A Constitutional Clash In Three Acts
In three closely watched anti-immigration cases, the Trump administration continued its slo-mo constitutional defiance of the judicial branch …
Act I: Non-Responsiveness
Act II: Delay Shenanigans
Act III: Misdirection And Mischaracterization
Part of that operation includes what’s known as the federal 287(g) program. Established in 1996, it allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose work is normally carried out by federal officials, to train state and local authorities to function as federal immigration officers.
Under 287(g), for example, local police officers can interview people to determine their immigration status. They can also issue immigration detainers to jail people until agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement take custody.
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Since Trump began his second term in January, ICE has increased 287(g) agreements from 135 in 25 states in December 2024 to 628 in 40 states as of May 28, 2025.
As a criminal justice scholar, I believe the surge of 287(g) agreements sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and effective tactic in combating crime. In my view, the expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities – not just immigrants – less safe.
Donald Trump’s tariff policy was derailed by a libertarian public interest law firm that has received money from some of his richest backers. The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against the US president’s “reciprocal” tariffs on behalf of five small businesses, which it said were harmed by the policy.
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For its lawsuit against Trump’s tariffs, the Liberty Justice Center gathered five small businesses, including a wine company and a fish gear and apparel retailer, and argued that Trump overreached his executive authority and needed Congress’s approval to pass such broad tariffs.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/29/trump-tariffs-liberty-justice-center
Stone Cold Stonewalling
New details about the extent of the Trump administration’s stonewalling in the case of the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia were revealed in a court filing Thursday. After six weeks of what was originally supposed to be two weeks of expedited discovery, the government has provided virtually no meaningful discovery responses, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers report.
Normal discovery disputes would not usually be newsworthy, but this comes in the context of a contempt of court inquiry. The administration’s defiance on discovery and the associated gamesmanship cut against its already-dubious claims that it has complied with the order by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return – an order endorsed and echoed by the Supreme Court.
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After the Trump administration late Wednesday asked for an extension of the May 30 deadline by which all discovery is to be completed, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed a blistering response demonstrating how little discovery the government has produced so far. It was already clear from public filings that the government had offered witnesses for deposition who had little or no personal knowledge of the facts of the case, in contravention of the judge’s order. The precise details of that defiance are unclear because many filings remain under seal.
The new details show how desultory the government’s document production has been, too. As of two weeks ago, the government had only produced 34 actual documents. In the subsequent two weeks it was given in which to produce rolling discovery, it coughed up a total of one additional partial document, according to Abrego Garcia’s filing.
A Georgia mother of three who has lived in the United States for more than two decades was taken into custody by federal agents on April 13, just a few blocks from her family’s home.
“She was a major part of our family, she did a lot for all of us, and it feels like our world has been thrown off its axle,” Guillermo Chavarria, 25, the oldest son of Jessica Flores Marin, 44, told Newsweek.
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Flores Marin entered the U.S. with Guillermo in 2003 through Texas. While Guillermo qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which granted him temporary protection from deportation, his mother remained undocumented. Despite this, she built a life in the U.S., paying taxes and eventually buying the family’s first home in 2014.
In December, she began the application process for a T visa, which protects victims of certain crimes who cooperate with law enforcement. Her unexpected detention occurred while the family was gathering paperwork for her case.
https://www.newsweek.com/jessica-flores-marin-detained-ice-visa-immigration-2078460
Venezuelans deported to El Salvador are increasingly seeing their cases dismissed, a development advocates claim is a way to complete their “disappearance” from the U.S. legal system and further complicate their return from imprisonment in the Central American country.
NBC News reported that at least 14 asylum cases have been dismissed over the past weeks. “It seems the government’s intention in dismissing these cases across the country is to complete the disappearance of people to El Salvador, to end their legal proceedings, and to act as though they weren’t here seeking asylum in the first place,” Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told the outlet. She is representing Andry Hernandez Romero, who was involved in such a case before being sent to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador.
Oil bosses have warned that America’s energy boom is over, as Trump’s tariffs raise production costs and crude prices fall thanks to an increase in production from Saudi Arabia.
The shale revolution of the last few years delivered huge volumes of cheap oil and gas that powered the US economy and broke dependence on foreign imports from places such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela.
Production hit record highs under President Joe Biden, but is now falling under Trump.
The situation presents a direct contradiction to the President’s pledges to ‘drill baby drill’ and assert America’s ‘energy dominance.’
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‘Saudi is trying to regain market share and they’ll probably get it over the next five years,’ Sheffield explained.
Donald Trump and Paramount don’t have a deal yet to settle POTUS’ months old $20 billion 60 Minutes lawsuit, but the Shari Redstone ruled media company has put some serious millions on the table in the hopes to make this roadblock to a merger with Skydance disappear.
“It’s very early days,” a source close to talks between Trump’s lawyers and Paramount’s attorneys and execs tells Deadline. “An opening offer has been made, but more negotiations are underway,” the source confirmed, but would not go into specifics beyond saying “right now, it’s an eight-figure discussion.”
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Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount has offered $15 million, but Trump’s team wanted $25 million and an apology from CBS News. When asked by Deadline if the $15 million number that the WSJ reported today plus Trump’s team rejection and threat of a new suit was accurate, another individual with knowledge of the mediation replied, “sounds about right, as where things are at.”
https://deadline.com/2025/05/trump-paramount-settlement-offer-1236412894
When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, he was operating on a fringe legal theory that a right-wing faction has been working to legitimize for more than a decade.
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Hard-liners have referred to immigrants as “invaders” as long as the U.S. has had immigration. By 2022, invasion rhetoric, which had previously been relegated to white nationalist circles, had become such a staple of Republican campaign ads that most of the public agreed an invasion of the U.S. via the southern border was underway.
Now, however, the claim that the U.S. is under invasion has become the legal linchpin of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.
The claim is Trump’s central justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport roughly 140 Venezuelans to CECOT, the Salvadoran megaprison, without due process. (The administration cited different legal authority for the remaining deportees.) The Trump administration contends they are members of a gang, Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is directing to infiltrate and operate in the United States. Lawyers and families of many of the deportees have presented evidence the prisoners are not even members of Tren de Aragua.
The contention is also the throughline of Trump’s day one executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” That document calls for the expansion of immigration removal proceedings without court hearings and for legal attacks against sanctuary jurisdictions, places that refuse to commit local resources to immigration enforcement.
So far, no court has bought the idea that the U.S. is truly under invasion….
Columbia University has faced major repercussions following protests by anti-Israel activists that led to over 80 student arrests. The New York Police Department responded quickly to the university’s request for assistance amid scrutiny from the federal government and substantial funding cuts under President Donald Trump. The campus atmosphere has reportedly shifted dramatically, with many students hesitant to engage in political debate.
Following the protest, students hurried through security checkpoints, avoiding expressions of opinion. Some voiced concerns about discussing sensitive topics due to potential repercussions from university authorities.
Criticism of the university’s response has emerged from within the community, with some arguing that its actions align too closely with the demands of Trump. The rapid police intervention contrasted sharply with NYPD’s previous attempts to engage with student activists.
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Some students have expressed uncertainty about navigating academic responsibilities alongside personal beliefs. As Columbia navigates the challenges, contrasting responses from Harvard University have complicated the matter.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/more-than-80-student-arrests-at-columbia-university/ss-AA1FmOl5
