Latest news with #Songer
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Local pitcher breaks nearly 70-year-old record
HUBBARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Hubbard junior pitcher Brayden Songer has had a historic 2025 season, cementing not only himself but his Eagles team in school history. 'All starts in the bullpen, getting warmed up and stuff. Then I come out to the mound, I'm just focused, I'm thinking, get this first guy out,' said Songer. 'Always, always work ahead in the count and usually good things happen after that.' The ace currently has 100 strikeouts this season, which is a new school record. The previous record was set in 1957 by William Ruby with 99 K's. '1957, that's that record, I had seen it on the board and honestly forgot about it, I didn't even think about that,' said Hubbard head coach John Schiraldi. 'Anything I ask him to do, he can do it.' The junior pitcher also set school records this season for back-to-back no-hitters, five shut-outs in a season, and eight wins in a single season. 'Definitely a historic year for all of us, it makes me feel great because I'm part of this team and everybody else on the team, too, everybody has a part, everybody plays a role,' said Songer. His performances put him in the OHSAA baseball record books. Songer is the 21st player in the state history with consecutive no-hitters and the 20th player in Ohio with five shutouts in a season. As a team, Hubbard has also had a historic season by claiming the Northeast 8 Conference and winning 23 games this season. Hubbard has only had a 20-game winning season one other time in school history. The Eagles also just won the school's first district championship in program history. Hubbard plays Canfield in the Division IV Regional Semifinal at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 3. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Your Sheriff Might Be Planning to Help ICE Conduct Mass Deportations
AS THE WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES TO PRESSURE Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ramp up its rate of deportations, the agency has cast about for allies willing to help them meet President Trump's expectations. While many have answered that call, one group in particular has stood out for its willingness to be deputized, as it were, to help make mass deportations a reality: sheriffs. The office of the sheriff has become a political battlefield in recent years, with everyone from red state governors to thinkers at the right-wing Claremont Institute advocating radical reinterpretations of the sheriff's role to better suit their own priorities. Few embody this tendency better than Bob Songer, the controversial and powerful thrice-elected sheriff of Klickitat County, Washington. Last week, Songer appeared on a conservative talk show to explain his enthusiasm for cooperating with ICE—even if doing so goes against his state's laws. 'If I had an opportunity to talk to Tom [Homan, the 'border czar'], I'd tell him, 'Put me on speed dial. You call me. We'll be there to assist ICE in a New York second,'' he boasted. While Washington has a 'sanctuary' law that prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE, Songer was dismissive of its power to restrain him. He told his host he considers it 'unconstitutional,' the product of 'woke nonsense . . . socialism, Marxism.' Songer's belligerent comments point to a major area of contestation over the law and law enforcement these days—one that can be traced back to a single Supreme Court Case, interpreted in contradictory ways. The conservative majority that decided Printz v. United States in 1997 argued that the federal government cannot force state governments to act on its behalf—a principle that prevents President Donald Trump and his lackeys from ordering around sheriffs. But a movement of 'constitutional sheriffs'—officers who, like Songer, believe that they have the power to decide which laws are constitutional—use the same ruling as a basis for claiming that sheriffs do not need to enforce a host of federal and state laws, especially those concerning gun regulation. This heightens the relative independence sheriffs have to an extreme, unprecedented level. Because the vast majority of them are elected officials, sheriffs generally enjoy a great deal of discretion when it comes to their enforcement policies. This includes whether and how to cooperate with ICE, which relies on local law enforcement to assist in the arrest and detention of potentially deportable individuals. Sheriff's offices are a 'force multiplier,' in the parlance of the agency. And if Songer commits his office's resources to the use of the agency, as he claimed he intends to do, he would certainly be a force multiplier: In addition to his normal staff of deputies and reserve deputies, he has recruited a 170-member-and-growing volunteer posse that is 'independent of any state or federal agency.' Their secondment to immigration-related enforcement would have an outsize effect in Songer's county, which is home to only around 25,000 people. Other sheriffs have used their relative independence to move in the other direction. During the first Trump administration, some liberal-minded sheriffs in Democrat-run urban areas opted to minimize immigration enforcement. Their position was responsive, in part, to certain facts: Immigrants do not lead to a statistical increase in crime; their presence actually tends to decrease it because they are significantly less likely to be convicted of a major crime than their native-born neighbors. Why waste resources on a non-problem? But those resources are being hoovered up amid Trump's mania for deportation, which has even shifted law-enforcement agents away from investigating federal crimes like human trafficking and drug smuggling to rounding up people who are potentially deportable—most of whom are not remotely threats to public safety. And today, some of those liberal-minded sheriffs are being compelled to serve Trump's goals—not by the federal administration, but by state governments. