Ex-FBI Official: Noem's request for military to arrest protesters shows ‘a totally incompetent view of the law'
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Fox News
28 minutes ago
- Fox News
Federal judge finds 'racial and discriminatory animus' in Trump move to cancel temporary protected status
A federal judge on Friday postponed the Trump administration from revoking the temporary status for Nicaraguan, Honduran and Nepali immigrants, finding the cancellation was likely rooted in racial animus. The 37-page ruling by San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson argued the move by Homeland Security Secretary Krisiti Noem to cancel the temporary humanitarian protections appeared to be parietally rooted in "racial and discriminatory animus" in support of their Fifth Amendment claim. "Color is neither a poison nor a crime," the ruling states. "Therefore, Plaintiffs have provided sufficient evidence to establish that Plaintiffs will likely succeed on the merits of their Fifth Amendment claim." The ruling is a reprieve for more than 60,000 immigrants who have been allowed to legally live and work in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. The Trump administration was poised to end the protections for Honduran and Nicaraguan migrants as it ramps up deportations. TPS was set to expire for Honduras and Nicaragua in September. The decision to end TPS for the two nations comes weeks after DHS terminated the same status for Haiti and months after terminating TPS for Venezuelans. A federal judge has since blocked that termination amid an ongoing legal battle. In her ruling, Thompson noted statements made by Noem, like those that cast illegal immigrants as "invaders" or "criminals," "perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population." "Although the Secretary's statements 'may appear innocent or only mildly offensive to one who is not a member of the targeted group,' the statements are 'in reality . . . intolerably abusive or threatening when understood from the perspective of a plaintiff who is a member of the targeted group'," she wrote. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Department of AHomeland Security. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in a ruling that lifted a San Francisco District Court Judge's injunction that temporarily blocked the termination of TPS for Venezuelans, paving the way for the administration to legally revoke TPS for subsequent nations. Created by Congress through the Immigration Act of 1990, TPS allows individuals from countries affected by natural disasters, war, or other dangerous, unusual circumstances to seek refuge in the U.S. This program can be renewed in 18-month increments.
Fox News
32 minutes ago
- Fox News
Christopher Wray referred to DOJ over claims he misled lawmakers on Catholic memo, China probes
A Washington-based government transparency watchdog has referred former FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Department of Justice and the FBI, urging a criminal investigation into allegations that he had made false statements to Congress and obstructed proceedings in two high-profile cases. Oversight Project President Mike Howell told Fox News Digital that the group is specifically asking officials to examine Wray's congressional testimony on the so-called Richmond memo from the FBI office in Virginia that exposed an anti-Catholic bias there, and his testimony about a Chinese plot to disseminate illicit driver's licenses before the 2020 election. In July 2023, Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the FBI-Richmond memo that had labeled Catholics as potential domestic threats. "Well, what I can tell you is you're referring to the Richmond product, which is a single product by a single field office, which as soon as I found out about it, I was aghast and ordered it withdrawn and removed from FBI systems," Wray said. The Oversight Project alleges that statement was ultimately misleading or false. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., pressed Wray on the Richmond memo and so-called "Trump questionnaire," which was circulated at the FBI and asked about allegiance to the president and whether agents had attended any protests or rallies associated with the Jan. 6 Capitol Breach. "We keep hearing about these 'isolated examples' whether it's Richmond Catholics, this [questionnaire] -- isn't it a pattern?" Tiffany asked. The Oversight Project pointed to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley's opening remarks from a June hearing on Biden-era "cover-ups," in which Grassley said the Richmond memo "used the shoddy research of the radical Southern Poverty Law Center to accuse traditional Catholics of being violent extremists." "Based on records I released the other week, there wasn't just one FBI document that used biased anti-Catholic sources, but over a dozen," Grassley said. The referral also notes that this remark by Grassley belies Wray's testimony suggesting a one-off incident. "And more FBI field offices were involved than we'd been led to believe," Grassley, R-Iowa, said. A second Richmond memo similar to the first that went unreleased following the backlash was part of a partially redacted series of documents Grassley's committee transmitted to FBI Director Kash Patel in June. It stated that the bureau "assesses RMVE (Racially Motivated Violent Extremism) interest in RTC (Radical Traditional Catholic) ideology is likely to increase … in the run-up to the [2024] general election cycle." "Director Wray's testimony was inaccurate not only because it failed to reveal the scope of the memo's production and dissemination, but also because it failed to reveal the existence of a second, draft product on the same topic intended for external distribution to the whole FBI," the Oversight Project said in a separate statement. "That draft product was intended for distribution as a Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report ("SPEAR"). It was clearly a separate product." The Oversight Project specifically alleged violations of obstruction of proceedings before Congress, perjury and false