Sanctuary county refused 615 ICE transfer requests, turned over just 11 illegal immigrants, records show
FIRST ON FOX: Records obtained by a conservative legal group show Fairfax County, Virginia, declined to transfer 615 illegal immigrants to ICE over the past 16 months, while turning over just 11. Fairfax County, whose board includes one Republican supervisor for what is the most populous jurisdiction in the Old Dominion, formally designated itself a sanctuary jurisdiction in 2021 after passing the Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy or “Trust Policy.” America First Legal filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the county seeking records from the office of Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, who testified at a contentious House hearing earlier this spring on Fairfax’s reluctance to cooperate with federal law enforcement. The data, obtained directly from a Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office document, showed that for the entirety of 2025, Kincaid’s office refused to transfer 448 illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security for processing and instead only turned over a total of nine to ICE. During the first four months of 2026, Fairfax declined to transfer another 167 illegal immigrants, while turning over only two. WATCH: ANGEL MOM TURNS TABLES ON SANCTUARY POLITICIANS WITH BASIC QUESTION ABOUT THEIR PRIORITIES Since then, county policy has barred law enforcement from honoring ICE civil detainers or otherwise assisting with federal immigration enforcement. America First Legal (AFL), which first obtained the data, placed much of the blame on Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano, who sat beside Kincaid at the recent hearing and faced sharp questioning from Republicans over his prosecutorial discretion in cases involving illegal immigrants arrested in the county. SOROS-BACKED DA’S LAX ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION POLICIES LED TO ‘PREVENTABLE’ BUS STOP STABBING MURDER: COMPLAINT AFL said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that Fairfax’s overall framework encourages recidivism by illegal immigrant offenders and has directly led to several gruesome cases, including the murder of Fredericksburg, Virginia, woman Stephanie Minter, whose alleged killer is an illegal immigrant from West Africa with a lengthy criminal record in Fairfax County. AFL noted that Descano is under investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division over claims U.S. citizens are effectively discriminated against because of the prosecutor’s stated preferential policies, which appeared on his campaign pages and elsewhere and were highlighted by Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and others during the hearing. The group pointed to fatal stabbings; the alleged assault of a woman on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, a popular rail trail spanning from Washington, D.C., to Purcellville that has long been considered safe; and other crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants who, it said, received light sentences or had charges dropped. FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BLUE STATE’S LAW PROHIBITING ICE AGENTS FROM WEARING MASKS ON THE JOB Descano has long defended his prosecutorial discretion as evidence-based and handled on a case-by-case basis. A Descano spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement Thursday that the DOJ’s probe is politically motivated and has “distort[ed] the office’s policy.” The spokesperson also said the notice appeared to arrive intentionally just before Descano testified before McClintock. “Our office’s policies are fair, legal and reflect the values of Fairfax County, and we will not be distracted from our mission of keeping this community safe and holding individuals accountable when they commit crimes,” the spokesperson said. Fox News Digital also reached out to Kincaid’s office for comment. AFL counsel Will Scolinos rejected the county’s defense, telling Fox News Digital that tragic cases such as Minter’s murder are the product of the Trust Policy and the shielding of “hundreds of illegal aliens … from federal law enforcement.” “This deliberate obstruction by county officials protects illegal alien lawbreakers and endangers every family in Northern Virginia,” Scolinos said. “For too many families, it is already too late. But to protect other Virginians from future crimes at the hands of illegal aliens with prior arrests, Fairfax County must reverse this reckless, anti-American governance immediately.” In the most recent month recorded, April 2026, 32 illegal immigrants were listed as being in the sheriff’s office’s custody, with none released to ICE. All 32 were subject to an “informed detainer,” and three were listed as convicted. AFL also noted that Santa Clara County, California — home to the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium — informed the group that it received 529 ICE detainer requests in 2025 and honored none. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “If each detainer represents a unique illegal alien, an average of 1.34 arrested illegal aliens were released into Santa Clara every day,” AFL said in April. The numbers reflect a pattern that is expected to continue drawing scrutiny from the Trump administration and groups such as AFL, which has also sought data from sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide. Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment.
