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Attorney General Sues New York Over ‘Prioritizing Illegal Immigrants’

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Governor Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber make a subway safety announcement at the NYCT Rail Control Center (RCC) on Wednesday, Mar 6, 2024. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)

Attorney General Pam Bondi Trump filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state of New York and its governor, Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James, alleging a failure to comply with federal law by shielding illegal immigrants.

Bondi said Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and state DMV head Mark Schroeder treated their state’s residents like second-class citizens.

“We’re here today because we have filed charges against the state of New York,” Bondi said at a 5 p.m. ET news conference. “We have filed charges against Kathy Hochul. We have filed charges against Letitia James and Mark Schroeder, who is with DMV. This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans – American citizens.”

Bondi invoked a similar suit the DOJ filed against the state of Illinois a week ago and added, “New York didn’t listen. So now, you’re next.”

“If you are a state not complying with federal law, you’re next,” she said. “Get ready. And the great men and women of law enforcement are standing behind me today. We have FBI, DEF, DEA, ATF agents. They put their lives on the line every single day to protect us.”

Bondi alleged New York had given a “green light to any illegal alien in New York where law enforcement officers cannot check their identity if they pull them over.” She concluded:

Law enforcement officers do not have access to their background, and if these great men and women pull over someone and don’t have access to their background, they have no idea who they’re dealing with, and it puts their lives on the line every single day. Violent criminals, gang members, drug traffickers, human smugglers will no longer terrorize the American people, and that is why we are here today. You will be held accountable if you do not follow federal law. It’s over, it ends, and we’re coming after you.

Trump Signals Support For Legal Protections For Longtime Migrant Workers

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

DES MOINES, Iowa — Speaking at the Iowa State Fairgrounds hours before Independence Day, President Donald Trump said he is drafting legislation to shield long-serving farm and hospitality workers from immigration enforcement actions.

“We’re working on legislation right now,” Trump told the crowd. “Farmers, look, they know better. They work with them for years.”

He referenced cases where immigrant workers had been employed for over a decade before being removed through federal action.

“You had cases… where people have worked for a farm for 14, 15 years, and they get thrown out pretty viciously. And we can’t do it,” Trump said.

The remarks appear to address the impact of immigration raids, such as those reported at California farms, where labor shortages have followed large-scale enforcement. A significant portion of that workforce is made up of illegal immigrants.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who was present on stage, had initially raised the issue.

After weeks of back-and-forth, Trump ultimately echoed her stance on Thursday night — arguing that those in agriculture and hospitality deserve more authority over who they employ. “We’re going to work with them, and we’re going to work very strong and smart,” he said. “We’re going to put you in charge. We’re going to make you responsible. And I think that’s going to make a lot of people happy.”

Acknowledging that the proposal may not sit well with his party’s immigration hardliners, Trump added: “radical right people, who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy. But they’ll understand, won’t they?”

He then turned to Rollins and said, “Do you think they’ll understand that you’re the one that brought this whole situation up?”

The comments signal a more pragmatic tone on immigration from the president, who has long emphasized enforcement but now appears open to reforms aimed at stabilizing the labor force in key sectors.

Supreme Court Rules Trump May Rescind Biden-era Immigration Policy

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Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a significant immigration win on Friday…

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a lower court order that blocked the Trump administration from deporting roughly 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. 

Fox News reports:

The Supreme Court decision stays, for now, a lower court ruling that halted Trump’s plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for some migrants living in the U.S., which allows individuals to live and work in the U.S. legally if they cannot work safely in their home country due to a disaster, armed conflict or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” 

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer asked justices earlier this month to allow the administration to proceed with its decision to revoke the status for the migrants, accusing U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of improperly intruding on the executive branch’s authority over immigration policy.

“The district court’s reasoning is untenable,” Sauer told the high court, adding that the program “implicates particularly discretionary, sensitive, and foreign-policy-laden judgments of the Executive Branch regarding immigration policy.”

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Haitian Gang Member Shouts ‘F*ck Trump,’ Thanks Obama’ During Deportation: Watch

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Illegal Immigration in the United State via Wikimedia Commons

*This article contains graphic language*

Shocking footage…

A Haitian gang member was recorded by Fox News praising former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama as he was arrested by ICE for deportation this week.

Fox News filmed several illegal aliens being arrested by ICE in Boston this week as the agency carried out Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown just days after his inauguration.

“I’m not going back to Haiti!” one man could be heard screaming as he was arrested by ICE agents. “Fuck Trump! You feel me? Yo, Biden forever, bro! Thank Obama for everything that he did for me, bro!”

ICE told Fox News that the man in question was a gang member from Haiti with “seventeen criminal convictions in recent years.”

