'Doing her best': ICE agents mass-arrest illegal employees at 'family-owned' manufacturer in North Carolina



The Donald Trump administration has clamped down on illegal employment, and it seems the simple enforcement of existing law has been enough to cripple businesses relying on undocumented labor.

It was only for a brief moment that the administration showed leniency to employers in the farming, hospitality, and restaurant industries, with a Department of Homeland Security memo telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in June to put raids on those industries on the back burner. However, the White House quickly ended any such leniency and reversed the policy just days later.

The result has been a steady flow of employers getting a lesson in hiring practices and the consequences of illegal labor.

'She's just at work doing her best at what she can do.'

Homeland Security Investigations and ICE executed a search warrant last week and found dozens of illegal workers employed at what is likely considered a reputable business in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, population 11,142 as of 2020.

Buckeye Fire Equipment Company was the target, a fire extinguisher and fire-protection product manufacturer that boasts itself as "family-owned and operated" and "made in the U.S.A. since 1968."

It turned out many of Buckeye's employees were not family members after federal authorities arrested 30 people on site as a result of their initial investigation.

RELATED: Fear of deportation is crippling Los Angeles businesses so badly, unions are demanding moratorium on rent

 

  

 

According to an ICE press release, the operation specifically focused on allegations of aggravated identity theft and "potential federal crimes."

Employee Eric Pinion shared video from inside the raid to local outlet Queen City News and told the news station the facility was "half empty" and "dead silent" when he went in for his shift after the raid.

Pinion also said he was afraid, despite being a citizen, because he had heard that citizens had been apprehended by ICE previously; he did not get arrested.

Family members of those who were arrested were reportedly spotted picking up cars from the Buckeye parking lot, with one employee's daughter saying her parent is a "single mother, [who is] trying to raise two kids on her own."

"She's just at work doing her best at what she can do," the young woman told Queen City News. Her mother was later released after a few hours of being detained.

RELATED: After ICE removes illegal workers, job applicants flood meatpacking plant to replace them

 

  

 

HSI said it will continue to pursue those who exploit financial and identification systems for their personal gain, which it says "fuels a range of criminal activity."

Blaze News reached out to Buckeye Fire Equipment Company for comment on the story as well as how the company plans on replacing its staff.

The company's LinkedIn page lists it as having between 201 and 500 employees, with ZoomInfo stating there are 278 employees. If the latter is correct, Buckeye will have to replace about 11% of its staff with legal workers.

Recently, a Nebraska company lost upwards of 76 employees to a federal raid but immediately had its waiting room filled with potential employees, putting a dent in the long-fabled claim that American workers do not want to take on certain jobs.

Buckeye Fire Equipment Company did not respond to a request for comment.

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NYC last: Alleged scheme gave driver's licenses to Chinese illegal aliens — even if they can't drive



As if the streets of New York City were not already dangerous and crowded enough, illegal Chinese immigrants with few English-speaking or driving skills may be cruising about with a valid license, thanks to a potentially massive scheme allegedly involving a driving school and some corrupt DMV personnel.

On Tuesday, District Attorney Michael McMahon of Richmond County; George Ioannidis, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations; and a host of other state and federal officials held a press conference to announce some arrests made in connection with an investigation dubbed Operation Road Test.

'Regardless of immigration status, language, and even their ability to actually operate a vehicle.'

According to authorities, T&E Driving School in Queens took to social media to identify residents who speak Fujianese for marketing purposes. Its clients, most of whom are Chinese noncitizens, would then pay anywhere from $1,600 to $2,000 for a driver's license and/or learner's permit.

Staff at the driving school would then allegedly take the required driver's test on behalf of the client. The school also allegedly paid off DMV employees to issue documents and fudge the database.

RELATED: NYC comptroller locks arms with man to prevent ICE arrest: 'Show me your warrant!'

  Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

"As alleged, the defendants utilized deceptive social media practices and strategic advertising that targeted and exploited members of the Chinese community and guaranteed individuals driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, language, and even their ability to actually operate a vehicle," said Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel, according to SILive.com.

"Our investigation found that T&E Driving School blatantly flouted the laws and procedures that are necessary to ensure the public safety on the road," Ioannidis added.

