Tag Archives: Justice Department

Kansas City Star: Trump Suffers Double Legal Blow

Posted on by
Reply

District Judge Jennifer Thurston has ordered the release of Syrian asylum seeker Salam Maklad and barred her rearrest without constitutional safeguards. Advocates have raised concerns that contested grant rules are disrupting essential services, while officials have noted that the cases have tested federal authority.

In addition to Thurston’s decision, U.S. District Judge William Smith has blocked new Justice Department grant conditions related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and transgender rights. Both rulings represent legal blows to the Trump administration, as they directly challenge and overturn key policy actions.

Both rulings, issued this month, limit the administration’s ability to enforce its immigration and social policy priorities. Critics say this highlights judicial checks on executive authority despite Republican control in Congress and the White House.

Thurston wrote, “Respondents are PERMANENTLY ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED from re-arresting or re-detaining Ms. Maklad absent compliance with constitutional protections, which include at a minimum, pre-deprivation notice—describing the change of circumstances necessitating her arrest—and detention, and a timely bond hearing.”

Thurston added, “At any such hearing, the Government SHALL bear the burden of establishing, by clear and convincing evidence, that Ms. Maklad poses a danger to the community or a risk of flight, and Ms. Maklad SHALL be allowed to have her counsel present.”

Thurston ordered Maklad’s release after an ICE check-in triggered her detention, noting she has no criminal history and is not a flight risk. She barred ICE from rearresting Maklad without notice of changed circumstances and a timely bond hearing.

Smith granted preliminary relief to 17 nonprofits challenging updated Office on Violence Against Women grant terms. He found the conditions likely arbitrary under federal law.

Smith wrote, “On the one hand, if the Court does not grant preliminary relief, then the Coalitions will face real and immediate irreparable harm from the challenged conditions, conditions which the Court has already concluded likely violate the APA.”

Smith added, “This could result in the disruption of important and, in some cases, life saving services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. On the other hand, if the Court grants preliminary relief, then the Office will simply have to consider grant applications and award funding as it normally does.”

Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said, “The Justice Department should be exploring what they can be doing to keep people and communities safe, not threatening funding for local and community organizations with proven results.”

Trump Suffers Double Legal Blow

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-suffers-double-legal-blow/ss-AA1KGtBW

Raw Story: ‘Bad situation’: Expert warns Trump in legal jeopardy with ‘significant’ Epstein admission

Posted on by
Reply

A legal expert warned President Donald Trump on Tuesday that he may have put himself in legal jeopardy by admitting he knew one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.

Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Epstein “stole” Virginia Giuffre from him when she was employed at Mar-a-Lago. That claim could backfire on Trump because it shows that he knew one of the central victims in the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, according to Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University.

Goodman pointed to Maxwell’s 2022 sentencing, where the judge enhanced her sentence to 20 years because of Giuffre’s testimony.

“It’s that much of a significant statement,” Goodman told Erin Burnett on CNN’s “OutFront.” “If he had said he was aware of it from the court documents, then he’s ok in that regard. But I think that’s a very potentially bad situation for him to be in.”

Trump has fiercely tried to distance himself from the Epstein files saga, which has consumed his presidency for the last three weeks. However, his attempts appear to be falling short.

For example, multiple outlets have published previously unreported ties between the two men. The Wall Street Journal published a letter that Trump allegedly sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday. The New York Times has published details from one of Epstein’s accusers, and CNN has published previously unseen photos of the two men together at different events in the 1990s.

Trump’s comments come at a time when Maxwell has agreed to testify before Congress. Trump’s Justice Department has met with Maxwell and her lawyer multiple times, and some experts have suggested that Trump may pardon Maxwell in exchange for damaging testimony against Trump’s political rivals.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2673782213

Raw Story: ‘Irate’ Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi appointee screams at prosecutors after jury fails to indict LA protester

Posted on by
Reply

A Trump administration appointee has been going hard after demonstrators in Los Angeles who in recent weeks have been protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations—but it seems like he’s having a hard time getting grand juries to go along.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Bill Essayli, who was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi earlier this year to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, recently became “irate” and could be heard “screaming” at prosecutors in the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles when a grand jury declined to indict an anti-ICE protester who had been targeted for potential felony charges.

