Tom Homan, President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s incoming border czar, blasted Illinois Democratic leaders during a speech in Chicago this week as Trump draws up plans for mass deportations.
Homan discussed the incoming Trump administration&#8217;s plans during a GOP holiday party in the Windy City on Monday and urged Democrats Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to work with the president-elect, Fox 32 <a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-deportations-tom-homan-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Both Pritzker and Johnson have vowed to fight Trump&#8217;s mass deportation policy.
&#8220;Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,&#8221; Homan said.
Homan said of Johnson, &#8220;If he doesn’t want to help, get the hell out of the way,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/donald-trump/2024/12/09/border-czar-tom-homan-donald-trump-chicago-pritzker-brandon-johnson-immigration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Sun-Times</a>. Johnson has <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2024/11/12/chicago-will-remain-sanctuary-city-despite-trump-s-threats-mayor-brandon-johnson-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised</a> to stand in the way of federal agents apprehending illegal immigrants in Chicago. After the election, the Democratic mayor <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2024/11/12/chicago-will-remain-sanctuary-city-despite-trump-s-threats-mayor-brandon-johnson-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> Trump a &#8220;tyrant&#8221; and said his plans to clamp down on illegal immigrants are &#8220;unconscionable and dangerous.&#8221;
Pritzker has similarly vowed to stand between the federal government and illegal immigrants. The governor shot back following Homan&#8217;s comments and said that Trump&#8217;s border czar &#8220;does not have the authority to do the things that he’s talked about,&#8221; NBC 5 Chicago <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/pritzker-pushes-back-on-trump-border-czars-promises-of-mass-deportations/3622500/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“Being a border czar is not an official position in the government,” the governor said. Pritzker added that he&#8217;s &#8220;open to dialogue&#8221; with Homan.
Following Trump&#8217;s election victory last month, Pritzker said that the federal government would have to go through him to deport illegal immigrants in Illinois.
“To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,” he said. “You come for my people. You come through me.”
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Multiple Chicago residents slammed Mayor Johnson and other Chicago officials over the sanctuary city policies during a recent city council meeting, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/chicago-residents-slam-stupidity-mayor-brandon-johnsons-liberal-policies-during-city-council-meeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;Mayor Brandon Johnson, you took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Or when you took an oath, was it only intended to fight for the 10th and 14th amendments regarding illegal aliens?&#8221; asked Zoe Leigh.
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want illegals in our community. We don&#8217;t want migrants terrorizing our own people and to have y&#8217;all sit up here and say we have to accept 7 million dollars being given to them when you have black people already struggling and need help,&#8221; added Chicago resident O. King. &#8220;It is a disgrace.&#8221;
Earlier this week, Homan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-homan-explains-how-democrats-protecting-illegal-aliens-in-sanctuary-cities-states-will-backfire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> sanctuary cities like Chicago about releasing illegal immigrants back onto the street after they commit a crime.
&#8220;If you let us in the jail, we can arrest the bad guy in the jail, in the safety and security of the jail. One officer could do that. But when you release the public safety threat back in the community, you put the community at risk,” he said. &#8220;You put my officers at risk. You put the alien at risk, because here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to release that guy in the community, I’m going to send an entire team to go look for the guy in your community.&#8221;

Tom Homan

Tom Homan Says ‘Chicago Is In Trouble’: ‘Your Mayor Sucks And Your Governor Sucks’

Tom Homan Says 'Chicago Is In Trouble': 'Your Mayor Sucks And Your Governor Sucks'

Brandon Johnson

Chicago

Deportations

Donald Trump

Illegal Immigration

Illinois

Immigration

JB Pritzker

Politics

For only the second time in their 41-year marriage, Calvin and Trish Zastrow will be spending Thanksgiving apart. The first time was due to travel — this time it&#8217;s because Cal is serving a six-month prison sentence over a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility in 2021.
Zastrow was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-lifer-targeted-by-biden-admin-sentenced-to-prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> earlier this year on FACE Act-related charges brought by the Biden administration after he prayed, sang hymns, and sat in front of the door to the entrance of an abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Calling from the Federal Correctional Institute Thomson in Illinois this week, Zastrow told The Daily Wire he was doing “absolutely fantastic.”
“I’m all on fire for Jesus,” he said. “I’m doing absolutely great, I’m on a big mission trip here.”
Over one month into his prison sentence, Zastrow said he has kept busy praying, reading his Bible, and teaching his fellow inmates about Christianity.
“There’s a whole lot of prodigals who are wallowing in pig mud, but they want to come back to Jesus, and so I’m here as a missionary to pull them out of that and help them get back on the Jesus road,” he said.
He said his friends and family have sent him over 50 books, mostly about Christian missionaries, and he has turned his cell into a sort of library. Zastrow said he’s been giving away a lot of copies in English and Spanish of the book &#8220;Tortured for Christ,&#8221; which is about Richard Wurmbrand, a pastor who spent years in a communist prison in Romania.
In a low-security section of the prison, Zastrow said he has seen few fights but has met a broad diversity of prisoners — from men convicted over January 6 to recruiters for ISIS and the Taliban.
He said that many of the January 6 prisoners are optimistic that they will get pardoned once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. He also referenced the discussion that Trump may pardon him, as the president-elect previously indicated that he would look at the cases of pro-lifers targeted by the Biden administration.
“I’m not getting my hopes up too high,” he said. “Plus I’m busy here. I’m busy. This prison holds almost 2,300 men and their need to hear about Jesus, their need for that is greater than my need for liberty. And so I’m here on a DOJ-sponsored mission trip.”
He said that most of the guards in the prison were unpleasant and would frequently “bark” and “scream” at the prisoners. “They can’t touch my joy, they can’t touch my soul, they can’t touch my attitude,” he said.
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Meanwhile, he said he has been able to call his wife pretty much every day so far.
“We are very proud of our Cal,” Trish told The Daily Wire on Wednesday. “He’s in there ministering every day. He’s doing well. He isn’t backing down from things.”
Trish was able to visit her husband earlier this month, saying she was able to spend about four hours talking to him. Still, she said it has been tough to be away from him.
“We miss him around here,” she said, noting that they had a new grandson born on November 1. “I didn’t get to share it with Cal, he’s such a great grandpa.”
Zastrow gets 500 minutes a month to call people in 15-minute increments. Trish said her daughter put a special ringtone on her phone so she knows whenever he calls.
“One of the hardest things is I can’t just call and talk to him whenever I want,” she said. “I don’t want to ever miss a call.”
Zastrow is scheduled to be released from prison on April 8, but may be able to qualify for a few days of early release if he takes some classes. His family is eager to see him back, but say they are grateful for the opportunity he’s been given to share his faith.
“I feel very privileged to be his wife and I’m very proud of him for standing,” she said. “I’m excited to see what God does with all this.”