RELATED: Illegal alien child-rapist remains at large thanks to anti-ICE group: DHS

  Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images

Thus far, two dozen suspects associated with Operation Road Test are in custody, and T&E owner Weixan Tan, 38; T&E secretary Weiwan Tan, 40; and another T&E employee, Winnie Yang, 36, have all been charged.

Others named in the indictment include: Wenfeng Yang, 38, who allegedly took driving tests on behalf of T&E clients; and Edward Tarik Queen, 40; Aji Idicula, 43; and Tianna Rose Andolina, 30, all from the DMV.

"The state employees indicted here sold out not just the safety of their fellow New Yorkers, but they sold out their oaths of office," claimed New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang.

The scandal was apparently uncovered after NYPD received a tip, prompting a sting operation involving an undercover officer who speaks Fujianese. After working with T&E, the officer reportedly received a New York driver's license without ever having taken a scheduled road test.

Officials fear the corrupt scheme — and others like it — may spread far and wide.

"The numbers, as we go through this investigation, as we go through the materials that have been seized, we think that we are going to find hundreds if not thousands of people that have been part of this scam," McMahon said, according to the New York Post.

In addition to the obvious peril posed by untrained drivers who don't speak English, issuing unearned licenses threatens the American public in other ways. Bogus driver's licenses compromise the safety of airports and other high-security buildings that require state-issued IDs to enter, as well as the integrity of U.S. elections.

"We think this is just the tip of the iceberg, to put it simply," McMahon added.

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The results are in: Tallying up Biden’s immigration damage



Most mainstream press accounts have largely ignored one obvious source of the Los Angeles riots — namely, that the Biden administration released more than enough illegal aliens into this country to populate a wholly new Los Angeles. In the aftermath of those riots, it’s an appropriate time to ask this question: How many illegal aliens did the Biden administration actually let into the United States?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, from 2021 through 2024, a net 10.3 million people immigrated to the United States. That figure reflects the number of (legal or illegal) immigrants who entered the U.S., minus the number who left. As a result of this huge immigration influx, the portion of the U.S. population that is foreign-born hit 16.2%, per the Congressional Budget Office, surpassing the all-time record of 14.8% set in 1890. That mark lasted for more than 130 years, but it couldn’t survive the Biden administration.

One can only wonder how many potential terrorists got across Biden’s porous border without being encountered.

In fact, the percentage of the population that is foreign-born is probably even higher than 16.2%, as that figure was for 2023 (up from 15.6% in 2022). Since a net 2.7 million people immigrated to the U.S. in 2024, according to the CBO, and about 500,000 foreign-born residents die annually (based on the CBO’s estimate for 2023), the foreign-born population rose by an estimated 2.2 million in 2024 — from 55.1 million to about 57.3 million. So the percentage of the population that is foreign-born likely hit about 16.8% last year (57.3 million out of 342 million). In comparison, in 1970, the portion of the U.S. population that was foreign-born was 4.7%, which is just over a quarter of the current rate.

Put another way, on the cusp of next year’s quarter-millennial anniversary of American independence, about one out of every six people now living in the U.S. is foreign-born, versus one out of every 21 on the eve of the bicentennial. That’s a massive population transformation — one unlike anything our country has ever experienced.

Record-breaking numbers

Most of those who were added to the foreign-born population during the Biden years were added illegally. From 2021 through 2024 — a period that coincides almost perfectly with Biden’s presidential term (having 97% overlap) — the net increase in the number of illegal aliens in the U.S., based on CBO estimates, was 7.1 million people. In comparison, the entire population of Los Angeles is 3.9 million.

Note that this represents the net increase. The gross increase in the number of illegal aliens under Biden was likely close to 10 million. The CBO only estimates the gross increase for a portion of Biden’s term, but its partial tallies can yield a reasonable estimate for the whole four-year span.

RELATED: Exclusive: Top immigration official reflects on Biden's failed border policies: ‘An invasion unlike we've seen before’

  Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images

Citing numbers obtained from the Department of Homeland Security, the CBO estimates that in 2023 and 2024, the gross increase in the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. was 5.9 million, while the net increase was 4.3 million. That’s about four new illegal aliens added (by being released into the country, evading capture, or overstaying a legal authorization) for every one that was subtracted (by leaving or being legalized).

