Tag Archive for: National Guard

EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s D.C. Crackdown Wipes Out Homeless Encampments

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One year after President Donald Trump set out to make Washington, D.C., safe again, his initiative has cleaned out 142 homeless encampments throughout the nation’s capital, according to internal data exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller.

The “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force” launched on March 28, 2025. Since then, more than 3,500 personnel — including 800 Federal Law Enforcement officers and 1,800 National Guard Troops — hit the streets of Washington to address crime, the Caller learned.

There are now no known encampments between National Park Service (NPS) units in the D.C. area parks, a White House official told the Caller. More than 350 individuals struggling with homelessness have been connected with mental health services since the start of the task force.

Over the last year, 11,205 arrests have been made as of March 26, data provided to the Caller shows. Approximately 62 known gang members, 1,956 narcotics subjects, 1,036 subjects of firearms offenses and 30 homicide subjects have been arrested since the task force was created.

The wait time for concealed carry permit appointments has also been shortened from four months to one day, a White House official shared with the Caller.

Since March 28, 2024, homicide has dropped 61%, motor vehicle theft decreased by 53% and robbery fell by 45%, according to the data shared with the Caller.

In August, Trump federalized the D.C. police and deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., to help with crime in the city. Hundreds of arrests were made following the move, and in one case, a member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang was arrested in Washington, a White House official previously told the Daily Caller. The TdA member had several prior arrests and four previous immigration encounters, according to the official.

In addition to cracking down on crime, the task force is also focused on making Washington, D.C., beautiful. George Washington Parkway’s maintenance road crew, for example, has filled over 240 potholes and counting, a White House official told the Caller.

New bike racks have been installed at the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial and 148 benches have been repaired and replaced across the city, the official added. There is no known graffiti spanning the National Mall or Memorial Parks, and efforts to clean up graffiti in Union Station and Columbus Circle are ongoing.

The task force also reinstalled an Albert Pike monument after it was removed during a 2020 protest, the official shared with the Caller.

“For one year, President Trump’s Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force has been working in collaboration with federal and local partners to restore greatness to our nation’s capital,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rodgers told the Caller in a statement.

“The task force will continue its critical work to keep D.C. safe and beautiful,” she added.

The president has discussed doing similar work in other cities.

He has often floated Chicago, if the city would invite his efforts in, but the Trump administration has worked with Tennessee to clean up Memphis. In September, he deployed federal agencies like the FBI, ATF and DOJ to the city to focus on cracking down.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Launching New Vetting Unit In Wake Of National Guard Attack

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The Trump administration will be dramatically enhancing its screening of all foreign nationals with the launch of a new vetting center.

In response to a slate of high-profile arrests of Afghan men accused of committing or planning serious attacks on American soil, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is establishing a specialized unit intending to markedly upgrade the country’s vetting procedures of migrants, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The new vetting center will help federal officials identify terrorists, criminal aliens or other foreigners who pose a danger to the country.

“USCIS’ role in the nation’s immigration system has never been more critical,” Joe Edlow, the director of the agency, said in a public statement.

“In the wake of several recent incidents of violence, including a foreign national attacking National Guard service members on U.S. soil, establishing this vetting center will give us more enhanced capabilities to safeguard national security and ensure public safety,” Edlow continued.

The new vetting center, when fully operational, will “draw on the full spectrum” of screening capabilities and leverage state-of-the-art technology when reviewing immigration applications and petitions, according to the memo. Headquartered in Atlanta, the center will also be tasked with reviewing already-approved applications for foreign nationals and prioritizing applications from designated countries of concern.

Trump officials say the enhanced screening is necessary after four years of the Biden administration, which oversaw a historic border crisis and a chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan that sparked the importation of thousands of Afghan nationals.

“Under the Biden administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was pushed to expedite the immigration and naturalization processes with little regard for how that affected national security and the safety of our communities,” Edlow stated. “We changed that approach on day one of the Trump administration.”

