Florida Sheriff Backs Down From Threat To Not Enforce Immigration Laws After Rebuke From AG
A Florida county sheriff who had refused to enforce immigration laws yielded after state Attorney General James Uthmeier warned he could be removed from office. The move from Uthmeier comes as sheriff’s departments in places like Los Angeles refuse to help federal immigration officials and even fail to shut down pro-illegal immigration riots. Earlier this […]12 countries won’t cut it: Why Trump’s travel ban ultimately falls short
“We will not let what happened in Europe happen in America,” President Trump declared Wednesday, unveiling a new travel ban targeting 12 nations — mostly Islamic-majority countries from the Middle East and Africa.
It’s a strong first step toward fulfilling the original 2015 promise of a full moratorium on immigration from regions plagued by jihadist ideology. But let’s not pretend Europe’s crisis stemmed from poor vetting of criminal records. The real problem was mass migration from cultures openly hostile to Western values — especially toward Jews and, by extension, Christians.
The United States ranks near the bottom of the list for anti-Semitism. That’s something worth protecting — not surrendering to appease lobbyists or foreign governments.
And the new list leaves troubling gaps.
Trump’s call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” was the defining issue that launched his political movement. Nine years later, the rationale is even stronger — and now, the president has the power to make it happen.
Consider the context: Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the alleged Boulder attacker who shouted he wanted to “end all Zionists,” entered the United States in 2022 with a wife and five children — admitted from Kuwait.
The only question that matters: How many more share Soliman’s views?
The numbers are staggering. By my calculation, the U.S. admitted 1,453,940 immigrants from roughly 43 majority-Muslim countries between 2014 and 2023. That figure doesn’t include over 100,000 student visas, nor the thousands who’ve overstayed tourist visas and vanished into the interior.
Soliman is not an outlier. He’s a warning. And warnings demand a response.
Trump’s January executive order called for a 60-day review by the secretary of state, the attorney general, the Homeland Security secretary, and the director of national intelligence to identify countries with inadequate screening procedures. Four and a half months later — following the Boulder attack — the administration announced bans on nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
But Trump didn’t mention anti-American or anti-Jewish sentiment — only logistical concerns like poor criminal record-keeping, high visa overstay rates, and limited government cooperation.
That misses the point entirely.
Jew-hatred — and by extension, hatred of the West — isn't just a byproduct of chaos in failed states like Somalia or Taliban-run Afghanistan. It runs deep across the Middle East, even in countries with functioning governments. In fact, some of the most repressive regimes, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are openly hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood, yet still export radicalized individuals.
And those individuals know precisely where to go: America, where radical Islam finds more tolerance than in many Islamic countries.
Good diplomatic relations don’t mean good immigration policy. Pew’s 2010 global attitudes survey showed over 95% of people in many Middle Eastern countries held unfavorable views of Jews — including those in Egypt and Jordan, U.S. allies.
The Anti-Defamation League’s global index confirms it: The highest levels of support for anti-Semitic stereotypes come from the Middle East. According to the ADL, 93% of Palestinians and upwards of 70% to 80% of residents from other Islamic nations agree with tropes about Jews controlling the world’s wars, banks, and governments.
Meanwhile, the United States ranks near the bottom of the list for anti-Semitism. That’s something worth protecting — not surrendering to appease lobbyists or foreign governments.
So why continue importing hundreds of thousands of people from places where hatred of Jews is considered normal? Why welcome migration from countries like Iraq, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia — where assimilation into American civic values is practically impossible?
The answer may lie in the influence nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia still exert over U.S. foreign policy. But political cowardice is no excuse for policy paralysis.
Twelve countries on the ban list is a good start. But most don’t reflect the true source of radical Islamic immigration into the United States.
RELATED: Mass deportation or bust: Trump’s one shot to get it right
Banning immigration from these regions isn’t about infringing civil liberties. It’s about preventing a civilizational crisis. Unlike Europe, which responded to rising Islamic extremism by criminalizing dissent and speech, America can take the wiser path: protect national security without sacrificing the First Amendment.