So the ratio between the gross increase and the net increase was about 4 to 3. Assuming the same ratio in 2021 and 2022 — when the CBO estimates that the net increase in the number of illegal aliens was 2.9 million — suggests the gross increase over that span was about 3.9 million. Adding the 5.9 million cited above reveals a gross increase of about 9.8 million illegal aliens across Biden’s four years. That’s more than the population of New York City — or all of New Jersey.

The CBO switched from using fiscal-year figures for 2023 to using calendar-year figures for 2024 in estimating the gross increase in the number of illegal aliens (and the releases, evasions, and overstays that compose that gross increase). But the number of encounters along the southwest border was very similar in FY 2023 as in CY 2023 (being 3% higher in CY 2023), so this switch likely had little effect on the CBO estimates. Indeed, for the net increase in the number of illegal aliens, the CBO provides both FY 2023 and CY 2023 numbers, and they differ by just 0.1 million.

The vast majority of these roughly 10 million illegal aliens didn’t overstay their visas, per the CBO. Rather, they either evaded capture and escaped across the border or were released by the Biden administration into the country’s interior.

Released with no accountability

By far the biggest cohort was deliberately released. As U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell wrote during a Biden-era case, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz “testified that the current surge differs from prior surges that he [has] seen over his lengthy career in that most of the aliens now being encountered at the Southwest Border are turning themselves in to USBP officers rather than trying to escape the officers.”

Ortiz, whom the Biden administration selected as Border Patrol chief, said at the time that aliens are likely “turning themselves in because they think they’re going to be released.”

They were generally right. The CBO estimates that in 2024, Biden’s DHS released more than 1.5 million aliens into the U.S. — 570,000 were encountered along the open border and released, and another 960,000 were encountered at ports of entry along the border and released — while another estimated 800,000 escaped across the border.

RELATED: Street riots can’t set US immigration policy

  Photo by Jon Putman/Anadolu via Getty Images

In FY 2023, DHS released about 2 million aliens into the U.S. — 1.1 million of whom crossed the open border and were released, 900,000 of whom were released at ports of entry — while another estimated 860,000 escaped across the border. That’s a total of 5.2 million evasions or releases over two years (specifically over FY 2023 and CY 2024, the periods for which the Congressional Budget Office provides figures). During the same 24 months, 715,000 people overstayed their legal authorizations to be in the country, per CBO estimates.

In other words, about seven-eighths (5.2 million out of 5.9 million) of those who joined the ranks of illegal aliens over those two years either evaded capture or were released into the country, rather than overstaying their visas. Applying that same seven-eighths figure to 2021 and 2022 — when the gross increase in the number of illegal aliens was about 3.9 million — suggests that about 3.4 million illegal aliens evaded capture or were released over those two years. That brings the estimated four-year tally to about 8.6 million releases or evasions under Biden (5.2 million plus 3.4 million) — a number larger than the populations of 38 individual states.

A president-approved invasion

To sum up, about 10 million illegal aliens were added to the U.S. population during the Biden administration. Of those, about 8.6 million came across the southern border — usually being released but sometimes evading capture — rather than overstaying their visas. After accounting for illegal aliens who either left the country or became legalized, the result was a net increase of 7.1 million illegal aliens during the Biden years, per the CBO.

That net increase of 7.1 million illegal aliens equals about two-thirds of the overall net increase of 10.3 million (legal or illegal) immigrants during Joe Biden’s tenure. After four years of Biden, the foreign-born population now makes up a higher percentage of the overall U.S. population than at any time on record, including during the great waves of immigration in the 19th century.

But it’s not just how many but who came into the country that matters. During the three full fiscal years (FY 2018-2020) immediately preceding the Biden administration, there were a total of nine encounters along the open border between Border Patrol officials and noncitizens on the terrorist watch list. During the three full fiscal years (FY 2022-2024) that took place entirely during Biden’s term, there were 370 such encounters — a 41-fold increase. Across all four years of the Biden presidency, the number of such encounters was approximately 400. One can only wonder how many potential terrorists got across Biden’s porous border without being encountered.