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S BULLISHNESS on 'mass deportation,' alongside the Democrats' rightward shift on the issue, has pushed the public to believe that Trump has a 'mandate' to expel immigrants, including non-criminal migrants, thousands of whom have already been deported. Joe Biden, in the waning months of his presidency, had already implemented policies that dramatically slowed the admission of immigrants at the southwest border; he also planned to detain and deport more. But Trump has taken this already-existing infrastructure and weaponized it for maximum cruelty, as attested in photos of chained Venezuelans landing in Gitmo—people we now know were mostly civilians waiting their turn to prove their asylum claims in the tortuous and drawn-out immigration process—and the morally outrageous 'ASMR' video of detainees being prepared for a deportation flight, which was posted to the official White House X account. (That account has since continued to post content making light of what is happening to deportees.) Keep up with all our articles, newsletters, podcasts, livestreams, and more by signing up for a free or paid Bulwark subscription: Existing government capacity for this work, it turns out, is not enough for Trump. Red states have started to intervene to appease the president by passing laws encouraging, incentivizing, or even requiring some sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. This strategy appears designed, in part, to short-circuit sheriffs who seek to minimize ICE disruptions through the use of state law. Florida stands out for the aggressiveness of its moves in this area. Governor Ron DeSantis has not only required ICE cooperation from the state's 67 sheriffs; he has mandated that every law enforcement agency sign what is called a 287(g) 'task force' enforcement agreement—essentially, a pledge to assist ICE with immigration operations on the streets, not just inside jails. In a press conference surrounded by sheriffs, he touted this plan as 'lead[ing] to street-level enforcement operations. . . . this is the maximum participation that a local entity can have under current federal arrangements.' These agreements are authorized under (and take their name from) section 287(g) of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. The idea was simple: local law enforcement could effectively assist ICE by acting as immigration agents in their own counties. While such agreements were originally intended for jailers to use to hand over those convicted of crimes to ICE, federal officials, many of them ex-local law enforcement, encouraged the use of 287(g) to go after more than just people convicted of violent or serious crimes. In 2008, ex-sheriff Jim Pendergraph (sometimes called 'the Joe Arpaio of North Carolina'), who had by then become an official at ICE, told a roomful of local law enforcement: 'If you don't have enough evidence to charge someone criminally, but you think he's illegal, we can make him disappear.' In other words, sheriffs were encouraged to use 287(g) to notify ICE if they came across anyone who was potentially deportable, whether or not they had been even charged with a crime. This led to such programs being used by some sheriffs to deport people for all sorts of minor violations. As noted above, the version of 287(g) enforcement agreements that DeSantis has mandated is the 'task force' model. While two other models permit sheriffs to train deputies to enforce immigration law inside their jails—usually by asking about immigration status when booking inmates—or for officers to receive special training to serve warrants on behalf of ICE, the task force model allows sheriffs to designate some of their deputies as immigration enforcers out on the street. If this sort of thing sounds familiar, it's probably because we've seen it play out before: The 287(g) 'task force' model was used by Joe Arpaio, former longtime sheriff of Maricopa County, to provide his deputies the statutory authority to illegally stop, detain, and arrest Latinos. He was found guilty of intentional racial discrimination by a federal court and was about to be sentenced to prison time for flouting a judicial order to stop harassing Latinos when Trump pardoned him in 2017. Trump's first administration recruited sheriffs to join the 287(g) program and press themselves into immigration enforcement service, but they did so without reintroducing the task force model, which became inactive after Arpaio's abuses became a matter of public record. Then, during Joe Biden's administration, 287(g) agreements were put on hold; no new agencies joined the initiative. But since Trump's return to the White House in January, ICE has in short order processed dozens of new agreements, including ones that use the controversial task force model. As of this writing—the numbers are changing daily—there were over 300 287(g) agreements in place (many within agencies that have multiple agreements) and dozens pending; 140 of the current agreements are based on the task force model. The 287(g) agreements are unfunded mandates, meaning the participating agencies do not receive federal dollars for joining. They also generally require a weeks-long training, although Homan has said he seeks to shorten this process. Across the board, obstacles are being removed to allow sheriffs to use their law enforcement resources in the service of ICE's activities, although some states, like Songer's, still do not allow sheriffs to join the program. Share The Bulwark AS STATES HAVE JOINED THE PUSH to legally encourage or require sheriffs to assist ICE in conducting immigration enforcement activities, the right-wing Claremont Institute has been conducting a campaign to radicalize sheriffs to embrace reactionary and nativist interpretations of their roles and responsibilities. (Another