Trump is gloating because a Federal Appeals Court just ruled the Trump regime can withhold grants from “sanctuary cities”
What he fails to mention is that THREE other Federal Appeals Courts ruled the opposite:
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This is alarming…DOJ placing various groups now under suspicion and could be deported if naturalized. Incendiary…of course.
This comes from History Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s daily newsletter with this link below.
Even more disturbing is today’s announcement that the Department of Justice has created a new section to take citizenship away from naturalized citizens found to be “Terrorists, War Criminals, Sex Offenders, and Other Fraudsters.” The government has stripped naturalized war criminals on so on of citizenship since WWII, including more than 300 former Nazis and 107 others for war crimes. What is new here is that the DOJ is creating a special section for this denaturalization, suggesting there will be widespread denaturalization occurring, and that they are including “Other Fraudsters.” In their example of such “fraudsters,” they note four people who claimed to be a family to gain admission to the United States. This sure seems like it’s a door to start stripping naturalized citizens of their status, another anti-immigrant policy that should appeal to Trump’s base.
As Trump becomes more and more concerned about his reelection, we can expect to see more and more of this kind of base appeal. We can also be fairly certain that his loyalists are not able to handle the coronavirus.
The Department of Justice today announced the creation of a section dedicated to investigating and litigating revocation of naturalization. The Denaturalization Section will join the existing sections within the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation—the District Court Section and the Appellate Section. This move underscores the Department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders, and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization.
While the Office of Immigration Litigation already has achieved great success in the denaturalization cases it has brought, winning 95 percent of the time, the growing number of referrals anticipated from law enforcement agencies motivated the creation of a standalone section dedicated to this important work.
“When a terrorist or sex offender becomes a U.S. citizen under false pretenses, it is an affront to our system—and it is especially offensive to those who fall victim to these criminals,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt. “The Denaturalization Section will further the Department’s efforts to pursue those who unlawfully obtained citizenship status and ensure that they are held accountable for their fraudulent conduct.”
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This is a move I’ve known they’ve been working on for a while. Thanks for highlighting they’ve moved forward further with it.
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Yet another for the immigration section.
Trump administration proposes increasing the cost of filing appeals to deportation orders in the immigration court system from $110 to $975
Trump administration “proposing to raise the fee required to file appeals in the
#immigration court system from $110 to $975, a nearly 800% increase, to ‘keep pace w/ inflation’ (per Justice Dept).” Inflation has (only) risen ~130% since 1986.
The cruelty is the point.
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A Federal Appeals court in CA did stop the T administrations mandate immigrants need to go to Mexico to await any entry to US. Good news.
A federal appeals court in California halted the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy on Friday, a blow to the president’s restrictive immigration agenda that cripples one of the government’s approaches to curbing migration across the U.S. southern border.
The program — officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP — called for pushing asylum seekers back into Mexico to await their U.S. asylum hearings, part of an effort to limit migrant access to U.S. soil and to lessen a record migration surge among Central American families. More than 470,000 parents and children crossed into the United States last fiscal year, and most were quickly freed into the country to await U.S. immigration court hearings after they claimed asylum.
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Of course he was unlawfully appointed – that’s just the way Trump rolls. Trump tried to subvert the law by giving Cuccinelli a deceptive title – that didn’t fly with this judge. In explaining his position, the judge sites a long-running joke about convoluted management titles from “The Office.” 
A federal judge on Sunday ruled that it was unlawful to appoint Ken Cuccinelli, an immigration hardliner, to lead the agency responsible for processing US immigration requests.
The judge also invalidated a set of policies for the asylum seekers who are part of the case.
Advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit last year challenging the legitimacy of his role as acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, asking the court to set aside asylum policy changes issued shortly after he took office. Cuccinelli is currently serving as the acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS.
The lawsuit argued that Cuccinelli, who took over at the agency on June 10, 2019, did not satisfy the legal requirements to serve as the director under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (“FVRA”) – a statue that governs how most federal vacancies are filled – and the Constitution.
The Trump administration has increasingly relied on filling top posts with people on a temporary basis. The Department of Homeland Security’s major federal immigration agencies, are without permanent leaders.