On his first day in office, Biden issued an executive order prioritizing “equity.” His DHS soon quoted that order, made clear it would apply it “in the immigration and enforcement context,” and thereafter refused to enforce federal immigration law requiring the detention of asylum-seekers. Such “equity”-driven actions were, in the words of Judge Wetherell, “akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border.”

As a result of that neon invitation, 7.1 million more illegal aliens entered the U.S. or overstayed their visas than left the U.S. or became legalized while Biden was in office — more than the combined populations of Los Angeles, D.C., Boston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Miami. This was a deliberate result of Biden’s “equity” agenda, and Americans are paying the price.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics.

Vance casts tiebreaking vote after Republicans betray Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'



President Donald Trump is getting closer to codifying the first landmark legislation of his second term, but the fight is not over.

After a record-breaking 27-hour voting marathon, the Senate narrowly passed Trump's "big, beautiful bill" in a 51-50 vote. Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote after three Senate Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted against the legislation.

'This performative theatre won’t solve the problem.'

The bill is now headed back to the House, where lawmakers will scramble to meet the president's ambitious July 4 deadline.

This deadline will not be easy to meet. During the drawn-out vote-a-rama, several key provisions failed to make it into the Senate's final draft, raising concerns among House Republicans.

RELATED: GOP-controlled Senate keeps taxpayer dollars flowing to criminal aliens after parliamentarian's ruling

  Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Several Republicans were outraged about one provision in particular. The Senate rejected an amendment that would reduce Medicaid funding for states that offer the social program to criminal aliens after the parliamentarian ruled against the provision, increasing the vote threshold from a simple majority to 60 votes.

RELATED: Republicans rage over Senate's ‘watered-down’ version of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

  Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

"If the Senate won’t do their job, DHS MUST," Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas said of the amendment. "Because this performative theatre won’t solve the problem. It’s great messaging, but it does nothing."

"Illegals should not get Medicaid," Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said in a post on X. "This should not have to be said."

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Don’t let rural America become the next New York City



Elect strong conservative leaders in your state — or watch it go the way of New York City. That’s the unmistakable warning conservatives should take from New York voters nominating a Hamas sympathizer and self-proclaimed socialist for mayor.

How could this happen just one generation after 9/11? How does the city that suffered most from jihadist terrorism now embrace a foreign-born Islamist who wants to “globalize the intifada”?

When Trump calls for more farm labor from the third world — so long as the workers aren’t 'murderers' — he misses the deeper issue. Violent crime isn’t the only threat.

Several factors explain the city’s decline, but one stands out: immigration. Forty percent of New York City’s population now consists of foreign-born residents — not including the children of immigrants. Mass immigration on that scale, especially from Islamic and third world countries, doesn’t just change the labor market. It imports foreign values and embeds them in the culture.

Trump should think twice about demanding more foreign agricultural workers for red-state America. His arguments about labor shortages miss the larger picture. This isn’t just about harvesting crops — it’s about reshaping schools, neighborhoods, and eventually, the ballot box.

In 2022, the Center for Immigration Studies mapped 2,351 Census Bureau-defined Public Use Microdata Areas to show the percentage of schoolchildren from immigrant households. No surprise: Urban districts in places like New York and Los Angeles show overwhelming majorities of immigrant families.

But that trend now stretches deep into red states. Cities and even rural counties are seeing shockingly high proportions of students from immigrant families.

In southeast Nashville, 65% of public-school students come from immigrant families. Iraq ranks as the second-largest country of origin. In Dallas, all 20 school districts report at least one-third of students from immigrant households. In most of those districts, a majority of families are foreign-born.

This trend extends well beyond major cities. In southwest Oklahoma City, 43% of students come from immigrant families. Greenville, South Carolina, stands at 35%. Birmingham and Chattanooga each hover around 20%.

Red-state cities and midsize towns now reflect immigration levels once limited to coastal urban hubs. That leaves rural America as the last holdout — and even that is changing.