“Under President Trump, we are building more protective measures that ensure fraud, deception, and threats do not breach the integrity of our immigration system,” the USCIS director continued.

The Trump White House, which has long prioritized border security, has doubled down on security efforts since Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national brought into the country in 2021 under humanitarian parole, allegedly killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition in an ambush-style attack in Washington, D.C., hours before Thanksgiving Day.

Immediately after the attack, federal immigration officials dramatically restricted asylum applications for all foreign nationals and completely halted immigration processes for individuals hailing from 19 countries deemed to be “high-risk.” On Wednesday, USCIS announced it was scaling back the timeframe in which asylum seekers and other foreign nationals can have valid work permits in the U.S.

Including Lakanwal, three different Afghan nationals let into the country through the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome program have been arrested within a week. The FBI arrested Mohammad Dawood Alokozay on Nov. 25 for allegedly making bomb threats in Fort Worth, Texas and Jaan Shah Safi was arrested by immigration officials on Wednesday for allegedly providing support to ISIS-K.

AUTHOR

Jason Hopkins

Immigration Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

National Guard Member’s Murder Prompts Swift Action from Trump Admin against Unvetted Afghan Nationals

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An Afghan national has been charged with murder for the slaying of a member of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who came to the U.S. in 2021 following the Taliban recapture of Kabul, shot 24-year-old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and 20-year-old National Guard Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom on Wednesday, sending both to the hospital in critical condition. Beckstrom succumbed to her wounds and died on Thursday, according to her father, who called her murder “a horrible tragedy.”

In a public address Thursday evening, President Donald Trump memorialized Beckstrom as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and “outstanding in every way.” He lamented, “She’s just passed away, she’s no longer with us. She’s looking down on us right now.” The president continued, “She was savagely attacked. She’s dead. She’s not with us.” Immediately following the shooting, the president declared, “This heinous assault was an act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity.” Wolfe remains in critical condition.

Following Beckstrom’s death, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) upgraded the charges against Lakanwal from three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and firearm possession during a crime of violence to murder. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced, “I will tell you right now, I will tell you early, we will do everything in our power to seek the death penalty against that monster who should not have been in our country.”

Bondi and other members of the Trump administration have been critical of former President Joe Biden’s vetting of Afghan nationals claiming refugee status following the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021. Referring to an Afghan national arrested in the U.S. after threatening to bomb a building in Texas, Bondi explained, “He had been here through Operation Allies Welcome program, minimal to little vetting. I was on the phone last night with Secretary Kristi Noem at length. They did not do biometrics. They did not do social media. They did very little, if minimal, vetting on all of these people”

“And now to take a step back, we have a 1.5 million backlog of people that have come into our country,” Bondi added. “These people are being radicalized. We know that this shooter who shot our National Guardsmen in D.C. the day before Thanksgiving, he was radicalized. You’re going to hear a lot more about that,” the attorney general shared. “These people should not have been in our country, should have never been in our country. Under Joe Biden, he opened our borders, of course, to MS-13, TdA members.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also faulted lax vetting under the Biden administration. “We know that this individual came into the country under Operation Allies Welcome during the Biden administration and that disastrous withdrawal that we all watched unfold in 2021. He’s been in this country and was in the Washington state area, we do know that,” Noem shared. “When this abandonment of Afghanistan happened, the Biden administration put people on airplanes, brought them to the United States without vetting them. They brought them into our country and then said they would vet them afterwards,” she continued. “A vetting process happens when the person comes into the country, and Joe Biden completely did not vet any of these individuals and not vet this individual: waited until he got into the United States, then that application for asylum was opened under the Joe Biden administration, when he was the president in the White House, and allowed that to go forward with the information that they provided.”