457851552_537827162147496_1532708814140668634_n

Pro-Lifer Spending Thanksgiving In Prison Grateful For Opportunity: ‘A DOJ-Sponsored Mission Trip’

Biden Administration

Christianity

Department of Justice

FACE Act

Jesus Christ

Prison

Pro-Life Movement

Tennessee

We&#8217;ve heard a lot from Tom Homan lately, and for good reason. He&#8217;s the incoming border czar for the second Trump administration. And he&#8217;s vowed, unapologetically, to deport as many illegal aliens as possible — and to arrest any local officials who try to intervene.
We talked about that promise yesterday, in the context of the mayor of Denver, who&#8217;s suggesting that he will defy federal immigration authorities who try to carry out deportations in the second Trump term. Homan&#8217;s response was the correct one — if the mayor of Denver wants to go to jail, then ICE will happily oblige.
This kind of showdown between Tom Homan and local officials has been brewing for a very long time. During the first Trump administration, when Homan served briefly as the acting director of ICE, several local governments announced that they would undermine the work of federal immigration officials. And maybe no single local official was more brazen about her efforts than Libby Schaaf, who at the time was the mayor of Oakland, California.
This is an incident that&#8217;s mostly been forgotten. But it&#8217;s one of the most extraordinary moments in modern American politics. And it&#8217;s crucial to understanding Tom Homan&#8217;s origin story as a hardliner in dealing with states that interfere with federal immigration enforcement. It also provides insight into how he&#8217;s likely to direct immigration enforcement in Trump&#8217;s second term.
Here&#8217;s how the showdown began. As mayor of Oakland, Schaaf somehow got wind of an upcoming ICE raid in the Bay Area. And then she did everything in her power to sabotage the raid in order to protect as many illegal aliens as she could. First she went on social media to announce that the raid was coming. Then she held a press conference to explain that it was her &#8220;duty&#8221; to compromise an ongoing federal law enforcement operation. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Oakland Mayor" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iK--3uQaGdU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
What Schaaf was basically doing there was serving as a gang lookout. She heard that the police were coming, so she told everyone to hide, with the clear and explicit goal of obstructing law enforcement. And it worked. Following Schaaf&#8217;s early warning, more than 800 illegal aliens with criminal records managed to evade ICE&#8217;s crackdown in the Bay Area.
As Tom Homan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/us/oakland-mayor-libby-schaaf-ice-arrests/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put it</a> at the time:
<blockquote>The Oakland mayor’s decision to publicize her suspicions about ICE operations further increased that risk for my officers and alerted criminal aliens – making clear that this reckless decision was based on her political agenda.</blockquote>
To be clear, every single person that ICE was looking for was guilty of multiple crimes. They were people who had no right to be in this country, for one thing. And they also committed additional crimes when they were here. Among the 150 aliens that were arrested by ICE during that crackdown, for example, was a gang member who had four prior deportations, along with convictions for sex with a minor, DUI, and assault. He apparently wasn&#8217;t paying attention to the news that day, so Tom Homan&#8217;s agents were able to find him.
After the raid, Donald Trump told reporters that he would direct the DOJ to investigate Libby Schaaf for obstructing federal agents. He told his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to look into it. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Trump Critical Of Oakland" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pCUHdy2OOpc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As we all know, in the end, nothing came out of this. Jeff Sessions and everyone else in the room nodded along as Trump made this suggestion, and then they promptly forgot all about it. Instead of prosecuting Schaaf for interfering with the enforcement of federal law, the DOJ got to work investigating Donald Trump for things he didn&#8217;t even do. They were more interested in fake allegations of collusion with Russia, than investigating actual, videotaped evidence that the mayor of Oakland was colluding with felons to obstruct federal investigations.
At the time, the idea of hauling an elected official to a courtroom seemed like a red line to a lot of conservatives. Even when an elected official was clearly and deliberately violating the law, as was the case with Libby Schaaf, very few people in power had the political will to punish her for it. They didn&#8217;t want to go on camera and call for her arrest. After all, Republicans thought, if we start arresting our political opponents — even ones who actually have committed serious crimes — then Democrats might try to arrest us. Of course as it turns out, Democrats didn’t need permission from Republicans. They were going to escalate to this level regardless. Republicans played it safe for fear of the Democrat escalation. But Democrats escalated anyway. It’s a tale as old as time. 
But Tom Homan was the notable exception. All the way back in early 2018 — even before the mayor of Oakland publicly undermined ICE — Homan <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/367167-trump-ice-pick-politicians-who-run-sanctuary-cities-should-be-charged/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the leader of every sanctuary city in the country should go to jail. But Homan was apparently out-voted, so that never happened. Schaaf was never investigated, much less prosecuted.
Of course, over the past few years, a lot&#8217;s changed. Democrats have decided that there&#8217;s no problem with prosecuting their political opponents for crimes that are completely fake. They have dispensed with every &#8220;norm&#8221; and &#8220;principle of jurisprudence&#8221; that counsels against these kinds of prosecutions.
So now, six years later, there&#8217;s reason to believe that Homan will have the opportunity to actually follow through on his plan to arrest officials who stand in his way. Homan certainly seems to think that&#8217;s a distinct possibility, based on his comments responding to the mayor of Denver this week. I played part of this clip yesterday. Here it is again if you missed it:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Tom Homan" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x7G6IDygrLE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That was Homan&#8217;s response to the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, threatening that there would be a &#8220;Tiananmen Square moment&#8221; if ICE tried to enforce immigration law in Denver. Johnston implied that Denver Police and tens of thousands of Denver residents would obstruct ICE, in the same way the guy stood up to the line of Chinese tanks.
So the analogy is equating the enforcement of existing immigration laws — laws that any country needs in order to be defined as a country — with a communist regime&#8217;s violent crackdown on a pro-democracy protest. He&#8217;s saying Denver residents are justified in seeing a parallel between the two events. And he&#8217;s encouraging them, along with law enforcement, to stand in the way of federal agents.
Fundamentally, what&#8217;s happening here is that the mayor of Denver is assuming that the second Trump administration will function a lot like the first one. He&#8217;s betting that Republicans will back off, rather than upset the activists and the mothers who are &#8220;waving the roses&#8221; and so on.
That&#8217;s the same approach that the local media and Democrat activists are taking in California, where a similar effort to &#8220;resist&#8221; the next Trump administration is underway. As Fox News reports, a city council in Northern California has just voted to resist federal immigration officials in Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-bay-area-city-considers-ordinance-blocking-local-resources-from-supporting-trump-mass-deportations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second term</a>:
