The Democrats may come to regret their decades of weaponising the machinery of US justice against their opponents. From Obama on, Democrats have used nearly every arm of the state, from the tax department to the FBI, to pursue, hound and persecute their political enemies. Thanks to decades of dark money funnelled from the likes of billionaire George Soros, the Dems have systematically taken over district attorney offices across the union.
The nadir of this deplorable trend of turning the US into a Democrat police state came in the 2016–2020 interregnum. A raft of show-trials, whether abusing existing laws or making up entirely new ‘crimes’, the Democrats sought to break Donald Trump and his supporters. Even lawyers who represented the president in good faith and entirely legally were targeted by Democrat prosecutors.
Even with Trump back in the Oval Office, and Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, the Dems haven’t given up on the lawfare. Their new tactics are trying to thwart the deportation of any of the 10 million-plus illegal immigrants who flooded the US under Biden, with an endless string of vexatious, overreaching court actions by minor Democrat judges.
Something, again, they may come to regret.
President Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday (local time), escalating his battle against Democratic-led states and cities that don’t fully co-operate with federal immigration authorities, a key barrier to the mass deportations he has promised.
The order, which was viewed by the Wall Street Journal, directs the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to identify within a month cities and states that aren’t complying with federal immigration laws, designating them as “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The cities and states on the list could face a cut-off in federal funding and possible criminal and civil suits if they refuse to change their laws or practices.
Why the Democrats are choosing to die on this particular hill is a mystery. Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support the deportations. Even a majority of Democrat voters (60 per cent) favour deporting illegal immigrants. No wonder the Dems’ approval ratings are in the toilet.
Prominent Democrats may well find themselves in jail. Only, this time, it’ll be above board and according to well-established laws.
Trump will also direct the justice department to pursue civil-rights cases against cities or states that, in its view, favour immigrants in the country illegally over US citizens. The order cites policies that treat immigrants more leniently in criminal cases or sentencing and state laws that provide immigrants in-state tuition rates at public universities but deny the lower rates to out-of-state US citizens. At least 25 states have adopted such laws in some fashion […]
Along with the new order, the White House plans to highlight other immigration moves, including bringing illegal crossings at the southern border to their lowest point in decades, kicking off a week focused on Trump’s first 100 days in office.
In addition to targeting federal funding, Trump’s administration has brought lawsuits against Chicago and New York for policies that limit local law-enforcement co-operation with federal immigration officials and, in some cases, block housing of immigration detainees in local jails. The justice department argues federal law overrides the city and state when it comes to immigration.
Given that borders and national security are entirely federal jurisdictions, that argument seems rock solid.
On Friday, federal agents arrested and charged Judge Hannah Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court for allegedly helping a man avoid federal immigration agents, a charge she has denied.
A slew of other Democrat politicians, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, face potentially similar charges.
At least five more Democrat politicians have potentially violated the Logan Act. Representatives Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California recently followed the footsteps of Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, to El Salvador. There they not only met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported member of the appallingly violent MS-13 criminal gang, a listed terror organisation, but petitioned El Salvadoran officials.
Which is, prima facie, highly illegal.
The Logan Act is a US federal law that criminalises unauthorised negotiation or correspondence between American citizens and foreign governments in matters concerning the US. Violations of the act are thus a felony and are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.
