More increases in #immigration #enforcement #funding:
- $14.4B for #ICE Transportation & Removal (current budget $721M)
$1.25B for immigration courts
$1.32B for ICE prosecutors
+ $600M for the prosecutions
$787M for state/local assistance
+$650M specifically for memos of agreement between ICE & state/local law enforcement agencies allowing those agencies to perform immigration enforcement duties, including detention & removal.
#law #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch
Other new #immigration “fees”:
- $250 bond for ALL nonimmigrant #visa applicants
- $550 for “parole” work permits
- $1,500 fee for applying to adjust status to get a #GreenCard before a judge.
The bill would also dramatically increase immigration #enforcement #funding.
$45B for #ICE #detention, assuming $4.5B/year, that would be nearly a 250% annual increase to the current $3.4 detention budget.
#law #House #Republicans #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch #judiciary
The prohibitive fees continue:
2 "fees" are actually penalties:
- $5,000 "fee" for being ordered deported for missing a court hearing.
- $5,000 "fee" for being an inadmissible *alien* apprehended between ports of entry.
This new fee is grotesque:
- $500 for any Special Immigrant Juvenile [#SIJ] Status application — these are abused, abandoned or neglected kids, ya think they have $500?
#law #immigration #judiciary #Republicans #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch
More prohibitive #immigration“fees” — these are just for trying to defend your status in #court:
- $100 fee for ANY continuance (except in "exceptional” circumstances)
- $1,050 fee for ANY waiver application
- $900 fee for all appeals except bond (currently $100)
- $1,500 fee for non-Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) cancellation (currently $100)
#law #JimJordan #House #judiciary #Republicans #GOP #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch #AbuseOfPower
Crazy
At the end of the #House #Judiciary reconciliation bill, there are 2 major restrictions on the judiciary & #litigation:
First, as noted above, it bans judges from enforcing #contempt unless there was an FRCP 65(c) bond (rare in #CivilRights suits). Obviously aimed to stop Judges like #Boasberg & #Xinis, among others.
Second, they would bar money damages in settlements. [see pic]
#law #Republicans #GOP #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch #AbuseOfPower
It also declares—not coincidentally as #Trump is facing dozens of #TROs & injunctions:
"No #court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a #contempt citation for failure to comply with an #injunction or #TemporaryRestrainingOrder”
#law #House #Republicans #GOP #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #AbuseOfPower
The #JimJordan led #House #Judiciary Cmt has now released their reconciliation bill.
In addition to #immigration measures, it transfers ALL #FTC #antitrust actions to the US #AttorneyGeneral [currently #PamBondi], among other antitrust provisions.
#law #Republicans #GOP #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegislativeBranch #JudicialBranch #AbuseOfPower
#Durbin was an early critic of the #war in #Iraq, voting against the 2002 authorization for military force. He criticized the mistreatment of detainees at the US military prison in #GuantánamoBay, Cuba, as comparable to the acts of “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings” & later apologized for a “poor choice of words.”
#law #HumanRights #legislation #LegislativeBranch #democracy #USpol
In celebrating the sixth anniversary of that #law, the #FirstStepAct, in December, #Durbin noted that less than 10% of the 40k prisoners released under the law, many of them drug offenders, had been rearrested or jailed, far less than the typical #recidivism rate.
#Durbin …has also forged close relationships w/some #Republicans, including Sen #ChuckGrassley of Iowa, who has been chairman of the #Judiciary Cmte in periods when Durbin was the top #Democrat.
The two pushed a #criminal #justice overhaul that overcame Republican resistance to be signed into #law by #Trump during his first term, leading to the early release of thousands of prisoners who had their sentences recalculated.
…A longtime force on the #Judiciary Cmte, Mr. #Durbin became its chair in 2021, resisting calls from progressives that he make room for a younger member given his leadership role & other #legislative responsibilities.
He subsequently oversaw the confirmation of 235 federal #judges during the Biden admin—including one #SCOTUS justice—surpassing by one the number of judges confirmed by #Republicans during an aggressive push in #Trump’s first term.
#Durbin’s departure will reverberate in the #Senate, where he played a prominent role on a host of big issues & was considered a forceful advocate of party positions. He was among the first to push for a path to #citizenship for some #undocumented immigrants brought to the #UnitedStates illegally as children, a group that came to be known as #Dreamers that became the focal point of successive failed efforts to overhaul #immigration laws.
#Illinois #Democrat Senator #DickDurbin, No.2 #Senate Dem & a leading #liberal voice, to retire after 44 years in #Congress
#Durbin retiring will fundamentally reshape how #immigration is debated in the Senate. For decades, he's played a leading role in shaping immigration policy (he was behind the first push for the Dream Act over 20 years ago).
#law #legislation #LegislativeBranch #USpol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/us/dick-durbin-retires-senate.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=6F0C39E6-2591-4197-B6F2-1F78E333F509
The authors of the #Constitution separated powers for a reason.
…The #Republicans who lead #Congress have refused to use the power of the #LegislativeBranch to stop #Trump or moderate him, in this or almost any other matter. The Cabinet is composed of sycophants & loyalists who are willing to defend contradictory policies, even if doing so makes them look like fools. The courts haven’t decisively intervened yet either.
#law
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/04/dictatorships-trump-republicans/682387/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxY6mkr1cwhtnhGKPzVPmmqo&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
…#USIP & members of its fired board filed a lawsuit, naming #DOGE & its reps, #Trump & members of his Cabinet. The suit claims the #ExecutiveBranch had no authority to dismiss the leadership & staff of the institute because it was created by the #LegislativeBranch [#Congress], nor could it take over USIP’s privately owned HQ building. Briefs in the case are scheduled during April, with a hearing near the end of the month.
#law #USpol #TrumpCoup #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #democracy
Congressional #Republicans **could** do something to stop Musk because they have control over the #LegislativeBranch of the govt, which is supposed to act as a check and balance on the #ExecutiveBranch. But they choose not to.
So the rest of us need to protest and call and post and make enough noise to persuade the #GOP that they really do need to stop Musk's takeover of the US government.
#MTG #Massey and Obstructionist #Republican #FreeDumb Caucus Brag of Pushing For #GOP Speaker #Putsch Again Due To Current Gavel Grabber #MikeJohnson Making Deadly #LegislativeBranch Mistake Of Actually Trying To Get Congressional Biz Done.
#DCDumbAsses #Congress #Politics #GiftLink #Militarism #BorderBluster #ForeignAid #PaywallFreeLink #WaPo
#SupremeCourt reinstates old 1800s era law predating #Arizona statehood outlawing #abortion in the territory , usurping #legislativebranch bill passed in 2022 allowing #pregnancy terminations up to 15 weeks
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/arizona-supreme-court-abortion-ban-821501cb?st=cjc81m8wm5nuies #PaywallLift #GiftLink #WSJ
The #LegislativeBranch already shafted us with #gerrymandering and all sorts of other #voterSuppression methods.
Now the #JudicialBranch piles on as well.
Imagine what the #ExecutiveBranch under #Trump will do to us!
