicago’s Little Village on foot or by car to find immigration agents that have repeatedly targeted his largely Mexican neighborhood.Wearing an orange whistle around his neck, the activist broadcasts his plans on Facebook.“We don’t know if they’re going to come back. All we know is we’ve got to get ready,” he tells thousands of followers. “Give us any tips if you see any suspicious cars.”Moments later, his phone buzzes.As an unprecedented immigration crackdown enters a third month, a growing number of Chicago residents are fighting...

Congresswoman LaMonica McIver must face at least two of three federal charges accusing her of assaulting and impeding immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center after federal judge on Thursday rejected her attempt to dismiss the case. The New Jersey Democrat was charged with three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials following her May 9 visit to Delaney Hall, a privately owned, 1,000-bed facility in Newark that ICE uses as a detention center. The government alleges McIver intervened as federal agents attempted to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper turned down...

... The officer was on his way back to Fullerton after transporting an inmate to the Orange County Jail, police said. ... In video from the scene, the man is dressed in plainclothes, with a badge on his belt. He approaches the car while holding his gun near his chest, pointing it at the woman’s vehicle. He and the woman, recording from inside her vehicle, exchange words as he approaches. “You can’t be following us like that,” the agent says at one point. “I live here,” the woman responds. He told the police officer the woman in the vehicle behind...

A manager at the Laugh Factory in Chicago was arrested for allegedly obstructing a federal immigration operation — but his mother claimed agents “kidnapped” him before her eyes. A Border Patrol spokesperson told NBC Chicago that Griffin was detained after he “attempted to impede and obstruct federal officers,” and claims he attempted to shut the door of the federal agents’ car on an agent’s leg. “The individual was immediately detained and turned over to the FBI for investigation,” Border Patrol said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, even as she already faces fraud charges and an ever-expanding scandal of criminal allegations, has launched a portal for Democrats to report and therefore dox ICE agents. After an ICE raid where federal officers arrested nine illegal aliens with criminal records in New York City, James and other Democrats flipped their lids, screaming about alleged abuses. Following the example of Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and his fellow House and California Democrats, James launched her own ICE reporting portal, which could potentially justify yet more charges against her for violating federal immigration law. James proudly...

The first nine months of the President Trump’s second term have seen repeated instances of a Federal District Court judge temporarily enjoining some action of the administration, only to have the Supreme Court stay the injunction while the litigation proceeds. Examples of this pattern of events have occurred in cases involving such things as funding rescissions, staff lay-offs, and deportation procedures. A recurring feature of this pattern has been dissents from the three liberal Supreme Court justices — Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson — who would have left the temporary injunctions in place during the pendency of the litigation. Justice Jackson,...

A federal judge Friday issued a permanent injunction barring President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops from any state to Oregon, finding the president exceeded his authority.“Even giving great deference to the President’s determination, the President did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard,” U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut ruled in a 106-page opinion.Immergut’s injunction follows a three-day trial she held last week and a brief, preliminary order she issued on Monday. Friday’s injunction offers a much more detailed examination of the law and conditions in Portland leading up to Trump’s Sept. 27 authorization of...

Since 1963, 75% of all nationwide injunctions have been against President Trump. 90% of those injunctions came from Democrat-appointed judges. Yet the Admin has a 92% win rate at SCOTUS. President Trump isn’t the one abusing his power. It’s Democrat-appointed judges.

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, was unconstitutional. On Sunday, US District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, temporarily extended an order blocking the administration from deploying troops to The Rose City, saying the government failed to justify the move. In the Sunday evening order, Immergut temporarily blocked “Defendant Secretary of Defense [Pete] Hegseth from implementing” memorandums that authorized the federalization and deployment of National Guard members from Oregon, Texas and California into Portland. The injunction remained in effect until Friday. Friday’s 106-page ruling makes the...

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against federal immigration agents over their use of force during Operation Midway Blitz, telling lawyers for the Trump administration she found their evidence "simply not credible." "It is difficult to conceive how an injunction requiring the government to comply with the Constitution could possibly be harmful," U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said as she explained her decision. She said she is granting "complete relief to plaintiffs" and rejected the government's request for a stay pending appeal, saying they have not made a strong showing that they're likely to succeed on the merits of...

Far-left Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly have passed a bill that will provide sanctuary to illegal aliens in courthouses and give them a right to sue the federal agents who arrest them.Hate-Trump Governor J.B. Pritzker, who believes federal immigration and other agents are “Gestapo” stormtroopers and vows to prosecute them, will almost certainly sign the bill as soon as it hits his desk.The federal Justice Department will likely sue to overturn the bill under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, an action that might go nowhere. A federal judge appointed by President Joe Biden dismissed the department’s lawsuit to overturn Chicago’s...

Judge Immergut decided that the president did not meet the merits to federalize the National Guard under Title 10 section 12406. US District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut ruled on Sunday that President Donald Trump likely lacked the authority to federalize the National Guard and surge troops to protect the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, which has been the site of constant "unlawful" demonstrations since June 7. Judge Immergut, appointed by Trump, extended the preliminary injunction, deciding that the president would likely not meet the merits to federalize the National Guard under Title 10 section 12406,...

Illinois lawmakers passed a bill on Friday prohibiting federal agents from making immigration arrests near courthouses. The measure also allows lawsuits when people believe their constitutional rights were violated during civil immigration arrests. The legislation, approved largely along party lines, was sent to Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker's desk. His office said he supports the idea and will review the proposal when it reaches his desk. According to the bill, civil damages for false imprisonment could be imposed when a migrant attending a court hearing or appearing as a party or witness to a legal proceeding is arrested. Supporters of the...

An appeals court has temporarily paused a federal judge's order requiring U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commander-at-large Greg Bovino to appear in court daily and give updates on immigration enforcement activity in Chicago under the Trump administration's "Operation Midway Blitz." The Department of Justice on Wednesday appealed U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis' order, which mandated Bovino check in with her at 6 p.m. daily to ensure compliance with a temporary restraining order that restricted federal agents' use of force in crowd-control tactics.

A federal judge on Tuesday evening said Los Angeles-based US Attorney Bill Essayli has been in the role unlawfully and disqualified him. President Trump chose California Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli to serve as the acting US attorney for the Central District of California earlier this year. Bill Essayli is a staunch Trump supporter who has been aggressively investigating and prosecuting illegal aliens and criminals. US District Judge Michael Seabright, a George W. Bush appointee, said Essayli has been unlawfully serving since July. Judge Seabright did not dismiss Essayli’s indictments because they were signed by other attorneys for the government. The...

A federal judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump’s efforts to lay off thousands of federal employees amid the government shutdown. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, an appointee of former President Clinton, sided with government employee unions that asked her to bar the administration from carrying out the reductions in force (RIFs) as the lawsuit moves forward. More than 4,000 workers were set to be impacted by the job actions.The preliminary injunction extends Illston’s previous order temporarily stopping the administration’s attempted layoffs, which she has said she believes will ultimately be deemed illegal and an overstep of executive authority.The judge said...