The so-called farm labor trade has transformed heartland communities. These public school districts report the following immigrant family enrollment rates:

  • Texas Panhandle (outside Potter and Randall Counties): 31%
  • Oklahoma Panhandle: 21%
  • Southwest Kansas (Dodge City, Garden City, Liberal City): 55%
  • Central Nebraska: 27%
  • Canyon and Owyhee Counties, Idaho (Caldwell and Nampa): 30%
  • Whitfield County, Georgia: 43%
  • Woodbury and Plymouth Counties, Iowa (Sioux City): 26%
  • Washington County, Arkansas: 26%
  • Fargo, North Dakota: 23%

Until recently, these areas were overwhelmingly native-born. They maintained a strong continuity of American culture and civic tradition.

What happens when the next generation of these children grows up, votes, and brings in more from similar backgrounds? These red counties may not stay red for long.

Mitt Romney won Washington County, Arkansas, by 16 points in 2012. Just 12 years later, Donald Trump carried it by only six — even as he expanded his statewide margin. What changed? More than a quarter of the local student body now comes from immigrant households.

RELATED: New York City’s likely next mayor wants to ‘globalize the intifada’

  Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Trump won rural Sampson County, North Carolina, by a 2-to-1 margin. Yet, by the 2022–23 school year, Hispanic students made up 44.2% of public school enrollment. The district now runs extensive English as a Second Language programs to meet ongoing demand. Even if Hispanic voters shift modestly right, when has such rapid demographic upheaval ever worked to conservatives’ advantage?

The pace of change is impossible to ignore. Importing foreign labor into rural counties inevitably reshapes culture — and, soon after, voting patterns.

Greene County, Iowa, illustrates the point. In 2023, Hispanic residents accounted for just 3.3% of the total population. But that number underrepresents their influence. Iowa State University researchers found Latino populations in rural Iowa tend to skew young, meaning they disproportionately fill the schools even when their overall numbers look small. That imbalance compounds over time.

When Trump calls for more farm labor from the third world — so long as the workers aren’t “murderers” — he misses the deeper issue. Violent crime isn’t the only threat. The more serious loss lies in surrendering the very communities that naturally align with traditional American culture.

As Vice President JD Vance put it during his Republican National Convention acceptance speech: “America is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. It is, in short, a nation.”

That is the nation Trump must promise to defend — not just with words but with sound policy.

GOP-controlled Senate keeps taxpayer dollars flowing to criminal aliens after parliamentarian's ruling



As the Senate continues to work through the "big, beautiful bill," lawmakers axed yet another key provision from President Donald Trump's landmark legislation.

Senators are hammering out key amendments in the reconciliation bill before the final Senate vote, which will likely come Tuesday. Certain amendments, based on advisory rulings from the parliamentarian, are required to pass the 60-vote threshold instead of a simple majority, making it more difficult to codify key provisions in the bill.

'An unelected Senate staffer is thwarting the will of 75 million people who voted to make sure foreign alien invaders aren’t getting taxpayer benefits.'

RELATED: Democrats unanimously vote against condemning 'mostly peaceful' anti-ICE riots

  Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

One of these amendments included a provision that would reduce federal funding for states that provide Medicaid to illegal aliens who were charged with additional violent crimes. Because of the parliamentarian's ruling, the amendment failed in a 56-44 vote on Tuesday.

As a result of these rulings, the parliamentarian has been the focal point of a lot of criticism leading up to the vote, particularly from prominent voices on the right.

"Elizabeth McDonough stopped the Senate bill from blocking illegals from getting Medicaid," Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk said in a post on X. "An unelected Senate staffer is thwarting the will of 75 million people who voted to make sure foreign alien invaders aren’t getting taxpayer benefits. This is a red line. The Senate needs to CHANGE THE RULES, fire her, or find a solution. This is in the hands of the Senate to find a solution. We have 53 votes — figure it out! No more excuses."

RELATED: Republicans rage over Senate's ‘watered-down’ version of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' 

  Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Many Republicans and even the president have called for leadership to overrule the parliamentarian. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has the authority and the precedent to overrule her, but he decided against it.

"That would not be a good outcome for getting a bill done," Thune said.

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DOJ slaps Karen Bass, LA City Council with 'long overdue' lawsuit: 'It ends under President Trump'



Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated earlier this month while radicals were savagely attacking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in her city, "We will not stand for this."