similar movement in some evangelical circles advocates the 'doctrine of the lesser magistrate,' promoted by Wisconsin pastor Matthew Trewhalla, which conceives of sheriffs as 'lesser magistrates' who have a religious duty to resist ungodly authority. Trewhalla spoke at a prayer breakfast as part of the 2023 National Sheriffs Association conference.) Songer is once again a representative figure: He and several dozen sheriffs from across the country have participated in Claremont's 'sheriff fellows' program in recent years. Starting in 2021, the right-wing think tank has hosted around eight sheriffs each year (see the list below) at its headquarters in Huntington Beach to engage in roundtable discussions with Claremont scholars, whose ranks include prominent right-wing, anti-liberal thinkers. While the 287(g) doesn't factor into the fellowship itinerary, the week-long program provides instruction and invites discussion on broad principles aligned with Claremont Institute values, which include a disdain for the administrative state, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a strong nativist sentiment that touts the 'great replacement' theory—the idea that liberals are intentionally bringing hordes of immigrants into the country to dilute the votes and the political status of the declining native-born population. During the fellowship, participants read missives on immigration by Jeremy Carl and Kyle Schideler, the latter of whom has written passionately about his fondness for sheriffs. Carl, a senior fellow at Claremont who hails from Stanford University's Hoover Institute, advocates curtailing immigration as a necessary step to ensure America's survival as a nation. He has suggested many immigration reforms that Trump has adopted, like removing temporary protected status protections, challenging birthright citizenship, and 'delegitimizing bureaucratic and judicial interference.' While the Claremont sheriff fellowship is not large—there have been fewer than forty participants since its inception—its reverberations echo across the country, and not just in red states. One fellow, Sheriff Mike Murphy of Livingston County, Michigan, lobbied for a county resolution that will 'monitor and document contacts between illegal immigrants' and his deputies. He told the Livingston Daily, 'If . . . you've been here more than three months [without paperwork], you're an illegal.' He continued: You have no business being here. Within three months of entering this country, if you've not been able to find a way to immigration, to seek asylum, to do it the right way, to get paperwork, then you're up to no good. Either you want to fly under the radar and take American jobs and work for cash under the table or you're up to something more nefarious. There's no other explanation. Share THESE TRENDS IN THE WAY SHERIFFS IMAGINE their roles and conduct themselves in their duties—whether as sovereign officers of a law whose extent they themselves determine, as eager deputies of federal agents intent on deporting undocumented people, as reactionary enforcers with conspiracist views of immigration, or as some combination—converge in President Trump's call for mass deportations. Many county sheriffs have heard Trump's comments as a summons. Steeped in right-wing radicalism, they are working to realize his dark vision on the local level, and their efforts are going to increasingly affect everyday policing. Local law enforcement resources might be diverted as sheriffs like Songer refocus their offices to assist ICE. And if local officers respond to an undocumented person's emergency call by showing up and asking questions about the person's immigration status, they will have succeeded in achieving one of Trump's apparent goals for his immigration policy: creating an atmosphere of ambient menace and anxiety for those in the country illegally. They already have no assurance of due process or fairness from federal immigration agents. And if the Trump administration is willing to unaccountably deport hundreds of people under the cover of darkness, what will radicalized county sheriffs believe they are empowered to do? We are all going to find out. Send this article to a friend or family member who works in law enforcement, or post it to social media: Share
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Bring it on': Sheriff pushes back after blue state leaders sue to stop immigration enforcement
Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer is calling out the "lunacy" of Democratic leadership in deep blue Washington after state Attorney General Nick Brown launched a lawsuit against one of his colleagues for helping enforce immigration law. "They honestly feel that they can just run over everybody," he said, adding, "Bring it on, I'll fight them." Brown, a Democrat, sued the Adams County Sheriff's Office on Monday, accusing the office of "illegally collaborating" with federal officials and the Trump administration. The lawsuit, which was filed in Spokane County Superior Court, claims that the Adams County Sheriff's Office's holding of illegal immigrants in custody based on their immigration status, helping federal agents question people in custody, and "routinely" sharing personal confidential information of Washington residents with federal officials "expressly violates state law." Tom Homan Warns Major Sanctuary State Will 'Get Exactly What They Don't Want' The suit cites a 2019 law called the Keep Washington Working Act, which prohibits law enforcement in the state from providing aid in immigration enforcement. Brown is asking the court to force the Adams County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Dale Wagner, to comply with the Keep Washington Working Act. Read On The Fox News App This comes the same week that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks posted on X that agents had partnered with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office to arrest a Mexican national and suspected illegal firearms dealer, including rifles, shotguns and pistols. A representative for the Spokane County Sheriff's Office declined Fox News Digital's request for comment. Songer, who has vowed to help ICE, told Fox News Digital that the attorney general's lawsuit is part of a broader effort by Washington's leading Democrats, including Gov. Bob Ferguson, to intimidate sheriffs into complying with the state's sanctuary policies. 