Barr immigration bid draws challenge
WASHINGTON -- More than 40 elected state, urban and rural prosecutors on Friday challenged Attorney General William Barr's bid to give himself more authority in deciding whether to deport immigrants who have criminal convictions.
Barr wants to change immigration rules that defer to state and local decisions on criminal cases that may affect whether an immigrant is deported. It's one of several efforts Barr is making to gain greater authority in deportation cases.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said it's important that authority stay with state and local elected prosecutors because they are in the best positions to determine the criminal history of someone under their jurisdictions.
Gonzalez and the other prosecutors filed a brief Friday with the Justice Department. They include attorneys general from seven states, including Minnesota, Washington, Delaware and Nevada, as well as from 36 urban and rural jurisdictionsin states including Georgia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Texas, Kansas and California.
"Justice requires careful consideration of the facts of each case," Gonzalez said in a statement. "This type of evaluation is best done at the local level with a consideration of community needs."
Gonzalez's office, for example, has a unit dedicated to re-examining convictions, an effort that began after reports that a now-retired detective may have falsified information in criminal cases decades ago. The unit has overturned more than 20 convictions, including that of a green card holder convicted of burglary who could have faced deportation because of the conviction.
Cummings says he foiled home intruder
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings said he scared off an intruder at his Baltimore home last weekend, providing details for the first time after President Donald Trump tweeted Friday about the break-in.
In a statement Friday, the Maryland Democrat said someone "attempted to gain entry into my residence at approximately 3:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 27."
"I was notified of the intrusion by my security system, and I scared the intruder away by yelling before the person gained entry into the residential portion of the house," Cummings said.
The break-in happened hours before Trump launched a Twitter tirade against Cummings, calling his majority-black district a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."
On Friday, Trump tweeted: "Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!"
The president told reporters later in the day that it was "too bad" that Cummings' home had been broken into. He said he meant no harm with the social media post, saying "that was really not meant as a wise-guy tweet."
Cummings' House Oversight and Reform Committee has been investigating Trump family members serving in the White House.
N.C. reins in conversion therapy funds
RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's state health department is being barred from allowing public funds to pay for conversion therapy for minors, a controversial practice aimed at the sexual orientation of young homosexual, bisexual or transgender people, under an order signed Friday by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Advocacy groups praised the Democratic governor's executive order as a pioneering step to restrict the therapy in the U.S. South.
Cooper's order forbids funds controlled by executive branch agencies from paying for such therapy for minors. That includes state and federal money for the state's Medicaid program and NC Health Choice insurance for children in low- and middle-income families.
The governor's order defines conversion therapy as practices meant to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to stifle certain behaviors or reduce romantic feelings toward the same sex.
Eighteen states have enacted laws banning or restricting the practice.
Navy drops charges in cover-up case
SAN DIEGO -- The Navy has dismissed charges against an officer accused of covering up war crimes by a SEAL who was later acquitted of murder, and ordered a review of the service's justice system.
The action Thursday by the chief of naval operations in the case of Lt. Jacob Portier is the latest blow to military prosecutors and comes a month after a jury cleared Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of murder and attempted murder charges.
Portier, the leader of Gallagher's platoon, faced charges that included conduct unbecoming an officer for holding Gallagher's re-enlistment ceremony next to the corpse of a teen Islamic State militant who the decorated SEAL was accused of stabbing to death after treating the boy's wounds.
Adm. John Richardson dismissed the case because it was "in the best interest of justice and the Navy," according to a statement. He intervened a day after President Donald Trump ordered the secretary of the Navy to strip prosecutors of medals awarded for their handling of the case.
Gallagher was convicted of a single charge of posing for photos with the 17-year-old militant's corpse.
A Section on 08/03/2019