<blockquote>The Redwood City Council in California voted 4-3 in favor of calling for staff to draft an ordinance for consideration that would restrict the city from cooperating with immigration authorities. &#8230; During discussion of his proposal on Monday, [council member Chris] Sturken argued in favor of passing an ordinance to ensure that no city resources may be utilized to cooperate with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, unless required under law.</blockquote>
Here&#8217;s how the local CBS affiliate is selling this proposal:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Bay Area Immigrants" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bDyg9e5Ibow?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You might have noticed that, every time they try to make these emotional appeals where they try to &#8220;humanize&#8221; people who are in this country illegally, they end up sabotaging their own argument. In this case, we apparently have a woman who came to this country illegally more than a decade ago. And in that period, she&#8217;s never bothered to learn conversational English. She&#8217;s never obtained any kind of legal authorization to be here. But we&#8217;re supposed to feel sorry for her and allow her to stay in this country, because even though she broke the law, she seems like a nice person. That&#8217;s the argument they&#8217;re going with in the state of California.
And they&#8217;re not alone. 
Activists in Arizona are doing the same thing. They&#8217;re gearing up for the second Trump administration by working on their &#8220;storytelling&#8221; skills. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Arizona Migrant Advocates" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XhnjzFygeOA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So the &#8220;narrative&#8221; is that illegal aliens are &#8220;criminals,&#8221; according to the activist. And that narrative is true, because these aliens are in this country illegally. But did you know that some criminals are moms and dads, too? Did you realize that? And you can&#8217;t possibly throw moms and dads in jail. You can&#8217;t possibly make them face the consequences of their actions. That would just be unthinkable — even though it happens every day, in every state, in every country in the world.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
Then she goes on to say that one of her clients has been in Arizona for six months without filing an asylum claim. And that&#8217;s part of the problem. No one should be in this country while their asylum claim is being processed, because the overwhelming majority of asylum claims are fraudulent. These claims are often crafted with the help of NGOs and law firms, who include fake stories of political persecution to cover up the fact that these aliens are here seeking economic benefits. But once you let people into this country to file these bogus claims, as we&#8217;ve learned, it&#8217;s very hard to get rid of them. So again, this is yet another argument from the activists that ends up being self-defeating. They&#8217;re making our point for us.
These are people who have not adapted their strategy in any meaningful way in the past four years.
Rather than offering solutions, they&#8217;re trying (and failing) to appeal to our emotions. And of course, they&#8217;re also committing to engaging in even more lawfare. That&#8217;s not going to change, either.
Over in Illinois, for example, they&#8217;re vowing to take the Trump administration to court over his proposal to use &#8220;military assets&#8221; to carry out deportations. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Illinois Officials Fight Trump" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gYGfCIJA0ik?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Trump&#8217;s proposal to use the military is a concerning sign for Democrats, though not for the reasons they&#8217;re claiming. In reality, they&#8217;re upset because it&#8217;s a clear signal that, in his second term, Donald Trump is going to use every available means at his disposal to get illegal aliens out of this country. In terms of tactics, this is an escalation from what we saw in Trump&#8217;s first term. And so, predictably, Democrats are claiming it&#8217;s somehow illegal.
What&#8217;s missing from their analysis, though, is that Trump never said he&#8217;d order troops to remove illegal aliens. He said that military &#8220;assets&#8221; could be used — which is in keeping with how every president since Bill Clinton has sent the National Guard (and active-duty members of the military) to the border to perform various support roles. Those roles have included monitoring the border and fixing equipment, for example.
Trump&#8217;s incoming homeland security adviser (and deputy chief of staff) Stephen Miller has previously said that, in Trump&#8217;s second term, the military could build temporary facilities to house illegal aliens prior to their deportation. That&#8217;s another option that would probably have no problem in the courts. 
As Ryan Burke, a professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, recently put it: 
<blockquote>I think that [Trump&#8217;s plan] probably won&#8217;t face a whole lot of successful challenges. There&#8217;s too much ambiguity in these laws to point to something that says, hey, you absolutely cannot do this.</blockquote>
For their part, over in New Mexico, state officials are walking the line between &#8220;deportations are inhumane&#8221; and &#8220;the border needs to be secure somehow.&#8221; Here&#8217;s the state&#8217;s governor explaining that, while more border security is good, it&#8217;s wrong to separate families and use the military in any way to accomplish that goal. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="007 New Mexico&#039;s Governor" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TT1X5hUzUwA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
This is the middle ground that some Democrats have apparently decided on, ahead of Trump&#8217;s second term. They recognize that Americans overwhelmingly want border security. They want to see immigration law being enforced. After the last election, there&#8217;s no denying that.
But then Democrats claim that any immigration enforcement needs to respect the sanctity of the families of illegal aliens. And then they threaten to use the legal system to shut down any practical solutions.
They&#8217;re going with that approach because, for the most part, it worked during Trump&#8217;s first term.
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Politicians like the mayor of Oakland didn&#8217;t face any consequences for undermining federal immigration policy. Complaining about &#8220;family separations&#8221; — as if family separations don&#8217;t happen every day in our judicial system — was effective as well. Democrats could claim to care about immigration enforcement, while preventing immigration law from actually being enforced.
From the response of these various sanctuary cities and states to the incoming Trump administration, it&#8217;s very apparent that Democrats&#8217; tactics probably won&#8217;t be any different this time around. They think they can derail Trump&#8217;s deportation agenda with the same lazy appeals to emotion, backed up by lawfare. 
This is an act we&#8217;ve all seen before. It&#8217;s an act that Tom Homan in particular is very familiar with. He&#8217;s been very consistent, over the past eight years, about how exactly he&#8217;d deal with this particular strategy. He plans to deport anyone who&#8217;s illegally in this country, whether they&#8217;re part of a &#8220;family unit&#8221; or not. He doesn&#8217;t seem particularly keen on allowing anyone to stand in his way, either. And if there&#8217;s a reason for Democrats to drop the emotional blackmail and let Tom Homan do his job, it&#8217;s that no one has any incentive anymore to hold him back.