'Get Geared Up' Because 'Ice Is Coming,' Says Leading House Gop Member He shared that two days after Trump's inauguration his office received a public records request from an individual named Charles Harvey for all of his personal and official phone, text and email communications with federal authorities from 2021 until the present. The request stated that if any communications between Songer and ICE were found they would be reported to the attorney general's office. Click Here For More Immigration Coverage "In my opinion, it's lunacy. They are whack nuts," he said. "Why would a governor and legislator and Brown, the new attorney general, why would they not want law enforcement to cooperate with ICE to go after bad people that are illegally in our country that have committed felonies and very serious felonies?" He commended Wagner and the Adams County Sheriff's Office for standing their ground, calling the attorney general's lawsuit "flat ridiculous." Young Father Killed By Illegal Immigrant Highlights 'Betrayal' Of Sanctuary Cities, Says Republican Songer said he would not be intimidated by the threat of investigations or lawsuits because he believes the Constitution is on his side. "I hope my fellow sheriffs will stand up to the governor and this state and tell them these laws are unconstitutional and we're not going to cooperate," he said. "We just need to pay attention and follow the Constitution and I think if we do that, we're going to have a better country." "Citizens come first," he concluded. "And I pray, I absolutely pray for Tom Homan to come to Washington state, the blue state and sanctuary state, because I really believe Ferguson, Brown and their cohorts, elected politicians, are in violation of federal law. And if they are, lock them up."Original article source: 'Bring it on': Sheriff pushes back after blue state leaders sue to stop immigration enforcement
Fox News
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
‘Bring it on': Sheriff pushes back after blue state leaders sue to stop immigration enforcement
Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer is calling out the "lunacy" of Democratic leadership in deep blue Washington after state Attorney General Nick Brown launched a lawsuit against one of his colleagues for helping enforce immigration law. "They honestly feel that they can just run over everybody," he said, adding, "Bring it on, I'll fight them." Brown, a Democrat, sued the Adams County Sheriff's Office on Monday, accusing the office of "illegally collaborating" with federal officials and the Trump administration. The lawsuit, which was filed in Spokane County Superior Court, claims that the Adams County Sheriff's Office's holding of illegal immigrants in custody based on their immigration status, helping federal agents question people in custody, and "routinely" sharing personal confidential information of Washington residents with federal officials "expressly violates state law." The suit cites a 2019 law called the Keep Washington Working Act, which prohibits law enforcement in the state from providing aid in immigration enforcement. Brown is asking the court to force the Adams County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Dale Wagner, to comply with the Keep Washington Working Act. This comes the same week that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks posted on X that agents had partnered with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office to arrest a Mexican national and suspected illegal firearms dealer, including rifles, shotguns and pistols. A representative for the Spokane County Sheriff's Office declined Fox News Digital's request for comment. Songer, who has vowed to help ICE, told Fox News Digital that the attorney general's lawsuit is part of a broader effort by Washington's leading Democrats, including Gov. Bob Ferguson, to intimidate sheriffs into complying with the state's sanctuary policies. He shared that two days after Trump's inauguration his office received a public records request from an individual named Charles Harvey for all of his personal and official phone, text and email communications with federal authorities from 2021 until the present. The request stated that if any communications between Songer and ICE were found they would be reported to the attorney general's office. "In my opinion, it's lunacy. They are whack nuts," he said. "Why would a governor and legislator and Brown, the new attorney general, why would they not want law enforcement to cooperate with ICE to go after bad people that are illegally in our country that have committed felonies and very serious felonies?" He commended Wagner and the Adams County Sheriff's Office for standing their ground, calling the attorney general's lawsuit "flat ridiculous." Songer said he would not be intimidated by the threat of investigations or lawsuits because he believes the Constitution is on his side. "I hope my fellow sheriffs will stand up to the governor and this state and tell them these laws are unconstitutional and we're not going to cooperate," he said. "We just need to pay attention and follow the Constitution and I think if we do that, we're going to have a better country." "Citizens come first," he concluded. "And I pray, I absolutely pray for Tom Homan to come to Washington state, the blue state and sanctuary state, because I really believe Ferguson, Brown and their cohorts, elected politicians, are in violation of federal law. And if they are, lock them up."