We don’t need hate-speech laws. We need sane immigration policy.
Unfortunately, bureaucrats in the administration watered down Trump’s original vision. They framed the bans in terms of “data-sharing” and technocratic concerns. They sought narrow criteria and limited political blowback.
But the law is clear. Trump v. Hawaii affirmed the president’s broad constitutional authority to exclude foreign nationals.
That authority exists for a reason.
President Trump rose to power by sounding the alarm about what unchecked migration could do to the West. That warning was prophetic. And now, he has the mandate — and the obligation — to act on it.
Twelve countries won’t cut it. The question now isn’t whether Trump will act — it’s whether he’ll act in time.
Because if we want to avoid Europe’s fate, we don’t just need a new policy. We need the old Trump — unapologetic, unflinching, and unafraid to speak hard truths.
Let’s hope he finishes what he started.
Despite Democrat hysteria, Wisconsin judge accused of thwarting ICE faces 6 years in prison after grand jury indictment
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers' Democratic administration issued guidance on April 18 directing state employees not to immediately cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agents. That same day, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan allegedly helped a previously deported illegal alien facing three misdemeanor counts of battery get away from ICE.
In what proved to be a shock to some Americans now accustomed to seeing judicial activism go unchecked, the FBI arrested Dugan on April 25. The arrest sent Democratic lawmakers, former judges, and liberal activists into a frenzy.
The indictment alleges that Dugan committed multiple 'affirmative acts' to assist Eduardo Flores-Ruiz evade arrest.
Following weeks of Democratic accusations of judicial intimidation and claims about an improper arrest, a federal grand jury determined Tuesday that there was, after all, sufficient evidence to indict Dugan on charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of the law.
The indictment alleges that Dugan committed multiple "affirmative acts" to assist Eduardo Flores-Ruiz evade arrest following his pre-trial April 18 appearance in her courtroom, including:
- confronting members of an ICE task force and "falsely telling them they needed a judicial warrant to effectuate the arrest of E.F.R.";
- directing all members of the task force to leave the public hallway outside her courtroom and to go to the chief judge's office;
- addressing the illegal alien's criminal case off the record while ICE agents were waiting in the chief judge's office;
- "directing E.F.R. and his counsel to exit Courtroom 615 through a non-public jury door"; and
- advising Flores-Ruiz's lawyer that the illegal alien could appear by Zoom for his next court date.
Despite Dugan's alleged efforts, law enforcement was ultimately able to capture Flores-Ruiz, an illegal alien from Mexico who was previously deported in 2013, after a brief foot chase. Flores-Ruiz's battery charges reportedly include modifiers for domestic violence and reflect that he allegedly punched one individual 30 times, then brutalized the woman who attempted to intervene.
Attorney General Pam Bondi noted in an interview last month that both of Flores-Ruiz's alleged victims had to be hospitalized.
Dugan indicated through a lawyer that she will fight the charges, reported the New York Times.
"Judge Hannah C. Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge," said Dugan's lawyers. "Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court."
If convicted, Dugan could reportedly land up to six years in prison.
The judge turned defendant is expected to enter a plea at her Thursday hearing.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman will preside over Dugan's case. That bodes well for the meddlesome judge.
After all, Adelman, a Clinton appointee who long served in the Wisconsin state Senate as a Democrat, has a history of attacking President Donald Trump, claiming, for instance, that the president makes no effort "to enact policies beneficial to the general public" and behaves like an "autocrat." The Heritage Foundation noted that Lynn has also compared Republicans to "the 'fireaters,' [sic] those fervent defenders of slavery who pushed the South into the Civil War."
The Department of Homeland Security told Blaze News, "Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected ICE agents away from this criminal illegal alien to obstruct the arrest and try to help him evade arrest. Thankfully, our FBI partners chased down this illegal alien, arrested him and removed him from American communities."
Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for public affairs, stated, "Since President Trump was inaugurated, activist judges have tried to obstruct President Trump and the American people’s mandate to make America safe and secure our homeland — but this judge’s actions to shield an accused violent criminal illegal alien from justice is shocking and shameful."
"We are thankful for our partners at the FBI for helping remove this accused criminal from America’s streets," continued McLaughlin. "If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you and lock you up. That's a promise."
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News' Jesse Watters Tuesday, "I'm grateful that the judicial system recognized that Judge Duggan let down the court, the country, and the authority that her position held and that she will be held accountable. That [the indictment] was a great decision to recognize that nobody can facilitate breaking the law. We should not be able to allow that in this country. We need to make sure that even judges are held accountable for their actions."
Shortly after Dugan's arrest last month, FBI Director Kash Patel posted to social media: "We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest."
In response to a request for comment about Dugan's grand jury indictment, the FBI told Blaze News: "We don’t have anything to add to Director Patel’s public statements posted on social media."
The White House did not respond by deadline.
Dugan's indictment comes two weeks after the Supreme Court of Wisconsin relieved her of her official duties "in order to uphold the public's confidence in the courts of this state." As a result, Dugan — who appears to have flouted the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct, particularly its requirement that "a judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge's activities" — is now prohibited from exercising the powers of a circuit court judge in the state until further order from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In the wake of her arrest, Democratic lawmakers and their allies in the media ran with the narrative that the FBI's enforcement of the law amounted to the Trump administration "making an example of the Milwaukee judge to intimidate critics and opponents."
For instance, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) stated, "We have a system of checks and balances and separations of power for damn good reasons. The President's administration arresting a sitting judge is a gravely serious and drastic move, and it threatens to breach those very separations of power."
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.) told Axios, "It is remarkable that the Administration would dare to start arresting state court judges."
RELATED: How biblical justice finally caught up to a leftist judge
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said, "They arrested a judge?! They can no longer claim to be a party of law and order."
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) stated on the day of the arrest, "We have seen in recent months the president and the Trump Administration repeatedly use dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level."
While some Democratic lawmakers issued their condemnations, others celebrated Dugan's alleged obstruction and concealment of a person from arrest.
Wisconsin state Rep. Ryan Clancy (D) stated, "I commend Judge Hannah Dugan's defense of due process by preventing ICE from shamefully using her courtroom as an ad hoc holding area for deportations."
Hundreds of former state and federal judges also leaned into the narrative, stating in a recent letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi — who had noted on X, "No one is above the law" — that "the circumstances of Judge Dugan's arrest make it clear that it was nothing but an effort to threaten and intimidate the state and federal judiciaries into submitting to the Administration, instead of interpreting the Constitution and laws of the United States."
This is a developing story.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Leftist WI Governor’s ICE Memo To State Employees Comes Under Fire
Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan warned state leaders like Gov. Tony Evers not to 'cross the line' and interfere with ICE efforts.Letitia James wags finger at Trump in first interview following 'damning' fraud allegations
Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James was vague and defiant in her first interview since allegations surfaced that she has repeatedly engaged in mortgage fraud.
On Thursday, James appeared on "Inside City Hall" with Spectrum NY1 to discuss the allegations, though she apparently did little more than to call them "baseless."
"Let me just say to all New Yorkers and to all Americans: The allegations are baseless," she said.
When pressed to give more information, James dodged. "As you know, as any good attorney, I will not litigate this case in a camera," she replied.
"It is important that we respond to these allegations at the appropriate time and in an appropriate way."
James also went on the attack, characterizing herself as one of many victims "targeted" by President Donald Trump and his "revenge tour."
"I will not be silenced. I will not be bullied. I will not bend. I will not break. And I will not bow to anyone. No one is above the law, including the president of these United States," she insisted.
"I will not go back and forth with respect to these baseless allegations. I am more focused again on standing up for freedom, liberties, and the rule of law in the state of New York."
