Funding is useless if Democrat judges can still hold ICE hostage

The Trump administration refused to allow FISA Section 702 to lapse for even one day, calling it a vital tool for counterterrorism. However, when it comes to ensuring Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the necessary tools to remove alien criminals without enduring endless lawfare by sanctuary judges, there seems to be no such reservation.

Simply throwing more money at ICE in the budget reconciliation bill without changing policy will not alter the current landscape of failed deportation promises.

Trump has won numerous cases from the Supreme Court on issues pertaining to due process, detention, and bond hearings, yet the lower courts continue to defy those rulings.

On the same day House Republicans, at the behest of the White House, rushed passage of the FISA reauthorization, they passed the Senate budget reconciliation bill, which offers ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection $75 billion in mandatory funding for the remainder of the presidency.

It is understandable why Trump would want to use his last party-line bill to front-load ICE funding in the face of Democrat opposition, but what is the purpose of funding ICE if it can’t even deport violent illegal aliens without lawfare? Why is the White House opposing efforts from House conservatives to expand reconciliation?

Sadly, the Trump administration has signaled that it is largely done with mass deportations and seeks to focus on what it refers to as “the worst of the worst.” So we will certainly remove all of the criminal aliens before his term expires, right?

Wrong!

Bryan Rafael Gomez, a Dominican illegal alien who was released into the country in 2022, was arrested by ICE Boston on April 4, following a warrant for murder charges in his home country. Yet Judge Melissa DuBose, a radical Biden appointee, ordered him released and claimed his detention was unlawful.

Cases like this one are occurring on a daily basis, and despite the unambiguous language of statute and endless Supreme Court victories stating that ICE is permitted or even required to apprehend, detain, and remove these people, radical lower court judges just come back with slightly different plaintiffs and rule the same way.

As of February, illegal aliens have filed more than 18,000 habeas petitions during Trump’s second term challenging their detention in federal courts. It’s more than the number of such challenges filed over the last three administrations put together.

What these filings are designed to do is remove cases from immigration courts and bring them into Article III courts where American rights are often erroneously applied to people litigating their way into status after final removal orders.

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The entire purpose of a habeas petition was to give people a safety valve if they have a prima facie claim of being a citizen or a case of mistaken identity. But illegal aliens are now using habeas to block every removal, no matter how clear it is that the person is here illegally and even when they have a criminal record.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles granted habeas petitions and ordered the immediate release of four illegal aliens from ICE custody at Louisiana State Penitentiary, despite final removal orders. Who were the cast of characters?

• Ibrahim Ali Mohamed (Ethiopia): Convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor (child sex crime/pedophilia). Entered/released into the U.S. under Biden policies; removed order issued September 2024.
• Luis Gaston-Sanchez (Cuba): Convictions for homicide, assault, resisting an officer, concealing stolen property, and two counts of robbery. Removed order from 2001.
• Ricardo Blanco Chomat (Cuba): Convictions for homicide, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a firearm, burglary, robbery, larceny, and selling cocaine. Removed order from 2002.
• Francisco Rodriguez-Romero: Convictions for homicide and a weapons offense. Removed order from 1995.

Three months later, these individuals, with convictions of rape, murder, assault, and robbery, remain in the country indefinitely.

In March, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered the release of Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, a confirmed MS-13 gang member, from ICE custody. He had multiple illegal re-entries/deportations and was initially released into the U.S. under Biden policies in 2022.

ICE arrested him in Minneapolis on January 20, after he violently resisted (punching/kicking officers and grabbing an ICE officer’s gun holster).

Trump cannot spend the remainder of his term counting the number of the worst of the worst being deported on one hand, and even having many of those deportations hampered.

The time has come to use budget reconciliation to defund any federal court case granting a habeas petition to illegal aliens unless there is a claim the individual is a citizen or of mistaken identity. Why has Trump never supported Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy’s effort to include this in reconciliation?

RELATED: How Republicans have failed to defund sanctuary cities for a generation

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To the extent this provision was ignored in last year’s bill, it is indefensible not to include it in this year’s bill now that we see deportations being ground to a halt.

Even if Trump or congressional Republicans are squeamish about applying this to every case, at a minimum they must block review of cases involving criminal aliens — at least for lower courts.

The notion that we can rely on the Supreme Court is absurd. Trump has won numerous cases from the Supreme Court on issues pertaining to due process, detention, and bond hearings, yet the lower courts continue to defy those rulings.

Years after the Trump v. Hawaii ruling made it clear the president can suspend immigration and visas from various countries, a new lower court judge issued an injunction against it. The same thing is happening with judges granting Temporary Protected Status despite Supreme Court rulings to the contrary.

So far, in neither Trump term has there been an effort from the White House to use reconciliation or any other must-pass bill to defund sanctuary cities, change any immigration laws, or jurisdiction-strip the courts.

These are all fiscal provisions that should be included in reconciliation. What is the point in throwing funding at ICE if it is legally hampered and the White House continues to abide by lawless lower court orders?

Then again, as we saw with FISA reauthorization, Trump seems to fight for what he wants. Perhaps if conservatives reallocated the defunded monies from sanctuary cities and judges to an ICE ballroom, it would get the attention of the man who promised 10 years ago to end illegal immigration.