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Blue state sheriff unleashes on 'un-American' sanctuary laws, makes special offer to Homan
EXCLUSIVE: As most leaders in deep blue Washington state double down on sanctuary policies and refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, Sheriff Bob Songer of Klickitat County is pledging to support federal immigration enforcement in any way he can, telling Tom Homan to "put me on speed dial." In December, Songer published a video through the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office's official Facebook page in which he said the Biden administration had "allowed our country to be invaded" and publicly vowed to help ICE enforce immigration law. Songer's stance flies directly in the face of Washington's migrant sanctuary laws, which prohibit law enforcement from assisting federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws. It also puts him at odds with other law enforcement authorities in the state and Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, who has vowed to "protect law-abiding Washington families" including the "overwhelming majority of undocumented residents" who he said are "decent, hard-working, law-abiding residents." Alleged Fentanyl-smuggling Immigrants Lead Police On Dangerous Cornfield Chase Uncowed by this, Songer - who, after serving in law enforcement for 56 years, is currently serving his third term as sheriff - said, "I will cooperate with ICE 100 percent because they're doing the right thing." Read On The Fox News App In an interview with Fox News Digital, he explained that, despite being a small, rural county in Washington, illegal immigrants regularly pass through the county and very often receive government benefits paid for by the taxpayers. "When people have invaded our country across the southern border and even the northern border, Canada, our government, it's their job to protect our American citizens by preventing that invasion," he said. "Why would any governor, any mayor, any county commissioner, or any sheriff or police chief knowingly allow criminals, serious criminals for murder, rape, whatever, protect them from immigration, protect them from ICE?" "So why am I standing up against that?" he continued. "You bet I'm saying that Tom Homan, if you wish to contact me, I'll give you my phone number, he can have me on speed dial." Tom Homan Tells Migrant Terror Groups Trump Will 'Wipe You Off The Face Of The Earth' Songer said there are two main reasons for his bold stance. First, he believes Washington's sanctuary law is unconstitutional, and secondly, he feels the U.S. citizens of Klickitat County are demanding it. Click Here For More Immigration Coverage "I honestly believe that it's the best thing for our citizens," he explained, adding: "You know what's neat about an elected sheriff versus police chief … an elected sheriff is elected by the people. His or her only boss is the people, not the governor, not the county commissioners, not anybody but the people themselves. That's the sheriff's boss." Responding to criticisms from Democrats and the media that not all illegal immigrants should be arrested and deported by ICE, Songer said, "They'll try to tell you, 'well, those who just waded across the Rio Grande, that's a civil infraction,' that's bull, it's a crime under federal law. Period. No matter what their intentions were." Texas Governor Announces Crackdown On Massive Illegal Immigrant Community Near Major City "They're coming into this country across the border with no legal representation at all. In other words, they know they're breaking the law. Why not? They get free phones, free medical, free sign up, it's Christmas for them," he said. "And at the same time, our government, Democrat government, they didn't give a d--- about veterans or homeless that are U.S. citizens." "I know Washington State is a blue, blue, blue sanctuary state. It's scary to live in this kind of atmosphere," he concluded. "But I wanted to make it clear and make it known to Tom Homan and President Trump and Vance, the vice president, that as long as I'm in office … I will totally cooperate with it and I want them to know that all they got to do is reach out and ask for assistance in Klickitat County, and I'll be there, standing at attention and willing to carry out the duties."Original article source: Blue state sheriff unleashes on 'un-American' sanctuary laws, makes special offer to Homan
