Immigration

5th Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral argument in Obama immigration executive orders appeals

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The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reports, 5th Circuit in New Orleans hears arguments on Obama immigration action:

5thCircuitWith hundreds of immigration activists rallying outside, a federal appeals court panel heard arguments on whether it should revive President Barack Obama’s plan that could protect 5 million people living in the United States illegally from deportation.

Republicans criticized the plan as an illegal executive overreach when Obama announced it in November. And 26 states challenged the plan in court.

A federal judge in Texas sided with those states and issued an injunction, which the Obama administration appealed.

The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Friday. The panel isn’t expected to rule immediately.

Either side could appeal a loss to the full 5th Circuit or the Supreme Court — a process that would eat up time with only about a year and a half left in Obama’s second term.

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GOP Latino Outreach in Arizona: ‘The Donald’ and Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio Show on Saturday (Updated)

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Less than a month after he surprised Beltway media villagers by actually declaring that he will run for president, Donald Trump has ripened into a full-blown panic within the GOP establishment.  Here are today’s headlines:

TrumpFingerThe New York Times, Republican Party Leaders Struggle to Rein In Donald Trump: With Mr. Trump rising in opinion polls, officially neutral officials are reluctant to publicly criticize him despite his recent controversial statements.

The reliably Republican Washington Post gives Trump the full treatment:

GOP leaders fear damage to party’s image as Donald Trump doubles down: The head of the Republican National Committee spent nearly an hour on the phone, urging Trump to tone down his inflammatory immigration comments that have infuriated a key constituency. . .

. . . A report that the Post had to walk back, Trump denies GOP chair asked him to tone down immigration comments: The Post had reported Wednesday that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus had asked Trump to reconsider his hard-edged approach. [UPDATE: The New York Times also reports Donald Trump insists that his phone call with Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, was brief and he described it as “congratulatory” instead of condemnatory, in contrast to news accounts of the talk. Donald Trump Says R.N.C. Chairman Called to Congratulate Him.]

And the Post concedes that since Trumps’ entry into the race, this showman and charlatan is sucking up all the oxygen in the room, depriving his rivals of oxygen media attention because, let’s be honest, Beltway media villagers just love associating with celebrities, even “C List” celebrities (see the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.) The Donald: Almost half of all conversation last week on social and regular media was about him.

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5th Circuit Court of Appeals oral argument in Obama Immigration Executive Orders appeals on Friday

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5thCircuitThis Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in State of Texas, et al. v. USA, et al. (No. 15-40333), and State of Texas, et al. v. USA, et al. (No. 15-40238), aka the Obama Immigration Executive Orders appeals.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a Notice Regarding Oral Argument in Case No. 15-40333 and 15-40238 (.pdf) advisory:

On Friday, July 10, 2015, the court will hear oral argument in these cases in the East Courtroom, Room 223, of the John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building, 600 Camp Street, New Orleans, LA. The arguments will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. The Court is allowing each side twenty minutes for argument in No. 15-40333 and one hour per side for argument in No. 15-40238.

We will reserve a number of seats for credentialed members of the press. Press should contact Geralyn Maher (geralyn_maher@ca5.uscourts.gov or 504-310-7630) before 11:00 a.m. CST on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, to request reserved seating.

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Republicans run away from the Council of Conservative Citizens (again)

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Oh noes! The “big story” today in the media is that a White Supremacist Donated to 2016 G.O.P. Campaigns. I’m not sure exactly how this is news. White supremacists have been donating to Republican candidates for decades. The organization in question used to be a big effin’ deal back in the day, and conservative candidates openly sought its endorsement. Reporters act surprised, like a baby when it first discovers its navel. Doesn’t anyone know their American history?

From the New York Times:

dylann-roof1-1The leader of a white supremacist group [Earl Holt III, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens] that apparently influenced Dylann Roof, the suspect in the killing of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church last week, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns, including those of 2016 presidential contenders such as Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul, records show.

Mr. Cruz, a Texas senator, said Sunday night that he would be returning about $8,500 in donations that he had received from the Texas donor, Earl Holt III, who lists himself as president of the Council of Conservative Citizens.

Mr. Paul’s campaign said it planned to send $2,250 received from Mr. Holt to a victims’ fund set up in the wake of the shooting.

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Border Patrol sued for mistreatment of unaccompanied minor children

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RefugeeChildrenIt was about a year ago that the media was fixated on unaccompanied minor children from Central America, many of them escaping the violence of narco-state drug cartels and gangs,  making the dangerous trek across Mexico to the U.S., often victimized again by the “coyotes” who took them to the U.S. border.

These unfortunate children were victimized again once they got to the U.S. You have been reading for almost a year now about the unsafe conditions of the facilities in which these minor children were detained and warehoused by the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE. These unsafe conditions have now resulted in a lawsuit in Arizona. Lawsuit: Border Patrol mistreats detained immigrants:

Immigrant-rights groups are asking a federal judge to force the Border Patrol to end the “inhumane and punitive conditions” they say many detainees face at Arizona facilities.

The legal papers filed in U.S. District Court name three individuals — a man living in Tucson and two unidentified women — who attorneys say were denied food, adequate clothing and sleep.

Mary Kenney, an attorney with the American Immigration Council, said Wednesday that what the trio experienced is not unique.

A majority of the more than 72,000 people detained in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector in a six-month period in 2013 — a “representative sample” the lawyers sought through public records requests — endured the same conditions, Kenney said. And while the agency’s own guidelines say holding cells should be used for no more than 12 hours, about 80 percent were held for at least twice that long, a third held for 48 hours and almost 8,000 locked up for three days or more, all in horrible conditions.

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