Democrat Hank Johnson draws Holocaust comparison while blasting deportations
House Judiciary Committee member Hank Johnson, R-Ga., made waves when he made allusions to the Holocaust while obliquely criticizing the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the arrest of Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan. Johnson was speaking during a Wednesday committee markup meeting when he began paraphrasing German preacher Martin Niemöller’s confession as someone who once supported the Nazi Party until it was too late to object to its mounting atrocities. “You know, first, they came for the Latinos outside of the Home Depots, trying to get work so that they could feed their families,” Johnson began. “And I didn’t say anything about it because I’m not a Latino at the Home Depot.” SENATOR WARNS OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL JUDICIAL OVERREACH AHEAD OF SCOTUS SHOWDOWN “Then they came for the Hispanic-looking folks [with] hats backward with tattoos. And they deported them to El Salvador. And I didn’t say anything about that because I don’t wear my [hat] backward, and I don’t have any tattoos, and I don’t look like a Latino.” “Then they came for the Latinas at home, taking care of the children. They scooped up the Latinas and the children, some of whom were American citizens, one of whom was receiving treatment for cancer. They swept them up, took them off, and deported them. And I didn’t say anything about it. Because I’m not a Latina. I’m not a little child who’s an American citizen.” Johnson went on to make the same allusion to students protesting in support of Hamas on campus, who have been another target of the Trump administration. “They sent jackbooted thugs wearing masks to pick them up, take them thousands of miles away and put them in a private for-profit detention center where they languish at taxpayer expense. And I didn’t say anything about it because I’m not a student on a foreign visa,” Johnson said. He then noted how Dugan had been arrested for allegedly aiding an illegal immigrant in avoiding federal immigration authorities, saying he did not speak up because he was not a “White female judge.” “But then they came for me. And I looked around, and there was nobody left because I had remained silent,” he said. DEM SEN JOINS GROUP OF FAR LEFT LAWMAKERS WHO THINK TRUMP HAS AGAIN COMMITTED IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES Johnson concluded by noting he paraphrased a poem from Germany, saying it “resonated back then as it does today.” “It’s important that the people understand what is happening with our constitutional rights in this country. Everyone is entitled to due process, whether or not you are documented or undocumented, whether or you are a citizen or not. You’re entitled to due process.” He said an amendment up for a vote in the markup sought to affirm that. An amendment in the meeting record would have prohibited certain funds from being used to remove “an alien in violation of their rights under the Fifth Amendment.” It was voted down. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson for comment, as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, for response. On X, the official House Judiciary Committee Republican account mocked Johnson’s remarks, writing, “Wow, Hank Johnson just implied that all Latinos hang out at Home Depot.” Johnson’s penchant for colorful remarks goes back more than a decade to 2010, when he warned then-Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Robert Willard during a House Armed Service Committee hearing on military-buildup plans that Guam could potentially “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation. Democrats have recently shifted their comments on Garcia’s case more toward concerns about due process, after Tennessee police video showing a run-in with Garcia allegedly trafficking migrants was released.
Red state school district slapped with complaint to Trump admin alleging unlawful DEI practices
FIRST ON FOX: A pro-Trump legal nonprofit is asking for the U.S. Department of Education to investigate an Ohio school district that the group says is pushing an “unlawful” DEI agenda and violating federal anti-discrimination law. The complaint from America First Legal alleges that the Upper Arlington School District in Columbus, Ohio has implemented DEI policies dating back to 2020 and cites material from the district’s own website. “In June 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter riots, the Upper Arlington School Board, like many other educational institutions and corporations in our country, caved to Black Lives Matter demands and began to implement racist and discriminatory DEI policies in the District,” the complaint alleges. “The District added a Chief Talent Officer (“CTO”) to “foster workforce diversity. Upper Arlington also added an Equity Advisory Board, which aims to ‘provide invaluable insight and feedback on the recruitment of a diverse staff.’ The School District also created a new position, the Chief Excellence and Engagement Officer, who was tasked with ‘spearhead[ing] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts.’” WATCH: UNEARTHED FOOTAGE EXPOSES MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PLEDGING TO RESIST TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS The complaint alleges that DEI advocacy continued in the years after 2020 and quoted a district report that said “[t]here is a need for a clear vision for DEI initiatives [and] advocacy for LGBTQIA+ students” while referring “those who oppos[e] DEI efforts” as “negative voices.” A “Comprehensive Equity Report” from the district “contains “discriminatory and illegal recommendations”, according to the complaint. The complaint makes the case that the DEI practices within the district are not in line with current Education Department rules and guidelines and suggests that federal funding to the school could be in jeopardy. WHITE HOUSE VOWS TO IMPLEMENT ‘SYSTEM OF MERIT’ IN US, DISMANTLE DEI ‘STRANGULATION’ “When our nation’s schools discriminate based on race and sex, and embed divisive racial and sexual ideologies into their curriculum, it not only violates the law, but it also warps our children’s education,” Jacob Meckler, America First Legal Counsel, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The Department of Education should investigate the Upper Arlington School District and, if appropriate, terminate federal taxpayer funding.” Fox News Digital reached out to the school district and Department of Education for comment. Upper Arlington School District has been in hot water over DEI practices in the past when video surfaced in 2023 showing district officials discussing how they can push critical race theory covertly, Fox News Digital previously reported. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Matthew Boaz, the executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion of Upper Arlington Schools, said. “You can pass a bill that you can’t teach CRT in a classroom, but if you didn’t cover programming, or you didn’t cover extracurricular activities or something like that, that message might still get out. Oops.” In a statement to Fox News Digital Superintendent Hunt said, “On April 30, Upper Arlington Schools received a copy of a letter sent to the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights by an attorney writing on behalf of the advocacy group America First Legal. The letter accuses the district of ‘illegal DEI policies,’ but fails to identify any specific practices or policies that are actually in place in the district.” “We take any concerns of discrimination seriously and we will continue, as always, in our commitment to our mission of challenging and supporting every student, every step of the way, to our vision that every student is prepared to serve, lead, and succeed, and to our values – start with heart, strength in team, and contagious drive. Our new Excellence & Innovation 2030 Strategic Plan is rooted in these commitments, and we will remain focused on providing our students with the high quality educational experience that our community expects.” Hunt added that “we will certainly cooperate fully” if an investigation is opened. A Dept. of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department “doesn’t confirm complaints.” Earlier this year, the Department of Education issued a letter warning public schools across the country that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding. “Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, said in the letter. The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated. Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report
GOP leaders find new major holiday deadline for Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ amid Medicaid, tax divisions
Some Republican leaders are hoping they can pass a massive bill codifying President Donald Trump‘s agenda into federal law by the Fourth of July. It means the sweeping policy overhaul could reach Trump’s desk for a signature by the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. “I’ve said all along, my goal is, is for the president to sign this one big, beautiful bill on July 4th,” House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., told “Fox News Sunday.” It comes as House Republicans struggle to reconcile differences on clean energy and Medicaid in talks to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to pay for Trump’s tax policies. SCOOP: REPUBLICANS DISCUSS DEFUNDING ‘BIG ABORTION’ LIKE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TRUMP AGENDA BILL Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters days earlier on Capitol Hill, “We’ve got three legs to the President’s economic agenda: trade, tax and deregulation, and we hope that we can have this tax portion done by Fourth of July.” Republican lawmakers are working on a multitrillion-dollar piece of legislation aimed at advancing Trump’s policies on tax, defense, energy, immigration, border security and at raising the debt limit. Trump’s tax policies, a cornerstone of his platform and the costliest portion of the bill, include extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees’ social security. Republican leaders and tax hawks have warned that failing to extend TCJA by the time its provisions expire at the end of this year could result in a tax hike of over 20% for millions of families. House GOP leaders said in a letter to lawmakers dated April 5, “Immediately following House adoption of the budget resolution, our House and Senate committees will begin preparing together their respective titles of the reconciliation bill to be marked up in the next work period. As always, this will involve input from all Members and will keep us on track to send a bill to the President’s desk by Memorial Day.” BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has since somewhat walked that goal back, telling reporters he believes the House can finish its portion by Memorial Day. “We are on track to pass the bill out of the House. As we’ve said from the very beginning, and get it over, to the next stage by Memorial Day,” Johnson said during a press conference last week. He was optimistic about beating the early July goal after meeting with Bessent and other top lawmakers last Monday, however. “He says July 4 because that’s a big, big birthday for us. And everybody knows that,” Johnson said of Bessent’s comments. “But I think – and I hope, and believe – that we can get it done sooner than that.” A House GOP leadership aide told Fox News Digital that Johnson “stated his goal is to move the bill through the House by Memorial Day” and that it was “not in conflict” with sending a bill to Trump by July 4. When asked if that goal was feasible, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital, “It’s gonna have to be.” Others who spoke with Fox News Digital were more skeptical. A senior House Republican aide told Fox News Digital, “Deadlines are so arbitrary in Congress. Passing the bill by Memorial Day was always a long shot, but moving the goalposts from Easter to Memorial Day to July 4 just shows