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Upstate N.Y. school system’s support for trans athletes draws federal investigation.

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Upstate N.Y. school system’s support for trans athletes draws federal investigation.

For much of the past two months, the White House has assumed a defiant stance toward a series of court orders — including one from the Supreme Court — to take steps to secure the freedom of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador in March.

But the administration is also fighting a separate court order in another case in which officials have been told to seek the release of a different, and lesser-known, immigrant who was expelled to El Salvador on the same set of flights as Mr. Abrego Garcia.

That man, a 20-year-old Venezuelan identified in court papers as Cristian, was flown to El Salvador on March 15 with scores of other immigrants. He was among nearly 140 Venezuelans deported without hearings after Trump officials accused them of being members of the Tren de Aragua street gang and deemed them subject to President Trump’s proclamation invoking an 18th-century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.

Mr. Abrego Garcia, who is a Salvadoran citizen, was deported on one of those flights even though an earlier court order expressly prohibited him from being sent back to his homeland. Something similar happened to Cristian: He was expelled from the United States despite a ruling that his removal violated a previous court settlement intended to protect young migrants with pending asylum cases.

Last month, Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher, echoing the judge in Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case, ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Cristian’s return by asking the Salvadoran government to send him back to U.S. soil. But on Tuesday, Judge Gallagher agreed to put her own order on hold until Thursday to give the Justice Department time to appeal it.

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The two cases, both of which are playing out in Federal District Court in Maryland, exemplify the way in which the White House has sought new and aggressive methods to expel immigrants from the United States. The cases also reflect the increasingly recalcitrant attitude that the administration has adopted toward judicial orders — especially in deportation cases.

In her initial order, on April 23, Judge Gallagher said Cristian should not have been deported because he was shielded by the protections of a settlement agreement that immigration lawyers and the Department of Homeland Security had reached in the waning days of the Biden administration.

Under that agreement, unaccompanied minors who arrive in the United States and claim asylum cannot be removed from the country until their cases are fully resolved.

Over the weekend, the Justice Department asked Judge Gallagher to set aside that order, saying that if Cristian were returned to the United States, immigration officials would reject his asylum claim — a move that would lift the protections of the settlement agreement.

Department lawyers explained that his asylum application would be denied because he was a terrorist. The department has not disclosed what evidence it has to support that claim beyond the fact that the State Department has designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.

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During a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Gallagher refused to reverse her original ruling, noting that even if the government ultimately plans to reject Cristian’s asylum claim, it would have to do so in a process that played out in the U.S. courts.

She told the Justice Department that the administration “can’t skip to the end” and simply leave Cristian in El Salvador because it believes it would be futile to bring him back.

Still, Judge Gallagher acknowledged that if Trump officials did return Cristian and denied his asylum application, he might not be able to remain in the United States.

“It may be that the result here for Cristian is no asylum,” she said. “I think people who have been following the news for the past four months would not be surprised if that’s the end result here.”

The cases in Maryland are not only the ones in which the Justice Department, acting on behalf of the White House, is fighting against efforts to bring deported people back to U.S. soil.

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Last month, in a case in Massachusetts, department lawyers tried to convince a federal judge that the administration had not violated his order requiring that immigrants have the opportunity to challenge their removal to a country not their own if they have reason to fear being sent there.

While the lawyers admitted that four Venezuelan men accused of being Tren de Aragua members had recently been sent to El Salvador from a U.S. military base in Cuba without a chance to question their removal, they gave a narrow reason as to why. The lawyers claimed that the judge’s order covered only officials from the Department of Homeland Security, and the men had technically been sent from Cuba by Defense Department officials.

Next week, a federal judge in Louisiana plans to hold a hearing to determine whether Trump officials wrongly expelled a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras with her mother.

The judge, Terry A. Doughty, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, intends to examine the government’s claim that the mother requested that the girl — known only as V.M.L. — be deported with her. Lawyers for the family have said that the mother and father wanted V.M.L. to remain in the United States.

In yet another deportation case, a federal judge in Washington has set a hearing for Wednesday to discuss whether he can order the return of all of the Venezuelan men who were deported with Cristian to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.