Earlier this month, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf installed Joseph Edlow to run daily operations at USCIS as Cuccinelli remains the number two at Homeland Security headquarters.
READ: Federal court order on Ken Cuccinelli appointment
Cuccinelli’s appointment last year immediately raised legal questions over whether he could be placed to lead USCIS without a formal nomination. His official title was principal deputy director, but he was performing the duties of the acting director, an agency official told CNN at the time.
“Cuccinelli may have the title of Principal Deputy Director, and the Department of Homeland Security’s order of succession may designate the office of the Principal Deputy Director as the ‘first assistant’ to the Director. But labels – without any substance – cannot satisfy the FVRA’s default rule under any plausible reading of the statute,” US District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss said in his ruling Sunday.
To support the point, Moss cited in a footnote the popular TV show “The Office,” highlighting a “long-running riff” from the show "between one who serves as ‘the assistant regional manager’ and ‘the assistant to the regional manager.’"
"But either way, that person is, at best, second in command. Here, the acting Secretary created a position that is second in command in name only," the footnote reads.
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And here is a version from the NY Post, since Trump loves it so:
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Trump revives false claim on wall at CPAC
President Donald Trump asserted anew on Saturday that Mexico is paying for his border wall, even as his administration shifts billions from the Pentagon to cover some construction costs and Mexico pitches in nothing.
A look at some of his claims from his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference:
TRUMP, on Mexico and his border wall: “Yes they are. They’re paying for it. And they’re OK with it. Mexico’s paying for it.”
THE FACTS: That’s false. Mexico is not paying for the wall. And far from being “OK with it,” Mexican leaders flatly rejected the idea when Trump pressed them early on.
“NO,” Enrique Peña Nieto, then Mexico’s president, tweeted in May 2018. “Mexico will NEVER pay for a wall. Not now, not ever. Sincerely, Mexico (all of us).”
The money is coming from today’s U.S. taxpayers and the future ones who will inherit the federal debt. In February, the Pentagon announced that it was slashing billions of dollars for Navy and Air Force aircraft and other military programs to divert money to the construction of the wall. More such military cuts are coming, officials said.
The president has come up with several creative formulations to argue that Mexico is in some way paying.
Among them: He has projected that his updated trade agreement with Mexico and Canada will stimulate enough extra growth over the years to cover the cost. Even if that happens, which analysts widely doubt, the wall will have cost the U.S. money that it could have used for something else. It’s not a payment from Mexico. He’s talked about taxing or blocking money that immigrants in the U.S. send to their countries of origin, often to family members. But that is not happening.
Trump has also credited Mexico with stepped-up enforcement against migrants and asylum seekers who come from other countries and try to get to the U.S. from Mexican soil.
TRUMP: “America has declared energy independence. I declared it.”
THE FACTS: He may have declared it but he hasn’t earned it.
The U.S. still needs plenty of oil from around the world. It imported a daily average of roughly 6.5 million barrels of crude oil last year, according to the Census Bureau. That is down from the 2018 average, though it does not mean independence.
Technological advances like fracking and horizontal drilling have allowed the U.S. to greatly increase production, but the country still imports millions of barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iraq and other countries. Moreover, much of what the U.S. produces is hard for domestic refiners to convert to practical use. So the U.S. exports that production and imports oil that is more suitable for American refineries to handle.
On energy more broadly, the U.S. is indeed close to parity on how much energy it produces and how much it consumes. In some months, it produces more than it consumes. But it has not achieved self-sufficiency. In the first nine months of last year, it imported about as much energy as it exported.
TRUMP, on the situation before he became president: “American energy was under siege.”
THE FACTS: That’s a stretch, given how energy production was unleashed in past administrations, particularly Barack Obama’s.
As he has repeatedly, Trump took credit for a U.S. oil and gas production boom that he inherited and has continued under his watch. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says the U.S. has been the world’s top natural gas producer since 2009, top petroleum hydrocarbon producer since 2013, and top crude oil producer since 2018.
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Some armed visits to unsuspecting immigrants with ICE threatening forced entry with a Criminal warrant in hand.
