Sam Knight - page 55

An immigrant rights group compared the tenor of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing held Tuesday to the widely-derided campaign speeches of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Pablo Alvaro, the director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the panel was adding to a “dangerous surge of racist rhetoric” led by Trump. “After making comments that Mexicans are rapists and murders, Donald Trump recently joined Joe Arpaio for a rally with xenophobes in Arizona,” Alvaro wrote, referring to the hardline anti-immigration sheriff of Maricopa County,… Keep Reading

President Obama’s choice to be the next Army Chief of Staff suggested Tuesday that the administration is wavering from its commitment to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan by the end of next year. Gen. Mark Milley told Senate Armed Services Committee chair John McCain (R-Ariz.) at his confirmation hearing that the current timetable is subject to constant scrutiny by top generals leading the war effort. “I’ve been talking with John Campbell, Gen. Campbell, the commander of the force in Afghanistan,” Milley said. “It’s my understanding that… Keep Reading

A federal judge in Texas this week refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by the children of a woman who was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in Mexico after being deported. Judge Andrew Hanen said that the litigation can proceed, ruling that the plaintiff’s claims about due process violations aren’t without merit. “Even aliens who have entered the United States unlawfully are assured the protections of the Fifth Amendment due process clause,” wrote Hanen. Hanen also ruled that the status… Keep Reading

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is relaxing his opposition to criminal justice reforms with widespread bipartisan support. Grassley is changing his tune on reducing mandatory minimum sentences, saying that “there will be some reductions,” according to a Thursday report in The Hill. “Asked if those would be general reductions or specifically on nonviolent offenders, he added that ‘I wouldn’t want to limit it to that because we’re in negotiations,’” the daily paper reported. The move brings the key committee chair more in line with prominent… Keep Reading

House Homeland Security Committee Democrats on Wednesday lamented the panel’s decision to advance counterterrorism legislation in response to last month’s mass shooting in Charleston. The committee’s ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said that the Obama administration has not been sufficiently open about existing efforts to combat domestic extremism, and said he wants to further explore incumbent initiatives before proceeding. “There are overarching questions about the degree to which federal efforts to counter extremist violence are focused on domestic terrorist threats,” he commented at a hearing… Keep Reading

The top Republican and Democrat on the House Government Oversight Committee came together on Tuesday to point to the recent violence in Baltimore as a reason to rally behind criminal justice reform. Committee chair Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said that the unrest—sparked by the killing of a black man in police custody—highlights rot in the system with widespread consequences. “I watched my community in Baltimore torn apart after the tragic death of one of my neighbors, Freddie Gray,” said Cummings,… Keep Reading