The 2024 Republican National Convention

How Trump’s Border Czar Plans To Put Sanctuary Cities Out Of Business

How Trump's Border Czar Plans To Put Sanctuary Cities Out Of Business

Arizona

Border Crisis

Democrats

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Matt Walsh

Oakland

Opinion

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of disgraced actor Jussie Smollett who was found guilty of filing a false police report in 2019 after claiming he was the victim of a hate crime.
The court overturned the ruling because it said he was unjustly prosecuted a second time after he was given a sweetheart deal by George Soros-backed Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx that resolved the matter as part of a negotiated settlement.
“We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction,” Justice Elizabeth M. Rochford wrote in the opinion.
A lawyer for Smollett said in a statement: “We are thankful to the Illinois Supreme Court for restoring order to Illinois’ criminal law jurisprudence.”
In January 2019, Smollett <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jussie-smollett-granted-chance-to-appeal-conviction-to-illinois-supreme-court">claimed</a> he was walking alone at night in Chicago during a polar vortex when two supporters of President Donald Trump — allegedly carrying rope and bleach — recognized him from his role on “Empire” and brutally attacked him while yelling racial and homophobic slurs.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
Smollett returned to a friend’s home and called the police, still wearing the noose that he said was placed around his neck by his purported attackers.
It was later reported that Smollett hired two Nigerian brothers he had previously worked with to stage the attack to raise his profile and hopefully get him a raise on “Empire” and further his acting career. The brothers alleged that Smollett paid them to buy plain red hats that he later claimed were “Make American Great Again” (MAGA) hats, signaling the attackers’ support of Trump.
In September 2020, Smollett insisted he was “set up” and continued to claim that he was attacked by two white men wearing MAGA hats. The brothers who said they were paid to stage the attack are black. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jussie-smollett-insists-he-was-set-up-says-he-has-two-new-witnesses-to-refuse-hoax-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> at the time that Smollett suddenly started claiming he had two witnesses who could prove he did not fake the attack.
After Chicago police investigated Smollett’s original claims for two weeks, they suspected he had staged the attack. Smollett was charged with 16 counts of lying to police, but those charges were dropped as part of the plea deal he was given by Foxx.
Ashe Schow contributed to this report.

“The Lost Holliday” New York Screening

Illinois Supreme Court Overturns Jussie Smollett’s Conviction

Courts

Fake News

Jussie Smollett

MAGA

MAGA Hat

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illinois" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illinois</a> Democratic Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/j-b-pritzker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J.B. Pritzker</a> over the weekend vowed to have the back of transgender people as he is <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/lgbtq/2024/11/11/illinois-lgbtq-protections-trans-midwesterners-pritzker-trump-project-2025">reportedly</a> part of a coalition trying to bolster protections after Donald Trump was re-elected to the presidency earlier this month. 
“This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor,” Pritzker <a href="https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1857817182089928826">posted</a> on X on Saturday. “Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This Transgender Awareness Week, I want you to know that I see you and have your back as governor.
Illinois has enshrined protections for gender-affirming care to meet this moment — and because of that, you will have a home here always.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovPritzker/status/1857817182089928826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Protections for gender-affirming care were enshrined in Illinois law last year. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Governor Pritzker is working with other Illinois Democrats &#8220;evaluating what further protections we can enact in the coming months,&#8221; a spokesperson for Gov. Pritzker said. 
He has helped make Illinois one of the most far-Left states in terms of transgender policies, including those aimed at minors. He is responsible for the state adding non-discrimination protections for &#8220;transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming students&#8221; in December 2021.
&#8220;Ensuring every Illinois student has access to a safe, validating learning environment where they can be their true self is a top priority for my administration,&#8221; Pritzker said at the time. 
The governor also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illinois-gov-pritzker-billionaire-family-at-forefront-of-radical-gender-ideology-push-report">signed into law</a> a public school sex education bill that promotes gender identity ideology and other related material in grades K-12. He’s also a staunch supporter of biological males being permitted to compete against females in youth sports if they identify as transgender. 
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
Pritzker&#8217;s cousin, Jennifer, was born a male but now identifies as a woman. Jennifer, formerly known as James Pritzker, was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army National Guard and has three children. The transgender rights activist heads up the Tawani Foundation, <a href="https://tawanifoundation.org/our-focus/#gender-human-sexuality">which</a> “funds studies and efforts aimed at leading to a better understanding, and acceptance, of gender and human sexuality diversity.”
The Pritzker family is one of America’s wealthiest families, with an estimated $41.6 billion <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/pritzker/">net worth</a> built mainly through the Hyatt hotel chain.
The Illinois Democrat’s stance stands in contrast to what Trump has said about the transgender issue. In 2023, the president-elect said, &#8220;I will then ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.&#8221;