And according to the LA Times’ reporting, this failure to secure an indictment against demonstrators was far from a one-off.

“Although his office filed felony cases against at least 38 people for alleged misconduct that either took place during last month’s protests or near the sites of immigration raids, many have been dismissed or reduced to misdemeanor charges,” the paper writes. “In total, he has secured only seven indictments, which usually need to be obtained no later than 21 days after the filing of a criminal complaint. Three other cases have been resolved via plea deal.”

It is incredibly rare for prosecutors to fail to secure indictments from grand juries, which only require a determination that there is “probable cause” to believe a suspect committed a crime and which do not hear arguments from opposing counsels during proceedings.

Meghan Blanco, a former federal prosecutor and current defense attorney representing one of the anti-ICE protesters currently facing charges, told the LA Times that there’s a simple reason that grand juries aren’t pulling the trigger on indictments: Namely, prosecutors’ cases are full of holes.

In one case, Blanco said she obtained video evidence that directly contradicted a sworn statement from a Border Patrol officer who alleged that her client had obstructed efforts to chase down a suspect who assaulted him. When she presented this video at her client’s first court hearing, charges against him were promptly dropped.

“The agent lied and said he was in hot pursuit of a person who punched him,” Blanco explained. “The entirety of the affidavit is false.”

So why aren’t these scumbags prosecuted for perjury?

One anonymous prosecutor who spoke with the LA Times similarly said that ICE agents have been losing credibility when their actions and statements are put under a legal microscope.

“There are a lot of hotheaded [Customs and Border Protection] officers who are kind of arresting first and asking questions later,” they said. “We’re finding there’s not probable cause to support it.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, was floored by the failures to secure indictments against the anti-ICE demonstrators.

“Incredible,” he wrote on social media website X. “Federal prosecutors are seeing many cases of people accused of assaulting Border Patrol agents being turned down by grand juries! Los Angeles federal prosecutors are privately saying it’s because CBP agents are just ‘arresting first and asking questions later.'”

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) similarly bashed prosecutors for using easily discredited statements from ICE officers to secure indictments.

“I’m a former prosecutor and can confirm that any prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich,” he wrote. “Except the top prosecutor in L.A. Why? Because this article points out ICE AGENTS ARE MAKING S–T UP. You want your agents respected? Tell them to stop lying.”

Don’t get your hopes up. ICE & CBP are the dregs from the bottom of the barrel. They’re not capable of doing any better.

‘Irate’ Pam Bondi appointee screams at prosecutors after jury fails to indict LA protester

https://www.rawstory.com/irate-bondi-appointee-screams-at-prosecutors-after-jury-fails-to-indict-la-protester

Maddow Blog | On Epstein, Senate Republican admits the party is trying to give Trump ‘cover’

Posted on by
Reply

When it comes to transparency and disclosures in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, arguably no Senate Democrat has been as aggressive as Sen. Ruben Gallego. In fact, last week, the Arizonan became the first senator to push a resolution to formally demand the release of documents from the Justice Department.

But because Gallego is in the Democratic minority, he had limited options to force a vote. He took the only credible step available to him: Last Thursday, Gallego went to the Senate floor and sought unanimous consent on his proposal. He knew, of course, that the effort would fail if only one Republican objected, and one did: Oklahoma’s Markwayne Mullin, an ardent Trump ally, balked.

Seven days later, as NBC News reported, the two faced off again:

In other words, Gallego rejected a narrow and toothless Republican alternative after Mullin rejected a more meaningful Democratic effort. (The Arizonan offered to back both resolutions, but the Oklahoman wouldn’t take the deal.)

As part of the back and forth, however, Mullin made an off-hand comment that stood out.

“I’m sure this would be handled just like any other thing [the Democrats] have tried to go after like the baseless impeachments. Or the baseless special counsels. Or the unbelievable amount of charges they tried to file against the president,” Mullin said. “I’m sure this would be handled the exact same way. What we’re simply wanting to do here is give [Trump] cover.”

