Latest news with #MichelleEsquenazi
Fox News
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Politicians want you to pay for ‘cashless bail.' It's dangerous and expensive
Print Close By Michelle Esquenazi Published August 18, 2025 "Cashless bail" is one of the most misleading phrases in modern politics. Reform advocates coined it, the media amplified it, and it stuck. The reality? What we provide is secured bail — a constitutionally protected, privately funded system that ensures defendants appear in court and protects the public, all without costing taxpayers a dime. Ironically, the term "cashless" could make us sound like the good guys. We accept all forms of payment. We take the financial risk. We are legally liable for producing defendants in court. We operate 24/7 — making payroll, paying taxes, freeing the accused in an accountable way, and, when necessary, tracking fugitives so victims are protected and prosecutions move forward. Courts and judges who still have secured bail know it works, because we have skin in the game. The New Jersey Example In 2016, New Jersey passed the Bail Reform Act, removing the accused's right to bail and replacing private secured bail with a taxpayer-funded pretrial release bureaucracy. Here's what happened: CINCINNATI ASSAULT: POLICE CHIEFS RIP LEADERS OVER BAIL LAWS, 'GAPS IN THE JUDICIAL PROCESS' No right to bail – defendants can now be held without release until trial. Taxpayer burden – counties spend millions annually to operate pretrial programs once handled at no cost by the private sector. Accountability removed – bondsmen, motivated to ensure court appearances, have been pushed out. The results were predictable. Ed Forchion, a Marine veteran and self-described "peaceful political pothead," was held for 447 days on a witness tampering charge tied to a Facebook post — not a violent crime — without the possibility of bail. I offered the prosecutor a $2 million secured bond to secure his release. They couldn't take it. Why? Because New Jersey no longer recognizes the right to bail. TRUMP DEMANDS END TO CASHLESS BAIL, SAYS 'COMPLETE DISASTER' DRIVING CRIME IN CITIES, ENDANGERING POLICE The costs are staggering. In 2016, the New Jersey Association of Counties sued the state because there was no funding in county budgets for this massive new mandate. Today, residents continue to pay millions each year for a system that is less accountable and less effective than what it replaced. Where It's Headed Tennessee is now on track to follow New Jersey's path and other states are considering similar changes. Once the suggested right to bail is stripped away, it's nearly impossible to restore. The shift is always the same: from private accountability to public expense, from a proven, self-funded system to a costly government program. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION The "Cashless" Myth Every politician who has signed onto "bail reform" gets paid whether they work or not. They don't understand what we do because they're chasing a funded narrative. If tomorrow's narrative was "funeral home reform," they'd be after multi-generation, family-owned funeral homes with the same zeal. MURDER VICTIM'S MOTHER SOUNDS OFF ON GOV. PRITZKER'S NO-CASH BAIL: 'THIS IS WHAT HE WANTED' The truth is simple: "cashless bail" isn't about making the system fairer. It's about replacing private industry with government bureaucracy — funded by you, the taxpayer. A Better Way Forward President Donald Trump demonstrated leadership on post-conviction reform. Now is the time to address pretrial justice reform. The Eighth Amendment suggests that the accused have the right to bail, and it's time to defend it nationally. The costs are staggering. In 2016, the New Jersey Association of Counties sued the state because there was no funding in county budgets for this massive new mandate. A balanced approach is possible — one that maintains judicial discretion, protects public safety, and ensures defendants appear in court without shifting the financial burden to taxpayers. Secured bail achieves all of this. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Congress should act now to protect the bail before more states follow New Jersey's failed example. Without action, the cost to taxpayers will climb, accountability will drop, and victims will be left waiting for justice. We in the private bail industry are ready to work with leaders who understand the vital role of private enterprise in the criminal justice system. We are, as I like to say, the "Coal Miners of Criminal Justice" — doing the hard, unglamorous work that keeps the system running, even when the lights are off. Print Close URL
Fox News
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Domestic violence survivors blast Mamdani for past comments opposing police responses to domestic violence
