A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a ruling that would have stopped the Trump administration from forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as they wait for immigration courts to hear their cases.
The decision by the three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
blocked a lower ruling from taking effect and gave civil liberties
groups until Tuesday to submit arguments on why the asylum policy should
be put on hold. The government has until Wednesday to argue why it
should remain in place.
On Monday, a federal judge halted the
change to the asylum system, saying it violated U.S. law by failing to
evaluate the dangers to migrants while in Mexico.
The suit was filed by 11 Central American asylum-seekers and advocacy
groups who argue forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico puts migrants
risk given the uptick in violence there. Ninth Circuit has the second highest reversal rate at 80%.
A girl from the Mexican state of Guerrero passes rows of tents as
her family waits at a shelter of mostly Mexican and Central American
migrants to begin the process of applying for asylum Friday, April 12,
2019, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Associated Press)
Thousands have fled Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador in recent months amid growing gang violence and abject poverty
in the region. The ruling comes as more than 2,000 migrants made their way through Mexico on
Friday, hoping to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican authorities
said around 350 migrants broke the locks on a gate at the Guatemalan
border Friday and forced their way into the country.
The
government is asking the 9th Circuit to keep the asylum policy while the
lawsuit makes its way through the courts. It argued halting it would
endanger the public.
Central American migrants, part of a caravan hoping to reach the
U.S. border, walk on the shoulder of a road in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico
on Friday. (Associated Press)
Families seeking asylum are typically released in the
U.S. with notices to appear in court. The new policy began in January
at the nation’s busiest border crossing in San Diego. More than 1,300
asylum-seekers have been to Mexico so far, according to the Mexican
government.
"I
haven't heard of anyone who's been sent back since the judge's order on
Monday," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Judy Rabinovitz said.
The Trump administration has said its stance on asylum is a response to a shortage of detention space for migrants and overwhelmed immigration officials as more migrants appear at the border each day. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bill Maher arrives at an Oscar party on Feb. 22, 2015, in
Beverly Hills, Calif. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/AFP/Getty Images)
“Real Time” host Bill Maher warned Democrats that they'll lose the 2020 presidential election if their message on immigration is designed to appeal only to other Democrats.
Turning the immigration issue into a “woke contest” will only hand the election to President Trump, the liberal late-night host said Friday.
During
the show's panel discussion, Maher said he didn’t believe that
immigration is a top 10 issue “in reality,” but stressed that it was a
“campaign issue” on which Trump ran and won in 2016.
“If
it becomes a 'woke' contest, then the Democrats lose on this,” Maher
said. “Yes, they look better, but it’s impossible not to look better
next to him!”
Panelist Wendy Sherman, who served in the State
Department during the Obama administration, told Maher that Trump
“created this immigration crisis,” pointing to his administration’s
decisions on cutting aid to Central American countries (bullshit), separating
migrant families and “putting kids in cages.”
Maher, however, only chuckled at her remarks.
“This
is what Democrats say, which only gets other Democrats," Maher told
Sherman. "This is not the speech that is going to win any [swing]
voters. You’ve [already] got the compassion vote!”
The HBO star
credited former President Barack Obama for being able to “keep the left”
while deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continues to ignite outrage while defending freshman colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar, this time by using a poem about the Holocaust to defend the Minnesota Democrat.
Omar
most recently stirred up controversy when remarks she made last month,
referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as “some people did something,”
surfaced this week.
Ocasio-Cortez slammed President Donald Trump,
who shared a grim video featuring Omar’s remarks alongside footage of
the Twin Towers being attacked.
“Members
of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack
today,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday. “@IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For
our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright,
dangerous targeting of a member of Congress. We must speak out.”
She
also shared an image of the words of "First they came ... ," the famous
poem by German theologian Martin Niemöller that was inspired by the
tragedies of the Holocaust. (The words are mounted on a wall at the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.)
The poem reads:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Ocasio-Cortez's
tweet sparked major backlash, with critics accusing her of trivializing
the Holocaust and slamming her for doing so in defense of Omar, who has
repeatedly fought off claims of anti-Semitism.
"There's something
deeply disturbing about AOC making Holocaust references to defend an
open and unrepentant anti-Semite who is merely being criticized," wrote
Ben Shapiro, the conservative author and commentator.
"This is
just a shameful attempt to chill speech," wrote David Harasanyi, a
senior editor at the Federalist. "It belittles both the real victims of
9/11 and the Holocaust."
"No, @aoc, you do not get to diminish the
murder of almost half my family by comparing it to criticism of your
antisemitic colleague. You should be ashamed for trying," wrote a
Twitter user identified only as @AG_Conservative.
Ocasio-Cortez landed in hot water earlier this week
while attacking U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a Navy veteran who
served in Afghanistan, for his criticism of Omar, telling him he should
“go do something” about domestic terrorism. She has also referred to
criticism against Omar as “incitement of violence” against women of color.
Another
freshman lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., declared that
taking Omar’s comments out of context was a “pure racist act.”
Brian Fallon, former press secretary for Clinton's 2016 campaign
George Mason University is a public research university with its
main campus in Fairfax, Virginia. Initially founded as a branch of the
University of Virginia in 1949, it became an independent institution in
1972.
A top aide to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign -- now leading a liberal “dark money” group -- is backing a student effort at George Mason University to get Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh fired from teaching a summer course over misconduct allegations.
A
student group calling itself “Mason For Survivors” began circulating a
petition last month, so far attracting nearly 5,000 signatures, urging
to “terminate AND void ALL contracts and affiliation with Brett
Kavanaugh at George Mason University” on the grounds that the justice
was accused of misconduct.