Letitia James hammered after NY Medicaid fraud unit funding frozen over ineffective enforcement
New York Attorney General Letitia James is facing renewed criticism from Republicans after the Trump administration suspended federal funding for the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), citing years of poor criminal enforcement performance and leadership decisions that federal officials say left fraud investigations lagging. The federal action gives Republicans a new line of attack against James as she campaigns for re-election. Republican challenger Saritha Komatireddy has made the state’s struggling Medicaid Fraud Control Unit a key issue in the race, arguing James failed to aggressively prosecute fraud. Federal watchdogs’ findings now lend new weight to those claims. “Letitia James ran New York’s Medicaid Fraud Unit into the ground, and now we know why: a deliberate leadership choice to open fewer cases and let them drag on for years,” Komatireddy said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This means New York taxpayers are losing their hard-earned money to fraudsters, and patients and seniors are being hurt or neglected, and no one is holding them accountable.” DR. OZ NAMES 5 STATES IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN AS TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS MEDICAID ABUSE The Republican Attorneys General Association also chimed in on the funding freeze, arguing it reflected broader differences between Republican and Democratic attorneys general in combating fraud. “While Republican attorneys general are aggressively fighting fraud, waste, and abuse, Democrat AGs like Keith Ellison in Minnesota and Letitia James in New York knowingly aid and abet scams and fraud in their states,” RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper said in a statement. “Republican AGs are thrilled to roll up our sleeves and work with JD Vance, Republican AG staff alum Andrew Ferguson, Scott Brady, and the White House Task Force to save taxpayers billions of dollars and deliver maximum accountability.” In a June 30 letter denying the unit’s annual recertification, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) officials concluded that New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit had become the lowest-performing large state unit in the nation for criminal Medicaid fraud enforcement despite receiving roughly $60 million annually in federal funding and employing more than 270 staff members. “The New York MFCU is not effectively prosecuting criminal Medicaid fraud,” the letter stated. “The Unit reported only 53 fraud convictions from 2023 to 2025. This is by far the lowest among similar-sized Units; the next lowest number of reported fraud convictions for this period was 129. “Enough is enough.” The report also found New York ranked last in criminal indictments, securing fewer than 10 fraud indictments in four of the past five years. Federal officials further found that 34% of the unit’s open cases were more than three years old, while 69% of referrals from the state’s Medicaid Program Integrity Unit had remained pending for at least two years, contributing to a growing investigative backlog. The HHS letter concluded that the unit’s poor performance stemmed in large part from “a deliberate leadership choice” to prioritize high-impact civil fraud cases over criminal prosecutions, finding that strategy had left the office ineffective at pursuing criminal Medicaid fraud despite its size and resources. PENNSYLVANIA AG EXPLAINS WHY STATE LEADS NATION IN MEDICAID FRAUD CONVICTIONS WHILE OTHERS BATTLE MASS SCHEMES While federal officials acknowledged the state’s fraud unit remained competitive in civil recoveries, they said those results did not outweigh the decline in criminal enforcement. “The Unit has sacrificed its ability to effectively fight criminal fraud to obtain civil recoveries that are largely in line with its peers,” the report stated. James blasted the funding freeze, accusing the Trump administration of targeting New York for political reasons. “This administration’s unprecedented attack on New York is another political distraction,” James said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “During my time as attorney general, my office has recovered more than $627 million for Medicaid and was recognized by this very administration for leading the nation in anti-fraud efforts.” James’ office noted that HHS highlighted New York as one of four states responsible for half of all civil recoveries nationwide in fiscal year 2025. The attorney general also pointed to several recent Medicaid fraud prosecutions, including multimillion-dollar fraud cases announced in recent weeks. “The only people this decision benefits are the criminals we investigate every day,” James said. “We are considering all legal options to stop this outrageous action.” TRUMP SAYS ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS ARE UNCOVERING BILLIONS IN WASTE, CLAIMS SAVINGS COULD BALANCE BUDGET Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in New York said they are expanding efforts to investigate Medicaid fraud and patient abuse. “Attorney General James’ apparent inability to explain the New York MFCU’s indefensible criminal enforcement performance is not a political distraction as she puts it,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III, who is spearheading the revival of the NDNY Health Care Fraud Task Force, said in a statement. Sarcone noted that the New York MFCU averaged just nine criminal indictments a year between 2021 and 2025, compared with more than 100 annually during the three years preceding James’ tenure. “Public benefits fraud and Medicaid fraud did not abruptly stop in 2019,” Sarcone added. “Instead, under the failed leadership of AG James, criminal Medicaid fraud in New York State has been ignored.” The suspension took effect July 1 and remains in effect through Sept. 30 unless New York completes a series of corrective actions ordered by HHS, including reducing case backlogs, increasing criminal indictments and improving coordination with federal investigators. If those deficiencies are not corrected, the Office of Inspector General warned New York it could lose its federal Medicaid Fraud Control Unit grant for fiscal year 2027.