“That’s the Biden administration’s responsibility. This is the consequences of the dangerous situation he put our country in when he allowed those people to infiltrate our country during that abandonment of Afghanistan,” Noem reiterated. “We will never allow this to continue to happen in our country, allow individuals who came to our country that were unvetted by Joe Biden allowed to run free and loose, we are going to bring them to justice and make sure that they’re returned out of this country,” she emphasized. Referring to Lakanwal, she continued, “We’re going to use every tool at our disposal to bring him to justice and make him pay for what he has done, not just to America, but how he’s devastated these families and taken the lives, the life of one of our soldiers and devastatingly injured another one.”

According to a report from The New York Times, Lakanwal was part of a paramilitary unit working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan during the late stages of America’s 20-year war there. Lakanwal’s paramilitary force, known as a “Zero Unit,” was trained by the CIA and was reportedly extremely violent, being labeled a “death squad” due to the acts of brutality committed. The Biden administration ensured that members of the “Zero Units” were relocated to the U.S. following the U.S. withdrawal. According to Lakwanal’s friends in Afghanistan, he suffered from “mental health” issues and was embittered against the CIA over the acts of violence he committed in his home country. Current CIA Director John Ratcliffe charged that Lakanwal “should have never been allowed to come here.”

The Associated Press reported that Lakanwal struggled to adjust to life in the U.S. and did not assimilate to U.S. society, failing to hold a steady job or commit to his English language courses. An unnamed individual who worked with resettling Afghan nationals labeled as refugees sent emails to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit group working with refugees, raising concerns over Lakanwal’s behavior. “Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly,” the individual wrote. Lakanwal fluctuated between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel,” sometimes spending weeks in a “darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids,” and sometimes disappearing on days-long cross-country road trips, despite facing eviction after months of failing to pay rent. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro reported that Lakanwal had driven from Bellingham, Washington, on the West Coast, to the nation’s capital — a trip of nearly 2,900 miles — immediately prior to shooting Beckstrom and Wolfe.

The Department of Homeland Security published a list Saturday of Aghan nationals brought into the U.S. under the Biden administration who “have hurt and terrorized Americans after the Biden administration flooded our communities with criminals, terrorists, and other threats. These are just a few of the criminals who have rewarded American generosity with violence…” The list included an Afghan national who shot two police officers in Virginia and said that he “should have served with the f***ing Taliban,” a pair of Afghan nationals who had subsequently “pledged their allegiance” to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and plotted a terrorist attack in Oklahoma, an Afghan national arrested for the attempted sexual assault of a child in Wisconsin, and another Afghan national charged with the attempted rape of a teenage girl in Montana. “These are just a few of the criminals who were said to be ‘fully vetted’ by the Biden administration. Americans do not have to suffer violence from people who should not be here at all,” DHS said in a social media post. “WE WILL SEND THEM BACK.”

Following the shooting of the two National Guard members, the U.S. State Department announced that it “has IMMEDIATELY paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports.” The agency added, “The Department is taking all necessary steps to protect U.S. national security and public safety.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Trump Announces Female National Guardsmen Shot In D.C. Has Died

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President Donald Trump announced that one of the two West Virginia National Guardsmen who was shot Wednesday in Washington, D.C., succumbed to her wounds Thursday.

West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and West Virginia Air National Guard Andrew Wolfe were allegedly attacked at the Farragut West Metro Station in Washington, D.C., roughly a mile from the White House by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Beckstrom’s wounds were described as fatal on Thursday, according to The New York Times, as confirmed by her father before her passing.

WATCH: President Trump: ‘National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom has sadly passed away’

“Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023 outstanding in every way. She’s just passed away,” Trump said as he was about to call servicemembers for Thanksgiving.

Both National Guardsmen were in critical condition since the Wednesday shooting. Beckstrom’s father told the Times he was at the hospital with her.

“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”

“All we need right now are prayers for my son,” a man at Wolfe’s Martinsburg, West Virginia, family home said when contacted by the Times Thursday.