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Gabbard says Comey should be 'put behind bars' after picture allegedly 'issuing a call to assassinate' Trump

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Gabbard says Comey should be 'put behind bars' after picture allegedly 'issuing a call to assassinate' Trump

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said ex-FBI Director James Comey should be “put behind bars” for a post he made on Instagram on Thursday allegedly “issuing a call to assassinate [President Donald Trump.]”

Earlier on Thursday, Comey shared a picture on Instagram with seashells formed in the numbers “86 47.” To some, the number “86” is a call sign for murdering or getting rid of someone or something and “47” is typically used to refer to the 47th President of the United States.

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk…,” Comey wrote in the caption of the picture, which has since been deleted.

Gabbard made the comments on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Thursday night after Comey said he wasn’t aware that the number “86” stands for some sort of violence.

EX-FBI CHIEF COMEY’S ‘86 47’ SOCIAL MEDIA POST CONDEMNED BY WHITE HOUSE AS ATTEMPT TO PUT ‘HIT’ ON PRESIDENT

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National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said ex-FBI Director James Comey should be in jail for posting an Instagram photo of the numbers “86 47,” which has been interpreted as a threat to Trump. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

“I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message,” Comey said after deleting the initial picture. “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.” 

Gabbard said Comey and his people “need to be held to account according to the law” regardless of why he said he posted the picture.

“The rule of law says people like him who issue direct threats against the POTUS, essentially issuing a call to assassinate him, must be held accountable under the law,” Gabbard said, adding that she thinks he should be in jail.

Ex-FBI Director James Comey posted an Instagram photo of seashells arranged in the numbers "86 47" – which has been interpreted as a threat on President Donald Trump's life.

Ex-FBI Director James Comey posted an Instagram photo of seashells arranged in the numbers “86 47” – which has been interpreted as a threat on President Donald Trump’s life. (AP)

The national intelligence director said Comey’s post has her “very concerned for [the president’s life.]”

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“I’m very concerned for the president’s life; we’ve already seen assassination attempts. I’m very concerned for his life and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this,” she said.

‘NEVER TRUMPER’ COMEY’S ’86 47′ TRUMP POST UNDER INVESTIGATION

Gabbard also said Comey has a lot of influence and that there are “people who take [him] very seriously.”

Shortly after Comey removed the post, Fox News Digital learned from a Secret Service source that the agency was aware of the incident and agents are being sent to investigate and interview Comey.

The White House also condemned Comey’s actions, with White House deputy chief of staff and Cabinet Secretary Taylor Budowich calling his post “deeply concerning.”

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“While President Trump is currently on an international trip to the Middle East, the former FBI Director puts out what can clearly be interpreted as ‘a hit’ on the sitting President of the United States — a message etched in the sand,” Budowich wrote on X. “This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously.”

 

Comey, who led the FBI during Trump’s first term before he was fired from the spot, had no comment when reached by Fox News Digital earlier on Thursday.

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel and David Spunt contributed to this report.

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Justices skeptical of Trump plan to limit birthright citizenship but also injunctions that block it

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Justices skeptical of Trump plan to limit birthright citizenship but also injunctions that block it

The Supreme Court gave a skeptical hearing Thursday to a lawyer for President Trump who was appealing rulings that blocked his plan to deny citizenship to newborns whose parents were in this country illegally or temporarily.

None of the justices spoke in favor of Trump’s plan to restrict birthright citizenship, and several were openly skeptical.

“Every court is ruling against you,” Justice Elena Kagan said. “There’s not going to be a lot of disagreement on this.”

If his plan were to take effect, “thousands of children will be born and rendered stateless,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

But Thursday’s hearing was devoted to a procedural question raised by the administration: Can a single federal judge issue a nationwide order to block the president’s plan?

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Shortly after Trump issued his executive order to limit birthright citizenship, federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state declared it unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement nationwide.

In response, Trump’s lawyers asked the court to rein in the “epidemic” of nationwide orders handed down by district judges.

It’s an issue that has divided the court and bedeviled both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Trump’s lawyers argued that on procedural grounds, the judges overstepped their authority. But it is also procedurally unusual for a president to try to revise the Constitution through an executive order.