Trump’s ‘hero’ justice offers roadmap after Supreme Court rejects birthright order
President Donald Trump lost his Supreme Court bid to restrict birthright citizenship through executive order, but one of his own appointees may have handed Republicans a blueprint for pursuing much of the same goal through Congress. Voting with the 6-3 majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed that Executive Order 14160, which restricts automatic citizenship to people born to U.S. citizens or permanent residents, couldn’t take effect. But in a concurring opinion, he also pointed to a different path forward. Kavanaugh argued the court should have resolved the case under federal law rather than the Constitution, laying out a potential legislative path for Congress to pursue changes to birthright citizenship. Congress first wrote the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship language into federal law in 1940, then carried it over into the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. Because Congress adopted that language after the Supreme Court’s landmark 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which established that most people born in the United States automatically become U.S. citizens, Kavanaugh said lawmakers effectively incorporated the court’s interpretation into federal statute. TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP Kavanaugh said Trump couldn’t use an executive order to change a law Congress had already passed, but instead suggested Congress could rewrite the law to limit birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily. “Congress could — consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment—amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” he wrote. ALITO WARNS SUPREME COURT MADE ‘SERIOUS MISTAKE’ THAT COULD HAVE NATIONAL SECURITY CONSEQUENCES Kavanaugh argued that large-scale illegal immigration and modern international travel have created circumstances the Reconstruction Congress never envisioned. In his view, that gives Congress room to establish new exceptions to birthright citizenship that are comparable to the historical exceptions recognized under the citizenship clause, including children born to foreign diplomats and enemy forces occupying U.S. territory. “Those two categories of foreign citizens—namely, those unlawfully or temporarily in the country—are relevantly similar to the four categories of persons recognized as exceptions in Wong Kim Ark,” Kavanaugh wrote. While the majority rejected Kavanaugh’s constitutional reasoning, Republicans quickly seized on the idea that any future effort to limit birthright citizenship would have to come through Congress rather than the White House. REPUBLICAN ACCUSES SCOTUS OF BETRAYING US, PUSHES BILL RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, PREGNANT VISITORS Hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling came out, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said birthright citizenship has “been abused” and suggested that Congress will have to amend the Constitution. “It’s one of those things that was intended to serve a noble and important purpose and has been thwarted and overused and abused,” Johnson told reporters. “I’m sure that the conclusion from this decision is you have to amend the Constitution to fix that.” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., renewed his push for a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship, arguing that legislation alone would not be enough. “I introduced a constitutional amendment months ago, actually, to fix birthright citizenship,” Paul wrote on X. “After the Supreme Court decision, that amendment matters more than ever. I’m asking my colleagues to take it seriously and help me get this passed.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, echoed Paul’s calls to pass a constitutional amendment. “The long fight for a constitutional amendment begins now,” Lee wrote on X. “We must explicitly exclude foreign nationals who break our laws, violate our borders, or exploit loopholes to make their families American.” Trump argued that Congress could change birthright citizenship through legislation instead of a constitutional amendment. “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!” Several Republicans quickly pointed to existing legislation, including Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., Constitutional Citizenship Clarification Act, as well as proposals from Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., aimed at cracking down on birth tourism. Meanwhile, the Justice Department indicated it would shift tactics, announcing a crackdown on birth tourism by targeting alleged visa fraud and related criminal conduct rather than attempting to enforce Executive Order 14160. But, Kavanaugh’s roadmap is far from a guarantee. On the constitutional question, a 5-4 majority concluded that the citizenship clause itself protects birthright citizenship, meaning any congressional effort to restrict it through ordinary legislation would likely face immediate constitutional challenges. “Justice Thomas says in the final paragraph of his dissent that he’s not confident that the decision is going to stand the test of time, so it could well be that the court would revisit it if Congress were to take the steps that Justice Kavanaugh describes,” Notre Dame Law School professor Haley Proctor told Fox News Digital. “This is an important decision. I don’t think the court’s going to revisit it lightly, and the only sure way to get a new answer here would be to amend the Constitution.” Kavanaugh offered a similar roadmap in a recent Trump case over tariffs. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal emergency law known as IEEPA did not give Trump the authority to impose sweeping tariffs. But Kavanaugh argued the administration had simply relied on the wrong legal authority instead of rejecting the policy outright. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “The Court today concludes that the President checked the wrong statutory box by relying on IEEPA rather than another statute to impose these tariffs,” Kavanaugh wrote. Instead, Kavanaugh said Trump could rely on several existing trade laws to impose many of the same tariffs, though those laws would require additional legal steps. Trump later called Kavanaugh his “new hero” in a Truth Social post praising the justice’s dissent in the February tariff decision.
Former KKK Grand Wizard praises Mamdani-endorsed socialist’s stance on interracial marriage
Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke recently told a conservative media outlet that he agrees with a Democratic congressional nominee on an unlikely issue: interracial marriage. Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently won the Democratic primary in New York’s 13th Congressional District, attracted controversy on the campaign trail for a deleted 2019 social media post where she attacked “Black men” and “Arab men” for “fetishizing ugly colonizer women.” The sentiment won praise from Duke. “Well, I think that people have the right to preserve their particular heritage,” the former KKK leader told the Washington Free Beacon in a phone interview. “And if she’s concerned about preserving her heritage if it’s Somali, or whatever she is, she’s certainly got the right to do that.” MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST IN HOT SEAT AGAIN OVER DELETED POSTS PRAISING COMMUNISM, MARXISM: ‘CRAZYPANTS’ Chevalier identifies as Afro-Latina. She was also part of a cohort of socialist candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who swept New York’s June Democratic primary elections. Duke served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1989 to 1992 after years of involvement in extremist politics. He was grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan from 1974 to 1980, a title used by the organization for its national leader. Even before Duke went public with his praise for Chevalier, some political observers were making connections between the two. “Chevalier is our David Duke,” one unnamed Democrat told journalist Mark Halperin in June. “She is poisoning the possibility of a Democratic majority.” JAMES CARVILLE SAYS SOCIALIST DEMOCRAT SHOULDN’T BE IN THE PARTY, CALLS HER VIEWS ‘A BRIDGE TOO FAR’ Former Republican congressman Peter Meijer said Monday on X that “the difference is that the modern Democratic Party would never do to Chevalier what the GOP did to David Duke.” Duke infamously ran as a Republican in the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election after placing second in the state’s nonpartisan jungle primary. Amid national controversy, the GOP refused to endorse Duke, backing Democrat Edwin Edwards instead. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, congratulated Chevalier on her primary victory in a Saturday social media post. New York’s 13th Congressional District is heavily Democratic, making it very likely that Chevalier will be elected to the House of Representatives in November. HUNDREDS OF RABBIS DEMAND MAMDANI APOLOGIZE FOR PUTTING ‘TARGET’ ON AMERICAN JEWS WITH AIPAC ‘MONSTER’ REMARKS Duke has had kind words for a number of Democrats in recent years, citing their shared distaste for Israel. “By defiance to (Zionist occupied government) Ilhan Omar is NOW the most important Member of the US Congress!” Duke wrote on his website in 2019 after Rep. Ilhan Omar was accused of implying that Jewish lawmakers have a dual loyalty to Israel. Duke has called Jews “a blight” who should “go into the ashcan of history.” The one-time KKK leader also praised Mamdani in his interview with the Free Beacon. “I think that the new mayor of New York was a step forward,” Duke said, according to the outlet, though he noted he disagrees with him on immigration policy. “His views on Israel are critical, because there’s no more important political issue than the fact that a tiny minority of America … the oligarchs of the Jewish people, that they are controlling our foreign policy.” The episode highlights a potential political vulnerability for some progressive Democrats, who face mounting scrutiny over allegations of antisemitism within their ranks. Duke’s praise for Chevalier — and his support for other Democrats who have drawn accusations of antisemitism — give critics in both parties a new opening to attack the Democratic Party’s young and ascendant socialist wing. The Chevalier campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital Thursday.
