Sen. Tim Kaine: ‘People don't join the military to face off against their fellow Americans'
Democrat Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia joins Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House to discuss Donald Trump's intentional escalation of the situation in Los Angeles, by using the national guard and the military as a political weapon, just days ahead of his massive and unnecessary parade using members of the military set to take place in Washington D.C.
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USA Today
35 minutes ago
- USA Today
'Afraid' for court: Trump DOJ sues NY over immigration enforcement in state courthouses
'Afraid' for court: Trump DOJ sues NY over immigration enforcement in state courthouses Show Caption Hide Caption Three Democratic governors testify in House hearing over immigration New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, testify on Capitol Hill over immigration policies. NEW YORK − The Trump administration on June 12 sued New York state for its law restricting federal immigration enforcement inside state courthouses. The lawsuit challenges a New York state law that blocks immigration officials from arresting people at or near New York courthouses. The complaint, filed in federal court in Albany, New York, alleges the law frustrates federal immigration enforcement at a venue - state courthouses - where authorities can safely make arrests. U.S. Justice Department lawyers said New York's law and policies restricting cooperation with federal immigration officers violated the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which gives federal law precedence over state law. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Albany comes after the administration has increased immigration enforcement at workplaces and while people appeared for immigration court hearings. People have protested against the federal actions in cities across the country. Attorney General Pam Bondi blamed so-called 'sanctuary city policies' for violence seen in California. Sanctuary policies generally refers to those limiting local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. The Justice Department has also sued four New Jersey cities for their laws. New York state had similar policies preventing agents from apprehending migrants, Bondi said in a statement. 'This latest lawsuit in a series of sanctuary city litigation underscores the Department of Justice's commitment to keeping Americans safe and aggressively enforcing the law,' she said. Justice Department lawyers challenged the 2020 state law preventing federal officials from arresting people for civil immigration violations at state courthouses without a signed judicial warrant. New York's 2020 law doesn't apply to federal courthouses or immigration court, according to the legislation's author, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat who called the lawsuit 'baseless and frivolous." The Justice Department said in a news release that enforcement at courthouses reduces risk of people fleeing or dangerous situations, especially since there is enhanced screening inside court buildings. 'Ongoing assault' on rule of law in NY, state officials say State officials said federal agents entering local courthouses make communities unsafe by preventing people from accessing the judicial system. The law ensures New Yorkers can pursue justice without fear, Geoff Burgan, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Letitia James, said in a statement. 'Due process means nothing if people are too afraid to appear in court,' he said. James would defend the law and 'all of New York's laws, just as she will continue to defend the rights and dignity of all who call New York home,' Burgan said. Hoylman-Sigal, who authored the law, said the lawsuit was part of the administration's 'ongoing assault on the rule of law in New York.' To avoid conflicting with federal law or federal immigration authority, the law doesn't apply to federal courts or immigration courts, he said in a statement. Meanwhile, it allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest people in local courthouses when they have 'actual, valid judicial warrants.' 'At a time when masked ICE officials are roaming the state and lawlessly detaining New Yorkers without any due process, the law preserves access to justice and participation in the judicial process,' he said. 'Sensitive' areas targets of immigration enforcement A contentious issue has been federal agents targeting people in 'sensitive" areas. Prior Department of Homeland Security guidelines banned enforcement in areas such as schools, places of worship and hospitals. When President Donald Trump took office in January, DHS overturned the longstanding policy to give agents discretion on such actions. The administration enacted another policy permitting enforcement at or near courthouses. Justice Department lawyers also challenged two New York executive orders restricting civil immigration arrests at state facilities, and a separate policy preventing state employees from sharing information to federal officers related to civil immigration enforcement. 'Through these enactments, New York obstructs federal law enforcement and facilitates the evasion of federal law by dangerous criminals, notwithstanding federal agents' statutory mandate to detain and remove illegal aliens,' the complaint said. The same day as the lawsuit, Gov. Kathy Hochul was one of three Democratic governors testifying before Congress about "sanctuary" policies and immigration enforcement. Hochul said her state has cooperated with ICE since she's taken office. "But we have to draw a line somewhere,' Hochul said. 'New York cannot deputize our state officers to enforce civil immigration violations, such as overstaying a visa.' The administration's attack on the 2020 law would turn courthouses 'into traps,' Donna Liberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. It would further force immigrant communities into the shadows. An initial conference date for the lawsuit was scheduled for Sept. 10, court records showed. Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US senator dragged out of LA immigration news conference