statements. Fox News Digital reached out to Grassley, who also told Fox News' Bill Hemmer in June that he had found 13 other documents similar to the Richmond memo. Grassley said the documents had gone out and that "at least 1,000 people had access to information that … was telling people that the Catholic Church needed to be watched because it could be considered a terrorist organization." Fox News Digital reached out to a phone number connected to Wray but did not receive a response. Patel cited the CCP influence case in a June statement, declaring that "former FBI leadership withheld the facts and misled the public on China's 2020 election interference. And they did so for political gain. This FBI is exposing all of it and giving Americans the truth they deserve." Patel claimed the FBI in 2020 "buried" evidence "for political convenience" and thanked Grassley for helping the current FBI brass bring the topic to light. During September 2020 testimony, Wray told Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., that the FBI had "not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether by-mail or otherwise." Wray added that the FBI had identified localized voter fraud and that his testimony was not intended to downplay the overarching threat. Howell's group argues those statements were belied by documents Patel gave to Congress in June that reportedly showed concerns in August 2020 that China had mass-produced such fake IDs to help former President Joe Biden. The criminal referral against Wray also cites a related August 2020 seizure of 20,000 counterfeit licenses by Customs and Border Protection in Illinois. A Chicago port official told Fox News at the time that the proliferation "can lead to disastrous consequences." It is unclear if any ballots were cast as part of the scheme. During a 2020 address to the Hudson Institute, Wray did warn of the CCP threat to the upcoming election and beyond: "China's malign foreign influence campaign targets our policies, our positions, 24/7, 365 days-a-year. So it's not an election‑specific threat. It's really more of an all‑year, all‑the‑time threat. But certainly that has implications for elections, and they certainly have preferences that go along with that," he said. The FBI and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Judge pauses Trump administration's push to expand fast-track deportations
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed on Friday to temporarily block the Trump administration's efforts to expand fast-track deportations of immigrants who legally entered the U.S. under a process known as humanitarian parole — a ruling that could benefit hundreds of thousands of people. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Department of Homeland Security exceeded its statutory authority in its effort to expand 'expedited removal' for many immigrants. The judge said those immigrants are facing perils that outweigh any harm from 'pressing pause' on the administration's plans. The case 'presents a question of fair play' for people fleeing oppression and violence in their home countries, Cobb said in her 84-page order. 'In a world of bad options, they played by the rules,' she wrote. 'Now, the Government has not only closed off those pathways for new arrivals but changed the game for parolees already here, restricting their ability to seek immigration relief and subjecting them to summary removal despite statutory law prohibiting the Executive Branch from doing so.' Fast-track deportations allow immigration officers to remove somebody from the U.S. without seeing a judge first. In immigration cases, parole allows somebody applying for admission to the U.S. to enter the country without being held in detention. Immigrants' advocacy groups sued Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to challenge three recent DHS agency actions that expanded expedited removal. A surge of arrests at immigration courts highlights the lawsuit's high stakes. The judge's ruling applies to any non-citizen who has entered the U.S. through the parole process at a port of entry. She suspended the challenged DHS actions until the case's conclusion. Cobb said the case's 'underlying question' is whether people who escaped oppression will have the chance to 'plead their case within a system of rules.' 'Or, alternatively, will they be summarily removed from a country that — as they are swept up at checkpoints and outside courtrooms, often by plainclothes officers without explanation or charges — may look to them more and more like the countries from which they tried to escape?' she added. A plaintiffs' attorney, Justice Action Center legal director Esther Sung, described the ruling as a 'huge win' for hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their families. Sung said many people are afraid to attend routine immigration hearings out of fear of getting arrested. 'Hopefully this decision will alleviate that fear,' Sung said. Since May, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have positioned themselves in hallways to arrest people after judges accept government requests to dismiss deportation cases. After being arrested, the government renews deportation proceedings but under fast-track authority. President Donald Trump sharply expanded fast-track authority in January, allowing immigration officers to deport someone without first seeing a judge. Although fast-track deportations can be put on hold by filing an asylum claim, people may be unaware of that right and, even if they are, can be swiftly removed if they fail an initial screening. 'Expedited removal' was created under a 1996 law and has been used widely for people stopped at the border since 2004. Trump attempted to expand those powers nationwide to anyone in the country less than two years in 2019 but was held up in court. His latest efforts amount to a second try. ICE exercised its expanded authority sparingly at first during Trump's second term but has since relied on it for aggressive enforcement in immigration courts and in 'workplace raids,' according to plaintiffs' attorneys. ___ Spagat reported from San Diego.