weakness.” “We better stick with this one, because the next federal holiday isn’t until September!” the aide said. Republicans are not only racing the clock on the TCJA deadline, but also the possibility of a national credit default. The U.S. is expected to run out of cash to pay its debts sometime this summer, according to several projections – a somewhat murky deadline based on a number of factors, including yearly tax filings. MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE Hitting that date without acting on the debt limit would send domestic and global financial markets into turmoil. Republicans are looking to move Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to sideline the opposition, in this case Democrats, while passing legislation focused on spending, taxes and debt. After both the House and Senate passed budget “frameworks” earlier this year, the relevant committees named in the frameworks are working to write policy in line with the spending cut or surplus they are granted. Seven of 11 House committees have completed their work so far. However, three critical panels – the committees on Ways & Means, Agriculture, and Energy & Commerce – had to delay initial tentative plans to advance their portions this week. Republicans in blue states, who GOP leaders view as critical to keeping the majority, have raised alarms about cutting too deeply into Medicaid. It is under the jurisdiction of the Energy & Commerce Committee, which is tasked with finding $880 billion of the $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. Negotiators have insisted they are only interested in going after waste, fraud and abuse in the system, but it has not stopped Democrats from accusing the GOP of trying to cut critical healthcare programs for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, the committee is also going to have to decide on an ongoing battle between conservatives and blue state Republicans over whether to repeal some or all of the former Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) green energy tax subsidies. In March, 21 House Republicans signed a letter urging their colleagues to preserve the green energy tax credit. “Countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits – many of which have enjoyed broad support in Congress – to make major investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure for traditional and renewable energy sources alike,” they wrote. The anti-IRA Republicans, however, said in a letter last week that the U.S.’
Trump to meet with American ballerina freed from Russian prison
President Donald Trump will host a Russian-American ballerina at the White House on Monday, roughly a month after the Trump administration secured her release from a Russian prison, Fox News Digital has learned. Ksenia Karelina, a former ballerina, was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony in 2024 for treason. The 33-year-old was released and returned to the U.S. on April 10 through a U.S.-Russian prison swap, Fox Digital previously reported. “Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for [the] American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American, and I’m so, so happy to get home,” Karelina said in a video posted by Trump deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka on April 11 upon her return to the U.S. A White House official confirmed to Fox Digital on Monday that Karelina will visit the White House on Monday afternoon. RUSSIAN-AMERICAN BALLERINA KSENIA KARELINA RELEASED IN PRISONER SWAP WITH MOSCOW Karelina, who is a U.S. citizen, was born in Russia and had been living and working in Los Angeles at the time of her arrest. She was visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2024 when Russia’s Federal Security Service – the country’s top security agency – inspected her phone and found she donated about $50 to a U.S.-based charity that works to aid Ukraine, Fox Digital previously reported. AMERICAN BALLERINA ACCUSED OF SPYING STANDS TRIAL IN MOSCOW FOR $51 UKRAINE DONATION She was initially detained for “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason as Russian officials claimed she raised money for the Ukrainian army and took part in actions that supported Ukraine while in the U.S. Karelina was returned to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. releasing Arthur Petrov, a dual German Russian citizen who was accused of exporting sensitive U.S. electronics to the Russian military. He was arrested in 2023 and charged with crimes such as conspiracy and violating export controls, Reuters previously reported. AMERICAN BALLERINA LEFT OUT OF RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP PLEADS GUILTY TO TREASON Karelina’s family celebrated her release last month, with her former stepmother Eleonra Srebroski telling Fox News at the time that she was “euphoric” over the prisoner swap while praising Trump for the release. “My spirit is high. We are extremely happy. This is beyond any emotion…This is healing,” Srebroski said. “We were putting a lot of hope in the Trump administration, and we knew she would be next after Marc Fogel. We support Trump even more.” Karelina’s boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, told the New York Post upon her release in April that the couple was eager to meet Trump and thank him. “We really need to thank him personally. When the time’s right, she’d love to meet him and I would love to shake his hand for bringing back the love of my life. And I’m not into politics,” Van Heerden told the outlet at the time. “I was begging the Biden administration for a whole year to bring Ksenia back. About seven months I realized that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to do it for me. I had faith and I truly believed when President Trump came into power, he could do it and he did it,” he added. Karelina’s release follows the Trump administration striking another prisoner swap deal with Russia in February that saw the release of U.S. citizen and teacher Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport.
