Free Republic

A federal judge abused his authority in pursuing contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials for removing alleged Venezuelan gang members from the United States in violation of a court order, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was split 2-1, with two Trump appointees in the majority and an Obama appointee dissenting. The decision overturns Washington-based Chief Judge James Boasberg's finding of probable cause that officials could be held in criminal contempt.

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered a temporary halt to construction at an immigration detention center — built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” — as attorneys argue whether it violates environmental laws. The facility can continue to operate and hold detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but workers will be barred from adding any new filling, paving or infrastructure for the next 14 days. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued the ruling during a hearing and said she will issue a written order later Thursday. Environmental groups and the Miccosukee...

Arizona Republican lawmakers are calling for a federal investigation into a leftist state senator who tipped off her community about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation. It’s the latest case of a left-winger spouting incendiary rhetoric about ICE, a federal agency that has seen an 830 percent increase in assaults. Arizona State Sen. Analise Ortiz shot back at a LibsOfTiktok post accusing the Phoenix Democrat of “actively impeding and doxxing” immigration enforcement officials. The far-left lawmaker has posted alerts from local groups sharing locations of ICE agents attempting to apprehend illegal immigrants. The LibsOfTiktok post, which copied ICE Director Tom...

Rebukes by the Supreme Court and DC appellate court are not stopping Boasberg's quest to punish the Trump administration for alleged contempt. Now he's the target of complaints of misconduct. Jeb Boasberg is not giving up. Undeterred by recent smackdowns by the Supreme Court and the D.C. appellate court, Boasberg, the Obama-appointed chief judge of the D.C. district court, is preparing to mete out some sort of punishment against the Trump administration for allegedly defying one of his court orders back in March. During a hearing last week in the ACLU’s lawsuit related to the Alien Enemies Act, President Trump’s...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) fired a warning shot at Democrats amid calls for the upper chamber to cancel its August recess and confirm more of President Donald Trump’s nominees. In remarks on the Senate floor, Thune explained how the Senate has confirmed 107 civilian nominees over the past six months — nearly doubling the pace seen during Trump’s first term. This is happening in spite of Democrats impeding the process by forcing procedural votes in which many of them end up supporting the nominees in significant numbers, he added. Thune described what he called a “historic level of...

A federal judge on Monday expanded a preliminary injunction and blocked Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Provision barring funding for Planned Parenthood nationwide. Earlier this month Judge Talwani, an Obama appointee, issued a TRO and temporarily blocked the reconciliation bill’s provision barring funding for Planned Parenthood. Last Monday, the judge granted a preliminary injunction in part extending a block on barring funding for Planned Parenthood. Today, Judge Talwani expanded her injunction nationwide. The judge’s ruling comes after the US Supreme Court largely restricted lower courts from issuing nationwide injunctions. CNN reported: A federal judge in Boston has widened her block on...

In a 6-3 ruling late last month, Justice Amy Coney Barrett minced no words when it came to so-called “universal injunctions,” lower-court rulings that extended far beyond that court’s jurisdiction. “It is unnecessary to consider whether Congress has constrained the Judiciary; what matters is how the Judiciary may constrain the Executive,” Barrett wrote in the decision. “That goes for judges, too,” Barrett added. “When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.” That decision, by the way, did not decide the merits of the case in...

... Community groups like Union del Barrio and Los Angeles Tenants Union are using their volunteer networks to provide warnings of potential raids so laborers and vendors can continue to find work despite the risks. ... Last month, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, also launched an investigation into Union del Barrio and multiple other organizations. A letter from Hawley claimed the groups provided logistical and monetary support to protests in Los Angeles that he said “escalated into lawless mob actions.” ICE officials claim assaults on officers are up significantly...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom protested against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a marijuana farm in his state this week that was allegedly found to have been using child labor. Newsom reposted a video of the raid, calling President Donald Trump the “real scum” for enforcing the law. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott alleged that the farm had been found employing not only illegal aliens, but also “juveniles.”

A federal judge has written a tentative decision that sides with the anti-American ACLU’s plaintiffs and will block Trump’s Department of Homeland Security agents from raiding Home Depots, car washes and other places in the Los Angeles area (7 counties in the Central District of California) unless they have reasonable suspicion that there is a violation of immigration laws. According to Fox News, US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, a Biden appointee, has written a tentative decision and it is still subject to change. The judge wrote her tentative ruling as leftists attack ICE agents during an immigration raid at...