Beckstrom’s death means that Lakanwal, currently facing three counts of assault with intent to kill, will now face “murder in the first degree,” something U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia vowed would be the case if either Bergstrom or Wolfe died from their wounds during a Thanksgiving Day press conference.

“As we stand here today, the charges that are appropriate right now are three accounts of assault with intent to kill. He will be charged with possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces 15 years under the assault with the intent to kill,” Pirro told reporters. “We intend to continue monitoring what the charges will be depending upon the well-being of the guardsmen. We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge: Murder in the first degree.”

Journalist Julio Rojas allegedly reported Lakanwal shouted “Allahu akbar!” before opening fire on the National Guardsmen with a Smith and Wesson revolver. Upon coming under attack, one National Guardsman who didn’t have a firearm stabbed Lakanwal with a pocketknife, while an armed National Guardsman shot the suspected gunman multiple times, according to Rojas.

AUTHOR

Harold Hutchison

Media Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

California Will Spend 28x More On Healthcare For Illegals Than State Law Enforcement

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California expects to spend 28 times more on health benefits for illegal aliens than on state police in the 2025-2026 budget period.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final budget allocates $348 million to law enforcement while the state’s own budget experts in an October report estimate the tab for giving full health benefits for illegal aliens amounts to $10 billion. The new report by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reveals a 35% higher figure than the $7.4 billion cost Newsom estimated in his January 2025 budget proposal.

California’s joint state-federal Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, provides comprehensive coverage for doctor’s visits, medications, and dental and vision care for 1.7 million illegal aliens, who represent 11% of the program’s enrollees, according to the LAO report. Illegal immigrants’ health benefits will consume a fourth of the Medi-Cal money flowing from state coffers.

“The Governor is committed to effective crime reduction, which is why California’s crime rate has been rapidly declining in recent years,” said Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Like other states, law enforcement budgets in California are funded primarily through local funding,” Crofts-Pelayo added, pointing to a February 2025 report on city and county spending on police.

But amid a battle in Congress over health spending for illegal immigrants and in the courts over President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployments to Los Angeles and other cities to protect Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) facilities amid a surge in threats, the statistic provides another illustration of the blue state’s priorities.

Newsom, a frequent Trump critic who has hinted at 2028 presidential aspirations, has championed the policy, making California the first state to provide all immigrants meeting income requirements access to Medicaid in 2022. Newsom touted the move as achieving “universal access to health coverage” — even as he backed off promises of a completely state-subsidized single-payer model.

He recently touted “universal health care” as among his accomplishments in an October CNN interview.

Newsom also criticized Trump’s National Guard deployments to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in an Oct. 20 amicus brief dated as an affront to “states’ sovereign rights to handle any public safety matters,” even as public safety received a short shrift under Newsom compared to health benefits for illegal aliens.

Expansions of the policy to include illegal aliens of any age on Medi-Cal drove spending on the program skyward to more than double the initial estimates, LAO’s report says.

While on paper the state must only use its own funds for illegal immigrants, in practice, California obtains federal Medicaid dollars for its pet priorities through complex accounting.

California exploited a loophole in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rules to obtain extra Medicaid matching dollars, Niklas Kleinworth, a policy analyst at Paragon Health Institute, told the DCNF. Even former President Joe Biden’s CMS said California’s policy was not in keeping with “the intended design” of their rules, per Paragon, a non-partisan policy research institute founded by Brian Blase, former economic policy advisor to Trump.

“What they did was technically legal, so you can’t call it defrauding the government, but it really was an abuse of the intent of the policy,” Kleinworth told the DCNF. “They got very crafty.”

Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law in July scaled back states’ ability to obtain Medicaid dollars this way, leaving California scrambling for new revenue streams, the LAO report shows. Newsom also negotiated with legislative Democrats throughout the final two quarters of the 2024-2025 budget period on changes to stop the bleeding.