Domestic violence survivors and advocates are speaking out after far-left New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's past comments opposing sending police to respond to domestic violence resurfaced. "Police do not create safety… there are so many responsibilities we've given to police that, frankly, should have nothing to do with their departments… if somebody is jaywalking, if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence—there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun," Mamdani said on the Immigrantly podcast in July 2020, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Mamdani's comments came shortly after George Floyd's death engulfed the nation in a fever of anti-police riots and sentiment among the left. Domestic violence advocates are sounding the alarm about Mamdani's comments, warning that if the left-wing mayoral candidate follows through on these policies, lives could be endangered. "There's a lot of humans who are victims in the city of New York, and they need protection because sometimes it's a matter of life and death. They're hiding in the bathroom with their children, and they need someone to come immediately," Michelle Esquenazi, founder of the Victims Rights Reform Council, told Fox News Digital. The democratic socialist, who was first elected to the New York state legislature in 2020, has a long history of calls to defund the police. In 2020, Mamdani called to defund the police multiple times and called the NYPD "wicked and corrupt." Mamdani's campaign website calls for the establishment of the "Department of Community Safety", which his website claims will take on certain responsibilities currently delegated to the police. However, at a mayoral debate last month, Mamdani denied that he would defund the police, and vowed instead to "work with the police," and use mental health counselors and social workers to address homelessness and the mentally ill. For Esquenazi, Mamdani's past comments hit home because she claims the NYPD saved her when her ex-husband attacked her in their Queens home while she was pregnant in 1993. "I called 911, and they came running. They made sure that me and my children, and I was pregnant at the time, were safe. One of the officers took us to a back bedroom and made sure that we were calmed down and made sure that we had what we needed. They separated him from the situation immediately and essentially saved our lives," Esquenazi told Fox News Digital. "If Mamdani puts in any sort of barrier to victims getting immediate help from NYPD, then many lives will be lost," she said. Jennifer Harrison, also a domestic violence survivor and executive director of the Victims Rights Reform Council and founder of Victims Rights New York, echoed Esquenazi's warnings that women's lives would be in danger if the NYPD was prevented from responding to domestic violence calls. "It would definitely make women less safe… we've already tried their experiments, and they're failing epically. These are all smokescreens and pipe dreams," Harrison told Fox News Digital. Harrison said that she needed police, fearing for her life, when her boyfriend had a mental health crisis in 2017, in which he smashed her and her son's iPads and threatened to kill himself while preventing them from leaving their Suffolk County, NY home. The police brought her boyfriend to the hospital, seeing he needed mental health treatment, but the hospital discharged him mere hours later. However, a cop was notified and tipped off Harrison that her enraged boyfriend was on his way back home — giving her and her son time to escape. "That cop probably saved my life… I don't think we should be playing Russian roulette with the lives of domestic violence victims," Harrison told Fox News Digital. Republican candidate for mayor Curtis Sliwa blasted Mamdani when reached for comment by Fox News Digital. "Women will die, and children will die. He has no idea what goes on, he's either hopelessly naive, or he hates the police so much he doesn't care," Sliwa told Fox News Digital. Sonia Ossorio, Executive Director of National Organization for Women NYC, said that women's lives are "at stake," and she pointed out that having unarmed first responders attend to domestic violence situations could put them in harm's way. "The number one cause of death and major injury for women in this country is done at the hands of their intimate partner. So fast response by law enforcement that is trained and has the resources to intervene in major situations is critical," she told Fox News Digital. "What are we saying about women's safety about the endemic of domestic violence if we are even hinting at the idea that police response is not a priority?" A 2021 study published by the World Journal of Psychiatry found that domestic violence is the "leading cause of homicide death for women" and found that 30% of women experience domestic partner violence, which is often called "intimate partner violence." Mamdani and two of his rivals in the NYC mayoral race, Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo, did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