DHS unleashes possible money-saving measure for illegal aliens to self-deport: ‘Safest option’
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security will front the cost of commercial flights and provide a $1,000 stipend to illegal aliens who opt to self-deport from the United States in a move DHS says will save thousands of dollars. The department says this will be 70% cheaper for American taxpayers, as it currently costs DHS, on average, over $17,000 to arrest, detain, and deport someone. DHS told Fox News that paying for aliens to remove themselves, even with the stipend, is anticipated to cost only around $4,500 on average. The stipend would not be paid until it was verified that an individual self-deported. Aliens will use the CBP Home self-deportation app to access this assistance, and DHS expects self-removals, already in the thousands, to ramp up significantly with this announcement. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN According to a news release, those who use the CBP Home app to leave the U.S. will be “deprioritized for detention and removal” if they are actually taking steps to exit the country. “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News in a statement. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App. This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens and is a 70% savings for US taxpayers. Download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport,” she continued. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE DHS says that self-deportation allows individuals a chance to come back into the country legally one day. ICE FILES DETAINERS AGAINST 2 ILLEGAL ALIENS, INCLUDING 1 FACING ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGES FOR SHOOTING SPREE Still, the move could be controversial among some critics, as some will see it as aliens being rewarded with taxpayer money for breaking the law. DHS acknowledged this concern with Fox News, and the department reinforced that this will save taxpayers significant amounts of money in the bigger picture, with the end goal of getting illegal aliens out of the country. ICE TOUTS RECORD-BREAKING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT DURING TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS Millions of people entered the country illegally under the Biden administration, and new apprehensions at the border have come to a near-screeching halt. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In addition, the Trump administration has put a primary focus on deporting individuals with criminal convictions and charges against them on top of being in the country illegally. This includes transferring some alleged MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to a prison in El Salvador, as the two groups were designated a foreign terrorist organization by Trump.
Former VP Pence vows to be a ‘voice against’ Trump when president veers from ‘conservative agenda’
EXCLUSIVE – BOSTON – He is out of power, but former Vice President Mike Pence does not feel powerless. Pence, the once loyal vice president who broke with President Donald Trump as he defied his one-time boss’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, pledged to be a vocal GOP critic when Trump, during his second tour of duty in the White House, veers from the “conservative agenda” that defined the Trump-Pence administration. “When you look at those Trump-Pence years, they were years that we governed on a conservative agenda,” the former vice president said in an exclusive national digital interview with Fox News minutes after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Sunday night. Pence said he gives “President Trump all the credit in the world for an historic victory last November, and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration.” WHY TRUMP’S FIRST VICE PRESIDENT WAS HONORED BY THE KENNEDY FAMILY He also praised Trump “not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border, for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Houthis.” However, he argued that “I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against his legacy and ultimately the success of our party or our country. And so we’re going to continue to be a voice against them. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING, ANALYSIS AND OPINION ON MIKE PENCE “I really do believe that for prosperity…for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership on the world stage, less government, less taxes, traditional moral values, and the right to life, and I’m going to be a voice for that,” added Pence, long a champion of social and fiscal conservative values. On the suggestion in recent weeks by some House Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for Trump’s second-term agenda, an idea some in the White House contemplated before the president came out against the proposal, Pence was clear in his opposition. “Any suggestion that I’ve heard among some in and around the administration that we raise the top margin rate, the so-called millionaires tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,” Pence said. He additionally emphasized that “It needs to be opposed. Let’s make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent. That’s a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in the days ahead.” The former vice president, a proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, has criticized the president’s upending of longstanding U.S. foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies. Pence received a standing ovation from the audience at Boston’s JFK Presidential Library when, in his acceptance address, he stressed that the U.S. “must continue to stand with Ukraine.” Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of “populism” in the party, as he bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump. While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it. When asked if there was another political chapter ahead, and possibly another bid for national office, Pence told Fox News Digital, “I leave that up to the American people.” He reiterated that he intends to “be a voice” for traditional and conservative values and “we’ll let the future take care of itself.” As for Trump’s repeated flirtations the past three months with seeking a third term in office in 2028 – which is forbidden by the 22nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution – Pence said, “I think there’s no higher priority for a president or any elected official to keep faith with the Constitution of the United States.” “Every single one of us takes the same oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and my hope and my prayer is for the president on down, Republicans and Democrats, will take that oath to heart, because that’s the pathway forward for our country and all the American people,” he added. Pence spoke with Fox News Digital after receiving the Profile in Courage Award, which is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president. The annual award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford. Pence was honored with the award for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, during the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists — including some chanting “hang Mike Pence” — who stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 election. Hours later, after the rioters were cleared from the Capitol building, Pence resumed his constitutional duties by overseeing congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. “Vice President Pence put his life, career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections, and we are proud to honor him,” former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award. Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it is a “distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a
Senate Democrats predicting ‘brutal’ UN ambassador confirmation hearing for Mike Waltz
Senate Democrats are warning that Mike Waltz is going to have a very difficult time during his confirmation hearing for the role of United Nations ambassador. “It will be a brutal, brutal hearing. He’s not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “Mike Waltz is doing what we call – he is failing up,” added Duckworth, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He is failing in his job and getting promoted to be ambassador. That’s not what our nation needs at the United Nations.” “I think it will be a brutal confirmation hearing,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia also said to CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think he’s going to have tough questions, not only from Democrats but from Republicans.” HEGSETH, SIGNAL QUESTIONS DOG WALTZ AS POTENTIALLY PERILOUS UN AMBASSADOR CONFIRMATION HEARING LOOMS The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on Monday. Waltz has been facing scrutiny after The Atlantic magazine exposed a Signal group chat that his team had set up to discuss strikes against the Houthis in March. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to appoint a new national security adviser in about six months, telling reporters Waltz did not resign, but was instead tapped for an upgraded position as the administration’s ambassador to the United Nations. TRUMP TO TAP NEW NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR IN 6 MONTHS; CALLS WALTZ MOVE ‘UPGRADE’ Democrats appear hungry to use Waltz’s nomination as a forum to air grievances against other foreign policy leaders in the Trump administration – particularly Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. While the exact timeline for a potential confirmation vote in the Senate is unclear, the first hurdle that Waltz must clear is a confirmation vote out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Although it is uncertain when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will schedule the nomination hearing for Waltz and the subsequent vote, the committee said his nomination is a “priority.” Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Trump fields question about his timeline for judicial nominations: ‘We’re putting ’em in rapidly’
Responding to a question from the Daily Signal about his timeline and criteria for making future judicial nominations, President Donald Trump said, “we’re putting ’em in rapidly,” and seeking to “get very good ones.” Trump suggested there are “radicalized” and “crazy” judges who want a trial for each illegal immigrant who enters the U.S. The nation needs judges who will not demand a trial “for every single illegal immigrant,” he indicated. “We have millions of people that have come in here illegally, and we can’t have a trial for every single person, that would be millions of trials.” TRUMP ORDERS FEDS TO REOPEN ALCATRAZ TO HOUSE ‘AMERICA’S MOST RUTHLESS AND VIOLENT’ CRIMINALS Asked how he will ensure the judges he taps will be different, the president said, “All you can do is do the best you can.” The president — whose second-term agenda has been stymied by judicial roadblocks this year — announced the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week. TRUMP ADMIN SUES COLORADO, DENVER OVER ‘SANCTUARY LAWS,’ ALLEGED INTERFERENCE IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT “Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System,” Trump declared in his post. That marked the president’s first judicial nomination of his second term, according to reports. TRUMP QUESTIONS JUDGES WHO BLOCK DEPORTATIONS OF ‘CRIMINALS, INCLUDING MURDERERS’ “Can it be so that Judges aren’t allowing the USA to Deport Criminals, including Murderers, out of our Country and back to where they came from? If this is so, our Country, as we know it, is finished! Americans will have to get used to a very different, crime filled, LIFE. This is not what our Founders had in mind!!!” Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week.