Fox News also recorded the arrest of a Salvadorian illegal alien who had previously been “charged locally with rape,” but was quickly “released by sanctuary jurisdiction,” as well as an illegal alien from Brazil wanted for armed robbery and a Dominican illegal alien who had been charged with drug trafficking and assault with a deadly weapon.

In another moment captured by Fox News, ICE agents arrested an MS-13 gang member for gun charges, as well as his roommate, who was also found to be living in the United States illegally.

“ICE says he was released from local custody just the day before,” reported Fox News on the MS-13 gang member. “Their detainer request was ignored because of sanctuary policies.”

The Trump administration has started flying immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally out of the country using military aircraft, a White House spokesperson said Friday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared photos on the social media site X of individuals in handcuffs boarding a military plane.

“Deportation flights have begun,” Leavitt said. “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.”

This week, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced ICE had made over 1,000 arrests while carrying out deportation orders.

Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin. From Deporting Migrants To Guantanamo Bay

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A federal court on Sunday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp.

Lawyers for the trio said in a legal filing that the detainees “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantánamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”

In the filing, the lawyers asked a U.S. District Court in New Mexico for a temporary restraining order to block the administration from flying them to the U.S. military base. The lawyers noted that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction.”

The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center.

Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary restraining order, according to attorney Jessica Vosburgh, who represents the three men.

“It’s short term. This will get revisited and further fleshed out in the weeks to come,” Vosburgh told The Associated Press.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt separately said that flights carrying detained illegal immigrants had been sent to Guantánamo.

Immigrant rights groups sent a letter on Friday demanding access to people who are now being held at the U.S. naval station, arguing that the base should not be used as a “legal black hole.” Guantánamo has been criticized around the world for its inhumane abuse and torture of detainees, including interrogation tactics.

The immigrants are being held in the Guantánamo detention camp that was set up for detainees in the aftermath of 9/11. The immigrants are separated from the 15 detainees who were already there, including planners in the 2001 terrorist attack.

Trump has promised to expand the detention camp to hold up to 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”

IRS, DHS Reach Game-Changing Agreement For Trump Immigration Agenda

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Illegal Immigration in the United State via Wikimedia Commons

History in the making…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have reportedly come to an agreement to allow ICE to access taxpayer information to locate illegal immigrants subject to deportation.

According to Fox News, the Trump administration filed a memorandum of understanding late Monday with a court to create guardrails and a process for ICE requests to the IRS to further investigations of criminal illegal immigrants who have failed or refuse to leave the United States 90 days after a judge has issued a final order of removal. 

“The Internal Revenue Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a clear and secure process to support law enforcement’s efforts to combat illegal immigration,” a Treasury Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“The bases for this MOU are founded in longstanding authorities granted by Congress, which serve to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans while streamlining the ability to pursue criminals,” the statement said. “After four years of Joe Biden flooding the nation with illegal aliens, President Trump’s highest priority is to ensure the safety of the American people.”

A senior Treasury Department official said the illegal immigrants have been given due process but have overstayed 90 days post a judge’s removal order. 

The MOU outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer data information is protected while allowing law enforcement to pursue criminal violations, the official said. 

A draft agreement reported last month by the Washington Post said it would limit ICE to confirm the addresses of illegal immigrants who have final removal orders.

The deal would allow ICE to submit the names and addresses of illegal immigrants to the IRS, who could then cross-check those immigrants’ tax records and provide the immigration agency with current address information.

The significant step forward comes amid the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

On Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily paused a lower court’s order requiring the Trump administration to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. This pause delays the midnight deadline previously set for Abrego Garcia’s return.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had earlier mandated the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return by midnight, emphasizing that his deportation was an “administrative error.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged the mistake but argued that the court’s injunction was “patently unlawful,” asserting that the government lacks the authority to retrieve him from El Salvador.

El Salvador President Responds After Man Mistakenly Deported

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By Casa Presidencial El Salvador - https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotospresidencia_sv/54351745159/, CC0,

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele told President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Monday that he has no plans to return a Maryland man wrongfully deported to a prison in his country.

Bukele’s Oval Office meeting with President Trump was the first since the Supreme Court ruled last week that the U.S. must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

However, both Trump and Bukele suggested they don’t have the power to return the Maryland man and Salvadoran national to the U.S.

“How could I return him to the United States? I smuggle him to the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” Bukele said, going on to refer to Abrego Garcia as a terrorist.

“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States. I’m not releasing — I mean, we’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country,” he added, saying El Salvador is no longer the murder capital of the world.

Before Bukele spoke, Trump and a number of his aides suggested the decision would rest with El Salvador.

“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Supreme Court ruled last week that the government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. (RELATED: Supreme Court Rules Wrongfully Deported Man Must Return To US)

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court ruled, referencing a lower court decision. 

