Pam Bondi threatens prosecution for leaders not complying with immigration officers
'You better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement, because if you're not, we're going to come after you,' she said, speaking to a Fox News reporter. 'Our leaders have to support our law enforcement.'
Bondi's letter asks the recipients to provide a response by 19 August that 'confirms your commitment with complying with federal law and identifies the immediate initiatives you are taking to eliminate laws, policies and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement'.
Bondi cites an executive order issued by Donald Trump on 28 April which called for the attorney general to identify jurisdictions that 'obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws' then to 'notify each sanctuary jurisdiction regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law' as a precursor to prosecution or withholding grants.
Each of the recipients appears to have received a near-identical letter, none of which specify what local laws or practices fail to comply with Bondi's assertions.
Initial responses from state and local governments receiving the letters include a mix of incredulity and defiance.
'Nothing in Attorney General Bondi's letter is new and none of it has legal merit,' said Barbara Pierce, director of communications for the city of Rochester, New York. 'The letter reiterates many of the frivolous arguments that the federal government has already made in its pending suit against the City of Rochester. These same arguments were levied against the City of Chicago and were dismissed by the Federal District court for the Eastern District of Illinois nearly a month ago. We look forward to the opportunity to respond to Attorney General Bondi's letter, and continue to underscore the inaccuracies of the federal government's position.'
Bruce Harrell, the Seattle mayor, said the letter's portrayal of his city and its laws was untruthful.
'Immigration enforcement is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government. The City neither interferes with nor carries out those federal duties,' he said. 'We have received and are reviewing the latest letter from Attorney General Bondi and strongly disagree with its assertions. Our laws and policies protect the safety, privacy and constitutional rights of all Seattle residents while remaining compliant with applicable law. We remain committed to our local values, including being a welcoming city for all. We will continue to defend our residents and our rights – and we will not hesitate to do so in court.'
The office of Eric Adams, the New York City mayor, a Trump ally and embattled re-election candidate, offered a less strident immediate response.
'The job of a mayor is to protect the safety of every single person in their city – and that's exactly what Mayor Adams has worked to do every day for nearly four years,' said Kayla Altus, Adams' press secretary. 'Keeping New Yorkers safe also means making sure they feel safe, and Mayor Adams has been clear: no one should be afraid to dial 911, send their kids to school, or go to the hospital, and no New Yorker should feel forced to hide in the shadows.
'That's why the mayor supports the essence of the local laws put in place by the city council, but he has also urged the council to reexamine them to ensure we can effectively work with the federal government to keep violent criminals off our streets.'
The letters follow the publication of a revised 'sanctuary jurisdiction' list on 5 August . The Department of Homeland Security withdrew a previous list after an outcry from rural sheriff's offices and conservative jurisdictions that argued the list was created without input from sheriffs and 'violated the core principles of trust, cooperation, and partnership with fellow law enforcement'.
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The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Laura Loomer takes victory lap after State Department halts visitor visas for Gaza
Far-right activist Laura Loomer is taking a victory lap for a new State Department policy decision: halting all visitor visas from Gaza. The State Department announced Saturday it was stopping the visas for people from Gaza, one day after Loomer posted a series of videos capturing alleged flights bringing people from the territory to the United States. She questioned why they were allowed into the country, and demanded that whoever approved their visas be fired. 'All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,' the State Department said in a statement Saturday. In a social media post, the conservative firebrand celebrated the department's decision as 'fantastic news,' noting that it was made 'following the release of my reports yesterday exposing flights of GAZANS arriving at airports all across the US.' 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They should be fired.' Loomer's posts picked up some traction, including from GOP members of Congress. Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy remarked Friday: 'Deeply concerned about the incoming flights - including to Texas - allegedly filled with folks from Gaza as reported by @LauraLoomer. Inquiring.' Florida Republican Congressman Randy Fine similarly said he was 'troubled' by Loomer's report. 'If true, this is absolutely unacceptable. My office will be working with the relevant authorities to confirm the truth, understand how it happened, and seek immediate expulsion,' he wrote on X Friday. After the State Department's announcement Saturday, Fine gave Loomer a pat on the back. 'Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura,' he wrote on X. The far-right activist seems to have some sway within the Trump administration as a pattern seems to have emerged. Not long after Loomer makes an online complaint, a change seems to happen within the administration. Last month, Loomer boasted after Maurene Comey, who prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend and sex offender, Ghislaine Maxwell, and music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, was fired from the Justice Department. After she was terminated, Loomer took a victory lap, writing on X: 'This comes 2 months after my pressure campaign on Pam Blondi [sic] to fire Comey's daughter and Comey's son-in-law from the DOJ.' In May, Loomer urged President Donald Trump to pick a new nominee for surgeon general after she called his pick, Janette Nesheiwat, 'not ideologically aligned with Donald Trump or his admin's health initiatives.' The president later withdrew Nesheiwat's nomination. In April, Loomer met with Trump, urging him to fire members of the National Security Council who had been disloyal to him. Not long after, the president terminated several NSC staff. 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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Trump posted a photo of me sitting by my tent - then a bulldozer arrived
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On Monday, Trump announced his administration would be "removing homeless encampments from all over our parks, our beautiful, beautiful parks"."We have slums here, we're getting rid of them," he said from behind the podium in the White House press the announcement, BBC Verify decided to investigate the photos that the president had matched visual clues in the pictures of the tents - including a bend in the road alongside the grassy area where they were pitched - to a location on Google streetview. The encampment was about a 10-minute drive from the White House, and less than that from the BBC office in Washington - so I headed down there to see what had happened to the site that had caught the president's I arrived local officials were there warning people they could soon be forced to move.I also found Mr Theodie, a 66-year old from Missouri, sitting in the same camping had seen Trump drive by before."The president's motorcade is pretty long," Mr Theodie said. 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The White House said it will offer to place people sleeping on the streets in homeless shelters and provide access to addiction or mental health services - but if they refuse, they will face fines or jail time."You can't just snatch people up and threaten them with arrest or force people to go to a shelter," said Mr Theodie. "I don't want to go to a shelter - they're bad places."Organisations that work with homeless people say the system is flawed as shelter capacity is often Supreme Court allows cities to ban homeless campsSince leaving the site, Mr Theodie has spent three nights in a motel in Virginia after someone who saw the removal gave him money to cover it."If I wasn't blessed by that person, I don't know what I would have done. I probably would've sat down on the curb all day," he said."This room is jammed packed full of stuff, my tent and my belongings… but it's so good to sleep in a bed, to take a shower, to use a private bathroom, it feels absolutely amazing." 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What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
West Virginia to deploy hundreds of national guard troops to Washington DC
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