Democratic US Senator Alex Padilla has been forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles. Noem was offering the latest figures on immigration enforcement in the area, which has led to nearly a week of protests in the city, to members of the news media when Sen Padilla interrupted and started shouting a question. Once removed from the room, the California senator was handcuffed. Padilla's removal caused condemnation on both sides of the aisle, with fellow senators calling the arrest shocking and a "sickening disgrace" and the Trump administration dubbing it "disrespectful political theatre". "I'm Senator Alex Padilla," he said as he was confronted by authorities. "I have questions for the secretary!" Noem, who was speaking about immigration and the protests in LA, continued addressing reporters and law enforcement officers while the senator was ejected from the room. Padilla's office said he was "forced to the ground and handcuffed" by federal agents when trying to ask the secretary a question, and added that he was not currently being detained. The Department of Homeland Security said Padilla had engaged in "disrespectful political theatre" and that Noem met with the senator after the news briefing. LA Mayor Karen Bass called the incident "absolutely abhorrent and outrageous", adding that the Trump administration's "violent attacks on our city must end". Padilla told reporters that he was already in the federal building for a previously scheduled meeting. He said he stopped by Noem's news briefing because he and his colleagues have received "little to no information in response" to several immigration-related queries. Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, is the most senior Democrat on the Senate's Border Security and Immigration subcommittee. "I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information," he said. "If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day labourers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country." He urged Americans across the country to "continue peacefully protesting" the Trump administration and its policies. The DHS in a statement said Padilla didn't identify himself and was not wearing the Senator's pin on his clothing so officers thought he was an attacker. Video footage of the incident shows Padilla saying he was he was a senator as he was being pushed outside the room. California's Governor Gavin Newsom called on Republican congressional leadership to condemn the detaining of Padilla. "If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you," Newsom wrote on social media. But the White House accused the California senator of storming the press conference, and said he "yelled and lunged toward Secretary Noem". "Padilla didn't want answers; he wanted attention," Abigail Jackson, White House spokesperson said. "Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theater-kid stunt – but it's telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA." Former vice-president and Trump opponent, Kamala Harris also criticised the move and said the California senator was trying to get answers for his constituents about the ongoing immigration raids in the state. "United States Senator Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this Administration's actions in Southern California," she said on Twitter. "This is a shameful and stunning abuse of power."
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump has long called for using the military to quash protests. Los Angeles gave him an opening
Donald Trump has long spoken of using military force to suppress protesters demonstrating against his policies and presidency. This week, Los Angeles gave him the chance. After some protests against federal immigration sweeps grew chaotic, Trump overrode the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom and activated the state's National Guard – a move former military leaders told the BBC was an escalation of Trump's previous pledges to use troops to quash protests and set a new precedent. Combined with Trump's penchant for military optics – he has planned a military parade in Washington, DC on Saturday to mark the Army's 250th anniversary – the president's intervention in Los Angeles has raised fears that he is "politicizing the military," said Major General Randy Manner, US Army Retired. "He escalated immediately for reasons that are only political reasons. They are not reasons that are justifiable," said General Manner, who served as the acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau. But the Trump administration maintains it took over California's National Guard to restore order, and protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as they conducted sweeps for undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles. ICE "has the right to safely conduct operations in any state, in any jurisdiction in the country", Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. Trump also posted that Newsom "was unable to provide protection in a timely manner" for ICE officers. "If our troops didn't go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote on TruthSocial on Wednesday. But Newsom - a Democrat and outspoken critic of Trump - maintained that the state could handle protesters on its own. He called Trump's intervention a "brazen abuse of power" that inflamed a "combustible situation." The protests have continued for nearly a week and Los Angeles police have made hundreds of arrests, mainly for failure to disperse, but also for breaking curfew around downtown Los Angeles, posession of a firearm and assaulting a police officer. Trump's decision to wrest control of the Guard from Newsom goes beyond past tough stances on protests, particularly in states led by Democrats. After the death of George Floyd in 2020 sparked nationwide demonstrations for police reform and racial justice, Trump called for a militarized response. Trump had criticised his death, which occurred in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But as protests broke out and some devolved into looting, Trump later called for Democratic governors to get "much tougher", warning "the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests." When protesters marched in Washington, DC, Trump tweeted that they would "have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen" if they had breached the White House. During the DC protests, National Guard helicopters flew low over crowds to disperse them. A subsequent investigation by the US Army concluded the incident was a misuse of military medical aircraft, the Washington Post reported. "What we're seeing in Los Angeles is a perfect storm," said John Acevedo, an associate dean at Emory Law School who studies free speech and protests in the US. "There are protesters, they are violent. A perfect setup situation for President Trump, where he can use his goal of using troops against protesters." The president does have the power to federalise National Guard troops, and will do so when they are needed overseas or states request additional assistance. But under normal domestic circumstances, the request for their assistance starts at the local level. The governor then can activate the state's Guard, or ask the president for federal assistance. US presidents have not taken control of a state's National Guard against a governor's wishes since the Civil Rights era, when President Dwight Eisenhower intervened to aid school integration in Arkansas, and President Lyndon B Johnson later called on Alabama's troops to protect demonstrators. "We have, over the decades, developed statutes and regulations and protocols that govern how we handle civil disturbances for very solid reasons," said Major General (Ret.) William Enyart, a former congressman who also led the Illinois National Guard from 2007 to 2011. Trump chose to "ignore all that hard-earned experience," General Enyart said. He saw the president's actions in Los Angeles as "political theatre" and referenced a small number of protesters who burned Waymo self-driving cars over the weekend. "Trump is the master of reality television. He understands this is great TV. What is more exciting than seeing a couple self-driving cars burning in the street?" said General Enyart. Everything we know about the protests in LA and other US cities How LA erupted over rumours of immigration raid at a hardware store