J.B. Pritzker

Illinois Governor Hopes To Strengthen State’s Transgender Protections After Trump Win

Illinois Governor Hopes To Strengthen State's Transgender Protections After Trump Win

gender-affirming care

Transgender

Transgender Athletes

transgender surgery

A federal judge overturned <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illinois" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illinois</a>’ unconstitutional ban on semiautomatic weapons on Friday, triggering the state&#8217;s top Democrats.
The law, which went into effect at the start of 2023, came in response to the shooting in Highland Park on July 4, 2022.
The Protect Illinois Communities Act banned semi-automatic rifles, commonly used magazines, and numerous attachments that firearms can be equipped with.
“Sadly, there are those who seek to usher in a sort of post-Constitution era where the citizens’ individual rights are only as important as they are convenient to a ruling class,” said U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn in his ruling.
He added, “The oft-quoted phrase that ‘no right is absolute’ does not mean that fundamental rights precariously subsist subject to the whims, caprice, or appetite of government officials or judges.”
McGlynn added that it was &#8220;particularly disturbing&#8221; that Democrats had sought to ban weapons that were already widely used by Americans, which would deprive them &#8220;of a principal means to defend themselves and their property in situations where a handgun or shotgun alone would not be the citizen&#8217;s preferred arm.&#8221;
The Illinois State Rifle Association <a href="https://isra.org/pritzker-ban-on-firearms-found-unconstitutional/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrated</a> the law being overturned in a statement posted on their website.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
&#8220;Our legislative team tried to warn lawmakers about the unconstitutionality of Pritzker’s scheme,&#8221; the group said. &#8220;After the Governor put his signature on this affront to citizen’s rights, the ISRA partnered with the Second Amendment Foundation to file suit in Federal Court with a promise to see this through to the US Supreme Court if necessary.&#8221;
&#8220;Today’s ruling affirms our legislative position and shows our dedication to fighting on behalf of the millions of law-abiding Illinois firearms owners,&#8221; they added. &#8220;Barring any further court action, the ISRA looks forward to restoration of 2nd Amendment rights to Illinois firearms owners just in time for the holidays and winter hunting seasons.&#8221;
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/illinois-ban-semiautomatic-gun-supremecourt/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Democrat Attorney General Kwame Raoul pledged to immediately appeal the ruling.

Gun Enthusiasts Gather For Machine Gun Rally In Pennsylvania

Federal Judge Tosses Illinois’ Unconstitutional Semi-Automatic Gun Ban

Guns

Second Amendment

A parental rights group is demanding that federal officials investigate an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illinois" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illinois</a> school district over hiring policies that it says may be discriminating based on race.
Parents Defending Education Vice President Caroline Moore sent a <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Investigation-Request-Community-Unit-School-District-300_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> earlier this month asking the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to open up an inquiry into Community Unit School District 300 in Algonquin, Illinois, over its hiring policies. The demand for an investigation comes after the parental rights group obtained a number of diversity, equity, and inclusion documents from the district through a public records request.
“Community Unit School District 300 has adopted a strategic plan to hire, retain, and establish a diverse staff, which establishes certain hiring practices for teachers of color in the District. This policy promotes race-based hiring and educator retention in the District,” Moore wrote to the EEOC. “Community Unit School District 300 cannot discriminate based on race or sex in employment decisions.”
For example, a <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Investigation-Request-Community-Unit-School-District-300_ExhibitB.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sample application</a> for the district included an equal opportunity statement that said that the district had “a policy of active recruitment of qualified minority teachers and non-certified employees.”
The district did not respond to requests for comment about whether that policy was still in place and how it defined who counted as a minority.
A 2022 <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Investigation-Request-Community-Unit-School-District-300_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">equity audit</a> commissioned by the school showed that many staff at the school were upset that the majority of the teachers at the school were white.
Testimony in the audit quoting from one staff member said that it was “hard for students to think they can talk to a person because understand [sic] where they come from. The district relies on staff of color to be go-to for SOC to relate a bit better when [they] see themselves. School district needs to be more intentional than putting application online, but actually recruit POC.&#8221;
“Over the last four years, the collective staff of color has been 9% to 10% which is in stark contrast to White educators and administrators, which make up 90%-91%,” the audit noted.
According to a draft strategic plan from the school, 28% of new hires as of October 2023 were defined as &#8220;diverse staff,&#8221; up from the 25% goal.
<div id="attachment_821001" style="width: 2715px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-821001" class="size-full wp-image-821001" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM.png" alt="" width="2705" height="1176" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM.png 2705w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM-300x130.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM-1024x445.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM-768x334.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM-1536x668.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/Screen-Shot-2024-10-29-at-3.11.16-PM-2048x890.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2705px) 100vw, 2705px" />Community Unity School District 300</div>
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
This coincided with one of the recommended goals of the equity audit to hire “a more diverse workforce” and work on “attracting African American teachers.”
The same audit recommended that teachers were supposed to be asked a series of questions steeped in gender and racial ideology for the purpose of &#8220;culturally relevant teachers,&#8221; Moore pointed out.
These questions included: “When was the last time you shared your pronouns? Why do you think it is essential to share your pronouns?” and “Please speak directly about how you would support your transgender students.”
Teachers were also asked about how they would react if white students were outperforming black students in their classrooms. Moore said that these kinds of questions pitted students against each other and made them focus on their race rather than on academic achievement.
The district has a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mA_DGxgRjyQL4Es4VGVT5VVMd21-P1El/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timeline posted</a> on its website that tracks its ongoing DEI efforts across multiple levels.
&#8220;Parents should be aware of what’s going on in their districts and what the policies are that are actually written down,” Moore concluded, referring to strategic plans that don’t get talked about. “This is just one more reminder that parents need to be vigilant and understand what the teachers are actually teaching in the lesson plans in the class.”