Republican says Trump’s top election priority ‘dead’ in Senate as GOP fractures ahead of midterms
A Senate Republican revealed that even if President Donald Trump’s flagship election integrity legislation had the votes to pass, there’s not enough time to actually have it take effect for the upcoming midterm elections. The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has increasingly become a problem for congressional Republicans desperate to move onto other must-pass legislation. But Trump has consistently demanded they find a way to pass it, particularly in the Senate, by any means necessary. But Republicans aren’t unified behind the bill, and Democrats unanimously despise it. Even if it got 60 votes, which is an unlikely scenario, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., contended it wouldn’t have an impact in time for November. GOP INFIGHTING OVER TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL ERUPTS AS TOP SENATOR CALLS STRATEGY ‘FANTASY’ “Unless they do the work to get to the 60 votes, they know it’s dead, and so all this is theater,” Tillis told the Raleigh, North Carolina-based News & Observer. Tillis, one of four Senate Republicans to vote against attaching the legislation to an immigration enforcement funding bill last month and who was called out by Trump, is familiar with pushing for voter ID laws, which is only a portion of what the proposed SAVE America Act would do. During his time as House speaker in the North Carolina legislature, he was a major proponent of enacting the state’s voter ID. But doing so takes time and money, he argued. ‘IT’S A MESS’: GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP’S AGENDA “And, honestly, here in North Carolina, or in virtually any state, the ability, if we go back to when we implemented voter ID in North Carolina, it took a year to get everything in place with adequate funding,” Tillis said. The current version of the SAVE America Act doesn’t directly allocate funding to states to implement voter ID or its several other provisions. That is, in part, why the legislation wouldn’t work in the budget reconciliation process, as Trump has called for and House Republicans are mulling, which requires provisions to have a direct budgetary impact and not be policy only. Tillis pitched the scenario that if everything worked out, it would eat into early voting periods or outright snuff them. “Let’s assume you only allow early voting in the month of October,” Tillis said. “Then do you honestly believe that we can have this thing up in 50 states? There’s no funding. There’s no specific implementation instructions. SUPREME COURT RULES ON MAIL-IN BALLOTS RECEIVED AFTER ELECTION DAY “It’s become a joke, in my mind, for somebody that’s actually implemented voter ID law, how anybody can look the American voters in the eye and suggest that it could be implemented in time without just causing a huge impact on the elections and ironically undermine the confidence of it,” he continued. Still, it hasn’t stopped a cohort of congressional Republicans, notably Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., from demanding that the Senate take action on the bill. And Trump is determined to strong-arm Republicans into passing it, demanding they nuke the filibuster, attach the SAVE America Act to must-pass legislation or fire the Senate rules referee. Following the Supreme Court’s decision to allow mail-in ballots to be counted after Election Day, he renewed his call. “In light of the tremendous loss in the Supreme Court today concerning Voter’s Rights, and the fact that ‘people’s’ votes are allowed to be counted LONG AFTER an Election is over, it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Democrats stay quiet on next steps after Supreme Court transgender sports ruling