Thread…nyt reporter
Comments
1.If the person has no legal documents, Commits a crime, police let ICE know, and they can go get the person arrested and deported. Police do not deport people.
2.I believe that police do not let ICE know, but ICE is allowed to pick people up who are on their list for removal. AIUI this is what sanctuary cities is about: ICE wanting local cops to do their (federal) work for them.
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Somebody I work with on twitter made a point I didn’t even consider about this:
‘Flood the Streets’: ICE Targets Sanctuary Cities With Increased Surveillance
ICE is boosting its operations in sanctuary cities to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants, conducting round-the-clock surveillance in addition to deploying elite tactical agents.
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There’s been talk of this for some time. Now they’re moving on it still despite far greater issues.
An organization’s priorities tell you a LOT about them. For instance. ICE & CBP are denying basic medical attention to detainees during a pandemic, but want to collect DNA from them & migrants crossing the border to use in a federal criminal database.
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The New Sanctuary Coalition with graphics in English and Spanish on how to recognize ICE and other Immigration Officers:
https://twitter.com/NewSanctuaryNYC/status/1235673390452637696
The New Sanctuary Coalition with updated graphics in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Kreyol, Portugese, Russian, Turkish, & Urdu to help you #KnowYourRights:
My general immigration Resources thread:
https://twitter.com/windthin/status/1235603513918488576
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For the Immigration thread:
With the coronavirus shutting things down, here is how you can take the census over the phone.
https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1237705279887851520
https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1237709480734924801
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For the Immigration thread, which needs refreshing:
Despite urging to gather in groups no larger than 10 & the grave danger the #coronavirus can pose due to its subtle spread through asymptomatic carriers, USCIS, DHS, ICE, & other immigration departments under Trump pushing blindly ahead with usual or even increased activity.
ICE has transported immigrant minors on airlines during the pandemic, despite mass gridlock caused by the surprise, and botched, Trump travel ban announcement.
https://twitter.com/NewSanctuaryNYC/status/1238970845294465025
Immigration and asylum courts continue to hear cases unabated.
Amid coronavirus concerns, Justice Department continues “remain in Mexico” hearings in immigration courts
Chaos in New York’s Immigration Courts as System Crashes and Judges Call for All Activity to Stop
Asylum seekers attend border court amid outbreak
https://twitter.com/Haleaziz/status/1239661933256536065
And ICE continues to make arrests and pack its detention centers with immigrants, creating a veritable breeding ground for the virus while denying any cases have been found.
https://twitter.com/NewSanctuaryNYC/status/1239747147333087233
https://twitter.com/anniecorreal/status/1239709484861267970
https://twitter.com/anniecorreal/status/1239711153497964544
With continued immigration enforcement activities, the cruelty is the point even in the time of the #coronavirus:
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You wonder if this is actually true…will ICE stop at this juncture but you certainly have a total mistrust of the system.
U.S. immigration authorities will temporarily halt enforcement across the United States, except for efforts to deport foreign nationals who have committed crimes or who pose a threat to public safety. The change in enforcement status comes amid the coronavirus outbreak and aims to limit the spread of the virus and to encourage those who need treatment to seek medical help.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said late Wednesday that its Enforcement and Removal Operations division will “delay enforcement actions” and use “alternatives to detention” amid the outbreak, according to a notification the agency sent to Congress.
ICE told members of Congress that its “highest priorities are to promote lifesaving and public safety activities.”
“During the COVID-19 crisis, ICE will not carry out enforcement operations at or near health care facilities, such as hospitals, doctors’ offices, accredited health clinics, and emergent or urgent care facilities, except in the most extraordinary of circumstances,” the notification said. “Individuals should not avoid seeking medical care because they fear civil immigration enforcement.”
The agency, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, did not immediately respond to questions about how many of the approximately 37,000 detainees it has in custody will remain there. Nearly 20,000 in ICE custody have some sort of criminal history, but it remained unclear how many of those people have serious criminal violations in their past.
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I definitely had the same exact reaction–I cautioned folks on a call today that ICE is saying this, but we need to see what actually happens in the coming week.
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