Day: June 20, 2025

Attorney for Kilmar Abrego Garcia is Son of Nashville Mayor Who Created ‘Office of New Americans’ Accused of Doxxing DHS Agents

Tom Pappert

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, now in Tennessee awaiting trial for his alleged participation in an illegal immigrant smuggling conspiracy after pleading not guilty, requested the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on Tuesday allow him to dismiss his public defenders in favor of new, private representation from four attorneys, including Rascoe Dean of the Nashville law firm, Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison. 

Rascoe Dean, the son of former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and attorney Anne Davis, is a former federal prosecutor who entered private practice in April, and came to represent Abrego Garcia after the New York-based law firm, Hecker & Fink, sought a local attorney when it was asked to take the Salvadoran man’s case. 

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Judge Orders ICE to Release Mahmoud Khalil

Just the News
Free Mahmoud

A federal judge on Friday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release Mahmoud Khalil, whom authorities arrested months ago as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on antisemitism.

Khalil has been in custody since March 8, after helping to organize an anti-Israel protest at Columbia University in 2024. He is a green-card holder and lawful resident, though authorities have sought to deport him.

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FDA Says Americans’ DNA Sent to Foreign Labs in Clinical Trials

The Center Square
Lab

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it halted all new clinical trials that entail sending Americans’ genetic data to international labs.

Based on “mounting evidence,” the FDA said, some U.S. companies did not inform trial participants that their living cells were sent to foreign labs, including in China, for genetic engineering before reinfusion into patients.

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Obama-Appointed Judge Keeps Taxpayer Cash Flowing to Sanctuary States

Daily Caller News Foundation
Judge Mcconnell

An Obama-appointed federal judge Thursday blocked the Trump administration from withholding funds from states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned in April that he would likely begin to block grants from recipients that prohibit cooperation between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, U.S. District Judge John McConnell, appointed to the bench in Rhode Island by the Obama administration, sided with a group of mostly Democratic-led states who sued over the directive.

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Kari Lake Announces Mass Layoffs at U.S. Agency for Global Media

Just the News
Kari Lake

Trump administration senior advisor Kari Lake on Friday announced mass layoffs at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, affecting hundreds of employees.

“USAGM now operates near the statutory minimum; lean and focused. This is a clear example of responsible government—cutting waste, restoring accountability, and delivering on the promise to put American taxpayers first,” Lake said.

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Universities Sit on Billion-Dollar Endowments While Jacking Up Tuition

Daily Caller News Foundation
University of Michigan

Several universities are hiking tuition prices and cutting jobs despite sitting on massive endowments.

Universities are largely blaming the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts for the price increases, but many schools have seen steady rises in tuition for decades and overall increased revenue all while nursing their ever-growing endowments.

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DHS Accuses Hollywood Stars of Using Influence, Social Media to Spread Falsehoods About ICE Raids

Just the News
ICE Arrest

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin is pushing back on some of Hollywood’s biggest and most influential stars using their social media accounts to disseminate false and misleading information about the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles. 

Among them is actress Eva Longoria, who in an Instagram post last week said the ICE raids are taking place in elementary schools and at graduation ceremonies. 

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Foundation Tied to Kilmar Abrego Garcia Lawyer Donated over $200,000 to Nonprofits Behind ‘Belonging Fund’ Aiding Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Recently returned to the United States to face allegations of smuggling illegal immigrants for nearly a decade, Kilmar Abrego Garcia informed the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee earlier this week of his intention to dismiss his public defenders in favor of attorney Rascoe Dean, of the Nashville law firm, Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, as well as three attorneys from the Hecker & Fink law firm in New York. 

Rascoe Dean is the son of former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and attorney Anne Davis. His mother serves as the trustee of the Joe C. Davis Foundation, established by Rascoe Dean’s great-uncle, who was an accomplished tennis player and businessman who died in 1989.

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Exclusive: Tennessee AG Skrmetti Lauds ‘Extremely Measured’ Supreme Court Majority Opinion in U.S. v. Skrmetti

Kaitlin Housler
SCOTUS SKrmetti

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti spoke exclusively to The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Wednesday just moments after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case to uphold a Tennessee law that bans “gender-affirming care” for minors.

In the 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held Tennessee’s law forbidding healthcare providers from performing or administering “gender-affirming” medical procedures or treatments to underage children is not subject to heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and satisfies rational basis review.

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DOJ Asks Judge to Dismiss Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Maryland Lawsuit After Trump Admin ‘Effectuated’ Return for Tennessee Criminal Trial

Tom Pappert
Kilmar Abrego Garcia

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday asked District Court Judge Paula Xinis to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Kilmar Abrego Garcia against the federal government over his March deportation, arguing the Trump administration complied with the judge’s orders to “facilitate” and “effectuate” the return of the citizen of El Salvador to the United States by flying him to Tennessee in order to await trial for allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants throughout the country. 

In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit as moot, asking the judge to determine there is no further action by the court that could productively resolve Abrego Garcia’s claims, the DOJ argued that the citizen of El Salvador and his family, “have now received the relief they sought,” as the federal government has “taken extraordinary steps and have facilitated, and indeed effectuated, Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States.”

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Exclusive: TN Senate Majority Leader Details Behind the Scenes Work that Led to Supreme Court Victory in U.S. v. Skrmetti

Kaitlin Housler
Johnson MPL

Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) sat down exclusively with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Thursday to reflect back on his work drafting the state law banning “gender-affirming” treatments for minors in the Tennessee General Assembly and supporting the law as it was challenged through the courts.

Senate Bill (SB) 1, which Johnson sponsored in the Tennessee General Assembly, forbids healthcare providers from performing or administering to underage children “gender-affirming” medical procedures or treatments – including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex-change surgeries – for the purpose of enabling the child to identify with the opposite gender.

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Democrat Lawmaker’s Petition to ‘Keep Musk Out’ of Nashville Nets Under 1,000 Signatures in First Week

Tom Pappert
Elon Musk

The petition started by State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), urging Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to abandon reported talks with Elon Musk’s Boring Company to potentially construct a tunnel connecting Nashville’s airport with its downtown, received less than 1,000 signatures within its first week. 

Behn’s petition was prompted after it was reported earlier this month by The Nashville Business Journal that Tennessee officials and executives at the Boring Company have for months been discussing a potential tunnel, between five and 10 miles long. 

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