But the campaign is
being given a partisan boost thanks to Brian Fallon, former press
secretary for Clinton's 2016 campaign, who’s now in charge of Demand
Justice, a liberal advocacy group that doesn’t disclose its funding.
Fallon
and his group are paying for Facebook ads that target anyone linked
with George Mason University, urging them to sign the petition, in
addition to signing a separate petition that calls upon the Democrats in
Congress to investigate Kavanaugh, the HuffPost reported.
“Brett
Kavanaugh’s performance during his testimony in front of the Senate was
a disgrace. His blatant partisan attacks and hostile behavior towards
senators calls into question his ability to serve as a fair and
impartial judge. His conduct undermines the legitimacy of his decisions
and the entire Supreme Court,” read the ad on Facebook on Friday. “We’re
calling on Congress to open an investigation into Kavanaugh right now.”
Fallon
justified the move in a news release, saying the allegations raised
during the confirmation hearing last year, in his view, were credible.
“Brett
Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women
whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated,” Fallon said.
“His confirmation to the Supreme Court does not absolve him of guilt,
and he should not be given a platform to teach. We stand with survivors
and urge the George Mason University administration to fire Kavanaugh.”
“Brett
Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women
whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated. His
confirmation to the Supreme Court does not absolve him of guilt, and he
should not be given a platform to teach." — Brian Fallon, former aide to Hillary Clinton
Kavanaugh
is set to teach students of the university’s Antonin Scalia Law School
next summer in the United Kingdom as a distinguished visiting professor,
with the class reportedly having no more spaces left due to
overwhelming interest.
The Mason For Survivors group, claiming to
be a “student-led advocacy group in solidarity with survivors,” also
urges the university to release “any and all documents” concerning the
hiring of Kavanaugh, in addition to holding a town hall and a formal
apology by university officials.
The school’s top officials are
expected at a town hall next Tuesday, where they will face questions
over the hiring of Kavanaugh.
But the school has so far rebuffed
the activists’ demands and issued a statement affirming the hiring of
Kavanaugh on the grounds that the university seeks to have students
being taught by the “most influential legal experts in the nation.”
"I
respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s
Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in
high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice." — George Mason University President Angel Cabrera
“I
respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s
Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in
high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice,” Angel
Cabrera, the university’s president, said last month.
“The law
school has determined that the involvement of a U.S. Supreme Court
Justice contributes to making our law program uniquely valuable for our
students. And I accept their judgment,” he added.
“This
decision, controversial as it may be, in no way affects the
university’s ongoing efforts to eradicate sexual violence from our
campuses.”
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Thursday that attorney Michael Avenatti may
have to get used to wearing jumpsuits rather than an Armani suit and
Jesse Watters accused the media of overlooking the real person in favor
of his anti-Trump message.
“I've read through the 61 page, 36
indictment. If the feds can prove just a fraction of this then Avenatti
better throw away the Armani suit and get used to a jumpsuit because the
feds say he was essentially the Bernie Madoff of lawyers running a
Ponzi scheme stealing from one client to pay another to pay his
predators,” Jarrett said on “Hannity.”
“The
lavish lifestyle and the jet that he had and then the pyramid
eventually just came crashing around him. And the behavior in his
victims, this is just unconscionable for a lawyer. And it's also, If
proven, criminal.” Avenatti
was charged on Thursday with an additional 36 indictments; he was
accused of fraud, false statements, obstruction and nonpayment of taxes. In March, he was charged for attempting to extort Nike for $20 million.
Watters, the host of "Watters' World," criticized the media for not looking into Avenatti and pushing an anti-Trump narrative.
“He
was a complete scam artist and the media never kick the tires. They
never checked under the hood because they didn't want to know they put
him right out in the middle of the showroom because they know what moves
merchandise and what moves merchandise in the media is Trump hate and
impeachment,” Watters said. The Media Research Center Thursday released research that showed Avenatti made 254 TV appearances in the last year. Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
The Trump administration proposed releasing immigrant detainees onto the streets of “sanctuary cities”--including
San Francisco-- on at least two occasions within the past six months as
retribution against the president’s political enemies, The Washington
Post reported, citing unnamed Department of Homeland Security officials and emails.
The proposal was first floated in November amid reports of a large migrant caravan from
Central America making its way to the southern border. The other time
it was considered-- in February-- occurred during a standoff between
Trump and Democrats over border wall funding.
It was rejected both times by immigration agencies, the report said. A Nov. 16 email from the White House
to officials at several agencies reportedly asked whether migrants
could be arrested and bused to “small-and mid-sized sanctuary cities”
and other Democratic strongholds.
The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News early Friday for comment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco was considered one of the areas targeted, according to the paper.
Pelosi blasted the plan Thursday, calling it “despicable” to use “human
beings — including little children — as pawns in their warped game to
perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants.”
The proposal was intended to alleviate crowded detention centers, the White House told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE). An ICE official responded the inquiry was littered with
budgetary and liability issues, but said “there are PR risks as well.”
Trump has repeatedly blasted “sanctuary cities,” areas where local
authorities refuse to cooperate with immigration agencies.
“This
was just a suggestion that was floated and rejected, which ended any
further discussion,” a White House statement to the paper said.
A girl from the Mexican state of Guerrero passes rows of tents as
her family waits at a shelter of mostly Mexican and Central American
migrants to begin the process of applying for asylum Friday, April 12,
2019, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Associated Press)
Central American migrants, part of a caravan hoping to reach the
U.S. border, walk on the shoulder of a road in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico
on Friday. (Associated Press)
