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Illegal migrants do not have gun rights protected by 2nd Amendment: federal appeals court

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Illegal migrants do not have gun rights protected by 2nd Amendment: federal appeals court

Illegal migrants do not have the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court in New Orleans has ruled, rejecting arguments by a Mexican man who was convicted of illegally possessing a handgun and argued that the ban was unconstitutional.

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that federal prohibitions on illegal immigrants owning firearms was lawful, and Second Amendment rights do not apply to those who have entered the country illegally. 

The ruling came in an appeal by Jose Paz Medina-Cantu, who had been arrested by Border Patrol agents in Texas in 2022 and charged with illegally possessing a handgun and unlawfully re-entering the country after being previously deported.

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A worker sets up a display of handguns on the floor of the exhibition hall ahead of the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis on April 25, 2019. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Medina-Cantu pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to 15 months in prison, but he preserved the right to argue on appeal that the gun charge violated his right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.

His lawyers based their argument on the 2022 landmark New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen decision by the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority that established a new standard to determine whether a law violates the Second Amendment.

The Bruen ruling required gun regulations to be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” and the three-judge panel said the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on gun rights “did not unequivocally abrogate our precedent that the plain text of the Second Amendment does not encompass illegal aliens.”

Since Bruen, a multitude of federal and state gun control measures have been challenged in courts with mixed results. Many laws have been declared invalid following that decision.

Medina-Cantu’s lawyers argued the ruling likewise undermined a 2011 decision by the 5th Circuit, in United States v. Portillo-Munoz, upholding the immigration-related ban as there was no historical tradition dating back to around when the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791 of disarming people based solely on their immigration status.

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LAWMAKERS INVOKE HUNTER BIDEN, SECOND AMENDMENT WHILE OFFERING VARYING DEFENSES OF GUN LAWS

Firearms displayed for sale on a shelf at the McBride Guns Inc. store on Aug. 25, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The three-judge panel said Portillo-Munoz “remains good law” and that the rights of U.S. citizens do not apply to illegal migrants.

“The Second Amendment protects the right of ‘the people’ to keep and bear arms. Our court has held that the term ‘the people’ under the Second Amendment does not include illegal aliens,” U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho, a conservative appointee of Republican President Trump, wrote in a concurring opinion.

“As to common sense, an illegal alien does not become ‘part of a national community’ by unlawfully entering it, any more than a thief becomes an owner of property by stealing it.”

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Ho went on to clarify the precedent in the case. 

A group of migrants climb the wall to seek asylum in the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, on June 7, 2024. (Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The Court has repeatedly explained that ‘an alien… does not become one of the people to whom these things are secured by our Constitution by an attempt to enter forbidden by law’… But that’s, of course, the very definition of an illegal alien – one who ‘attempts to enter’ our country in a manner ‘forbidden by law.’”

“So illegal aliens are not part of ‘the people’ entitled to the protections of the Second Amendment.’

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Ho added that for an illegal alien to appeal to the Constitution is to concede that the United States is governed by that supreme law.

“And ‘the power to exclude [aliens from the United States] has been determined to exist’ under our Constitution. So, the Court concluded, ‘those who are excluded cannot assert the rights in general obtaining in a land to which they do not belong as citizens or otherwise,’” Ho wrote. 

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Southeast

Dem governor under fire after illegal alien allegedly stabs woman to death at bus stop: ‘Heinous’

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Dem governor under fire after illegal alien allegedly stabs woman to death at bus stop: ‘Heinous’

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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is calling on Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to ensure local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials by handing over an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record who allegedly killed a woman earlier this week at a Virginia bus stop.

Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, arrested an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone earlier this week on charges of second-degree murder after he allegedly fatally stabbed a woman, Stephanie Minter, 41, who was found dead at a local bus stop with several wounds to the upper body. 

The alleged suspect, Abdul Jalloh, 32, also has a criminal history of more than 30 arrests, according to DHS, including for rape, malicious wounding, assault, identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault and pick-pocketing.   

The request from the Trump administration comes after the newly elected Democratic governor of Virginia signed an executive order to end cooperation between federal immigration officials and state and local law enforcement, a move several Democratic Party governors have taken recently amid President Donald Trump’s move to increase deportation operations around the country. 

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The DHS request asking Virginia officials to cooperate with ICE also comes after an illegal immigrant allegedly murdered someone just days after being released from jail for a separate crime in December.

Abdul Jalloh, 32, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger  (Department of Homeland Security/Getty Images)

“We are calling on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. 

“This illegal alien’s murder of an innocent, beautiful American woman came less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger’s demonization of ICE law enforcement. This heinous criminal is a perfect example of why we need cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions and the importance of third country removals for the safety of the American people.”

Spanberger’s representatives did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Jalloh entered the United States illegally in 2012, according to DHS, and immigration officials lodged an immigration detainer against him in 2020, whereupon he was granted a final order of removal by a judge who said he could be removed to any country other than Sierra Leone. 

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Protesters, using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity, face off with Minneapolis police officers in Minneapolis Jan. 24, 2026.  (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

DHS indicated that ICE cooperation to ensure Jalloh’s deportation is evident after a case Fox News covered in December when a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, Marvin Morales-Ortez, 23, allegedly killed a man just a day after Fairfax County jail officials let him go. 

The immigrant from El Salvador had been in custody on charges of malicious wounding and brandishing a gun, but police released him after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by George Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano, dropped the charges. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s office to inquire about why the man had not been handed over to ICE. 

The sheriff’s office said, “ICE was aware of Morales-Ortez’s incarceration and elected not to seek a judicial warrant to ensure he remained in custody.

Marvin Morales-Ortez, who is living in the country illegally, was released from Fairfax County custody and then allegedly committed a murder the next day. (Fairfax County Police Department/Getty Images)

“The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office follows all local, state and federal laws when determining whether a person is subject to release from the ADC,” the sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital at the time. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified any time a person is booked into the ADC.”

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The same sheriff’s office did not get back to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry for this story on DHS urging officials to cooperate with federal officials. 

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Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work

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Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work

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FIRST ON FOX: An illegal immigrant who reported to a U.S. Border Patrol site in Florida to perform some Information technology contractual work was arrested when authorities were made aware of his citizenship status, officials said. 

Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan citizen, reported to a USBP center in Dania Beach, Florida, Jan. 6 to do some IT work when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials began vetting him, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital. 

During its investigation, it was revealed Camacho was in violation of U.S. immigration laws, authorities said. 

Angel Camacho reported to a Florida U.S. Border Patrol center to perform contractual work when he was arrested, a Department of Homeland Security official said.  (Getty Images )

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“CBP vets all external visitors before allowing them to enter secure facilities to ensure safety and operational integrity,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. 

“During the vetting process, CBP uncovered this individual was a tourist visa overstay in the country for over five years.”

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This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent’s uniform in McAllen, Texas, Jan. 15, 2019. (Suzanne CordeiroAFP via Getty Images)

Camacho was arrested and transferred to ICE custody, Bis said. 

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His criminal history includes theft and resisting a Florida Highway Patrol officer, officials said. Federal authorities have nabbed several illegal immigrants in the process of trying to obtain employment in law enforcement and education. 

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One Sierra Leone citizen was recently arrested as he was training to become a Pennsylvania corrections officer. 

Another illegal immigrant, Ian Roberts, served as the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest district, Des Moines Public Schools, before he was arrested by ICE. 

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High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student

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High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student

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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.

Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).

Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.

Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)

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Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.

GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.

A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)

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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.

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This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.

The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.

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Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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