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Arizona's proof of citizenship law heads back to the courts amid fears of noncitizen voting

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Arizona's proof of citizenship law heads back to the courts amid fears of noncitizen voting

An Arizona law that requires residents to show proof of citizenship in order to be able to vote in elections is before the courts again on Tuesday after the Supreme Court allowed parts of the law to be enforced – and amid national concerns about noncitizen voting.

Arizona’s law will be before a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday for oral arguments over the law, which was initially blocked by a lower court earlier this year. The law would require those registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. 

The Supreme Court allowed the enforcement of restrictions that block people from voting in state and local elections, but those who have registered without that proof can still vote in presidential and congressional elections with a different federal form. That form requires them to swear they are citizens under penalty of perjury. 

SCOTUS GIVES PARTIAL VICTORY TO GOP TRYING TO ENFORCE PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE IN ARIZONA 

The United States Supreme Court (front row L-R) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, (back row L-R) Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on Oct. 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Neil Gorsuch would have granted the application in full, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the application in full. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh provided a compromise of sorts with their deciding votes. The now-stalled 2022 state law requiring proof of citizenship was challenged by civil rights groups and the Arizona Democratic Party. 

It comes amid yearslong concerns by Republicans, in particular about the potential for noncitizens voting in U.S. elections. This week, the U.S. Department of Justice said an illegal immigrant reached an agreement to plead guilty to charges related to stealing a U.S. citizen’s identity to vote in multiple elections and fraudulently obtaining an American passport. 

Meanwhile, in Congress, Republicans have looked to tie a bill to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote in federal elections to a spending bill extension to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the year. The Biden-Harris administration has come out in strong opposition to the SAVE Act, making clear it would not be signed by the president if passed.

“It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal elections – it is a Federal crime punishable by prison and fines,” reads a statement of administration policy last month.

Arizona residents shared their views with Fox News Digital last month about whether voters should provide proof of citizenship to vote.

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“Absolutely,” one voter in Sierra Vista, Arizona, told Fox News Digital. “I have to provide proof of ID to get on a plane to go to New York. So why wouldn’t anybody else have to have an ID to vote for the people that are going to run our country?”

ARIZONA LAW REQUIRING PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE SUPPORTED BY 24 STATE AGS IN EMERGENCY STAY WITH SCOTUS

“I think that’s a decent idea,” one man told Fox in Tucson.

“I think if it’s not there, and you don’t have you don’t have a way to prove it, then you shouldn’t be counted in the voting system,” a resident in Yuma said.

“Absolutely, it’s unconstitutional otherwise,” a resident in Arivaca said.

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Arizona-Immigrants-December-2023

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

“Absolutely, yeah,” another resident in Tucson said.

However, another Tucson resident disagreed. “I don’t think so because I feel like there’s a lot of people here that don’t have papers but still care for this country and care for their environments and their lifestyles, so I feel like those people should have a right to at least vote, or have speech for their own rights too.”

Fox News’ Greg Wehner, Bill Mears, Shannon Bream, Matteo Cina, Julia Johnson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Los Angeles, Ca

Live updates: Airport Fire burning in Trabuco Canyon grows to 8,500 acres

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Live updates: Airport Fire burning in Trabuco Canyon grows to 8,500 acres

A wildfire that broke out in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon Monday afternoon exploded by several thousand acres overnight.

As of Tuesday morning, the Airport Fire had scorched more than 8,500 acres and has forced the evacuation of some homes in Trabuco Canyon and Rancho Santa Margarita.

Resources: Incident Home Page | InciWeb | OCFA on X | OC Sheriff on X

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Los Angeles, Ca

Massive 'Airport Fire' in Orange County seen in photographs

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Massive 'Airport Fire' in Orange County seen in photographs

Authorities in Orange County say the Airport Fire, which broke out in Trabuco Canyon near a field for remote-controlled airplanes, was unintentionally started by public works employees using heavy equipment in the area.  