Thursday’s hearing did not appear to yield a consensus on what to do.

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Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said the plaintiffs should be required to bring a class-action claim if they want to win a broad ruling. But others said that would lead to delays and not solve the problem.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said he was looking for a way to decide quickly. “How do we get to the merits expeditiously?” he asked.

One possibility was to have the court ask for further briefing and perhaps a second hearing to decide the fundamental question: Can Trump acting on his own revise the long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment?

Shortly after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Congress wrote the 14th Amendment, which begins with the words: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

Before that, Americans were citizens of their states. Moreover, the Supreme Court in the infamous Dred Scott decision said Black people were not citizens of their states and could not become citizens even if they were living in a free state.

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The amended Constitution established U.S. citizenship as a birthright. The only persons not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the laws of the United States were foreign diplomats and their families and, in the 19th century, Indians who were “not taxed” and were treated as citizens of their tribal nations.

However, Congress changed that rule in 1924 and extended birthright citizenship to Native Americans.

Since 1898, the Supreme Court has agreed that birthright citizenship extends to the native-born children of foreign migrants living in this country. The court said then that “the fundamental rule of citizenship by birth, notwithstanding the alienage of parents” had been established by law.

The decision affirmed the citizenship of Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in 1873 to Chinese parents who were living and working there, but who were not U.S. citizens.

But several conservative law professors dispute the notion that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States means simply that people living here are subject to the laws here.

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Instead, they say it refers more narrowly to people who owe their undivided allegiance to this country. If so, they contend it does not extend broadly to illegal immigrants or to students and tourists who are here temporarily.

On Jan. 20, Trump issued an executive order proclaiming the 14th Amendment does not “extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” He said it would be U.S. policy to not recognize citizenship for newborns if the child’s mother or father was “not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”

Immigrants rights groups sued on behalf of several pregnant women, and they were joined by 22 states and several cities.

Judges wasted no time in declaring Trump’s order unconstitutional. They said his proposed restrictions violated the federal law and Supreme Court precedent as well as the plain words of the 14th Amendment.

In mid-March, Trump’s lawyers sent an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court with “a modest request.” Rather than decide the “important constitutional questions” involving birthright citizenship, they urged the justices to rein in the practice of district judges handing down nationwide orders.

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They have “reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current administration,” they said.

A month later, and without further explanation, the court agreed to hear arguments based on that request.

Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer struggled to explain how judges should proceed when faced with a government policy that would be unconstitutional and harm an untold number of people. Is it wise or realistic to insist that thousands of people sign on to lawsuits? the justices asked.

He also had a hard time explaining how such a new policy would be enforced.

“How’s it going to work? What do hospitals do with a newborn?” Kavanaugh asked. “What do states do with a newborn?”

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“Federal officials will have to figure that out, essentially,” Sauer replied, noting that Trump’s order, if upheld, would not take effect for 30 days.

California joined 21 other states in suing successfully to block Trump’s order, but California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said it was important those rulings apply nationwide.

“The rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution belong to everyone in this country — not just those born in states whose attorneys general have stood up to challenge the president’s unlawful executive order. It’s clear that a nationwide injunction is not only appropriate here to avoid devastating harm to the states and their residents, but is also directly aligned with prior Supreme Court precedent,” Bonta said after Thursday’s argument.

The justices are likely to hand down a full opinion in Trump vs. CASA, but it may not come until late June.

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Video: Ben and Jerry’s Founder Arrested at Kennedy’s Senate Hearing

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Video: Ben and Jerry’s Founder Arrested at Kennedy’s Senate Hearing

new video loaded: Ben and Jerry’s Founder Arrested at Kennedy’s Senate Hearing

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Ben and Jerry’s Founder Arrested at Kennedy’s Senate Hearing

Ben Cohen, a co-founder of the ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s, was among a group of protesters that interrupted a Senate committee hearing to protest Congress’s funding for Israel’s military as it wages war against Hamas in Gaza.

I’m presenting today supports these goals and reflects — [protesters shouting] The witness will suspend. The committee will come to order. Members of the audience are reminded disruptions will not be permitted while the committee conducts its business. Capitol Police are asked to remove the individuals from the hearing room.

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