For now, let’s not dwell on the fact that Trump’s impeachments weren’t “baseless.” Let’s also skip past the fact that the incumbent Republican president faced investigations from two special counsels — Robert Mueller and Jack Smith — and neither was “baseless.”

Rather, I’m interested in the GOP senator’s acknowledgement that “we” are trying to give the president “cover” in the Epstein scandal.

As The New Republic asked, “What exactly do Trump and his administration need cover for?”

For now, the party has not tried to answer the question, though Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut noted via Bluesky around the same time as the Gallego/Mullin exchange, “The number one priority of Republicans is protecting Donald Trump. It’s not protecting you. It’s protecting him.”

Three words: Midterms are coming!

And they’re going to be mayhem for Republicans.

On Epstein, Senate Republican admits the party is trying to give Trump ‘cover’
As observer asked, in reference to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, “What exactly do Trump and his administration need cover for?”

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/epstein-senate-republican-admits-party-trying-give-trump-cover-rcna221110

Charlotte Observer: Officer Shot Near Detention Center — Border Czar Responds

Posted on by
Reply

Border Czar Tom Homan expressed concern over the growing dangers ICE officials face following an incident in which a Texas police officer was shot near a detention facility. Homan noted that rising attacks, including vandalism of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, have come amid increasing threats to federal agents. Homan urged politicians to tone down their rhetoric against the agency.

…

Just get your masked Gestapo thugs off our streets and keep them off!!!

Officer Shot Near Detention Center — Border Czar Responds

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/officer-shot-near-detention-center-border-czar-responds/ss-AA1IxjXz

Reuters: Trump administration defends immigration tactics after California worker death

Posted on by
Reply

“Padilla said he had spoken with the UFW about the farmworker who died in the ICE raid. He said a steep arrest quota imposed by the Trump administration in late May had led to more aggressive and dangerous enforcement.

“‘It’s causing ICE to get more aggressive, more cruel, more extreme, and these are the results,’ Padilla said. It’s people dying.'”

Federal officials on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s escalating campaign to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally, including a California farm raid that left one worker dead, and said the administration would appeal a ruling to halt some of its more aggressive tactics.

Trump has vowed to deport millions of people in the country illegally and has executed raids at work sites including farms that were largely exempted from enforcement during his first term. The administration has faced dozens of lawsuits across the country for its tactics.

Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem and Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that the administration would appeal a federal judge’s Friday ruling that blocked the administration from detaining immigrants based solely on racial profiling and denying detained people the right to speak with a lawyer.

In interviews with Fox News and CNN, Noem criticized the judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, and denied that the administration had used the tactics described in the lawsuit.

“We will appeal, and we will win,” she said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that physical characteristics could be one factor among multiple that would establish a reasonable suspicion that a person lacked legal immigration status, allowing federal officers to stop someone.

During a chaotic raid and resulting protests on Thursday at two sites of a cannabis farm in Southern California, 319 people in the U.S. illegally were detained and federal officers encountered 14 migrant minors, Noem said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” 

Workers were injured during the raid and one later died from his injuries, according to the United Farm Workers.

Homan told CNN that the farmworker’s death was tragic but that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were doing their jobs and executing criminal search warrants.

“It’s always unfortunate when there’s deaths,” he said.

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla said on CNN that federal agents are using racial profiling to arrest people. Padilla, a California Democrat and the son of Mexican immigrants, was forcibly removed from a Noem press conference in Los Angeles in June and handcuffed after trying to ask a question.

Padilla said he had spoken with the UFW about the farmworker who died in the ICE raid. He said a steep arrest quota imposed by the Trump administration in late May had led to more aggressive and dangerous enforcement.

“It’s causing ICE to get more aggressive, more cruel, more extreme, and these are the results,” Padilla said. “It’s people dying.”

Trump administration defends immigration tactics after California worker death
Administration officials said they would appeal a ruling to halt some of its more aggressive tactics.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-defends-immigration-tactics-after-california-worker-death-2025-07-13

New York Times: U.S. Subpoenas Governor Who Said He Would House Migrant at His Home

Posted on by
Reply

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey are investigating remarks that Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, made in February.

Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba, who has used her job as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor to aggressively target Democrats, is pursuing an investigation into remarks made by Gov. Philip D. Murphy about housing a migrant, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Murphy said in February that he was prepared to house a woman whose immigration status was unclear at his family’s home in Middletown. F.B.I. agents have since sought to interview at least four witnesses in connection with the comments, two of the people said, with one adding that the governor had been subpoenaed but not questioned.

Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba, the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey, is a former personal lawyer for President Trump. She previously announced that she was directing prosecutors in her office to investigate the governor and New Jersey’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, in connection with the state’s immigration policies.

Two of the people with knowledge of the investigation involving Mr. Murphy’s comments indicated that it was separate from any Justice Department inquiry related to New Jersey’s so-called sanctuary policy, which has been upheld by a federal appeals court. There has been no public sign of that inquiry moving forward.

Mr. Murphy is one of at least four Democratic officials to become entangled in investigations pursued by Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba since she was named to the position in late March.

Mr. Murphy made the remarks during a freewheeling discussion at a New Jersey college, telling an audience there that there was a person in his social orbit “whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to.”

“And we said, ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage,’” he said. “And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.”

The comments set off an immediate outcry. Mr. Trump’s so-called border czar, Thomas Homan, pledged at the time that the administration would not let them go.

“We’ll look into it,” he said.

An aide to Mr. Murphy later clarified that the woman was in the United States legally and had never lived on Mr. Murphy’s property.

The governor’s office declined to comment on the federal inquiry on Friday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office also declined to comment.

A person close to Mr. Murphy said the governor was not aware of any pending investigation against him.

Mr. Trump recently nominated Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba to remain in the job permanently when her time as interim U.S. attorney ends later this month. She would need to be confirmed by the Senate, and New Jersey’s two Democratic senators have been critical of her performance. In a joint statement, the senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, said she had “degraded the office and pursued frivolous and politically motivated prosecutions.”

It was unclear whether they would seek to block her nomination.

Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba had no history as a prosecutor before getting the job, and she has used the traditionally nonpartisan position to pursue several high-profile investigations into Democrats. She is one of several of Mr. Trump’s former defense lawyers to serve in top Justice Department positions, and given her role as the face of federal law enforcement in New Jersey, her actions have drawn particularly fierce scrutiny.

Less than two months into her tenure, Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba charged Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, and Representative LaMonica McIver, after the two Democratic officials clashed with federal immigration agents outside a detention center near Newark Liberty International Airport. Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba moved to drop the trespassing charge her office had filed against Mr. Baraka, who is now suing her for malicious prosecution.

The day she was named interim U.S. attorney, Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba spoke critically of Mr. Murphy while at the White House. She said that there was corruption, injustice and significant crime “right under Governor Murphy, and that will stop.”

More recently, Ms. [Bimbo #4] Habba has adopted a friendlier stance.

On Wednesday, she appeared with the governor at MetLife stadium for a FIFA Club World Cup soccer match, a precursor to the World Cup matches scheduled to take place in New Jersey next summer. The two posed for pictures that Ms. Habba posted on social media.

“Together — across parties, across sectors — we must be committed to keeping our state safe,” she wrote.

Can’t this overpaid bitch and pathetic excuse for a U.S. District Attorney find something useful to do with her time and our taxpayer dollars?

U.S. Subpoenas Governor Who Said He Would House Migrant at His Home

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/nyregion/philip-murphy-new-jersey-alina-habba-investigation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.M1jp.A-0-2kESmLD7&smid=url-share

Daily Beast: AOC Calls Trump ‘Rapist’ in Brutal Epstein Files Crisis Dig

Posted on by
Reply

In 2023, Trump was found civilly liable of sexual abuse against writer E. Jean Carroll by a Manhattan jury, which awarded her $5 million…. During Trump’s appeal of the Carroll case, however, a judge clarified that the jury still found Trump to have raped Carroll as the word is used colloquially.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Donald Trump a “rapist” while jabbing him for the MAGA crisis over his handling of the files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” the New York congresswoman wrote on X Friday.