California Democrats finalized their plans in June: In January 2026 the state will implement a freeze on all illegal adult enrollment, with the revocation of dental coverage and a reduction in certain clinic payments to follow.

In July 2027, the state will introduce a $30 monthly premium — a cost 96% lower than the average $650 that Californians with employer-sponsored plans pay.

The LAO report proposes a tax on the uninsured of $900 or more to make up the shortfall while maintaining programs like the Medicaid expansion for illegal immigrants.

Plans with premiums that cheap are “unicorn policies” for most Americans, Kleinworth told the DCNF.

“The only way a $30 premium exists is through the heavily subsidized Obamacare plans,” said Kleinworth.

In order to qualify for such a plan, an American household could earn no more than 150% of the poverty level, or $23,475 per year for a single adult, far less than the state’s $76,190 median income.

Newsom dismissed criticism of California policy priorities as the product of “California derangement syndrome” in an October Bloomberg interview.

AUTHOR

Emily Kopp

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Immigration, Deportation, and ‘Sanctuary’ City Updates

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Despite numerous political and even legal hurdles, President Donald Trump and his administration are working hard to deliver on the promise of a secure border and the deportation of illegal immigrants. Here are some of the latest updates surrounding the president’s immigration agenda.

National Guard Tackles Deportation Paperwork

The president has already federalized the National Guard to assist in immigration-related operations in several instances, but now he’s asking National Guardsmen to help fill out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paperwork. According to several reports, thousands of National Guard troops will be deployed across at least 20 states and stationed at ICE facilities. Initially, Guardsmen will be tasked with “alien processing,” filling out detention and deportation paperwork so that ICE agents can continue their field operations.

The National Guard troops will not be federalized but will be operating under Title 32 authorities, which allows for Guardsmen to perform law enforcement duties as long as they are under state — not federal — command. At present, U.S. Marines and Naval Reserve soldiers are assisting ICE in an operational capacity, but they will soon be replaced by the National Guard.

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told The Washington Stand, “The fact that ICE needs to supplement its ranks with the help of the National Guard to speed up deportations shows: (1) millions of deportable aliens continue to reside in the U.S.; and (2) the deportation process is too slow.” She added, “Americans continue to support mass deportations, but the Left obstructs and delays deportations for political power.” Ries continued, “In addition to prosecuting those who interfere with the execution of federal law, the Justice Department should streamline the deportation process to end third and more bites at the apple that deportable aliens currently get to remain in the country.”

Dissident Maryland Judges Claim Immunity

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against all 15 U.S. district court judges for the District of Maryland back in June. At issue is a “standing order” from the judges, automatically granting an injunction to any illegal immigrant detained within the court’s jurisdiction who files a habeas corpus complaint. In short, the standing order temporarily bars the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from carrying out any deportation.

Andrew Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) said in comments shared with TWS, “It’s certainly unusual for DOJ to sue judges, let alone all of the judges on a court, and sue them in that same court, but then these are not your usual standing orders, either.” He observed that the DOJ first brought its concerns to the Judicial Conference, the policymaking body which oversees the federal courts, but Maryland’s district judges made it clear that they would not rescind their standing order. Arthur observed, “If any court issued automatic stay orders like the ones in the U.S. District Court in Maryland, it would have been incumbent on DOJ to challenge them, regardless of who was in the White House.”

In response to the Trump administration’s lawsuit, Maryland’s federal judges claimed immunity. “The district court itself possesses sovereign immunity, and the judges and clerk of court have immunity for their official acts,” the judges wrote. They added, “The complaint does not identify any statutory waiver — unequivocal or otherwise — of district courts’ sovereign immunity from suits seeking injunctive or declaratory relief, and Defendants are not aware of one.” The judges argued that “when a plaintiff attacks the official acts of members of the Judiciary in a standalone lawsuit, judges generally have absolute immunity.” They concluded, “Sovereign immunity bars this suit as to the district court itself, and judicial immunity bars it as to the judges and clerk in their official capacities.”