Empty classroom with chairs and desks at school

Parents Group Demands Illinois School District Be Investigated Over ‘Race-Based Hiring’

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Education

Public Schools

After spending decades in pro-life activism and working as a traveling Christian evangelist, 63-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-lifer-convicted-over-peaceful-protest-sentenced-to-notorious-federal-prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Calvin Zastrow</a> will enter an entirely new mission field Tuesday: one of the most notoriously violent federal prisons in the country. 
Zastrow will report to Federal Correctional Institute Thomson in Illinois at 2:00 p.m. today for a six-month prison sentence after he was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-life-demonstrators-found-guilty-face-up-to-11-years-in-federal-prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted earlier this year</a> on charges brought by the Biden-Harris administration over a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility in March 2021. During the protest, Zastrow and others sang hymns, urged women not to have abortions, and sat in front of the entrance into the abortion facility’s entrance. 
Before turning himself in to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Zastrow told The Daily Wire that he will sing and pray with friends and family outside the prison, which has made headlines in recent years with reports of rampant violence and abuse. From 2019 until February 2023, the prison&#8217;s special management unit had five suspected homicides and two suspected suicides. In 2022, there were 275 reports of sexual misconduct against prison employees.
“I’m praying to be able to be able to witness for Christ. If I’m miserable there and can’t sleep well then I’ll just suffer with honor for Jesus,” Zastrow told The Daily Wire. “But if I’m able to get sleep and be healthy, I’m just going to see who the Lord wants me to minister to and be ministered to by.” 
Zastrow was convicted by a Nashville jury in January of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and conspiring against rights. 
The Biden-Harris administration has used the conspiracy charge, originally intended to prosecute members of the Ku Klux Klan, to go after pro-lifers protesting at abortion facilities across the country from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-89-year-old-woman-convicted-faces-over-a-decade-in-prison-for-peaceful-pro-life-protest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michigan</a> to Tennessee to Washington, D.C.
Zastrow said he was hopeful that one of the appeals efforts challenging the government&#8217;s application of the FACE Act and the conspiracy statute might be successful. He said a decision from a judge “would stop this freight train from hell from persecuting all these peaceful pro-life Christians around the county.”
Efforts to repeal the FACE Act and overturn the conspiracy charges brought against pro-lifers are being led by the Thomas More Society, which has filed several appeals to convictions of pro-lifers that are currently making their way through the courts.
Zastrow said he was disappointed to see the government promoting abortion and prosecuting pro-life Christians instead of securing the border and punishing violent criminals. 
“They don’t have enough federal agents protecting former presidents from getting shot in the head,” he said. “But they&#8217;ve got plenty of Marshals to go hunt down and find pro-lifers and put them in prison.”
One of Zastrow&#8217;s co-defendants, Chet Gallagher, was sentenced last month to a 16-month prison sentence. He was ordered to report to prison in February, but that may be postponed due to upcoming sentencing on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-89-year-old-woman-convicted-faces-over-a-decade-in-prison-for-peaceful-pro-life-protest">similar convictions</a> in Detroit.
Zastrow said that he expects to be singing the song “All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name” as he enters prison. 
“I’m here to declare the glories of Christ and his kingdom,” he said. “I’m just here to do that. I’m just going let all the demons in hell know that they’re on notice.”

Pro-Life Grandpa Reports To Notorious Federal Prison After Biden-Harris Prosecution

Abortion

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jussie-smollett">Jussie Smollett</a> said he’s spent $3 million appealing his conviction following a purported <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hate-crime">hate crime</a> attack he was ruled to have staged himself.
“I want to have all of these things in my life, and I don’t want to have a felony on my record for something that I didn’t do,” Smollett said during an interview with <a href="https://youtu.be/OIl0ndQTy3M">Entertainment Tonight</a>. “That’s what we’re fighting for. I know that on the surface it probably seems like why doesn’t he just serve the time, why doesn’t he just let this go. It would be easier if I had in fact done this to say that I did it. I wouldn’t have spent almost $3 million of my own money. I would not have had a trial.”
The actor told police on January 29, 2019, that he was attacked by two men in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chicago">Chicago</a> at 2 a.m. who he claimed made racist and homophobic slurs, wrapped a rope around his neck, poured an “unknown substance” on him, and yelled that this is “MAGA country.” It was later found that Smollett had hired two Nigerian brothers to help him stage the attack. 
The “Empire” star was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct in 2021 and spent just six days in jail after appealing his 150 day sentence. Smollett was charged with 16 counts of lying to police, but those charges were dropped. 
Smollett has insisted upon his innocence all along. 
“As an entertainer, as a businessman, I probably should [stop fighting the charges],” Smollett told ET.
“But as a human being and as a man, as a black man and as an openly gay black man, I have a problem with letting them win on something they shouldn’t be able to,” the actor continued. “I’m a grown man and something happened. I can’t tell exactly what did happen, but I can tell you what did not happen. That’s what I have to sit on. No matter how much people are yelling in my face, saying ‘You’re a liar, you’re a liar.’ No, I’m not. No, I’m not. I don’t want them to believe that, but if that is what they believe, that’s on you.”
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He argued that while “fighting the very things that are untrue,” he got tripped up by some truths which he claims were used “to prove things that were not true.”
“So there were those moments where I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, my life is kind of — oh, well, I didn’t do that.’ And they’re like, ‘But you did this.’ And I’m like ‘Ah, I did do that. I did buy that.’ And there are things like that that I’ve had to talk to my family about, that I’ve had to talk to friends about,” he said. “I’m OK with accepting responsibility for things that I’ve actually done. I’m just not OK with accepting responsibility for things that I did not do.”
Smollett also insists he’s being honest because he claims his story never changed, but he says other stories relating to the incident did. 
“I’ve stood by, not my truth but the truth for the entire time, almost six years,” he said. “I haven’t switched my story up. I haven’t changed anything that I ever said. I stand by every single thing that I’ve ever said. Everyone else in the situation, every single person, has changed their story numerous times,” Smollett told the outlet.

