FBI Shuts Down FOIA over Coronavirus

[IceWizard]

Mrs. Clinton’s legal team has fired back with an 83-page petition to the
U.S. Court of Appeals asking it to throw out Judge Lamberth’s order.
The deposition order is “inappropriate, unnecessary, and a clear
abuse of discretion,” the Clinton lawyers wrote.

But of course the real abuse here is a six-year stonewall and an assault
on the Freedom of Information Act. Corrupt and secretive players throw
roadblocks, stonewalls and legal obstacles in the way of transparency,
accountability and reform. Bad actors drown the opposition in delays
and expensive legal actions. It is instructive that this fight has taken
six years. Most individuals and organizations do not have the money
and legal firepower to fight the government for months or years, so the
government wins. The critical message in the Lamberth rulings is that
FOIA, an essential tool in holding the powerful to account, is under siege.
Let’s hope the Court of Appeals recognizes that the real fight here is
about transparency and accountability, and allows the deposition of
Hillary Clinton to proceed.

Open Borders Coalition: Free All Illegal Immigrants Over Coronavirus

The Left’s solution for everything seems to involve making our streets less safe.
There is a frenzy in places to release prisoners from jail.
Of course New York City is in on it.

When should we not expect calls for releasing illegal aliens?
Our Corruption Chronicles blog reports.

Although there have been no confirmed cases of Coronavirus
disease in federal immigration detention facilities, open borders
groups are taking advantage of the health crisis to demand that
all illegal aliens be immediately released from custody and into
communities throughout the United States. The movement,
known as FreeThemAll, was launched this month by a coalition of
leftist nonprofits long critical of the Trump administration’s hardline
immigration policies. “The immigrant community is at grave risk,”
according to one of the groups leading the effort, Texas-based Refugee
and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).
The public is encouraged to contact Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) to demand that the agency
“release all immigrants in detention, because detention is no
place for a family, and no place for a family to be during a pandemic.”

In a letter to ICE San Antonio Field Director Daniel Bible, RAICES
Executive Officer Jonathan D. Ryan asks for the immediate release of
detained illegal immigrant families and individuals due to COVID-19.
He also urges ICE to suspend all deportation activity, citing unsubstantiated
reports that illegal aliens deported from the U.S. have presented the
first cases of COVID-19 in their countries of origin. “ICE should not
participate in the spread of this dangerous virus around the world,”
Ryan writes. “This is a public health emergency. It is critical that ICE
detention centers and jails be prepared to respond appropriately
to the crisis.” He continues to blast the agency by asserting that the
U.S. government has a woeful history of addressing pandemics in
ICE detention. “We are concerned about the health and safety of our
clients who, with their liberty restricted in detention, cannot practice
recommended social distancing from other detained persons or from
detention center staff,” the RAICES chief writes.

The group is part of a broader movement in the U.S. to release all
illegal immigrants housed in federal detention centers throughout
the country. Hundreds of immigrant rights advocates, human and
civil rights groups and other leftist organizations are also pressuring
federal authorities to release illegal aliens in federal custody via the
Detention Watch Network, which aims to abolish immigration
detention in the United States. “Detention Watch Network imagines
a world where every individual lives and moves freely and a society
in which racial equity is the norm and immigration is not criminalized,”
according to the group’s website. “The abolition of immigration
detention is part and parcel of struggles against racism, xenophobia,
discriminatory policing, and mass incarceration and our aims coincide
with these broader struggles against racialized oppression.”

In a letter signed by 763 like-minded groups, Detention Watch Network
orders ICE Director Matthew T. Albence to immediately release all people
currently detained in immigration detention, cease all local enforcement
operations and eliminate ICE check-ins and mandatory court appearances.
The coalition also requests that the federal government make phone and
video calls free for detainees and that fees be waived for all costs associated
with soap, sanitizer and other hygiene products. If the government doesn’t
release all detainees, the letter asks for a “commitment that at no point
will a facility be locked down or closed off to outsiders or be considered in
its entirety as a place of quarantine” so that family members and attorneys
maintain access to the incarcerated. “Jails, prisons and detention centers
are sites where people are acutely vulnerable to health complications and
the impact of outbreaks,” the letter states. “Choosing to deprive people of
their freedom contributes to the already lethal conditions of mass confinement.”
Signatories include: Abolish ICE Denver, Allies to End Detention, Asians 4
Black Lives Portland, California Sanctuary Campaign, CASA-Maryland and
Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción.

CE currently has 37,311 illegal immigrants in detention facilities,
according to the latest agency figures. More than half—19,526—have
criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, the records show.
As of March 14, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),
the agency that administers the nation’s lawful immigration system,
determined that 5,867 of the illegal aliens in ICE custody have an
established persecution or torture claim.




Tom Fitton