The DOJ, however, argued that neither sovereign nor judicial immunity would prevent a challenge against an unlawful standing order. “Unlike issuing rulings in particular cases, promulgating standing orders and local rules that violate procedural and substantive requirements is not a ‘function’ traditionally protected by judicial immunity. Thus, courts have often ruled on challenges to local rules with nary a peep about immunity,” the DOJ countered. Furthermore, sovereign immunity does not apply, the DOJ noted, in cases where judges have “acted beyond the scope of their powers and/or in an unconstitutional manner.” The DOJ said that its “lawsuit asserts that Defendants acted outside the scope of their authority — here, the scope as delineated both by Congress and by the Federal Rules. … Immunity does not apply.”

Since the judges of the Maryland district have had to recuse themselves from the case, being defendants, the case is being overseen by Judge Thomas Cullen of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, a Trump appointee, who was assigned by Albert Diaz, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Biden-Appointed Judge Halts Deportations

One of the first moves the Trump administration made was shutting down the parole program used by former President Joe Biden and his administration to usher hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the country. The program allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Border Patrol (USBP) to arrest foreigners attempting the enter the U.S. illegally but, instead of detaining them or removing them, simply “parole” them into the U.S. to await an appointment in immigration court. Trump’s DHS ended the program and moved to deport those who had been “paroled” into the country.

On Friday, Judge Jia Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a Biden appointee, issued a “stay of agency action,” barring the Trump administration from deporting many of those paroled into the country by the Biden administration. Cobb wrote that illegal immigrants “arrived for inspection at the United States border pursuant to procedures created and advocated by the U.S. Government. They were paroled into this country under those procedures and given the chance to prove their claims for asylum or other relief authorized by our laws. In a world of bad options, they played by the rules.” She continued, “Now, the Government has not only closed off those pathways for new arrivals but changed the game for parolees already here, restricting their ability to seek immigration relief and subjecting them to summary removal despite statutory law prohibiting the Executive Branch from doing so.”

The Trump administration has already requested a stay of Cobb’s order and has appealed her decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “The Court’s order effectively prevents the Government from applying expedited removal to potentially hundreds of thousands of paroled arriving aliens, thereby halting its ability to expeditiously remove aliens who have no basis to remain in the country,” the administration argued. It further argued that Cobb’s order is in violation of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. CASA barring district courts from issuing universal injunctions. “Indeed, in Trump v. CASA … the Supreme Court held that this sort of intrusion on the Executive Branch’s enforcement policies establishes irreparable harm. Finally, CASA also means that the Court’s nationwide remedy is impermissibly broad and instead the remedy should be tailored to Plaintiffs’ members.”

Overstaying Visas Now Costs $15,000

The U.S. State Department implemented a new pilot program on Tuesday, requiring a $15,000 bond for most tourism and work visas, in an effort to curb illegal overstaying. “Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure (B-1/B-2) and who are nationals of countries identified by the Department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient … may be subject to the pilot program,” the State Department’s announcement said.

Early in June, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a travel ban impacting countries identified as high terror and crime risks, but also barring travel from countries noted for high visa overstay rates.

DOJ Puts ‘Sanctuary’ Cities on Notice

On Tuesday, the DOJ published a list of nearly three dozen “sanctuary” cities, counties, and states that shield illegal immigrants from federal authorities and refuse to enforce immigration law. “Sanctuary” states named include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Cities, counties, and other jurisdictions include Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, Baltimore County in Maryland, Cook County in Illinois, and San Diego and San Francisco Counties in California, among others.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, “Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design.” She continued, “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.” Already, the DOJ has filed lawsuits against the three largest U.S. cities, all of which are “sanctuary” cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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Explaining the Texas Redistricting Drama

DOJ Begins Grand Jury Investigation into Obama Administration’s ‘Russian Collusion’ Deception

‘Disgusting’: Tom Homan Skewers Far-Left Dem Declaring Her Allegiance To Foreign Nation Over Her Own Country

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Instead of Shutting Down Immigration Riots, Newsom Suing Trump For National Guard Deployment

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Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to sue the Trump administration for deploying the Army National Guard to California in response to anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots, he said Monday.