Jussie Smollett Says He Spent $3M Appealing Hoax Case, Maintains His Original Story

Celebrities

Hate Crime

Hoax

An 81-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/illinois" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illinois</a> man was shocked to receive a mail-in ballot for his wife, who died in October 2022. 
George, who lives in Kane County about 50 miles west of Chicago, showed The Daily Wire the ballot which he found in his mailbox on Saturday. He also received a ballot addressed to his late wife ahead of the Illinois primary in March. This was especially confusing, George said, because he had shown his wife&#8217;s death certificate to Kane County election officials — who also told The Daily Wire that George’s wife was no longer on the voter rolls.
The saga has George concerned about the integrity of the presidential election — and he&#8217;s not alone. Voters in several swing states have reached out to The Daily Wire to share stories like George&#8217;s, and raise concerns about what&#8217;s going on with mail-in ballots.
“There are states that do better than others in terms of identifying and removing all forms of inaccurate voter registration,” says Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead, adding that there are “widespread” issues with voter rolls throughout the country. 
<div id="attachment_805023" style="width: 1450px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-805023" class="size-full wp-image-805023" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/09/BALLOT-REDACTED-.jpg" alt="" width="1440" height="1080" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/09/BALLOT-REDACTED-.jpg 1440w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/09/BALLOT-REDACTED--300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/09/BALLOT-REDACTED--768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px" />Photo of ballot sent from George to Daily Wire.</div>
George, who has lived in Illinois for over six decades, said his ballot issues began with the 2022 midterms, when he got to his polling place on Election Day, only to be told he couldn’t vote in person because he had a pending mail-in ballot. 
In the end, George said he had to go home and pick up his mail ballot, which he hadn&#8217;t used, and take it in to get it voided. He also brought the ballot that had been sent to his late wife, which he said really “upset” the election officials. He said he was eventually able to vote, but only after about 45 minutes of discussions with election officials and showing his wife’s death certificate to have her ballot voided.
While Illinois law allows voters to request permanent mail-in vote status for primary and general elections, George told The Daily Wire that he never signed up to get a mail-in ballot, and always votes in person.  
“My assumption is that they are just sending everyone they can think of a ballot,” George said. 
Kane County Clerk John Cunningham told The Daily Wire that George’s wife was no longer on the rolls, and that the county’s signature verification process would have caught any attempted voter fraud. 
“Even if someone got a ballot and they mailed it in, and filled it out, it would not be counted because the signature would not be right,” he said. “Because we check for signature on our voter database with the signature on the ballot and if they don’t match, then we don’t count them.”
He said that he did not know how she could have ended up with a ballot for the primary election.  
“She’s not on our records, so I don’t know how she would have gotten that,” he said, but said he couldn’t tell when she was removed from the record. 
Several current and former Arizona voters told The Daily Wire they have received ballots for people who had moved out of the state.
Skyler, a former Army medic, told The Daily Wire that he and his wife have received 2024 mail-in ballots from Arizona at their home in Colorado, where he is now registered to vote. Previously a resident of Maricopa County, Skyler said that he voted absentee throughout his military career before retiring in May 2024, when he registered to vote in Colorado. 
Despite changing his voter registration and informing Maricopa County that he was no longer an Arizona voter, Skyler said that received mail-in ballots for both the July primary election and the November general election. He doesn&#8217;t know how Maricopa County got his Colorado address.
Another Maricopa County resident told The Daily Wire they had been receiving a ballot for their daughter for the past three years, even though she had moved to Utah. They said they returned the ballots every year, indicating that their daughter no longer lived there, but that they still had been receiving her ballot. 
One Maricopa County woman told The Daily Wire that she had received a ballot to her home for her son for years, as recently as the 2024 primary elections, even though he had lived in Alabama for six years. 
According to Arizona law, voters on the Active Early Voting List (AEVL) are automatically <a href="https://azsos.gov/elections/voters/early-voting">sent</a> a ballot “for all elections in which they are eligible to vote.” However, voters are <a href="https://elections.maricopa.gov/voting/active-early-voting-list.html">supposed</a> to be taken off the list if they do not vote in two consecutive federal elections. 
“A voter may be removed from AEVL if the voter does not cast an early ballot in at least one candidate election over the course of two consecutive federal election cycles and fails to respond to an official notice from the Elections Department,” Maricopa County’s election website says. 
&#8220;If you don’t vote the ballot, why do they keep sending you one?” the concerned Arizonan asked, noting that her son has not voted in the 2018, 2020, or 2022 federal elections, but received a ballot for the 2024 primaries. 
She said that she also had received a ballot for a prior resident of a home she and her husband had purchased in Tucson. She said this raised concerns about how many ballots may be floating out there for people who have not moved out of Arizona, or even to a different home. 
When asked about concerns with mail-in ballots, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office said voters could “fill out a voter cancellation form” online and pointed to the county&#8217;s “voter list maintenance practices” posted online. 
“Under Recorder [Stephen] Richer, more than 400,000 voters have been removed from our voter rolls due to diligent list maintenance. Our office reviews multiple databases to ensure our voter rolls remain as accurate as possible,” the recorder’s office told The Daily Wire in a statement. 
Voting by mail in Arizona begins on October 9. The deadline to request a ballot by mail is October 25. 
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
With just 34 days until the election, issues with mail-in ballots have begun to make headlines. Last week, election officials in Madison, Wisconsin, sent out 2,215 duplicate ballots to the heavily-Democratic city. 
“This was a mistake,” said city spokesman Dylan Brogan. “The clerk’s office moved to rectify it as quickly as possible.”
In response, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) has <a href="https://tiffany.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/tiffany.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Madison_Clerk_Duplicate_Ballots.pdf">called</a> for an independent investigation into the incident, saying that voters “deserve clear answers regarding the full scope of this blunder.”
In Pennsylvania, another battleground state, the Republican National Committee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rnc-says-pennsylvania-county-ignored-state-law-before-sending-out-mail-in-ballots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed a lawsuit</a> last month alleging that Montgomery County officials had sent out 2024 election ballots without conducting accuracy testing required by state laws. The suit said that the county, the commonwealth&#8217;s third most populous, did not conduct logic and accuracy tests before sending out absentee ballots.
Former President Donald Trump has long raised concerns about mail-in voting, arguing that it opens up the door to fraud. And while Trump has encouraged supporters to vote however they can in the coming cycle, he has said he would restrict mail-in voting if he wins the White House.
&#8220;Any time you have a mail-in ballot, there&#8217;s going to be massive fraud. What we have to do is, get control, and then we have to change it,&#8221; he said during an interview in August. &#8220;And it&#8217;s a very simple change, same day voting.&#8221;
Editor&#8217;s note: If you had an issue with mail-in ballots, we’d love to hear from you in our tip line. You can <a href="https://tips.dailywire.com/hc/en-us/requests/new">submit a tip here</a>.