Trump and his administration have faced a loud and very public outcry, particularly from inside the MAGAsphere, after announcing that there was neither a client list in the Epstein files nor any evidence that Epstein was murdered, shutting down two popular conspiracy theories.

In another post Friday, Ocasio-Cortez shared a WIRED story reporting that what the Justice Department called the “full raw” surveillance footage from Epstein’s prison cell block the night he died was likely modified.

The DOJ’s release of the footage was intended to dispel theories that the footage contained revelations about Epstein’s death, which was officially ruled a suicide.

At the Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump shut down a reporter’s question about the Epstein files.

“Are you still talking about Jeffery Epstein?” Trump asked. “This guy’s been talked about for years.”

“We have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things, and are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,” the president continued.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung sounded off on Ocasio-Cortez in a statement to the Daily Beast.

“AOC likes to play pretend like she’s from the block, but in reality she’s just a sad, miserable blockhead who is trying to overcompensate for her lack of self-confidence that has followed her for her entire life,” he said. “Instead, she should get some serious help for her obvious and severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted her pea-sized brain.”

The president has often lashed out at AOC, who is one of his harshest critics in the House. Last month, he called her “stupid AOC” and the “dumbest member of Congress.”

In 2023, Trump was found civilly liable of sexual abuse against writer E. Jean Carroll by a Manhattan jury, which awarded her $5 million.

Under New York’s penal code, the legal definition of rape only encompasses nonconsensual penile penetration, which was not what happened in Carroll’s case.

Trump earned a $15 million payout from a defamation lawsuit he settled with ABC News in 2024 after anchor George Stephanopoulos said on air that Trump was found liable for “rape.”

During Trump’s appeal of the Carroll case, however, a judge clarified that the jury still found Trump to have raped Carroll as the word is used colloquially.

“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape,’” Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in July 2023.

It isn’t the first time Ocasio-Cortez has called Trump a “rapist.” She said during a rally in April of this year, “If Donald Trump wants to find the rapists and criminals in this country, he needs to look in a mirror.”

Trump’s relationship to Epstein has long faced scrutiny.

Although Trump was photographed alongside Epstein long before becoming president, he has denied that he flew on Epstein’s jet or visited his private island.

In 2024, the Daily Beast exclusively published audio tapes recorded in 2017 in which Epstein called himself Trump’s “closest friend.”

Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019.

AOC Calls Trump ‘Rapist’ in Brutal Epstein Files Crisis Dig
Trump is facing a MAGA civil war over his handling of the files on the notorious sex offender.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/aoc-calls-trump-rapist-in-brutal-epstein-files-crisis-dig

Raw Story: DOJ lawyer ‘put his foot in his mouth’ in front of ‘righteously indignant’ judge

Posted on by
Reply

The Justice Department’s lawyer “put his foot in his mouth the minute he started and never seemed to get it out” in a recent hearing, according to a former prosecutor.

Ex-federal prosecutor Joyce Vance highlighted a high-profile case in which, as the Washington Post put it, “a federal judge in Maryland sharply rebuked a Justice Department attorney” after “an immigration official could not answer basic questions about the Trump administration’s plans to deport Kilmar Abrego García if he is released pending trial on federal human-smuggling charges against him in Tennessee.”

In the Maryland hearing this week, “Judge Paula Xinis heard testimony from a witness she had directed the government to present, and it turned out that the testimony failed to answer some of the very basic questions she has about the case,” according to Vance. She said they were questions such as, “What do you plan to do with Mr. Abrego Garcia if he’s released, and in what country, other than El Salvador, where the government is currently prohibited from sending him, might you dump him?”

Vance went on to ridicule the DOJ’s position in the case.

“The government is taking a ridiculous posture, saying that unless and until he’s released from criminal custody in the Tennessee case, they aren’t making any plans at all—they just have some vague ideas about the possibilities,” she wrote. “Given that this is the same government we now know from the Erez Reuveni whistleblower case doesn’t feel compelled to comply with courts that rule against Donald Trump’s desired course of action, it’s easy to understand why the Judge was skeptical of the government, telling their lawyers she could no longer presume they were acting in good faith at one point. The presumption of regularity entitles the government to an assumption by the court that its actions are valid and in accordance with the law, placing a burden on any party challenging it to prove otherwise.”