Newsom accused Trump of acting illegally by sending in 2,000 guardsmen to Los Angeles as riots raged over the weekend.

“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom wrote on X, adding, “We’re suing him.”

“We don’t take lightly to the president abusing his authority and unlawfully mobilizing California National Guard troops,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta echoed in remarks to reporters, according to the Associated Press.

Newsom’s legal threats come after Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan said that he is considering asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute California officials for “fomenting the anti‑ICE riots.”

Rioting began following ICE raids in LA, part of a broader push by the agency to ramp up illegal immigrant deportations. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the LA raids led to the arrest of several violent illegal alien criminals. ICE has made over 100,000 arrests since the beginning of Trump’s second term, and border crossings have fallen to historic lows, according to the White House.

Although Newsom has repeatedly insisted that California officials had the situation under control, the scene in LA suggests otherwise. Rioters were seen setting fire to police vehicles and autonomous taxis and tossing rocks at federal law enforcement officials.

In the face of California’s lawsuit, Trump is standing by his move to deploy the National Guard, saying in a social media post, “We made a great decision.”

Newsom’s current feud with President Trump is a continuation of California lawmakers’ repeated attempts to derail ICE operations. Democrats in the California Senate moved to pass legislation aimed at severely limiting ICE agents’ ability to effectively operate in the state. LA leaders designated the city a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants following Trump’s inauguration.

AUTHOR

Caleb Ruger

Contributor

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

‘Lawless’: DeSantis Declares State Of Emergency, Activates National Guard Over Wave Of Migrant Arrivals

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Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Friday, activating the National Guard to help with an influx of migrants arriving by boat on Florida’s coast.

In response to the Biden administration’s alleged inability to manage a record number of migrants attempting to cross the southern border into the U.S. and anticipating a wave of migrant arrivals, DeSantis authorized state agencies to take emergency response measures  Jan. 6, according to the order. The governor also authorized the National Guard to deploy “as needed, to deal with this emergency,” given that “the migration of unauthorized aliens to the State of Florida is likely to constitute a major disaster.”

“The lawlessness at the Southwest Border continues unabated and the Biden Administration has repeatedly demonstrated its ineptitude at managing the crisis it created,” the order stated. As a result, an increasing number of illegal migrants are seeking entry to the U.S.

At least 345 unauthorized persons entered Florida on Jan. 3 and Jan. 5, and the state has identified multiple vessels likely to contain illegal migrants destined for Florida’s shores, the order stated. From August 2022 to January 2023, officials indicted more than 8,000 migrants in the waters around Florida’s peninsula.

Customs and Border Patrol has logged a record number of migrant encounters at all U.S. borders in the first two months of fiscal year 2023, which began in October, including 460,000 at the southern border alone.

Nearly 500 illegal migrants docked in the Florida Keys over New Year’s weekend, forcing a park in the region to shut down as Florida law enforcement struggled to apprehend all of the arrivals. Border Patrol reportedly told local police they did not have sufficient federal resources to respond, according to a Facebook post by Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay’s office.

Ramsay’s office described the incident as a “federal failure.”

Biden is set to make his first visit to the southern border since becoming president in January 2021 before traveling to Mexico to attend the North American Leaders’ Summit. The border visit will likely include a stop in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, where Democratic El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared an emergency authorizing use of additional resources to help with migrants sleeping on the streets.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Blackburn To Introduce Legislation Backing National Guard Members Set To Be Fired Over COVID Vaccine Refusal

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Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn will introduce legislation Thursday that would ban federal funds from being used to implement any requirement that a National Guard member must receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The legislation, first obtained by the Daily Caller, comes as up to 40,000 U.S. Army National Guard members are set to be fired Thursday for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Blackburn said she is introducing the legislation to protect the 40,000 guardsmen and said firing them would be a threat to U.S. national security.