James seemed less confident and bombastic on Wednesday, just one day before the Spectrum NY interview, when she ducked the media outside her Brooklyn residence by pretending to be on the phone, the New York Post reported. The outlet described the phone ploy as "inartful."
Law professor Jonathan Turley indicated that the evidence against James is not only 'pretty straightforward' but 'quite damning.'
James may claim that the allegations swirling about are "baseless," but other legal scholars aren't so sure. On Fox News Tuesday night, law professor Jonathan Turley indicated that the evidence against James is not only "pretty straightforward" but "quite damning."
In August 2023, James, 66, and a relative purchased a home in Norfolk, Virginia. In documents tied to the purchase, James pledged to use the home as her "principal residence," an apparent violation of a New York statute that requires all statewide officeholders to reside in New York, as Blaze News previously reported.
James has also allegedly violated the terms of her investment property in Brooklyn, claiming it has only four units when previous documentation indicates it has five.
According to William Pulte, the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, the purpose of fudging the number of units would be to secure a conforming loan from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To qualify for a conforming loan, a property may have no more than four units.
Pulte further alleged that James even went so far as to list her father as her husband to secure a mortgage loan in 1983. In forms dated May 2000, "Ms. James was listed again as 'husband and wife,'" according to Pulte, though whether her father was also mentioned in those documents is unclear.
Pulte sent a letter this week, recommending that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche look into whether James committed wire, mail, and bank fraud and made false statements to a financial institution, among other crimes.
Despite this alleged history of falsifying real estate documents for better lending terms, James ruthlessly targeted Trump in a lawfare campaign that began shortly after he left office at the end of his first term. Turley joked that she "prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress."
She even brazenly sued Trump and the Trump Organization for allegedly overvaluing properties to secure better terms with banks and insurance companies. The irony that James now faces similar accusations is "perfectly crushing," Turley said.
Turley also cautioned that in her relentless pursuit of Trump, James set a standard that she may not be able to meet herself.
"She insisted that these technicalities matter and that the powerful should not be given a free pass," Turley explained. "Well, that bill has come due."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump calls on 'wacky crook' Letitia James to resign after troubling fraud allegation surfaces
The tides may have turned for President Donald Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who once went after him for fraud, after some documents connected with a house in Virginia revealed James may now be the one in hot water.
Late Sunday night, Trump posted an ominous message to Truth Social: "Letitia James, a totally corrupt politician, should resign from her position as New York State Attorney General, IMMEDIATELY. Everyone is trying to MAKE NEW YORK GREAT AGAIN, and it can never be done with this wacky crook in office."
'I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.'
Trump's social media post also included a link to a report about a house in Norfolk, Virginia, that James and Shamice Thompson-Hairston, described as a relative of James, apparently purchased together in August 2023.
The house is a rather unremarkable three-bedroom, one-bathroom residence built in 1947. The women apparently purchased it for $240,000, securing a mortgage for just under $220,000.
The Virginia land records about the purchase include a "specific power of attorney" document authorizing Thompson-Hairston to act as James' attorney-in-fact. In this document, James states: "I HEREBY DECLARE that I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence."
The "specific power of attorney" document was signed and notarized on August 17, 2023. Except for the inclusion of her middle initial, the signature that appears on it seems to match the signature James regularly stamps on New York documents.
On August 31, 2023, Thompson-Hairston signed a statement claiming that she would serve as James' attorney-in-fact. Another document included in the land record obligates both women to "occupy, establish, and use" the Norfolk home as their "principal residence" within 60 days and to keep it their "principal residence" for at least one year.
If these Virginia documents are authentic, then James appears to be in a double bind.
At the time they were signed, James had already been the attorney general of New York for four years. Funded in part by billionaire financier George Soros, James campaigned in 2018 on a promise of "getting" Trump and later publicly fantasized about "suing" him.
Since she elevated to executive statewide office, she is required to reside in New York. According to New York law, once a state executive "ceas[es] to be an inhabitant of the state," the office is considered vacant.