Vance highlighted Xinis’ comment to the DOJ lawyer: “You have taken the presumption of regularity and you’ve destroyed it in my view.”

“The government acted like everything was business as usual and this was just an ordinary case. But this Judge understands that it is not. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers made such a modest request, functional due process, just a couple of days’ notice before their client is dropped in a hellhole like South Sudan,” she wrote. “The government’s lawyer put his foot in his mouth the minute he started and never seemed to get it out. For starters, the Judge had asked yesterday for basic paperwork, the detainer that ICE was using to hold Abrego Garcia. But it took them until midway through the hearing to provide it to her. That’s an inexcusable failure on the government’s part that fairly shouts disrespect to the court.”

The analyst continued:

“The government told Judge Xinis they can either deport Abrego Garcia to a third country of their choice or reopen withholding proceedings… But the government wouldn’t commit to either option or even hint at its thinking.”

She added, “The Judge was righteously indignant that the government wouldn’t say what it wants to do, maintaining the fiction that some randomly assigned desk officer will decide what happens on the fly if Abrego Garcia is returned to their custody, just like they would in any normal case. It’s ridiculous. The government is saying ‘f— you’ to the courts over and over again, and the courts seem to be getting the message.”

DOJ lawyer ‘put his foot in his mouth’ in front of ‘righteously indignant’ judge

https://www.rawstory.com/doj-lawyer-foot-in-mouth

MSNBC: Rep. Ogles is openly calling on Pam Bondi to betray the constitution

Posted on by
Reply

Last week, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that called for a federal investigation to determine whether New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Uganda — should be subject to denaturalization proceedings based on eight-year-old rap lyrics that Ogles claims could constitute material support for terrorism. At a news conference Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that the allegations, “if true, were something that should be investigated.”

And earlier in June, the Justice Department issued a memo announcing its directive to “maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings.”

The Trump administration made denaturalization a priority during the first term, creating a special Justice Department section to pursue these cases. The administration now appears positioned to expand these efforts with a policy requiring that denaturalization be pursued wherever legally possible.

As the apparent next step in the Trump administration’s mass deportation regime, this rarely used but potentially far-reaching government power is getting newfound attention. As legal scholars who study denaturalization, we believe the new Justice Department policy could significantly expand the circumstances under which naturalized Americans might lose their citizenship in ways that raise serious constitutional questions.

… the [Supreme] court held denaturalization was unconstitutional in most circumstances, leaving open only cases in which someone “illegally procured” citizenship by not meeting requirements or obtaining it through fraud or concealment of material facts. In the half-century after this decision, fewer than 150 Americans were denaturalized, mostly former war criminals who had hidden their pasts.

…

More fundamentally, we argue that aggressive denaturalization policies conflict with constitutional principles of citizenship. The framers envisioned citizens as sovereign, serving as the source of government power rather than its subjects. Allowing the government to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans for decades-old conduct creates exactly the kind of arbitrary governmental authority the Constitution was designed to prevent.

The administration’s “maximal enforcement” approach means pursuing cases beyond clear instances of fraud, potentially including any situation in which evidence might support denaturalization regardless of strength or age. This approach will inevitably result in cases involving ambiguous evidence that can be arbitrarily interpreted by the government.

While supporters of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts argue that denaturalization maintains the integrity of the naturalization system, we contend that the policy risks creating different classes of citizenship, with naturalized Americans facing ongoing vulnerability that native-born citizens never experience. This effectively creates the kind of second-class citizenship that our constitutional system forbids.

Opinion | Rep. Andy Ogles’ call to ‘denaturalize’ Zohran Mamdani conflicts with the Constitution
Aggressive denaturalization policies conflict with constitutional principles of citizenship.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-doj-denaturalization-zohran-mamdani-andy-ogles-constitution-rcna216056