The Democratic mayor was not condemning her fellow leftists' attacks on federal agents but rather the agents' enforcement of federal immigration law.

In the wake of the Los Angeles riots, Bass has kept up her anti-ICE, pro-illegal alien rhetoric, noting on Sunday, for instance, "Every community in L.A. is feeling the shock of these horrific ICE raids — this isn't just targeting one group, it's striking at the heart of our collective safety and trust."

The Trump administration gave Bass more than just ICE raids to complain about on Monday, filing a lawsuit against the mayor, Los Angeles City Council, and the City of Los Angeles over their alleged interference with the federal government's enforcement of immigration law.

"Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level — it ends under President Trump."

The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California notes that immediately after President Donald Trump's re-election, the Los Angeles City Council, "wishing to thwart the will of the American people regarding deportations, began the process of codifying into law its Sanctuary City policies."

RELATED: Democrats who locked down America during COVID now cry dictator over Trump's deportations

 Photo by BENJAMIN HANSON/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

In late November, the L.A. City Council unanimously voted to establish L.A. as a "Sanctuary City."

The following month, Bass ratified the corresponding ordinance titled "Prohibition of the Use of City Resources for Federal Immigration Enforcement," which enshrined sanctuary policies into municipal law and barred "the use of City resources, including property and personnel, from being utilized for immigration enforcement or to cooperate with federal immigration agents engaged in immigration enforcement."

'Today’s lawsuit holds the City of Los Angeles accountable for deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law.'

The ordinance — the "urgency clause," which makes clear that undermining the "incoming federal administration" was the goal — also prohibits city officials, including law enforcement officers, from directly or indirectly sharing data with federal immigration authorities.

The DOJ's lawsuit notes that L.A.'s sanctuary city laws are illegal and "are designed to and in fact do interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution."

Lawyers for the government asked the district court to recognize that the ordinance's violation of the Supremacy Clause and 8 U.S. Code § 1373 makes it unlawful, unenforceable, and void ab initio, as well as to enter a permanent injunction barring Los Angeles, its city council, and the mayor from enforcing the ordinance.

RELATED: JD Vance rejects Democrats' narrative, names the 'real threat to democracy'

 Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images

"Today’s lawsuit holds the City of Los Angeles accountable for deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law," said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, who stressed in a tweet that the lawsuit was "long overdue."

'Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again.'

"The United States Constitution's Supremacy Clause prohibits the City from picking and choosing which federal laws will be enforced and which will not," continued Essayli. "By assisting removable aliens in evading federal law enforcement, the City's unlawful and discriminatory ordinance has contributed to a lawless and unsafe environment that this lawsuit will help end."

The Los Angeles Times, which indicated Bass did not immediately respond to a request for comment, noted that radical L.A. city officials are contemplating striking back at the Trump administration with a lawsuit of its own.

The DOJ's lawsuit appears to be a major step toward another promise kept on Trump's part.

In his Tuesday speech at the 250th anniversary of the Army at Fort Bragg, Trump said, "Within the span of a few decades, Los Angeles has gone from being one of the cleanest, safest, and most beautiful cities on Earth to being a trash heap with entire neighborhoods under the control of transnational gangs and criminal networks."

"They don't like it when I say it, but I'll say it loudly and clearly: They'd better do something before it's too late," continued Trump. "Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again."

"We will use every asset at our disposal to quell the violence and restore law and order right away," stressed the president.

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JD Vance rejects Democrats' narrative, names the 'real threat to democracy'



Democrats and elements of the liberal media have suggested ad nauseam that President Donald Trump, his supporters, and like-minded Republicans constitute threats to democracy.

After a Biden official's group got Trump temporarily removed in 2023 from the presidential primary ballot in Colorado, former President Joe Biden tweeted, "Trump poses many threats to our country: The right to choose, civil rights, voting rights, and America's standing in the world. But the greatest threat he poses is to our democracy."

Years after calling her political opponents "enemies of the state," Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in April 2024 that Trump is "a great threat to our democracy."

'It was a radical success.'