Officials said the employees were moving large boulders to restrict access to vegetation off Trabuco Creek Road, when sparks ignited the wildfire.

When the workers noticed smoke coming from the loader’s basket, they immediately called 911 while attempting to put the fire out with fire extinguishers.  

The wildfire has since charred 5,342 acres, prompted evacuation orders and road closures and injured two firefighters and one resident, all of whom are in stable condition.  

  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Airport Fire in Orange County
  • Video from Sky5 shows massive plumes of smoke and large flames from the Airport Fire burning in Trabuco Canyon on Sept. 9, 2024.
  • Trabuco Canyon Fire
  • Trabuco Canyon Fire

The latest evacuation alerts can be found here.

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Southwest

Navy SEAL who killed Bin Laden slaps hotel with lawsuit over incident that derailed career: 'Didn't happen'

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Navy SEAL who killed Bin Laden slaps hotel with lawsuit over incident that derailed career: 'Didn't happen'

FIRST ON FOX: Former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, the man credited with killing Usama Bin Laden, is speaking out after recently filing a lawsuit against the hotel where he allegedly assaulted a security guard and used a racial slur, which he vehemently denies and says has crippled his business career.

“I’ve lost a ton of business. There was a point in my career where I was giving 300 speeches in one year, between 250 and 300 speeches and that many cities in a year, and now it’s just dried up, because it’s a bad look that didn’t happen,” O’Neill told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview about the notorious incident at the Omni Hotel in Frisco, Texas, in August last year when he was accused of assaulting a loss-prevention officer while intoxicated and calling that guard, who is White, the “N word.”

O’Neill, a former SEAL Team Six member who has received two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars, says he never assaulted anyone and never used the slur, which prompted him to file a lawsuit against the Omni Hotel. In the lawsuit, O’Neill argues that the security guard, Johnny Lee Loomis, should never have been hired, due to his allegedly checkered past, and alleges that he made false statements about that night.

“Hotel Defendants knowingly, recklessly, and negligently hired and retained Loomis as a security guard, despite Loomis’ publicly available history as a pedophile and child sex purveyor,” the lawsuit states. “Hotel Defendants also knowingly, recklessly, and negligently hired and retained Loomis as a security guard despite his known history of violence and of making false accusations of violence and misconduct against Hotel guests.”

CONVICTED PEDOPHILES COULD FACE MUCH DARKER FUTURE WITH GOP-BACKED BILL: ‘CAN’T REHABILITATE A PREDATOR’

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Rob O’Neill speaks to Fox News Digital about his lawsuit against a Texas hotel. (Rob O’Neill/Fox News)

O’Neill acknowledges that he had had a drink after a long day after a speaking engagement, falling asleep at the hotel bar, and that he had encountered Loomis while trying to get back into his room, but denies striking Loomis or calling him a racial slur. 

“It had been a long day flying from New York to Dallas, and then we had a dinner meeting and whatnot and went to the cigar bar and then came back, and generally just being in a hospitality environment such as a hotel, you know, you sit at the bar having a try to have a nightcap and then fell asleep at the bar, which, unfortunately, has happened before and then getting semi-escorted up to my hotel room, which is fine. I guess that can happen,” O’Neill recounted. 

“It’s odd that it’s only one guy that did it. It’s odd the way that he knew he was going to a place with no audio and video, and also it’s just odd that he’s trying to use my wallet, my key, when as a loss-prevention officer, he has a key to a room. And any time I’ve seen it happen or been around security guys from a hotel, they have their own key. They don’t need the guy’s keys. So I was actually surprised at first when the police showed up.”

HARRIS VP PICK SPENT YEARS PROMOTING RESEARCH FACILITY THAT COLLABORATED WITH ‘CHINESE MILITARY COMPANY’

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O’Neill continued. “It wasn’t until later that I found out that not only had I been accused of assault, I’d been accused of using a racial slur. And that, to me, was odd, too, along with the one guy escorting me up to him being a middle-aged white guy, like a dude in his 60s and all of a sudden he’s claiming assault and claiming a racial slur, which with two guys alone in a hallway is just to me, silly.”