'Can she document continued New York residency during this period sufficient to maintain her legal authority as Attorney General?'
In October 2023, just two months after the documents were signed, James filed a civil lawsuit against Trump, accusing him and others affiliated with the Trump Organization of overvaluing properties to negotiate better deals with banks and insurance companies. A jury agreed and slapped the organization with a staggering $455 million judgment.
The judgment is currently under appeal, and members of a New York appeals court already signaled support for overturning or at least reducing it.
If James' primary residence in 2023 and 2024 was actually in Virginia, her standing as attorney general — and in the Trump case as well as others — is dubious.
Moreover, a possible motive for declaring a property to be an owner's primary residence would be to secure a lower interest rate on a mortgage. If James misrepresented the Virginia property as her "principal residence," she could have committed the same type of fraud she accused the Trump organization of perpetrating.
In fact, reports have speculated that such false statements could even be considered federal wire fraud, a charge that carries decades in prison and fines of up to $1 million. The Department of Justice, now under Trump's purview, would be in a position to file such charges, if leaders are so inclined.
For now, the most significant drawback to the allegations against James is the fact that they were first raised in the blog White Collar Fraud by convicted fraudster Sam Antar. In the late 1980s, Antar was the CFO of Crazy Eddie, a Brooklyn-based electronics chain that went under after serious financial corruption was exposed.
Antar managed to escape prison time by copping a plea deal. He then made a "Catch Me If You Can" turnaround of sorts and became an investigator of white-collar financial crime.
In addition to publishing the Virginia land documents and explaining their relevance, Antar posed four important questions regarding James and her political future:
Why did James explicitly declare her intent to make Virginia her principal residence while serving as New York’s Attorney General?
Did she fulfill the 60-day occupancy requirement in her mortgage while simultaneously appearing in New York courts?
Can she document continued New York residency during this period sufficient to maintain her legal authority as Attorney General?
Will this affect her eligibility to run for re-election, which requires uninterrupted New York residency?
James' office and Thompson-Hairston did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Maine sues Trump administration after funding freeze over transgender athlete debacle: 'They are not above the law'
Maine's attorney general filed a lawsuit against the federal government this week that stated the administration did not follow proper procedure when it cut off federal funding to the state.
The feud stems from President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at preventing men from participating in women's sports and entering their changing rooms.
Maine's Governor Janet Mills (D) famously told Trump in February that she would see him "in court" over the issue, and in March, the Civil Rights Office said the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and a Maine high school were each in violation of Title IX.
Just days later, the University of Maine System said it would comply with the new federal standards after it revealed it lost millions in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
'The Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds.'
However, the state as a whole did not comply, and it is now those Department of Agriculture funds that are at the center of the new lawsuit.
After the Department of Education issued a "final warning" to Maine in early April, the state has now responded with a filing that said the federal agency never conducted an investigation of its own, did not notify the state, and did not report its findings to Congress.
"Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed," Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said, according to Townhall. "This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness."
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had told the state their "defiance of federal law" had cost them; and moreover, her language was categorized as that of a "hostage taker" in the court filing.
"Sounding more like a hostage taker seeking a ransom payment than a cabinet-level federal official," the court filing said. "Secretary Rollins warned that '[t]his is only the beginning' of the federal government’s funding freezes directed at the State of Maine, and that the State is 'free to end it at any time' by capitulating to the President’s demands regarding the participation of transgender athletes in school sports," the filing added, per Maine Public.
While Secretary Rollins had ensured parents that all children who were being fed by the state would have no interruption in their service, Maine's attorney general said staff in the Child Nutrition Program were allegedly unable to access money used to reimburse organizations who feed low-income children.
This left the state with "no way to get funds" to schools and other facilities to feed children, the filing claimed.
"The President and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law," AG Frey added.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump Cracks Down On ‘Grossly Unethical’ Lawfare Obstructing His Second Term Agenda
No more will lawyers and law firms be able to impede Trump’s every move with court actions, without risking consequences.Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
thefederalist.com