Less than a day after a Democratic donor who claimed "DEMOCRACY is on the ballot" in the 2024 election allegedly tried to assassinate Trump, New York magazine rushed to inform its readers that "Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, and saying so is not incitement."

It's clear that this mantra is little more than a political cudgel intended for those who threaten to diminish Democrats' hold on power. Nevertheless, its repetition has prompted some on the right to seriously reflect on that which actually threatens the American republic's democratic processes.

In his keynote speech at the Ohio Republican Party dinner in Lima, Ohio, on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance made clear that the apparent effort by Democrats to import and then normalize new voter blocs rather than engage and help homegrown Americans — to seek out a new demos as opposed to serving the current demos — is the real threat.

RELATED: Rubio, Vance outline the 'work of a generation,' next steps for the American renewal: 'This is a 20-year project'

  Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The vice president stressed that illegal immigration is "the most important issue confronting this country" and "the most important issue that was destroying this country for over the past four years."

"If I had stood here in October of 2024, and you had told me that after 45 days of the Trump administration we would have illegal border crossings down between 95% and 99%, I would have said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. I believe the president is very serious about this, and I believe the president is very effective, but there is no way that we're going to have illegal border crossings down that much,'" said Vance. "I'm happy to report that one and a half months into the Trump administration, we had illegal border crossings down 99%. It was a radical success."

"I believe that saved the United States of America," continued Vance, "because we know exactly what the Democrats [would do] — not because we had to read their minds but because Democrats would go out and say that what they wanted to do with those 20, 25 million illegal aliens is give every single one of them the right to vote and turn them into permanent wards of the Democratic Party."

'Now, we have largely solved that problem.'

Democratic lawmakers have worked feverishly in recent years to give foreign nationals the right to vote.

Certain jurisdictions in California, Maryland, and Vermont allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. There are also indications that some noncitizens have been registered in Democratic enclaves to vote in federal elections — a troubling matter that the Trump administration is taking seriously.

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Orange County registrar of voters for refusing to provide the DOJ with records pertaining to the "removal of non-citizens from its voter registration list and for failing to maintain an accurate voter list in violation of the Help America Vote Act."

— (@)  
 

Meanwhile, in the District of Columbia, noncitizens are allowed to vote in local elections so long as they were in the city for at least 30 days before the election. According to the Washington Post, of the over 500 foreign nationals who voted last year — including Ethiopians, Salvadorans, and Iranians — 310 registered as Democrat, 169 as independent, 28 as Republican, and 16 as Statehood Green.

Democrats evidently aspired to go far beyond local elections with their noncitizen voting push.

RELATED: Trump doesn’t threaten democracy — he threatens its ruling class

 Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

The Democratic National Convention's 2024 platform endorsed a mass amnesty plan that would have paved the way to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens.

The Maine Wire noted that the platform incorporated language from the U.S. Citizenship Act, an inert bill from Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) that would change the word "alien" to "noncitizen" in the immigration code and allow illegal aliens to become "lawful prospective immigrants," thereby setting them on the path to legally voting in federal elections.

Even though Trump saw gains in each of the seven swing states in the 2024 election, giving voting rights to millions of yesteryear's illegal aliens could significantly alter America's political destiny.

"If we allowed that to happen, if we allowed the Democratic Party to import voters rather than persuade voters, that would have been the end of American democracy," said Vance. "You hear the American media say all the time that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. The threat to democracy is Democrats importing voters rather than persuading their fellow citizens."

The vice president proceeded to provide his audience with some good news.

"Now, we have largely solved that problem," said Vance. "If you look, for the first time in 50 years — the first time in 50 years — we now have net negative illegal immigration."

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Trump admin changes the game, sues federal judges in Maryland for automatically blocking deportations



President Donald Trump's opponents failed to stop him at the ballot box, so now they are attempting to neutralize his presidency in the courts.

U.S. district court judges have proven more than willing to help out in this regard, slapping the government with more nationwide injunctions in the first 100 days of Trump's second term than were entered throughout the whole of the 20th century.

As of Wednesday, the New York Times indicated that 199 or more of the court rulings against the president's executive actions so far this year have at least temporarily halted the Trump administration's initiatives.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has intervened in a number of cases to reaffirm the president's Article II powers and his exercise thereof, it's abundantly clear that the Trump administration is tiring of what White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has repeatedly called a "judicial coup."