“The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps,” the order reads. 

White House aide Stephen Miller said seeking Abrego Garcia’s return would equate to kidnapping him.

“A district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here. That issue was raised at the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said the district court order was unlawful and its main components reversed, 9-0, unanimously stating clearly that neither the secretary of state nor the President could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador, who again, is a member of MS-13,” Miller said during the meeting.

New Poll Reveals Shocking Opposition To Trump’s Tariff Plan

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The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Slightly more than half of voters in the U.S. oppose President-elect Trump’s plan to tariff proposal.

The poll, released Wednesday, comes as Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico and increase tariffs on China.

While 51 percent of respondents opposed Trump’s tariff plan, 38 percent supported it, the survey showed.

The majority of Democrats, 89 percent, Republicans, 76 percent, and independents, 53 percent, also opposed the plan, the poll found.

More independents, 34 percent, supported Trump’s tariff plan than Republicans, 12 percent, and Democrats, 7 percent, the survey showed.

Trump’s tariff threats have been met with a mix of reactions from global leaders, especially those from two of America’s top trading partners, Canada and Mexico. Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned earlier this week, citing Trump’s tariff plans in her resignation letter.

“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Chrystia Freeland said in a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.”

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she added. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”

In her letter, Freeland argued for “pushing back against ‘America First’ economic nationalism with a determined effort to fight for capital and investment and the jobs they bring.”

“That means working in good faith and humility with the Premiers of the provinces and territories of our great and diverse country, and building a true Team Canada response,” she added. 

Trump hit back at Freeland’s “toxic” behavior.

“The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau,” Trump wrote in a Monday night post on Truth Social while mocking, again, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor.” 

“Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada,” he added. “She will not be missed!!!” 

First Judge Approves Trump’s Use Of Alien Enemies Act For Venezuelan Deportations

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Image via Pixabay

On Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines ruled that President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged illegal immigrant gang members complies with the law.

Haines, a Trump appointee with a background as a prosecutor in Pennsylvania, ruled that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798 to deport Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members is legally valid, citing TdA’s actions as a “predatory incursion” under the law.

As The Hill reports:

Haines, a Trump appointee, emphasized her “unflagging obligation is to apply the law as written.” 

“Having done its job, the Court now leaves it to the Political Branches of the government, and ultimately to the people who elect those individuals, to decide whether the laws and those executing them continue to reflect their will,” Haines wrote in her 43-page ruling. 

The new split comes as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has filed a wave of lawsuits across the country challenging Trump’s use of the AEA, calls on the Supreme Court to immediately take up the issue and swiftly provide a nationwide resolution.

“The Alien Enemies Act — historically invoked during wartime, including World War II — empowers the president to detain or deport nationals of enemy nations. Trump’s application of the law targets TdA, a Venezuelan transnational gang designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization during his second administration, despite ongoing legal debate over whether gang activity constitutes an “invasion” or “incursion.”

Tuesday’s ruling contrasts with other federal judges’ decisions, such as Judge Fernando Rodriguez’s May 1, 2025, injunction against the AEA’s use, highlighting a judicial split that may lead to a Supreme Court challenge.

Trump Puts Sanctuary Cities On Notice With New Executive Order

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Trump at the border wall via Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this week to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions impeding federal immigration enforcement.

The directive requires the Justice Department to compile a list of all sanctuary city jurisdictions and then take action to cut off or suspend federal funding to those places. Under Trump, cities across the country, like Boston, have already made it difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to apprehend illegal immigrants.

“This invasion at the southern border requires the Federal Government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the States,” Trump wrote in the executive order. “Yet some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws. This is a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Government’s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States.”

After the list of sanctuary jurisdictions is published, those entities would be given the chance to comply with federal law. If they don’t comply, they could lose federal funding.

The executive order also directs the Justice Department and Homeland Security to ensure that federal benefits are not provided to illegals in sanctuary jurisdictions and to “take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.”

Earlier this month, Trump called sanctuary jurisdictions “death traps” and promised to cut off federal funding.

“No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country and are being mocked all over the World,” he posted on Truth Social. “Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!”

While contrasting the Biden and Trump administrations, border czar Homan said that between 11,000-15,000 people were crossing the border illegally per day this time of the year under Biden, while under Trump, just 178 had crossed in the last 24 hours. During the same time, he said there were 1,800 known “gotaways” under Biden, compared to just 38 under Trump. Homan added that from January 20 to April 1, 2024, Biden released 184,000 illegals out of federal custody into the country. The Trump administration has only released nine total, including four so they could testify in criminal cases and four with extreme medical conditions.

In total, Homan said that there have been 139,000 deportations under Trump. He added that the administration was prioritizing the estimated 700,000 illegals who have been charged with crimes.