A federal judge in New Hampshire granted class-action status to a lawsuit seeking to protect babies who would be denied birthright citizenship by the Trump administration and granted a temporary block of the order restricting birthright citizenship from going into effect throughout the country. The suit was brought on behalf of a pregnant immigrant, immigrant parents and their infants and had sought class action status for all babies around the country who would be affected by Trump’s executive order and their parents. Cody Wofsy, the lead attorney on the case with the American Civil Liberties Union, argued for class-action status...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed Tuesday that his city “will not ever cooperate with ICE” “You know, again, it’s unconscionable at a time in which so many working people and poor people need government to show up for them, that this administration, the Trump administration, has caused so much consternation and division,” Johnson said Tuesday during a press conference. Johnson was responding to a question about whether the city would “set up local police perimeters around schools to shield students from federal agents without warrants.” “Look, we are welcoming city ordinance,” Johnson said. “Our local police department will not ever...

Contrary to widespread perception, magistrate judges wield extraordinary power despite having no constitutional standing under Article III... As the legal wrangling continues over a magistrate judge’s decision to release accused human trafficker Kilmar Abrego Garcia from federal custody, it’s worth taking a closer look not just at the role of Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in this case, but at the broader system of magistrate judges across the country. Contrary to widespread perception, reinforced by misleading media coverage, these judges wield extraordinary power despite having no constitutional standing under Article III. Garcia is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was...

Nick Sortor @nicksortor 🚨 BREAKING: LA Mayor Karen Bass is PERSONALLY on scene attempting to OBSTRUCT immigration enforcement in the city “They need to leave, and they need to leave NOW,” Bass said NO! HOLD THE LINE @Sec_Noem ! And ARREST BASS if she doesn’t back off!

A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted deportations of eight immigrants to war-torn South Sudan the day after the Supreme Court greenlighted their removal, saying new claims by the immigrants’ lawyers deserved a hearing. District Judge Randolph Moss proceeded with the extraordinary Fourth of July hearing on Friday afternoon, directing the Trump administration to discuss whether a prior Supreme Court ruling that immigrants slated for removal under an 18th century wartime act invoked by President Donald Trump deserve due process might also apply to those due to be removed to South Sudan. The administration has been trying to deport the...

AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that an order by President Donald Trump suspending asylum access at the southern border was unlawful, throwing into doubt one of the key pillars of the president's plan to crack down on migration at the southern border. But he put the ruling on hold for two weeks to give the government time to appeal. In an order Jan. 20, Trump declared that the situation at the southern border constitutes an invasion of America and that he was “suspending the physical entry” of migrants and their ability to seek asylum until he decides it...

“He is urging law enforcement to investigate and intervene." Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores released a statement Saturday, condemning what he called “masked abductions” amid immigration raids across Los Angeles County, and directing police to intervene in unlawful or unauthorized operations. “These are not lawful arrests. These are abductions,” said Mayor Flores.

Dems are too clever by half. One cannot peruse X without reading a democrat whine about the treatment of illegal aliens. A host of democrat mayors and governors have pledged not to cooperate with ICE and the Feds but in so doing are actually helping Donald Trump deport those who have illegally broken into the country. MSNBC political Analyst Tim Miller claims that it's un-American for the Trump administration to deport illegal aliens. Was it also un-American to open our borders and let millions pour in over the last four years? This is one of Trump's strongest policies. Deporting people...

A person was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents inside a Baltimore courthouse, prompting a criminal investigation into a Maryland corrections employee, according to the Baltimore City Sheriff's Office. The person was detained by two ICE agents on Tuesday, June 24, inside the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse, Baltimore City Sheriff Sam Cogen said. Sheriff Cogen told WJZ an unidentified employee with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services took it upon themselves to call ICE about someone scheduled to come to their office. The sheriff believes that it falls out of line with their department...

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with plans to overhaul the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by reorganizing several of its agencies and substantially cutting their workforce. U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose in Providence, Rhode Island, issued an injunction at the behest of a group of Democratic-led states who challenged a plan HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced in March to consolidate agencies and fire 10,000 of the department’s employees. The layoffs, in addition to earlier buyout offers and firings of probationary employees, reduced the number of full-time HHS employees to...