The Department of Justice turned the tables on Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against the U.S. District Court of Maryland and all 16 of its judges — including its 10 authorized judges, all but one of whom were appointed by former Presidents Joe Biden or Barack Obama.

The lawsuit takes aim at an order handed down last month that automatically blocks the deportation of illegal aliens in the state whose detention is challenged by immigration attorneys.

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If a petition for writ of habeas corpus is filed on behalf of an illegal alien detainee in or said to be in the District of Maryland, the Trump administration is automatically enjoined and restrained from removing the alien from the country or altering the alien's legal status for at least two days.

The district court's Chief Judge George Russell III, an Obama appointee, claimed that the May 28 amended standing order was necessary because the recent flood of illegal alien detention and removal challenges "that have been filed after normal court hours and on weekends and holidays has created scheduling difficulties and resulted in hurried and frustrating hearings."

Chad Mizelle, DOJ chief of staff, stressed that "this obviously illegal practice cannot stand. To stop it, the Department of Justice has no choice but to sue the Maryland federal district court — and its judges — to ensure that they stop overstepping their authority in this critical area."

Lawyers for the government noted in the lawsuit that the district court's automatic injunction does "precisely what the Supreme Court has forbidden: make equitable relief a 'matter of right' in the District of Maryland."

'This pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand.'

"Defendants' automatic injunction issues whether or not the alien needs or seeks emergency relief, whether or not the court has jurisdiction over the alien's claims, and no matter how frivolous the alien's claims may be," said the lawsuit.

RELATED: Will the Supreme Court rein in rogue judges — or rubber-stamp them?

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The complaint notes further that the standing orders:

  • "violate congressional limits on district courts' jurisdiction over immigration matters";
  • "disregard the procedural and substantive requirements for issuing what amounts to a local rule";
  • "are fundamentally inconsistent with the judicial role to resolve only concrete and discrete 'cases' and 'controversies'";
  • rob Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations of any opportunity to contest the alien's assertion of being "located in the District of Maryland" at the time of a habeas filing; and
  • "can also adversely impact the operational planning necessary to coordinate a removal, especially a removal of an alien to a country that is recalcitrant about accepting the alien."

The DOJ characterized the Maryland District Court's automatic injunctions as "a particularly egregious example of judicial overreach interfering with Executive Branch prerogatives — and thus undermining the democratic process."

"President Trump's executive authority has been undermined since the first hours of his presidency by an endless barrage of injunctions designed to halt his agenda," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "The American people elected President Trump to carry out his policy agenda: this pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand."

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Trump's SHOCKING plan to deter illegal immigration using ALLIGATORS



If detention wasn’t scary enough for illegal immigrants, President Donald Trump is preparing an off-the-grid facility aptly named “Alligator Alcatraz” to house some of the most violent illegal aliens in America.

The facility is being constructed in Florida’s “Alligator Alley” on a 30-square-mile property in the Everglades called the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, home to a “virtually abandoned airport.” The facility will house 5,000 beds for criminal illegal immigrants.

“The governor tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities. I think this is the best one: as I call it, ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a promotional video on X.


Uthmeier said the location presents "an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility" because even if they tried to get out, they’d have a hard time surviving.

“There's not that much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons," he said. "Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide."

“I’m sure that the left will come back and say, ‘But it’s expensive. It’s like $450 million a year,' they’re saying, 'to maintain.' However, if you contrast that to, say, the Roosevelt Hotel over in New York City that they were housing all of these illegals,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments, “that just cost New York City taxpayers about $575,000 a night.”

“By the way, these were human traffickers, child abusers, gang members,” she continues. “Laken Riley’s killer, there.”

“And crime being committed in the hotels,” comedian Derek Richards chimes in. “They were talking about people being raped in the stairwells and the rampant drug use.”

“If they complain about the $450 million it’s going to cost, we sent them to El Salvador and you didn’t want that, did you? So take your pick: El Salvador or alligator heaven,” BlazeTV contributor Matthew Marsden adds.

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