“Our servicemembers are the bedrock of America,” Blackburn told the Daily Caller before introducing the legislation. “Firing 40,000 Guardsmen for refusing the COVID vaccine would be both a complete disgrace and a threat to our national security. I am honored to stand beside our National Guardsmen and women by introducing this legislation to protect them from President Biden’s forever pandemic.”

READ THE LEGISLATION HERE: 

(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers

“We’re going to give every soldier every opportunity to get vaccinated and continue their military career. Every soldier that is pending an exemption, we will continue to support them through their process,” Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard, said in an Associated Press interview regarding the vaccine mandate. “We’re not giving up on anybody until the separation paperwork is signed and completed. There’s still time.” A number of House Republicans have introduced legislation to put an end to vaccine and mask mandates. In late September, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill that would prohibit federal agencies from implementing vaccine mandates.

The Daily Caller contacted the Department of Defense (DOD) and the White House about this legislation and about the jobs of the 40,000 National Guardsmen who remain unvaccinated. White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre would not answer the questions and referred the Caller to the Army. The DOD did not immediately respond.

AUTHOR

HENRY RODGERS

Senior Congressional correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Muslim National Guard soldier planned Paris-style slaughter in U.S., tried to join the Islamic State

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He was in the National Guard. He converted to Islam and plotted to massacre 150 non-Muslims and join the Islamic State. Authorities remain uncurious, however, about the process of converting to Islam and how Islamic texts and teachings may incite converts to commit acts of violence.

Hasan Edmonds

Hasan Edmonds

“National Guard soldier ‘who planned Paris-style attack on US soil’ to kill 150 people facing 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine after pleading guilty to trying to join ISIS,” by Darren Boyle, Mail Online, December 15, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A National Guard soldier who conspired with is cousin to join ISIS and massacre up to 150 people at his military base is facing up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support to a terrorist organisation.

Hasan Edmonds, 23, of Aurora, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and one count of attempting to provide material support to the same organisation.

His cousin Jonas Edmonds, 30, also admitted the conspiracy charge as well as one count of making a false statement to authorities regarding international terrorism. He is facing a maximum jail term of 23 years when he reappears in court for sentence next year.

Hasan Edmonds, made contact with an undercover FBI agent whom he believed was an ISIS terrorist in Libya.

He requested advice on ‘how to fight and defeat the US military’. At the time, Hasan Edmonds was serving with the Illinois National Guard in Joliet. He told undercover agents were willing to attack the United States.

Both cousins later met with another undercover agent in March who pretended to help the younger Edmonds travel to Mosul in Iraq to join ISIS.

They also discussed a plan for Jonas Edmonds, 30, to use his cousin’s military uniforms to attack the base in Joliet, Illinois where Hasan Edmonds was assigned.

Jonas said he wanted the undercover agent to help him achieve a ‘body count’ of 100 to 150 people.

Hasan Edmonds took his cousin and the undercover agent to the base on March 24 to conduct surveillance and retrieve a training schedule in order to pick the best time to attack, the plea agreement said.

Hasan Edmonds and his cousin Jonas Edmonds spoke to undercover federal agents about their plan to attack the Illinois National Guard Armory in Joliet, pictured, where Hasan served as a soldier.

Jonas Edmonds drove his cousin to the airport the next day, but Hasan Edmonds was arrested before he could board the flight to Egypt. Jonas Edmonds drove from the airport to his cousin’s house but was arrested before he could retrieve the uniforms…

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EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Hasan Edmonds (left), a National Guard specialist, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds who are charged with a conspiracy in which Hasan would travel overseas to join ISIS, while Jonas would coordinate an attack on the National Guard facility where Hasan had trained. Photos supplied to CBS News.