Arizona Printer Prepares Mail-In Ballots Ahead Of November Elections

Swing State Voters Say They Receive Mail Ballots For Relatives Who Died, Moved Away

Election Fraud

Mail-In Voting

Wisconsin

Former President Donald Trump warned American tractor giant John Deere on Monday about moving its manufacturing to Mexico.
In June, John Deere — which is based in Illinois — announced it would be laying off around 600 people in the state and moving the manufacturing of skid steer loaders and compact track loaders to Mexico, Fox Business <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/john-deere-announces-mass-layoffs-midwest-amid-production-shift-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Trump, while speaking to a group of farmers in rural Pennsylvania on Monday, promised that if he wins in November, he will place a 200% tariff on everything John Deere makes in Mexico to sell in the U.S.
“I just noticed behind me John Deere tractors. I know a lot about John Deere, I love the company. But as you know, they’ve announced a few days ago that they’re going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico,” Trump said. “I’m just notifying John Deere right now, if you do that, we’re putting a 200 percent tariff on everything you want to sell into the United States, so that if I win, John Deere is going to be paying a 200 percent [tariff] — they haven’t started it yet. Maybe they haven’t even made the final decision yet, but I think they have.”
&#8220;They think they&#8217;re going to make product cheaper in Mexico and then sell it in [the U.S.] for the same prices as they did before, make a lot of money by getting rid of our labor and our jobs,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
JUST IN: Donald Trump points at the tractors behind him, tells John Deere that if they move their business to Mexico he is going to put a 200% tariff on them.
🔥🔥🔥
The comments came while Trump was speaking to farmers in Pennsylvania.
&#8220;I will tell you that I just noticed… <a href="https://t.co/5wpEAuTEo4">pic.twitter.com/5wpEAuTEo4</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1838320659812024510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Trump also recently promised to institute a 200% tariff on vehicles manufactured outside of the U.S. Earlier this month, the Republican nominee told supporters in Flint, Michigan, that the U.S. needs to manufacture more vehicles in the country instead of in Mexico and China.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
“They think they’re going to make their cars there and they’re going to sell them across our line and we’re going to take them and we’re not going to charge them tax,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-only-consequential-presidents-get-shot-at">said</a>. &#8220;We’re going to charge them. I’m telling you right now, we’re putting a 200% tariff on them, which means they’re unsellable.&#8221;
During his administration, Trump levied tariffs on thousands of products, especially on goods coming to the U.S. from China. Most of the Trump tariffs have been kept in place by the Biden administration.

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Multiple teachers at Chicago Public Schools say administrators told them to give illegal migrant students passing grades last school year.
Several elementary school teachers <a href="https://wgnradio.com/news/chicago-public-schools-teachers-say-they-were-told-by-administrators-to-give-migrant-students-passing-grades/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> WGN Radio they were instructed by school administrators to give their migrant students a 70% grade in every subject and approve their move up to the next grade, even if the children demonstrated severe academic deficiencies.
Complicating matters, none of the elementary school students in these teachers&#8217; classes spoke any English, while the teachers spoke no Spanish. The schools did not offer classes to teach English as a second language.
Last month, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez assured that migrant students were held to the same standards as Chicago&#8217;s American students.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
However, a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson later acknowledged to WGN Radio that the district&#8217;s guidelines for moving students up to the next grade are “modified to serve the specialized needs of English Language Learners.”
Nearly 50,000 illegal migrants have arrived by bus in Chicago from the Texas border since 2022. The city is currently paying to shelter about 13,000 newly arrived migrants.
The sudden influx has strained the city’s finances and caused city leaders to scramble for space to shelter the new arrivals. For months the city debated how to keep migrants warm during the winter months.
Overall, the city <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/recent-lawsuit-sheds-light-chicago-migrant-funds-being-spent/3466051/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spent</a> more than $400 million on the migrant crisis over the past two years, with much of that money going to private companies that worked on sheltering the migrants.
Many of the new migrants have settled in Chicago&#8217;s predominantly black neighborhoods. The drain on city resources has sparked tensions between Chicago&#8217;s black community and the newcomers.
“People are angry about the lack of resources in their community,” <a href="https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2024/09/18/chicago-organizers-work-to-ease-black-brown-tension-over-the-influx-of-migrants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Richard Wallace, a community organizer who is working on the issue. “People are angry about joblessness. People are angry about the cost of living skyrocketing.”
Meanwhile, it&#8217;s not just migrant students who are struggling. American students in Illinois and across the country continue to struggle with learning loss after the pandemic forced them out of school and into remote learning.
Only about a fourth of all Illinois public school students are back to pre-pandemic performance levels in English language arts, <a href="https://education.illinois.edu/about/news-events/news/article/2024/08/05/study--illinois-students-still-struggle-with-post-pandemic-learning-loss#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20from%20the,pre%2Dpandemic%20levels%20in%20math." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a recent student from the University of Illinois System. Even fewer are back to pre-pandemic levels in math.
Immigration has become one of the main issues on voters&#8217; minds as Election Day approaches.

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Chicago Teachers Say They Were Told To Give Illegal Migrants Passing Grades

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