Baptist preacher and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock said he is often stumped by evangelical Christians who claim to love Christ but blame the poor for being poor. “I do not understand how it is that people who claim to be…
USDA employees go to court again to stop secretary’s proselytizing
Employees already suing U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins over religious freedom violations have urged a judge to stop her continued proselytizing through agency-wide emails as litigation continues. The plaintiffs in National Federation of Federal Employees v. USDA filed…
Court blocks Trump attempt to remove legal asylum seekers — for now
A July 21 emergency ruling by a federal court saved thousands of lawfully present immigrants from losing work authorization and asylum seekers from the automatic rejection of their cases. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was scheduled to eliminate the benefits…
Texas religious leaders demand ICE accountability
A coalition of Texas religious groups is demanding major reforms to how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out its mass deportation operations. Dozens of faith leaders from across the state gathered for a July 22 news conference to call…
Court finds Trump and Blanche conspired to create sham IRS lawsuit
President Donald Trump’s lawsuit seeking $10 billion from the Internal Revenue Service was a total sham, a federal court has ruled. In a July 13 ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami said the litigation and the subsequent settlement…
‘CatsOnACouch’ influencer sues over First Amendment rights
An online influencer with a penchant for criticizing and lampooning the Trump administration sued the federal government for blocking her from attending a public event where Vice President JD Vance was speaking. Falmouth, Maine, resident Amanda McGonigle’s federal lawsuit accuses…
Clergy and politicians urge Tennessee governor to postpone execution
About a dozen clergy and conservative politicians pleaded with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to postpone an upcoming execution after another inmate’s lethal injection was botched in May. “Tony Carruthers … spent 90 agonizing minutes bleeding and in excruciating pain in…
Courts disagree on states’ access to national voter database
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has rejected the Trump administration’s request to lift a previous ruling barring use of a voter database designed to investigate and potentially purge U.S. citizens from voter rolls across the country. However, the ruling…
NBCUSA opens advocacy center in DC
A historically Black denomination has opened an advocacy center in the heart of Washington, D.C., to protect civil rights, champion religious freedom and to be a voice for the poor and marginalized. The National Baptist Convention USA Inc., announced the…
Republican leaders worried ICE murders will damage their agenda
President Donald Trump’s doubling down on Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops despite agents’ killing of two motorists proves deadly force is an integral part of the administration’s mass deportation campaign, an immigrant rights leader said. The administration’s “deportation machine…
Yes, the global refugee situation is a crisis, book contends
The word “crisis” in the title of World Relief’s updated primer on refugees has a much wider and much more tragic meaning than it did a decade ago, according to one of the book’s authors. “We used the term ‘crisis’…
Republican-fueled Islamophobia cited as cause of more attacks
Numerous recent attacks and threats of violence against Muslims have been inspired in part by Islamophobic statements from Republican politicians, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The civil rights group on July 14 urged “elected officials and other public…