Latest news with #HouseJudiciarySubcommittee
Fox News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
NEWT GINGRICH: The only solution to the crisis of radical district judges
The fight over whether unelected federal district court judges should be able to unilaterally halt an elected president of the United States' agenda has reached a critical point. For the last three months, the American people's effort to profoundly change the Washington establishment has been blocked by radical district judges, who have wildly exceeded their authority. In the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second administration, lower court judges have issued 37 nationwide injunctions against various administration actions. That is more than one every three days. This is not an issue of judges against President Trump. It is an issue of judges against the American people. In the 2024 election, the American people elected a Republican House, Senate, and President. President Trump carried all seven swing states. He received 77.3 million votes – 2.3 million more than Vice President Kamala Harris. We must protect the American people's right to elect those who manage the federal government. There are 677 district judges on the federal bench. If any of them can issue nationwide injunctions to override the decisions of the elected president, we are in a real crisis. Remember, these judges have never been elected by the American people. They face no consequence if their rulings result in ruined lives or wasted taxpayer dollars. Not all of them are overreaching, but some certainly are. And some of the nationwide injunctions which have been passed verge on insanity. One injunction asserted that the executive cannot pause or terminate fugitive admissions into the United States and had to accept hundreds of thousands of refugees – never mind the humanitarian or financial cost of the decision. Another injunction blocked the removal of men from women's prisons despite the risk of physical harm to female prisoners. A third injunction blocked the executive branch from doing anything about so-called sanctuary cities. It went wildly overboard and asserted the White House cannot even have conversations about sanctuary cities. These are just a few examples of the absurd judicial micro-management we are witnessing. When President Thomas Jefferson was working to build and protect our new nation, he warned that government ultimately controlled by judges would be a road to despotism. In a letter to William Jarvis on Sept. 28, 1820, Jefferson wrote: "You seem ... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions: a very dangerous doctrine indee[d] and one which would place us under the despotism of an Oligarchy." As I testified at a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, the Founding Fathers all believed that the three branches of government should be co-equal. If anything, the judiciary would be the weakest of the three branches. They were clear that the two elected branches could correct the judicial branch if it tried to impose its will on the American people. Alexander Hamilton warned in the Federalist Papers that the legislative and executive branches could powerfully respond to judges – and judges would have no means of defending themselves. As president, Jefferson and the Democrats eliminated 14 of 34 federal judges in the Judiciary Act of 1802. They did not impeach anyone (a lengthy and difficult task). Jefferson simply abolished the judgeships and the judges no longer had jobs. We do not have to eliminate district courts in the Jeffersonian tradition – unless we are forced to. Hopefully, the U.S. Supreme Court will recognize that judicial tyranny by lower courts is intolerable and unsustainable. The High Court could take decisive steps to eliminate nationwide injunctions by local judges – or make a rule that they are immediately adjudicated by the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the House and Senate have begun work to correct absurd overreach by the most radical district court judges. This week's introduction of the Judicial Relief Clarification Act of 2025 by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley and 20 senators is a powerful signal that the Senate can defend itself against tyrannical judges. When this is combined with Congressman Darrell Issa's No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025 (which passed in the House by 219-213) it's clear the district judges are forcing a constitutional crisis. We must protect the American people's right to elect those who manage the federal government. Lower court judges who think they can micromanage and override the elected president and Congress have a simple path: Resign and run for office. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will end this absurdity. If not, the Congress and the president will have to exercise their constitutional authority and eliminate nationwide injunctions by district judges. There is no alternative if we are to retain government of, by, and for the people.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illinois Democrat minimizes violent acts committed by illegal immigrants as just 'a few crimes'
Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García, D- Ill., appeared to dismiss illegal immigrants attacking and murdering Americans as simply "immigrants committing a few crimes" Wednesday. Garcia made his remarks at a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement hearing where he feigned surprise that Republicans were "scapegoat[ing] immigrants once again." "Republicans have lifted up some tragedies that involve immigrants committing a few crimes," Garcia said, claiming Republicans were being "dishonest and cruel." "This is the exception, not the rule," he added. "I live in an immigrant neighborhood in Chicago. I know what it's like." Frustrated Chicago Residents Fed Up With Spending On Illegal Immigrants, Call For Republican Leadership Just before García spoke, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., called out sanctuary city policies for releasing known violent criminals onto the streets with no clear oversight. Read On The Fox News App "There have been murders, there have been rapes, there have been disfigurements," Van Drew said. He added, "We know what happened to Laken Riley. We know what's happened to so many people. We're trying to clean up the chaos that was left behind." Also, shortly before García made his comments, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, gave a series of examples of sanctuary cities ignoring ICE detainers on rapists and killers, many of whom went on to assault and kill again. Chicago Democrat Urges Officials To Remove Sanctuary City Status As Residents Suffer: 'We Are Not Happy' García also argued that sanctuary city polices, such as the ones implemented in Chicago, have produced lower crime and poverty rates. He concluded that Republicans are "not interested in public safety or crime victims" because of how they've embraced President Donald Trump's deportation policies. Chicago Flips Red Vice President Danielle Carter-Walters responded to García during her testimony. "It's funny that Mr. García is from Chicago, and he cannot tell you what's happening in our community. If he came into our community, he would see all the gang graffiti, the Tren de Aragua signs, the MS-13. He would see across the street in a park where they're putting the shelters, all the needles in the park," Carter-Walters said. She also attacked sanctuary city policies and claimed, based on her husband's experience as a former police officer, that crimes by illegal immigrants are often not reported. Fox News Digital reached out to Garcia's press secretary for further article source: Illinois Democrat minimizes violent acts committed by illegal immigrants as just 'a few crimes'
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House GOP, Democrats at odds over sanctuary cities' compliance with ICE detention orders
WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Republicans and Democrats clashed Wednesday at a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement hearing over whether sanctuary cities should comply with federal orders to detain individuals ICE potentially wants to deport. Republicans called sanctuary cities an impediment to the mass deportations that the Trump administration has prioritized within its first 100 days of office. But Democrats warned that trust between law enforcement and the community served would erode when law enforcement complies with ICE, and they spoke about recent wrongful deportations and the criminalization of the American immigrant. "We know that when local police act as immigration agents, immigrant communities and their families are less likely to move forward to report a crime when they are a witness or even a victim," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. "It destroys the trust policy they rely on to preserve public safety and communities." The struggle over sanctuary cities comes as President Donald Trump has initiates sweeping changes to the treatment of immigrants, both legal and undocumented. The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., began the hearing by touting Trump's record with the border, saying that more than 100,000 migrants had been deported under his presidency and border crossings went from 800 a day to 77. "Well, the American people finally had enough," McClintock said, indicating the prospect of future legislation. "Congress must enact stronger laws that will prevent a future Joe Biden from ever again placing our families at risk, and that will stop today's Democratic politicians from impeding the enforcement of our immigration and public safety laws," he said. While McClintock and other Republican lawmakers portrayed sanctuary cities as protecting violent criminals, ranking member Jayapal and several Democratic colleagues questioned how immigrants like Neri Alvarado, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador from Dallas, have been impacted by the Trump administration's goal of mass deportations. "This was done despite him never having been to El Salvador, despite having no gang affiliation and despite having no organized crime connection," said Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. "He was deported because ICE has been detaining 'all Venezuelans with tattoos.' This type of racial profiling isn't just a one-off." Neill Franklin, a Baltimore Police Department veteran, said local officials face a dilemma when ICE asks them to detain residents. "The proposed act would put state and local governments in an impossible position of deciding between risking cuts to essential federal programs or risk inviting potential legal action for violating the civil rights of their communities," Franklin said. According to the vice president of Chicago Flips Red, Danielle Carter-Walters and a witness at the hearing, sanctuary cities use taxpayers' money to resettle migrants at the expense of providing for their legal residents. Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson has attempted to resettle thousands of migrants bussed to Illinois by Gov. Greg Abbott since August 2022. "Lifelong residents are pushed aside, schools are overcrowded, crime is out of control, affordable housing is vanishing," Carter-Williams said. "It's organized looting of taxpayer dollars." Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García, D-Ill., said Republicans were specifically citing a handful of violent crimes and painting immigrant communities all as criminals. "Republicans are here to surprise, surprise, scapegoat immigrants," Garcia said. "Republicans have lifted up some tragedies that involve immigrants committing a few crimes. This is the exception, not the rule." McClintock said the public would be better served if sanctuary cities complied with detainers. "The Democrats and their witness tell us we're safer if we release criminals back into our communities. Republicans and their witnesses say the opposite. I think I'll just let that speak for itself," he said.