Congressional Democrats are staying mum about their potential next moves after the Supreme Court dealt a blow to transgender athletes, underscoring a politically fraught issue that continues to divide the party ahead of the November midterm elections. The court ruled Tuesday that states may bar biological males from competing on girls and women’s school sports teams, upholding laws in Idaho and West Virginia and effectively preserving similar laws in the 25 other states that restrict participation based on biological sex. The ruling, which prompted cheers among Republicans, did not interfere with the remaining states that continue to allow biological males on girls and women’s sports teams. Progressive Democrats sharply criticized the decision, while the vast majority of elected officials in the party did not issue public statements. None, however, appeared to outline any legislative response. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION THREATENS KANSAS SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING OVER TRANSGENDER STUDENT POLICY “I want every trans kid to know that there are people here in Congress fighting for you,” Rep. Sarah Jacobs, D-Calif., said in a video posted to social media. “We are going to stand up for all women and girls, which includes trans women and girls.” Jacobs, a junior member of House Democratic leadership and co-chair of the Trans Equality Task Force, did not say whether Democrats would introduce legislation in response to the court’s ruling. The Congressional Equality Caucus, a Democratic-aligned group advocating for LGBTQ rights, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also did not outline any legislative response. The Equality Caucus, however, posted a series of comments on social media slamming the decision, including decrying the outcome as “devastating” for transgender athletes. Fox News Digital reached out to spokespeople for Jacobs, Jeffries and the Congressional Equality Caucus for comment but did not hear back. The relatively muted response comes as public polling has consistently found broad opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports, including among Democrats, suggesting that some lawmakers may be out of step with their own voters. A survey conducted by The New York Times in 2025 found that nearly eight in 10 Americans opposed biological males competing in women’s sports. Roughly 70% of Democrats or those who “lean Democrat” held that view, according to the poll. Democrats hailing from the centrist side of the party were largely quiet about the court’s ruling. Few Democratic lawmakers facing competitive re-election challenges from Republicans commented on the court’s decision, a Fox News Digital analysis of Cook Political Report election data found. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., who is seeking a third House term in a Republican-leaning district, issued a positive statement following the court’s ruling. “The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a significant ruling affirming that states possess the legal authority to maintain separate sports teams based on biological sex,” Davis said in a written statement. “Title IX has played a vital role in expanding athletic opportunities for women and girls, and we must continue safeguarding those opportunities.” DEMOCRATS REVOLT OVER ‘BIOLOGICAL’ WORDING IN WOMEN’S HISTORY MUSEUM BILL Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., a top GOP target in November’s midterm elections and a member of the Equality Caucus, acknowledged Wednesday that the trans rights movement misses some of the “nuance” about women’s sports. “At those town halls, what I saw was that the people who were the most upset, a lot of them had spent the last 12 years driving their girls to sports practice, and they view their best shot of their student getting a college education as an athletic scholarship,” Perez told CNN in an interview. “And, so, when we rush to moralize and be like, ‘This is all about love vs. hate,’ I think we miss some of the nuance.” The Washington Democrat did not directly state whether she agreed with the court’s ruling. In the Senate, responses to the decision were few and far between. Requests for comment from several Democratic lawmakers’ offices on whether they would seek to challenge the court’s decision should they regain a majority in the upper chamber went unanswered. Notably silent on the issue was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who lauded the Supreme Court’s decision upholding birthright citizenship the same day and had posted about attending New York City’s Pride parade days before. Some of the most vocal supporters of trans rights in the upper chamber did, however, weigh in, vowing to “keep fighting” for transgender athletes. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., one of the earliest supporters of LGBTQ rights in the Senate, who introduced the Trans Bill of Rights, charged that the court’s decision “again cleared the way for Trump and MAGA Republicans to discriminate against the trans community.” “This decision tears trans athletes from their teams and the sports they love,” Markey, who is in a tight bid for re-election against Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said on X. “We will keep fighting. Discrimination and hate will not win.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also weighed in, accusing “right-wing extremists and the MAGA movement” of being “determined to single out, target, and harm the trans community.” “My heart is with trans kids and their loved ones,” she said on X. “I won’t stop fighting for them.”