Senator warns of ‘unconstitutional’ judicial overreach ahead of SCOTUS showdown
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital this week that he remains confident there will be a sunset to the trend of nationwide injunctions by federal judges whose rulings reverberate far beyond their judicial districts. “Universal injunctions are an unconstitutional abuse of judicial power,” Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital. “Just this past week, a D.C. district judge issued a universal injunction blocking the president’s executive order requiring voter ID or proof-of-citizenship prior to voting in national elections.” That ruling ignores the idea that “judges are not policymakers,” he said. NUMBER OF INJUNCTIONS HALTING TRUMP POLICIES TROUNCES PREDECESSORS BY DOUBLE “Allowing them to assume this role is very dangerous.” With the Supreme Court primed to hear a case on May 15 regarding nationwide injunctions on President Donald Trump‘s order reinterpreting birthright citizenship, Grassley noted the high bench “could and should take action.” “In the meantime, I’m continuing to work with my colleagues to advance my critical Judicial Relief Clarification Act (JRCA) and put an end to universal injunctions,” he said. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE While some proponents had suggested using the reconciliation process to force through Grassley’s bill in a closely divided Senate, that would be prohibited because of the so-called “Byrd Rule” barring non-financial bills from going through the process, according to a person familiar with the reconciliation process. The May 15 case challenges precedent from the 1898 ruling in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark – which defined birthright citizenship in a broad context after Wong, a child of Chinese immigrants, was denied entry to San Francisco after returning from China. Judges in Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington state issued nationwide injunctions blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship order, while the president defended his move, saying the 14th Amendment section outlining the idea was clearly directed at former slaves. In March, Grassley first spoke against what he called the promotion of unchecked judicial power after Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., requested passage of a resolution ordering Trump to comply with all federal court rulings. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The President of the United States shouldn’t have to ask permission from more than 600 different district judges to manage the executive branch he was elected to lead,” Grassley responded. “I happen to agree with some Democrats that in previous years have said some judges have gone way beyond what a judge should do on national injunctions. I hope to find a solution for that, and I hope that you and I could work on that together,” he added.
EXCLUSIVE: Cornyn bringing bill to enshrine Trump EO renaming refuge after Jocelyn Nungaray into law
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is planning to introduce a bill that would enshrine into law President Donald Trump‘s executive order to rename a national park after a 12-year-old Houston girl allegedly killed by two illegal immigrants. The bill is being brought forward by Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, to make it more difficult for future administrations, Republican or Democrat, to change the name of the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge. “Jocelyn Nungaray was taken from this world far too soon at the hands of brutal killers who were in the U.S. illegally due to President Biden’s open-border policies, and her legacy deserves to live on forever,” Cornyn told Fox News Digital. “I am proud to lead this legislation alongside Congressman Babin to ensure President Trump’s renaming of this sanctuary to the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge is made permanent.” JOCELYN NUNGARAY MURDER: HOUSTON PROSECUTORS SEEK ICE, CBP RECORDS ON ILLEGAL ACCUSED OF CHILD KILLING During his joint address to Congress in March, Trump announced the renaming of the 39,000-acre sanctuary, formerly known as the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, along the Texas Gulf Coast. In April, officials held a renaming ceremony for the park. “One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent national wildlife refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America,” Trump said during his address. The bill would codify the park’s new name into law, making the process to change it more difficult. “The heartbreaking murder of Jocelyn Nungaray shook our community to its core, and it never should have happened,” Babin said in a statement. “Today, we are introducing legislation to honor Jocelyn’s life and to send a clear message: securing our border and restoring the rule of law is not optional, it’s essential. President Trump’s leadership is making America safe again, and we are proud to stand with him to ensure that no family ever has to endure such a tragedy again.” “Honoring Jocelyn isn’t a Republican or Democrat issue — it’s an American issue,” he added. ELYN NUNGARAY’S MOTHER REVEALS HORRIFIC TIMELINE OF DAUGHTER’S MURDER IN HEARING ON OPEN-BORDER CRIME “Ms. Nungaray loved animals and, given the close proximity of her hometown of Houston, it is fitting that the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge be renamed in her honor,” the bill’s text states. Cornyn said he learned of Nungaray’s love of nature while getting to know her family. Nungaray’s killing, as well as others involving illegal immigrant suspects, became a flash point during the 2024 presidential election as Trump campaigned on a platform of deporting criminals in the U.S. illegally. Nungaray, who lived in Houston, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted before she was strangled to death and left dead under a bridge in June 2024 by Franklin Pena, 26, and Johan Martinez-Rangel, 22, Harris County prosecutors said. Both men, alleged members of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who entered the United States illegally, face capital murder charges and the death penalty.