O’Neill said the slur is a “horrible word” that he would “never use” and says he supports law enforcement and was treated well by local police, but alleges in the lawsuit that Loomis has a track record of false statements and altercations with guests. 

The lawsuit states that Loomis has “been involved in several other physical altercations with guests at the Hotel” and that in one case, Loomis “published false statements and instigated that guest’s arrest, claiming the guest had started the altercation.”

9/11 VICTIMS’ RELATIVES BLAME ‘SPINELESS’ POLITICAL LEADERS, SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BIN LADEN LETTER GOING VIRAL

Rob O'Neill

Robert O’Neill, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, speaks at the “Best of Blount” Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony at the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville, Tennessee, on Nov. 6, 2014. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“On at least one occasion before August 22, 2023, law enforcement personnel specifically warned Hotel Defendants about Loomis and his background,” the lawsuit states. “Yet, Hotel Defendants retained Loomis in his supervisory role, giving him continued, unsupervised access to Hotel premises and guests of all ages. Hotel Defendants also took no remedial or disciplinary action against Loomis.”

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“This lawsuit seeks substantial compensatory and punitive damages against Hotel Defendants for negligent hiring, screening, retention, and supervision arising from Hotel Defendants’ employment of Loomis, for Loomis’ false statements, and for events that occurred at the Hotel on or about August 22, 2023,” it said.

The lawsuit also states that Loomis did not hold the proper security guard registration credentials in accordance with Texas law and that Louisiana law enforcement, where Loomis had been previously employed, had called to warn the hotel about Loomis and the hotel continued employing him.

O’Neill told Fox News Digital that a main reason he filed the lawsuit was to restore his name that he says has been forever sullied due to false allegations.

“There’s a ton of damage done, and the internet is forever,” O’Neill said. “And it’s just hard to just sit here and say, well, that’s not really me, when it’s already out there. People that know me know this is not me. Obviously, I want to restore my reputation. I want to restore the way my family is treated and the way that they think about my reputation and their relationships with me. And most importantly, I’ve been thinking about this for a year, and I assure you, that’s a long time to keep my mouth shut, especially with my platforms. But, I really don’t want anyone else to have to deal with this.”

“When my grandkids Google my name or Neptune’s Spear or 9/11, this article that’s not even true will come up, and that affects everything from my family life, my legacy, my business, my military career,” O’Neill added.

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“Even friends and family, when they’ve gone places, they’ve heard whispers and stuff like that, it’s just, it’s a shame. And. I mean, the lawsuit speaks for itself, but again, just the fact that there are people out there that will print anything for a headline.”

Robert O'Neill on red carpet

Former Navy SEAL and Valor Award honoree Robert J. O’Neill attends the Salute to Heroes Service Gala to benefit the National Foundation for Military Family Support at The Majestic Downtown in Los Angeles on March 14, 2015.  (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Omni Hotel, which provided the following statement: “On August 23, 2023, the Frisco Police Department was dispatched to the Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star due to a disturbance call regarding guest, Robert O’Neill. Upon arrival on the scene, the responding police officers conducted their own investigation and made the determination to take Mr. O’Neill into custody.”

“The Frisco Police Department arrested Mr. O’Neill for public intoxication and assault. The security staff at the Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star followed all appropriate protocols to ensure the safety of its guests and associates.

“We will let due process play out in the court of law. Omni Hotels & Resorts followed all standard and legal protocols, including background checks upon hiring Mr. Loomis, which includes all national registries. No convictions and arrests were found. Omni has placed Mr. Loomis on suspension while this incident is under investigation. There will be no further comment at this time.”

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Loomis did not respond to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry.

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