Red-state senator drops hammer on Dem mayor over new ‘woke’ DEI ordinance while violent crime surges
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is demanding answers from Cincinnati’s mayor over a newly enacted city ordinance reorganizing procurement under a Department of Economic Inclusion and Procurement, arguing taxpayers should not be funding what he calls an expanding DEI bureaucracy that is potentially illegal. “Taxpayers should never foot the bill for woke DEI policies or initiatives,” Moreno wrote in a letter to Cincinnati mayor Aftab Pureval on Thursday that was obtained by Fox News Digital. “Cincinnati’s taxpayers deserve a government that rewards competence and merit, not politically driven quotas or preferences based on race or ethnicity.” At the heart of the issue is a city ordinance approved by the Cincinnati City Council in June that creates a Department of Economic Inclusion and Procurement, which Moreno argues expands the city’s DEI bureaucracy and could inject DEI considerations into the contracting process. According to city documents cited by Moreno, the restructuring would make the city’s contracting process more efficient while preserving its focus on DEI. In the letter, which was also sent to the Justice Department, Moreno said the ordinance comes amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI programs across the federal government and argued it “completely ignores” the Justice Department guidance warning against engaging in “unlawful discrimination.” DOJ DANGLES MASSIVE SIGNING BONUSES FOR LAWYERS READY TO FIGHT ‘LAWLESS’ CITIES FAR BEYOND DC Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI initiatives a priority, signing executive orders to eliminate DEI programs and end DEI-related hiring and training practices, as well as directing agencies to review recipients of federal funding. “The days of choosing public contract winners based on excellence are back,” Moreno wrote, adding that “the City of Cincinnati must be a better steward of public funds.” SEATTLE COUNCIL MEMBER TOUTS ‘BLACK BUDGET,’ CALLS FOR BLACK RESIDENTS TO FORM ‘MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL PARTY’ Pointing to the city’s explanation of the ordinance, Moreno said that the city intends to continue incorporating DEI in its contracting process. “Amazingly, your office even admits it in its explanation: ‘The goal of this restructuring is not to reduce the city’s focus on inclusion. Instead, it is intended to strengthen it,’” Moreno wrote. “Ohioans deserve to know that their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are awarded to individuals and businesses based on merit, not race or ethnicity,” Moreno wrote. INTERNAL EMAILS EXPOSE HOW JULY 4TH BASH IS BEING DERAILED BY DEM-RUN COUNTY: ‘OFFENSIVE’ Moreno asked Pureval to respond within five business days with the exact amount of federal funding the city received during fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026, the projected cost of the ordinance and an outline of the process the new department will use when reviewing applications and awarding city contracts. Moreno also requested information on how Cincinnati is planning to comply with the Justice Department‘s guidance and its recent law enforcement staffing data, adding that the city should prioritize addressing its $30 million budget deficit and public safety challenges instead of expanding DEI initiatives. “Additionally, the adoption of this Ordinance represents a gross misallocation of resources at a time when the city faces a surge in violent crime, including multiple recent homicides, a mass shooting, and a persistent law enforcement recruitment crisis that undermines public safety,” Moreno wrote. “Instead of fueling divisive social experiments, these public funds should be redirected to protecting Cincinnatians and restoring order to Ohio’s streets.” Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Pureval’s office for comment.
Obama judge hands progressives a win over anti-Trump ’86 47′ message amid rising threats
An Obama-appointed federal judge has issued a final ruling allowing an anti-Trump “86 47” flag to be flown, delivering a win to a progressive activist group as the National Mall remains a hot zone for vandalism and threats against President Donald Trump. Progressive group Accountability Now USA flew the flag near the National Mall, and alleged that the National Park Service (NPS) violated their First Amendment rights by threatening to revoke their permit. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington, D.C., ruled on Monday that the flag is protected political speech. The administration has previously interpreted the number “86” as a political threat, pointing to its common use in the restaurant industry to mean removing or refusing service, while 47 appears to refer to Trump as the 47th U.S. president. “This opinion is from an Obama-appointed judge. Flying a flag that is a threat to the Office of the President of the United States should not be permitted under any administration,” a Department of Interior spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “In what world have we lost all decency to demand that any threat against the President be taken very seriously?” OBAMA JUDGE CLEARS LEFT-WING GROUP TO FLY OMINOUS FLAG AIMED AT TRUMP ON HIS OWN TURF “[Its] ‘8647’ flag… is not a true threat to the President or incitement of violence,” Moss said in his ruling. The group also displayed two flags accusing President Trump of sexually assaulting a minor. Moss ruled that those displays are “not legally obscene” and therefore remain protected by the First Amendment. Moss was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama after previously serving in former President Bill Clinton ’s Justice Department. He has also contributed to and volunteered for Democratic candidates and causes. OBAMA JUDGE CLEARS LEFT-WING GROUP TO FLY OMINOUS FLAG AIMED AT TRUMP ON HIS OWN TURF The judge noted in a previous order on the case that “a true threat to the life or safety of the President would undoubtedly outweigh the interest of the public or the speaker in continuing to urge that unlawful conduct.” The dispute over the nature of the messaging comes amid heightened administration scrutiny of “86 47” messages after the giant numbers appeared to be etched into the grass between the Washington Monument and the World War II memorial last month. OFFICIALS ASK FOR HELP IDENTIFYING PERSON IN REFLECTING POOL DAMAGE INVESTIGATION Grass samples were also collected for testing and examination in the area by investigators. America’s 250th birthday brings major events to the nation’s capital as D.C. braces for massive crowds, tight security, road closures and heightened law enforcement presence. Trump will attend the “Salute to America” event on July 4th. His remarks are expected to begin around 9 p.m. ET, prior to a massive fireworks display on the National Mall that has been touted by the administration as the largest in history. In April, there was an assassination attempt against Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where a shooter attempted to break into the ballroom. The fallout from the latest attempt comes as the anniversary of the Butler, Pa., rally approaches on July 13. A bullet came close to ending Trump’s life that day in 2024 after it grazed his ear. And just two months later, another attempt on his life occurred when a man with a rifle was arrested in Southern Florida after he stuck a rifle through the bushes where Trump was golfing that day. Meanwhile, the National Mall has garnered special attention this year following a string of vandalism against the Reflecting Pool and monuments. The pattern emerged after Trump ordered a restoration and repainting of the reflecting pool, which was then met with “razor-blade cuts” to its lining, according to the White House.
Into the Darkness
Fault Lines investigates allegations of systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody. Into the Darkness investigates allegations that torture is used systematically against Palestinians held in the Israeli prison system and military detention facilities. Through powerful firsthand testimony, former detainees recount beatings, starvation, sexual violence, medical neglect and psychological abuse. The film follows the stories of Mohammad Ibrahim, a Palestinian American arrested at the age of 15 for throwing stones, and a former detainee from Gaza whose harrowing testimony details extreme sexual violence. Their accounts reveal the human cost of a detention system that rights groups and former prisoners say operates with impunity. Filmed across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Tel Aviv, Florida and London, the documentary examines allegations that these practices are carried out under the authority of the Israeli military and Israeli officials, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Published On 2 Jul 20262 Jul 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Spain vs Austria LIVE: FIFA World Cup 2026
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Live coverage and text updates as Spain play Austria in Los Angeles in the Round of 32 knockout stage.